We’re close to having that Hollywood ending in Pandemic!
The Nerd High Holidays are now officially upon us! First up is the celebration put together by Nerd/Gaming icons Felicia Day and Wil Wheaton three years ago. Now there’s a difference between tabletop and roleplaying games before you scratch your heads, thinking it’s a D&D holiday. No. Although traditional roleplaying games (aka D&D) are played on a table(top), they don’t fall under this category, plus they get celebrated at various conventions and have their own holiday in June, Free RPG Day. Tabletop is more about boardgames but the celebration is to introduce people to lesser-known stuff: Settlers of Catan, Pandemic, Love Letter and Ticket to Ride. Card games and traditional stuff is allowed but again, the idea is to try out new stuff, the worst that could happen is you’ll like the game and buy it.
I managed to remember to attend this year and support my local place Rogues Gallery. I missed out last year since it overlapped with Record Store Day and I missed the Nerd memo in 2013. I didn’t get to play as much as I would’ve liked due to unforeseen delays (aka I’m a slow exerciser). Still, I tested out Castellan, Love Letter (Batman edition) and Pandemic. The first was OK, nothing compelling. Love Letter was impressive! My store’s podcast raved about the original and Batman version (there’s also a Hobbit one coming out). I was bewildered. How can this game function with only 16 cards? It does and does it well, so I need to pick it up. Pandemic was another I was stoked to finally try. Unlike most games, it’s cooperative, nobody wins if the human race is decimated by outbreaks. I didn’t get to see how it ended for I had tickets to the Austin Symphony. I didn’t get to play any X-Wing despite packing all my gear in the car. Next year I guess.
So if you have kids and need a nice activity on a Saturday, watch your calendars for next year’s celebration.
Next up…Record Store Day on April 18. This year’s ambassador is Dave Grohl.