6/13/18
by justin
*all images courtesy of justin’s low-quality phone cameras today’s goals
● types of games ● the fleischmann classics ● tips + tricks ● turning pro what games we talkin’? what games we talkin’?
● board games ● word games types of board games
● Abstract strategy games – e.g. chess, checkers, Go, Reversi ● Race games – e.g. backgammon, Snakes ● Alignment games – e.g. Connect 4, Tic-tac-toe and Ladders ● Auction games – e.g. Hoity Toity ● Role-playing games – e.g. Dungeons & ● Chess variants – janggi, Chess960, Grand Chess, Hexagonal Dragons chess ● Roll-and-move games – e.g. Monopoly, Life ● Cooperative games – e.g. Pandemic ● Single-player puzzle games – e.g. peg ● Count and capture games – e.g. mancala solitaire, Sudoku ● Deduction games – e.g. Mastermind, Black Box ● Territory games – e.g. Go, Reversi ● Economic simulation games – e.g. Monopoly, The Game of Life ● Tile-based games – e.g. Carcassonne, ● Elimination games – e.g. mafia Scrabble, Tigris and Euphrates ● Eurogames – e.g. The Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne ● Train games – e.g. Ticket to Ride ● Guessing games – e.g. Pictionary, Battleship ● Trivia games – e.g. Trivial Pursuit ● Hidden-movement games – e.g. Clue ● Wargames – Risk, Diplomacy, Axis & Allies, ● Hidden-role games – e.g. Mafia, The Resistance Attack!, Conquest of the Empire ● Multiplayer games – e.g. Risk, Monopoly, Four-player chess ● Word games – e.g. Scrabble, Boggle, ● Paper-and-pencil games – e.g. Tic-tac-toe, Dots and Boxes Anagrams, Bananagrams, Snatch-It my preferences luck skill ● strategic with some luck ○ German-style board games are notable for often having less luck than North American games backgammon ● element of diplomacy or chess imperfect information candy land monopoly checkers ● avoid solved games snakes & risk ladders sorry! diplomacy games scrabble - pandemic - risk - settlers of catan solved games
● checkers ○ draw if played perfectly, advantage going 2nd ● connect four ○ 1st player can always force a win ● tic-tac-toe ○ draw if played perfectly, advantage going 1st word games letter arrangement games
● anagrams paper and pencil games/puzzles ● bananagrams ● boggle ● acrostics structured games ● ruzzle ● crosswords ● scrabble ● hangman ● charades ● word polygon ● fictionary ● word search ● mad libs ● scattegory ● taboo fleischmann classics
● boggle ● bananagrams ● blokus ● rummikub ● scattergories ● snatch-it ● bounce off ● yahtzee ● ultimate tic-tac-toe ● mafia/resistance game hacks
● add new variations ○ ultimate tic-tac-toe ○ anagrams/snatch-it ● throw in challenges ○ play with turn/time limits -- i.e. ○ throw in twists -- i.e. Rummikub UPshow should play more games
Teamwork Skills
1. Communication (verbal, nonverbal) 2. Conflict Management (mediate, negotiate) 3. Listening 4. Reliability (trustworthy) 5. Respectfulness (name, eye contact, active listening) Organizational Skills 1. Physical organization (tidy desk, neat appearance, not waste time) 2. Planning (anticipating resources availability, time constraints) 3. Teamwork (giving and accepting delegation, following directions, communicating clearly, maintain team structure) pro tips: risk
● conquer continents wisely ○ consider how isolated a continent is ■ more isolated continents are easier to maintain, but harder to expand from ○ have a strategy & stick to it ■ commit to capturing either isolated continents or power continents early ● use quick maths ○ goal: maximize army bonuses, minimize borders, win battles ○ walter did maths for us http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-use-math-to-win-at-the- board-game-risk-2013-7 Key terr/army = territories per army pro tips: risk ba/bt = bonus armies per border territory
● maximize army bonus ○ Asia — 12 territories, 7 armies per turn, 1.7 terr/army ○ Europe — 7 territories, 5 armies per turn, 1.4 terr/army ○ North America — 9 territories, 5 armies per turn, 1.8 terr/army ○ Africa — 6 territories, 3 armies per turn, 2 terr/army ○ South America — 4 territories, 2 armies per turn, 2 terr/army ○ Australia — 4 territories, 2 armies per turn, 2 terr/army ● minimize borders ○ Asia — 5 border territories, 7 armies per turn, 1.4 ba/bt ○ Europe — 4 border territories, 5 armies per turn, 1.25 ba/bt ○ North America — 3 border territories, 5 armies per turn, 1.7 ba/bt ○ Africa — 3 border territories, 3 armies per turn, 1 ba/bt ○ South America — 2 border territories, 2 armies per turn, 1 ba/bt ○ Australia — 1 border territory, 2 armies per turn, 2 ba/bt pro tips: risk
● conclusions: ○ Europe is risky but rewarding: requires you to hold the fewest number of territories per bonus army, but ~60% of European territories lie on a border ○ North America is least risky: risk can be measured by the ratio of continental bonus armies per border territory, and North America has the most favorable ratio ○ Africa is easy to invade but difficult to hold: the amount you need to commit to its defense make it a particularly unsafe Australia ○ when you know battle is inevitable, attack as soon as you have the same number of attacking armies as your opponent has defending armies, you hold the advantage ○ the larger the battle, the larger the attacker advantage pro tips: settlers of catan
● know the dice roll probabilities ● maximize resources in opening move ○ best places to build are intersections where 2 or 3 different resources touch and each of those resource tiles has a number between 6 and 9, preferably 8 ● follow one of these strategies: ○ build settlements for all five resources, ideally w/ a 5-9 tile for all resources ○ nab several tiles for the same two or three resources, trade early + often ● begin with the end in mind ○ based on your resources from opening, aim for one of: Longest Road, Biggest Army, most cities ○ Largest Army is most advantageous since you can move the Robber! boggle/scrabble pro tips
● build vocab ○ learn all 2- and 3-letter words + most 4- and 5-letter words ○ learn common 6-, 7-, and 8-letter words ● recognize patterns ○ study most-frequent letters (luke-g.com/boggle) ● practice makes perfect ○ practice anagrams (Anagrammer.com) ○ practice speed (WordTwist.org) ○ play 6+ games (Boggle With Friends) words, words, words words, words, words words, words, words words, words, words