Review I posted on Board Game Geek.

I recently picked up the board game Small World. It caught my eye while I was window shopping at Games of Berkeley; upon getting home I immediately began reading reviews here. It seemed to be right up my alley, and it fit a niche in my game cabinet that wasn’t being filled: that of a fun simple war game—or as they say on BGG an “Area Control Game.”

A Bit About Your Reviewer

I always find reviews more helpful when I have an idea who the person is, so let me first tell you what kind of gamer I am: besides classic games like scrabble and backgammon, I own Ticket to Ride, Dominion, Settlers of Catan and a number of various simple fun card games like Chrononauts and Give Me the Brain. I’ve also played a number of other board games, CCGs and RPGs.

When it comes to modern board/card games, I tend to like fun fast games with rules that can be explained easily, but strategy that takes a bit to unveil. I also prefer games with good themes and a nice visual design: I have a hard time playing ugly looking games–sue me I’m an artist. As such, I do lean towards euro games but I’m not stuck on them.

Anyway now that you get an idea of what kind of gamer I am, I’ll get onto the review…

Style & Theme (A)

I love the theme and the style of the illustrations. I mean sure it ain’t fine art, but it’s got that goofy fantasy thing down perfect. It’s the sort of game that you lay out and everyone leans in to look at the pieces, which is great for enticing new people to play. I mean what other game can you play something that is both hilarious and deadly? “Attack Heroic Ghouls! Attack! Oh noz! Commando Halflings have sprung up like gophers in our backyard!”

Certainly the layers of illustration can sometimes get so dense that it’s hard to grok the state of the board at a glance—even the die gets lost—but personally I’m fine with that tradeoff.

Components – (A)

Fantastic! The multiple boards is brilliant. The pieces are built of the most thick durable cardboard I’ve ever encountered in a game—I wish the Settlers of Catan pieces were this thick. The box organizer has it’s flaws but it does a decent job, except for the coins which always fall about.

My main gripe is the player reference cards: I mean really did they need to make it the size of a record album? Who has that sort of room on their gaming table? 4×6 would have been perfect, but even letter size would have been an improvement.

Gameplay (C)

What I like

I love how well the game manages to feel vibrant and dynamic without resorting to cards or rolling dice every 5 seconds. The only random elements being the combination of races/powers and reinforcement die that is only rolled on your final conquest. With the exception of a few races (I’m looking at you Dwarves) the game is pretty balanced too. As a result, you feel that you are matching wits with other players rather than battling the game itself.

It scales well too with the multiple boards, and even plays well as a two player game. Not as well mind you as it becomes a bit of a tennis match, but still it’s fun.

The random combination of races/powers also makes for great replayablity. Though to be honest this is a gimmick since once you run through it a few times the races get a tad stale. Of course, there are the expansions which add more races/combos; however, the best games are replayable without expansions because they reveal new depths of strategy every time you play and/or they have a timeless quality to them which makes them fun every time.

The decline mechanic is great. It’s the lynchpin of the game: going into decline on the wrong round can make or break you, and it also really gives life to the game. As players place their races into decline and send new active races to stomp across the board, you really feel that there is a story being played out.

What I don’t like

If there is a history to the world of Small World it is in the Lost Tribes, yet sadly they serve as nothing more than lifeless road bumps at the start of the game. Their very presence almost demands that they be used for something in the game.

Others have obviously felt the desire to pump life into the Lost Tribes and have suggested variants that use them (see Let’s Pimp the Lost Tribes), and I’ve crafted a game variant myself I call Savage Tribes. These ideas also serve add a little spice to the beginning of the game—especially to the 2 player game.

What I really don’t like

Where the story (and game) of Small World really falls flat is the end. After a set number of turns the game is over. That’s it. Done. Count your chips. Ok Player A won. Meh.

It’s like you’re deep in a grips of a rich lively book and find some idiot tore out almost the entire last chapter—all except for the very last page. There’s no climatic victory, no feel of triumph, it just ends and someone is the winner. Not to mention the fact that there is nothing fun about counting coins. Hell, most players never even bothered to count their coins until the end.

Half of this problem lies in the hidden Victory Points (which really should have been called Conquest Coins or something more fitting with the theme). Sure hiding the totals reduces “bash the leader” and kill’em all griefers, but I’m not so certain that’s an issue really since bashing and kill’em actually fits the theme of the game. As I mentioned above, the game is fairly well balanced. You get a sense that there is a lot of back and forth with one player in the lead and then another; however, with the points hidden that fun horse race tension is absent.

Some of the best games also give the players some control over the end game: In Dominion, players can choose to take drain a third card stack to hasten the end of the game. In Ticket to Ride, a player can play lots of easy routes to get rid of cars or save up to use their last cars on a long route for more points. However, there is no such mechanic in Small World—it just ends.

Conclusion (B- with the possibility of extra credit to bring it up to an B+)

There is so much I love about this game, but the end game really kills it for me. During the game, I’m excited and deeply engulfed, and then the last turn hits like a wall constructed of Magical Drywall of Boring (make a saving throw against ennui).

The next time we play, I’m planning on writing scores down on paper for all to see, scrapping the turns, and playing to 100 points: once a player reaches 100 points there is one last round of the game with the player who got 100 points getting the final turn. That last turn will surely be a massive leader bash festival, but that’s loads more interesting than “Ok everyone last turn.”

If that (or another variant) savages the end game then I’ll be overjoyed and I’ll likely rush out and pick up the expansions. If, however, I can’t find a way to make the end anything better than a dull exercise of remedial addition, than Small World will likely end up in the BGG Marketplace.

I often shop at Lucky Supermarket. Not because I like to but because it’s only 2 blocks from my house. My housemates and I have our own slogan for them: “Lucky Supermarket, your lucky if they have it in stock”. The thing that most gets me though is their “sale” pricing. There is often no rhyme or reason behind it—with items often priced with $0.00 off or oddities.

Anyways, I set up a Tumbler blog just to post the inanities I often find there: Unlucky at Lucky Supermarket

Clued in by Daring Fireball about a recent NYTimes article on the Game changing nature of the iPhone App Store. There are a number of good quotes in the article, but the one Gruber pulled was the one that made me think:

“Our goal is very simple: We want to have the best platform for applications that there has ever been on any product,” notes Mr. Schiller, the marketing executive. “We know we’re not perfect, but we know we’re better than anything else that has been and we want to keep improving it.”

He’s right too. Of course the app store has issues—often of the highly annoying and stupid kind. However, it has succeeded to do something remarkable. In the article, Craig Moffett says “The iPhone will be remembered as the first true handheld computer.” However, he’s missing half the story:

The iPhone app store is amazing not because of all the things it allows a phone to do—just ask any iPhone hater and they’ll name a number of features that it’s missing. What is truly remarkable about the app store is how it’s normalized the process of searching for, finding, purchasing, installing, and even upgrading applications.

In the world of computers, it’s only the geek and the early adopter who even thinks about new software. Whereas, the average user seldom installs any new software. Your normal user will often use what’s already installed or what IT (or their son/daughter) installs for them, and they are also often terrified of upgrading anything. The iPhone app store has changed the all this. This is why the app store is a game changer. Suddenly the audience for shiny new applications isn’t just the computer know-it-all, it’s anyone.

via flickr.com

We’re back from our excellent Anniversary trip to Oregon. I’ve sorted, titled, tagged, and uploaded my pictures to Flickr. The above shot is one of my favorite shots and it was just taken on a lowly 1st gen iPhone ‚Äî proving the best camera is the one you have. There are a bunch of other nice shots in the set too. You can find the entire set here.

Posted via web from CatCubed’s Random Snippets

July’s Critical Mass got a bit nasty in a couple cities last month. In Seattle, a driver who was “corked in” (ie, blocked) by bikers as the Critical Mass streamed past, got frustrated and drove forward plowing into several cyclists. One cyclist got his leg run over and another ended up on the hood of the car as the driver attempted to drive off. Thankfully, no serious injuries seem to have occurred. The news reports up there seem to be getting the facts wrong which isn’t a surprise.

During the NY Critical Mass a rookie cop charged a biker on foot, slamming the cyclist off the bike and onto the sidewalk — this incident was caught on video. It is unclear if there was any previous provocation for the action, but it certainly seemed in the very least to be excessive use of force, if not downright assault. There is a bit of justice in this instance: as of this writing, the cop has been stripped of his badge and gun and is doing desk work while the action undergoes investigation.

Peddlya Haters

The blogging of both of these incidents on Checksum Arcanius, Gothamist, and Boing Boing has brought out the Critical Mass and cyclist haters:

• “Like many (most?) urban pedestrians, I have little sympathy for Critical Mass thugs.”
• “this mob is out of control”
• “I say it again (as ignorant as it sounds), the cop should get a medal. Good for him.”
• “As an avid road cyclist I have big problems with things like ‘Critical Mass.’ What they do is extremely unsafe and gives responsible cyclist a bad name.”

The last quote makes me recall the June Critical Mass here in SF, where there was one corked in car with two fancy carbon road bikes on the roof rack. The passenger of said vehicle, who obviously was driving somewhere outside the city to ride their bike, proceeded to furiously yell insults out the window at all the Critical Mass cyclists — massive cyclist culture difference.

Of course, some of these commenters are just semi-professional trolls, and there was also a decent share of people who support the rides. I see these supporters on the comment threads and out during the Critical Mass events themselves, happily waving at us as they remain stuck in their cars. However there are also a good number of people who hate the rides and hate any cyclist who “breaks the law.”

Who’s Breaking the Law Now?

Car drivers break the law all the time, as do pedestrians, but they do it in different ways: drivers speed, drive recklessly, roll through stop signs and more; pedestrians jay walk. Everyone breaks the rules here and there when they feel that the risk is lower than the reward; and for cyclists going through red lights and stop signs is less of a risk than it is for cars. The WashCycle blog wrote an excellent article called The Myth of the Scofflaw Cyclist, which does an excellent job discussing this very topic, so I won’t be going into it more myself.

Reclaiming Streets For Fun

Culturally, Critical Mass is an interesting issue. As much as many Critical Mass riders claim it’s a pro-city-cyclist political act, it is also frankly just a way for a whole lot of cyclists to get together and have fun once a month. In many ways, it shares a relationship to the Running of the Bulls, Carnival, New Orleans Running of the Roller Girls, Songkran, and any other traditional or nontraditional roaming street festival. Like Critical Mass, all these events are all reclaiming the city streets for fun and enjoyment rather than the hoo hum of business and the daily grind.

I’m sure that many of the same people who bash Critical Mass in the Boing Boing comment thread would call other moving street festivals “AWESOME!” It’s all a matter of perspective: for them, as long as your fun doesn’t get in their way it’s great. In reality, most of these drivers stuck corked in have lost maybe 10-15 minutes of their day.

For all of the above reasons, whenever I am talking to a frustrated stuck driver in the middle of the CriticalMass, I don’t tell them “we are traffic” or get abrasive. I just tell them to think of it as a parade; a bicycle parade that happens on the last Friday of every month. Frankly, I think it’s a better way for Critical Mass riders to frame it for themselves as well. When your out there, don’t think of yourselves as political rabble-rousers, but as a leaderless parade celebrating the joy that these city streets can bring.

So I got hit by a car on Friday of last week. Typical frantic mother deciding last minute to pick up cough meds for her daughter. She pulled into a parking spot right in front of me. Thankfully, I was able to stop in time so as I didn’t go flying into her car. Still my front wheel tacoed and I dropped to the ground giving myself some quality road rash on my elbow.

She was nice, drove me to work, and she’ll pay for all damages. Turns out that the damages are just to the front wheel, but I’ve got decent rims so that turns out to be a decent amount. I was already leaning towards looking at a new bike sometime this year so I decided take a gander on craigslist to see if there was anything interesting. As it turned out there was. A total drool-worthy bike right up my alley — so I went ahead and did it using the repair money towards this new bike instead. I figure I’ll slowly repair the old bike and sell it or use it as a second bike.

I’m really happy with my new bike and it’s frankly a bit 1 level higher quality overall then what I was looking for originally. It’s pretty and therefore solidly a target, so I’ll need to upgrade my locking standards. It’s also a bike that goes against almost everything jwz says about proper bicycle commuting, but then again I’ve been bicycling for years in San Francisco too so I’ve built up my own share of opinions on bicycles, commuting, and utility bicycling.

When I first started writing this post, I had thought I would craft a similar advice list discussing where I agreed/disagreed with jwz; however, as part of this is about upgrading my own bike I thought I’d create a list for intermediate level utility cyclists — which will be the focus of my next post.