Hey now ludo lovers,
Thank you to everyone who enjoyed the Collection Therapy video - it wasn’t the biggest hit views wise, but it had a wonderful response from the people who did watch it, and I will definitely do another one. I’m delighted to have found a new format to share advice, and connect with viewers.
The script for my next Couples Games video is complete. I’ve got some brilliant two player games to share with you. And in this newsletter, I will give you the lowdown on the new games Duel for Cardia, Railroad Tiles and Celestia Duo.
Actual Life
Life is ugh and grrr and phew lately. Last week I was knocked down by the flu. Today, as I was about to press record on the next video, my daughter woke up with a temperature. And because my current studio is at home it’s very hard to film with a screaming toddler in the background.
Our life is still very much in flux. We left London to make life easier, but the work to get to that easier life has made everything a lot harder. We’re planning to move house again, to move studio again, to a more permanent situation - and only then will I be able to fully exhale, and unclench my jaw.
And financial challenges have increased the need for taking sponsorship deals - which adds extra admin and work to each video, slowing everything down.
Part of me feels like I shouldn’t be honest - I don’t want to show the cracks, because then people might lose faith in Actualol. But I also feel like I want to give people a reason for a delay, or a missed newsletter. I am fully committed to this channel, I love making videos, and I can’t wait for my life to smooth out, so I can focus on that more. The good news is - the wheels are in motion, and I hope that in the new year, you’ll see a more consistent Actualol.
Another project that has been taking my time is my party game - I’ve been pitching it to publishers and trying to find a home for it. I am so excited to get it out in the world - and start demoing it to people. Perhaps it will be the perfect excuse to visit Gencon for the first time, to make sure it goes transatlantic. The future is exciting - the waiting is tiresome!
Actual Games
Duel for Cardia is the hottest, smallest, newest card game on the market. It is a two player only game that comes in one of those tiny German card game boxes - like LLAMA or The Mind (but slightly deeper).
It is the ultimate distillation of a duelling game. Every turn, you both pick a card at the same time, and reveal them. The highest card wins a signet ring (a VP). BUT the lower card gets to use its ability.
These abilities are cool - because they can affect past and future duels. With each new turn, you are adding to the line of previous duels. Once someone claims five signet rings, they immediately win the game.
Unless! The weaker card has an ability which can save them. By changing the strength of a previous card, they can swing that duel in their favour - robbing their rival of a signet ring - and letting them duel another day.
There’s lots of clever little plays you can pull off, which is impressive given that you only have 16 cards in your deck. The stronger cards have better powers - which means you hardly ever get to use them, but if you can engineer a situation where you do, it feels great.
Because you have identical decks - the more you play and understand the cards, the more it becomes a battle of wits. Games will last longer, and have tense finales as you predict what cards your opponent has left, and how you can counter them.
It reminds me a lot of Love Letter - because it’s incredibly simple, but has just enough decisions and intrigue to make it exciting. Some will dismiss it as being too lucky or light, but those who click with it, will get a LOT of play out of it. You simply can’t play this game once, you have to play it three or four times in a row.
It’s not often games get unstreamlined, but Railroad Tiles is the bigger, more complicated version of Railroad Ink. As before, you are connecting up highways and railways to create a transport network paradise.
But now it’s a tile-laying game. You will take it in turns to draft a set of tiles, then add them to your player area, trying to fix your broken network. In theory, I like the choice that comes from drafting tiles, but you still end up getting stuck with an annoying mix of stuff that never quite works for you. You take the best of a bad bunch.
And the drafting slows down the game considerably. In theory, you’re supposed to draft your tiles then work out how they fit into your puzzle before the next player goes. But that’s WAY too much waiting around - so the game devolves into simultaneous play, because it’s too unpalatable otherwise.
A new mechanism introduces cars, trains and travellers for your network - in the form of cute meeples. They encourage you to create big, uninterrupted routes, because a train scores for every other train on its tracks. But you only get meeples from certain tiles, and only if that round is scoring that type of meeple. So it can feel very hard to get any joy from that part of the game, which is disappointing.
It sounds like I hate the game, but I don’t. The puzzle is challenging, the theme and the artwork are really nice. Even the changes feel clever, but they don’t quite come together to deliver a stellar game. In a vacuum, it’s fun - but there’s too many better personal puzzle games out there, and you should play one of them instead.
Celestia Duo is a disappointment. It turns the now classic push your luck game into a two player cooperative game, and this time it’s designed by the usually brilliant Bruno Cathala.
It is one of those vague “you can’t communicate games” - which in this case is code for “there isn’t an interesting puzzle to discuss, so we’ll make it hard by not knowing what cards each other has”.
The idea is you’re travelling through the clouds trying to catch a pirate. Every time you need to move, you roll the dice, which gives you symbols you must pay for with your hand of cards. If you don’t have the cards, you will be punished. Instead of travelling, you can choose to take a pit stop to replenish your hands, but then the pirate will get further away. This was what I disliked about the game the most - your victory is so dependent on how far you can move, and you have no say in that. The game can randomly determine that it’s practically impossible for you to catch the pirate, rendering your efforts useless.
But what efforts? Paying for symbols with cards feels like busy work. There is barely any interesting deduction in knowing what cards your companion has. So you’re going through the motions, doing the obvious, until the luck of the game decides your fate.
Crucially - it has none of the push your luck found in Celestia, and so it doesn’t deserve to bear its name. Don’t waste your time on this one.
Song of the Month - Metal by The Beths
Video of the Month - Gianmarco Soresi - Thief of Joy - Full Comedy Special
Have a better month!
Actually yours,
Jon