Rick Thornquist: A New Website / The Hollywood Card Game and Catan - 3D Collector’s Edition

It’s up!  After a month of planning and working to put together the website, Boardgame News is now up and running.

A month ago, when I decided that I was going to start up a new website, the first thing I did was round up the usual suspects - Greg Schloesser, Tom Vasel, Patrick Korner, and Ryan Bretsch.  I knew it was crucial to have these guys on board to make the website a success.  I started up a Yahoo discussion group and together we discussed what we thought the site should look like.

The next step was to get the site built.  Unfortunately, I have very little experience in building websites (Gamefest had their own programmer, so I didn’t really do any of that site).  I thought I’d need a programmer, but I wasn’t relishing the idea of having to use one.  I’m a bit of a perfectionist, and most of the time I’d rather do things for myself. 

I talked to some of my web savvy friends and they suggested that I may be able to do the site myself by using some content management software.  I did a bit of digging and found a system called ExpressionEngine.  I was pensive about putting the site together myself with so little website experience, but using ExpressionEngine has been great.  The software did pretty much everything I wanted it to and putting the site together has been a breeze.

Now it was time for one of the most important decisions - what was the site going to be called?  Greg, Tom, Patrick, Ryan and I batted around a whole pile of names - some good, some bad, and some just plain goofy.  I’m a fairly newsy guy, so I wanted a name that was straightforward and descriptive.  The site was to be about boardgame news, so why don’t we call it Boardgame News at www.boardgamenews.com? 

Of course, I had to find out if anyone had registered the domain boardgamenews.com.  I went to a domain name website, entered boardgamenews.com, and crossed my fingers.  My heart sank when it came back that the domain was taken.  I knew we had other names that we could use, but I really had my heart set on Boardgame News.

I did a little checking and it seemed that even though the domain was registered, there wasn’t a website using it yet.  I did a WHOIS to find out who was holding the domain - I hoped I might be able to convince whoever owned it to let me use it.  I was shocked when the WHOIS request came back with the name of the owner - none other than Scott Alden of BoardgameGeek!

I contacted Aldie and, after remembering that he had indeed registered the domain years ago, he graciously gave it to me so we could use it.  Thanks, Aldie!

Now with a domain, I got a host, uploaded the ExpressionEngine software, and started to get the site together.  I asked gamer and artist extraordinaire Mike Doyle for some help in designing the site and putting together a logo.  Mike came up with a great design, which I started using as a template for the site.  He also came up with a wonderful logo as well as the tagline “The World of Boardgames”.  I remember the day me and the gang saw the logo for the first time - I think was all thought it was great and perfectly encapsulated the purpose of the site.

The next few weeks were spent doing two things: getting the site together and rounding up contributors.  I had the idea of getting a set of international columnists and was extraordinarily pleased that all of our first choices were keen to do it.  I was also able to round up two more regular columnists to round us out - Larry Levy, my favorite writer in gaming, and Valerie Putman, whose convention reports I had always enjoyed.  A number of other contributors rounded out our roster.

In the waning days before my self-imposed deadline of Monday, November 28th, I was madly working to get the site finished.  In the final hours I got some very desperately needed help from Tamara Leer, who is the owner of our local game store - Drexoll Games - and a very talented website designer.  Tamara was a great help putting the finishing touches on the site and making it look good.

With the website finished, it was then time to introduce it to the world!

Games Played
The past week saw me playing on three different occasions.  The games I played included That’s Life!, Sac Noir, The Hollywood Card Game, Fettnapf, Elasund, Ticket to Ride - Europe, and Catan - 3D Collector’s Edition.

The Hollywood Card Game
Interestingly enough, even though this game just came out just recently, I had a chance to play it way back in August at the Gencon game convention.  I sat down with a group, learned the game, and was just about to start it when I got called away.  I never did play it so I resolved to buy the game (Fantasy Flight had a few copies they were selling at the convention) so I could bring it home and play it.  Unbelievably, I then completely forgot to pick it up!  D’oh!

Now, three months later, I finally got a chance to play it!

The Hollywood Card game is a card drafting and set collecting card game.  The cards are either one of three different types of movies, or star cards which can have one, two or three stars.  A set of cards is dealt out face up in the middle of the table in four columns.

The players have three or four markers, depending on the number of players, and each takes a turn placing a marker on a card at the bottom of a column.  If you place your marker on a card that already has one, the other marker is moved up to the next card in the column (and so on, if the next card also has a marker).  The player keep going playing one marker at a time until all the players use up all their markers. 

There are also two special cards that each player gets that allow you to do some special moves.  One you use a special card it’s out of the game.

Next, each column is resolved one card at a time and the player whose marker is on a card takes the card.  If they pick up a movie card, they put it in front of them.  If they pick up a star card, they combine it with one or more of their movie cards to complete a movie.

There are a number of rounds where the cards are dealt out, taken, and movies made.  Once the final round has ended, you total up your points, mostly for completed movies, and whoever has the most points wins.

This is a fairly simple and light game.  On first blush, there appears to be very little strategy but after a few moves a bit of strategy comes to light.  This is no deep strategy game, but there is enough there to make a moderately enjoyable lighter game.  I thought it was okay - but nothing special.  I’d play it if asked, and only if I was looking for a lighter filler game.

Catan - 3D Collector’s Edition
A quick word about the Catan - 3D Collector’s Edition - it’s really, really nice.  Like, wow.  Of course, for 380 bucks it should be!

I can’t say I’m the biggest Settlers fan in the world, but if I did have to play the game I certainly would want to play using this deluxe version of the game.  The beautiful components do bring the game to a higher level.

I got trounced in my game - curse those production rolls!  Next time I’m playing with the Food Stamps variant!

That’s it for this week!

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