Moving to http://boardgameswithscott.com

I've decided to move away from Blogspot and host my own blog for Board Games with Scott. This blog will no longer be updated, so for all the Board Games with Scott goodness, just head over to

Boardgameswithscott.com

You'll find RSS feeds, E-mail subscription links, and all sorts of goodies to help you keep up with the Wacky Adventures of Scott!

So, thanks for stopping by, but change those links to boardgameswithscott.com !

BGWS 009 - Santiago

Santiago is a light-weight strategy game about planting and irrigating crops in a hostile environment. Mechanics involve bidding and placing tiles.

This week, I'm taking a look at Santiago. In this game, you bid for the right to select tiles, bribe one of the players to get irrigation, and set up temporary alliances throughout the game.

There's a new high-quality (and high-size; episodes are over 100MB) version of BGWS hosted at the Internet Archive. (The link to the high quality-version will normally be at the bottom of the links to the show, and as I have time, I will be going back and adding high-quality versions of past episodes.)



BGWS 009 - Santiago (Streaming Flash)

BGWS 009 - Santiago (Lower-quality .mov)

BGWS 009 - Santiago (High-Quality at Internet Archive)

Learn more about Santiago at BoardGameGeek and discuss or recommend this episode there as well.

Purchase this game (and support BGWS) at Funagain.com.

Next week, I'm going to get much more serious and talk about Indonesia. This will be another In Depth show, lasting over 30 minutes, but I go through the entire ruleset of the game.

BGWS 008 - Why Did the Chicken...

Why Did the Chicken... is a light party game about making up the punchlines to jokes.

When is Coffee like a Bear?
When it's a-brewin'! (a bruin? get it? har har.)

Why Did the Chicken... is a party game based upon jokes. This week, I take a look at this party game. It's a creative party game that will allow you to develop your sense of humor while having fun.

Also, it's the first Board Games with Scott contest! You'll have to watch the vlog to learn the details! Thanks to Play Again Games, publishers of Why Did the Chicken..., for sponsoring this contest.


Beware: Groaners Ahead!

BGWS 008 - Why Did the Chicken... at YouTube (Streaming Flash)

BGWS 008 - Why Did the Chicken... (small Quicktime .mov)

BGWS 008 - Why Did the Chicken... (large Quicktime .mov)

If you'd like to try the game, there's a live online version available at Boardgamegeek!

You can discuss this episode or learn more about the game at Boardgamegeek.

Next week on Board Games with Scott, I'll get a little more serious and talk about Santiago!

BGWS 007 - Lost Cities

Lost Cities - A light two-player card-based game of exploration.

Lost Cities is one of the most popular small-box two player games by Kosmos (imported by Rio Grande). These games have the flavor of a more complex Eurogame, but are easier to play and are designed specifically for two players. This game has gotten popular enough to be featured as an event in the World Boardgaming Championships.



Board Games with Scott 007 - Lost Cities (Flash)

Board Games with Scott 007 - Lost Cities (.mov format)

Discuss this episode or learn more about Lost Cities at Boardgamegeek.

Next week, I'll talk about the wacky party game, "Why did the Chicken?" In addition, we will be having the first Board Games with Scott contest! You'll have to watch the episode for details.

Won "Best New Game Blog, Podcast, or Videocast"

The folks at the Gone Gaming blog (a community blog for boardgames) just announced their 2005 awards. These go to the (in their opinion) best contributions by the board game community in the last year, and is the result of a month-long procedure of nominations and deliberations.

I won two awards!


My "Board Games with Scott" vlog won the "BEST NEW GAME BLOG, PODCAST, OR VIDEOCAST" award for 2005.



In addition, my appearances on our local PBS station won the "BEST PROMOTIONAL OR ADVOCACY ARTICLE" award as well. This is what started my vlog, and you can see these at http://scottnicholson.com/games/hourcny.html

You can see all the awards!

And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming...

Technical bubble yesterday

For some reason, BGWS 006 disappeared yesterday. It's back up, so if you missed it, you can find it at
http://boardgameswithscott.blogspot.com/2006/01/bgws-006-mah-jong-in-depth.html

Sorry about that!

BGWS 006 - Mah Jong In Depth

Mah Jong is a traditional tile-based game similar to Rummy, good for all ages.

Happy Chinese New Year! To honor the new year, this week's episode is about Mah Jong!

Mah Jong is not about matching pairs of tiles, despite the hundreds of computer games with that name. This is akin to calling a game 'Cards' simply becuase it uses playing cards. This week's episode is a longer one - about 22 minutes - as I've decided to cover Mah Jong in depth. After my rush through Friedrich a few weeks ago, people requested that I take longer when the game demands it, so I'll try that.

I've also moved from Imovie to Final Cut Express for editing, so you'll see some other tweaks here and there.



Board Games with Scott 006 - Mah Jong In Depth (streaming Flash)



Board Games with Scott 006 - Mah Jong In Depth (Quicktime)


You can find more information about Mah Jong at Boardgamegeek.

Here is the handy-dandy reference sheet that I use for play. I do realize that purists of the game will have their own variants - just make sure everyone agrees before play as to the ruleset used.

Want to discuss this episode? A good place to do this is at this thread at boardgamegeek.com. (While there, if you enjoy BGWS, give it a Thumbs Up to make is easier for others to find it as well!)

Side Note - I got the outfit I'm wearing in Beijing when I taught a class there this summer. I kept a running blog of my travels - if you'd like to read about the trip, start at my blog and use the "Next Day" link to read each day of my trip.

Next week, I'll be looking at the two-player game Lost Cities.

BGWS 005 - Heroscape

Heroscape - A light miniatures battle game that is good for kids and adults.

Based upon a suggestion from a viewer, I've decided to look at a game that you can get at your local toy store (as compared to the specialty shops for many of these games). This is a miniature battle game called Heroscape, and you might have seen it advertised on TV. It is expandable in that they put out additional miniatures for it, but not collectable in that you know what you are buying in every package.





Board Games with Scott 005 at You Tube (streaming Flash).

You can also download the whole file in MPEG-4 format (Quicktime).

For more scenarios and information, Heroscapehq.com is a great community site suporting Heroscape.

You can also learn more about Heroscape at Boardgamegeek.com.

(Oh, you can listen to the episode of BoardGameSpeak/GeekSpeak to which I refer at http://files.boardgamegeek.com/boardgamespeak.php?id=18; it's at about 46:30 in the episode.)

Next week, I'm going to be trying a slightly different form with "Mah Jong In Depth" (and no, it's not just about matching pairs of tiles). Based on comments from the viewers on the Friedrich episode, I'll do longer episodes when it's appropriate for the game.

BGWS 004 - Adel Verpflichtet / Hoity Toity

Adel Verplichtet is a classic eurogame about choosing actions secretly based upon what you think the others will pick.

This week in Board Games with Scott, I take a look at a game that I've got some sentimental feelings for, Adel Verpflichtet. This is a blind selection Eurogame that was Game of the Year in 1990. This game also was my "gateway game", meaning it's the first Eurogame I ever played. Adel Verpflichtet is out of print, but has been reprinted as Hoity Toity.





Board Games with Scott 004 at You Tube (streaming Flash).

You can also download the whole file in MPEG-4 format (Quicktime).

More information about Adel Verpflichtet / Hoity Toity can be found at BoardGameGeek.

Next week, I'll be taking a look at game that is available in many toy and department stores - Heroscape.

BGWS 003 - Friedrich

Friedrich - a heavy euro/wargame hybrid where one strong player takes on the others using a card-driven combat system.

This week on Board Games with Scott, I take a look at Friedrich. This game is much deeper that other games I've looked at so far, but part of what I'm going to do with Board Games with Scott is to try and cover games across the spectrum of the board game hobby. Friedrich is a hybrid Euro/wargame that is an excellent crossover game to allow folks who have played Euros and are curious about wargames to try something with a bit of the wargame flavor.

Please note - due to the tools used and the compression, the close-up example of some of the textual cards is not very clear. I've since learned that's a problem with the free IMovie, so I've switchehttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifd editing programs to Final Cut Express. Once I get comfortable with the new tool, I should be able to include clearer photos and scans.

I'm also looking into some of the other video hosting solutions (instead of YouTube). Boardgameswithscott.com is the best place to see the videos, no matter where they move.



Episode 003 - Friedrich at YouTube (Streaming Flash)


If you are having trouble with YouTube, you can also download the MPEG-4 file directly.

More information about Friedrich can be found at Boardgamegeek.

Next week, I'll be looking at the game that got me into this hobby - Adel Verflichtet / Hoity Toity.

Welcome to Board Games with Scott!

Welcome to Board Games with Scott!

With the new year, I'm announcing the formal start of the "Board Games with Scott" video blog (or vlog). I've got some content up already for you to enjoy, and plan to post a new game every week.

My goal with this project is to take a game and talk about it, then provide a brief review. I'm a teacher by trade and see this as an educational project - I want to teach you the basics of the game and give you enough information to help you decide if you want to try or buy it.

The focus in the segments will be on the explanation and not on the review. I've found that different people enjoy very different things in games. My hope is that I'll provide you with enough information to let you decide if the game is something you'd be interested in. In addition, if you are planning on trying a new game, my vlog will give you a leg up on learning the game. I'm not going to be explaining all of the rules but I hope to give you enough to help you decide if the game is right for you.

I'll also be doing special episodes that are outside the normal explanation/review format. I've already got one special episode that explains the basic major categories of these types of games.


Feedback is certainly welcome at scott@scottnicholson.com.

I'll be posting announcements of the new entries at Boardgamegeek, there's an RSS feed at http://feeds.feedburner.com/boardgameswithscott, and if you are a LiveJournal user, you can add the feed from http://www.livejournal.com/users/bgswithscott/.

Finally, if you'd like to get an e-mail when this vlog is updated, I've created a FeedBlitz e-mail feed for it at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=18776

BGWS 002 - Hoopla

Hoopla - a cooporative party game made by the Cranium people.

This week, I talk about the party game Hoopla. This is mostly an explanation and example of how the game works, with a bit of review at the end.



Watch the video at YouTube

or download it as a Quicktime file.

Learn more about Hoopla at Boardgamegeek.

Next week, I'll get a little more serious and talk about the hybrid war/Eurogame, Freidrich.

Special Episode - Board Games 101

Class is in session!

In response to a request, I've created a half-hour tutorial talking about the current landscape of boardgames. In this vlog, I first discuss the four major weights of boardgames and then address game mechanics through brief discussions of about 30 games. You can find the list of games at http://biblio.syr.edu/bgws/list.html

You can view Board Games 101 at YouTube (Flash)

You can also download the 80ishMB file for Board Games 101 (Quicktime)


There's also a lower-quality 20MB file in Windows Media format available.

BGWS 001 - Vegas Showdown

Board Games with Scott, Episode 001 - Vegas Showdown

Vegas Showdown - a light euro/family auction-based game about building properties in Vegas.

This is my first shot at making a videoblog. There are a few technical issues to work out, such as making the sound more regular, but it's done with technology I had at home. If this continues, I'll look into additional technology to make the sound smoother (like a videocamera with the ability to use an external microphone).



I'm hosting the video with YouTube; it's a free service that provides smooth access to the videos. I'm sure as time goes on, I'll change format and hosters, but the URL boardgameswithscott.com should take you here.

YouTube Flash Version (higher quality, embedded flash video)

Downloadable QT version.


Learn more about Vegas Showdown at Boardgamegeek.

Scott on HourCNY

This all started with two segments I made live for HourCNY, a local PBS news show. Each segment is a discussion of 4-6 games. You can view these segments at

http://scottnicholson.com/games/hourcny.html