Kingdom of Solomon Podcast & Blog Coverage

 Chris at Dice Hate Me (and his trusty sidekick) mentioned Kingdom of Solomon during the latest podcast on Kickstarter projects. I am a big fan of this podcast and enjoy listening to it--they always discuss interesting topics and great games. And the "controversy" was mentioned. :)

Kingdom of Solomon was also featured on Death of Monopoly, another blog I follow. And I just discovered this lengthy article on Cartrunk Entertainment. Very much appreciated, guys!

Quick update: We are currently at 75% of funding!

One last thing: If you haven't seen it yet, check out my new KoS game play video.

Tiger Stripes in Taiwan--Almost

Tiger Stripes was mentioned by a blogger in Taiwan. Unfortunately, he hasn't ordered one yet--I can't image how high that shipping charge would be! But, anyway, we thought it was cool. Google translator did a fair job of interpreting if you're interested in reading it.

New Game Announced: Family Vacation

Today the new Board Game News blog at BGG carried an announcement of two upcoming games from Jolly Roger Games, one of which is my Family Vacation (previously American Vacation)! Production prices and a few other odds and ends are still being figured, but it looks like things are starting to move. After all, I just got the BGG page up last night! Here are a few pictures of the original prototype:

Keep in mind that these components will most likely go through some significant changes before the final game is released. In other news, Isabel's game, Tiger Stripes, was mentioned on the Purple Pawn blog! She has been doing a good job with sales since the launch last week. There's still time to order one!

Revolution! Castigated On BGN

Well, maybe that's not exactly the case. Apparently, BGN contributor Kris Hall had a really, really, bad experience with Revolution! recently. He managed to score only 30 points in his first game. Having played my game hundreds of times, I can attest to the fact that this can certainly happen once in a while--people can just get brutally trounced. Does this happen because the game is completely random?

A commenter had a similar experience, noting: "To me it seems that the best strategy to have in this game is no strategy at al, just place your tokens randomly." He is both right and wrong. There is no "best strategy" in Revolution! except to stay under the radar and avoid too much direct confrontation with the other players. If you develop too strong of a pattern (particularly from game to game), the other players will (or should) punish you for it. The corresponding maxim to this is that any strategy will win if left alone for long enough.

The key to Revolution! is that you are not really playing the board as much as you are playing the other players. It's not a question of the best move, but rather a question of what the other players will do. As Wil Wheaton has noted in his BGG rating comment, Revolution! should be played like Poker. Not everyone likes Poker and not everyone likes Revolution! I'm okay with that. Lots of other people do.

One thing that might help reluctant players was suggested by another BGN commenter. Use the Bid Refund Variant. Under this system, players get their tokens back if they lose or tie a space. This assures that you pay exactly what a space is worth and not more or less, though there is the penalty of lost time. And it helps reduce feeling "like one of those mice who are subjected to random electric shocks in cruel psychological experiments." I suspect the SJG people like the other way because they're sort of into cruel electric shocks, but that's a topic for another day.

So is the game completely random? That depends on who you play with. I think you'll find that, over time, Revolution! is much less random that you first thought.

A New Palace Review

SJG gave away a copy of The Palace on Twitter a few days ago, and the winner posted a glowing review on BGG! That's how bribes are supposed to work! Otherwise, we have to use force . . . :) In other Twitter news, I stumbled onto this German website that has snappy little blurbs for each character in Revolution! (in German, of course, so use a translator). It's still unclear when The Palace will be available; however, I am hoping they get them in time for Essen later this month. SJG plans to have an "official presence" in Hall 6. Sounds exciting!

In other news, Z-Man has passed on my Henry the Great prototype, but Jolly Rogers is nearly ready to hammer out a contract for the Vacation prototype. They want to do preorders on BGG, so stay tuned for more info. Who knows, maybe I'll finally enter Hippodice this year!

Revolution! Discussed by Sean Malstrom

Recently, I noticed lots of hits to my blog coming from this site by Sean Malstrom. I've never heard of him before, but I guess it's a pretty popular site. He brings Revolution! and my experiences with it into an esoteric conversation about video games and D&D. I'm just glad he enjoys it!

In other news, I'm trying to get all my ducks lined up for Origins. At the same time, I have at least three new ideas for games that just won't leave my brain alone. I'm also planning to upgrade this blog and transform it into more of a general site about more of my games.

The Revolution! BGG rank is nearing the 700 mark with over 600 ratings!

Revolution!: The German Version

News is slowly leaking out concerning the soon-to-be-released German version of Revolution!, produced by Pegasus Spiel. Today, we got a picture of the new board from Nuremberg:


As you can see, this design is quite different from the Steve Jackson version. It gives the box art a bit of context as well. This picture is a crop of a larger one showing some of the bidding board. The new version features pictures of the characters on their respective spaces. There is currently a discussion taking place on BGG--most comments seem positive.

Here is another one, fully equipped with meeples instead of cubes (H/T):


By the way, here is the box in all its wild and comical glory:

Only In the 21st Century

It's really cool to be alive in the future. At least that's how it seems sometimes. I participated in some remote playtesting tonight. I emailed some prototype files to a group in Minnesota. They printed them out and playtested it. Then we had a very insightful Skype session hashing things out. Maybe you do that all the time, but it was a first for me. Zero cost and lightning fast!

Also, Revolution! made two bid podcasts will I wasn't paying attention:

The Dice Tower (Ep. 157 @13:45) and
The Spiel (Ep. 89 @25:00 - this one is pretty long).

Both were very positive about the game. Thanks, guys!

Tom Vasel Reviews Revolution! -- He Likes It!

Here is the BBG thread for more.

Meeting Yehuda

I meet board game designer and blogger Yehuda Berlinger tonight. We shared some interesting vegetarian Indian cuisine as well as much game-related discussion. We have a few acquaintances in common: David Miller (who helps him run Purple Pawn) and Jackson Pope (who publishes his game called It's Alive!). Check out his Jerusalem Gaming blog and account of our meeting.

Wil Wheaton Mentions Revolution!

Wil Wheaton, of Star Trek fame, mentioned his upcoming trip to RinCon in Tucson, AZ, where he looks forward to playing Revolution!, among a few other games. I am currently experiencing a level of geekiness beyond all imagination. Now if I can just get Worf to try it out . . . I'm sure he would say something like, "MajQa'!"

Revolution! Reviews

Just the other day I was thinking how nice it would be to have my game added to Bruno Faidutti's famed Ideal Game Library. Today, I found it there! He is mainly positive, preferring the "bid refunds" optional rule to moderate the widely perceived run-away leader problem. Once again, I am very glad I argued for the inclusion of this very rule, and I am thankful that SJG listened.

Revolution! also got a positive review from Sam Healey (sometimes co-host of The Dice Tower with Tom Vassel). He mentioned to me that Revolution will be featured on the podcast in an up-coming episode.

Revolution in the Cincinnati Enquirer

I made the Cincinnati Enquirer today! This story turned out very well, as well as being accurate (always a plus). Now I'm off to buy copies of the paper for my friends and relatives . . .

Cincinnati Demo Dates

I just finished scheduling two Cincinnati demo opportunities:

September 8 (Tuesday) 6:00-10:00 at Yottaquest in Mt. Healthy.

September 10 (Thursday) 6:00-8:00 at Sci-Fi City in Northgate Mall.

I also just finished an interview with the Cincinnati Enquirer, so there might be a story in the paper this weekend. Maybe. :)

French Review

Tric Trac recently featured an in-depth look at Revolution. The bottom line is that they seem to think it's not too bad (in French that means "it's awesome!") and they really like my French-sounding name. The comments were also favorable. Get Google Translator and check it out.

Some Nice Pictures

I just stumbled onto a blog called Geek Game Night. I have added them to my blog roll. They have some amazing pictures over there as well as a nice, in-depth session report of Revolution. You should definitely check them out! Here is one more of their pictures:

Revolution in the Business Courier

Revolution made the online version of the Cincinnati Business Courier. The story is largely accurate, except for that $2/game part--it's really 2% (something like $0.80).

Revolution Reviews

Here are some reviews (or links to some reviews). Also, the pallets have arrived safely in the warehouse and distribution should start today. Things will be in full swing by GenCon!

Ted Cheatham's Origins 2009 Report

Ted Cheatham of BoardgameNews filed this video report on upcoming games at Origins 2009. Revolution made it into the first minute or so of the thirty-two minute report. You can hear Will explaining the game.

Amazing Article: Monopoly Killer

This Wired article is about Settlers of Catan, but it is jam-packed with information about Euro-games. I knew something big was happening when I saw Catan at Toys-R-Us last December. This article confirms it--Euro-games are on the way up in America. There is a very high tide heading our way--just the sort of thing to lift some of the smaller boats (e.g., Revolution!) as well.

BTW - this article also justifies my family's long-standing Monopoly rule about properties going up for auction if a player chooses not to buy it. Apparently, it cuts the play time in half.

(H/T - Purple Pawn)