The Shipwreck Arcana

Trapped in a drowned world, you and your allies are doomed -- or are you? Using a mystical deck and a healthy dose of logic, you can predict each others' fates and escape unscathed.

And that is how we are introduced to Mesomorph's newest game, "The Shipwreck Arcana," a cooperative game of deduction and logic. It was on Kickstarter and I found it on Thursday. It seemed interesting, and I considered backing it, but wanted more time to think before I did anything. Unfortunately, I didn't have more time, due to the fact that by the time I found it it had 3 hours left in its campaign. 

Here's the thing with me and Kickstarter: I've only backed three projects, each for $5 or less. The first, "Steampunk Rally," I backed with $5 to get the print and play files, which I then printed off, cut out and formulated, and then gave to my mom for mother's day. The next, "Book of Mormon Heros: The Servant of Helaman," was a computer game created by a member of the church. By pledging $1, I was emailed a link to where I could download the game. I never did download it, come to think of it. Hold on a sec.     . . .     Okay I'm back. So the link I was given: bookofmormongames.com leads me to another page which has a whole bunch of other links to it, and I'm too lazy to try to search for it. Plus, right now it looks like one of those sites that could give you viruses. Anyway, it only cost a dollar and supported him, so all's good. The third project I backed, "Anachrony," was also a $5 pledge to get the print and play version. The difference between this and Steampunk Rally, however, was the fact that Anachrony is huge. Like, really big. Like, it's over 100 pages for just the base game, not including all the expansion stuff I also got. So I never did have the time or money to print it all off. But I still have the files.

So I have never really gotten a game through Kickstarter, just files to print off at home to make my own version. And I'm thinking, it's about time I got one. With Steampunk Rally and Anachrony, to actually get the game would have cost $55 and $59, respectfully. I just don't have that kind of money to spend on games. (Unfortunately. Maybe some day...) But with Shipwreck Arcana, not only did it seem like a really interesting game, it was also only $15 for the entire game, plus all unlocked stretch goals. I got a $25 gift card that I could use for whatever I wanted (read: games) so I decided to go for it. 

The Shipwreck Arcana is a real game about a fictional deck of cards. The deck exists in a world which is described only as "sunken" or "drowned." The world's history is unknown -- but it is hinted at by the fictional illustrator of the tarot deck, providing a glimpse of the history that surrounds it. The Shipwreck Arcana is a compact, cooperative game of deduction, evaluation, and logic, combining simple, speedy play with incredibly deep strategy. Players take turns playing tokens according to rules found on an ever-changing tableau of cards, in order to convey information to the rest of the group before their doom arrives. 2-5 players, 20 minutes, recommended ages 10+.

Although I was kind of rushed with my decision, I still think that it was a good one. In reality, I wasn't that rushed with my decision. I decided to support it, and gave the credit card information for my $25 gift card. A day later I got a notice telling me it was declined because it couldn't accept that kind of card, so I had a week to fix it or just drop out. So I had a week to really decide whether or not to get it, and in the end I decided that it would be a great enjoyable game.

Some reasons I backed it: (1) It is a short game. My favorite type of games are the ones where there's tons of different ways to score points and it's strategy driven and there are multiple paths to victory. For example: T'Zolkin: The Mayan Calendar. Great game, for those very reasons. Also, I'm really looking into a new game called Merlin that fits this exact style. My game Somerset was structured after these ideas. However, sometimes you just need a quick, light game. Timeline, for example. The Shipwreck Arcana lasts only about 20 minutes, and is a filler, which will be a nice breath of air after all the heavy strategy games.

(2) The game is like a series of difficult logic puzzles. You can read the rules and learn more about the game here, but basically every turn a person is using logic to get to to figure out what he has, and you are using logic to figure out what he has. With 30 cards that give a variety of different situations, and 49 (seven times seven) different tile sets you could be given to work the puzzle with, the variety of logic puzzles to solve is near endless.

(3) It supports adding and dropping out players super easily. Have you ever had a game where when you were in the middle of it someone came in and wanted to join, or somebody playing had to leave? This game allows that flexibility without messing up the flow of the game at all.

(4) It has a super quick set up time. One of the reasons why I love Splendor.

So all in all I'm excited for March 2018 to come, when I'll be getting my copy. Yes, in six months. That's about the amount of time it takes to get a game when you back it on Kickstarter after it has been successfully funded.

Summer job, parties, Hero with A Thousand Faces

I got a Summer job working at Provo Parks and Recreation again, just like I did last year. I'm even under the same guys. This last Tuesday was my first day of work, and so far we've dug up some old roots from some cut down trees, fixed sprinkler systems, planted five new trees where the old ones used to stand (my favorite project thus far), pulled some weeds, trimmed some bushes near a jogging path, and unclogged a path near a river whose pump had gone out, flooding the walkway under the bridge up with about two feet of water. That was fun too, actually, we got to get this massive pump and siphon everything out back into the river, then scrape up the muck, then siphon some more, then actually got access to the malfunctioning pump, all while getting splashed occasionally by nasty stale water.

A few weeks ago (which I was going to post about but haven't posted in a while, sorry) was my wife's side of the family's family reunion. It took place up in Idaho, about a three hour drive. We got there around midnight because we left late because we were packing, and set up our awesome tent in the dark. The next day we had breakfast with everyone and I handed out name tags for people to fill out, and there were games for the kiddos. I was one of the stopwatch people for an obstacle course race that Heather participated in with her team and around six other teams. Her team didn't come in first, mainly because of this ridiculous station where you had to stand a few feet from a watermelon half and chuck CDs at it and you had to get them to stick. Super hard.

I played games with some of the cousin guys. We played two games that Heather got me for Father's Day. She got me Cover your A$$ets as well as Splendor. Cover your A$$ets is a really great party game, and was introduced to us by Ryan when he visited us with his girlfriend. Splendor though is now one of my all time favorite games. Heather and I alone have played so much Splendor these last few weeks due to the fact that it is simple, super quick to set up, and engaging and fun. I'll be bringing both games to the family reunion in August. So we played a lot of those during the reunion.

Three days before the Fourth of July was the Stadium of Fire. Heather and I have never been together, and I have never been. Heather's only gone once when she was working as security (they hire a whole bunch of students every year to do that). I didn't know any of the singers and only one song because it was all country and I'm not a big fan of country music, but what made up for the price of the ticket was we got to see Brian Reagan live! He did some jokes I knew and some I had never heard before, and some about talking jokes with fireworks exploding overhead that he made up on the spot. "I didn't expect to be doing jokes in between firework noises. Timing is hard enough in comedy; trying to do the set up, then hear a blast, and then hit a punch line. Was not expecting that. 'Why did the chicken cross the road? Pow! Pow! Pow! Ka-pow! Pow! To get--Pow! Pow! Pow! Ka-pow! Pow!--to the other side.' That's what I'm dealing with up here."

The fourth of July happened one week before I started work. Heather and I went to the parade and then went to the colonial fair to see a little musical they we putting on about how people throughout history protected liberties and freedom. It talked about not only our country of the United States of America, but also people like Joan of Arc. After the play we went home and napped and then we went to the fair they always have down town in Provo. Every year around the fourth of July they set up a few blocks on Center Street to set up booths and food vendors and there's even a little carnival that's set up, although we never go on the carnival rides because we're not sure we trust the safety of how well they're set up. We got a few things there and headed home to sleep. The day after the fourth (or before, or on it, I can't remember) we went to see hot air balloons go up, and it was so cool! We also went to the downtown place again, and went to the colonial fair.

Parade float

The musical

Gail Halvorsen, better known as the candy bomber, was a the play
the same time we were, so we snagged a picture of him to prove it.

A Thousand Faces: About a year and a half ago my brother Eric sent me this email:

"So in my dream I'm looking at the MTG card Manalith, like a monolith of mana, right, only I misread the card as "Monomyth." And I'm like, monomyth, what kind of card would that be? Is basically how this started out.

So I've got an idea for, probably a deckbuilder?, where cards represent individual characters or settings or whatever, and you arrange them as part of the Hero's Journey, and you get points for having sets, cards in a row and plots that make sense, and maybe for completeness?

It's not my only idea or even my favorite, but it's still an intriguing possibility, and wanted to know what you could make of it?"

I had an idea and then starting working on it, then dropped it, then starting working on it, then dropped it since then and now. I've recently picked it back up again and am getting pretty far into it; it's not quite what Eric envisioned (he had envisioned what I consider to be Elysium, so congrats Eric! Your game is already out there!) but my game is part Elysium, part 7 Wonders, part my own thing. I'm still tweaking it and trying to make it work the best that it can. If all goes according to my plan, this game should also be ready to bring to the reunion in August. fyi the Title "A Thousand Faces" comes from the title of Joseph Campbell's book "Hero with a Thousand Faces," which is where the Hero's Journey and Monomyth comes from.

And some pictures of Henry just because he's cute:

And tomorrow will mark one year since my first blog post! It's been a good year!

Family Game Night, Somerset upgrade

Yesterday Jacob held a Perazzo family family game night. He was the first one to notice that all five families were represented: Becky Jamison was there representing the Jamison family, Amanda was there representing the Loveland family, I was there representing the Glen Perazzo family, Megan was there representing the Alan Perazzo family, and Brandon and Jacob (the only family with more than one representative) were there representing the David Perazzo family. Everyone married had their spouse and kids along with them.

From left to right: Amanda, Juliet, Todd, Andrew, Jacob, Susan,
Heather, Henry, Megan, Brandon, Becky, and Calista.

Aren't all these kids just so cute?

Playing Camel Up with all the expansion modules
('cause that's what we do)

Henry and Juliet

When I got there Jacob was playing a game of 7 Wonders Duel with Brandon, and Calista and Susan were playing a Ravensburger game. Heather, Becky, Tessa, and I played a game of Hey! That's My Fish! and Heather won.

I played Splendor next with Jacob, Todd, and Amanda. It was the first time I'v ever played (even though during Christmas break I helped clarify some rules because I had read them a long time ago). It was super fun. It's quick, easy to learn, and fun. I ended up barely winning.

Pizza came and we ate that. Afterward, nearly everybody gathered around for a game of Camel Up. That game can support a lot of players. I was doing super well at the start of the first leg until another player threw a wrench in my plans, which ended up making me lose four coins the first round. I never caught back up. I really liked the new expansion modules. My favorite one would probably be where you can bet on 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th place. The one where you add dice is cool, but that's the whole reason I lost that first leg so I'm bias against it now.

That was the last game we ended up playing. Because nearly everyone has kids now it's more difficult to have longer game nights. Although I brought Somerset and showed it to Jacob we never got a chance to play it.

Speaking of Somerset, last week I mailed off both copies, one to my family in Fallon and one to my family in Rexburg. I know Eric and Ryan got theirs, but I haven't heard from Alex yet if they got theirs. After I mailed it to them on Tuesday I went to Clubs Night and play tested it with the Quark club. We tried five players and after two hours it still wasn't done. I was pondering on what to do and talked to Heather about it. I explained that you play until someone builds 12 tiles and she suggested that that was too much and I needed to make it less. So I changed it to 8 tiles. I play tested it that way and it was alright, but then I realized that most of the tiles and such were designed for a longer game, and that by cutting out the last third of the rounds you never got to do the stuff you might have spent all game leading up to, like casting spells. 

So I went back to the drawing board so to speak and I modified that game slightly. I changed the prices on about half the tiles, changed how much it cost to advance your workers, modified some of the government advancement tiles, change the crystal cost on some spells, and changed some of the starting tiles. Also you can now use other people's roads, but you pay them a coin every time you do so, so it incentives roadbuilding. I play tested that and it was a lot of fun. And it plays about 15 minutes per person. When I did a two player game it took about a half hour. When I did a three player game it took about 45 minutes, and when I did a four player game it took about an hour. Also, for a 4-5 player game I did away with the duplicate copies of each tile and just had one of each, which made the game simpler and kept the 4 player game's time under check. So, um, if I sent you a copy of the game already I'll be e-mailing you the exact changes I made on those rules so that you can update your copy. Sorry about that. But please play the current version you have now to see how that runs. Your version can only support up to 4 players due to my lack of meeples, but if you wanted to do 5 I'm sure you can find a substitute.