Man, I've got big shoes to fill. My previous "Top Five Thursday"-post - which was scraped together in half an hour or so, because due to reasons that might be disclosed at a later date, the originally planned feature fell flat at the last minute - turned out to be the most popular thing I have ever written, cracking the magical hundred thumbs-barrier in three more thumbs as of writing (I didn't say that you should go back and thumb it if you haven't already... but I also didn't say that you shouldn't :whistle:). That's awesome. And puts a bit of pressure on me. Because how do you follow up something like this? Well, perhaps you just shouldn't. Disregard the hype and do the stupidest thing that pops into your mind, just to teach your fans (both of them) a harsh lesson in disappointment. Speaking of which...
Top Five Thursday: Components that should be in EVERY game!
EVERY is a pretty strong word, even if it isn't written all Trump-style. Of course, most of the things mentioned here would be completely useless in a solitair-game or even most two-player games, perhaps even in most games, period. But screw that, that's my list, I can do whatever I want to. And I'm pretty sure that most of you have played a game some time and thought to themselves "Man, that would be the perfect situation for this card from that completely different game" or something along those lines. Here's five things that would be pretty neat to have in a very specific situation in a few completely different games, assuming their inclusion wasn't completely stupid and nonsensical. Yeah, that's more like it.
#5: The ceramic animal pawns from Habitats
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To be perfectly honest, the animal pawns can't do anything special, quite the contrary, their fragility makes it harder to store them, which might explain why they were changed to wooden meeples for the second and third edition (which coincidentally is on Kickstarter at this very moment). They also wouldn't make that much thematic sense in most other games, but then again, they don't in Habitats either, unless you picture your wildlife-park's chief-purchaser as a penguin that waddles all over the market (which I usually do). No, the real reason why EVERY game needs ceramic animal pawns is... actually pretty obvious. Just LOOK AT THEM! Screw miniatures made from plastic or resin or metal or pewter or what have you, ceramic animals is where it's at.
#4: The foam-handguns from Ca$h 'n Guns (Second Edition)
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There's really only so many things you can do with foam-handguns in a board game. You can have people point them at each other. You can have people throw them at each other... Did I mention that you can have people point them at each other? Perhaps some design-wiz out there comes up with the perfect appliance for handgun-shaped foam-thingies in the most hardcore euro-game out there three days from now, it doesn't matter, EVERY game needs life-sized foam-handguns (or perhaps cardboard, I don't care, the size is what matters) included. They don't even need mechanisms attached to them, the mere presence of those things automatically makes every game better (best example: Ca$h 'n Guns (Second Edition), because, to be honest, it's not really that good and I still own it and the first expansion...). Perhaps add just one as a starting player marker, because then people will actually give a damn about being the starting player, if it means being able to point a gun at whomever whenever. Infamy got the memo...
#3: Otto von B. and his pal Cthulhu from A Study in Emerald
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Okay, now for something... not really "useful" but... let's say something that would have an actual impact on the game those two lovable rascals would be added to. Sick and tired of having people attack your Metropolis in Cyclades? Lock control with Bismarck. Want to throw a spanner into the works of an opponent who goes for Skullduggery-quests in Lords of Waterdeep? Destroy the damn thing via Cthulhu-intervention (although he does destroy a complete city, so perhaps you'd have to continue the game with merely the Undermountain and Skullport-boards should you play with the expansions...). The possibilities are... actually incredibly limited, but fun nonetheless. Right? RIGHT?
#2: The family-cards from Senji
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Here's how the first three trading-phases during a game of Senji usually play out: First trading phase, nobody knows what to do, everyone is like "I've got a combat-support with strength three, do you have one, too? Cool, let's trade those." and then after four minutes, everyone has traded four or five cards. Second trading phase, things warm up a little, people know what cards can do and try to get their grubby mitts on whatever they can get. Third trading phase is when things go crazy and the stupidest deals are made. My favorite was that one time when I got a four-point-family-member from a player across the table, immediately traded it to another player on my right and thirty seconds or so later was offered the same family member from the same player who had originally given it to me, half a minute earlier. Senji is that kind of game. And it's great. And especially the family-member-mechanism could fit into quite a few conflict-oriented games. Let me devour Cthylla if Cthulhu looks at me funny at a game of Cthulhu Wars. Let me execute Gunter von Duiburgs favorite nephew should Saxony try to take the factory from me in Scythe. It doesn't have to stop there. Let me clobber Grugg to death in a game of Stone Age if his owner decides to place some workers on the love-hut. Let me hang YOUR grandmother if YOU get the exact tile that I needed in Carcassonne. Well I think it could be fun.
And #1: The Juju-card from Isla Dorada
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A.k.a. the STFU-card (I'm working on it, Tony). For the uninitiated, Isla Dorada is partially an auction-game where you bid cards of different suits (and values) in order to have the expedition, a phallus-shaped pawn representing the location of all of the players, move to the space where YOU need to go, all the while avoiding the spaces where YOU don't want to go. Enter the Juju-card, a card that you may play onto any given player during each of the auction-rounds to basically tell another player to "SHUT THE F*** UP!!!". It'd be quite useful in other auction-games, as well as negotiation-style games and (depending on your group of players) sometimes games in general. I know I've longed dearly for a Juju-card or two in all sorts of games. Perhaps I should always carry one in my pocket, for emergencies.
Anyway, that's it for today, a list that makes zero sense, will lead to deeper insights for absolutely nobody and will probably get twice as many thumbs as I expect it to. What are your favorite components that you wished would be in every game out there? Write it in the comments and see you next time on Top Five Thursday.
EVERY is a pretty strong word, even if it isn't written all Trump-style. Of course, most of the things mentioned here would be completely useless in a solitair-game or even most two-player games, perhaps even in most games, period. But screw that, that's my list, I can do whatever I want to. And I'm pretty sure that most of you have played a game some time and thought to themselves "Man, that would be the perfect situation for this card from that completely different game" or something along those lines. Here's five things that would be pretty neat to have in a very specific situation in a few completely different games, assuming their inclusion wasn't completely stupid and nonsensical. Yeah, that's more like it.
To be perfectly honest, the animal pawns can't do anything special, quite the contrary, their fragility makes it harder to store them, which might explain why they were changed to wooden meeples for the second and third edition (which coincidentally is on Kickstarter at this very moment). They also wouldn't make that much thematic sense in most other games, but then again, they don't in Habitats either, unless you picture your wildlife-park's chief-purchaser as a penguin that waddles all over the market (which I usually do). No, the real reason why EVERY game needs ceramic animal pawns is... actually pretty obvious. Just LOOK AT THEM! Screw miniatures made from plastic or resin or metal or pewter or what have you, ceramic animals is where it's at.
There's really only so many things you can do with foam-handguns in a board game. You can have people point them at each other. You can have people throw them at each other... Did I mention that you can have people point them at each other? Perhaps some design-wiz out there comes up with the perfect appliance for handgun-shaped foam-thingies in the most hardcore euro-game out there three days from now, it doesn't matter, EVERY game needs life-sized foam-handguns (or perhaps cardboard, I don't care, the size is what matters) included. They don't even need mechanisms attached to them, the mere presence of those things automatically makes every game better (best example: Ca$h 'n Guns (Second Edition), because, to be honest, it's not really that good and I still own it and the first expansion...). Perhaps add just one as a starting player marker, because then people will actually give a damn about being the starting player, if it means being able to point a gun at whomever whenever. Infamy got the memo...
Okay, now for something... not really "useful" but... let's say something that would have an actual impact on the game those two lovable rascals would be added to. Sick and tired of having people attack your Metropolis in Cyclades? Lock control with Bismarck. Want to throw a spanner into the works of an opponent who goes for Skullduggery-quests in Lords of Waterdeep? Destroy the damn thing via Cthulhu-intervention (although he does destroy a complete city, so perhaps you'd have to continue the game with merely the Undermountain and Skullport-boards should you play with the expansions...). The possibilities are... actually incredibly limited, but fun nonetheless. Right? RIGHT?
Here's how the first three trading-phases during a game of Senji usually play out: First trading phase, nobody knows what to do, everyone is like "I've got a combat-support with strength three, do you have one, too? Cool, let's trade those." and then after four minutes, everyone has traded four or five cards. Second trading phase, things warm up a little, people know what cards can do and try to get their grubby mitts on whatever they can get. Third trading phase is when things go crazy and the stupidest deals are made. My favorite was that one time when I got a four-point-family-member from a player across the table, immediately traded it to another player on my right and thirty seconds or so later was offered the same family member from the same player who had originally given it to me, half a minute earlier. Senji is that kind of game. And it's great. And especially the family-member-mechanism could fit into quite a few conflict-oriented games. Let me devour Cthylla if Cthulhu looks at me funny at a game of Cthulhu Wars. Let me execute Gunter von Duiburgs favorite nephew should Saxony try to take the factory from me in Scythe. It doesn't have to stop there. Let me clobber Grugg to death in a game of Stone Age if his owner decides to place some workers on the love-hut. Let me hang YOUR grandmother if YOU get the exact tile that I needed in Carcassonne. Well I think it could be fun.
A.k.a. the STFU-card (I'm working on it, Tony). For the uninitiated, Isla Dorada is partially an auction-game where you bid cards of different suits (and values) in order to have the expedition, a phallus-shaped pawn representing the location of all of the players, move to the space where YOU need to go, all the while avoiding the spaces where YOU don't want to go. Enter the Juju-card, a card that you may play onto any given player during each of the auction-rounds to basically tell another player to "SHUT THE F*** UP!!!". It'd be quite useful in other auction-games, as well as negotiation-style games and (depending on your group of players) sometimes games in general. I know I've longed dearly for a Juju-card or two in all sorts of games. Perhaps I should always carry one in my pocket, for emergencies.
Anyway, that's it for today, a list that makes zero sense, will lead to deeper insights for absolutely nobody and will probably get twice as many thumbs as I expect it to. What are your favorite components that you wished would be in every game out there? Write it in the comments and see you next time on Top Five Thursday.