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A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

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One Meeple: Criss Cross

February 4, 2020

There’s a few types of things that attract me to a game – first being the aesthetics. If something looks good, I tend to click and look to see what the game is about. 

Once there, I look deeper. If I am with a game group and such, I don’t mind some deeper games. But when I am playing solo, most of the time I like simple games that don’t take too long, but still have a bit of thinking or strategy to go with it. 

Criss Cross seemed to be most of that. A small game that you could throw easily in a backpack and travel with, it’s designed by Reiner Knizia. The concept is simple – roll two dice and put the symbols on your scoresheet. The catch is they have to be placed next to one another – be it vertically or horizontally. 

The goal is to get as many symbols in a row, which gets you your points. If you have other symbols in between, it makes it harder to get bigger points. The key is not just having many symbols in a row, but they have to be connected with one another. 

Criss Cross game
Criss Cross

The game, playing solo, takes no more than 10 or so minutes. It requires a bit of thinking as you never know the next roll. So do you want to break up this spot or the next one. You can place the symbols wherever – they don’t have to connect with previous ones – but at the same time, you have to think about connecting symbols. 

Reality is this game isn’t one where you will be straining your brain over things. You roll some dice and try and be strategic where you place the symbols on your grid. Before you know it, the game is over. The “advanced” version makes you look at the middle diagonal line (though you still can’t put things diagonally) and you could that up and back for points at the end of the game. That gives you a whole different way of thinking about the game. 

This was a relatively cheap game and it’s footprint, as noted before, is small. I like that aspect. Also, if I want to just chuck some dice and write a few things down, it’s easy to do. 

The replayability probably isn’t to the point where you’d want to play it every night. But with it being so small, it’s easy to keep around and use when you just need a quick game.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Filed Under: Board Games, My world, One Meeple Tagged With: bgg, board game, board game life, board game review, board games, board gaming, boardgame, boardgamegeek, boardgamelife, boardgames, dice, dice stars, dice stars game, game, games, gaming, meeple, one meeple, solitaire board game, solitaire board gaming, solitaire game, solitaire gaming, solo, solo gaming, sologaming

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One Meeple: Dice Stars

May 16, 2017

Solo games take on different levels of complexity and skill. Some are simple games that challenge you to beat your previous best score, while others involve skill and a deeper thought process.

Dice Stars has a lot to like.

  • It’s quick
  • It has a lot of dice
  • There’s some thinking involved

While the bigger view of the game is that there is a lot left to chance (totally true), there’s some thinking involved as you need to know when to push your luck and when to go with what you have.

Dice Stars is a simple game where you draft dice, and roll them. Before you draft the dice, you have to decide how many you are taking out of the bag — from 1 to 3 dice. While you can get gutsy and go for three, it could also come back and hurt you. Any dice you don’t use will be put in the reserve, which can end up hurting you even more.

The goal is to match up colors and numbers to try and maximize your scoring. You don’t want to “X” out too many boxes, though, as it could hurt your points in the end.

The interesting part with the solo variant is the “AI” grid. As you play, you need to cross off grids in the AI’s spot based on what you did. It could hurt quite a bit if your rolls aren’t going your way. If the AI grid fills, that automatically triggers the end of game scenario. I can assure you, it’s not easy to win (I haven’t yet).

Though the box shows a “space” feel to this game, there’s really no theme. You could put the Wild Wild West on the box and it would likely play the same way, with different art. Still, it’s a fun little game that makes you think some and makes you want to go back for more to try and win.

This game isn’t easy to win, as I’ve noted.

It’s small and compact and is easy to travel with. It’s a light game overall — both in physical form and game play. But it’s fun and it challenges you a little. It’s also cheap, which is nice. On Amazon right now, it’s less than $15. My only concern is if you play it a lot — what happens with scorecards. Can one buy more? Of course if you are spending 8-10 bucks on a big pad, why not just buy a new game. So many beautiful dice!

Overall, the game is enjoyable. The speed you can play it in makes it better and that there’s some thinking involved helps as well. Though I don’t think this is a game I could play every single day, it’s one I don’t mind busting out and challenging myself for 15-20 minutes.

I would like to see how this is as a multi-player game, though, as I think it could be rather interesting.

In the end, it’s worth the small investment and is something I’ll definitely keep around for a quick solo game when needed.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Filed Under: Board Games, My world, One Meeple Tagged With: bgg, board game, board game life, board game review, board games, board gaming, boardgame, boardgamegeek, boardgamelife, boardgames, dice, dice stars, dice stars game, game, games, gaming, meeple, one meeple, solitaire board game, solitaire board gaming, solitaire game, solitaire gaming, solo, solo gaming, sologaming, tabletop

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One Meeple: Hostage Negotiator

February 2, 2017

Multi-player games with solo variants are a lot of fun. But they often can be anti-climactic for the ending.

Not so with Hostage Negotiator, a game specifically made for playing solo. The idea of the game is simple – you are a hostage negotiator, trying to get somebody to release hostages. There are three scenarios that you can use to start, but no game is ever the same with all the different aspects of the game.

I’ve had this game in my collection for a while as I have been tending to do a bit more solo gaming lately. With that in mind, I will usually only add to my collection if there’s a solo variant, but I really love games specifically for solo play.

For whatever reason, I took a while to play this one. I finally got around to setting it up, reading the rules, and watching a play-through video. At that point, I felt I was ready to go.

Things I have read about the game made it sound quite difficult. Early in the first game, I didn’t think I stood a chance. Surely the bad guy was going to wipe me out.

Still, I loved how the game unfolded. And I didn’t even utilize one thing I should have – turning in cards for conversation points, as I forgot all about it.

I really thought I was done for. I had some dice come back bad a few times in key spots and one of my terror cards added two more hostages. Not good. Still, I was enjoying the game and trying to figure when to and when not to use cards. I thought things out the best I could.

And as the game dwindled, I was done for. Alas, one of the terror cards I had drawn earlier was going to allow me to take any card I wanted. Knowing I needed to go for it, I grabbed the final card that would allow me to save four hostages and eliminate the abductor – if all went well.

Then I came to the ending. After the final turn, it was time to go all in or go home. I had built my hand for this final conversation, figuring it was going to be the time to do it. As I set things up, I had the two re-roll cards ready to use. I used the “You need to trust me card,” which would hopefully make it so a four would be a success. I got one hit on it, thus meaning only the roll would give me a chance to win with 4, 5, or 6. But I needed two hits.

On the first roll – one hit and one “4,” which gave me the improbable win! I had the two re-roll cards still left that I was ready to use, but I didn’t end up needed to play them!

Such a fun game. I am definitely looking forward to many more plays. I look forward to all the expansions to come from the Kickstarter campaign. Great fun for sure!

Overall thoughts

This game is a lot of fun. It plays pretty quick and there are some good decisions. There’s definitely the luck factor with dice rolls and such, but it’s all part of the game. I love that you either win or lose. It’s not beating your previous score — it’s you won or you lost. End of story.

The graphics are nice and the game play is pretty smooth. This is definitely a keeper for me.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Filed Under: Board Games, My world, One Meeple Tagged With: bgg, board game, board game life, board game review, board games, board gaming, boardgame, boardgamegeek, boardgamelife, boardgames, game, games, gaming, hostage negotiator, hostage negotiator game, HostageNegotiator, meeple, one meeple, solitaire board game, solitaire board gaming, solitaire game, solitaire gaming, solo, solo gaming, sologaming, tabletop

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ConnCon a good way to break into gaming conventions

April 15, 2015

I should have blogged about this a bit before now, but … well, it happens.

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to head to a board game convention – ConnCon, held in Stamford, Connecticut. I went in with an open mind, but had my doubts. And why?

Well, in the past when I had thought about cons like this, all I could think about was a bunch of people dressing up like their favorite comic characters or something else and just … well, general geekery.

My first gaming convention -- ConnCon!

My first gaming convention — ConnCon!

I had wanted to go to one of those cosplay style conventions in the past for photo reasons, but I was going to this one because I wanted to play games. Was I going to be disappointed? The person who leads our local game night assured me different – this is a gaming convention with gaming as the core. It would be fine.

He wasn’t kidding.

From Friday through Sunday afternoon, we gamed. Oh did we game. I met some wonderful people (and, to be fair, a couple that made me shake my head, but that’s to be expected) from all walks of life. There were people who might fit the “board gamer” stereotype a bit more than others and then some you might have thought “he plays board games?”

Stumbling into starting to play modern-day board games was almost accidental for me. Two of us were on a way to an event and the other noted he was missing a night at a friend’s house. A weekly board gaming night, to which he noted it might sound dorky. I said … “so you guys play Monopoly and such?” He then explained the modern games and by the end of the night, the leader of this group had invited me. Outside of a chunk over last summer and such, I’ve been a pretty decent regular and have gotten into it.

I’ve enjoyed the aspects of gaming (including my personal collection of games continually growing), so when the idea of heading to ConnCon came up, it seemed like a no-brainer.

I’m glad I went.

We began Friday morning, before the convention “officially opened” by three of us who traveled down playing a game in the open area. Bora Bora is one I had wanted to play and we broke it out. We pulled in somebody who seemed to be looking for a game – Norm – and he had actually played said game. Norm joined us on several games throughout the weekend.

And to use Norm as an example – he was “common” through the weekend, and by that I mean the friendly, easy-going, want-to-play board games sort of person.

That game of Bora Bora, which we started at about 9 a.m. or so, was the beginning of a weekend where we didn’t sleep a ton and played a whole heap of games. Going to bed between 2-3 a.m. was normal for the next two nights, followed by getting up by 7 a.m.

I’m not as young as I once was, though.

Still, I was home by 6 p.m. on Sunday, which was nice.

Anyway, back to the weekend. I played 33 different times during the convention, including 27 games. That was the best part.

I had signed up to fill each slot scheduled at the Con with a game. The slots were four-hours long, so that still gave a lot of time for some open gaming.

I also ran the gamut of gaming with some really deep ones to the quick and easy ones. Some games took 10-15 minutes, while others went several hours. Of all the games I played, only one had I previously played.

The experiences are far too many to list here, but I’ll share a few.

First, one game I’ve wanted to play for a while is Luchador! Mexican Wrestling Dice. It’s a neat-looking game and I saw some people playing it. Turns out the owner of the game, Steve, is a wrestling nut – much like myself. We talked the squared circle a bit and agreed to get together to play later in the day Friday. When I went and found him later, he was deep into a game and leaving for the night soon after – so he told me to borrow the game for the evening, which I did.

Steve setting up for some Luchador! action!

Steve setting up for some Luchador! action!

This should tell you something about the Con – trusting somebody you have just met to borrow a $40 game. Now, I think most people there wouldn’t be running out of the building with a game, but still. In fact, if you looked around the main room, there were a lot of places where people had their games so people could use them. Trusting and friendly are two words to describe the bulk of the people at this Con.

Anyway, I got in three games later with the game and enjoyed it. The next day, Steve and I had the chance to play and we did the tag-team setup, on opposite sides. The game is quick, easy to learn and a lot of fun to play. In fact, it’s now in my collection as I ordered it via Amazon a few days later.

Allow me to also point you to Steve’s blog where he talks about gaming and games. He also has a solid podcast that is in its infancy and worth giving a listen to.

***

My Saturday late-game slot was taken up by a game I had purchased via an auction – Dice Brewing.

Playing Dice Brewing!

Playing Dice Brewing!

As a home brewer, I’ve decided I want to get as many brewing games as I can, so this fit the bill. In the end, it was one of my favorite games I played all weekend.

I had purchased the game through an auction of Maciek – and it turns out he taught the session we played. And what fun. He taught the game and we had a good time with it. He even cracked out a Polish beer for us to have while we played. The beer, too, was very solid.

I am glad I added this one to my collection though as I think it was a lot of fun. I like the mechnisms, and how dice is used in the game. It’s different enough from Brew Crafters to make it a definite keeper. Plus, the session we had at ConnCon was awesome.

I also added another beer game to my collection — Goldbräu. This also will show you how great gamers are. I had been playing games with a few gentlemen and we talked about beer games. Being a home brewer and such, I want to have as many decent beer games in my collection as I can. One of them had won this game in an auction but thought I would get greater joy out of it and offered it to me. I ended up giving him what he paid for it — plus a buck (need a profit!), even thought he had only wanted to gift it to me. That’s good people right there.

***

I also had the chance to test a few games out, which was a lot of fun. A few of the games were still on Kickstarter (Between Two Cities, Bad Medicine, Bottom of the 9th), which was cool. Two of them I had already been backing, the other one I opted to back. There were a few games, too, that weren’t yet to Kickstarter (Puppy Dogs from Space and The Networks) that aren’t quite on Kickstarter yet, but are ones I’ll likely back once they reach there.

I look forward to The Networks going on Kickstarter as it's one I will definitely back.

I look forward to The Networks going on Kickstarter as it’s one I will definitely back.

The fun of Bad Medicine and The Networks, as well as Puppy Dogs from Space, was playing with the designers. Gil Hova designed the first two and it was a pleasure and a lot of fun to play those games with him there (he played Bad Medicine with us, and taught The Networks).

John Dermody is the creator of Puppy Dogs and he was there playing along with his crew. They were a hoot to play with and his game was a lot of fun, especially when I found a way to pull out the win. What was nice was being able to give a few thoughts about the games etc. As somebody who writes and works with photography, I can understand it might not always be easy to hear what people think about your “baby,” but at the same time it allows you to grow. Anything said was taken well and it was fun to see how the designers think about games. What a process!

***

I can’t say enough about the organizers, designers who were there, and the gamers at this convention.

The organizers I spoke with were friendly and helpful. The designers were awesome to deal with and they gave you insight into their games and the process. The people were just incredible. I met a lot of people and look forward to seeing them at future events.

This is one convention I plan on attending each year. I think the only thing I’ll change is to actually bring my actual camera out to take photos. There’s a lot to capture and I’d like to do that instead of relying completely on my phone. There is also a fall convention held by the same people, and I am going to plan that one, as long as it’s on a weekend where I don’t have any work I need to do. Kudos to everybody at ConnCon and I look forward to the next one.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Filed Under: Board Games, games, My world, Travel Tagged With: bgg, board game, board games, con, conncon, game convention

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Harper is counting down to Santa Paws! You know, Harper is counting down to Santa Paws! 

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I look at her and sometimes still can’t believe I look at her and sometimes still can’t believe I have her. It’s been a year and four months and she makes me smile and laugh more each day. It’s amazing how much a dog changes your look on life, and how much joy they can bring. 

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I’ve recently realized how many photos I have to I’ve recently realized how many photos I have to post here, as well as on Harper’s (@harper_dublin) account). So, as I start to transfer photos, I’ll try and catch up. So photos coming could be from all seasons and who knows when. 🤣

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From a few weeks ago. I was trying to get Harper t From a few weeks ago. I was trying to get Harper to put her paws on the bridge and looked out, but she was more content jumping on me and looking up. I do love the way she seems to be looking at me.
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Harper’s friend Lucy is around this weekend! #g Harper’s friend Lucy is around this weekend!

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So… @harper_dublin wants to know why she can’t So… @harper_dublin wants to know why she can’t have @mallons_homemade_sticky_buns.
This is why we can’t have nice things. Saw this This is why we can’t have nice things. Saw this on me morning walk Friday with Harper. Likely some college kids, but also as chance at local hooligans. I had Harper so not a lot I could do, but I managed to get the cart off the chair. (See second photo) This was in a local park.
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Finally learning this Canon M6 MarkII before my tr Finally learning this Canon M6 MarkII before my trip starts this weekend. Really like it now that I took the time to set it up and learn the differences between this and my 7D MarkII. This and the iPhone will do most of the work on the trip. 

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