Barnes’ Best 2018 - Games of the Year (yawn)

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Nice list, and a pleasure to read. And the revamp of the site is amazing! Props to all on such a great user experience (and great content)!

Another good annual review Mr Barnes (yawn ), finding the essence of a game is getting to be a habit. Unfortunately most of them are types of games (from regular chatter ... and your precis of them) I would not be that interested in playing let alone buying.
Perhaps we need a Grammys sort of GotY where different categories get their own nominations and winners - and, please, no clever 'design/mechanic' but just a game that is fun to play.
Looking forward to the oncoming year on the site, as usual.

I agree Root will be influential in the coming years, Unlike Barnes, I am looking forward to the hundreds of clones and spin-offs coming up. I expect most will be crap, but one will eventually better the concept of a battle royale between different games. In Root, I didn’t enjoy the rather dull factions as much as I enjoyed the interplay between players. Root works for me as a structure, and it’s level of asymmetry is a brilliant breakthrough. But as Mage Knight hit a home run with the concept of Dominion for me, I’ll wait for the slugger to step up to plate.

Yellow and Yangtze may be the game of the year which has the most staying power. Tigris and Euphrates soundly beats more recent Euros in efficient design, and another entry in this great design is very welcome. Time will tell if it’s an improvement, a more welcoming and accessible version of the classic, of both.

Why Root isn't game of the year (for me).

Root hit like a ton of bricks, everyone was wanting to play it, so much so that the first game night after it arrived, I couldn't get in on the THREE games what were being played that evening. Next game night at a local store, I sat in and learned/played as the Eyrie. Nice faction but not one that fit my play style. Decided my next game I wanted to try something different.
Then something happened that has NEVER happened to me in all my years of board gaming. A new game was being set-up, I mentioned I wanted to try something different. The table stated that they did NOT want to "teach" a new faction. I've played TI3, Feast for Odin, Freaking splotter games and never have I came across a game that people did NOT want to play/teach the game, to share the game, to help someone enjoy the game. So, I politely bowed out and went on to play something else.
A second game night, a completely different group. "We don't want to play with a player inexperienced with a faction, it ruins it for everyone else."
So, chime in everyone. Would you hesitate to play Root with a new, inexperienced player or a player who wants to try a new faction? Does an new player "ruin" the experience? If so, how do you expect to share a game of the year with everyone, when you don't want to play it with anyone new?

Well, I guess I don’t have to give you too much shit for naming KS games. I had time to prepare for Root, so the edge has been dulled. Expected to see Spirit Island on here, glad it isn’t because I still can’t stand it.

I don’t think I could call any one game I played that was released this year as a GOTY. I was pretty underwhelmed with a ton of stuff and what I did like didn’t really rise above stuff that was already out that I’ve been enjoying.

I liked Root well enough, but it also falls into that same category as everything else. I’m not so sure it’s as enduring as you think it will be, but I will say this: I don’t think a game has drawn me in and illustrated its setting quite like it has. Without a single iota of flavor text, the game tells its background through GAMEPLAY. It’s the complete antithesis of FFG’s Terrinoth/Arkham/Android garbage. I think that is Roots greatest accomplishment and I think it wouldn’t haven’t have been the same in the hands of a big publisher. It’s a complete vision that was fully realized and executed _just right_. The games I’ve seen my friends do with publishers is more of a comittee affair, filled with people who think (and sometimes do) know better than you, and Root would have suffered for that.

Root is not that complicated, but it seems that isn’t the issue as much as you playing with assholes. I’m happy to teach new games to anyone that’s interested, and I think that’s normal.

SaMoKo wrote: Root is not that complicated, but it seems that isn’t the issue as much as you playing with assholes. I’m happy to teach new games to anyone that’s interested, and I think that’s normal.

The thing is, that is not typical of them as a group, at all. And, yea, I'm happy to teach new games, learn new games, play new games and this is literally the ONLY game I have ever had that happen and it basically happened twice.

Wade, pull out Dune one night and tell them to all sod off when they come to play.

I’ve never seen a group of gamers break the social contract like that.

WadeMonnig wrote: Why Root isn't game of the year (for me).
Would you hesitate to play Root with a new, inexperienced player or a player who wants to try a new faction? Does an new player "ruin" the experience?

No and hell no. I'll teach Root to newbies all day if you let me. I love seeing what different players bring to the interactions and how they interpret their factions' strengths.

Refusing to teach factions in Root is like refusing to teach Cosmic because there's too many aliens. That's the whole point.

^boy, what a post uba. I agree with all of it.

I think what's also so challenging is that it's a short game and ends very quickly once the table tilts. My reaction is great, let's play again, but I could see a euro mindset that says "I need players of exactly the same skill level so the game doesn't end ignominiously."

Thanks for the nod, Michael. We just got put on Tom Vasel’s “Best Themes of 2018” but he said he didn’t like the gameplay because the rules are too complex and like ASL. That indicates to me that he means he didn’t want to assemble it and never played it.

Vasel really compared STF to ASL ? What a fucking tool.

Msample wrote: Vasel really compared STF to ASL ? What a fucking tool.

Yeah that’s a bizarre comparison. Do you have a link?

Just found it, and yeah, he said that. Really strange drive-by shooting on his part.

www.dicetower.com/game-video/coming-11-t...tinctive-themes-2018