The character was first introduced by no other than Stan Lee and artist Gene Colins in Captain America 117 back in Sept 1969. Otherwise known as Samuael Thomas Wilson. Facon has mechanical wings which he uses to swoop in and help save the day. He is also an expert bird trainer with basic empathic and technopathic abilities over birds in the comics and is the Uncle of Jim Wilson friend of the Hulk’s and who was the first notable HIV positive character, who’s father would go on to join the Gama Corp. The Falcon was always a strong character who was always ready to help those who need it. With his tech, ability to fly with Tech and his excellent fighting abilities he is quite a strong character despite his having no super powers.
In the game his unique ability is being able to manipulate the top card of the encounter deck allowing players to plan ahead and make strategic choices. His “Eagle-Eyed” ability, combined with his “aerial” cards, gives him strong defensive and offensive capabilities, especially in a multiplayer setting, whihc means he is an adaptable and excellent control-focused hero. This is a strong Leadership deck with synergies built around aerial cards, as you would expect, as well as other valuable cards that can be used with other heroes.
Falcon is an all round character who doesn’t specialise in one area so is good to fill holes in your roster especially with a smaller team roster, but lacks a specialism to excel in a bigger team of heroes.
I write or rewrite most of our rulebooks at Stonemaier Games, and today I thought I’d share a few observations and techniques I’ve learned over the years.
My Techniques
For initial local playtesting, I create player aids instead of a rulebook, as the rules are very much in flux at that stage (plus, it sets the groundwork for each player to have a player aid in the final product too). It’s only when I’m approaching blind playtesting that I write the rulebook.
I have a simple rulebook template I follow: overview & goal, components, setup, gameplay overview, detailed gameplay, other info, and end of game.
I typically reserve the last page of the rulebook for an icon guide, game flow, and/or index (though often the table of contents at the beginning does the job of the index).
I try to construct rulebooks in such a way that their length is indicative of the complexity of the game, using other components to assist. For example, when I rewrote the Tokaido Duo rulebook, I extracted the character instructions into two separate sets of player aids (i.e., more helpful for players to use during the game, and more representative of Tokaido Duo’s low complexity).
I write rulebooks as if I’m talking to you. “Pay $1 to gain 2 resources,” not “The player pays $1 to gain 2 resources.”
If I ever need a full page to explain a minor concept, that’s a good sign that the concept is too complex for what it contributes to the game. Similarly, in 99% of cases, if I use the word “exception” in the rulebook, it’s a sign of something that will be difficult for players to remember and should be removed from the gameplay.
My favorite rulebook size is 180x240mm. This is big enough for the rules, visuals, and examples, but small enough that you can keep it on the table while playing.
Blind playtesting (when a game is playtested without me there to teach or supervise) is 25% for the purpose of improving the rulebook. If a playtester misses a rule, even if it’s marked clear as day in the rulebook, I consider it an opportunity to make it even clearer or put it in a more obvious place.
My general philosophy is to put text on cards (not combinations of icons to decipher) and that the text be self-sufficient enough that a separate appendix isn’t necessary. However, sometimes there just isn’t room for lots of text. In those cases, either an appendix (like in Apiary) or the back of the card/tile (like in Tokaido) are good places for the text.
I find it helpful to review a rulebook backwards (section by section), as I can hone in on specific elements without skimming ahead by accident.
We have a style guide for the copyeditors and proofreaders in our oversight process. They have full access to all versions of the product (prototype and typeset files).
When the pre-production copy (PPC) of the product is ready, one of the things I’m looking for in our playtests is how easily I can find answers to questions in the rulebook. If I can’t find the answer quickly, I revise the rulebook accordingly.
In today’s flashback post, we’ll look at articles about announcing project status progress, constantly moving graphics, creating satisfaction through certainty, automated address updates, and videos densely packed with info.
The Power of Public Progress (#161): 10 years ago I started sharing the status of our projects in our newsletter. I’ve continued doing that to this day, allowing everyone to see, and get excited by, our upcoming releases!
When to Use a GIF Instead of a Static Image (#162): In general, I’m really not a fan of constantly moving graphics on a computer screen (it’s hard to read the surrounding text). However, I’ve seen them used successfully when the GIF helped to explain a very specific, potentially confusing aspect of the project in a way that neither text nor a static image could. I used a GIF to explain the difficult-to-grasp extended board for Scythe, which is includes a an additional board that slides next to the back of the game board to increase the size of the board by 50%. If that sounds confusing, you’ll understand why a GIF was useful in this case, and you can check it out in the full article.
The Power of Certainty (#163): Certainty has a strong impact on crowdfunding backers, especially given that we creators put projects on Kickstarter many months before backers get any tangible benefit. There’s a lot of uncertainty there. But we can shore up that uncertainty with: offer a nearly ready-for-production product, predefined costs, third-party reviews, visual examples of your product, money-back guarantee, and of course, a history of successful projects to help create a sense of predictability.
How to Automate Backer Address Updates (#164): With some newer-than-this-article features from Kickstarter and the a plethora of third-party pledge managers, this article isn’t as relevant today. But one key part of this article is that there are likely solutions to some of your problems that may simply take a little research to find. Your backers can be instrumental in this process. And of course, some fancy spreadsheet knowledge, like how to use macros, can be very handy.
The Whiteboard Video (#165): A “whiteboard video” is a dynamic approach to sharing a large amount of data in a short amount of space. As the narrator talks, the concepts they describe are illustrated in real-time on the screen. The visuals are good for both short-term attention spans and long-term memory. For my Scythe Kickstarter, I reached out to a creator to see if he would make a preview video for me. In this situation, I didn’t have to write the script. He is particularly good at condensing a lot of information into a short, visual video. He played the game, wrote the script, and sent it to me for review before he moved on to the illustrations. A video like this creates the opportunity to have friendly, accessible visuals for your potentially complex project.
Also, just yesterday I posted this video with some answers to questions from a university class:
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If you have any questions or thoughts about these topics, feel free to share in the comments!
Gladly this is it’s own version of 7 Wonders with the right feel but with Dice to kick it all off. Each player has a map where they can build their Wonder, each of which has a few differences to their playability. You play for victory points as you build your wonder. You also have a pencil and eraser to help keep your playable dice scores etc. You all start with seven coins and will use them to make up any shortfalls during your game and when the dice are revealed during each round they may have a cost for their use. You start with seven dice in the shaker dice box and as you play, the players change three of them, the grey ones with the wood, stone etc on them are swapped for the black, purple and white dice, so don’t wait around or you are really stuffed with your choice. As you use the dice they stay in play as another player may use them as well. the ability to play Seven Wonders in this way is an eye opener, as it does have a different feel and play to both Seven Wonders proper and Duel,
There are two ways to look at Kingdoms Forlorn: Dragons, Devils and Kings. You can either view this unbelievably massive box as a vast world waiting to be explored and conquered, one of untold treasures and tragic stories. Or it can be seen as a crushing boulder whose massive weight embodies headache, labor, and anxiety.…
Und die gehören allesamt zu meinen liebsten Euro Spielen. Und auch Movers & Shakers hat das Potential dazu in diese Gruppe vorzustoßen. Ich konnte es mittlerweile schon 1-mal auf der Boardgamearena spielen, wo es derzeit noch im Alpha-Status (Nur für Alpha-Tester zugängig) spielen konnte. Aber ich denke, dass es sehr bald in den Beta-Status wechselt, da es sich dort schon vollkommen problemlos spielen läßt.
Aber was machen wir nun in Movers & Shakers? Wir sind mächtigen Eisenbahnmagnate in Bengalen, im Nordosten von Indien, im späten 19. Jahrhundert und konkurrieren um die Erfüllung von Verträgen zum Transport von Gütern zwischen Benares und der Hafenstadt Kalkutta. Dabei müssen wir den Transport der Güter so effizient wie möglich organisieren und können dabei nicht nur unsere eigenen Züge sondern auch die der Mitspielenden nutzen.
Das Spiel verläuft über 2 Runden in der wie jeweils 6 Aktionskarten auf unsere Unternehmenstableau spielen und damit Aktionen wie das Beladen und Bewegen von Güterzügen, das Beeinflussen der Märkte in Benares und Kalkutta, das Aufwerten unserer Anlagemarker, das Einrichten von Agenturen oder das Verschiffen von Handelsgütern ausführen.
Siegpunkte erhalten wir hierbei durch das Erfüllen von Verträgen, den Wert unserer gesammelten Anlagen (Anleihen, Wertgegenstände, Ressourcen und Infrastruktur), Geschäfte mit regionalen Agenturen, Investitionen und unsere Gesamtleistung (Anzahl transportierter Handelsgüter).
Spannend an dem Spiel finde ich zum einen die Aktionsauswahl mit den Karten. Jeder erhält zu Spielbeginn 4 Lade- und 4 Bewegungs-Aktions-Karten. Im Spielverlauf können wir hier weitere Karten dazu bekommen. Von diesen 8 Karten können wir jede Runde 6 ausspielen. Dabei müssen wir uns immer entscheiden ob wir zusätzlich zu der/den Aktion/en der Karte noch eine Entwicklungs- oder eine Logistikaktion als Unternehmensaktion wählen, je nachdem ob wir die Karte in der oberen oder unteren Hälfte des Slots auf unserem Tableau platzieren.
Beim Laden der Güter können wir diese auch auf die Züge der Mitspielenden laden und beim Bewegen der Züger können wir auch deren Züge bewegen. Hier hat es Ähnlichkeiten zu Panamax. Beim Bewegen von Zügen kommt es auch immer wieder vor, dass wir Züge, die sich bereits auf der Streck befinden, vor uns herschieben. Hier sind also jede Menge strategische Entscheidungen zu treffen.
Was ich auch spannend finde ist das Geldmanagement in dem Spiel. Man kann nämlich maximal 9 Rupien besitzen. Kommt man auf 10 Rupien werden diese sofort in 1 Investmentmarker umgewandelt. Diese braucht man am Rundenende, um zu investieren. Auf diesem Weg erhält man am Ende schon einen sehr großen Teil seiner Siegpunkte. Allerdings kann man Investmentmarker nicht mehr zurück in Rupien tauschen. Man muss sich also genau überlegen was man im Rundenverlauf noch an Bargeld benötigt.
Investmenttafel Quelle: BGA (Copyright by Quined Games)
Geld verdient man in erster Linie damit, dass man Handelsgüter an den Märkten von Benares und Kalkutta abliefert. Der Wert jedes Gutes wird über die Position der jeweiligen Marker auf der Markttafel bestimmt. Diese kann man auch über Aktionen nach oben bewegen und erhält dafür auch noch Boni, wenn man die 2., 4., 6. und 8. Zeile erreicht. Jeder hat hier 3 Marker: einen für Benares, einen für Kalkutta und den Finanzberater. Dieser gibt vor, auf welche Zeile die anderen beiden Marker nach Rundenende „zurückgesetzt“ werden. Man sollte somit den Finanzberater nicht außer acht lassen.
Markttafel – Quelle: BGA (Copyright by Quined Games)
Markt-Marker – Quelle Spielanleitung (Copyright by Quined Games)
Vom Komplexitätsgrad würde ich Movers & Shakers auf jeden Fall unter Nippon & Co. einordnen, also im Bereich Kennerspiele. Für mich ist das Spiel auf jeden Fall ein must have und ich freue mich schon sehr auf weitere Partien. Auf BGA und, wenn Quined seinen Zeitplan einhalten kann, in 1 Jahr mit der physischen Version.
Es soll auch in den regulären Handel kommen. Dann aber mit weniger hochwertigem Material. Einen entsprechenden Vergleich findet man unter „Comparative Chart“ auf der Gamefound-Seite.
Es gibt übrigens ein sehr gutes Video von Gaming Rules, indem die Regeln erklärt werden und im Anschluß eine komplette Partie Movers & Shakers zu dritt gespielt wird: Movers & Shakers – Tutorial & Playthrough Wem das Video zu lang ist, der kann sich das Video von Jonathan von Getting Games anschauen: Movers & Shakers – Quick Play
Und die gehören allesamt zu meinen liebsten Euro Spielen. Und auch Movers & Shakers hat das Potential dazu in diese Gruppe vorzustoßen. Ich konnte es mittlerweile schon 1-mal auf der Boardgamearena spielen, wo es derzeit noch im Alpha-Status (Nur für Alpha-Tester zugängig) spielen konnte. Aber ich denke, dass es sehr bald in den Beta-Status wechselt, da es sich dort schon vollkommen problemlos spielen läßt.
Aber was machen wir nun in Movers & Shakers? Wir sind mächtigen Eisenbahnmagnate in Bengalen, im Nordosten von Indien, im späten 19. Jahrhundert und konkurrieren um die Erfüllung von Verträgen zum Transport von Gütern zwischen Benares und der Hafenstadt Kalkutta. Dabei müssen wir den Transport der Güter so effizient wie möglich organisieren und können dabei nicht nur unsere eigenen Züge sondern auch die der Mitspielenden nutzen.
Das Spiel verläuft über 2 Runden in der wie jeweils 6 Aktionskarten auf unsere Unternehmenstableau spielen und damit Aktionen wie das Beladen und Bewegen von Güterzügen, das Beeinflussen der Märkte in Benares und Kalkutta, das Aufwerten unserer Anlagemarker, das Einrichten von Agenturen oder das Verschiffen von Handelsgütern ausführen.
Siegpunkte erhalten wir hierbei durch das Erfüllen von Verträgen, den Wert unserer gesammelten Anlagen (Anleihen, Wertgegenstände, Ressourcen und Infrastruktur), Geschäfte mit regionalen Agenturen, Investitionen und unsere Gesamtleistung (Anzahl transportierter Handelsgüter).
Spannend an dem Spiel finde ich zum einen die Aktionsauswahl mit den Karten. Jeder erhält zu Spielbeginn 4 Lade- und 4 Bewegungs-Aktions-Karten. Im Spielverlauf können wir hier weitere Karten dazu bekommen. Von diesen 8 Karten können wir jede Runde 6 ausspielen. Dabei müssen wir uns immer entscheiden ob wir zusätzlich zu der/den Aktion/en der Karte noch eine Entwicklungs- oder eine Logistikaktion als Unternehmensaktion wählen, je nachdem ob wir die Karte in der oberen oder unteren Hälfte des Slots auf unserem Tableau platzieren.
Beim Laden der Güter können wir diese auch auf die Züge der Mitspielenden laden und beim Bewegen der Züger können wir auch deren Züge bewegen. Hier hat es Ähnlichkeiten zu Panamax. Beim Bewegen von Zügen kommt es auch immer wieder vor, dass wir Züge, die sich bereits auf der Streck befinden, vor uns herschieben. Hier sind also jede Menge strategische Entscheidungen zu treffen.
Was ich auch spannend finde ist das Geldmanagement in dem Spiel. Man kann nämlich maximal 9 Rupien besitzen. Kommt man auf 10 Rupien werden diese sofort in 1 Investmentmarker umgewandelt. Diese braucht man am Rundenende, um zu investieren. Auf diesem Weg erhält man am Ende schon einen sehr großen Teil seiner Siegpunkte. Allerdings kann man Investmentmarker nicht mehr zurück in Rupien tauschen. Man muss sich also genau überlegen was man im Rundenverlauf noch an Bargeld benötigt.
Investmenttafel Quelle: BGA (Copyright by Quined Games)
Geld verdient man in erster Linie damit, dass man Handelsgüter an den Märkten von Benares und Kalkutta abliefert. Der Wert jedes Gutes wird über die Position der jeweiligen Marker auf der Markttafel bestimmt. Diese kann man auch über Aktionen nach oben bewegen und erhält dafür auch noch Boni, wenn man die 2., 4., 6. und 8. Zeile erreicht. Jeder hat hier 3 Marker: einen für Benares, einen für Kalkutta und den Finanzberater. Dieser gibt vor, auf welche Zeile die anderen beiden Marker nach Rundenende „zurückgesetzt“ werden. Man sollte somit den Finanzberater nicht außer acht lassen.
Markttafel – Quelle: BGA (Copyright by Quined Games)
Markt-Marker – Quelle Spielanleitung (Copyright by Quined Games)
Vom Komplexitätsgrad würde ich Movers & Shakers auf jeden Fall unter Nippon & Co. einordnen, also im Bereich Kennerspiele. Für mich ist das Spiel auf jeden Fall ein must have und ich freue mich schon sehr auf weitere Partien. Auf BGA und, wenn Quined seinen Zeitplan einhalten kann, in 1 Jahr mit der physischen Version.
Es soll auch in den regulären Handel kommen. Dann aber mit weniger hochwertigem Material. Einen entsprechenden Vergleich findet man unter „Comparative Chart“ auf der Gamefound-Seite.
Es gibt übrigens ein sehr gutes Video von Gaming Rules, indem die Regeln erklärt werden und im Anschluß eine komplette Partie Movers & Shakers zu dritt gespielt wird: Movers & Shakers – Tutorial & Playthrough Wem das Video zu lang ist, der kann sich das Video von Jonathan von Getting Games anschauen: Movers & Shakers – Quick Play
Today I was looking through the recent YouTube videos of a content creator, and I happened to notice that a certain type of video garners significantly more views than other videos. It’s a type of video I don’t make or watch, so it really stood out.
I decided to look at a handful of tabletop YouTube channels that post a variety of videos to see if their audiences were just as interested in this type of video. And they are!
Here are the channels I looked at, each of which features at least 4 different types of videos on a regular basis, along with an image showing a content cross-section:
For each of these channels, I looked at average views for different types of videos posted over the last few months. This was a very un-scientific process, as there are a variety of factors that can impact the views of any single video.
Here are my three biggest takeaways from this very small dataset:
People Love Anticipation
This is the type of video that surprised me the most. It’s by far the most-watched type of video on these channels.
It doesn’t surprise me that people like anticipating things; I love to look forward to specific games, books, movies, restaurants, etc. Rather, I’m surprised that videos about anticipation are so highly viewed, as they are the one type of video on this list about games that the content creators haven’t even played yet. They’re mostly talking about a game’s potential, not their experiences playing the game.
I’m truly happy that these content creators and their audiences enjoy the anticipation-style videos. However, it isn’t content that I’m personally interested in making–I want to share my excitement for games I’ve played, not games I might someday play–but it’s a great reminder about the marketing power of anticipation.
Lists Are Still Great
In an era of 30-second clips on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, people still seem to enjoy the option to learn about multiple games over 10-20 minutes in a single video. As much as I love a focused deep-dive into a specific game–in fact, that’s my heavy preference for podcasts–for videos I like the efficiency and order to longer lists.
The data was a good reminder that top 10 lists aren’t the only way to do this. Various creators have their own twists on variety episodes, including “if we could only keep 5 games,” “comparing these 3 games,” and “let’s talk about games we recently played.”
Playthroughs Are the Most Valued Sponsored Content
Just recently I wrote about how content creators can (if desired) earn a little revenue from paid, non-opinion content like previews and rule videos. However, it seems that playthroughs are the clear winner if a publisher is considering a content sponsorship.
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Data aside, my motivation for creating YouTube videos is almost entirely driven by the intersection of two factors: (a) What our audience enjoys and (b) what I’m passionate about filming. I’m not going to make something that isn’t true to me (e.g., absolutely no hate-bait) or if very few people engage in it (considering not only views, but comments and likes too).
What’s your takeaway from this data? Again, it’s a very small cross-section, so I’d love to hear your observations from other channels too.
This is a very interesting game, from Stonemaier Games, that was an eye opener for all of those that played the game with me. Do you remember the books from the late 70’s the own adventure ones that were still popular until the 90’s, The ones that you had to chose what to do from a sedate walk to explore or you try a fast run away to escape or several other options, That is basically what this game is. You work co-operatively to try to first survive and then you try to escape together. Let me start more from the beginning of the story.
There is little that the game inventor wanted you to know about this game as it is meant to be an adventure. In fact they said that if you have a part of the story that does not match with you all, that you should discuss it among yourselves and see what feels right. Here is the basics of the game start. You are travelling through space and there was an accident, You are one of the survivors who grabbed an escape pod each of you has landed at a different location. You each roll two skill dice and depending on your roll you work out where you have landed, there is a chart to work this out. You receive a card for your location then you can choose one of the options on the card in front of you. As you can’t see each others location views but can talk over radio you can describe your view but cannot show each other your cards. You can explain what you are seeing on your card and the choices you have, you just can’t show your card to anyone else. You can order this at: https://www.bgextras.co.uk/other-games/vantage/vantage
I will say that there are bonus skill tokens you can gain I can recommend getting the wooden replacements for the skill tokens as they are more solid than the cardboard ones and it is the same for the packs of metal coins you can get to replace the cardboard ones with as the clink of metal is so much better when counting out coins. There is also a dual-layered playing mat pack that does make this game that much more compact and I highly recommend them as they are all of higher quality and beautiful for the game feel as they give you the perfect holder for the eight cards that you collect and put around your character card that are also contained in the dual layered boards. You can order these at: https://www.bgextras.co.uk/other-games/vantage
Was habe ich gespielt? boardgamearena.com: Innovation, Würfelwurst, Pina Coladice, FlipToons Magical Athlete Boss Fighters QR Pina Coladice UNO Zero Compile
In another life, I was infatuated with Neuroshima Hex. Almost exactly 10 years ago, I wrote this soliloquy at Fortress Ameritrash extolling the virtues of Michal Oracz’s design. The game was already nearly a decade old at that time. This thing is grizzled as hell. The truth is I no longer play Neuroshima Hex. While…
I’m a child of the 90s, so when I hear the words tag team, I think of the Bushwhackers, Harlem Heat, and the Outsiders. Gricha German and Corentin Labrat’s Tag Team isn’t that. Well, maybe it sort of is. Instead of prescribed duos, each player slams together two distinct fighters to form an impromptu team…
Philosopher Mara van der Lugt’s 2025 book Hopeful Pessimism challenges ideas of motivation and the role of despondency. It’s a revelation of sorts, especially for those plagued with eternal pessimism. That’s me. A relentless worrywart, down to my bones. Van der Lugt argues that it’s possible, nay encouraged, for those suffering from pessimism in a…
As usual with these games that Stonemaier bring into the fold this is a beautiful game. You are out exploring Japan’s East Sea Road between Kyoto and Edo, as you explore the beautiful road you will discover amazing places including hot springs, gorgeous vitas and culinary delights to explore and gain points.
The person who is furthest back near the start will always be the next to go so you open the board as you play. Each place can only be visited once unless you are playing a four or five player game then some of the locations have a round disc on their road then you can go up the road to the next open disc the point furthest from the end, you can only travel in one direction and toward the rods end. As you play you can gain points and coins, so good luck!
This is a very beautiful game that plays very easily, It also is a game that you can play quite fast 45mins plus which means that you can play this with another quick game or play it multiple times. This is a lovely game that is both beautiful and a lot of fun.
I have been asked, what are the differences between the original game and this one re-made by Stonemaier games. While the gameplay is the same, Stonemaier Games have revised the rulebook to provide more clarity. As well as producing reference cards for each players as adding some text on the cards so you don’t have to refer to the rulebook so often. They have also increased the card thickness to their standard 310gsm. Also as with other Stonemaier Games they have brought in an automa solo mode. You can order this from us at: https://www.bgextras.co.uk/other-games/other-board-games/tokaido-board-game
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