Win-cons in Board Games

So I've run into this weird thing recently. I've played several games of both Ark Nova and Terraforming Mars this past week, which are games that are often compared to one another. I love both, and I can comfortably say both are in my top 10 favorite board games of all time. Yes, I need to get around to updating my list, but that is a constant need. (Most recent publicized version can be found here)

An interesting difference between the two is their win conditions. Ark Nova's end triggers once one player's score gets high enough (slightly simplified, but that's the base idea). Terraforming Mars end triggers once all the global parameters are complete. 

The important difference between the two is it being an individual vs a group thing. Ark Nova ends once one person, completely separate from everyone else, does something (it's effectively a race). Terraforming Mars ends once we've all collectively finished terraforming Mars.

I've discovered that I'm not a fan of race win-cons.

I think the main reason that drives this is because it makes me feel bad for winning. I am prematurely cutting off other people's wonderful thing they have going on, and if I hadn't been there, they would still be having fun building up their stuff.

I've seen this happen several times in Viticulture as well. I play with a new player or something, and I win so quickly that they were just getting things up and running -- they were just about to see the fruits of this engine they've been building up and I cut them off, and I don't like how that makes me feel. It makes me feel that if I had not been playing, they would have had more fun.

Especially in a game like Ark Nova, which is so solitaire with little to no interaction, ending the game when other people are just seeing success is not a feels-good moment.

Perhaps in closer games, the race win-con is more fun than the normal "end-after-n-rounds" etc., but idk. When it's not close, it just feels bad. I don't want to feel bad for playing my best.

My Favorite Moment Playing Secret Hitler

Thomas brings this story up pretty consistently whenever we talk about Secret Hitler. It's pretty incredible and frankly hilarious, so even though it's kind of embarrassing, I feel like it needs to be immortalized in a journal of some form, hence the blog post.

Background on the game Secret Hitler (in case you know little to nothing about it (I'll keep it to only the barebones of what you need to understand the story)):

It's a social deduction game where a couple-few people are fascists and most of the people are liberal. Each round a president and chancellor get voted in. The president looks at 3 cards. Each card is either a fascist card or a liberal card. He gives 2 of the cards to the chancellor. The chancellor picks one of the two cards to enter play. The fascists' goal is to get fascist cards out in play and the liberals' goal is to get liberal cards in play.

The Story Part One:

One night between the months of January and April of 2022 we get together and play Secret Hitler with our FHE family. After some super fun games, Thomas (who was my room roommate at the time) and I are chatting about the various games and things. He brings up a potential strategy you could implement in Secret Hitler. 

The Theorized Strat:

You are fascist. You hand a liberal 2 fascist policies. After they put down a fascist, you claim you gave them a choice. Of course, you have your initial squabble of not trusting each other, but after a while you slowly start trusting them some. You say that you believe them and they most have simply accidentally not realized there was a choice. You gaslight them so hard that they too believe they actually had a choice and they just didn't realize it.

The Story Part Two:

The very next night we sit down to play Secret Hitler again with our FHE sisters. Thomas is fascist. I am liberal. He gives me two fascist policies. I put down a fascist. He claims I had a choice. You probably see where this story is going.

Thomas lies so well and gaslights me so hard that I eventually believe that he's liberal and that I must have just accidentally put down a fascist card. The fact that we had talked about the strategy the night before made it all the more believable that he wouldn't be doing it to me, and all the more sweet for Thomas as he deceives me like I've never been deceived before.

I am happy to say that the Liberals won that game regardless. But boy oh boy was it hilarious and embarrassing  as Thomas revealed that he fascist the whole time. Definitely my favorite Secret Hitler moment of all time even though I'm the one who got deceived -- winning even still does take away some of the sting for sure, though, haha.

Goal Report on the First Quarter of 2024

So I thought I would return and report on how all my goals and plans are going.

Goal 1: Reading

List of all the stuff I've read:

January:

Start Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson

ReDawn by Brandon Sanderson

Evershore by Brandon Sanderson

        Start Defiant by Brandon Sanderson

February:

Finish Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson

Continue Defiant by Brandon Sanderson

        Start Boundaries by Cloud & Townsend

March:

        Start Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn

        Listen to Edgedancer by Brandon Sanderson

        Listen to Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

So I'm doing pretty well in this category. Got ahead in February as I was originally planning on just continuing Words of Radiance in February and then finishing it in March, but I ended up just finishing it all in February. I slowed down quite a bit in the middle of March, but the last week or so in March (spilling a little into April) I did some good catching up. We're looking good. Got a lot more reading/listening ahead of me, and I'm excited.

Goal 2: Basic Work-Out Routine

I have not been doing so well in this goal. There was a solid two weeks I think where I was consistently doing my few minutes of push-ups/sit-ups every day except Sunday, but then I forgot one day and quickly fell out of the habit.

Goal 3: Bi-Weekly Reevaluations

I've been doing a good job of this in terms of figuring out where I am in my reading goal, but not so much in other goals. I also want this to be a time where I can set smaller term goals depending on the various things going on in my life at that time, which I've done a little, but not too much. So: Not awful, but definitely want to expand what I do during my reevaluations. 

Goal 4: Reaching Out to People

I've been doing quite alright on this one I would say, but it's been more naturally than purposefully. Which I guess is just simply a good thing? I feel like I've been doing a good job at staying connected with various people and such. I do want to send more texts to random people I haven't seen since High School and such, but overall I feel good about what I've done so far.

Goal 5: Weekly Blog Posts

Doing super good:)

Goal 6: 2024 Campaign Related Goals

No progress, although I have plans of when I'll make progress, though, which is an important step.

My Two Truths and a Lie

I've been cooking these up for a while and thought it would be fun to share. As I've thought about random things that I've done throughout my life, I realized some of them sound pretty wild; realized they would be perfect for the game 2 Truths and a Lie.

1. I once owned a pet goldfish that lived for over 8 years.

2. I've worn the same tie almost every Sunday for over 4 years.

3. At one point in my life, I lived in a hotel for over 4 months.

Note (and this is a note I would probably give when actually playing the game as well): I think half-truths/lies are silly/non-fun (ex. If #1 my pet goldfish only lived 7 years, not 8. Or for #3 it was actually a motel, not a hotel etc.), and thus I only do full truths, complete fabrications, or extreme exaggerations.

The Record

I did this in the past for a while and thought it was hilarious, and I've been wanting to do it again. Frankly, not sure why I ever stopped. Just had the idea to turn it into an ongoing/updating blog post.

This is "The Record". Any time I hear someone say, "For The Record...", I will do my best to make sure that it gets recorded in its proper place. Here. In The Record.

Note: The date shown is when I heard them request it being on the record, not when they originally asked for it to be on the record.

The Record

"For the record, I don't think I use the phrase, 'for the record' very often." ~Tyler B.

(Tyler right after learning about The Record) 

3/18/24

"For the record, I cannot consent to this." ~ Joseph G. 

(Joseph after Tyler requested that he constantly use the phrase "for the record" from now on)

3/18/24

"I pressed grab, let the record show." ~ Cory T.

(Cory after being grabbed by Chuck in Street Fighter 6)

3/30/24

"For the record, I think it's more fancy." ~ Me

(Me after my team made a guess on if a Yogurt Parfait is more or less fancy than what the other team said in a game of Wavelength)

4/7/24

"Just for the record, there is no mafia." ~ Drew Carey

(In Whose Line Is It Anyway. I was watching this.)

4/9/24

"Theo will be ripping those, let the record show." ~ Cory T.

(When commentating my SSBU set after I tried to do back throw into flair blitz as Charizard seen here. (Side note: The fact that I won that game is hilarious.))

4/21/24

"For the record, I don't think you should be doing that." ~ Beth P.

(Teasing me about this blog post -- can't tell if she's being serious regardless of the fact that she said she was teasing.)

4/21/24