2021 in games

It’s January, so it’s time to look back and review my previous twelve months of game playing. (Previous years here.)

Should I do these in December (along with everyone else)? No--I’m likely to play games right up to New Year’s Eve (as happened this year), so I wait until January.

2021: Gaming online

As with 2020, most of my gaming was online. I played a small number of games face-to-face.

Freeform Games

Freeform Games had an okay year. I will write about 2021 on the Freeform Games blog, but the pandemic put us back by about four years. This year, sales have predominantly been of our smaller games—presumably because they are easier to run at home with close friends and family.

Sales are picking up as the vaccinations and boosters continue to be rolled out.

Freeforms

Mostly online, given the pandemic.

• Bludgeoned on Broadway: At the start of the year I ran Bludgeoned on Broadway (from Freeform Games) for my family. We used Discord, which held up well despite lots of Discord-newbies.
• The Highgate Club: This could have gone better, but then I did have Covid when I was running it. Again, on Discord.
• At Peaky I co-wrote The Castleford Ladies Magic Circle Meets Tonight and played Culture Crash. 
• At Consequences, I played in Awakening and was a last-minute replacement for Under the Faerie Hill. Both used Discord, and both were delightful. Under the Faerie Hill had a great interface with Remo, and used lots of online tools (whiteboards, inklewriter) in ways I’d not seen before.
• I uploaded Venice and Mars Attracts to my itch.io page.

2022 plans: I want to continue running and playing in freeform larps. I find them convenient, and I’d like to do more of it. I’m toying with running a regular Freeform Games murder mystery online (aimed at our customers), which would be fun. I’ve also started writing a series of linked freeforms involving first contact. I plan to run the first of them in 2022.

Game Conventions

I’m not sure if Peaky counts as a games convention, but it was the only face-to-face gaming I did all year.

I played in two games at Consequences, both of which were online. I didn’t participate in the other events as I find them hard to fit around family life. (It’s one thing taking a weekend off and diving into a convention, another when you’re attending from home.)

2022 plans: I’ve got my sights set on Peaky (of course), Airecon in March, and Furnace in October.

Tabletop RPGs

All of my 60-or-so sessions of tabletop RPGS were online in 2021. My preferred tools are Trello (for characters, NPCs, locations, clues and things) and Discord (video chat and rolling dice).

Games I played: Tales from the Loop, Cthulhu Deep Green, Wanderhome, Agon, Lasers and Feelings, and Apocalypse Keys. My favourite was Cthulhu Deep Green (modern-day urban horror which continues into 2022), and my least favourite was Wanderhome (anthropomorphic animals on a journey).

Games I ran: Lady Blackbird, Alien, The Dee Sanction, Brindlewood Bay, Fate Accelerated, Microscope and Follow. My favourites were The Dee Sanction (which was epic and resulted in me publishing Abaddon’s Puppet) and Lady Blackbird (so easy to run). My least favourite was Brindlewood Bay (I’d rather have a more traditional mystery to run).

I put three scenarios onto itch.io: Abaddon’s Puppet, The Seeds of Doom (for Monster of the Week) and Hardknott Roman Fort Ghost Realm (for Liminal). They’re all pay-what-you-want, and I’m grateful for the generosity of some readers. It will never be a significant revenue stream, but I enjoy creating and sharing them.

2022 plans: My upcoming RPG plans are here, and I plan to put more onto Itch.io.

Boardgames

I played boardgames around 130 times in 2021—much fewer than 2020 when I played over 200 times. (I should say that’s not 120 different boardgames!) I think the difference is that I haven’t used BoardGameArena as much this year—I played a lot with Mum in 2020, and with her passing away, I’ve not played online as often.

My top three games were Wingspan, Glory to Rome, and London. I was pleased to play more Glory to Rome and London this year—mostly against Mrs H, who I find devilishly difficult to beat at London.

Boardgames new to my library:

• Wingspan: A birthday present, and my most-played game. I got the two expansions for Christmas. So far, I’m enjoying it, but I’m not great at it yet. The solo version is good—just like playing normally.
• The Matchbox Collection: This was a Kickstarter of five small games, none of which are particularly good. I honestly can’t remember why I backed this, other than it was relatively inexpensive. I had high hopes for Eiyo, a solo/co-op samurai game, but it suffers from winning depending on the initial shuffle. You know when you play Solitaire and sometimes can’t get it out? That’s how I feel about Eiyo. Anyway, I doubt they’ll be with me for long.
• Streets: Another Kickstarter, this one from designer Haakon Gaarder, the designer of the wonderful Villagers. Not as good as Villagers, but I haven’t decided if I’m keeping it or not.

2022 plans: Play more of my older games, that don’t come out of the cupboard much.

Video Games

Most of the video games I play are electronic versions of boardgames (the exception is World of Tanks Blitz.)

I have a strange attitude to recording plays of games on boardgamegeek. I don’t record it if it’s just me against the computer. If it’s me against a real person (whether electronically or in person), then I’ll record it. But if I play a physical boardgame solo (such as the Wingspan automata), I will record it. Illogical? Yes.

I am also wary of getting a digital version of a game I enjoy. For example, we have Ticket to Ride on the tablet, and now we’re much more likely to play it digitally rather than unpack the box. That’s a shame, so I’m wary of buying digital versions of boardgames I love playing in person.

The video games I played most in 2021 are (in no particular order):

• Race for the Galaxy: Most days I’ll have a game or two of this—a game normally takes only 5-10 minutes.
• Kingdom Builder: I play this now and again—but the AI is hard as the game is relentlessly mathematical. I have learned to play against the medium AI so I stand a chance of winning.
• Terraforming Mars: I bought this digitally to learn to play it properly. I’ll never buy a physical copy as I know it’s not Mrs H’s cup of tea. The other reason I won’t buy it is that I don’t think I like it all that much—it’s okay, but I suspect the digital game is inferior to the physical version. But at least I know how to play now!
• Oceans: Oceans was one of my favourite games in 2020. Luckily, the app only works for two players, so I still get my physical copy out for higher play counts. (Although I didn’t play it much in 2021.) The app stopped working on my tablet, although it works on my phone (but the screen size is so small it’s fiddly and so I rarely play it).
• Star Realms: I didn’t play this as much in 2021, as I was playing the other games instead.
• World of Tanks Blitz: I played World of Tanks Blitz on and off during 2021. I play it, get frustrated at the time it soaks up, and then uninstall it. And then I want to play it again and re-install it. Right now, I’m still playing. I just can’t kick it.

2022 plans: I have no plans to play or buy more video games. I suspect I will buy expansions for the ones I already have. My love/hate relationship with World of Tanks Blitz will no doubt continue…

Treasure Hunts

This year, I created two treasure hunts—one for Christmas Day and one for New Year’s Eve. I’ll write about them soon (here).

2022 plans: No doubt I will create more treasure hunts for Christmas.

A year full of games

Looking back, I realise how lucky I am to be able to spend so much of my time with games. Playing them, writing them, thinking about them, and talking about them. I am very lucky.