Author Archives: guoy24

Reflection: Free Play Week 2

This week’s game play was a free play and my group chose to play Co-opoly: The Game of Co-operatives. For the first time, we are all running out of the idea of games, so I search online and find out Co-opoly might be a fun game to play in the class. Co-opoly is a creative and interesting game that is the opposite of Monopoly. And requires teamwork, solidarity, and collaboration for everybody to win otherwise everybody loses. And all players are on the same team and work together to start a cooperative business or organization and compete against the Point Bank. The main reason I chose to play this game is it teaches us how important cooperative is.

The overall process of the game is run smoothly, and we also take some time to understand the rules. But the main thing to remember is how to build and sustain cooperation. Each player has a character sheet at the beginning and shares who we are, and once we are done, we take starting points as labeled on the sheet from the Point Bank. And we rolling the dice to move and pick corresponding card, there are four types of cards including world cards and challenge cards. The hardest part about the game is the challenge card because we always need to make tough choices and put our teamwork to the test. So the overall process is exciting and trembling. 

The Co-opoly is related to leadership since the most important thing in a group is teamwork and cooperation. And we made a decision is related to team members, not just ourselves. Because when you lose, the whole team will lose, when you win, the team also win. It also teaches me I need to make a choice carefully, the team is most important. If I played this game again, I would invite my parents to play. Since the game is also related to real life, and play together instead of competing against each other, group thinking and collaboration is most important. Overall, the game is worth playing.   

Reflection 6: Ladies & Gentlemen

This week we played Ladies & Gentlemen and when I finished the rules video, my first impression was gender is so important in this game. It is laughing gender stereotypes, that men need to making money in a very daft and flippant way, and ladies are obsessed with fashion and ladies used the money man made to buy beautiful dress, shoes, earrings. I think it is the most traditional stereotype toward gender, therefore I do not agree with this view. Because ladies can be obsessed with fashion but also be independent and make money on our own. But it is also the reality and to see how ancestors used to be, so in one way, the game would also be fun.
And we are using tabletop simulator to play Ladies & Gentlemen, we have half the people playing as ladies, and half the people playing as gentlemen. The tabletop simulator makes the process of the game became little difficult, with moving the cards simultaneously. I am being a ladies role in the game, and I think I have a far tougher but interesting job each of us runs a boutique shop, and every day we can choose what we want to put in the window. Beautiful clothes, lovely caves handbags, and other accessories rings, and servants. And I also can choose where I’d like to go shopping and purchase goods and hand cards to gentlemen. In a hope that they will but me something nice and lovely. The overall process is interesting, and ladies & gentlemen all have different roles in the game. It also related to leadership, since ladies can also be powerful and making our own money, and be independent. When we talked about leadership, not just think about men, but women also account for a big part in it. Ladies can also be the leader in a team, and gentlemen can be supportive, have an equal relationship in a team.
I would like to play this game with my cousin. He is younger than me, and I want him to take the gentlemen’s role, be supportive to ladies. And I think the game can teach him the basic values is to support ladies, but not the stereotypes. I will clarify the stereotypes at the beginning of the game.

Week 3 – D&D

This week we had a chance to continue played D&D from what we left last week. The overall process still running very well, since for two weeks practices I am very familiar with the rules and my spells. And I have a better experience with D&D since I have a better understanding of my strength and weakness. For example, I am a noble elf, my weakness is my strength and charisma. And my strength is intelligence and wisdom, so I can contribute my strength to my team, and my team members can cover my weakness. Since I am good at long range attack with the spells thunderclaps and fireball, and my team members are good at close attack with sword. So we can work very well as a team, use our strengths and hide our weakness. It gives us a chance to explore a new town, which we did not have a chance to do it last times. 

       But it also brings the hardest part toward the game I think since it is a new place, and we needs to make a lots of decision. Since it is a new experience for us in the town, but in the town, it had a lots places. For example, tavern, inn, smithy, apothecary, market, office, bank. And we needs to make a lots of decisions based on the situation we had and it is difficult to me. Because when I am in a team, I am not good at making decision, I tend to listen to the decision of others and obey or give my own opinions. But I am really not good at making decision, making a decision needs great responsibility. As a team leader, it needs great responsibility to take care the team but also make decision.      

  I would like to play D&D with my roommates because I think it is really have a lot of fun and she will enjoy it. In this time, I will be the leader to take care of her and told her the rules and spells she needs. The overall process will by enjoyable and we will have a lots of fun.      

D&D Week 2

This week, we continue to play D&D from what we left last week. I thought this week the process went much more smoother and exciting than last week. Since most of our group members are very familiar with the rules and spells now. For me, I think I have a better experience with D&D compare with last week. Because I have a better understanding of my spells as well as my strength and weakness. For example, I have spells called thunderclap and fireball which can hit the Goblin. I think the most interesting part about the game is once I used my spell magic missile defeat two of the goblin, I cannot succeed on my own. It is an outcome of group work, if my group member does not help me defeat the goblin for the first time, I can not succeed easily. Also, in the first round, I hit by a Gobelin and my health only remain for one point, so I hold my turn and my group members replace me and go first. It demonstrates teamwork, if we only rely on ourselves it is impossible to reach the final victory. So it is really helpful to have group members to play together.

The hardest part about the game I think is to decide to use which of the spell can hit the Gobelin but also protect myself and my team to be safe. So it is really important to roll the dice which can avoid the damage, this also has the element of luck. But my spells also depends on my character’s level. If I have a higher level, my spell can also cause more damage. Sometimes, I want to hit the goblin but my dice is smaller than the goblin, I will suffer the damage. So it is also the right time and right place to use the spell.

I would like to play D&D with my cousin because she is good at playing games like D&D. I think she will be very familiar with the rules and spells and she will be a good leader of the game, so I am looking forward to playing with her. I think the overall session of this week is going really good since we had successfully defeated the goblin.     

D&D Week 1

It is our first day play D&D and also my first time play D&D. I think the overall experience toward the first week D&D is went well. Because we have a leader who is the expert of the game came to our group and help us get started. For me, the hardest part about the game is to understand the rules and what kind of skills my character have and what is the right time to use it. Also, D&D is driven by imagination, it is open to us to determine the consequences of the adventures’ action. Each of plays roll a strange dice to resolve whether their attacks hit or miss or whether their adventures can scale a cliff, roll away from the strike of a magical thunder clap. I think the leader of our group also takes the role of the Dungeon Master, the game’s lead storyteller and referee. The DM creates adventures for us as the characters also roll the dice to decide which paths to explore. I think he really helps a lot and lead us to defend the enemy, so I really like this part of the game.    

At the first place, the rules and my character creation sheet really confused me a lot, I will lose track and do not know what I should do. For example, I am an elf, I need to understand what is my strength and what is my weakness. And since I only have one spell which is thunder clap, I also needs to consider when is the perfect to use it and hit the enemy. But as the each run pass, I start to understand what I should do is combine my intelligence and dexterity these two advantages together cooperate with my group member to defend the enemy.

And throughout the game I also realized that each time we faced an enemy, the DM ask us to choose which role you want to be in a team. Like be in front, directly faced the enemy or at the middle protect other characters, or at the back to support other characters. The decision in this part is very important to make because I think it is like we work in a group, and we should understand what we good at and choose the right place to actually works best here. I think the best place for me as a elf is in the back to support other characters who are good at fighting. This game I would enjoy playing with my roommates since we have different characteristic so our character will be different and it is really fun to play it.      

Free Play

This week we are free to play the game we want, and our group decided to play Incan Gold which we left and have no time to play it last week. I think it is very flexible that we can choose what we want to play. Luckily our group members are all first time playing with it but all now the rules. Incan gold is a very fun game to play in which each player pushes their luck as we head into the ruined temple and our goal is to find the most jewels. Each turn, a card is turned over which shows that increases the gold found in a temple or shows a hazard. Hazard cards like fire, snack, mummy, giant spider are what we want to avoid when we played. Because when the hazard card comes up more than twice, the disaster will occur and the round ends. All the jewels of players who have not returned to the camp are recovered. I think it is the riskiest part of the game. Every time when we want to explore new territory, more gems and dangers appear. If we choose to leave, those who remain in the temple may acquire a bigger share of jewels. 

Overall, the process of playing Incan Gold is very smooth because every group members have a chance to be the ultimate explorer and the winner with the most treasure. So it is very critical to decided when to stop since the hazard card will take out all you have acquired. It is related to me when I make some critical decisions, I will consider the consequence and then weigh the pros and cons when I made the decision. But usually, I am a very cautious person not willing to take any risk, and it is reflected in the Incan Gold. It is also tied to leadership since a good leader needs to make the decision based on the information we have. And the leader needs to consider the impact of the decision on the entire organization, so the balance of risk and safety is very important. 

Finally, I will definitely recommend this game to my family members, I think my parents would like to play Incan Gold and we will have a very exciting play process. The game is accessible, and a very high fun factor as a result of the press-your-luck element and simultaneous selection mechanic. And it keeps fun for everyone.     

Incan Gold and Can’t Stop

This week we played Incan Gold and Can’t Stop. We first started with the game Can’t Stop and we just can’t stop to play it. The game is like have a magic let us really Can’t Stop, the game is very interactive, addictive and so easy to understand so we all really enjoy playing it. I don’t think both of the game are hard or difficult to play but I think the most interesting one is Can’t Stop.

After the first round of the game Can’t Stop, everyone in our groups understands the rules and fully enjoy it. When one of our member is close to win, we will gives him hints and encourage him not to stop keep going with it. Since at the beginning of the game, the pieces are placed randomly, but once put all three pieces on the board, we will needs to consider to keep going or we should stop. And as the game processes, we found out the numbers that add up to 6,7, and 8 have the greatest probability but they also need more steps to get to the top. If we play our pieces in one of these three ways, we needs to take more shots. But if I am in path like 2 or 12, I better to hold on to my strength and hope I can have 2 or 12 next time. So it is really important to understand the strategy behind the game Can’t Stop, because it will not only make you win the game but also understand what kind of approach I would use in risk management. 

Since the game Can’t Stop is a risk management game and it can reflect my approach toward risk. Personally, I am a very cautious people, no matter how close I am to the top, I will choose to stop when I feel risk. But the disadvantage about that is I will lost the chance to win, it happened few times when we played the game. If you are too cautious, other people who willing to take risk might win. It is similar with what I approach in leadership, I am not willing to take risk. So I need a balance between risk taking and safety. 

We are having so much fun with the game Can’t Stop, so I am definitely recommended my roommates to play with me. And we will be really competitive and Can’t Stop the game.    

Fiasco Week 2

This week we played the second part of Fiasco and we only have time to complete Act Two of the game. After the relationships, objects, needs, and locations are defined, our group then takes a turn in part two of Fiasco. I feel like it is like a shared narrative game because I and my group members are taking turns narrating the story. And our story needs to working with our relationships among the other characters, and the needs, objects, and locations they share. The most special thing I think about Fiasco is that the characters do not have any skills, superpower, just a relationship with other people. So creativity and imagination are very important.

For me, I think in Act One, we come up with some crazy plan. For example, I am a helicopter pilot and I and my drinking buddies were drinking beers while flying the helicopter but since we are drunk, the helicopter was crashed on an ice-breaker. And the outcome of the scene is represented by the dies, which is taken from the pool of dice established at the start of play. Therefore, this adds a lot of fun to the game. As far as we going to Act Two, I think the overall experience is very pleasant and interesting, and we come up with a conclusion about the game. If our storyline can be set to a movie, we will all buy the tickets to watch.


I think the hardest part for me is it is my first time to play a board game like Fiasco, I will feel a bit of anxiety in the sheer openness of the storytelling. But the good part is that anxiety goes away quickly and in a few scenes, it feels natural. So I want to play Fiasco with my cousin because she is very creative and I will not nervous in front of her. I think the second part of Fiasco ties into leadership since at the beginning, no one wants to be the first one to create a story, but one of our team members was brave enough to talk and lead us to take part in the game. I think without a leader, we will not enjoy Fiasco as much as right now.

Fiasco Week 1 Reflection

This week we played the first part of Fiasco and we only have time to complete the first section which is roll dice and select relationship with other players. The special part of Fiasco is that it is a storytelling board game and it also requires some creativity. Since we need to set up a relationship, need, object or location with neighbor, Fiasco gives us large extent of freedom to play. It is also a roll player game but different with the last one, we can choose our character and then create our own story which is very entertaining.

For me, I think the first part of Fiasco is easier to getting start because we only need 4 players and six-sided dice. The first impression that Fiasco brings to me that it is like a preview of a drama or a movie but it is our own responsibility to create the script. So I think it is easier to play compare with Roll Player because we do not need a lot of processes to do on table simulator. The thing we should do is roll the dice and decide and create our story.

With the freedom of setting, our team had a pleasant discussion time, each of us chooses the favorite character and relationship. For example, I choose to be a drinking buddy with my neighbor. However, it doesn’t happen in real life, because I don’t drink. With the platform in Fiasco, I can imagine a different life experience and it is very funny. I do not think our team has a difficult part about the first part of Fiasco, since our process is very smooth and I like the idea of freedom of creation. So I would definitely recommend my friends back in China to play Fiasco.

Lastly, the most important takeaway from the first part of Fiasco is we all need to respect other people’s like or dislike. It is essential when we discuss leadership because respect people’s idea, do not force people to accept thing which is not aligned with their personal value it is indispensable when we create a pleasant discussion environment. Also, a good leader should always consider freedom of creation, let the team member create a surprising result.

Roll Player

I am very happy that we can play board games together. Because I think it is a good way to meet some new friends, since play board games is relax but also needs to focus on the process of the games. For me, I really enjoy playing Monopoly, UNO, Jenga with my friends at Friday night. 

It is the first time I play the game Roll Player through Tabletopia. It is different than what I think of a board games, so it took me a lot of time to figure out the rules and the process of how to play the game. In my perspective, I think the game is very difficult to follow and understand at the first time because it is a lot to keep track of. However, after the first round, I can gradually follow the rules and work with my team member. Because my team member are so great and they teach me how to play at the first round. I didn’t understand at the beginning, but I found a lot of interesting later. So I will recommend Roll Player to my friends, and play with them through Internet. The games ends so quickly, before we have the final winner of the game, but I love playing it with my team member. 

Finally, for the first time used Tabletopia, it is easy to follow, but the Roll Player game is difficult to keep track of. And you need to understand and choose who you are, and then you can help other people. I was very lucky our group members are familiar with the game, and they help me go through the first round, and then I found that it is interesting to play board games online. Otherwise, without the leader in our group help me, I will lose the confidence to play board games online. So I think the first game we played is very interesting, I am looking forward to the rest of the semester to play more board game together.