Category: Uncategorized

Board Game Review: Marrying Mr. Darcy

Posted on Maria Polcari1 CommentPosted in Uncategorized

Maria here! Last week, I shared with you games I played during my formative years, and how those games made an impact on my taste in boardgames as an adult.

When I wrote the post, I was actually making dinner (multi-tasking FTW) and enjoying reminiscing about the days of old. I wasn’t expecting to discover the impact those childhood games made on my preferences as an adult.

Need help on your board game?
Looking for more resources to help you on your board game design journey?

As for today’s post, I’ll be honest. It was supposed to mimic last week’s in that I was going to review my top 5 favorite games as an adult. Thing is, I’m not known for being brief (some might even go so far as to say I’m a bit talkative). My word count on this post was at 4,593 and counting.

So…game plan change! I’m splitting today’s post into a mini-series within a mini-series! Does that mean I’m being “meta”?

My five favorite games are primarily ones I’ve begun playing over the last 3-4 years, but ones I have a feeling will take a while to be de-throned. Over the next few weeks, I’m going to give you a little history into how I came across each game and a brief overview of how to play. I’ll then talk about what I like, and what could use improvement.

In keeping with our theme of nostalgia, I will also talk about which of my four favorite nostalgic game mechanics it incorporates. These four nostalgic game mechanics are:

  1. Dynamic character roles
  2. Great art or colors
  3. Incorporates a clicking noise
  4. Tactile, but not needlessly fidgety 

If you haven’t done it before, stop and think about what in board games makes you nostalgic. After all, nostalgia is a big part of why some games become very popular!

Marrying Mr. Darcy: Deck Building Game

Marrying Mr. Darcy is hands-down my favorite game. I will admit that my love for the game is a bit biased; I love Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and yes, I do indeed have a bookshelf dedicated to all of Jane Austen’s works. Brandon calls it my Mr. Darcy Shrine as there *might* be a hand-drawn pen portrait of Darcy, a variety of P&P editions (all different covers!), and Darcy quotes from varying media.

I have no idea why he thinks I’m obsessed. ANYWAYS it was only natural that my friends got me a Jane Austen themed Christmas gift one year that included the BOARD GAME!!!

You do not have to know a lot (or anything) about the book, but if you know even a little bit then you will get that much more out of the game. It is actually a family favorite and often my 60-year-old DAD demands I bring the game over to family functions! Anywhere from 2-6 people can play, and the more animated you are during gameplay the fonder the memories are created.

My favorite memory is Christmas a few years ago when I stayed up late with my Dad (then 57), brother (29), and Grandma (82) playing a rousing game of Darcy. I can still picture it, Dad clutching his Jane Bennet character card to his chest and saying how he can’t wait to marry “Bingers” (his pet name for Mr. Bingley). And then my brother threatening to go after Bingley because Bingley is “so dreamy”. My grandma was practically in tears she was laughing so hard.

This game is also one of the ways that I knew my now husband was the man for me! It was our 3rd date when I brought the game with me to a coffee shop. He not only played the game, but he played along with my self-imposed rule of speaking in an obnoxious British accent whenever reading the cards. I don’t know about you, but if a guy I’m dating is willing to make himself look like an idiot early on just to make me happy…then he’s a winner.

That’s me from our date! Showing off a particularly impressive hand.

Let’s Play

Objective

Person with the highest point count wins. Point counts are gathered from points played on your character and/or how advantageously you marry. 

Game Play Overview

Each person chooses a female character to play. I always go for Elizabeth Bennet, because she’s my girl. You can also select from some of the other Bennet sisters, Caroline Bingley, Charlotte Lucas, or Georgiana Darcy. Each player has their own special skill, and each character also has a listing of preferred bachelor pairings.

The deck-building aspect to the game is collecting cards of different virtues – beauty, wit, friendliness, reputation – and having the minimum amount needed to pique the interest of your preferred bachelor. For instance, Mr. Darcy is all about improving your mind through extensive reading…so he’s going to want his future wife to be all about that Wit. Mr. Bingley, on the other hand, is just a nice handsome joe, so he is more interested in Beauty or Friendliness.

You gain points by playing cards in your hand onto your character, and also through how advantageous your marriage is during the Proposal Stage of the game. The Proposal Stage is after all of the event cards have been played, and if you meet the minimum requirements to pique a bachelor’s interest then you have the very technical task of rolling a die to see if he will propose. That’s actually how I got Brandon to propose to me. Jk Jk.

Oh, and because love and war are sometimes synonymous, there are “cunning cards” that you can use to either take points away from your competitors, or play on your own character for a leg-up during the Proposals (Phase 2).

What I Love

The game developers seem to have built the game around the book instead of incorporating the book into a game. At least that is how it plays for someone who knows Pride & Prejudice. Every nuanced attention to detail is a small celebration for the Austenite in me!

For example, Mr. Darcy is Elizabeth’s first marriage choice, for obvious reasons. Yet her second choice is his cousin, Colonial Fitzwilliam. And you know what? He would be a great second choice for Elizabeth. She got along with him and he is still a high-ranking individual within society.

The other bachelor’s minimum requirements needed to potentially propose also line up with the book’s characterization. I find it hysterical that Wickham’s only requirements is that the woman has money – because he is a gambling git.

I also love that the player count can go as low as 2 with the game still being fun. As I mentioned previously, I played this game with my husband back when we were dating early on. Sure, it is more fun with a larger group (especially if everyone really gets into) but it is still enjoyable with a more intimate grouping.

Could Use Improvement

This game is certainly replayable, but it does run stale if you play it as many times as I do. There just are not enough event cards! Being an Austenite, with bookish friends, I did handwrite some event cards to add variety (and game length) to the stack.

I didn’t want to throw off the balance of “good” vs. “bad” cards as the developers did a great job finding that sweet spot, so I put in 10 and 10, and I think 3 Party Cards. On a funny note, despite putting in an even number of the good vs. bad cards, my dad always manages to draw one of the bad cards. Poor Bingers. 

If you do not want to write up your own expansion cards, the developers have released an Undead expansion pack for Marrying Mr. Darcy, as well as an Emma edition.

Preferred Game Nostalgic Mechanics: Dynamic character roles, Great Art, and even some Tactile elements (the die roll is a nice way to break things up).

Board Game Geek Rating: 6.4 with a 1.38 weight

Final Thoughts

There you have it! I highly recommend Marrying Mr. Darcy to anyone who loves Jane Austen’s works and board games. I would even recommend it to those who want to play a game that has some substance, but isn’t super heavy. The box is the perfect size to toss in a purse “just in case”.

Next week we are going to talk about another favorite go-to game that is significantly heavier than MMD. We are transporting ourselves from 19th century England to 22nd century Mars!

Board Games, Seen By a Non-Gamer is written by Maria Polcari, Brandon’s wife. The series is meant to both make you think about games in a different way, and to give Brandon a much needed break!

This is the second in a five-part series (maybe more)!




Growing Up with Board Games: The Power of Nostalgia

Posted on Maria Polcari1 CommentPosted in Uncategorized

Hey there, everyone! My name is Maria. I feel like the Goldilocks of boardgames. I don’t want to play a game that is too intense (no offense, Dominion), I don’t want a game that is too easy (I’ll only play Go Fish with my 3-year-old niece). Instead, I find myself somewhere in the middle when it comes time to picking out a game. Part of this is because of my early years growing up with board games.

Need help on your board game?
Looking for more resources to help you on your board game design journey?

Brandon asked me to write a few guest posts for you all to give the perspective on games from someone who plays, but isn’t what most would consider a “hobby board gamer.” He says that’s because the board game market is a lot bigger than people think.

In this post, I’m going to share a little bit about me and the games I grew up on. I’ll also be writing future posts like: 

  • My Top 5 Games
  • My “I’d rather clean the bathrooms” Games 
  • Board Games for Dating
  • Marrying a Game Developer 

Growing Up with Board Games

I was born in the late 80s to parents who love games, specifically card games. Being the fourth member of the family, my parents saw an opportunity in our little quad of a family to play games regardless of our age. Some of my early memories of aluminum foil (don’t you think about your early memories of kitchen accessories?), was sticking my Uno cards in the box because there was no way I could hold all the cards at once.

By the time I was 6, I could tell you what Knobs meant, the importance of an Ace of Spades, and why you should never agree to “playing blood”. I much preferred a rousing game of Rummikub over Sorry! but, desperately clutched at Snakes and Ladders over trying to learn Backgammon yet again. 

My childhood is full of fond memories, many of which involve some form of game. I also recognize, however, that my childhood was not a normal one. When I was almost 4 years old, my family moved from the US to Saudi Arabia; I mention this, because travel board games were my mom’s go-to in keeping me quiet during the 24-26 hours of travel.

In addition to my own backpack of stuffed animals, Mom would always pack the giant purple “Game Bag” that held all kinds of amazing activities and SNACKS. Airplane food was definitely lacking, and our layovers were often at times where airport restaurants weren’t open, so this bag was the saving grace.

It had name brand crackers (Ritz), trail mix (M&Ms with obstacles), fruit roll-ups (pretty sure these were considered in case of emergency), and the aforementioned travel games. My favorite game was Guess Who because I liked looking at all the little pictures of people and imagined what they would talk about when we put the game in the box. My brother’s favorite was Battleship, and despite always having to play him so I could have someone on my end of the guessing game, I’m still terrible.

Board Games Were a Huge Part of My Childhood in Saudi Arabia

Since I grew up in Saudi, where there were no malls or movie theatres, and we didn’t get British TV until after a few years of living there, games were a stable in my childhood. Another aspect of living overseas meant that all the expats were their own little community.

Kids called adults by their first names. Adults expected kids to join in on the day’s activities. It seemed only natural that if my parents wanted to play a rousing game of Spades, then they had to teach me and my brother in order to complete the table. To their credit, we did play a lot of Uno too.

I could talk about dozens of games, but I’m going to focus on five. I’ll include a longer list of games at the bottom of this post if you fancy a trip down memory lane. 

  1. Monopoly
  2. Clue
  3. Mastermind and Mastermind Jungle
  4. The Game of Life
  5. Titanic

Growing Up with Monopoly

Let’s go ahead and talk about Monopoly to get it out of the way. I hate Monopoly. I used to love it when I was a kid because I thought the little pieces were so cute. The little Scottie was always my piece. It helped that Mom would let me pick whatever trades I wanted if I couldn’t fork over the money.

But Dad? Yeah, Dad was the real hardass in the game. If you landed on his hotel then you had better pay up, mortgage your properties, or walk out. Once I got a little older and my cute “but daaaaaad” didn’t work, we stopped playing the game. The below meme (courtesy of Facebook) is painfully true for my family.  

Growing Up with Clue

Clue. LOVED that game. I loved any kind of mystery, and this game let me play a sassy character: Scarlett. Looking back on it now, I can see how the game would get old after a while, but I do still enjoy games that target the same audience (I’m looking at you 221B Baker Street). I realize that I could just try and solve the crime without moving the puzzle piece around, but there is something so satisfying about hearing the dice roll and getting to click-clack your piece around the board. Almost like getting to play with a paper dollhouse…but a dollhouse with a murderous past. 

Growing Up with Mastermind

I actually forgot about this game until I sat down to write this post. Have you ever heard of it?

I remember when my brother and I found the game in the basement that had no directions and we tried figuring it out (apparently we found the 1972 original version).

Definitely getting those 1972 vibes.

Essentially, it is a 20 questions game that can be played without speaking and rather than answering “Who Am I?” you are trying to figure out the hidden 4-sequence pegs. This probably led to my lifelong interest in mysteries and heists.

While the first edition we played was certainly not physically accessible, we ultimately got a “jungle edition” that had the different colored pegs also be differently shaped animals. The hippos were purple, so it was pretty easy to guess my sequences.

Need help on your board game?
Looking for more resources to help you on your board game design journey?

Growing Up with the Game of Life

So inaccurate, and yet accurate, all at the same time. It would explain a lot if 2020 were being caused by the spinner in Life flying off its inset.

I loved this game because it was always the game that we would play at my grandma’s house when we were visiting. Looking back now, I don’t know why my parents never bought us a copy of our own. Perhaps it wouldn’t have made the game feel so special.

We would play that game over and over again. In the early wee hours of the morning before anyone woke up, in the evening while grandma was cooking dinner, or during a lazy afternoon sprawled out on the floor.

That’s the other thing about that game, I rarely remember ever playing it on a table. We always played it on the floor either in the middle of the living room or between the living room and dining room. Pink and blue pegs everywhere, the raattttattatatattatatatat of the spinner always clicking away, and me continuing to ask the question “but why is the teacher salary so much less???”

Ah, to be so naive!

Don’t they look so happy?

Growing Up with Titanic

I’ve saved this game for last, because it is my absolute favorite. Perhaps it is one of my favorites because I am as stubborn as I am Italian (…I’m really Italian in case the implication wasn’t clear). My parents STILL groan if I ever mention the game. Even my husband refuses to play the game with me!

I don’t recall who gave us the game, but I was obsessed with it. First off, the board for the game folded outwards horizontally, not into a big square like every other game I was familiar with at the time. Then, it was split up into 3 different sections where you could not advance to the next section until having met certain objectives for your current section. That was mind boggling to me and a completely new concept.

And then, best of all, there was a PURPLE Lady in an AMAZING HAT as a character. I was sold. If I were to look at the game now, as an objective 30-year-old without a lifelong adoration of the game, I would possibly admit that it isn’t very complex and is really just a game of chance. Even Monopoly has more strategy than Titanic.

But goodness I was in love.

The art on the board was also so intricate for a game at the time. You had to pick up cute little passports that had fun details on them. You had to move around the board that was based on a real-life boat, and the cards referenced such swanky parties on the upper decks.

To a little girl who hadn’t even hit the double-digits club, this game had it all (except, of course, strategy). Even though the only person who will ever play this game with me is my cousin, it will always remain as a personal favorite and is why I dragged it out of the Goodwill box and have it safely tucked under my desk to this day. 

*Bonus Game: Rummikub*

I couldn’t stop at just 5 games. Rummikub is a game I have been playing since I was…5? 6? The only thing about this game that is a lie is the “Fast Moving” part of the catch phrase. That, and the happy smiling faced on the box.

We play by “Aunt Sue Rules” which is apparently different from the rulebook rules. I don’t care what you say, but if you’re going to replace a wild card, you must play it with 2 from your own hand. And don’t even think about moving the played wild card when switching tiles around; that’ll get a flipped table for sure.

When the pegs fell out of the stand and all your tiles fell….ah memories.

The Common Thread

Looking back on all the games that I played growing up, I see now why so many made such an impact on my game preferences now. They pretty much all incorporate the below factors: 

  • Great art or colors
  • Included a clicking noise, but wasn’t the entire game (I HATED Yahtzee because it hurt my ears) 
  • Tactile, but not needlessly fidgety 
  • Dynamic character roles

Even now when I pick out a game, if it has great art or just enough physical pieces, then I’ll give it a go at least once. I’ll talk more about what draws me to a board game in my next post, “My Top 5 Games” but the factors are not going to be too far from the above. Looking at my list of games to discuss in the next post (My Top 5 Games), I can definitely see that the common thread goes far beyond my childhood years.

That’s All, Folks!

I hope you have enjoyed my trip down memory lane as I shared with you the games that made my childhood. This is really nostalgic for me, even having left a bunch of games out.

I’ll leave you with this. All the games below are ones I played in the first ten years of my life. Let me know if any are nostalgic for you too!

  • Monopoly (Washington DC version)
  • Clue (Original, and Simpson’s)
  • Mastermind (Original and Jungle)
  • The Game of Life
  • Titanic
  • Rummikub (Aunt Sue rules)
  • Cribbage (don’t ever play blood)
  • Spades (girls against guys, duh)
  • Uno (did you know that you aren’t supposed to keep drawing until you get the right colored card???)
  • Battleship
  • Guess Who
  • Candyland & Snakes/Ladders
  • Gin (I literally always thought this was based on the alcohol)
  • Jenga (Only play on carpet)
  • Twister (Fun factoid, our game was in Arabic)
  • Sorry!
  • Connect 4 (play Gomoku if you were a fan of C4 as a kid!)
  • Mancala (Wasn’t huge on this game, but I liked the beads)
  • Chinese Checkers (Same as Mancala)
  • Trouble

Need help on your board game?
Looking for more resources to help you on your board game design journey?

Board Games, Seen By a Non-Gamer is written by Maria Polcari, Brandon’s wife. The series is meant to both make you think about games in a different way, and to give Brandon a much needed break!

This is the first in a five-part series (maybe more)!

Board games, seen by a non-gamer: an upcoming short series

Posted on Brandon RollinsLeave a commentPosted in Uncategorized

The long, strange summer of 2020 brought me a lot more work than expected. I’m currently working on handling an unusually high volume of client work for the Pangea Marketing Agency. I won’t deny for a second that it’s a problem of privilege, especially in this grueling and unfair economy. Nevertheless, responsibilities are accumulating, and I must attend to them.

Yet I still want to keep posts going on this blog. That’s why over the next few weeks, my wife, Maria, will be writing a handful of posts. The theme of this short series will be “board games, seen by a non-gamer.”

Despite playing Twilight Struggle and Terraforming Mars with me, Maria doesn’t exactly see herself as a board gamer. At least not in the “always watching Kickstarter, painting minis, and 500 games on the shelf” sense. Instead, she’s somewhere in the middle ground between the diehard board gamers I just described and the “I used to love Monopoly as a kid” crowd.

Board games have been growing for the last decade, and I feel like, at least based on what I’ve seen, they’ve become a mainstream part of Millennial / Generation Z life. My friends would play Codenames in college around 2015. Even after my graduation, I didn’t have to go to the game shop to find people to play Pandemic before the pandemic.

For this reason, I think Maria’s point of view will echo the feelings of many people who are quiet fans of board games. Remember: board gaming is big, but hobby board gaming is relatively small. Taking a moment to consider other perspectives may help you to build a business in the long run.

So readers, stay tuned for what will prove to an enlightening short series of articles. And Maria – thank you for giving me a chance to catch my breath!