On Lawns and Lustrous Prismnecks

Doesn't it always seem like definitions become useless as soon as you write them down? That's the thought running through my head right now. Yesterday I was thinking about what tonight's article should be about. I knew I wanted it to be something discussing the games I played this week. I like the idea of having that as a running column. But as I went over the list, I couldn't find anything I really wanted to write about: Monday I played Risk Legacy, but I've already got an article about that in the pipeline; Tuesday I participated in an Android: Netrunner tournament (placed fifth) but my relationship with that game is too complex to write about in so little time; Friday I played Bluff and We Didn't Playtest This: Legacies, but neither struck me as article-worthy and I lost at both and I'm a sore loser.

Then I remembered two games that really did make an impression on me. First was Kubb, a lawn game about throwing sticks to knock over other sticks. The second was Spaceteam, a multiplayer Android and iOS game about shouting technobabble like the bridge crew on Star Trek. Both were really interesting and I felt that I could write something worthwhile about each of them.

 However, writing about the games presented a problem: neither fit the definition of tabletop games that I had set out for myself on Tuesday. Remember, I stated that “A tabletop game is any game with primarily physical components and an emphasis on mental skill.” Uh oh. Only four days had passed and I was already drifting away from the stated goal of this blog. But I decided that rather than ignore the effect these games had on me, I should look at how they fly in the face of my assumptions about tabletop gaming.