The pandemic has brought a lot of changes to the Board Gaming Community including over a year of not playing face-to-face with anyone outside your immediate family.
That’s where sites like Board Game Arena (BGA) and Yucatan became an addicted board gamers savior. Games in many popular titles were available, 24-hours per day, with players from around the world.
I was kind of addicted to BGA long before the pandemic. I’ve been a member for a number of years, granting me the ability to start the “premium” games on the site and, like Board Game Geek, letting me support something that brings me a lot of joy. It’s not that I don’t love playing in person, but it just wasn’t always possible.
One thing I was always adamant about was playing real time. I wanted to be able to sit for awhile and concentrate on one game against one or more opponents, working out strategy in my head as I waited for them to take their turn. I don’t know how many games of Azul, Patchwork, Can’t Stop, 7 Wonders, Splendor, etc. I played over the years, snapping them off in my spare time.
What I had no interest in getting into was Turn Based play. For those unfamiliar with the concept, it’s something that goes back decades, mostly in the chess and wargaming communities where, in the olden days (you know, back in my 20’s and 30’s), people would mail their moves to their opponent via envelope. Later, of course, the games sped up quite a bit as moves could be sent via e-mail.
That was my vision of Turn-Based and I didn’t want games taking so long but, because I might only have half and hour here or an hour there, I wasn’t able to play some of the more in depth games on BGA like Through the Ages, Agricola, Parks.
Finally, at the beginning of this year, I joined the Discord group for Foster the Meeple (and, if you haven’t watched their YouTube content you are missing out on some great information and entertainment, but more on that another day). One of the sub-groups there was for playing on-line board games with other members and it was through them that I started my first Turn Based game.
…and that was the end of that whole “I want it real time” garbage.
Now, I rarely have less than twenty different games going at one time. Some are over in a few days, some a couple of weeks but I’m finally getting to play games that I, most likely, would never have tried. In addition, Turn Based play also lets me sit and contemplate strategy, look up rules and study what the other players are doing without the “shot clock” counting down and forcing me to think fast.
Believe me, if you are at all prone to AP, this is the solution you’ve been looking for.
For those who have never tried it, you can set the games to x moves per day or a move, say, every two days; however, it is rarely that long between chances to play. My experience is that most people are dedicated enough to the concept that they manage two to three moves per day.
Yes, there is a little bit of “now what was I thinking of doing next” whenever you come back to make your move BUT, BGA has a handy little spot on these games where you can jot down a couple of notes to remind you what you were thinking.
So, now, I’m happily mired in games of Agricola and Viticulture and Tapestry and St. Petersburg and I’m looking forward to learning even more classics in the weeks ahead.
