Roll up for more modern boardgaming events with FATDOG 2017 and DOGCAT 2: Revenge of DOGCAT.
These events have many things in common:
Come along if you are interested in the growing modern boardgaming hobby. Enjoy modern fun boardgames such as Ticket to Ride or Catan.
The events are free to attend. Please RSVP so that we know the numbers to expect.
The events are beginner friendly. There will be plenty of fun, and engaging modern boardgames to play.
Come for an hour, or stay for the whole day.
You do not need to own, nor know, any boardgames games. People are happy to teach the games to others.
FATDOG 2017 is on Friday, the 24th of November in Oxnard. To RSVP, or for more details you can check out the event on Meetup or on Facebook. This is the 6th year that the Ventura County Startegy Boardgamers Meetup have held a FATDOG event. Each year they have gone from strength to strength.
DOGCAT 2: Revenge of DOGCAT is on Saturday, the 25th of November in Ventura. To RSVP, or for more details you can check out the event on Meetup or on Facebook. This is the second year that we have organized an evnt on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
Any questions? Ask below, or post a comment on Meetup or on Facebook against the event that you are interested in attending. Also check out our Facebook group where we discuss boardgaming around Ventura County.
Many thanks to Ryan and April-Lyn for arranging the venues.
Tim
15th November 2017. Edited for a typo.
FATDOG means Friday After Thanksgiving Day of Gaming. It’s just a name for our full day of gaming.
DOGCAT means Days of Gaming Continuing After Thanksgiving. It’s just another goofy and fun name..
Last month I decided to see how many consecutive days could go by where I played at least one boardgame each day. All the games were face-to-face with human players, and with the actual physical games. No online or app plays counted towards the totals. No children were used nor harmed in this endeavor.
Yesterday I hit the milestone of 100 games played over 31 consecutive days. This is with over 89 gamers in 11 different locations. This info was supplied by the BGStats app, and the BoardGameGeek website.
The feat of cardboard exploitation started by accident when I noticed that my local gaming group had gaming events over 5 consecutive days. It was made easier as I was also attending two gaming conventions on consecutive weekends. The big boost is that I am lucky to have a very active local gaming scene. Here is a shameless plug for my local Meetup group. I am the main organizer of the VCSB Meetup group and we meet around 4-5 times a week.
This still left some event free days. My long suffering gf has helped to fill in some gaps in the calendar. Being a sneaky person, I have used this as an opportunity to introduce her to some new games. Mwwhhahha. I was quite proud when she beat me at 7 Wonders Duel the other night. She was also very happy that she did not need to feed her people in that game. She hates Stone Age. 😦
The shortest game play in time was either Rhino Hero or Qwixx. Some of those games took only a few minutes. The longest game play was 12 hours playing Here I Stand (500th Anniversary Edition) with 5 other players. Some of the games were playtest games of games yet to be published. For purely social games like Concept; the one game play logged consisted of at least a dozen rounds.
My game plays are logged via the BoardGameGeeek website or the BGStats app. I have used both BGG, BGstats and the friendlessstats website to look at the game play data.
It is fair to admit that I am a tad OCD when it comes to logging my plays. I have been logging my game plays for just over 10 years. So far I have logged over 3800 game plays of over 600 different games.
This game playing streak has helped towards my Twisted 10×10 Challenge for 2017.
10×10 Challenge as per 24th October 2017
This year is looking to be a good year of gaming. One of my goals for the 10×10 Challenge was to increase the number of games that I played for two specific areas. These were firstly games that are published by GMT Games. I felt that I was not playing there games often enough. Secondly, I wanted to play more wargames (aka historical themed) games by publishers other than GMT Games. SO far I have met, and exceeded my goal. The 10×10 Challenge caused me to review my game playing patterns. It is easier to play non-wargames, as there are more people who are willing to play eurogames.
Some game play stats for 2017
By the way, I am gaming tonight. The streak continues!
My username on BoardGameGeek is oi_you_nutter. You can see my game information in my profile. Let me know if you have questions on game logging, or any questions about my sanity, or the games that I play.
Last Sunday, the Ventura County Strategy Boardgamers held an event at McGregors Craft Beer & Wine, in Moorpark, CA from 2pm until closing time. Although this is not the first time we have held an event at a commercial location. This is the first time we had held an event at an establishment that primarily serves alcohol. In addition, this was the first time we had held an event in Moorpark. I was interested if this was a draw or if it would put people off.
Top Billing on the events board
Fancy Cider at McGregors
McGregors was chosen as it has all the attributes of a good public gaming location. It is clean, and bright; there are plenty of large normal-height tables. It serves beer, wine, and bar friendly snack foods. Having plenty of parking is a big plus.
As it was a public event I am expecting, and hoping, that some of the bars patrons would join in with the games. In reality, we had a few interested patrons looking at the games, and asking a few questions.
The cheese and meat plate are not part of the game
Bunch of cylons
Oracle of Delphi
Battlestar Galactica
Shadow Hunters
Concept
Shadows over Camelot
Beer is a concept
Concept
Cash N Guns
As an introductory game we played several rounds of Concept, both as a warm up game, and as a closer to wind down. I even got in a game of Battlestar Galactica.
We will have plenty of games at hand as we were not sure what types of gamers we would have attending. It is always best to be prepared with a mixture of games, both in game length, and in complexity. With 8 people gathered around a big table we broke out Ca$h n Guns as a ice breaker. Soon people settled into a mixture of longer, and more involved games.
In total we had 17 people actually play the games, two were newcomers to the group. The event was a success, and everyone had good things to say about the location. I had expected more newcomers, but I am happy with the way the event went overall.
I was introduced to a young lad called Calvin, from the nearby Game Development Meetup group. They hold monthly events to create, collaborate and develop games.
Let me know if you have an ideas, or suggestions, for the next McGregors event. I am thinking it could be a monthly event. Is Sunday the best day for such an event ?
30th June 2017
Links:
Ventura County Strategy Boardgamersevent page on Meetup.
Although this is not the first time we have held an event at a commercial location. This is the first time we had held an event at an establishment that primarily serves alcohol. Therefore there is a minimum age of 21.
McGregors was chosen as it has all the attributes of a good public gaming location. It is clean, and bright, has lots of free parking, there are plenty of large tables, and it serves beer, and beer friendly snack food. And wine too.
As this is a public event I am expecting, and hoping, that some of the bars patrons will join in. We will have plenty of games that are suitable for non-gamers to play. Games that are quicker, and lighter, to get them hooked. Mwhhahhaa.
Tim
20th June 2017
Links:
Ventura County Strategy Boardgamersevent page on Meetup.
A Good Dog Is Hard To Photograph…and so is a board game.
For the past month or so we have had a regular canine visitor on Tuesday nights. Our host, Greg, has been bringing along his adorable labradoodle called Fletcher. Now dogs, and board games are not always a good combination. This is especially so for a rather large, and rambunctious dog like Fletcher. This dog is a people pooch. He has a great personality, and evidently enjoys the attention of a large crowd of friendly humans. We dote on him. Luckily for us, and the games, Fletcher is a very well behaved dog. He does not jump up on people when he gets excited. His tail is very powerful, yet he keeps it below the table height. Good doggie!
A rare, in focus, photo of FletcherA tail strong enough to clear a game table in seconds
With Fletcher firmly being part of our Tuesday night gang, it is only reasonable that I have been including photographs of him in my gaming pictures. Each gaming session I endeavor to take photographs of the games, and the gamers. If you look back at the Photo Gallery of the Ventura County Strategy Boardgamers Meetup group you will see thousand of photos of our gaming sessions. If I creative I tag people, and add the name of the game as a title.overall, this photos are a little meh. They lack pizazz and ooomph.
More recently, I have been creating montages with the photos. You can see a whole bunch of these montages on a separate page linked here.
VCSB 23rd May 2017
VCSB 23rd May 2017
VCSB 23rd May 2017
VCSB 23rd May 2017
Click on an individual picture for a larger version.
These montages add context to a plain photograph. The game title is included, which is always a wise thing to do. This helps to fend off the “what game is that?” questions. It is also a good idea to include the date, location, and any other useful information. If possible include a little anecdotal comment to liven up the scene. Like in this example here.
High Frontier
A photo montage with some anecdotal comments
The unexpected side effect of these montages is that I am thinking more about what, and how, I photograph. I am still taking lots of photos, but I am posting less of them. The photographs that I am using are better quality than the photos that I was posting before I started creating the photo montages.
This brings me to the point that I want to make about photos of games, and of gamers. Just like taking photos of a dog, it is hard to take good photographs of gamers.
Gamers move around a lot while they are playing games. It is not fair to continuously interrupt the games to take posed pictures. It is not fair to distract people when they are deep in thought, or taking their turn. This method often results in unusable photos.
As an example, here is a photo from last night. It shows some of the lads playing Viticulture. Jonathon is smirking, as per normal, while Ryan, and Matthew are concentrating on the game. Ben, on the other hand, is a blur.
Blurry Ben playing Viticulture
The only solution is to take lots of photos, and hope that you have some good ones. I have lot’s of pictures where all but one person are smiling, or posing nicely for the camera. The one person barely looks like a human being. At a pinch you can still use these flawed pictures, but it is wise to crop or edit the picture so the photos are presentable. If you are concerned about what content is acceptable, play it safe.
It is always wise to avoid posting unflattering pictures.
As I am thinking more and more about what photos I am taking I had a revelation. I had come to the realization that I was often taking two types of photo.
This examples below show James, Ryan, and Bob playing Mech Vs. Minions.
The distance shot is the best way to show the people playing the game. This is where the players are the focus of the photo.
James, Ryan, and Bob playing Mechs Vs. Minions
The closeup shot is to show the art, or the details, of the game itself. It is hard to combine both into one photo.
A miniature from Mechs Vs. Minions
Together they make a great combination set to show off the game, and the players.
James, Ryan, and Bob playing Mechs Vs. Minions
A miniature from Mechs Vs. Minions
The key points to remember about taking and posting photos are:
Take lots of pictures.
Take closeup detail pictures of the game components.
Take distance pictures of the players.
Post pictures that are interesting.
Post pictures that show the games, and the gamers in a good light.
Ventura County Boardgamers 
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