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Lowell Kempf
United States
Chicago
Illinois
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It seems that when January rolls around, everyone is supposed to comment on what they feel were the best new games of the last year and talk about how the last year was either a mover and shaker in the world of gaming or a year in game publishing that folks will quietly forget.
However, to be honest, I actually didn’t play very many games that actually came out in 2011. I’ve pretty much given up my membership in the cult of the new. I’m willing to let other folks be early adapters and give a game the chance to have other people try to break it before I pick it up myself. Instead, I’ve been trying to get more replay value out of the games I already own. From a game perspective, it helps me get better at specific games and from a budget standpoint, it makes each game I play a bunch of times a better purchase.
So, a better question for me to ask myself is what games that were new to me had an impact in my life in 2011?
It’s kind of boring to admit it but the one new game I picked up last year that had the biggest impact on my life was unquestionably Ascension. And, yes, that’s because Ascension scratches the Dominion itch but the hardcopy is even faster and easier to set up than Dominion and the iSO version allowed me and my fiancée to pound out game after game with each other.
Ascension didn’t break any new ground in game design. It doesn’t give me deep insight into strategy or pattern development the way that Go does. However, seeing as how my hard copy got tons of play and even got borrowed by my friends and we played hours of it on the iPad, Ascension did pass that acid test of being a game that me, my fiancée and my friends were willing to play over and over again. In the end, that is the most important test.
The best game-that-I-would-play-if-time-and-schedule-were-not-an-issue that I learned last year, though, was Dominant Species. I only got to play it a couple times and I don’t even own my own copy of it. However, damn if it isn’t an amazing design.
Dominant Species marries worker placement with theme in a fascinating way. You are fighting to control both the development of your own species and the emerging world. It has a lot of different pieces but every one needs to be there and there is absolutely nothing superfluous in the design. There is a lot going on but every piece needs to be there.
It’s a game that forces me to think and it forces me to fight the other players. If memory serves me correctly, it took us three to four hours to play each time but not a minute of that was boring. Sadly, it is also a game that’s hard to work in on a work night.
The fact that those are both games that I really enjoy probably isn’t a surprise to anyone who reads this blog or anyone who just knows that the guy writing it likes European family games.
The real lessons that I’ve learned this year were less about new games and more about how to budget my gaming dollar and gaming time more efficiently. I got engaged last year (and will get married this year  ) and my job has come to take up more of my time and energy.
None of those things I have to give up gaming. (Indeed, I know have a live-in gaming partner!) However, I have learned that gaming time has become more precious and that I want to make sure I use it well. I’m no longer young enough that skipping sleep for gaming is a good idea. Taking care of myself isn't as easy as when I had the vigor of youth. If I want to enjoy gaming (and life in general), I have to actually take care of myself.
‘Growing up’ isn’t about giving up gaming. It’s about eating healthier, getting more exercise and playing the games that are the most fun. (Okay, Mom, you were right. Again.)
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