Category Archives: Articles

Lessons from Board Games – Hanafuda and Sorta Maybe Entirely Luck-Based

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I chose Hanafuda for this, but it really applies to most card games (I just want to talk about Hanafuda for a bit). Hanafuda are Japanese Flower cards (and refer to some of the games played with the cards): a deck of what is essentially playing cards that were invented in Japan after western cards were banned.  Hanafuda  then spread to neighboring Pacific areas. There are 12 suits (representing the months with flowers) and 4 cards in each suit.  The cards have values of either 1, 5, 10, or 20, though not all suits contain all values. To a western player the lack of numbers can be difficult to grasp, but since most of the games involve matching flowers, it’s easy enough to remember that in general the more decorated a card is the more points it’s worth and to just match cards.

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Hanafuda caught my attention when I was looking for a card set for Mah-Jongg. I had been aware the cards’ existence but hadn’t though much of it. I play a lot of board games and have enough regular decks of cards and American card games as it is. Then I bought a cheap copy of Mah-Jongg at a thrift store, and wanted to find an easier to learn and play version. I found a card version, in the related items section there were Hanafuda cards, so I bought those as well.

Now I play a lot of board games, and while in school I started playing cards and chess when I had finished my work. I’ve since moved on mostly to more “complex” (chess is pretty complex at times) games that are more fun and/or accommodate more people. In general, I stopped playing card games because they were so luck based. Even though it might not seem like if for those who used French deck-based games (or even Hanafuda to some extent), eventually, after playing far too many games, one realizes that winning is only luck in such games. And it seemed less fun to have no skill involved in the game. But since I was so fascinated by both Hanafuda and Mah-Jongg I figured I’d take a chance on these luck based games.

This is all far too much information leading up to my basic point: that I’ve played Hanafuda (Hawaii style with a bit of my personal flair) as well as a few other mostly luck-based card games (with a modified French deck) and had a blast. Sometimes it’s just fun to play a game and talk to people, which you can do when no skill is involved. I know I’ve said that before, and some luck-based games like Snakes and Ladders or whatever can be terrible. But the illusion that you are in control that many card games give you is great for masking that and providing a basis for social interaction. Hanafuda only lasts a few minutes for a round, and you only have to play one. But for that you can look at pretty flowers, have a good conversation, and not mind the sorta kinda, entirely luck-based game.

Lessons from Board Games – Wits and Wagers and Knowing who Knows who Knows how to Win

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Wits and Wagers is a best-selling party game where everyone answers and people vote on which answer they believe is correct, getting points if they’re right. It solves the problem of one person being completely “unfun” to play the trivia game with because he knows everything, and for that Wits and Wagers is one of the best party games to come out in a long time. And the company (North Star Games) continues to put out great games, of both party and not so party varieties.

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On its surface, Wits and Wagers is a pretty simple concept. You don’t have to know the answer; you just have to know who does. And that’s how I play, but I rarely know the answer, or know who knows the answer. That really just comes down to me being bad at the trivia portion of the game. It’s all numbers-based, and while I can remember lots of useless facts related to words, exact numbers are a bit harder.

But one of my friends beats me pretty consistently. Well, until the end when we all just wager all of our points because no one ‘really’ cares about winning. Then I can win by just being conservative on the final question. His points dwarf mine often, though. I know he doesn’t know any more answers than I do, but what he does have is a consistent betting pattern (not every time, but a bit of the time). I’ll let you try and figure out what he’s doing, but as long as the answers are reasonable he’s able to win more often than not. And by copying his bets I could equal almost his score (he tends to bet more than I do, too).

So, for me, the game about knowing who knows the right answer became, for some part, the game about knowing who knows how to win the game based on averages. And I’m okay with that. It’s the answers that are funny; it is a party game, after all. And while it might sound like it’s taking things a bit too seriously, I can assure you, from the context of the game, that it is not. No amount of enjoyment was lost from, nor any significant thinking time put into, the game. It was fun, and playing the game a bit differently was… well, different. I would still play again anytime.

 

On Branded Products

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I use a lot of things; these days we all use a lot of things. And sometimes things break, sometimes people ask what those things are, sometimes we think it would be useful to have another of that thing, and sometimes we do reviews of things on the internet. Whatever the case, sometimes it is good or necessary to know who made the thing you’re using, and what exactly the thing you’re using is called.

The majority of things we buy these days that don’t come from a no-name factory in China have some form of branding on them. Sometimes it’s just the company name, sometimes it’s a whole slew of things from company name to how often you should clean the product. Sometimes it’s right on the front, and sometimes it’s hidden away in a corner where you have to take the entire thing apart to find it. But what is the optimal place for this branding?

As a consumer, mostly I can tell you I would disagree with most companies on this point. For instance, I usually don’t want to buy notebooks with company names or purposes stamped on the front (Rhodia : Composition). I think the proper place for a logo or company name is in an easily accessible, but not usually seen, area. In notebooks this would be similar to the Leuchtturm or Moleskine who emboss their names on the bottom back of the book. Nothing is used to draw attention there, but I can easily find it. At the same time, if it was buried under the back pocket of the book and that was the only place to find it, I’d think they were hiding something.

I guess that partly stems from me not wanting to be an advertising platform. I don’t wear logo t-shirts, There’s no brand name on my shoes or pants that is easy to see, etc. Everything I can is as stripped as I can make if of logos and company names. Occasionally, when I really like a product, I will proudly display it and gladly tell people who made it. But this is on my terms, and I almost resent companies trying to force their advertising into my products. I don’t want people to judge me for what type of device I’m using unless they like it and come up to ask me. I’ve never once forgotten what the name of the product I was using at the time was, and I’m perfectly capable of giving it to an interested party.

But if I do forget, it’s nice to have it there; it shouldn’t be buried away under all of the tools in a multi-tool or on a tiny tag underneath its setup. That just makes it hard to get to when I need it, say to order parts, or recommend it to a friend over text or what have you. I don’t need to be advertised with, that’s tacky, but I don’t need names hidden from me, that makes me look cheap.

I think most manufacturers tend one way or the other and it’s hard for people like me to strike a balance. I usually just cover it if I feel it’s advertising though. My iPhone is in a case, my notebook is in my bag etc. And in general I do feel that technology is better at keeping it simple and mostly out of sight, at least down to more pleasant-looking logos.

But I do like branding. Whether I’m using my Mac, or a Crescent wrench, or a Bic pen, it’s nice to know something about what I’m using, and in some cases like the company. It might have been made in china, or the US, or Mexico, or the EU, but it wasn’t some company that wasn’t willing to tell me their name. Sometimes, though, I wish the companies that do would tell me a little more quietly.

Things to do on a Rainy Saturday – Make a Chinese Chess Set

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A while back (as discussed in this post) I became obsessed with finding a Chinese Chess set that would fit my needs. After failing to easily find one that I liked, I decided to spend a rainy (I’m not sure if it actually was, but I’m going with it) Saturday and make a very simple set on my own (using images from Wikipedia).
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I used a few simple materials

  • ¾ inch wooden cubes that I had laying around
  • Scotch tape
  • Printed Icons from Wikipedia (with one set color inverted)
  • A Saw, scissors, and possibly an X-acto Knife
  • A cheap suction table clamp
  • Sandpaper

A few of those items won’t even be necessary for most people; this can be easily modified for the type of set one wants.

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First I cut the pieces out (square pieces would be better, but the circle is more traditional) and taped them over the cubes, making sure the tape ran down the sides so it wouldn’t be easy to peel up. I did this on both sides of the cube. I placed the cubes in the clamp and sawed them in half roughly (I’m not very good with a saw, and I was impatient with this project). Then I took the pieces and rounded off the corners on some inexpensive sand paper, really just for aesthetic reasons. Afterwards I cut away any tape that was left up after the sanding.

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None of this was very difficult and I’m sure you could figure out what I did by just looking at the photos, but in the end I got a quite usable, if not very pretty, Chinese Chess set that I could use with a player who didn’t know Chinese characters. I then drew a simple board on a sheet of paper that I glued to a small piece of cardboard and cut out. Then, to cover the edges (again for aesthetic reasons really) I used white Duck Tape (as in the brand, not a misspelling of the product). I actually made the board incorrectly and forgot to include the river (making it a Korean Chess board, actually) but this I was able to fix with minimal problems.

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The set was great for introducing me and a few other people to the game while I waited to receive better sets. It now resides in Altoids tins in a magnetic “traditional” style set I got online so I can play with either characters or pictures.

New Odd Dice

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I have a dice problem. I have bought far too many for my own good. But they are great. Rolling dice is a very enjoyable activity, and all of the various sided dice are exciting to find and look at.

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Of course everyone is familiar with the standard 6-sided die (D6), and perhaps some of the more common others like D8s, D10s, D20s, D4s, and D12s. But those are just the most simple shapes one can make easily. They are all regular figures which should guarantee a mostly fair roll. In making dice that deviate from these shapes, manufacturers must do more testing to ensure fairness, or at least relative fairness. That hasn’t stopped them, though, and all of these oddballs are now being helped by the easy info access from the internet, and are easier to make with online 3D printing services (shapeways.com).

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Recently I obtained quite a few of these more unusual (but still common) variations. And I have been having an immense amount of fun. The various strange shapes required to make the dice, especially the odd numbered ones, require quite a bit of thought, and seeing some of the creative work-arounds the designers attempted is interesting and fun. Some of them don’t really lend themselves to usability, like placing the numbers across a crease to get them to fit on the odd- sided dice, but some do, like simply leveling out planes on a sphere for any dice number that couldn’t be created with an standard tiling pattern. And, of course, there’s the standard cheat of “just put a bunch of triangles around a center point and mirror it on the other side”. Nevertheless, they are all still functional (even the D1 which I think is tied with the D2 for my favorite of the 3D printed versions)

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Now, I can’t find a “practical” application for any dice really; but it’s even harder to find a use for these very odd dice. They are fun, but not really good for games, as most of them tread old ground or use ratios that aren’t necessary or are too complicated. Most people playing games, even complex ones, want the experience to be as simple as possible. There’s no need to add things that will just confuse them, and so these dice’ll sit, unused.

But if you like shapes, or just the feeling of rolling dice, and want to impress your friends (I can roll a random number between 1 and 10,000,000 or 1 and 7) I’d definitely encourage you to grab a few of the more common ones. The 3D printing isn’t necessary, and the plastic is hard to work with, and some of the more expensive ($10-20) will just weigh you down, but a D7, D18 or a D30 are always fun to bust out now and again and may even serve a purpose.