Dale Yu: 2008 New Year Resolutions

Well, it’s that time of year again—where I make a list of things that I want to accomplish in the coming year:

1.  I want to play more games

2007 was a tough year for gaming for me.  It was hard to find the time to get in any sort of regular gaming between work, family and other non-gaming (gasp!) hobbies.  Within my close circle of local friends, I know that I’m not the only one who has been struggling to find a good regular time slot for gaming.  The local group which I help organize met very sporadically, and the number of gamers in its inner circle has also shrunk making it harder to get a regular schedule going.  Also, due to working crazy hours, I missed almost every Liberty Gamers meeting (another local group) as I was in the dang hospital all the time.  In fact, I think that I have made almost as many regular meetings of CABS (the Columbus, OH game group) as I have made regular meetings of local game groups here in Cincinnati.

2. I want to break more games in 2008 than I did in 2007

I have resumed my efforts to be a playtester/developer.  In the past, I had tried to stay away from the development of games as I felt like I would rather play only finished products in my limited gaming time.  However, I was sucked back into the dark side of boardgaming by Martin Wallace and his redevelopment of Age of Steam.  I’m still involved in that project (thanks to Mayfair!), and I really enjoyed trying out the new ideas.

Playtesting can be a tedious job as you often have to play the same games over and over again to make sure that the rules are clear, the starting positions are balanced, and the victory conditions are fair.  Also, you have to look and make sure that there is not going to be one dominant strategy that can win all the time that would also upset the balance of the game.  As a result of these needs, I will often play a game (during testing) using an oddball strategy trying to see if I can break the game—because if I can break it in testing, it means that something should be fixed before the game comes to market.

I’ve found that if I like a game, I enjoy exploring it to its fullest.  Thus, I will continue playtesting games in 2008.  My plate is pretty full right now with at least five games (for Mayfair, Fantasy Flight, Z-Man, Rio Grande, and Face 2 Face) in development in the house currently!

3. I want to make sure that I mention Ian Zernechel in a 2008 column

This has sort of become a self-fulfilling prophecy, I suppose!

I would like to mention that Ian recently won a Family game of Agricola with a sweet strategy of trying to scavenge as much food as possible.  That’s right, he never slaughtered an animal to make food and IIRC, he didn’t have an oven to bake bread until the end-game.  I would have never thought that this tactic would work, and I had my butt handed to me.  Hats off to Ian!

4. I resolve to talk about games-not-named-Agricola on a weekly basis

It has been pointed out to me that I’ve spent a good deal of time talking about Agricola in the past month or so.  I won’t deny that at all—but I will make sure to mention other games in the column too! 

For this week, I’ll mention that I played Garibaldi (Nexus) again, and I’m really digging it.  It’s a Scotland Yard-type game that adds some action cards in the mix to make it a bit more challenging.  Thus far, Garibaldi has been caught by the Austrians in all three games, and I’m not sure if this means that it is imbalanced similar to Scotland Yard.  But until I figure it out, I’m going to continue to try to get this one to the table!

5. Format issues

Column Format stale.
Needs gimmick or more pizzazz
Will try more haiku!

Also, I endeavor to use more gerunds in my writing, and to be honest, I might need to increase my infinitive use as well.  Participles, especially when dangled, will also be included more often, and clearly, I need to watch my use of adverbs.  I used to write in the imperfect tense too often, and I had overused the pluperfect as well.  If I had really paid more attention in high school, I would have been writing much better all along and been able to use the conditional perfect continuous more appropriately.  And don’t even get me started about my nominative and genitive issues!

6. More kids reviews

Okay, I dropped the ball on this in 2007.  I mentioned somewhere in the middle of the year that I was going to do more with the kids games, and I have yet to do so.  However, I have two HABA reviews in the hopper that will arrive shortly on your screen. 

7. I’d like to continue paring down the game collection

This is really a continuation of a 2007 Resolution—I have sold or given away more than 150 games in 2007.  I’d like to think that I’ve given a lot of those games a better home, hopefully a home where they will be played!  As I still have probably 800 games and a limited amount of gaming time, there’s no chance that I’ll get to more than a fraction of these games.  Therefore, the Gaming Bazaar will continue on as a postscript to my column.

8. I really should catalog my games at some point

I’m kind of embarrassed to admit that I have no idea what games specifically make up my collection.  I haven’t had a working inventory in about four years.  I also don’t have a good cataloging system for the games.  If I want to find a game, I just have to try to remember where I put it down last.  Not exactly the most efficient system if I say so myself.

9.  I want to revive some sort of Boardgame News fantasy football league

Keep your eyes peeled for more details on this in the fall.  I may also try to co-opt a system designed by Stephen Glenn (designer of Balloon Cup) as a way for more people to get involved!

10. I just want to sing.  And marry a girl with huge tracts of land.

Until your next appointment,
The Gaming Doctor

© 2008 Dale Yu

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Comments:

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Wow.  I have my own “C in a cirlce” copyright at the bottom of the article!  This must be a new thing for 2008. Dale Posted by Dale Yu on Jan 2, 2008 at 09:24 AM | #

"2. I want to break more games in 2008 than I did in 2007” That’s funny, I have the same resolution.  Particularly those owned by members of the Yu family! Oh, that’s not what you meant… “10. I just want to sing.  And marry a girl with huge tracts of land.” As I recall it, that was an either/or option. “Wow.  I have my own “C in a cirlce” copyright at the bottom of the article!  This must be a new thing for 2008.” Nah, they seem to be on the older columns as well.  I think Eric is trying to protect us in the event of the expected corporate takeover of BGN. Happy New Year, Dale, and good luck with the resolutions! Posted by Larry Levy on Jan 2, 2008 at 11:56 AM | #

Happy New Year Dale! “8. I really should catalog my games at some point” Boy this hits home for me too - my BGG profile’s ‘owned games’ list is nowhere near complete.  Of course, mine will be a catalogue of games, not a catalog, but then you knew that was coming… And more Kids Reviews would be great.  My 4 going on 5 year old loves to play games and I’m always looking for new additions for her shelf (yes, she has her very own shelf o’ games, right under one of daddy’s). pk Posted by Patrick Korner on Jan 2, 2008 at 01:19 PM | #

Patrick only a shelf?  my kids have three cabinets AND an overflow shelf in my gameroom! Get on it! Dale Posted by Dale Yu on Jan 2, 2008 at 01:33 PM | #

In my one and only game of Agricola (the family game), I won with a (somewhat accidental) strategy of never eating any food I made myself (I guess my family went to restaurants every night).  I got all my points from a big house made of stone, plus some nice reed baskets and a few other random purchases.  I doubt I could win with that strategy again, though-- everyone else was new to the game too. Posted by Doug Orleans on Jan 2, 2008 at 08:06 PM | #

Wow, that’s me! :) In fairness, I also managed to eat a reed once in addition to baking a loaf of bread.  And wasn’t it just 1 point?  Heh. I’ll be happy to help with #9 when the time comes. Posted by Ian Zernechel on Jan 2, 2008 at 09:41 PM | #

Larry Levy wrote: “I think Eric is trying to protect us in the event of the expected corporate takeover of BGN.” Larry, unless you know something the rest of us don’t, then it’s far more likely that Eric is simply protecting his site’s authors’ hard work from being quoted/used elsewhere without attribution (dare I say stolen?).  He embedded watermarks into this site’s pictures for the same reason. But if you want to know for sure, you should ask Eric. Posted by Diane Close on Jan 4, 2008 at 10:49 AM | #

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