Matt Carlson: The Start of Summer

Yippee, school’s out!  Now I can look forward to a long summer vacation.  At least that’s what I tell myself.  When I actually check my calendar I’ve got plenty of family visits, camp counseling jobs, and various side trips to fill up most of my summer.  Ah, well it is definitely a change of pace.  Now that I’ve turned in grades I should be able to get in some more gaming, but the regular problem once again crops up – I have much more free time but most of my boardgaming buddies do not.  As a result, I’ve been able to play some video games for the first time in several months.

The most recent boardgame-esque video game available on Xbox Live is Wits & Wagers.  Not exactly deep gaming fare, but I thought I’d give it a whirl.  Available only as a download, the price isn’t too bad but it does have a lot of nice features.  You can play it with up to six players either online against other players or offline with everyone in the same room (provided you have enough controllers).  The game is more forgiving than the original (well, my copy anyway).  Players who have the correct answer gain more bonus points than just three coins, and players are always restocked up to a minimum of five coins at the start of every round.  This makes for stronger betting in the beginning rounds, as there is essentially no penalty for betting wrong.  The presentation is a bit silly, as everyone chooses a headshot to use and throughout the game players’ heads appear on different stick figures such as flowers, military uniforms, or rock band members.  Waggling the right joystick will even get your little avatar to do a silly dance.  Something to do at first, but after hours of play I would think it might get a bit old.  The main drawback to the game at this time is the scarcity of online opponents.  Most times of the day I would end up filling out my game with computer opponents as there wasn’t anyone else around to play.  Evenings were better, with a few humans to compete against.  It is a solid port of the party-trivia boardgame to a console.  There are several sets of questions to choose from, and while I haven’t gone through all of the boardgame’s questions there were only a couple that I thought I recognized.  If you like the boardgame you might enjoy the console version, for some crowds using the console interface may even be more attractive.  For the rest of you who are tired of hearing about the game, move along, there’s nothing to see here.

Our boardgame group at school ended on a high note, with a couple graduating seniors and a whole slew of gamers who plan to come back next year.  We easily topped out above 20 students in attendance so I’m hoping to have a packed room in the fall.  As the school year came to an end I found myself appreciating the boardgame club as it forced me to revisit many of the boardgame greatest hits as I tried to give some of the more advanced students a taste of the available games.  As a result, I’ve been able to get in a couple games of Caylus lately as well as a full game of Goa.  I may be biased because I tend to win at both, but those are two games I just love.  I was describing Goa to the Caylus players by stating it almost like making a game entirely around the favor tracks in Caylus.  There’s a bit of bidding for resources, but the rest of the game is maneuvering around to exploit one’s preferred technology tracks.  Some gamers do not care to play either game with too many players as they tend to drag on a bit.  However, I rarely play either game with less than a full contingent of players and still get my time’s worth out of the deal.  I did get to play Caylus with three players recently and the board seemed much “looser” and more forgiving than normal.  With fewer players there seems to be more gold and goods available than with a full five player game.

Next week I’ll be a bit distracted by the release of the new 4th Edition of Dungeons and Dragons.  I went for about a decade without playing any RPGs and then, out of the blue, my boardgaming friends asked me if I wanted to help start up a group.  It has certainly been fun, but only as a welcome change from our regular boardgaming times.  Those who follow the RPG world are welcome to read my review of the first 4th Edition module, The Keep on the Shadowfell.  In the meantime, still I have a full evening of boardgaming planned next week, so I hope to continue the trend of revisiting some of my old favorites.

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