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Off the Grid Special: Game Design 101

Scott Jon Siegel — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:55:00 EST

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column about card games, board games, and everything else non-digital.

For nearly two years now, Off the Grid has introduced (and reintroduced) Joystiq's readers to some of the best board and card games on the market. The relationship between our modern video games and their non-digital counterparts is very clear-cut. As Gamelab CEO Eric Zimmerman puts it: "a game is a game is a game."

So for those readers who aspire to create games of their own, it should come as no surprise that non-digital games are a great starting place for honing the craft of game design. With no programming skills required, non-digital game design is an easy way to begin thinking creatively about interaction, without the complicated prerequisities of digital game development.

The best leaping-off point for non-digital game design is with the tools. Most gamers probably already have some fantastic equipment in their closets. So let's look at the basic tools of the trade.

Off the Grid Special: Game Design 101 originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid reviews Power Grid

Scott Jon Siegel — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:30:00 EST

Filed under: Reviews, Strategy

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column about card games, board games, and everything else non-digital.

In real life, scarcity isn't fun. Scarcity is the rising price of gas, or the difficulty of finding a job. In a game, however, scarcity can be incredibly compelling, and make for a very unique play experience. Enter Power Grid, a board game by German designer Friedemann Friese which uses scarcity at every level of its design to produce one helluva strategy title.

The player's task in the game is to power as much of the country as possible (United States on one side of the board, or alternatively Germany on the other). As heads of various power companies (think Montgomery Burns or whoever runs PG&E), your tasks are to buy power plants, purchase resources, and allocate those resources to control as many houses in as many cities as possible. Money's not the deciding factor here; players will be judged and ranked solely on the amount of power they're pushing.

Continue reading Off the Grid reviews Power Grid

Off the Grid reviews Power Grid originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid: The new roommates

Scott Jon Siegel — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:30:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Casual

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column about card games, board games, and everything else non-digital.

One of the most exciting parts about moving to a new place is having new people to play with. One week ago I arrived in California, and moved in with my new roommate and his girlfriend. Jet-lagged, and achy from spending nearly twelve combined hours in airplanes and airports, I still excitedly busted out the board games from my luggage once I arrived at the apartment.

I unboxed Risk: Black Ops under the pretense of showing them how pretty it was. Realistically, I was prodding, waiting for one of the new roomies to say "cool, let's play!" They sure did think it was a nice-looking game, but neither said boo on the subject of playing. I packed it up and passed out.

Of course, over the past week I've learned that this was not merely a single case of cold feet. Compared to the relative ease of playing video games, or watching television or YouTube videos, or renting a film, playing a round of Carcassonne or Kill Doctor Lucky apparently just isn't worth the effort.

And thus, even with a small contingent of possible opponents living in the same space, it's still surprisingly difficult to get my game on.

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Off the Grid: The new roommates originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 01 May 2008 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid: Risk Black Ops and Hasbro's wrong direction

Scott Jon Siegel — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 08:30:00 EST

Filed under: Strategy

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column about card games, board games, and everything else non-digital.

Risk: Black Ops is one of the most beautiful board games you'll never play. In anticipation of the newly updated release of Risk, Hasbro produced only 1,000 copies of this special edition game, distributing them to bloggers, journos, and gaming hobby sites for perusal and easy publicity.

The response was unanimously positive. The updates to the rules -- handled by Risk 2010 designer Rob Daviau -- lower the game's initial barrier to entry, and make it possible to play through in under two hours (which is significant for Risk). Most media attention, however, was lavished on the slick, modern redesign, devised under the command of art director Lindsay Braun and visual designer Jason Taylor.

Risk has always wanted to be taken seriously, but Black Ops is the first version of the game to look deadly serious. A matte black finish on the box is accented by imagery of barbed wire, dog tags, and the faintest hint of blood spatter, all rendered in a subtle gray. "History is written by the victors," the box declares in a modest sans-serif font. The game board itself is designed to look like something out of our modern war-rooms, with a visual style not unlike Introversion's apocalyptic strategy game Defcon. This is not the Risk you remember.

Gallery: Risk: Black Ops

Continue reading Off the Grid: Risk Black Ops and Hasbro's wrong direction

Off the Grid: Risk Black Ops and Hasbro's wrong direction originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 18 Apr 2008 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid: Travel edition (part two)

Scott Jon Siegel — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 11:30:00 EST

Filed under: Features

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column about card games, board games, and everything else non-digital.

Last time we boarded a trans-continental flight, we discovered that non-digital gaming options for solo flyers were sorely limited. The feasible solution? Invent new games! Here are some (questionably) fun, single-player activities to occupy your time on those lengthy jaunts across the ocean.

The Newest Steward(ess)
Carefully watch the various flight attendants as they perform the synchronized pre-flight intstructional dance (you know, the one with the seatbelts and air masks). Try and spot the newest additon to the flight staff, based on which attendant is least in sync with the others. Bonus points if you eventually ask him/her how long he/she's been on the job.

What you win: A smug sense of self-satisfaction and superiority. Not to the mention the chance to flirt with a potentially cute flight attendant. Which is a game in and of itself.

Continue reading Off the Grid: Travel edition (part two)

Off the Grid: Travel edition (part two) originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 27 Mar 2008 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid: Gygaxian game design

Scott Jon Siegel — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Adventure, RPGs

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column about card games, board games, and everything else non-digital.

The passing of Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax means the passing of one of gaming's most notable and influential designers. The legacy of Gary Gygax, however, is more difficult to discern than most realize. After all, the evolution of D&D is credited to both Gygax and co-designer Dave Arneson -- not to mention Gygax's other games, both before and after the golden age of his company Tactical Studies Rules. So what kind of designer was Gary Gygax?

Gaming was already social when Gygax came on the scene. He was only one of a growing force of war-gamers. But it was Gygax that made gaming personal, with his own designs uniquely focused around the role of the individual. Instead of controlling the army, Gygax wanted to control the soldier. Instead of manning the fleet, Gygax wanted to man the ship.

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Off the Grid: Gygaxian game design originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 13 Mar 2008 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid: Le Festival des Jeux

Scott Jon Siegel — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column about card games, board games, and everything else non-digital.

Every May, the French Mediterranean city of Cannes hosts the world-famous Cannes Film Festival, centered around the beautiful ocean-side Palais des Festivals building. In February however, the Palais is home to another type of event: Le Festival international des Jeux, or the International Games Festival. As in non-digital games.

I had the good fortune to be living in France during this year's event, and took a day to walk the floors, snap some photos, and take in the atmosphere of a major event dedicated almost entirely to gaming off the grid.

Gallery: Le Festival des Jeux

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Off the Grid: Le Festival des Jeux originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid reviews Ghoulash

Scott Jon Siegel — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Reviews

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column about card games, board games, and everything else non-digital.

Last time on Off the Grid, we looked at the über-complicated Universal Fighting System. Attempting to ward off a headache, this week I've decided to look at Ghoulash, a dungeon-crawling 2-player paper game that doesn't do much in the strategy department, but makes up for it with easy-to-learn gameplay, and a stylish means of publication.

Ghoulash is best described as a pared down version of Dungeons and Dragons, where both players are DMing for each other. Game boards are sold in Ghoulash "Scenario Pack" magazines, each featuring three unique scenarios, with four copies each. Each scenario features a map of the 2D terrain, and special instructions on top of the basic rules. Both players use copies of the same map at the same time, making the game a race to see who can complete the objectives first.

Continue reading Off the Grid reviews Ghoulash

Off the Grid reviews Ghoulash originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 14 Feb 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid reviews Universal Fighting System

Scott Jon Siegel — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 18:30:00 EST

Filed under: Reviews, Fighting

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column about card games, board games, and everything else non-digital.

Chun Li versus Seung Mina; Nightmare versus Morrigan; Akuma versus Tycho Brahe: Ultimate showdowns we're likely never to see outside of crudely-written fan-fiction and our own fevered dreamings. Luckily for us, Sabertooth Games has devised the Universal Fighting System, a collectible card game that allows players to mix and match licensed decks to create legendary one-on-one battles.

There's one problem, or maybe I should call it a caveat: UFS isn't going to be for everybody. Beyond the gorgeous illustrations, and clear appeal to video game fans, this is most definitely a gamer's game; cards are littered with special icons, point values, and ancillary functions that dwarf the relative simplicity of CCGs like Magic: The Gathering and Pokémon. Of course, the reward for this technical complexity is depth, with an incredibly strategic experience waiting to be unlocked by the hardiest of players. Not to deter you, but let this be a warning: A casual card game this is not.

Continue reading Off the Grid reviews Universal Fighting System

Off the Grid reviews Universal Fighting System originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 31 Jan 2008 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid reviews Horse Fair Card Game

Scott Jon Siegel — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 16:58:00 EST

Filed under: Reviews

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column about card games, board games, and everything else non-digital.

We're not supposed to judge books by their covers, and the same can logically be applied to games. We are, however, supposed to judge books by their content -- the story, the writing, and everything else that falls between the first and last pages -- and here is where games are slightly different. While sharp writing, or a good story can often strengthen a non-digital game, ultimately it's the design that determines whether it's any good.

So yes, Custom Game Co's Horse Fair Card Game has a pretty bland cover. And yes, the story is pretty much explained by the title. And yes, it does come with plastic horsies. But the only thing that really matters is the gameplay, and there Horse Fair Card Game proves that it's a lot more than just a game for little girls.

Continue reading Off the Grid reviews Horse Fair Card Game

Off the Grid reviews Horse Fair Card Game originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 10 Jan 2008 16:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid: Long-distance gaming

Scott Jon Siegel — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Features, PC, Microsoft Xbox 360, Online

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column about card games, board games, and everything else non-digital.

"Non-digital games are awesome" is the line I usually insist upon in this column. But even awesome analog games have their faults: namely, if you don't have anyone to play with, you can't really play.

So, as an end-of-year treat, let's look back at the last year+ of games reviewed, and find some ways to play those suckers against some internet folk:

Settlers of Catan
I still haven't gotten around to reviewing Settlers, but I did chat with Brian Reynolds about the Xbox Live Arcade version of the game, which is probably the best bet for consistent, high-volume net play.

For those who don't have an Xbox 360 (like, well, me), Aso Brain Games hosts an unofficial, Java-based version of the game called Xplorers. After a free registration, the site allows users to player ranked and un-ranked versions against other users and bots, and features a number of expansion and additions to the base rules, which can be toggled on or off. Don't let the low-fi look of the site dissuade you; Xplorers is a well-put-together Settlers clone, with a solid interface and a consistent number of users online at any time.

Continue reading Off the Grid: Long-distance gaming

Off the Grid: Long-distance gaming originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 27 Dec 2007 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid reviews It's Alive!

Scott Jon Siegel — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 09:30:00 EST

Filed under: Reviews, Strategy

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column about card games, board games, and everything else non-digital.

Oddly enough, it's a very appropriate time to review designer Yehuda Berlinger's debut game. In its original incarnation, It's Alive! was a Chanukah-themed title known as The Menorah Game. Upon being picked up by publisher Reiver Games, however, the theme was changed to something a bit more universal: building monsters from the remains of the dead.

Aside from the bizarre re-skinning, It's Alive! remains mechanically identical to its holiday-oriented ancestor. Two to five players compete to be the first to assemble their monster by collecting the eight different types of body parts required. It used to be candles, and now it's body parts. A simple transition.

More than just a monster game, It's Alive! is hand-published by Reiver Games, with care and attention given to the game's presentation. From the stellar illustrations, to the individually-numbered editions, It's Alive! embodies the indie aesthetic of non-digital games, and that alone is most definitely worth something.

Continue reading Off the Grid reviews It's Alive!

Off the Grid reviews It's Alive! originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 13 Dec 2007 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid reviews Ticket to Ride

Scott Jon Siegel — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:50:00 EST

Filed under: Reviews

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column about card games, board games, and everything else non-digital.

Alan R. Moon's Ticket to Ride is widely considered to be one of the greatest board games of the last decade, but the reason for this may elude players at first. After all, Ticket to Ride is deceptively simplistic, with a weak fiction to justify a gameplay mechanic that's little more than connecting dots on a board. Players who invest in the experience, however, can quickly find that Moon's award-winning game is greater than the sum of its parts.

The original version of Ticket to Ride takes place in North America at the turn of the 20th century. Players compete to travel around the U.S. (and parts of Canada), claiming various train routes between cities in order to earn points. The game would like you to believe that it's a grand race across the country; even the back of the box states that the objective is to travel to the most cities by train in just 7 days. Unfortunately, the rules and gameplay don't really justify this grandiose storyline.

Continue reading Off the Grid reviews Ticket to Ride

Off the Grid reviews Ticket to Ride originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid reviews Zombie Fluxx

Scott Jon Siegel — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 12:15:00 EST

Filed under: Reviews

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column about card games, board games, and everything else non-digital.

I'm a little late for Halloween, but that shouldn't mean I have to miss out on all the spooky fun. Luckily, Looney Labs have sent along Zombie Fluxx, a standalone expansion to their ever-popular card game with the ever-changing rules.

Zombie Fluxx isn't just a clever re-skinning of the original, but rather a new set of rules and cards built on to the existing mechanics. The base game remains the same: 2-6 players amend and append the game's starting rules, while attempting to win by collecting Keepers to meet the conditions of the goal, which is constantly in a state of, well, you know.

This time around, Looney Labs have included some new mechanics to spice up the gameplay. Zombies enter the fray as "Creeper" cards. Unlike the helpful Keepers the Creepers can actually prevent players from winning, as some goals dictate that a player needs to be zombie-free to claim victory. Unlike all other cards, Creepers go immediately into play once drawn, rather than into the player's hand, making every draw from the deck a possible immediate zombie encounter.

Continue reading Off the Grid reviews Zombie Fluxx

Off the Grid reviews Zombie Fluxx originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 15 Nov 2007 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid: Out of country (part two)

Scott Jon Siegel — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 17:29:00 EST

Filed under: Mac, Peripherals

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column normally about gaming away from the television screen or monitor.

I got a lot of interesting comments in response to last week's piece on gaming while abroad. More people empathized with my situation than I had originally expected, and had their own unique solutions to the problem.

Overwhelmingly, most expat gamers seem to rely on portables to keep playing games internationally. Some gamers took the full dive and purchased new consoles for their new region. Still others suggested using VGA cables and computer monitors, or reminded me that most modern televisions sold in Europe support NTSC signals, nullifying the problem entirely.

But I'm not going to buy a television, because they're bulky and I don't feel like it. Instead, I invested in a tiny, tiny piece of hardware that lets me play my console games on my laptop. It's called the Elgato EyeTV Hybrid and, irony of ironies, it's for Macs only.

Continue reading Off the Grid: Out of country (part two)

Off the Grid: Out of country (part two) originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 25 Oct 2007 17:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid: Out of country

Scott Jon Siegel — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:20:00 EST

Filed under: Nintendo DS, Sony PlayStation 2, Nintendo Wii

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column normally about gaming away from the television screen or monitor.

I'm breaking from tradition to answer a nagging question: What happens to a gamer when he moves to another country?

And I'm not talking about board and card games here. I'm talking about the console and portable gamers. In the face of voltage conversions, video signals, and region-locking, how does an invested gamer stay on the grid?

I ask the question because I went through this same problem very recently. Two weeks ago, I made the move from the east coast of the United States to the south of France. Being invested in games not only casually, but professionally, I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to bring along my consoles, and therefore be out of the gaming loop for the entirety of my European residency.

Luckily, however, I was able to devise a feasible solution, and my American-born consoles have been operating overseas without any problems. So, waving a temporary bye-bye to the non-digital gaming focus of this column, I'd like to share my recipe for international gaming success.

Continue reading Off the Grid: Out of country

Off the Grid: Out of country originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid: Travel edition

Scott Jon Siegel — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 12:20:00 EST

Filed under: Portable

Returning from hiatus, Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column on gaming away from the television screen or monitor.

What happens to a gamer when he moves out of the country? Well, for one, he loses his group of gamer buddies -- the people he could call up to come over and play a cool new card game or board game with him.

He also loses a lot of his games; those hefty Carcassonne and RoboRally boxes are a bit too big to fit in his already-stuffed luggage.

But before he arrives in his new country of residence, our traveling gamer first has to get on a plane, prepared for many, many hours of recycled air and the same crappy film over and over again. What's our gamer to do?

Well, if he's smart, pull out his DS or PSP. But if our gamer is trying to keep it off the grid, or if he forgot his portable, then it might be time for some travel-sized game choices. It's a good thing he reads Off the Grid, huh?

Continue reading Off the Grid: Travel edition

Off the Grid: Travel edition originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 11 Oct 2007 12:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid reviews Chrononauts

Scott Jon Siegel — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 13:25:00 EST

Filed under: Reviews, Strategy

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column on gaming away from the television screen or monitor.

Looney Labs -- makers of Fluxx and those bizarre Icehouse pieces -- are once again in their element with Chrononauts, a time-traveling card game that is almost too clever to work. Almost.

Unlike other games, it's the complexity of Chrononauts that saves it from mediocrity. With a heady central "timeline" mechanic, and a 44-page booklet of rules that reads like an operations manual for the Flux Capacitor, it would be pretty easy for the crunchy game to fold under the weight of its own ambition. Luckily for Looney, time travel was never meant to be easy, and it's too damn fun hopping through history to allow a little bit of complexity to get in the way.

Continue reading Off the Grid reviews Chrononauts

Off the Grid reviews Chrononauts originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 23 Aug 2007 13:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid: Franchises, classics, and homogeny

Scott Jon Siegel — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 17:25:00 EST

Filed under: Culture

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column on gaming away from the television screen or monitor.

Oh Barnes & Noble, what happened to you? Less than a year ago, your halls were flush with all the greatest board games, in honor of National Games Week. You carried Carcassonne. You sold Settlers of Catan. You retailed Robo Rally. Now, any semblance of that respect for the non-digital medium has gone out the window. Pictured above, witness the horror that is the Barnes & Noble "board game" selection.

The larger Barnes and Noble locations have always been more than happy to stock a few shelves with board games. The problem is that they're wary to stray from what will absolutely, positively sell. The result is an odd mix of familiar faces: Monopoly, Sorry!, Scrabble, Life, but also Spiderman, Transformers, Shrek, Friends, Grey's Anatomy. It's the worst kind of franchising: the kind that leads to an utter homogeny. It's clear that Barnes & Noble needs a gaming enema. Let's dig a little deeper to figure out hot to do it.

Continue reading Off the Grid: Franchises, classics, and homogeny

Off the Grid: Franchises, classics, and homogeny originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 09 Aug 2007 17:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid plays with Icehouse

Scott Jon Siegel — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 13:24:00 EST

Filed under: Reviews, Puzzle

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column on gaming away from the television screen or monitor.

Just so we're clear, Icehouse isn't a game. Well, technically that's not true. Icehouse was a game, designed by John Cooper of Looney Labs in the late 80s. Now, Looney Labs uses the term "Icehouse" to refer to unique pyramidal game pieces invented by Andrew Looney to play that game. So to call this a review of Icehouse wouldn't be inaccurate. Except we're not reviewing the game today; we're reviewing those pointy pieces.

From the same people that brought us Fluxx, the Icehouse pyramids are small, plastic, stackable pawns grouped in sets of three from largest to smallest. Each set of three can be nested like russian dolls -- with one inside another inside another -- or they can be stacked in inverse order, making adorable little christmas tree formations. The pieces have a unique aesthetic for gaming, but looks can only get you so far. What really matters is how they play, and that depends on the game.

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Off the Grid plays with Icehouse originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 30 Jul 2007 13:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid interviews Cheapass Games' James Ernest

Scott Jon Siegel — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 10:28:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Portable, Wireless, Strategy, Interviews

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column on gaming away from the television screen or monitor.

We've been paying a lot of attention to James Ernest over the past few weeks. As the founder, president, and lead game designer at Cheapass Games, he's responsible for a slew of analog games, including Diceland, Enemy Chocolatier, Kill Doctor Lucky, and many others. Despite his busy schedule, Ernest was able to answer a few questions for Off the Grid, and allow us to pick his brain on a variety of topics.

Let's talk a bit about your history. How did you start doing game design? What brought you into the field?

There's probably a fine line between "designing" and "making up" games. I've been making them up forever. In high school I actually designed a chess variant as a key plot element in a fantasy novel. It's not so much a chess variant as a "game you can play with chess pieces," since all the pieces have different moves and different names. I was so interested in making sure the game worked that I spent most of my time testing the game, and not much time working on the novel. I eventually published the game as "Tishai" through Cheapass Games, first as a stand-alone title and later as part of a Chief Herman collection. The novel is, well, pretty much nowhere.

From what I understand, you left Magic: The Gathering publisher Wizards of the Coast to start Cheapass Games. What sort of work were you doing at Wizards, and what prompted the change?

I did work for Wizards of the Coast in various jobs from 1993-1995, but it was never the job I wanted. There was a round of layoffs in 1995 and I volunteered to be among them. At that point I'd designed one CCG that Wizards had optioned (they never published it), and I was building up a collection of original games that I was pretty sure I'd never sell, either to Wizards or anyone else. So I took some of those games and a couple of new ones, and started Cheapass Games in 1996.

Continue reading Off the Grid interviews Cheapass Games' James Ernest

Off the Grid interviews Cheapass Games' James Ernest originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 16 Jul 2007 10:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid reviews Diceland

Scott Jon Siegel — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 11:46:00 EST

Filed under: Reviews, Strategy

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column on gaming away from the television screen or monitor.

Continuing our love-fest with the games of James Ernest (we'll be moving on to other designers soon, I promise), we've come to Diceland, a unique two-player tabletop title that's been the opening game of every PAX Omegathon thus far. So, you know, it must be doing something right.

What makes Diceland so unique is its game pieces: large, eight-sided paper dice that the players assemble themselves. In the standard game, players select a team of five dice, each representing a different character. Rather than play cards or position miniatures, the placement of characters is accomplished by literally rolling them onto the table; where they land is where they are. From there, players take turns repositioning dice, rolling new ones, or aiming to take out their opponent's. Points are scored for each defeated enemy die, and first to 50 points wins.

Continue reading Off the Grid reviews Diceland

Off the Grid reviews Diceland originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 29 Jun 2007 11:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid reviews Enemy Chocolatier

Scott Jon Siegel — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 11:20:00 EST

Filed under: Features, Reviews

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column on gaming away from the television screen or monitor.

I never wanted to be a candyman. Gene Wilder's take on the role of confectionaire extraordinaire gave me the shakes, and Johnny Depp's recent attempt at the part just gave me a migraine. After playing Cheapass Games' Enemy Chocolatier, however, I feel a new sense of respect for the sweetest industry in the world. Just no Oompa-Loompas for me, thanks.

Enemy Chocolatier is a strategic board game of urban planning and secret recipes. Two-to-eight players act as rivals to the world's most beloved candy-maker, and take turns buying up property around the boss-man's factory in order to accrue the favor of the town's population, as well as the ingredients necessary to make the next big thing in sweets.

The game succeeds in being easy-to-learn, and pretty fun to play, but ultimately falls short due to an extensive list of required materials, and a runaway game mechanic that upends the level playing field in no time.

Continue reading Off the Grid reviews Enemy Chocolatier

Off the Grid reviews Enemy Chocolatier originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 14 Jun 2007 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid reviews Give me the Brain!

Scott Jon Siegel — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 09:58:00 EST

Filed under: Reviews

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column on gaming away from the television screen or monitor.

James Ernest's games are nothing if not creative. Give me the Brain!, from way back in 1997, is a card game set in a fast-food joint, which just happens to exclusively employ zombies. Oh yes.

Each player acts as one such undead employee, as all players compete to be the first flesh-muncher to leave at the end of the workday. At first glance, it's a simple card game concept: the first player with no cards remaining is the winner. The catch is the brain -- there's only one of them between all of the players, and you're going to need it to get a lot of the jobs done.

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Off the Grid reviews Give me the Brain! originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 01 Jun 2007 09:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid reviews some Cheapass Games

Scott Jon Siegel — Thu, 17 May 2007 16:55:00 EST

Filed under: Portable, Reviews

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column on gaming away from the television screen or monitor.

As a consumer, my biggest gripe with games like RoboRally and Carcassonne is the price of admission. Non-digital games often depend on the "shiny" factor to get them off of retail shelves, and we the buyers end up paying more for the boards, bits, and boxes than we do for the rules themselves.

Thankfully, game designer James Ernest perceived this problem in 1996 when he founded Cheapass Games, a tiny little non-digital developer which emphasizes design over dazzle, and encourages players to root through their old games for pieces, rather than paying time and again for identical dice, tokens, etc.

In the spirit of minimalism, I'm going to review three of Cheapass's "Hip Pocket Games" -- The Very Clever Pipe Game, The Big Cheese, and Light Speed -- which range in price from $3 USD all the way up to five.

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Off the Grid reviews some Cheapass Games originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 17 May 2007 16:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid reads McKenzie Wark's Gamer Theory

Scott Jon Siegel — Mon, 07 May 2007 09:15:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Features, Reviews

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column on gaming away from the television screen or monitor.

In the spirit of the book - and of Off the Grid's focus on the disparities between digital and non-digital formats - I'm going to concentrate less on the content of McKenzie Wark's Gamer Theory, and more on the differences between its web-based and treeware versions. Marshall McLuhan would be proud.

Wark - a writer, scholar, and academic - first published GAM3R 7H30RY in 2006. The text, produced with the Brooklyn-based Institute for the Future of the Book, appeared as a specially-designed, collaborative website. Divided into chapters, with each chapter divided into notecard-like sections, the "book" encouraged its readers to leave comments/criticisms on the material covered. Once moderated, comments would then appear alongside the sections. The site itself is beautifully designed, and allows users easy access to any of the 225 pages of content within three intuitive clicks of the mouse.

After collecting enough comments and feedback, Wark and the IFB closed down the response-system for GAM3R 7H30RY Version 1.1. In mid-April, they introduced Version 2.0, now called Gamer Theory, alongside a non-digital book of the same name, published IRL by Harvard University Press.

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Off the Grid reads McKenzie Wark's Gamer Theory originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 07 May 2007 09:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid reviews Fluxx

Scott Jon Siegel — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 15:30:00 EST

Filed under: Portable, Reviews, Wireless, Strategy

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column on gaming away from the television screen or monitor.

Rules are awesome. If you're a fan of games, this is an inescapable truth for you. Every game you play is comprised of a set of rules, ranging from elementary to near-incomprehensible. If it's a digital game, the rules are there; you just can't see most of them. If it's an analog game, though, it becomes your job as a player to know the rules. How else are you supposed to play?

Certain clever game designers have recognized the sheer importance of rules in game design, and have even recognized design itself as a sort of game. The result is games that are about rules - games that make and break their own rules as they're played. The most well-known of these rule-based games is Richard Garfield's Magic: The Gathering. But we're not dealing with that right now.

The most accessible of these rule-based games, however, is a little family game called Fluxx, designed by self-proclaimed hippy Andy Looney over at Looney Labs.

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Off the Grid reviews Fluxx originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 19 Apr 2007 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid reviews RoboRally

Scott Jon Siegel — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 11:58:00 EST

Filed under: Reviews, Strategy

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column on gaming away from the television screen or monitor.

In 1992, Richard Garfield met with a new company called Wizards of the Coast in order to get them to publish a board game he designed with Mike Davis. They liked what they saw, but at the time they weren't interested in board games; they wanted something more portable, a game that "would go over well at conventions." For this, Garfield revisited a card game he'd first designed in the early 80's.

The card game became the phenomenally successful Magic: The Gathering, but we're not dealing with that right now. A year after Magic first hit the shelves of hobby stores, Wizards of the Coast published Garfield's clever board game about robots: RoboRally.

The premise is simple enough to be appealing. A factory's computer reprograms its robotic workers during after-hours to have a little fun. Robots compete against each other to capture flags placed around the factory, while avoiding hazards like pits and lasers, and each other. Sounds like fun? Well, it is. Eventually.

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Off the Grid reviews RoboRally originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 05 Apr 2007 11:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid: I was a student scholar

Scott Jon Siegel — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 13:45:00 EST

Filed under: Features, GDC

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column on gaming away from the television screen or monitor.

Since I couldn't find anyone to play Robo Rally with me this week, I thought I'd take this opportunity to instead discuss my experience as one of the IGDA's Student Scholars at this year's Game Developers Conference.

For the past seven years, the International Game Developers Association has been sending students interested in a future career in video games to GDC. A panel of professional game developers judges all the submitted applications, and each year 25 students are selected to receive free passes to the event. Each student is also paired with an industry mentor, and all the scholars are given an orientation session for the conference, and a tour of a local studio. I was honored to have been chosen as one of this year's student scholars, and found my first GDC experience to be all the more worthwhile as a result.

The three-day conference started on Wednesday, so Tuesday morning we met as a group for a special orientation session. A few of the scholars had already met up the previous night, as part of an unofficial pre-GDC get-together. Some of the student scholars were undergrads, but others were graduate students, and the group ranged widely in age. The disciplines and interests of the students varied widely as well, with artists, designers, coders, and audiophiles all equally represented. Part of our orientation had to do with simply meeting each other, exchanging business cards and conversing with peers who might very well be industry bigwigs in a few years; some of them just give off that vibe.

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Off the Grid: I was a student scholar originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 23 Mar 2007 13:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid: The Metagame at GDC

Scott Jon Siegel — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 15:34:00 EST

Filed under: Features, GDC

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column on gaming away from the television screen or monitor.

On the final day of the 2007 Game Developers Conference, Gamelab's Eric Zimmerman and area/code's Frank Lantz organized a one-hour presentation on a unique game concept they'd been developing. Dubbed "a battle of videogame smarts," the Metagame challenged both its participants and the audience to engage in discussion revolving around their favorite games of the last thirty years.

Two teams, comprised of well-established industry personalities, made their way around the virtual game board, attempting to qualify statements such as "Lemmings is more strategic than Civilization 3," and "Guitar Hero is more culturally sophisticated than Parappa the Rapper."

The red team consisted of game designer Jonathan Blow, industry veteran Warren Spector, and Tracy Fullerton, currently an assistant professor at the university of Southern California's Interactive Media Division. The blue team was made up of ludologist and videogame theorist Jesper Juul, Ubisoft lead designer Clint Hocking, and game designer and industry veteran Marc LeBlanc.

During a turn, each team moves its piece on a projected board; a web of classic games like Doom, Zork, Myst, and more contemporary titles like Rez and World of Warcraft. Each space represents a particular game, and the space that the one team lands on creates a comparative statement with the second team's space, formed by cards like "has better audio than" and "is more violent than" on a second projected screen.

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Off the Grid: The Metagame at GDC originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 09 Mar 2007 15:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Joystiq interviews BHG, Catan in March

Richard Mitchell — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: News

In Joystiq's Off the Grid feature, Scott Jon Siegel recently interviewed Brian Reynolds of Big Huge Games. Big Huge Games, as 360 Fanboy readers know, is the developer of the upcoming Xbox Live Arcade title, Catan. The interview focuses on the challenges of bringing the classic board game to Xbox Live Arcade (and the process of computerizing it in general). Reynolds speaks about creating challenging AI and streamlining the interface so that players aren't drowning in information. The last tidbit, probably the one most of you will be looking for, is that Big Huge Games recently sent what they hope to be the final build of Catan to Microsoft. Assuming it makes it through the Dreaded Certification Process(R), we could be playing Catan in mid-to-late March. Hit the "read" link for the full interview (including lots of development photos).

Joystiq interviews BHG, Catan in March originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 22 Feb 2007 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid interviews Brian Reynolds of Big Huge Games

Scott Jon Siegel — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Online, Strategy, Interviews

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column on gaming away from the television screen or monitor.

Big Huge Games, the developer behind the acclaimed Rise of Nations series, recently made a splash on the internet with the announcement that they were bringing the board game Settlers of Catan to Xbox Live Arcade. It's news that even palpitated the steel heart of Penny Arcade's Tycho, and for damn good reason.

I recently had a chance to discuss Catan with Brian Reynolds, CEO and creative director of Big Huge Games. Reynolds talks at length about the difficult process of adapting such an esteemed title, touching upon issues like designing challenging computer opponents, mapping moves and menus to the 360 controller, and tweaking Catan's refined rules for ranked and non-ranked matches on Xbox Live. It's all here. And we've got photos too!

Let's talk about how Catan Live was born. Who went to who with the idea? Did Big Huge Games want to make Catan for XBLA, or did Microsoft want Big Huge Games to make Catan?

It was actually Microsoft who approached us - last spring I had no idea the project possibility even existed, but Microsoft was looking for developers to bring "Euro" board games to XBLA, and they came to us early in the process. Obviously once we knew about the project we were very excited.

So you were tasked with porting a renowned analog title to a digital platform. Where do you begin? What was the absolute first step in designing?

Wow, the very first step? In the rulebook for the board game, there are some black-and-white diagrams of the mapboard. I took one of those and xeroxed it up to the size of a full page, and then used it to create a system for numbering the hex tiles, the corners of the tiles, and the edges of the tiles that would be easy for the computer to deal with. Because one of my two initial concerns was whether we'd be able to make a decent A.I. for the computer player, so I started right in on some basic A.I. and rules coding, since I didn't need much graphics work to be done to start working on that.

The word is that Klaus Teuber had a hand in the project. What did he bring to the development process?

Yes, he was instrumental in helping us create the A.I. for the game. It turns out that over the years since designing the original board game, Klaus Teuber has always wanted to have a strong computer player, and so he had put a lot of thought into what the proper strategies and tactics were, and formulas that would be useful for helping a computer player evaluate choices. Of course he'd never had a chance to bring these into play, because the developers of previous versions of the game either didn't have time to do a full treatment of his ideas, or else decided to try their own approach altogether. So he had these Excel spreadsheets full of formulae, plus a nice write-up he'd done. Being an old-time A.I. guy, I looked at these and saw gold: here was somebody (the designer of the game no less) who'd already done the legwork of collecting the tactical situations and strategies, and even done some of the work of creating algorithms to choose between them. So I was able to blast through all of that stuff in a few weeks, and use most of my time refining the really high-end game for the expert players. The result... a much stronger opponent at the top level!

Gallery: Catan (XBLA)

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Off the Grid interviews Brian Reynolds of Big Huge Games originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 22 Feb 2007 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid reviews Pink Godzilla Dev Kit

Scott Jon Siegel — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 17:15:00 EST

Filed under: Features, Reviews, Simulations, Strategy

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column on gaming away from the television screen or monitor.

This game was clearly made for me. An analog game about developing digital games? It's like they were listening to my dreams.

The "they" in this case is Pink Godzilla Games, a hip little video game store based in Seattle. Although their current claim to fame is a ping pong tournament against the Penny Arcade boys, they've also recently gotten into the analog game business. At PAX 2006, they debuted the beta version of the Pink Godzilla Dev Kit, a full-color card game designed by attorney(!) Christopher Rao. It's all about creating video games, and the creators have certainly done their homework when it comes to appealing to the gamer crowd. In-jokes and references abound in this strategy title about everyone's favorite fantasy job.

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Off the Grid reviews Pink Godzilla Dev Kit originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 08 Feb 2007 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid: Set and un-fun gaming

Scott Jon Siegel — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 19:25:00 EST

Filed under: Reviews, Puzzle

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column on gaming away from the television screen or monitor.

The card game Set has been around since 1991, but I only learned about it recently. During a recent trip to Israel, a friend introduced me to the game. He was surprised that I hadn't heard of it, so I asked him the logical question: "Is it any good?"

His answer: "It's not very fun, but it's good."

...Eh?

I must have missed something. For me, a game being "good" is all about it being "fun." I believed my friend to be mistaken in one of two ways: either the game is fun and he just had poor taste, or it wasn't good, and he still had poor taste (sorry, Daniel).

Set's biggest claim to fame is its association with Mensa International, a society exclusively for people with high IQs. In 1991, Mensa chose Set as one of their top five games of the year, and it's been riding that honor ever since. At heart, Set is a matching game, where players have to create sets of three cards, where attributes of each card must either agree or disagree completely with the other two. Trust me, it's harder than it sounds.

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Off the Grid: Set and un-fun gaming originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 25 Jan 2007 19:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid: Scrabble and the elusive letter "Q"

Bonnie Ruberg — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 11:58:00 EST

Filed under: Features

This week, Bonnie Ruberg contributes to Off the Grid, Scott Jon Siegel's column on gaming away from the television screen or monitor.

Scrabble is not a sexy game. When you think of Scrabble, what do you see? Family gatherings at your Aunt Mae's spent quibbling over proper nouns? Conventions of blue-haired grandmothers and smarty-pants girls in braces, all clutching their Scrabble dictionaries? Maybe Scrabble deserves its homely image, after all -- as board games go -- it's pretty dull-looking. No bright colors, no "some assembly required" three-dimensional terrain, not even the satisfaction of a tiny, silver boot for a game piece. Just words. Words, words, and more words.

Scrabble may look, sound, heck, possibly even smell dorky, but when have gamers ever been afraid of a little dork-dom? I say, embrace your inner word dork. Okay, maybe I'm just a word dork. But if Scott had asked me, instead of all those games-industry leaders, what my favorite analog game was a few weeks back, it definitely would have been Scrabble.

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Off the Grid: Scrabble and the elusive letter "Q" originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 18 Jan 2007 11:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid: ... and on again

Scott Jon Siegel — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 14:56:00 EST

Filed under: Features

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column on gaming away from the television screen or monitor.

I adore analog games. I respect them for their design; I envy them for their relative simplicity; I've even enjoyed playing them, on the several occasions when I've convinced my peers to forego Counterstrike for Carcassonne, Legend of Zelda for LCR.

But try as I might, I can't seem to stay off the grid.

With regards to Joystiq, I feel as though I've made a poor role model. Here I am, writing biweekly columns in advocacy of a non-digital lifestyle and I so often, in my own personal gaming, turn to the Wii or DS instead of a collective game of Fluxx or Kill Doctor Lucky. I'm effectively evangelizing for a religion that I myself do not practice.

So what's the problem here? Is there even a problem? Should I consider rehabilitation, or is there something video games offer me that analog games simply can't?

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Off the Grid: ... and on again originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 28 Dec 2006 14:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid: Hacking LCR

Scott Jon Siegel — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 13:25:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Hacks

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column on gaming away from the television screen or monitor.

Don't be surprised if you haven't heard of LCR. My exposure to the game came from my brother, who was presented with a copy -- along with everyone else in the studio audience -- as part of Rachel Ray's Thanksgiving special a few weeks back. It was one of four token gifts handed out to audience members before the über-surprise -- brand new cellphones for everyone! -- was announced. Having no need for what he quickly dismissed as "Dreidel with dice," my brother passed the game along to me.

LCR comes packaged in a clear plastic tube, containing two-dozen red plastic chips, three special LCR dice, and a small one-sided sheet of paper with the rules. The packaging describes it as "the new game that everyone's getting hooked on." It looked modest enough, but its purported popularity certainly piqued my interest.

Am I endorsing LCR? It's certainly not on par with classics like Settlers of Catan, or even cultural mainstays like Life or Monopoly. But no game is without potential. By itself, LCR may be dull, but the smallest twist, tweak, or hack can breathe life into even the stalest gameplay experience.

The rules for LCR are basic enough, calling for a minimum of three players to be seated in a circle. Each player is given three chips to start. During his/her turn, a player rolls all three LCR dice. For every 'L' rolled, the player passes a chip to the left. For every 'R,' a chip to the right. For each 'C,' a player adds a chip to the center pot. The three sides of the dice with dots on them do nothing. Play continues in one direction until only one player has any chips left. If a player has no chips left, that player is still in the game, but does not roll dice during his/her turn. A player with two chips rolls only two dice, and a player with only one chip rolls one die. The last player with chips remaining wins the game.

The notable upside to these rules is that nobody in the game gets eliminated. Even if you're out of chips, you could be back in the game easily if the adjacent players roll an 'L' or 'R' in your favor. The downside, however, is that gameplay is completely based on chance, and skill has no part in it whatsoever. The unpredictability might make LCR fun for the first few rounds, but where do you go from there?

Well, for starters, you turn to gambling and booze.

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Off the Grid: Hacking LCR originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 07 Dec 2006 13:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid: Thanksgiving edition (or industry favorites)

Scott Jon Siegel — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Features

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column on gaming away from the television screen or monitor.

Between the launches of the PS3 and the Nintendo Wii, we're just about up to our ears in digital game coverage. So I've taken it upon myself to balance things out a bit with some analog lovin'. Fail to secure the hottest consoles on their launch dates? Looking for something a little less expensive to get you through the week? Or are you just jonesing for something other than Zelda? No need to worry; Off the Grid's got you covered.

This week, in honor of Thanksgiving in the States (ok, not really), I've asked a few developers and industry personalities what their favorite non-digital games are. Like a great big turkey dinner with your relatives, let's dispense with the formalities and just dive right in.

At present, it's probably Alan Moon's TICKET TO RIDE, a railroad game. Multiplayer, simple rules set but with surprising strategic complexity, playable in less than an hour, and sufficient randomness that games are not monotonously similar, but not so much that luck overwhelms the better players. I first played it in a wood-stove-heated country house in the depths of a Finnish winter night, but these days play it more often with my kids.
-- Greg Costikyan, Manifesto Games

My GO anecdote is actually stolen from Mahk LeBlanc, ex-Looking Glass guy. Mahk said that when the aliens finally land, and we learn to communicate with them, and then we describe Go, they'll reply, "oh yeah, we have that game". It's the uber game. Most complexity and subtlety and beauty from fewest rules. It will never be bested.

After that, it's a long way down, but maybe Sid Sackson's DOMINATION?
-- Chris Hecker, EA/Maxis

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Off the Grid: Thanksgiving edition (or industry favorites) originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 23 Nov 2006 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid: Carcassonne review

Scott Jon Siegel — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 11:50:00 EST

Filed under: Reviews, Strategy

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column on gaming away from the television screen or monitor.

From time to time, I'll be reviewing analog games here on Joystiq. I'm starting with Klaus-Jürgen Wrede's Carcassonne, a German board game which came out in 2000 and is already considered a classic of the genre.

If you're already a fan of Carcassonne, there's not going to be any new information here for you. You already know that it's a deceptively simple game, and great fun to play with a few of your friends. This review's more for the unenlightened, and maybe even those few souls who remain unconvinced that board games can be fun ... even ones that are coming to Xbox Live Arcade.

Carcassonne takes its name from the fortified city in southern France, famous for its strategic location and oft-conquered land. The game focuses on developing the land around Carcassonne, as each player vies for control of roads, farms, cities and cloisters.

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Off the Grid: Carcassonne review originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 09 Nov 2006 11:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Off the Grid: The analog analogues

Scott Jon Siegel — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 14:50:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Features, Retro, Strategy

Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column on gaming away from the television screen or monitor.

Adaptation is an ugly word in the video game industry. Whether we're talking about film adaptations of our beloved franchises, or mediocre game adaptations of blockbuster movies, we as consumers grow reluctant whenever we see a familiar name in an unfamiliar format.

But adaptation doesn't always end in tears. With their strict attention to detail, many board game designers have successfully moved the best elements from novels and video games to the analog format. What follows are three examples of this transition, in no particular order. Let's get right to it.

Doom
In January of 2005, Fantasy Flight Games worked with designer Kevin Wilson to release a board game iteration of everyone's favorite first-person controversy magnet. Doom: The Board Game -- which apparently bears an uncanny resemblance to 1990's Space Hulk -- pits space marines against space demons, in any number of to-the-death scenarios ... in space.

The game board consists of a number of interlocking corridors, rooms, walls and doors. The board can be assembled to create one of the game's pre-designed scenarios, or customized to fit the specific desires of the players. In every scenario, up to three space marines must work their way through the labyrinthian Mars base, completing specific objectives while fighting off hordes of evil invaders. One player will always play as the invaders, who must work against the marines and attempt to foil their objectives.

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Off the Grid: The analog analogues originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 26 Oct 2006 14:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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