Scott Nicholson 🏳️🌈 @scottnicholson@tabletop.social
Playful Professor of Game Design living in rural Ontario near Brantford. Escape rooms, gamification, board games. Former host of Board Games with Scott.
Joined Nov 2022
Why the context of a game matters:
(note - this the story of Monopoly. Lizzie Maggie's Landlord Game was designed to show monopolies are bad. Charles Darrow stole the game, proposed it as Monopoly to Parker Brothers, but flipped the goal to glorify bankrupting everyone else.)
..and perhaps, having decades of people playing Monopoly and striving to be the winner by bankrupting everyone else has had an impact on today's society...
When I see the cover of this board game, I keep wanting to insert a "PT" after the Y.
I did develop and pitch "Bitcoin Mania" a few years ago, but the publishers were concerned about the lifespan of the concept.
Time to get my wig straight and my heels on with Extravaganza, the new drag board game from Aaron Vanderbeek
Getting ready to teach some level design in my modern-day druid robes.
I finally figured out why we think ChatGPT is cheating at chess. It's playing chess on one of these boards, and we can't perceive the multiple dimensions. #meremortals
I made Ken a Snow Friend to keep him company. He's NOT CREEPY AT ALL
Just finished my first solo play of Oak. My head is swimming with icons. I will re-read the rules and try again, but right now, it feels like it needed some trimming...although the meeple accessories are pretty nifty.
Enjoyed solo Woodcraft enough to play it three times over the last week. Several very different paths to explore. Prefer Lignum for a crunchy wood-based board game, but do want to try Woodcraft with other players to see if that helps with bad luck on dice/cards.
Hold/Merge Order is my most purchased game at
Board Game Bliss! I just can't get enough of it - I keep buying it!
Today's game to learn is Cat in the Box. I look forward to trying this trick-taking game with others. Cards are colorless and you declare their color when played, but track which cards have been played in a round and who is out of a suit. If a player can't legally play a card, they are penalized and the round ends. Bonuses for predicting tricks taken come from connecting your markers on the tracking board.
Playful take on the concept of quantum!
#boardgames
Today's solo learning #boardgame is Racoon Tycoon. Straightforward economic game with some nasty teeth based on timing of "who blinks first", but the animal layer adds nothing other than pretty art.
I was disappointed they didn't lean more heavily into the narrative layer. I'll play it with others (someday), but don't know that I'll keep it, as I appreciate games where the theme and the mechanisms support each other.
While I'm not meeting with others to play board games due to COVID concerns, I've made it a resolution to work through the collection of unplayed games I've gathered over the last years.
Today's #boardgame to learn solo was Creature Comforts, a heartwarming worker placement game.
It's more luck-dependent, and has less emergent narrative than Everdell, but is also shorter and kinder.
I'm wary of my earned solo title of "Deliciously Prepared Creature of the Village!" #poachedwithmustardsauce
Who else is playing solo #boardgames this evening?
I just finished up a 10-week pottery class with Michael Collins in Cambridge, Ontario. My favorite piece was this Green Man plaque (he's about 10 inches tall), and if you'd like to see the others, they are all up on my Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/professor.scott.nicholson/posts/pfbid0VcQhF6MwLztUFyaeH8mghHP5My3335QgCZbFqRqChjXf25oqdyyZrsavW2VBPUjUl
horse skeletal head
remember, if you're cold, they're cold... let them in
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mari_Lwyd
A blessed winter solstice to all who celebrate! May this be a time to reflect on the past and rest to face the challenges ahead.
(artwork by Tabitha Mcbain)
There's lies, damn lies, and seed catalogs. #herewegoagain
I've been playing through old campaigns on World of Warcraft, and came across this quest. I imagine the game writer got tired of trying to justify why they player would know what to do.
I turned to ChatGPT (https://chat.openai.com/chat) to design board games. Here's what they created (full proposals attached):
Simple - "Roll and Move"
Complicated - "Treasure Quest"
Win Spiel des Jarhes - 2 tries:
"City Builders"
"The Great Expedition"
Playful Professor of Game Design living in rural Ontario near Brantford. Escape rooms, gamification, board games. Former host of Board Games with Scott.
Joined Nov 2022
