If you have not watched Tabletop, it a show that stars Wil Weaton and is produced by Felicia Day. For some that statement is enough for you to drop everything and go watch it all right now, or scoff and guffah and roll your eyes at me (you know who you are). But don't, theres more!
Tabletop is on the youtube channel Geek and Sundry (I don't know what that means) and is about a nerdy guy doing nerdy things with other nerdy people who like doing nerdy things, but don't do the original nerdy things that the first nerdy guy is doing.
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| Wil Weaton will teach you to play games, or else. |
Zombie Dice to Appear on Hit Geek and Sundry Show Tabletop
May 3, 2012 – Zombie Dice, the brain-eating dice game produced by Steve Jackson
Games, will appear in the third episode of Tabletop on Friday, May 4, 2012.
"I'm really hyped about the G&S channel, and especially Tabletop," said company
founder Steve Jackson. "The Internet is the right way to deliver this, and it's fun food for
geek brains. Braaaaaiiiinnnns."
Narrated by actor and author Wil Wheaton, Tabletop features guests playing dice, card,
board, and pen-and-paper games. The show is available free online on the Geek and
Sundry YouTube! channel. This episode shows viewers how to play this quick dice
game.
Zombie Dice debuted in 2010 and is now in its third printing. Since then, the game
has sold over 65,000 copies. Zombie Dice 2 –Double Feature, the game’s
first expansion, shipped to stores in March. Zombie Dice is also available as a free
downloadable app.
For more about Zombie Dice, visit http://zombiedice.sjgames.com.So yeah, its exciting. Tabletop as a show is fun and is geared towards folks who likely would otherwise not be exposed to board games, which is a good thing since the games he has played to date have been modern day classics/top 10 list material for many who regularly play designer board games. Their first episode played Small World (a favorite of several contributors here at Fruitless Pursuits). It's exciting to see Zombie Dice get played because it's a straight up dice game with a zombie theme. You are the zombie and are trying to eat brains while avoiding shotgun blasts to the face. Don't believe me? Watch this video.
Braaaaaiiiiinnnnnsssss!
About Steve Jackson Games
Steve Jackson Games, based in Austin, Texas, has been publishing quality games, game books, and magazines since 1980. Its best-selling game is Munchkin, with well over 2 million games and supplements in print worldwide. Other top sellers are GURPS (the Generic Universal RolePlaying System), Zombie Dice, and Illuminati. Past hits have included Car Wars, Ogre, and Toon. The company news page, the Daily Illuminator, is the oldest continuously-running blog on the Internet. For more about Steve Jackson Games, visit www.sjgames.com
Zombie Dice is hardly amongst the best examples of dice games. Martian Dice at least is a far better version of the same idea. Not sure that TableTop's worth all the nerd buzz, the Settlers episode was as boring to watch as... well, watching a game of Settlers. I'm pretty patient but I ended up skipping the middle two quarters.
ReplyDeleteI much prefer the format of something like Shut Up and Sit Down, where they explain why the game is exciting (or not) in an entertaining way.
I have a feeling that the episode will be a series of short games that you can quickly learn and play, as opposed to just Zombie Dice. Also Martian Dice is currently between printings, which would make it extremely difficult for folks to run out and pick it up after watching.
DeleteRemember that this shows target audience isn't folks who've played the crap out the games they are playing. Folks who will be watching the show are folks who may never have played anything more complex than Stratego, let alone been exposed to these games.
More to my point. I've played Settlers so I know that it can be fun. I can't imagine anyone (who hasn't already played) watching that last episode thinking that it looks fun. Settlers is a good gateway game to sit down and play with somebody, but not to watch being played. Games like Small World, The Resistance, Shadows over Camelot, BSG would be far more entertaining and, I believe, enticing for non gamers.
ReplyDeleteAn episode of short games is a good idea though, hopefully that's what it is. i'm also intrigued to see how the RPG episodes play out.
I love this show so far, but totally agree that the Settlers of Catan episode was a bit boring. With the way the show is made, it can be the game itself, or the people playing it. The first episode was much better because you were more invested in the players and their progress. This one had a completely different feel and I still can't pinpoint where the problem was. Maybe it's because it's setup like a high stakes poker show, but there are no actual stakes?
DeleteYeah, that is a very fair point. Catan can be fun but the dynamics of the players were pretty crap. This episode will have Bonnie Burton, so that should definitely make it more fun.
DeleteHa, and I lied...no Bonnie Burton today. Don't know where I got that idea from. Wishful thinking? It was a fun episode
ReplyDeleteBonnie's episode is due sometime this summer. She's on an episode with the game Fiasco (which looks really interesting).
DeleteAs for today's episode.. it was great. The shorter games really worked, and it was a really fun group of players. It also made me really want to try out Tsuro.
I think I saw a picture that @wilw tweeted of the Fiasco book that had her name associated with it, and I guess I just assumed she'd be on this one. That'll definitely be a fun/different episode to watch.
DeleteYeah, definitely better this time around. I liked the look of Tsuro as well.
ReplyDeleteTsuro is a cool game, esp if you have 8 players going all at once. Well, every once in a while. You can't really make much tactical decisions with that many players on that small of a board, but there is a heck of a lot more player interaction as a result of it which makes for fun.
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