GeekSpeak
September 29th, 2004I have to say I enjoyed the first GeekSpeak. I listened to the MP3 on my portable player while I was commuting yesterday and this morning. It would have been boring/sackable to listed to it at my home/work computer. It was good to hear the voices of people I have only come across on the net as Board Game Geek avatars.
The content of the show was good. Greg Schloessler is a complete motormouth. He talked almost constantly for an hour with only occasional interjections. Scott Alden and Derk Solko were good hosts, almost a classic straight-man/funny-man combination. Derk always sounded like he was about to tell a dirty joke.
My only complaint was the length of the MP3. It would have been better if they had split it up, so it was easier to navigate back to your place if you were interrupted. Also, it would be good if they offered a Speex version of the file, which would be better quality and a smaller download.
I was particularly interested to hear Greg’s favourite games for different numbers of players:
- 2 – Squad Leader
- 3 – Tigris and Euphrates
- 4 – Torres
- 5 – El Grande
- 6+ – Elfenland
I am going to have to buy Elfenland now. I have been meaning to buy Torres and El Grande for years now, but there always seems to be something more interesting at the time.
It would be great to hear someone like Reiner Knizia or Bruno Faidutti interviewed.
September 29th, 2004 at 17:50
I haven’t listened to the program yet (the prospect of three amateurs discussing boardgames for a whole hour wasn’t setting my world alight when I could be listening to Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me!, but that’s just me – you remember that old web TV-like show on boardgames? It was similarly long, and good god, it was boring), but maybe I’ll have to now.
I have to admit, I am rather surprised by Greg’s choices for best at various numbers. I always felt Tigris & Euphrates was actually pretty lousy with 3 compared to the four-player game and to a really good 3-player game like Samurai. And Elfenland is also an odd choice, especially in light of his other choices, which reflect an obvious preference for more substantial games. Elfenland is a decent enough game, but very chaotic and a bit tedious with 6; Showmanager or Breaking Away or Medieval Merchant would have been more compelling choices for me if you’re talking about board games, and a lot of card games (Mu, Wizard) are actually quite good at 6, while board games tend to stretch.
September 29th, 2004 at 18:17
Well it cannot be less interesting than reading self-appointed games pundits pontificating!
I never saw those webcasts. They were expensive and I only had a modem connection at the time. I would have thought an interview with Doktor K would be interesting, but there you go.
I think he just wanted to get T&E in there. He did mention Samurai as another of his favourite 3-player games.
I only tried Elfenland with five. I suppose he thinks that six players and above require a faster-moving game? My favourite for six is Medici.
What are your choices for best games with different numbers of players? That might be worth a separate blog post…
September 29th, 2004 at 19:47
It’s not so much about content, but density. With radio-type interviews you really need to now how to keep things focussed and keep the pace going, and it’s rather difficult. When you read my blog anyway, you can scan it and see if I’m saying anything interesting, hit the highlights, and I generally have a chance to read it over a couple times and edit it and trim it down, and it only takes 5 minutes to read anyway.
I listened to GeekSpeak a bit, and I must admit I thought they did a good job, so my prejudices may have been unfounded
The Doctor Knizia interview was the best show they did, and it was pretty decent, although it still had significant pacing issues.
And no, you won’t nail me down to picking the best at various numbers
The only numbers for which this is an interesting exercise I think are 3, 6, and 7+, because for some reason they seem under-served.
September 29th, 2004 at 22:30
You are right about how the audioblog format has to be kept focussed. I just experimented with Evil Genius Chronicles, as Aldie mentioned it as his inspiration for GeekSpeak. The 29/09/04 mp3 was just a self-indulgent, vain ramble.
However, you are right that Aldie and Derk kept it focussed. I worry that once they get used to it, they might succumb to temptation and become vain, but we will have to wait and see.
Maybe you will relent in one of your own posts. I need to decide on mine. I agree that the 4 and 5 player numbers do not mean a lot as almost all games support them well enough. San Marco is good for 3. I have yet to find a really good game for 7+, that is not a party game. On GeekSpeak, Derk mentioned that Finestre Flure with lots of people and a timer is good, but I have too many unplayed games to think about buying any more right now.
September 30th, 2004 at 00:43
The only “real game” I can think of that works reasonably well with 7 is Bohnanza. You can even get some mileage out of the otherwise-worthless Seafarers expansion by using the big beans from that set (26, 28).
Anyway. I’ll think about it.
October 19th, 2004 at 21:27
For a long interview with Reiner Knizia:
http://www.trictrac.net/index.php3?id=jeux&rub=textes&inf=0018
The first minute or so is in French, then there’s over an hour in English!
October 20th, 2004 at 09:32
Thanks, I will check it out. Unfortunately, it is in Realplayer, so I cannot download it and listen to it on my daily commute…