SNR Monthly Round-up: From France to BGG.Spring + Life-Changing BBQ
Published 23 days ago • 4 min read
Monthly Round-up
**Warning** I have jet lag brain. Less than 36 hours after returning to LA from a trip to France, I was right back on a plane heading to Dallas for BGG.Spring. It's day 4 here in Dallas and I'm extra thirsty for games. I've been working during the day the past few days, so I haven't had time to binge board games, but today I'll fix that. In other good news, my "False Topple" fam came through with some AMAZING BBQ from Austin which has been fueling me. I swear, I have now had the BEST turkey I've ever had, twice, from Austin. No joke, I might need to get sponsored by InterStellar BBQ.
Out of respect for those reading this, no BBQ photos will be shared.🤤🤤🤤
It's no surprise that I LOVE Guards of Atlantis II, so I was glad Arty was down to join me for an episode of Cardboard Creations so I could hear all about how this amazing piece of game design was created. It was also super awesome to chat with Arty for a good 30+ minutes after the interview, to hear about different games he's into. This guy is wise and shares some brilliant insight into how this awesome game was created.
The Golden Geek Awards are like BGG's Oscars. This year our team put together a video to share the results. Check it out if you're interested in some of the best games of 2024, according to the BGG community who nominated and voted on these games.
Gaming in Paris & Étourvy
Just before I travelled to Dallas, I spent a week+ in France (with Matt). I was invited to cover Ticket to Ride's 20th Anniversary event in Paris, and attend Bruno Faidutti's (game designer) board game retreat in Étourvy – a small "village" about 2.5 hours from Paris. The entire trip was incredible, and I'll have a video coming soon, which I'll share in next month's update. I met a bunch of incredible people in the French gaming community, and one special new friend (Penelope) graciously accepted my invitiation to record a BGG Podcast episode together. I really love and appreciate how my current career in the board game industry allows me to travel the world and meet so many awesome souls! In this episode (#69), Penelope and I discuss games and experiences from the events we both attended while I was in France. ...and let's just say, this is the first episode I've needed to put a censor beep in, and it cracks me up every time I hear it!
During the Paris trip, we got into an interesting discussion on the French cultural double-kiss vs. hugging someone when greeting them. One of the lovely people who coordinated a lot of the Ticket to Ride event was saying how a hug is way more "tender" than kissing someone's cheeks, because your bodies don't come into full contact. This led to many jokes as the Americans on the trip tried to figure out the international tenderness scale for a variety of intimate "encounters". Eventually, I learned some unsavory expressions in French, including one we used to describe the limpness of eggplants compared to other vegetables. Anyways, the point is, I learned some things that I will not share here, but you can use your imagination. Also, I had some INCREDIBLE and unique wine in Étourvy, after a long, scenic walk where we accidentally got lost.
Beautiful, peaceful, Étourvy....just before we realized we were lost and would have to climb our way through a thorny forest
We eventually made it out!
sampling fine wines and foods
Maëva da Silva (Harmonies artist) blew our minds with her hang drum...an instrument Matt & I have wanted to play/own for 10+ years!!! (screenshot of a video)
Game of the Month 🎲
Zenith
Zenith is a 2 or 4-player (2v2) game, that packs a punch when it comes to tension. Players compete to gain influence on 5 planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and Jupiter. There's a big deck of cards in 3 suits – Humans, Robots, and Animods – with 5 different colors corresponding to the planets you're fighting for. When you get an influence token completely on your side of the board, you score it. Of course, your opponent(s) are not going to make it easy, so these influence discs are constantly shifting back and forth until one side is clever enough to play the right combo of cards to secure the influence. To win the game, you need to be first to either earn 3 discs from the same planet, or 4 from different planets, orrrr 5 total. There are tech tracks you can advance on to gain cool benefits.
So far I've played Zenith three times and only with 4 players in teams of 2. I suspect I'll enjoy the 2-player tug-of-war, but I really love the teamplay with 4. Playing with a teammate opens up so many awesome combo opportunities. Every game I've played has felt incredibly tense and often comes down to the wire. It's a clean design with fantastic graphic design, so you're able to focus on the game, and not have your head in the rulebook. I picked up my copy in France and it has French rules, but again, the graphic design is so intuitive once you learn, that I don't even need the rulebook. It should be more widely available soon and in English.
tUnE-yArDs (Merrill Garbus) has one of the most unique voices I've ever heard, and her music always sounds fresh. I was excited to discover she has a new album. If you dig this track, I highly recommend listening to the entire album and then working your way back through her older albums. She's also phenomenal live if you ever get the chance to catch a tUnE-yArDs show.
Rivals of Rock Status Check 🎸
We had an exciting meeting this week to nail down the iconography in Rivals of Rock. I'm stoked to update my physical prototype and Tabletop Simulator (TTS) mod to do more playtesting with the new art and graphic design. Please reach out if you're interested in playtesting RoR in the coming months and I'll see if we can play together. Perhaps next month I can share some sample images.
I'm really looking forward to sharing more about my magical trip to France, and more updates on my mini painting endeavors, but for now, I'm heading downstairs to play Dogs of War, which I've been wanting to own and play forever.
Thanks for reading Squawk 'N' Roll: Monthly Round-up!
