For context: the story of Shakespeare’s Hamlet is about a young man who must overcome his mental paralyses to fulfill the wishes of his deceased father and enact vengeance upon his uncle. Of course, the struggle with Hamlet is that his sharp wit and astute analysis combine with his existential issues to lead him into a proverbial hall of mirrors. His wilderness is of his own design. He must take decisive action, but his melancholy and doubt paints him into a mental labyrinth with only a glimmer of hope at the end pulling him through.
Read moreHot Take: I’d Rather You Cheat Than “Play”
Now don’t get me wrong here, cheating is pretty awful. Cheating can very easily ruin the game for everyone and you shouldn’t do it. But there’s a key idea behind cheating that I want to highlight, which is that cheaters acknowledge that the game matters, but choose to disobey its rules. While this is certainly disrespectful to the game and the players, it at least acknowledges that the game exists and has some value. Which is why there’s something I think is worse than cheating: “playing.”
Read moreWhy Themes Are Impactful! Century: Golem Edition
Century: Golem Edition is basically the exact same game as Century: Spice Road. Some players like the theme of Spice Road because of the wooden bowls and/or the familiarity of the theme. I much prefer Golem Edition, however. The ‘story’ of Golem Edition - discovering crystals, trading them up for better crystals, crafting golems - feels way cooler than farming and trading wooden cubes (spices) for what Spice Road vaguely labels as “score cards” (pictures of cities).
First I’ll describe three good parts of Golem Edition’s theme. Then, we’ll talk about human experience!
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