Category Archives: Class Review

Fiasco Part 1: A Reflection

Week one of Fiasco was interesting indeed! This is a role-playing game with not a lot of rules that you have to follow. It is pretty flexible and allows you to kind of structure the plot of the game however you want. I felt like our game went slow and there was not a whole lot of development. However, we also had tension within the pace of the game as the time went by pretty fast. I would contribute to us having fun as the phrase “time flies when you are having fun” really shows. The toughest part for me was that people created other names for their characters. This was an additional challenge as I was just learning everyone’s real names.

The last time I played a role-playing game was during the Pandemic. I attempted to play Dungeons and Dragons with my older brothers and some of their college friends; however, we were also playing virtually, I believe over Discord. This made the experience less enjoyable for me because it felt like I was playing mostly with people I did not know and I was physically separated from the group play. This distancing was difficult for me; therefore, Fiasco has been such a wonderful and improved experience so far.

We started playing Boomtown and got through the twist. We were not able to start Act 2 yet but were able to start planning. I think people had a lot of good ideas for the plot and storyline of the game. I felt like I was not able to get my ideas into action as much. Maybe I am a little too willing to let others control the scene. By the end of the story, I felt like I was going to be pinned for the “murder” my “cousin” and I was trying to get away with (this is in the specific context of our characters and character details).

I noticed how I was trying to be more sneaky and menacing in the game than I am in real life. I am a rule follower in real life, so the idea of even trying to pin a big event on someone else or just trying to divert attention from myself was more difficult. I also noticed that I laugh in different situations when I do not always know what emotional reaction I should have in that situation. Therefore, it became difficult to keep a straight face and serious demeanor during the story. This made it difficult to stay in character and achieve my desired outcome in certain events.

So far I have seen leadership come out with the cooperation of the group in creating the story and deciding what happens. I have also seen how some individuals have leadership qualities that take charge of the events that occur. I felt like my calm and patient approach to leading fell to the wayside and was not as effective in this fast-paced context with a limited amount of time to make things happen. This also came out when people decided if they would set the scene or if they would resolve the situation. This choice kind of helped shows how we all would approach different situations as leaders.

Overall, I am liking Fiasco so far. I am going to recommend this game to my brothers but more specifically the one in college who enjoys playing Dungeons and Dragons. I think he would have a fun time playing this game with some of his friends. I also think the role-playing game is something that people should experience or give a second chance to and experience again because it does highlight a lot about one’s personality and how they approach life as well as give individuals a chance to explore different scenarios they might not typically encounter.

Mysterium Reflection

The game we played in class was Mysterium. This has been my favorite game so far. I played as one of the psychics. I really enjoyed trying to figure out what the ghost was thinking about when they selected the vision cards. Often the things that stood out in the vision cards to me was not what they had intended to stand. This meant that I had the challenge of trying to think like the ghost. I think this game would be really fun with my family, as we all know each so well that I think it would be interesting to see if we can better understand what the ghost is trying to communicate.

There were two things I found to be the hardest parts of this game. One was since our group members did not know each other that well, it was hard for us to figure what the ghost was telling us. The other thing I found to be difficult was understanding the rules. For whatever reason, when I first read the rulebook, I was confused. However, after watching the video I found it to be easier to understand.

One of the leadership concepts that I feel this game exemplifies is “get off the dance floor and onto the balcony”. During the game, the ghost could not talk. This meant that once they handed out the vision cards, the outcome was out of their control. Once they stepped back after giving out the cards, they had to see if we choose what they meant for us to. If we did not they needed to re-evaluate how they were going about the situation and make changes for the next set of vision cards.

Forbidden Island Reflection

The game I played in class was Forbidden Island. I had never played a cooperative game before and thought it was really fun. I liked how it was not about competition, but rather team problem solving and brainstorming. It was fun to see how other players would go about navigating a situation. I think my family would really enjoy this game because it was fairly easy to learn. Additionally, some members of my family are more skillful at tabletop games than others and since this is a cooperative game it would allow for there to not be an unfair advantage.

The hardest part of this game was once the water level started to rise. At this point you had to decide which island tiles were worth saving and which one you could go without if need be. It took a lot of foresight to think about how you would make a path to the treasures you still needed and how to get all the players to Fools’ Landing at the end. It was also hard to figure out how to get all four of the treasure cards into one person’s hand, especially because you couldn’t have more than 5 cards at one time. It felt like a logic puzzle at times.

One leadership concept that this game relates to is challenging the process. All the members of my group were open to receiving suggestions from the others. If we felt that there was a better way to solve a problem, we were all open to changing our method. This allowed us to be able to accomplish the goal of the game.

Ultimate Werewolf Reflection

In class we played the game Ultimate Werewolf, and my role was as a villager. I really liked this game for a few reasons. One of them was because even when you got out of the game it was still very engaging. This is because once you were out, you got to keep your eyes open the entire time. This allowed for you to observe what was going on during the night phase of the game and got to see how actions other players made affected the game. Additionally, I liked how for the first class it involved the whole class in one game. This made it easier to meet people in the class. I that this would be a good game to play with tweens and teens in a camp setting. I think they would enjoy it more than mafia, which is a popular camp game because there are more roles, and it is more complex.

I would say the hardest part of the game for me was understanding all the different roles and remembering them all. I had only played Ultimate Werewolf once before this class. It was with a very big group at a League of Geeks event and since I did not know what I was doing and I was a villager, I did not participate very much. However, in class I felt more inclined to participate since it was a smaller group. That meant I really needed to understand the roles in the game.

One of the ties this game had to leadership was through the leadership principle of enabling others to act. During the day phase in Ultimate Werewolf, the village votes on one person who they think might be a werewolf. If someone strongly suspects a person to be a werewolf, they must get the majority of players to also vote on this person. This means that they must foster collaboration and build trust with the other players to convince them that they are not a werewolf.

Mysterium: A Class Reflection

This week in Tabletop Games and Leadership, we played Mysterium. I had never played Mysterium before. However, I found it to remind me of Clue and Dixit. Both of which are games I have played before. I really enjoyed this game and think I will be buying it as a Christmas gift for at least one if not both of my brothers.

I sat down at the start of class at the first spot left of the ghost. At first, I was not doing so well. I was the last to guess my room and make it to the weapons step of the “7 hours” stage. However, we collaborated well and all made it to the end area before the last round. The cards I had were the mechanic person, the blue attic with the dress in the corner, and the hammer.

We discussed living and leading as if it is “Day 1” every day. This was interesting to me because as a Student Orientation Undergraduate Leader (SOUL) this past summer, we worked as if every day was a day one because for the incoming students it was. I also have seen this in my outlook on life. I had written in a gratitude journal every day for about three years, give or take some time. This helped me see the positive in things as I lived my life. I still think I am a positive person and look at more negative events as opportunities to learn and grow.

This came into the game as we had to assist each other in reaching the end before we ran out of “hours” on the clock. For example, it took me three turns to guess the room that I needed to, instead of shutting down and thinking the worst, I learned. I knew which rooms were not mine and I recognized that I would still have enough turns to figure out the weapon as well. This helped me remain calm. 

We discussed how you will not have a good day everyday, but living in this “Day 1” mentality does not mean you will. It is more about how you approach the situation as a whole. This applies to leadership because how you approach the work you do sets a tone for the team and can impact the team for better or worse. Having this specific mentality allows you to maintain a more positive outlook and perspective on whatever you are doing. This can help keep yourself and others motivated even on the hardest days, which is very important.

The hardest part of the in class game was knowing how to interpret the clues given by the ghost. I am sure it was hard from the ghost’s side as well. Because we are all still acquaintances and do not completely understand each other’s personalities or the way we think, it was difficult to always know what we should look at in terms of card details. Once we started getting the hang of how the game worked it went pretty smoothly.

Our group did well communicating and helping each other decipher clues. This helped us overcome the initial struggles with finding the hidden messages within the ghost’s clues. Overall, I would play this game and I would also recommend it to others. I look forward to playing this with my family eventually: I guess I will get a turn as the ghost.

Pandemic: A Class Reflection

In class today, we had the choice to play Pandemic or Forbidden Island. I have played Pandemic before and am the cousin to Forbidden Island, Forbidden Desert. When I arrived, the Pandemic was the game that stood out to me. This is a cooperative game where the team wins together or loses together. Key word: together. At the end of the class, we discussed different areas of leadership like seeing the bigger picture, leading by example, initiating conflict, thinking of all the possible outcomes, encouraging the team, sharing a common goal, and more.


These leadership concepts were very important to the game as they all contribute to how a group, organization, or team functions, hopefully in an effective way. When I play with my family I feel like I have a completely different function on the team than when I played in class. Because of this, I considered how my own experience and leadership impacted the game. I tried to lead by example but I also provided input which hopefully did not seem like I was too controlling. I probably could have improved in encouraging the team as we went but I do think they all did a good job contributing to our efforts.

We were able to play through the game twice and start the third game of Pandemic as well. I had a good feeling about the last game because we were all more comfortable and confident with the game. I felt like this led to more contribution and shared leadership overall. We also all had a better understanding of the process. Unfortunately, we lost the first two games. We lost when we ran out of black disease cubes during the first game. During the second game, we lost when we were no longer able to draw playing cards. This helped us learn the game as well as each other personalities and styles when it came to the cooperative format.

I disliked being the most comfortable with the game to start because I felt like I was overbearing at times, but this can also be helpful for others when they are just learning for the first time (I have been in that situation before). I did like how our teamwork improved every game we played. I also think we each paid attention to ways we could improve our gaming strategy as a whole.

I felt like this connected to the ideas we discussed in the class of how an organization may have either an executive team or a leadership team. The way this difference was described from our instructor’s perspective was intriguing to me. I felt as though our first round was built with more of an executive team or top individuals who took on the most work or ran things with more control. However, I feel like we transitioned to a leadership team as we all got more confident and were able to bounce ideas off of each other.

I like cooperative leadership teams better. In teams with executive boards, a small group of people controlling everything and seemingly doing the most, I either feel like I am not contributing enough or that I am overpowering the opinions of others in the group. By our third game, we had figured out how our personalities worked together to improve our success in the board game Pandemic.

Ultimate Werewolf: A Class Reflection

It is the first week of class and we play Ultimate Werewolf. Coming into this class time I had played Werewolf before, but mostly with extended family. This time was different as some individuals had never played and others were experts by comparison. We had not met before and that was another challenge to overcome as we did not necessarily understand each other’s personalities. In this game, we talked about being the first follower. The first person to start something will get all the credit, but without the first follower, it will go nowhere.

Our game consisted of many different roles including the Werewolves, Wolf Cub, Bodyguard, Minion, Cupid, Sorcerer, and more. I was the minion and was tasked with trying to protect the werewolves. For context, this session had the two linked by cupid voted out first, the bodyguard who became a spokesperson and leader in the group, and a werewolf who latched onto the bodyguard and became the first follower for a lot of the decisions, and some individuals who used logic to make decisions but were killed off anyway.

The bodyguard decided to announce themself early on which could have been either beneficial or detrimental to the game depending on the truth of the statement. There was some logic pointing to him as a werewolf that I quite agreed with, and by being the Minion I knew it would not hurt to vote out a strong player and personality like them. Boy was I wrong! The second I cast my vote for the bodyguard, another individual cast their vote on me. This is the moment I realized I had saved the bodyguard and put them in good standing.

If I had pointed to a werewolf I could have diverted attention and made them look innocent as I got voted off, but instead, I made the bodyguard seem even better if that’s possible. I got voted off as the first follower and then another and then another all cast their votes for me. I was killed off and saved someone else in the process too bad it was not a werewolf.

In the end, the villagers won as a werewolf sacrificed themself for no apparent reason. Another werewolf had been killed off already in the night as someone had used a once-a-game ability. And the last werewolf, the most vocal, got caught in a lie as they mixed up stories they had told. However, throughout the game, I saw leadership in action as people were vocal and others would follow gathering more and more votes until the majority was had and someone was out.

Seeing this leadership and first-follower concept in action was both amazing and scary. It was challenging to figure out how to get the first follower on your side and not be the target of the majority. This is where I struggled and what ultimately led to my demise. The challenging part of the majority decision had voted me out which was good from the perspective of the villagers. However, it could also very well be used negatively as well.

I think this game is one where some may feel more comfortable taking risks when they know the people and personalities they are playing with better. I would recommend Ultimate Werewolf to large groups of people like this class, extended family, or a corridor of students in a resident hall. It shows leadership from different perspectives and is also an interesting bonding experience and get-to-know-you activity that could be utilized more often.

My Brief Mind-Boggling Memoir ‘Bout Mental Blocks

This week, I returned to the cooperative genre of board games with the game Mental Blocks. A group of 2 to 9 players (we played with 6) each has a card that only they can see showing either a sideview of colored blocks or a black-and-white view of a corner of a structure, then they must use foam blocks to build a structure that satisfies all the images that the players have. The rounds are limited by time, which was 9 minutes for 6 players, but after a couple failed rounds, our group simply tried to succeed AT ALL. Once we figured out a good strategy, we managed to start solving puzzles in under a minute. Luckily, the game includes ways to change the difficulty of the puzzles. In addition to a set of “Challenging” puzzles, there are restriction and glitch cards that give players additional rules, such as being unable to speak or touch foam blocks of a certain size, shape, or color. By the time class concluded, we had found a difficulty that worked well for us (around a 50% win rate).

The hardest part, by far, was trying to build what was on your card while not ruining what somebody else had built or needed to build. In one instance, another player and I both had blue blocks on our cards but another had zero blue, so we were trying to build this structure in a way that showed blue but also hid it from a single side. Another time, I swore a shape looked one way on my card but everybody else knew it couldn’t physically be shaped like I said. In our efforts to complete our objective right, we had to slow down and build the shape together or we would build something that couldn’t be correct and refuse to let others touch it.

Thinking about that in terms of leadership, one could say the exact same thing about projects where everybody has different interpretations of the same goal. 5 different people could be united under the same cause, but because they are 5 minds who each have their own vision of how that goal will be achieved, they are also 5 people competing to realize their individual dream. A great leader is somebody who includes everybody’s perspectives, crafting a plan that unites everybody’s ideas rather then letting them be until they inevitably butt heads.

I believe my brother would very much like playing Mental Blocks. He and I have fantastic communication and love playing games together that challenge that. Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, Overcooked, and so on. Since the game does work with a minimum of 2 players, I’d like to see how he and I fair against the game’s challenges and glitches. Mental Blocks is a very simply premise, but it turns out to be a really cognitively challenging game that I highly recommend.

Free Play: Lazers and Feelings

Last week, we had the option of choosing a game to play. The group I joined was playing Lazers and Feelings, a quickstart SciFi RPG all about using your laser or your feelings to solve all of our problems. I decided it would be fun to play the ship’s engineer, an android named distribution android model R-3 class Double L or D.A.R.3.L.L for short. Darell had a 5 in lasers which meant he was an expert in all things technology and logic. Lasers and Feelings only as one stat which determines how you can interact with the world. If you have a high Laser score like D.A.R.3.L.L, then you want to roll a 5 or lower on a d6 for your action to be successful. The opposite goes for Feelings, in which you would want to roll above your chosen number. The hardest e part about playing Lasers and Feelings was remembering that if you rolled your chosen number (5 for D.A.R.3.L.L), you got to ask the Storyteller one question about the situation.

After the unfortunate comatose state of our former captain, the crew picked up on a distress beacon from a derelict ship. We found no life signs aboard and decided to board through an airlock. I powered up the ship to reveal a bloody mess. The crew appeared to have been massacred by an assailant known to them. We decided it would be a good move to secure the armory to gear up against the threat. While looting the armory for everything we could, the assailant hailed us from the bridge. We negotiated a parlay and prepared for the worst. It turned out that an android spy worked its way on board and was trying to turn the ship into a planet killer. Thanks to our new weapons, we quickly turned the machine into scrap and blew up the ship ourselves.

Lasers and Feelings really shine in its light mechanics. Having only a single number determine how good you are in two opposite fields is a really cool way to build roleplay into the mechanics. Since my character was amazing at mechanics, I found it really fun to roll for feelings hoping that I would get a 6. My weird robot brain would understand humanity a little bit better with each successful roll. Quickstart RPGs like this one are great microcosms for leadership. Each of our characters had the opportunity to guide the crew’s choices and how we handled different situations. Our robot doctor would assess corpses, I would take any engineering concerns. Our security officer and explorer would guide us through the ship, and our science officer would keep us all sane. It was a great experience, and I recommend it to everyone.

Game of the Week Blog Reflection 12: Free Play

This week is a free play week, and I played Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege with my classmate Leon, this game is a 5 vs 5 FPS game, there are offense side and defense side, and there are lots of characters with unique skills on each side, each player can choose which character they want to use for this round before the game begin. Leon was very good at this game; his rank was at least at Diamond. During the class time, we played two games and he carried our team a lot, so we win both two games.

I think I like this game very much, because my favorite game CSGO is also a 5 vs 5 FPS game, so there are many similar parts between these 2 games, they are both competitive and required a lot of communications. However, the map in R6 is much more different than in CSGO. In CSGO, the buildings are not destroyable which means that enemies cannot make a hole on the wall and watch your team’s moving direction. In R6, you can even destroy a whole wall make the map totally different. So, I think the hardest point is the same as playing CSGO, it needs a long time to learn, otherwise, you will never be a good player in R6.

For the leadership part of R6, I think it is very important to communicate with each other. If at team has no communication, but the other team has, then the game will be like 1 vs 5 but not 5 vs 5, which means the team without communication would have a very high probability to lose. So, I think communication is the most important thing in this game, it will make 5 players a team, but not five individual players.

I think all of my friends who play CSGO with me will also like this game, because they are very similar games except the map.