Player Aid 1: TableTop (Web Series)

This is the first of my short ‘Player Aids’.  This short blog is designed to give gamers a chance to get a bit more information about gaming.  Whether it be a link to a website that gives lots of information about games or a website that sells unique gaming tools to pimp up your games; I’ll be writing up some thoughts on some features that I think are worth sharing.

Name:  TableTop

Weblink:  http://tabletop.geekandsundry.com/

Summary:  TableTop is a Web Series created by Will Wheaton and Felicia Day and is published on Felicia Day’s YouTube channel ‘Geek and Sundry’.  Presented by Will Wheaton, each episode brings together a group of Will’s celebrity friends and people of the board game industry to play a board games and show YouTube viewers how they work.

Uses:

This web series has been both hugely entertaining and informative.  As a result of watching Will’s show a number of games I didn’t know about have been added to my overly long list of games to ‘acquire’. 

Each show follows the same format starting with Will introducing the basics of the game that he is playing that week.  Then he and his group of fellow players play the game in an edited half an hour show.  At the end the winner receives an award for winning and the losers are left to sit gloomly on the losers couch. 

The games he presents are varied, from board to card games and cover a range of different themes.  During the shows, rule references pop to support the explanation of what is happening.  Each show gives a really good insight into what the game is like and how it plays out over the course of an evening.  As the show is edited to half an hour they are easy to watch, without investing too much time in seeing the whole game from beginning to end.  There are a couple of games that have been given a two episode feature due to the length of game play but generally each episode covers one game.  

Every other episode is a ‘Gag Reel’ and there are extended interviews with the guests on separate Youtube videos. 

Currently in its second season, Will Wheaton has presented 18 games in the first season and is currently on the tenth game at the time of writing this in its second season. 

The following is a full list of the games in the order of the shows as they appear on TableTop:

Season 1:

Smallworld

Settlers of Catan

Tsuro, Zombie Dice & Get Bit

Ticket to Ride (The Board Game Compendium: Review  1)

Munchkin

Castle Panic

Gloom

Fiasco

Say Anything

Elder Signs

Dixit (The Board Game Compendium: Review 5)

Wits & Wagers

Pandemic (The Board Game Compendium: Review 7)

Last Night on Earth

Star Fluxx

Alhambra

Chez Geek

Dragon Age

Season 2:

Formula D

The Resistance

Once Upon a Time

King of Tokyo

Forbidden Island

Star Trek Catan

Star Wars: X-Wing

Lords of Waterdeep

Shadows Over Camelot

 

International TableTop Day:

On March 30^th 2013 Will Wheaton introduced the first ever ‘International TableTop Day’.  The purpose  of the day was to bring people together for a day of gaming.  There were thousands of private events at people’s homes and hundreds of public events at shops and gaming centres across the world.  Will Wheaton hosted a special live TableTop Day live streaming video to show more games being played and to talk about the events going on throughout the day.  I am hopeful that there will be a similar bigger event next year.  I am certainly hosting another event following the success of my own games day.  My brother won the Player of the Day trophy and a good uni friend of my won the coveted International TableTop Day Trophy for scoring the highest number of points over the whole day. 

Downsides:                          

There are really no major downsides to the web series.  The language at times is a little ‘blue’ which means watching the show needs to be done when younger ears are not around.  However that is part of the feel of the whole show which I recognise doesn’t want to make board games any more inaccessible than they sometimes appear to be. 

I’d like to see more shows with games featured , having to wait fortnightly for the next instalment is a little frustrating but it’s always well work the wait.

Overall:

A funny, useful and well-constructed insight into board games that you may not have come across before.  I’d recommend having a look at the videos for yourself, especially if you want to see more of on the games that I have reviewed already.

For me, watching people genuinely enjoying coming together and playing some really great games really bolsters the appeal of board gaming.

Click the link and have a look and let me know what you think.

Weblink:  http://tabletop.geekandsundry.com/