BIBLIOTHEKE photos

Here are just a few photos of the prototype of the game Bibliotheke:

GAMING SESSION: eight player flavor

It can be difficult to find decent games that eight players can play without dividing into two groups (preferred). A couple of simple card games we tried tonight worked well with mixed ages.

Incan Gold is a great little game (originally created as Diamant, now in its second edition as the incarnation Incan Gold) where all players are explorers in a ruin. You collect gems in the ruined temple, and decide each turn whether to return to camp. If you do you keep all the treasure you found. If you stay you can get more treasure, but also if you experience two of the same hazards while there you lose everything you found. For a basic game it has great tension and decision making, especially with  eight players. This is a top quick game for the younger folk in my family to pull out and play.

Saboteur is another small card game, my wife bought it for me four or five years ago and it can take up to ten players. All participants are either miners who try to build a tunnel by laying cards (in a Water Works-like fashion) to a hidden gold mine, or saboteurs who try to prevent that from happening, As nobody's role is known unless revealed through actions, it is a very interactive game of 'whose on my side?' It begs for multiple plays as gold is received each round you play and roles change.

Both of these games satisfy the 6-8 player range, play very quickly, and require some thought and decision-making that keep it interesting.

GAMING SESSION: Light & Serious

Holiday gaming at its finest. The Family Friends edition found the Great Dalmuti (one of the better group card games) to be the hit. We also like to go full out with this game: We wear hats according to rank: The Dalmuitis (greater & lesser) are royalty, the Peons (greater & lesser) are fools, and the rest are Middle working class. Seating also includes a padded chair for the Great Dalmuti, and a bucket for the Greater Peon. The Peons also serve the rest of the group - it's good to be the king! We had quite a few work their way up in the ranks, while some experienced a serious fall in the social strata.

Turbo-Scrabble worked also well in the larger groups and got multiple plays.

When it got serious we broke out Puerto Rico and Bibliotheke. PR is a brain-burner with the many decisions and options at your disposal, and I was locked more than once in some serious AP (analysis paralysis). Considered a gamer's game and one of the highest ever ranked, PR groups many mechanics and innovative game ideas into one. Early quarries and a late surge in production and buying the Guild Hall sneaked out a close victory here.

With Bibliotheke we discovered some more good feedback and areas to slightly improve, especially in how the Black Market works and action point balance. It depends on the group of players, but I am considering putting in more direct attack opportunities. Victory points in the Event stack, using the Black Market and going for higher point books was the key in this session.

NEW WEB SITE

I have decided to more our website to a blog format. I will try and import over previous posts and items of interest. Check this blog for event and game updates.

EVENT: December Gaming Session

The LaMont Group is looking toward their next event over the holidays: Monday, December 21. Early session begins at around 12 noon, the second session in the evening.

Competition Opportunities

The LaMont Group will attempt to send its first developed prototype to a competition. Great game design and development is being done in Utah (see the Board Game Designers Guild of Utah: http://www.bgdg.info/ ). The SaltCon gaming convention is Feb 26-28, 2010, and there will be a game design competition called the Ion Award. Our Group will send Bibliotheke as an entry and see how it goes. Thanks again to all those who have helped develop this game over the past year.

Bibliotheke: UPDATE

Bibliotheke has come quite a ways, thanks to the evaluations and feedback (especially Randy and Caleb). Here are just a few notes to look forward to when we play it next:

Instead of one large board we have gone to 5 modular ones that fit together based upon the regions. Because the number of boards/regions used is based upon the number of players, you only need to now play with the board space you will use. Here is an updated snapshot of the boards:

Library book stacks will now be placed at the edge of the board by the corresponding library. The 5 regions are: 1-Mesopotamia, 2-Egypt/Levant, 3-Asia Minor, 4-Aegean, 5-Italy/N. Africa.

I have also been reved up about the fun of great replayability, and here is how I incoporate that in Biblioitheke. Each game played can select different combination of regions, as long as they are continuous. Each region has different spacing which effects gameplay. Each region has 5 libraries, and one is randomly deactivated in each region in each game, which can greatly alter strategies based upon distance and how many collection spaces are being battled over. Variety is still intact as there are endless combinations to create a collection based upon 3 different categories of Subject, Region and Period, with 5 variants within each category. Variation and flexibility cotinues in ordering each collection alphabetically or chronologically.

To fight the problem of library "camping" and lack of movement I have done the following: Each library stack begins only with 5 books, making it more feasible to go to another library rather than taking time to research finding a new book. A nice mechanic was created with many of the event cards pertaining to libraries. Each library begins with two tiles for collections. As collections are created, those tiles are removed from a bag, making the selection of a library for events more likely to happen to libraries with no collections (thus no player) and creating more movement.

Most of the other variations and interaction come through the event cards, and I made those more inticing by placing victory points in them and reducing their action point cost to 1. Within victory points I removed the points for first one to 3 collections so that finishing first does not ensure victory, while adding some different combinations by which one can pick up extra victory points. This helps to create multiple paths and opportunities to win.

I have also finalized after consuming research the 125 books to be used in the game. They all fit very accurately into the 3 categories and the variations within for balance. Their point values have also been accurately assessed on a grid so that not a single variation has a point advantage over another variation as a whole. Here are some samples with updated artwork:

This is the most complete prototype of the group, and the game can be fully played.

Games, Requests and Updates

A few games that the LaMont Group has not played in awhile (or at all) to be considered:

Torres
Shadows of Camelot
Tigris & Euphrates
Pandemic: On the Brink
Master of Rules
Oasis
Vikings
Vineta

Let me know if there are other requests for the table. We would also like to consider the hosting of tournaments for certain games, and/or a good point system or rankings for our participation. We would also like to keep our own database on how we have ranked and evaluated published games.

Some updates on other developments:
Diamond Dynasty has been on the back burner for awhile, with the consideration of moving it from a purely card venture to a full board game with a card component. Stadiums would be the boards, with pegs/markers to track the various economic and revenue systems. Player rosters, events and actions would remain on cards.
City-States has taken its invest/return mechanic back to the drawing board so that it is more logical.
Bibliotheke has some great fixes to it based upon evaluations and feedback. It is starting to take shape.

GAMING SESSION: Dominion dominates

Dominion is truly an awesome game, and the first expansion Intrigue only makes it better. The card game has simple mechanics of play an action then buy a card, with those two actions being further enhanced by other cards. The greatest aspect of Dominion is the replayability. Each game uses only 10 kingdom cards which inteact with each other to set the table for game play. The original Dominion came with 25 kingdom cards, and Intrigue added 25 more, plus there are two promotional cards to bring the total to 52 different cards. Since onoy 10 are used each game, the combinations are endless giving each game a different flavor and unique strategies.

Other games with great replayability are Settlers of Catan with a differently formed gameboard each game in addition to different values and scarcity assigned to each resource. The same goes for Hey That's My Fish!, with a uniquely formed gameboard each game of over 60 tiles - the added bous is that it plays quickly and often can take less time to play than to set it up! Carcassonne is another that creates a unique gameboard each time it is played.

Bibliotheke

The Bibliotheke (libraries) game has developed into a full prototype over the summer for playtesting. 25 libraries were finally chosen, five from each of five regions, all historically accurate in different time periods set in the ancient world. The different roles of pawns were abandoned for two pawns per player (head and assistant librarians) that do multiple things. Each turn a player has four action points to spend on a variety of actions for his pawns. Each library has a stack of books that can be aquired, and placed in collections that are established at different libraries. Here's the mapboard:

A collection consists of five books that must match by either subject (literature/science/history, etc), by region (Aegean/Egypt/Mesopotamia, etc.) or by period of time. They must also be placed in a collection in "order" on the shelf, either chronologically or alphabetically. This provides endless combinations and ways to shift strategies if you cannot acquire the books you want. For playtesting I do not have finalized the 125 ancient books I need, so I made mock ones to just test the mechanics:

This book has the fake title of "Wade" written in 1740 BC. The subject is Government/Politics/Law, it comes from the Egypt/Levant region, was written in the Early-Middle period, and has a value of 2 (on a 1-5 scale) that pertains to end of game scoring.

Event cards can also be purchased with action points that bring into play such things as Thieves, Disasters, Research, Transportation, Forgeries, Guards and the Black Market. There is not as much interaction as I would like aside from the event cards and competing for the same books. Maybe have another pawn who does "bad" things to other players. There is also a tendency to "camp" at board locations in playtesting and not traveling to other libraries. How long can they "mine" a single library? Who of the two pawns carries what books of a player?There is also a question of correct point cost assignments to the actions, and the balance of the victory points.
It has been fun to play as strategies change, and there is the constant challenge of figuring out what collection will be made and how it will be ordered on the shelf. The fun and puzzle factor is there.

GAMING SESSION: Game ideas for group to develop

At our last couple of game development sessions in March, four game ideas in various stages were presented for review and prototypes played. Here is the review of that session:

City-States - A resource development game that mirrors many computer "empire-building" games, but in a simpler format. The main mechanic is the allocation of resources simultaneously by chips on 4 of 8 possible actions. Gains/losses are based upon how many players selected the same actions. Raw in structure, but great player interaction. GEC- 3.1

Diamond Dynasty - A franchise baseball card game that covers most aspects of running a baseball team: economics, players, facilities and the season itself. Great concept with many player choices, but needs reworking of math formulas and flow. GEC - 1.8

Bibliotheke - A game about ancient libraries and famous writings collected. Lots of variety and ways to assemble collections in a race, with good mechanics for collecting. Structure of game is solid with some details to be worked out. GEC - 4.2

Road Trip - Simple card/tile laying game of sight seeing and souvenir collecting. Has great potential for a wide audience once the idea has more clarity. GEC - 3.0

Bibliotheke is clearly ahead in design and overall concept and will be the top game for the group to help develop. Looking forward to more designs and playtest opportunities.

Evaluation Criteria

In order to evaluate developing games, we have adopted the Game Evaluatio Criteria (GEC) created by Mike Compton. It is a simple system of rating games from 1-7 in the following categories: Clarity, Flow, Balance, Length, Integration and Fun. He has provided a great chart with written examples to place the game experience along the 1-7 scale. You can find his charts in a pdf from this link:
 http://bgdg.awardspace.com/main/Game_Evaluation_Criteria.pdf

The individual feedback is the most valuable, but we will also add all  6 scores together and find the average for each evaluator and the total from all evaluators to give a final GEC score to rate and rank the prototypes we review and play.

GAMING SESSION

A couple of smaller games that we enjoyed playing at the last session:

Gheos - it got some press but then it wasn't heard from much. I enjoy this game where you play gods in setting and changing the land, and thus the fate of the civilizations below. As a player you are not tied to one civilization, but all of them if you choose. You score points from those that have the most power, and that you can manipulate into scoring possibilities that are half random, and half initiated by you. Your strategy can change on a dime as the fates of civilizations rise and fall with land changes, wars and famines. Unique mechanics make it very interactive.

Traders of Carthage - a small board game with great mechanics that make every move effect gameplay and strategy. Players bid for four different goods that are being shipped from Alexandria to Carthage. Every player scores who has the goods that make it first there. Other ships of products can be raided by pirates or sent back on their journey. The cards serve multiple purposes in the game: goods type, amount of goods, currency for purchasing, storage from pirates and coin values for scoring. Must plan for turns ahead to find success.

Top Ten Card Games

Here are the top ten card games as voted on by the LaMont Group:

1. Dominion - new card game that is fun to play and is never the same game twice. Out of 25 sets of cards you only use 10 each game, so the combinations are always changing.

2. The Great Dalmuti - fun game of moving up in society for up to 8 players. A riot when you play with different chairs and hats according to ones role.

3. SET - a brain puzzle game that should not be played too late at night or your head hurts.

4. Danish 21 - This game is from Denmark using any set of cards. Fun for all as there are only winners and one loser. It is a variant of the game Agurk, which is "cucumber" in danish.

5. Coloretto - a simple card game that has a card collection mechanic that became the basis for the 2008 spiel de jahres winner Zooloretto.

6. Wackee Six - A fast paced card laying game that edges out PIT as one of the most chaos enduced and frantic fun games.

7. Lost Cities - the only strict 2 player game on the list, but challenging and fun with many decisions to make.

8. Illuminati - A game we played a long time ago, and has many variations, but it is a free for all conspiracy game of alliances.

9. Citadels - fun game for 7 players where you choose a role each turn. Because you don't know each other's identity, you don't know who you effect with your moves.

10. G.I. Joe - the only collectible card game on the list (most are loathed since Magic:TG went corporate and was watered down), it actually went out of print quick preserving its original state before greedy expansions ruined it. Good mechanics and fun to play with the kids.

Honorable mention: Guillotine, Saboteur, Milles Bourne, PIT

Top Ten Board Game Websites

by Brett Holbrook

It is difficult to find your way around the world of board games. What is a meeple? (game pieces made popular from the game Carcasonne). What is AP that afflicts many game players? (Analysis Paralysis). What is the difference between Monopoly and Designer Board Games? (miles and miles). Where do I go for news, reviews & prices on board games? Here is where I frequent on the net:


1. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/ . Simply the best place to find reviews, commentary and playtesting on any board game you want. The all-time ranking system and bajillion entries make this the mecca. The well-organized user reviews with pros and cons make this spot absolutely necessary to visit before you buy any game. Even has a collection of variant rules or game helps for each game. No games sold from here, but there are links.
2. http://www.timewellspent.org/ . A great place to review, window shop and buy games. The layout is easy to navigate, with rankings of popular games by month and all-time. Also links to the Spiel des Jahres winner (the Oscar of the hobby) and Deutscher Spiele Preis (for heavier/brainier games). Great customer service for purchasing.
3. http://www.cardhaus.com/ . I know this site deals more with Collectible Card Games, but they have a good list of board games with great prices, and I was able to sell them cards and trade for games painlessly. Great customer service.
4. http://www.criticalgamers.com/ . I can spend hours here reading articles. Goes more in depth in the gaming world with strong reviews and even helps one to understand game development. Not a huge variety of what you find, but it doesn't get meatier. It will even include tips for game strategy.
5. http://www.boardgamenews.com/ . Another portal into the board game world, they also have good in-depth articles, I especially enjoy the interviews with game designers. They don't pull any punches in their observations, but give you a great feel for what is out there. They even have a cartoon strip of game pieces for some comic relief.
6. http://www.funagain.com/ . Excellent overall site that is easy to navigate with top sellers, reviews and favorites. The reviews are substantial to allow you to assess the game. Their beginners guide is great, with "building bridges" to help you make the transition from kid games like monopoly to strategy games, tailoring a game to your personality, and even video blogs that show, explain and review games.
7. http://www.boardsandbits.com/ . A nice site to order from with a great layout and a rotating front page that highlights many games at once. Good prices and a constant list of new arrivals every day.
8. http://www.boardgamerevolution.com/ . Bundles, bundles, bundles. The best place to buy games in groups, or basic games along with all of their expansions. Discount prices for the game bundles makes this a must for bigger orders.
9. http://www.gateplay.com/ . Great place for basic designer game understanding. Simple reviews, but the complexity rating groups for games will help a novice navigate. Free shipping over $100 attractive, and their gateway bundles to introduce you to gaming well-thought out.
10. http://www.tabletopwars.com/ . This is a colorful site, but hard to find your way around. The best part are the forums and user reviews of games.

Pandemic: the new drug

by Brett Holbrook

When the outbreak in Mexico City triggered an outbreak in Los Angeles, the yellow virus had taken over. And we were just one move from curing all four diseases! Such was the drama last night as I played Pandemic with my two boys. Pandemic is one of my favorite new designer board games that I got at the end of last year. It is part of a fairly new genre of cooperative-style games where either all players win or all players lose, it's you against the game. It's an intriguing concept, and very likable for some people who hold disdain for overly aggressive competition pitting players against each other (which I don't mind!). Basically each player plays a role as a scientist, researcher, medic, etc. on a team trying to find cures (and even eradicate) 4 different diseases all over the world, while at the same time trying to halt their spreading and preventing outbreaks.

Every game I have played has been intense and nail-biting. Last night we were sure we had the game won as we had cured three diseases, and on the next move my son was going to a research station to cure the last one and win the game. That is the only way to win, but one of the many ways to lose snuck up on us as a single infection caused multiple outbreaks on the last turn that put victory out of reach. Ugh!

Pandemic is great for family play as it builds communication and it requires everyone to work together. Moves cannot be made haphazardly without effecting everyone else. The game is unique in its approach, and I am geek enough to have watched this video of a speech by the designer to explain game design and some of the mathematical models behind it. Its 50 minutes and not for the faint of heart, but there is one part in it that really struck a chord with me as I identified with what he was saying and seemed to reveal part of me. At 21:30 of the video he quoted Raph Koster in his book A Theory of Fun who said: "Fun from games arises out of mastery. It arises out of comprehension. It is the act of solving puzzles that makes games fun." When we solve a problem, the brain kicks off endorphins. In other words, Learning=Fun. I get that kind of kick in solving things, figuring things out. In fact, when there is no longer a need to solve, I can get bored quite quickly. Not only in games, but with projects and tasks. Add a challenge and I can't put it down.

We were recently moving rooms around over the holidays, and I found a complex puzzle, a "Triazzle", that I had completed over a decade ago. It depicted deep seas creatures on triangle pieces that could be put together in a variety of ways, but only one correctly. When I had solved it I wrote a code on the back of the pieces that told me how to put it together. But of course when we found it I could not remember how the code worked. I sat on the floor for an hour and struggled with it. When I couldn't figure the code, I just set about to solve the puzzle again. I mean, I couldn't just let it sit there! So I picked it apart in a soduku-like fashion and got it done. WooHoo! The endorphins kicked in and I was stoked. Games are my drug of choice.
Saturday night Update:
VICTORY!!! We couldn't just let the diseases take over. We played again and this is just before Caleb on the left cures the last disease in Europe.

GAME DEVELOPMENT

We have a couple of new games that have been introduced for the LaMont Group to playtest. Neither is in an advanced enough stage to playtest as a full game, but some mechanics are in place:

1. Bibliotheke - this game is based upon ancient libraries around the mediterranean and mesopotamia, and the ancient writings that have been found therein. Originally to just center on the library at Alexandria, it has expanded on a board to locations your pawns can travel to. In the library the goal is to collect and then organize great literary works. The main mechanics are set collection, and a variety of different roles played by your pawns to guard, research, acquire, and as a librarian to create the collections. Each of the books have different subjects and regions that are used as "suits" to match the cards/books.

2. A baseball game (yet unnamed) that plays more as runnung a franchise than just the games. It is also based upon collecting and drafting cards of players, and collecting cards of actions that can effect the franchise, rosters and seasons of the team. Economics will play a role as funds need to be used not only for contracts, but for the facilities, advertising, merchandising, etc. Mainly a card game using multiple sets of cards.