4 ms·

Its strange to me that the article says that board games are booming during the pandemic. I haven't been able to have a regular board game night in months :-(

Its strange to me that the article says that board games are booming during the pandemic. I haven't been able to have a regular board game night in months :-( I tried online but didn't love it (I suppose I should try it some more); I wish I could see how to do it in person and maintain physical distance, but it looks doubtful.

dragonwriter 6y ago
> Its strange to me that the article says that board games are booming during the pandemic. Households of more than 1 member are probably looking for more things to do at home together.
- VintageCool 6y ago
  Playing board games during the pandemic has finally allowed me to meet my roommates after like a year of living here. It's an introverted place.
CerealFounder 6y ago
Hijack. Has ANYONE found a way to play multiplayer Catan online? All the sites dont work it seems.
- SOLAR_FIELDS 6y ago
  Tabletop Simulator is usually the go-to for basically any online board game.
  - tialaramex 6y ago
    TTS is a real last resort. It's the "Let's try hitting it with a hammer and see if that fixes it" of ways to play board games. I have an ongoing Gloomhaven campaign inside TTS. 50% of every session is people wailing and yelling as stupid things are simulated that we don't care about. Oh you dropped that piece on the edge of a piece of cardboard so it fell over. Oh you put this token at the wrong angle so it doesn't count. Ugh. When the same group of people play anything else we play it either in dedicated software or in https://boardgamearena.com/ https://boardgamearena.com/ Unfortunately BGA doesn't have Catan though its management have said they would cheerfully pay to offer Catan.
  - thaumasiotes 6y ago
    ...Vassal?
- hanniabu 6y ago
  https://colonist.io https://colonist.io I've played many times and it works great. Def worth having someone in your common circle that participates a lot to purchase the additional member pass (up to 4 players is free). The only thing is that it doesn't take into account extension pack rules for higher number of players but to me that's barely an issue let alone a deal breaker.
- specialist 6y ago
  I played JSettlers a lot, ages ago. The (free) host moved around a bit, so would lose its critical mass of players. Looks like it lives on here: https://github.com/jdmonin/JSettlers2 https://github.com/jdmonin/JSettlers2 I haven't tried colonist.io (cited in other reply), though from a brief peek it looks very polished. Am eager to try it.
philipov 6y ago
You should try out Tabletop Simulator for board games, or Roll20 for tabletop roleplaying like D&D. Both of these offer good options for online gaming in this space.
- michaelt 6y ago
  For purposes of an industry being 'booming' I'd say those are computer games, rather than tabletop games.
  - C1sc0cat 6y ago
    I beg to differ - RPG's played via roll2d0 Fantasy ground etc are not different to those played FTF. Personally I don't like TTRPG as DnD precedes Computer based RPG's by decades and also TTRPG makes me think or more wargaming derived skirmish games 7tv or even Force on Force and so on.
  - philipov 6y ago
    An industry is booming if you're buying their products, and people use the same books to play D&D whether they're doing it in person or using a virtual tabletop. I admit this is more true for roleplaying games than board games, because you don't really need to buy a board game to play it on Tabletop Simulator, but Roll20 definitely sells a lot of WotC products, with their own value add (virtual tabletop integration) on top of it bumping the price a bit. Which arbitrary point you choose to start considering them to be computer games isn't important when it's the same industry either way.
- JackMorgan 6y ago
  As an aside, does anyone know where I could learn about Tabletop Simulator? I keep seeing it recommended, but when I got a copy I can't stand the UI. I feel like I'm always grabbing the wrong thing and accidentally losing pieces off the edge etc. I've tried playing the puzzle game and the Majong and both were terrible. I then tried a community version of Race for the Galaxy that nearly drove me crazy.
  - 6y ago
lrem 6y ago
Your parents have probably bought more board games this quarter than they did last decade though...
irrational 6y ago
Have a spouse and lots of kids ;-) I also have some friends who entered into a quarantine pact. They don’t go around anyone else except each other. That way they can keep meeting up for board game night.
GloriousKoji 6y ago
I'm lucky enough to have 5 other friends that decided we're the only people we will be seeing in person. None of us are in situations requiring interactions with other people (IE essential workers) and we're all in the same wavelength regarding hygiene.

dragonwriter 6y ago

> Its strange to me that the article says that board games are booming during the pandemic. Households of more than 1 member are probably looking for more things to do at home together.

VintageCool 6y ago
Playing board games during the pandemic has finally allowed me to meet my roommates after like a year of living here. It's an introverted place.

CerealFounder 6y ago

Hijack. Has ANYONE found a way to play multiplayer Catan online? All the sites dont work it seems.

SOLAR_FIELDS 6y ago
Tabletop Simulator is usually the go-to for basically any online board game.
- tialaramex 6y ago
  TTS is a real last resort. It's the "Let's try hitting it with a hammer and see if that fixes it" of ways to play board games. I have an ongoing Gloomhaven campaign inside TTS. 50% of every session is people wailing and yelling as stupid things are simulated that we don't care about. Oh you dropped that piece on the edge of a piece of cardboard so it fell over. Oh you put this token at the wrong angle so it doesn't count. Ugh. When the same group of people play anything else we play it either in dedicated software or in https://boardgamearena.com/ https://boardgamearena.com/ Unfortunately BGA doesn't have Catan though its management have said they would cheerfully pay to offer Catan.
- thaumasiotes 6y ago
  ...Vassal?
hanniabu 6y ago
https://colonist.io https://colonist.io I've played many times and it works great. Def worth having someone in your common circle that participates a lot to purchase the additional member pass (up to 4 players is free). The only thing is that it doesn't take into account extension pack rules for higher number of players but to me that's barely an issue let alone a deal breaker.
specialist 6y ago
I played JSettlers a lot, ages ago. The (free) host moved around a bit, so would lose its critical mass of players. Looks like it lives on here: https://github.com/jdmonin/JSettlers2 https://github.com/jdmonin/JSettlers2 I haven't tried colonist.io (cited in other reply), though from a brief peek it looks very polished. Am eager to try it.

philipov 6y ago

You should try out Tabletop Simulator for board games, or Roll20 for tabletop roleplaying like D&D. Both of these offer good options for online gaming in this space.

michaelt 6y ago
For purposes of an industry being 'booming' I'd say those are computer games, rather than tabletop games.
- C1sc0cat 6y ago
  I beg to differ - RPG's played via roll2d0 Fantasy ground etc are not different to those played FTF. Personally I don't like TTRPG as DnD precedes Computer based RPG's by decades and also TTRPG makes me think or more wargaming derived skirmish games 7tv or even Force on Force and so on.
- philipov 6y ago
  An industry is booming if you're buying their products, and people use the same books to play D&D whether they're doing it in person or using a virtual tabletop. I admit this is more true for roleplaying games than board games, because you don't really need to buy a board game to play it on Tabletop Simulator, but Roll20 definitely sells a lot of WotC products, with their own value add (virtual tabletop integration) on top of it bumping the price a bit. Which arbitrary point you choose to start considering them to be computer games isn't important when it's the same industry either way.
JackMorgan 6y ago
As an aside, does anyone know where I could learn about Tabletop Simulator? I keep seeing it recommended, but when I got a copy I can't stand the UI. I feel like I'm always grabbing the wrong thing and accidentally losing pieces off the edge etc. I've tried playing the puzzle game and the Majong and both were terrible. I then tried a community version of Race for the Galaxy that nearly drove me crazy.
- 6y ago

lrem 6y ago

Your parents have probably bought more board games this quarter than they did last decade though...

irrational 6y ago

Have a spouse and lots of kids ;-) I also have some friends who entered into a quarantine pact. They don’t go around anyone else except each other. That way they can keep meeting up for board game night.

GloriousKoji 6y ago

I'm lucky enough to have 5 other friends that decided we're the only people we will be seeing in person. None of us are in situations requiring interactions with other people (IE essential workers) and we're all in the same wavelength regarding hygiene.