I know that part of the problem has been that a good portion of my creativity has been preoccupied with other projects, like running a Dungeons and Dragons game. While my players get to just show up, roll dice, and say things like, “I attack the zombie to my right,” I spend hours of time thinking about things like why that zombie is there, and how that zombie fits into the story arch that I have in my head. I spend time creating puzzles that may or may not get solved and non-player characters that may be killed before they get a chance to speak. This is the way of the dungeon master, and I do get a kick out of it, but I need to figure out a quicker way to develop encounters.

I’ve also been involved in the longest online game of Friedemann Friese’s Fearsome Floors in the history of online games of Friedemann Friese’s Fearsome Floors.

If you spend any time at all on yucata.de, I advise you to avoid this game at all costs.

For a game that is supposed to represent groups of people running in terror from a horrible monster, it’s moving along at a snail’s pace. I will never play this game again, online or otherwise. Maybe I can get something good for my copy in a math trade.

I did play a great deal of Roll Through the Ages this month, both in person and on the iPhone. It’s a very solid dice game in my opinion, and I’m not sick of it. I just checked my stats on BGG and I’ve played it 33 times. I remember the first time I played it in January of 2009, when Doug Garrett taught me to play, and I’ve played it regularly ever since then. I played it nine times this month, and I wouldn’t turn down a game tonight. Obviously, this game does not suck.

However, I don’t think Roll Through the Ages was a very good pick for Game of the Month. It’s a great game, and I had a nice time playing it this month, but I don’t think my repeated plays lead me to any new thoughts regarding strategy or to a new appreciation for the design. I didn’t learn anything new; I guess is what I’m trying to say.

September will be better, right?

I don’t have a lot to say about these games, because for the most part, I haven’t played them.

• Jaipur, designed by Sébastien Pauchon. I own this game and have played it a few times. It’s a neat two-player and I should probably get it out and play it again sometime this month.
• Endeavor, designed by Carl de Visser and Jarratt Gray. I’ve only played this once, but I liked it. Maybe I didn’t like it as much as everyone else seems to like it, but I thought it was good.

The next two games on the recommended list are special because while I have never played them or even seen them, I own them. I ordered them as part of a group order months ago and just haven’t gotten a chance to go down to Los Angeles to pick them up. I’m sure they’re awesome.

• Mosaix, designed by Christof Tisch
• Level X, designed by Stefan Risthaus

The rest of the games are total unknowns for me, even Tobago, which was considered by many to be a sure thing for the SdJ short list.

• Don Quixote, designed by Reinhard Staup
• Kamisado, designed by Peter Burley
• Hansa Teutonica, designed by Andreas Steding
• Jäger und Sammler, designed by Reiner Knizia
• Samarkand, designed by David V.H. Peters and Harry Wu
• Tobago, designed by Bruce Allen

I doubt I will get to play any of these before the month is over, but you never know.

I think it’s a pretty good game that has a six-year-old boy sitting for fifteen minutes, having fun, putting numbers in order from least to greatest. Try and do that with a traditional classroom activity.

In Sleeping Queens, the primary mechanic that allows a player to get better cards into their hands involves the creation of number sentences. A player has five cards in their hand at all times. Many of the cards are useful in gathering the sleeping queens, but many of the cards are just valued from one to ten, and don’t really do anything for you. You can discard one of them on your turn and draw a new card, or you can discard a pair of them and draw two new cards, or you can create a number sentence with three cards and then get three new cards. For example, if you have a two, a five, and a seven, you can say, “Two plus five equals seven” and discard those three cards for three new cards. Hopefully one of the three new cards will help you wake some of those queens.

Make sure that you make it a rule for players to actually say the number sentence out loud. It’s that kind of physical and auditory participation that helps children create mathematical fluency, which is exactly what your kid’s teacher is trying to develop by giving them those stressful timed tests in school.

Happy gaming!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NzIyqvfZwE

Rat-a-Tat Cat is really just a fun excuse to sit down with people you like. There’s nothing wrong with that, right?

Let’s say that I have an extra copy of California and I ask Joe if he will trade it for his copy of Ticket to Ride: The Card Game. He’s not interested because he’s already got a copy of California, but he would trade his copy of Ticket to Ride: The Card Game with William for his copy of GiftTRAP. William doesn’t want Ticket to Ride: The Card Game but he would like my copy of California. So obviously, the solution is that I give my game to William, who gives me his game, and then I give the game I just got from William to Joe who gives me the game I want. Everyone’s happy.

A math trade is like that but with a hundred people. The exchange is so complex that it requires a computer algorithm to successfully calculate all of the required trades.

If you are a BGG regular, you should give a math trade a try.

So I waited, and all the other copies around town eventually disappeared, and I considered paying the full price for the beat up copy still sitting at Walmart. I considered it and decided to just forget about it.

Yesterday, we were at Walmart buying a sewing machine and I thought I would wander over and see if that copy of Marvel Heroscape was still there. It was there, and even more awful looking than ever. So awful looking in fact, that it had been discounted down to $3.00.

Yes, $3.00.

It pays to be patient sometimes.