I was getting worried that there wasn't going to be a Games article posted today. Then, when I saw Derrick's name on the byline, I figured he must have been set back a bit due to all the cool poster art for the inventory that went up on Monday.

That would be a deal breaker for me. Thankfully, my friends get that it should be on the lighter side so the game moves swiftly and never outstays its welcome.

I saw it for the first time last year at the local con I attend to play board games. It was the only other thing there that had me interested. It's like being in Star Trek is what I'm told.

I hope more people get down this far in the comments. This is simply amazing work

I really like Hanabi. I've had a lot of success introducing it to people who don't play games at all, and they seem to love the challenge.

I've never felt locked out of winning in Catan unless I've made really poor choices. Then I felt like I deserved it.

If a game like Braid came out every year, I would buy at least one game a year.

Thanks for the book rec. Sounds fascinating.

The variable board rarely makes a huge difference, but can result in resource scarcity that makes initial placements more interesting.

Games, hopefully. Getting together with a group before the Super Bowl and will likely play something like Kemet or, if I'm lucky, Space Alert. I might try to teach some friends Takenoko this weekend too. They have a copy of Puerto Rico and will likely want to play that, but it is a well-loved Euro games that I rarely…

It's strange to me that geek culture, which has traditionally been marginalized by mainstream culture, isn't softened by the experience and, in turn, more welcoming. Instead, geeks often move in the opposite direction and marginalize others who don't get into geek culture as deeply.

So what did you think of Catan?

SPOILERS …or to reject their offer. ENDSPOILERS

My family had one of the Jeopardy board games growing up. Each player had their own Category card, so if someone wanted to go for "Vegetables," I would always have to read that one and not have a chance to answer. So you always hoped to get the hard category or a category you knew nothing about it.

I picked the wrong article not to comment on this week.

I can't argue with your observation. Which makes me think of another method: marry someone who likes playing board games.

I know nothing about RPGs. My brother briefly got into a superhero themed one when I was in junior high but have never played one since. I hear good things about Fiasco though.

I lucked into having friends that I already liked and played lighter games with (think your Balderdashes, etc) and we slowly moved into the hobby together. It worked great since we would each occasionally buy the new game so it wasn't too costly for any single person.

And the BeNeLux map also has more green plants in the deck, since they already rely more on green energy.

Tis true. I occasionally get a whole board gaming day or weekend in that will knock several off the list at once. The hope to play at least one per weekend will help me to keep on track during the fallow periods in between.