Pendulum Coming from Stonemaier Games

It can’t suck any worse than TAPESTRY or SCYTHE.

Yes, I get how popular this studio is but it has been real duds for me. Wingspan and Scythe eh.

I think you all need to be a little more respectful of the world's most important board game publisher.

Hail to the king

I went to BGG to see what kind of froth the lemmings were working themselves into . Turns out the game has a review embargo. WTF? Never heard of that in a boardgame before.

Sagrilarus wrote: I think you all need to be a little more respectful of the world's most important board game publisher.

The one that insists an accounting error is responsible for not being able to supply WINGSPAN to most distributors since last fall?

Reviews aren't necessary for the highest-rated protoype in the history of the Stonemaier Games Design Day. You all need to relax and soak up the worker-placement goodness that this game promises. We'll all be impressed soon enough!

The real question is how to pay in advance for this.

For real this time -- it's worker placement so I'm probably not going to be interested in this one. It certainly looks unique.

Not buying new games means that a review embargo has no effect on me. Given that I can't meet with my game group, likely for months, this one is far off in my future if at all. Always nice to see something different though.

After falling for the gigantic disappointment that was Tapestry I will never pre-order another Stonemaier game again.

I am genuinely trying to ask this as neutrally as possible but can't work out how to do it so I will just ask:

Does the embargo last until they have enough backers, or what?

I'm also keen on understanding if a review embargo on a boardgame means the same thing that it does on a movie, i.e. it's a stamp of quality that shouts out "this is going to suck and we want the hype more than we want the publicity".

I don't want to pile on Stonemaier, but I've yet to enjoy any of their games.

Tapestry is a polished turd. It's the most polished piece of crap I've ever seen in gaming. It's baffling because so much work and talent has been put into it that I can't imagine why nobody said "wow, this game doesn't work, let's work on a better idea instead".

Wingspan is just dull. I spent 1300 words reviewing it and I feel it was a complete waste. There's simply very little of interest in the game. I don't even hate it. For me the most telling thing about it is that I tried to find people to play it again so I could review it and nobody wanted to. I had to go and play it on my own and with my girlfriend.

Scythe is game faking better, more fun games. I did not have a bad time on my only play, but the game is full of "waist-high walls" that prevent you from doing something fun. A friend loves this game so I'm willing to give it a couple chances. Or maybe not, he also likes Roll Player.

Viticulture is just a typical efficiency game.

mezike wrote: I'm also keen on understanding if a review embargo on a boardgame means the same thing that it does on a movie, i.e. it's a stamp of quality that shouts out "this is going to suck and we want the hype more than we want the publicity".

What you are thinking of is "not screened for critics". A review embargo just means you are sent a copy for review but you are not able to publish it before a certain date or event.

Between Two Cities is their best game.