Greenflame
Jottings on science, religion, technology, pop culture, photography and faith from the Aotearoa New Zealand
Category: Games
-
Finding a little peace and distraction while self-isolating can be helpful. Here are three games that I’ve found provide that, and as a bonus, are cheap and cheerful: Flower; Melody’s Escape; Islanders;
-
Following on from Meaningful games (Part 1) from a few days ago, here is an additional selection of games that might fall into the category of games that move us in some way, and demonstrate one or more of these dimensions: Meaningful choices; Flow; Social play of some form. (See previous post for more details on…
-
In her book, How Games Move Us (The MIT Press, 2016), Katherine Isbister suggests that, Compelling games don’t happen by accident, any more than do gripping novels, movies, or music. In all these media, creators draw from a well-defined set of strategies and techniques to create a specific emotional experience. (Isbister, 1) Isbister distills these strategies…
-
I’ve been watching a number of gaming documentaries recently as part of an ongoing research project. These documentaries range across a range of topics including gender, discrimination, indie developers, education, identity, and history. Most of these I’ve rented or purchased through the Steam store, with a few from Vimeo and YouTube. It’s interesting to watch…
-
When I was in Denver in August I visited the Denver Art Museum as part of the International Society for Media, Religion and Culture conference that was meeting in Boulder. Part of that involved visiting a number of curated installations, many of which showcased indigenous artists and their work. Walking to the Denver Art…
-
I grew up playing versions of the card game Rummy, mainly a variant of Shanghai Rummy (with the buys, but no jokers) and Canadian Rummy (which may be a form of Continental Rummy). We still play lots of it as an extended family (on my side), and it led on to games like Canasta, Bolivia,…
-
The next game of the bookshelf in the lounge is San Juan from Rio Grande Games. This is a good game in terms of compact size, quick set up, relatively quick gameplay and scoring, and reasonably easy to learn rule. This game is the card game version of Puerto Rico, also from Rio Grande, set…
-
From the LifeHacker web site today, the chart to help you pick what game to play. Some errors in it, but it’s a good start. See Pick the Best Board Game to Play in Any Situation with This Flow Chart: (bigger chart there)
-
Moving back to board games today, and to one of the favourite games of my eldest child is Pillars of the Earth from Mayfair Games. The game is based on Ken Follet’s novel of the same name (see Pillars of the Earth (Novel) and also the TV series) based around the building of Kingsbridge Cathedral.…
-
Mamma Mia! from Rio Grande games is one of my all time favourite games – well, it does involve pizza – and a game that my kids have played since preschool (even though it says ages 10+). Basically you make pizzas by playing ingredient cards and order cards into the oven (a pile in the…