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7/20/06: If It's Broken, Don't Replay It!
How far should you go to find a pearl among swine?
Shannon says, not far.
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7/13/06: Strategy of a Game: Blue Moon, Part Two: Flit & Mimix
A description of the first two standalone decks for Blue Moon.
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7/6/06: Upcoming Companies, Part Two: Face 2 Face, Jolly Roger, Your Move
A look at three more up-and-coming board & card game companies.
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6/29/06: Upcoming Companies, Part One: Atlas, Cafe, Cheapass
A look at three up-and-coming board & card game companies.
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6/22/06: Fantasy Flight's Adventure Games & That Old Time Roleplaying
Part one of a look at the adventure game genre.
Featuring Arkham Horror, Runebound, and World of Warcraft.
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6/15/06: Strategy of a Game: Blue Moon, Part One: Hoax & Vulca
A first strategy article discusses the core decks for Blue Moon.
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6/8/06: The Creature that Ate the (Gaming) World
How Hasbro rolled up the gaming world, and what it might foretell.
Plus the final fates of Avalon Hill, Milton Bradley, Parker Brothers, Wizards of the Coast, and more!
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6/1/06: The Italian Design Scene, Part Two: The Reference
A referential overview of the Italian gaming Renaissance.
Including award listings, company listings, and game listings.
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5/25/06: The Italian Design Scene, Part One: The Analysis
An analytical overview of the Italian gaming Renaissance.
Including game design thoughts and Six Degrees of Italy.
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5/18/06: The Golden Age of Board Games
The golden age of board games is 12.
Or: forever seeking novelty.
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5/11/06: Anatamy of a Game: Carcassonne, Part Four: Complexity & The River
Finishing up a look at the changes in the original Carcassonne series.
Read the whole series: parts one, two, three, and four.
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5/4/06: Last Season's Hot Games: A Top Ten from Essen 2005, Part Two
Looking back at my recommended games from last year's Essen.
PUNCT, Hacienda, Mesopotamia, Antike, and Siena.
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4/27/06: Last Season's Hot Games: A Top Ten from Essen 2005, Part One
Looking back at my recommended games from last year's Essen.
Caylus, Reef Encounter, Il Principe, Elasund, and Railroad Tycoon.
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4/20/06: Anatamy of a Game: Carcassonne, Part Three: Cooperation & Competition
How the later Carcassonne supplements dramatically changed the game.
Read the whole series: parts one, two, three, and four.
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4/13/06: Anatamy of a Game: Carcassonne, Part Two: Balance & Tiles
How the early Carcassonne supplements fixed balance & tile distribution.
Read the whole series: parts one, two, three, and four.
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4/6/06: The Problem with Blind Bidding
How blind bidding can work and fail in strategy games.
Including blind bidding, simultaneous action, and simultaneous ordering.
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3/30/06: Anatamy of a Game: Carcassonne, Part One: The Original Game
Disecting the design of the original Carcassonne box.
Read the whole series: parts one, two, three, and four.
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3/23/06: A Theory of Board Game Design: Definitions of Terms
Components, activity, decisions, luck, and victory in games.
Drawn from theories developed in my Trials, Triumphs & Trivialities series.
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3/16/06: The Problem with Luck II
More about controlling luck and board games.
With case studies from Parthenon and Settlers games.
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3/9/06: A Theory of Computerized Board Game Design
How do you design a good computer board game?
Using Samurai, Ticket to Ride and others as examples.
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3/2/06: Computerized Board Games: Six Mini-Reviews
Looking at the top 6 commercial computer board games.
Carcassonne,Ticket to Ride,Puerto Rico,Samurai,Iron Dragon,El Grande.
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2/23/06: Anatomy of a Game: Blue Moon
Examining Reiner Knizia's CCG.
Is it auction, resource management, or card game?
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2/16/06: Three Collaborative Designers: Faidutti, Colovini & Schacht
A look at three designers who have worked together.
Spanning Europe from Italy to Germany and France.
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2/9/06: Games to Watch For: Nurnberg '06
A new batch of ten cutting edge games.
From Augsburg 1520 to Ticket to Ride: Marklin Edition
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2/2/06: Six Degrees of Collaboration
How the gaming universe centers on Bruno Faidutti.
With cool charts.
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1/26/06: The Problem with Player Numbers
Ideal player numbers for gaming groups and games.
With special attention paid to "5" and "3-5".
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1/19/06: My Life in Gaming
An overview of 25+ years of gaming.
From Dungeons & Dragons to The Settlers of Catan.
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1/12/06: It's Not if You Win or Lose
Defining winning in a game, and whether you want to.
Plus quotes from Richard Nixon, Reiner Knizia, and more.
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1/05/06: The Year in Review: 2005
A look at the general & corporate gaming trends of 2005.
Plus a focus on Caylus and Dungeon Twister.
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12/22/05: Schools of Game Design
A categorization & overview of different design priorities.
Mainstream Games, Anglo-American, Eurogames, and Hybrids.
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12/15/05: Three Designers: Knizia, Kramer & Teuber
A look at the works of Reiner Knizia, Wolfgang Kramer, and Klaus Teuber.
With overviews and links to reviews.
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12/08/05: Shannon's List of Do's and Don't's for Game Component Design
My suggestions for how to put together components.
From box design to rulebooks.
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12/01/05: Supporting Your Locally Owned Game Store
Why to (or not to) support a local store.
Economics, morality, and ethics.
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11/24/05: Five Games I'm Thankful For: '05
A handful of games that have made differences in my life.
The Settlers of Catan, Scrabble, Mystery Rummy, Memoir '44, and El Grande.
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11/17/05: The Problem with Luck
About complaints of luck in board games.
Covering Beowulf, Louis XIV, The Settlers of Catan, and others.
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11/10/05: Memoir '44, The Seafarers of Catan, and Other Scenarios
How scenarios can improve games.
From M44 to Runebound.
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11/03/05: Redesigning Empire Builder, Part Two
A continued look at an American classic.
Game length, downtime, calculations, and more.
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10/27/05: Games to Watch For: Essen '05
Ten new games to watch for.
From Caylus to Tempus.
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10/20/05: The Collector Bug
The woes of collecting game.
And the nemesis of collectors, from TimJim to Alea.
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10/10/05: Redesigning Empire Builder, Part One
A look at an American classic.
How can card redesign improve a play experience?
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10/8/05: Five Games I Don't Like
Going after sacred cows.
The flaws in games from Poker to Puerto Rico.
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9/24/05: The Problem with Colors
Another rant, this time about game piece colors.
Which colors are the most popular, and which shouldn't be used?
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9/10/05: Last Year's Top 70 Games
A listing of the 70 new games I played from Essen to Esen.
Ranking them from Australia to Caravans of Ahldarahd.
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8/27/05: The Problem with Game Boxes
A rant about game boxes. Seriously.
Do you hate that New England box and love your old American games?
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8/13/05: The Problem with Indie Games
A discussion of indie games and the difference between design and development.
Includes discussion of Mall World and Strugle of Empiret.
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