First of all, Skittles don’t get your hands all sticky. I suppose they would if you left them in your sweaty palms for ten minutes while you agonized over which one of the two cards you have left in your hand would be better to play, but if that’s the case, you’re an idiot anyway. I once thought Cheetos would be the worst gamer snack when it came to getting stuff on your fingers that would get on the game, but I mentioned this to my friend John and he said that ribs would be worse. Well, yeah, ribs would be worse, but who in the hell eats ribs while playing a boardgame? Honey? Bring me some more of those ribs, would ya? I’ve got to take my turn in Puerto Rico.

Skittles also are pretty sturdy and don’t leave crumbs or little bits on the table. So even if Mark Jackson gets excited and dumps a his Skittles all over Alea Iacta Est, it really doesn’t matter. You just pick them up and move on with the game. The dice in the game are pretty brightly colored so be careful that you don’t eat some of the game, but you would have to be pretty tired to do that, or maybe just oxygen deprived. I suppose you can smash a Skittle if you try hard enough, but if you’re spending your time smashing Skittles, well, good luck on the whole life thing.

There’s also the great sugar rush that Skittles provide, and it’s a pure rush of sugar that’s not really complicated or bogged down with things like texture or flavor. Sure, M&Ms are tasty and all, but chocolate starts to border on food, while a Skittle is like rocket fuel. Yes, you will eventually crash, but how else are you going to get through a game of Hansa Teutonica at 2:30 AM?

Roll a d12 and taste the rainbow.

I owe this site a great debt of gratitude. While Settlers of Catan may have sparked an interest in eurogames, it was the geek that reninvigorated my love of gaming and connected me to my gaming group, where I have not only had a crapload of fun, but I have made some great friends, lifelong friends.

I don’t even remember how I first heard about the site, but I had only been a registered user for a few months before someone in a local game group had contacted me and invited me to come check out the next meeting. Here’s where I posted about that very first experience with the Fresno gamers.

I guess I could say that I spend way too much time on the geek, but screw that! I spend exactly the right amount of time on the geek. It’s awesome. It’s free, but I choose to contribute a bit of money each year because it’s something I use almost daily. It’s more than worth it.

Here’s what boardgamegeek is all about, as per their wiki page:

BoardGameGeek is an online board gaming resource and community. The site is updated on a real-time basis by its large and still growing user base, making the ‘Geek the largest and most up-to-date place to get gaming information! There is no charge to become a registered member of BGG, although you are certainly encouraged to help improve the site by adding your own reviews and thoughts on games to the existing database!

There are reviews, ratings, images, play-aids, translations, and session reports from board game geeks across the world, as well as live discussion forums. In addition, every day nearly a hundred game trades pass through the hands of registered members, as well as transactions in the marketplace. If you are new to the site and are wondering where to begin, you might start with the Guide to BoardGameGeek.

Start wherever you want. The geek is the place to go for all your boardgaming needs. When you get there, register, and look for user gameguythinks. If you are already registered, then put that 10th anniversary microbadge up and display it proudly!

I think it’s a nice opportunity to pick up a great boardgame that you can sit down and play with family and friends. I was playing some games last night with my wife and a good friend, thinking how lucky I am to be able to do so.

You can also donate directly to AmeriCares.

Most of the games were played only once or twice, but included some lengthy or heavier games, such as Battlestar Galactica, Power Grid, and Princes of Florence.

The game that got played much more often than any of the others was the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game. I was able to pick up a couple of the starter packs while I was at KublaCon in May, but they sat around until my buddy John showed some interest, and we’ve been playing it ever since. We’ve played it nine times this month. It may grow old in a few months, but we’ve easily gotten our money out of the game in terms of enjoyment.

Take care, and happy gaming!

Out of the five nominees, Dominion, was the one game I was pretty sure would not win, so that shows how much I know. I think it’s a good game. I like playing it, but it’s not sitting on my shelf at home. It just doesn’t grab me, but maybe it’s just because I still haven’t played it enough. When I have played, I’ve played against people who have over 50 plays under their belt, so of course I get creamed.

I am tempted to pick up a copy and look for an automatic card shuffler. How cool would that be? Collectors would look on in horror as I fed my hand of cards into the shuffler. “AHHH! You’re mangling them! What about their trade value???” Good times.

Congratulations to all the nominees. I have a copy of Finca on the way, which was my prediction for this year’s winner. I will let you know what I think when I play it.

Happy gaming!

Here are the nominees for SdJ this year along with my random opinions.

Dominion, designed by Donald Vaccarino. I’ve played this game online and in person. In the game, you use cards from your hand to purchase more cards to let you do more stuff later, which is cool, but you have to keep shuffling in the new cards to your deck that keeps getting bigger. Shuffling becomes annoying very quickly, which is why I like it better online. However, the online game at Brettspielwelt can happen so quickly that it seems like hot potato, and I get freaked out because I think that some college student in Denmark is cursing me for taking so long to make my turn. While I think it’s pretty damn clever in how it makes deck building the focus of the game, I am still just sort of ho hum on the whole thing. Don’t get me wrong; I think it’s a great game. It just seems like most people like it more than I do.

Fauna, designed by Friedemann Friese. A trivia game about animals. Wow. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. I don’t know anything about this game other than that the theme doesn’t seem interesting to me, but Friedemann Friese makes good games, so I’d love to try it someday. I heard some gamers talking about how they thought this would be the winner this year, because Friedemann Friese has never won the SdJ, and because so many of the entries started with the letter “F”, like the SdJ judges are trying to give us some secret clue or something. I thought that was hilarious.

Finca, designed by Ralf zur Linde and Wolfgang Sentker. This looks really neat and I might just purchase this soon. It’s a game about delivering your crop of fruit to market. Yeah, I know I just made fun of the animal trivia theme, but the components and the board are gorgeous and the mechanics seem fun. This, btw, is the game I think will win the SdJ. That’s just my gut feeling, and I don’t really have any good evidence to base that on, but if I’m right, I will act like I had some secret information on the matter. Don’t believe me.

Fits, designed by Reiner Knizia. This is like Tetris – the boardgame. I think I would enjoy playing it, because I do like puzzle games. The components look great, and I really wish someone in my game group would buy this so I can play it. Come on guys, cough up some dough for Dr. Knizia. This can’t win the SDJ because Knizia won last year and if he won again the universe would fail its saving throw and take 3d12 in repetitive award damage.

Pandemic, designed by Matt Leacock. A cooperative game where the players try to cure deadly diseases that threaten the planet. I do own this game and have played it a couple of times just this month. The game is fun, plays in about 45 minutes, and features a box that can withstand a rocket blast. I love this game. I’ve played it with both gamers and non-gamers with equal enjoyment by all. I think this is the game that should win the SDJ, but again, I have a feeling that it won’t. I hope I’m wrong.

That’s my take on the nominees for this year’s Spiel des Jahres. I’ll talk about this year’s list of recommended games next week.

There is also an award for the kids game of the year, the Kinderspiel des Jahres. If you want to learn more about the nominees for this year, I suggest you head over to Mark Jackson’s site, aka pastor guy, and read his post on Kinderspiel des Jahres 2009 – Nominees & Recommendations.

Happy gaming!