Blog

Get up close and personal with games that I enjoy in the Photo Log. Explore the art and graphic design that make games special.

While far from perfect, the core mechanic—pushing our luck to roll for better cards—was so much fun that it was clear there was a real game here.

Play Log is where I reflect on recent games I’ve played. Not a review, more like a reflection. Most of my experience playing games is 2 player with my lovely partner, and so my experience will always be colored by this format unless otherwise noted. Welcome to the Play Log. First up, for no other reason than we played it yesterday, is the game Cascadia. CascadiaTake a journey to the Pacific Northwest as you compete to create the most harmonious ecosystem in Cascadia!ALDERAC ENTERTAINMENT GROUP Cascadia checks all the boxes for a great game. The rules are simple, setup is quick, downtime is minimal, the art is lovely, and—perhaps most importantly—there are animals. This is a game I’d confidently recommend to my non-board-game-playing family. ...

Here’s my first foray into documenting a design I have been working on. I want this to be an exercise in exploring all parts of a game, starting with the raw idea, which will never be the final version and often will be immensely unfun. Ideas are always the easy part; execution is where the real challenge lies. Let me set the stage for how this idea came about. At my day job, every Wednesday at noon, I often have to close a conference room door to shut out my coworkers playing Texas Hold ‘Em poker loudly. I don’t particularly enjoy poker. I will play it for the social experience, but I get impatient and find myself going all in after only 20 minutes, losing all my chips and wishing everyone else well. ...

Let me tell you about a room with eight people arguing over whether the word “save” or “commit” is better.

A dewlap is a a flap of fat that sits under the chin of many vertebrates.