Comments for Fail Better

Comment on Some quick Prolix updates by ingredientx

ingredientx — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:21:22 +0000

It really was a problem. The 5p variant (players cross out one fewer word than the number of times they interrupted) works well. Its only problems are that it’s tougher to teach a 5p game because the variant isn’t all that intuitive, and the 5p game is much more interrupt-heavy, which some players may not like. As long as I warn players of those in the rules, it should be fine. So far, with the above two caveats, the 5p variant is much more fun than the straight 5p game.

Comment on Some quick Prolix updates by Seth Jaffee

Seth Jaffee — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 06:09:37 +0000

Maybe it’s changed, but I don’t recall 5p being a problem…

Comment on Renaming Prolix, and Pax Robotica tweaks by Willi B

Willi B — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 09:14:39 +0000

Gil –

late to the party…. but I thought that Prolix should be named Maximum Verbosity. Infocom shout out and it fits.

Comment on Renaming Prolix, and Pax Robotica tweaks by Mark Salzwedel

Mark Salzwedel — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:40:51 +0000

Hey, Gil. Nice article. I guess I still don’t like Consonance. Perhaps it’s because I was an English major with a creative writing emphasis, and “consonance” will always be repetition of initial consonants, e.g., “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.” It says repetitive and trite to me.

Comment on Where’s the love for Labor Day? by Stephen Glenn

Stephen Glenn — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 19:16:43 +0000

Great article, Gil!

It serves as the perfect companion piece to my recent blog entry, “Who Gives A Sh*t About Labor Day?”

Comment on Where’s the love for Labor Day? by Jeph

Jeph — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 22:16:16 +0000

St. Labour was a Canadian.

Comment on Where’s the love for Labor Day? by Carl Klutzke

Carl Klutzke — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 16:47:51 +0000

An excellent point. I _did_ hear fireworks last night, but I don’t know where they were from.

Comment on What the Dallas Cowboys’ new stadium can tell us about solid game designs by Melissa

Melissa — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:05:27 +0000

Nice post, Gil.

The worst, as a fellow player, are the unintentional spoilsports – the people who grew up trying to break games, and for whom that is where the “fun” is. No fun for designers either. Fortunately, there seem to be few amongst boardgaming hobbyists.

Comment on What the Dallas Cowboys’ new stadium can tell us about solid game designs by ingredientx

ingredientx — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 11:58:17 +0000

There’s a difference, though. In Scrabble, there’s no reason to say a bunch of nonsense words. It’s a pure Spoilsport action. In Prolix’s old rules, there was a benefit to saying a nonsense word with the timer running; you got to cancel the timer. That turns it from Spoilsport to Unsportsmanlike. It’s a hole I need to close.

Comment on What the Dallas Cowboys’ new stadium can tell us about solid game designs by P.D.

P.D. — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 04:40:41 +0000

I’m not sure that your playtester was right. If I were in a group playing Prolix, we probably just wouldn’t stop the clock when the unsporting player said an obviously bogus word (at least, after the first few times). The same problem arises in Scrabble, if a player tries to suggest every possible permutation of their tiles. The group inevitably draws a line between serious moves which must be challenged and bogus non-moves which may be scoffed at.