New Year’s resolution

EVERY ONEMy New Year’s resolution was super simple: I need to get back to writing regularly. I need to write every single Wednesday as I used to write in previous years. I need to make Board Games That Tell Stories blog active again.

So here I am. Writing about New Year’s Resolutions. Here are the five more I am going to fulfill this year. Perhaps I could inspire you to do it with me!

1. Write a review
Playing games like Pocket Madness or Millenium Blades gave me a ton of pure fun and joy this past year. Designer’s talent and hard work resulted in a masterpiece and let me have a great time with my wife and friends. My resolution? This year I will write a couple of reviews and publish them here on BGG to help spread a good word about games that made me happy. Such a review will be my “thank you” to the designer.

2. Donate a game to charity
I have a ton of games I no longer play. We all have. These are some great older games I got bored with like Escape or Spot It. These are the family games my kids no longer want to play. These are the games that were replaced by new and better versions. I have an entire cabinet of great games I will never again play in my life. Resolution? Instead of going to Math Trade or ebay I will give them to charity. I will send them to schools or libraries that organize board game events. Let somebody else enjoy the games I no longer play.

3. Play a game I don’t like
We all have been there. There is this game we don’t like that our spouse loves. In my situation it is Ingenious. Merry likes the game a lot, I actually don’t like it at all. Resolution? I will play with my wife the game she loves. I will not complain. I won’t keep rolling my eyes and I will not give up the game. I will do my best to enjoy it, I will find a piece of the mechanism I enjoy in the game and we will both have a great time.

4. Create a card for a game I love
There are so many examples of fan-created content which was eventually published. That’s how the Dancer army for Neuroshima Hex was published. That’s how the HMS Beagle expansion for Robinson was published. That’s how the new edition of Citadels came to life. Fan-created content. Resolution? I will create some content to one of games I love and I will post it here on BGG. I won’t do it for the sake of being published. I’ll do it to show my respect and love for a particular game and add some value to the project. Make some variant or suggest a rule change that will increase replayability and fun. That’s a cool contribution.

5. I will share good content
There is a ton of great content written or recorded by bloggers and vlogers. When I see a number of views or comments under their work, I know the authors deserve better than that. Reviews by JonGetsGames or SpaceBiff are one of the best in the industry. I admire their work. Resolution? I will do more to help them win more audience. I will share the best content I find on the Internet – I will do it more often and show my respect to its creators.

What do you think? Wanna join me in some of these? Or suggest something?

Welcome to PORTAL GAMES

We are bookworms. Movie maniacs. Story addicts. We grew up reading Tolkien, Howard, Herbert, Dick, Lem… We were watching Willow, Blade Runner, Never Ending Story, Robin Hood…

And yet, we don’t write books… we don’t make movies. We don’t make those things, because we make games. We make games that tell stories.