I used to print prototypes and ship them all over the globe to my fellow publishers and partners to present them with what we created. I used to go to conventions in Europe and in the US to meet with them and run demos of games. That’s how it used to be. It’s no longer the case.

Today I met with 4 publishers, and I run demos for our partners in Spain, Netherlands, Scandinavia, and Ukraine. None of us left the office. No prototype was shipped. All happened via Table Top Simulator. The game demos went nicely and smoothly. Most likely, I secured the future of my game for a couple of countries.

It’s good to be a publisher and have all these modern tools.

I had it with On Mars, which, although it is a really complicated game, it didn’t give me any trouble. For three years, working on First Martians, I practically lived on Mars. So I easily absorbed On Mars whole. I also had it with Kanban, which I didn’t understand. On the other hand, my wife moved through the nooks and crannies of its rules as if she had been playing it for years. She loves cars and everything related to them. Kanban was her game. And I had it today with Expedition: Northwest Passage. I sat down and played. Everything went smoothly from the first to the last minute.

It’s an old truth: when we understand what a game is about, if it presents the theme well and realistically, we usually understand the rules in no time, and the game is pure pleasure.

We can look at the picture and discuss the good old times of playtesting Robinson Crusoe (and this particular case, it’s most likely playtesting HMS Beagle). But I have a much better idea. Let’s look at the shelf behind and try to guess how many of these board games I still own! 🙂

The Battle of Five Armies – based on the climax of JRR Tolkien’s novel The Hobbit – pits the hosts of the Elvenking, the Dwarves of Dain Ironfoot, and the Men of the Lake led by Bard the Bowman against a horde of Wolves, Goblins and Bats led by Bolg, son of Azog. It is a standalone game based on the rules for the epic War of the Ring. It has over 100 miniatures, a big board, cards, tokens… It is freakin’ The Battle of Five Armies. I knew it. I will never be able to learn how to play it.

I had this with the Twilight Struggle. I had this with the War of the Ring. I had this with Clash of Cultures. I had this with a lot of games whose reputation and fame told me: „Don’t even try, you won’t get it.” And then I tried, I sat down with the rulebook, and it turned out that they weren’t so scary. That I get it. That I have a lot of fun with them.