xofour wrote:
I just thought of another rules clarification question. How does the playing of a game within 3 months work? Does playing have to be with other people?
Not necessarily. If a game can be played single-player because, well, it can, without doing funky things like playing as a second player or bluffing as a second player or entirely changing the goal of the game, then I count that as a game played.
Many wargames, in fact, have solitaire rules, and Heroscape even has a solitaire variant developed unofficially, but which still preserves the spirit of the game. Most, if not all, adventure games can also be played solitaire, and sometimes they are even best played solitaire (I think Return of the Heroes and its associated expansions/stand-alones are like this). And games that live and die on puzzles are also playable solitaire---Ubongo and Take it Easy/Take it to the Limit are a couple exmaples.
There exist solitaire versions of Carcassonne, in fact, but I tend not to count them since a major element does not exist in them---scoring via meeples, and turns it into a mere connection puzzle game.
If you buy a game and and still play it online, I also count that as having played the game. 'Cause you have, and now you are cementing a relationship with it.
Plus sometimes turn by turn games are best recorded on an actual physical copy, like T&E or Reef Encounter, even turn by turn Go, if you have a spare table and no cats or other limber pets. And if you play with other people's copies, that still counts as a play even if you bought the game.
Quote:
And yet, if we are too be Iron Gamers, we should play with other people, after all that is the point of games isn't it?
Definitely the point of many games. Although many people also take the point of games as a chance to study particular problems they enjoy, similar to the atmosphere of Go or Chess, except it's Puerto Rico or Dungeon Twister or even BattleLore, but even that has a play-another-person element.
I will add the ruling to the FAQ sometime later in the week. Also I will add Jon's additional negative points, which is that every three months that a game remains unplayed, you get -1 point. You don't get negative points though after your first play of the game; so I could neglect to play Midgard until April, and I would only get one negative points.
Playing at conventions or mini-conventions is a great way to rack up plays.
Too bad BGG.con happens so late in the year, but it means you need to think even harder about your purchases.
Expansions bought must of course be played/combined with the parent game at some point.
I personally have a tendency to buy "I just should buy it" games, such as Shogun and Age of Steam plus various expansions, even though realistically speaking I'm probably not going to get it to the table for a couple years, and a good chance of "never at all"! Bad, bad Bilbo.
I even bought Medici vs. Strozzi even though I didn't like it at BGG.con and nobody I know likes even the sound of it here. That was just sad....
Posted Sun Jan 7,2007 07:46 pm
