... so time is needed to adjust.

More later - Jack 

Just a heads up that there isn't really a heads up on anything.  Life has been unusually challenging, most of which is outside of the scope of what I share here.

The high points of the past few weeks for what does apply here:

• Christmas exchange with my Mom was great!  It was good to see her and the girls had a good time.  We swapped gifts in mid January due to the weather and life being busy.  In game terms, I did extremely well.  I received Notre Dame, Macao, Torres and Baltimore and Ohio - all high on my list of games.  Torres had a lukewarm reception with my girls.  Notre Dame did better with Betsy and Jackie.
• Had a game day in Akron and got to play Power Grid, Across the USA in Ten Days and Dominant Species.  Lost all of them.  Badly.
• Game design contest wrapped up.  I received a friendly geekmail the other day from someone who took the time to play it and they enjoyed it.  The best part?  It was their first train game!  Hopefully they get into more of them.

Things have been crazy this week with real life and I haven't had time to get the rules down for Pocket Rail Mogul.  I am still trying to think of a better name for it.  I'll take some help.  I also dabbled in Civ-4 this weekend because Civ-5 is out and the price is down the other.  It's been a fun game so far but a bit repetitive for my taste.

A few other game ideas floating around.  More details as I formulate them.

Stuff I should do...

- Actually program bug fixes for Pocket Civ...

- Get more enthusiasm going for By Iron and Steam.

- Get some more playtesting for Margin of Error: 1960.

I'll get to this stuff.  I'm busy.

One of the fun things about gaming (or thinking about it) is how you can take a simple object, say a bunch of 1 cm cubes, a few sheets of paper and maybe some dice - and throw something together.  There is a beauty in putting them together cohesively to make a game or puzzle that we see not as work, but as play.  To me, it is like poetry in that you are making form out of common objects, placing them in patterns and assigning meaning to the ordinary.  Sometimes, you can even tell a story with them or work your way through.  There's a mystery into why that entertains the mind and what falls flat.  It's amazing how the modern computer network can bring geographically and cultural dispersed people together to collaborate on projects and to "get" a design.  It's like a jam session through which we use our own instruments to string something together that is cohesive and flows to its own meter.

Now, if I could only make more games that filled those ideals for myself, let alone others.

And is it worth charging for that kind of enrichment?

• By Iron and Steam continues getting an artistic makeover.
• Margin Of Error made BGG.  YAY!
• Tossing around ideas for "Express" style games.  I'm thinking of Silverton, Steam and Rail Baron.  There's no such thing as a railroad themed Express game.  The genre just doesn't have room for it.  Which means it must be done.  :-)
• I'm an uncle.
  

Life comes at you fast.

My grandmother recently passed away - she was Dale's wife and a great grandmother to have known all these years.  

More updates on games and life later as they come along.  

Thanks for following as always!

Happy good afternoon...

The latest map for Open Rails features a swath of land from Lake Erie to the highlands of West Virginia.  I ended up playing with regular rules with two players.  The map played a little flat on the base rules, but I wanted to get a feel for how it would go to just play it that way.  The map seems very balanced between the off board areas in the south and the urban centers of Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo.  The off board areas are guarded by mountain ranges.  The railroads seemed pretty balanced all in all with very little contention unless there is building towards other areas or collusion between pairs of railroads.

So, it played okay.  Nothing terribly exciting.  Game played pretty static with two.

The rule change I'm thinking of adding is adding the notion of shares of industry.  The idea is to take a certain aspect of the map which is a different slice of the game action that promotes another game goal without explicitly throwing victory points.  On this map, coal was a major driving force, came from the mountains and was brought east or to the port cities on Lake Erie.  I'm tinkering with the idea of a "sixth" company that deals with the notion of the coal industry.  Basically, there are no trains or moving parts to this company... however... revenue from the company is based on the amount of mountain track from all railroads on the map.  As opposed to the regular railroad company shares, each share receives a portion of the final income similar to how Chicago Express handles it shares.  So, for example, if there are 10 cubes in the mountains and three shares have been purchased, each share would be worth $4, rounding up.  The value of each share in a future round would be worth $4.  Money earned from this industry can then be put into any participating company in that company or it goes right into the shareholder pocket.  These shares would sell for $1 if someone needed the money.

Another idea I had was to include a second industry (mail, maybe) which would encourage connected railroads from each map edge by any railroad.  I also like the idea of having only 3 shares available of each industry to force a little more contentious bidding.  Another idea I was tinkering with was the idea of "construction" companies which would make plowing through certain areas or terrain a little less expensive.  Money is tight in the game as it is and this would accelerate the train rush a little more too.

Need time to tinker.  Unfortunately, with the way my next two weeks is looking, I doubt I will have the chance to play around with things much as there is some major programming to do for the primary job, hence the April time frame.  Maybe I'll luck out and catch a break...

Just a very quick update that rules clarifications continue for Open Rails Origins.  I'm hoping to have something more cohesive this weekend.  I'm working on non-board game stuff (read: real job stuff) and my time to the hobby has dropped off considerably this month.  Nonetheless, I'll try to pull through at least the rules changes.

I've also had the chance to start a PBEM game of Steam Barons.  We'll see how that goes as well.

Thanks for following!  I've had a few other ideas for games, but I have not had a chance to flush anything out..... not enough hours in the day.

I spent time handcrafting a VASSAL module for Steam Barons this week and it looks like there is enough interest in getting a game going!  I'm excited as this game is really interesting to me and I'm looking forward to seeing some other train gamers go at it from around the globe!

Slightly updated rules for Open Rails Origins have been posted.  I will be working on a new map for the game as well as a VASSAL module for people to play other remotely.

Other than that, gaming wise, not much going on.  18Card will see more development in the next few weeks to see if there's anything salvageable.  I ended up round cutting the corners on all the cards to get me more in the mood of trying it.  I'm thinking of coming back to the election game I had been working on as well just because it was so demoralizing.  I'm hoping to meet up with North Coast Gamers in the future more as well - just hasn't been time.

Otherwise, just sledding and working my tail off, trying to stay out of trouble.