A Fast Game is a Good Game: 2023: the Year in Reviews

Wednesday, 27 December 2023

2023: the Year in Reviews

I’ve been writing A Fast Game for nearly eleven months now. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, it started as a journal of my 6x6 self-challenge progress, but has since grown into its own beast, something between therapy and self-indulgence. The original plan was to play six games, six times each, reporting on the individual games and adding any pertinent thoughts, then write a considered review of each game after playing through the six games. But, as the Styx song says, “Nothing Ever goes as planned / It’s a hell of a notion / Even Pharaohs turn to sand / Like a drop in the ocean.”

My 6x6 Challenge hasn’t panned out as I’d envisaged. It seems 36 games in 49 weeks (I didn’t start until well into January) wasn’t the eminently doable task I thought it would be. Near the end of the year, I’ve completed two sets of six games, and reviewed them both. I'll be posting a full breakdown of my 6x6 efforts and where to from here in a couple of days. Watch this space.

But I did play a lot more games than I have in recent years, and some of those, I played often enough times to feel comfortable writing about them. In all, I wrote twelve full game reviews over the last ten months or so, and shared initial thoughts and impressions about maybe two dozen more. It’s something I’ve enjoyed doing, and according to the statistics, the reviews are the most-read posts on the blog.

So, as a community service to anyone who missed one they'd really like to read, here is a set of links to the reviews I’ve posted this year. Next year I’m aiming for twenty, but we’ll see – things don’t always work out the way they’re planned.