Upgrading

I mentioned previously that I had been “upgrading” some of my games recently.

I have two ways of changing games:

Either I try to shrink them to make them more portable – as a family, we tend to play games much more often on holiday, so this is where I’ll spring things on them. But new games are always a gamble. Even thought I think I’m getting more of a bead on what they might like, I never know. I have also surprised myself with games I thought might be clunky, to find them much more speedy  and fun (Ticket To Ride – I’m looking at you!).

A main way to do this is to reprint the game boards. No more thick heavy cardboard, instead just A3 paper glued together. I have various pictures of gameboards in my Resources section for this. My method is to stand on a chair with lots of light so that the various sections of board fit together. Its never perfect, but…the game does get played!

I’ve also created various player-aid boards. Inspired by people liking the aids in El Dorado, I’ve done similar things for all the deck-building games I own. It does help after a few drinks, keeping player areas contained, and players on top of which stack they’re drawing from.  Please find in Resources.

Or I want to make games less abstract and more tactile. Board game boxes are generally so over-sized for their games, that there is plenty of room for chunkier pieces. OMG has that been a rabbit hole  I do NOT paint miniatures but have found myself doing a little of that...

One game…I have bought twice, just to stick the pieces together for added chunkiness!

This all started with epoxy resin. I now use it on every cardboard token I own. Sometimes one sided (if laying flat is important), more often both sides. We call it “poshifying” in our house.

Anyway – enough now. Epoxy will be to my next post!