Games on Perlkönig

Gaming Glut: Post-Covid (Fall 2021)

Tue, 24 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000

After a long hiatus, I was finally able to go see my sister in BC and play games with her kids. My records indicated that I hadn’t played a board game since February 2020! So I was super excited not just to visit with family, but to also play as many games as we could squeeze in. There’s never enough time, and there were a number of favourites we couldn’t get to, but we did get through a fair bit.

FallCon 32 (2019) Wrap-Up

Wed, 02 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

FallCon is an annual Calgary boardgaming convention. This year was number 32! It’s 28 hours of gaming goodness that includes hosted events, a massive game library and open gaming area, an auction and flea market, merchants, and even has an escape room and an Artemis Bridge Simulator area.

Before going further, let me just say how great the FallCon team is. Every team member I interacted with was happy to be there. Every game host taught with patience and enthusiasm. From Brent’s warm welcome at the door that first night to the “see you next year” as I left Sunday afternoon, everybody was smiling and helpful. And the fellow attendees were similarly great. I’ve yet to have an unpleasant experience at the table (knocks on wood), and you start to recognize people from year to year. The venue is also great—easy to get to, plenty of room, and a few food options nearby. It’s just a great way to spend a weekend.

Gaming Glut: Summer 2019

Fri, 30 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Finally took a summer vacation and went and visited some family in BC. Got a little gaming done the first week, got a lot done the second. Here’s what we played.

Make Time for Games – 2019

Sat, 04 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Some friends and I were complaining that we never had time to play games. I commonly say that one has to “make time for games,” so I decided to organize a weekend where we would just block the time off and play as many games as want. Since there’s already a big boardgame convention in the fall , I thought booking one in the spring would be best. Since my birthday is in May, that was the month we chose. Not everyone could make it, but we got some playtime in regardless. We played Friday night and Saturday afternoon and evening. Here’s what we played, in alphabetical order.

Two-Player Gaming Glut

Thu, 28 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

I had a chance to spend a few days with some cousins, and that meant some dedicated hours of two-player gaming. Most of the games I discuss here can be played by more than two players, but my reviews will focus on the two-player experience. I’m just going to list them in alphabetical order.

FallCon 31 (2018) Wrap-Up

Fri, 28 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

FallCon is an annual boardgaming convention that takes place in Calgary, Alberta, over three days (Friday night, all day Saturday, and Sunday morning/afternoon; 28 hours total). This year was FallCon 31. I haven’t been able to attend FallCon for a while, but I’m so happy to be back and don’t plan on missing another year, if I can help it. Being the “game guy” in the family, I almost never have opportunities to play games I didn’t purchase myself. So FallCon is a rare opportunity to experience new games first hand.

A huge thank you to the FallCon committee and volunteers for making the convention possible!

Two-Player Games

Fri, 07 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Someone at work asked me for some good two-player games. Since this is a whole topic in itself, I thought I’d write a blog post about it. It’s a long one, so get comfortable.

Gaming Glut: Fall 2017

Sun, 22 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Had the privilege of looking after a cousin’s kids for a few weeks over September and October. They live close to my sister, too, so I also get to spend extra time with them. I was still working, and now that the kids are older there was much driving around, so things were really busy, but I made sure to bring lots of games because I knew there would be at least a few days where we could game ourselves sick. I brought maybe half my collection. It’s hard to say. Two huge suitcases and a box full.

Gaming Glut: Winter 2016

Wed, 04 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Spent time with some in-laws over Christmas and the new year and got some gaming in. Here’s what we played.

Gaming Glut: Thanksgiving 2016

Wed, 19 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I got away last week and was able to spend time with a bunch of nieces and nephews (ages 9–18). I brought three suitcases of games and we got through most of them. The total ended up being 25 individual games played over 60 times. Here’s an alphabetical list of games we played, including a link to Board Game Geek (where you can get more information on the game) and a count of the number of times we played. This is a long post, so dig in.

Gaming Glut: Fall 2015

Sun, 13 Sep 2015 00:00:00 +0000

I got to spend a whole week with 12 nieces and nephews this month and got some grown-up gaming in, too. I was able to play a whopping 24 different games! In this post I’ll list them all in alphabetical order and talk a little bit about each one. BoardGameGeek.com (BGG) is the definitive source of boardgame information. I link to each game’s BGG page below. If you want to see all my games, comments, and ratings, visit my BGG collection page .

Gaming Glut: Christmas 2014

Sat, 10 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0000

I was lucky enough to have another gaming glut over the holidays. I just don’t get enough gaming time! As much as I love concentrated playing periods like this, I would much rather have regular play sessions throughout the year. I can’t complain, though! It was great to spend time with the nieces and nephews. Over the two weeks we played 15 different games 40 total times. Not too shabby. As with the other gaming glut posts, I’ll discuss each game individually in order of number of plays.

Gaming Glut: Summer 2014

Thu, 21 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Adele and I were able to visit with some close friends and their kids for a couple weeks this summer. Normally we would spend 8 hours a day blowing each other up in various video games, but this time ’round we didn’t have all the computers available, so we played board games instead—lots of them, it turned out. Over 13 days we played 16 different games 68 times. I thought I’d take some time to talk briefly about each game.

Gaming Glut: New Year’s 2013/14

Thu, 02 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

For the past few years, we have spent New Year’s Eve with Adele’s family. This year we had some neighbours join in, too. I look forward to these gatherings because they are one of the few times I get to play lots of games with larger groups of people (though I’ve been pretty lucky this year and had more gaming opportunities than I generally do). As always, we had an eclectic group of people, some of which weren’t really gamers or had only been exposed to traditional card games.

Podcasts: Gaming

Fri, 13 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This is part of my podcast series of posts . Below is a list of the various podcasts (in alphabetical order) and my thoughts on each of them. The name of the podcast is linked to the feed itself. The “(info)” link will take you to the podcast’s homepage. As for ratings, clearly I like the podcast at least somewhat or I wouldn’t have it on the list at all. So I’m going with a 3-star system.

FallCon 26 (2013) Wrap-Up

Sun, 29 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

FallCon is an annual boardgaming convention that takes place in Calgary, Alberta, over three days (Friday night, all day Saturday, and Sunday morning/afternoon). This year was FallCon 26. Being the “game guy” in the family, I almost never have opportunities to play games I didn’t purchase myself. For me, this is one of the biggest draws of FallCon. Open gaming is a great way to be exposed to new games (they have a library of almost 700 games), but my preferred way is through FallCon’s hosted games.

Gaming Glut: New Year’s 2012/13

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

For New Year’s Eve, Adele’s family got together for dinner and fun. Attending were 13 adults and 8 kids ranging from 3 months to 11 years old. Most everybody enjoys gaming, but their experience with “designer games” is limited. I’ve tried a few times in the past to interest them in selections from my collection but with limited success. For whatever reason, the stars aligned this time and there was a common desire to see what I had in that big box I am rarely without at a family gathering.

Assassin’s Creed III: Fail!

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Rating: 2/5 This past weekend I had the opportunity of visiting with a brother- and sister-in-law, their daughter, and their newborn son. My brother-in-law also went out and bought Assassin’s Creed III (AC3) the day we arrived with the hope of getting at least part way through it over the weekend. We only played the single-player story, so I can’t speak to the new multi-player content. AC3 is actually the fifth installment in the Assassin’s Creed line.

Fallcon 2012 Report

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 00:00:00 +0000

FallCon is a 26-hours-over-three-days boardgaming convention that happens in Calgary the last weekend of every September. This year was their 25th anniversary. Talk about overstimulation! There are hosted events, where you are taught the games by an “ambassador” (always the best way), and of course open gaming is happening throughout. Darren and Jasen (2 members of the FallCon committee) provided a library of 450 games you could check out and play.

Board Game: "Condottiere"

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Rating: 4/5 “Condottiere” by Fantasy Flight Games Condottiere is a card game of bluffing and second guessing. It has been around since 1995, but I am just now getting around to playing it! 2–6 players (the game works best with 3+) fight to control city states in Renaissance Italy. You do this by playing cards to your battle line. The strongest line wins, but beware the bishop who can hamstring an army in a stroke, the vagaries of winter, or a well timed surrender.

Board Game: "Bohnanza"

Sun, 20 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Rating: 5/5 “Bohnanza” by Rio Grande Games If you’ve known me for long, you know I’m an avid gamer. While I enjoy games in any medium, nothing beats face-to-face, tabletop gaming. (I still think Bridge is the greatest of man’s creations.) And when it comes to face-to-face gaming with a group of non- or semi-gamers, nothing beats a rousing round of Bohnanza. Bohnanza is a high-interaction game of bean trading—yes, bean trading.