Steam] PC board games for fun at home!

How are you doing, Akiba Research Institute readers? This is Nero Hyakkabe, a writer who buys too many games. I'd like to ask you, do you like board games? I used to buy board games, or "bodoge," in Akihabara and go to a friend's house to have a regular "all-night analog bodoge session.

So this time, I would like to introduce a board game on Steam that you can play online and have a lot of fun while staying at home!

• Item
• Gremlins, Inc.", a board game with an addictive rawness
• 100% Orange Juice," a backgammon game with a relaxed, kawaii style of battle
• Heart of Crown PC", a deck-growing card game

Gremlins, Inc. "

• Manufacturer: Charlie Oscar Lima Tango Interactive Entertainment
• Release date: March 11, 2016
• Price: 1,680 yen (as of May 24, 2020)

When it comes to a classic board game that everyone enjoys playing together, you can't go wrong with SUZOKU. Many consumer games such as "Momotaro Dentetsu" (Momotetsu), "Itadaki Street" (Itadashi Street), and "Mario Party" have been released, and many people have probably played some of these games. I am sure that many of you have played some of these games.

Gremlins, Inc." is a backgammon board game that can be played by everyone, and can be called a classic on Steam.

(C) 2016 Charlie Oscar Lima Tango Interactive Entertainment

Gremlins, Inc. is a board game set in a steampunk world where gremlins fight each other. Gremlins are legendary monsters, similar to goblins in appearance, that play tricks on machines, and there was once a movie of the same name. The gremlins in "Gremlins, Inc." are all depicted with a very human touch, which makes you think, "There are old men like this .......

What do these human-looking gremlins fight for on the board? How graphic!　But this is just the setting of the story. What they actually collect in the game is called "score," or points for victory. In "Momotetsu" and "Ita-Sto," money is directly related to winning, but in this game, money is used to pay for the cost of using cards or as wiro.

...... Now that's some disturbing language, isn't it?
Yes, I will explain that later.

The board of this game is like Monopoly, where you go around a map in a circle.

However, the means of movement are not dice. In this game, the cards dealt in your hand are numbered, and you use the cards to move around. However, each card also has an action effect, such as scoring points or blocking other players, so the player must choose whether to use the card for movement or to save it for an action.

You may think, "Why don't I just use the cards I want to use right away instead of saving them? But, however, all the cards have a specific number of usable squares, so if you want to use a card, you have to move it to the designated square. This game has a very good balance in this area, and each time you draw a new card, you will have to think hard to update your strategy.

The squares are an important factor in backgammon board games. Let us introduce you to the main squares in this game.

The "income squares" where you can earn money and the "misfortune squares" where negative events occur are standard squares that are indispensable in board games. Negative events in this work are scattered, such as losing money, increasing the negative status of "malice," or getting arrested. ...... Yes, in this game, you can get arrested.

In the "police cell," when you stop, you are forced to roll the dice, and if you roll a 1, you are arrested and sent to the "prison cell. However, if you pay money as a wairo, you can escape the dice roll. Hell, you can even pay money to avoid the dice rolls at ......!

Prison cells are "rest cells" where you can't leave until the end of the turn you have been sentenced to. But it is more than just a rest. In prison, you can choose to have a bad, good, or neutral attitude toward the guards while serving your sentence, and a good attitude will increase your chances of getting your sentence reduced. ...... is kind of graphic!

By the way, if you have a bad attitude, you can hasten the increase of your "prison rank" instead of possibly extending your sentence. When your prison rank goes up, you can earn the "score" needed to win just by being in prison!　I guess you can imagine that if you have a bad attitude and become an untouchable prisoner, you can gain fame like "that guy is really bad ......". This is a somewhat strange and graphic ......!

The "wai-lo-mas" are negative event squares that you have to pay for each time you pass them. However, if you rake up "votes" with cards and squares and win an "election" held every 20 rounds to become governor, you no longer have to pay the wairo.

Moreover, you can also take away the wairo paid by other players.

And what's more, you can no longer be arrested by the police. The power of the governor is awesome. ......

The game has an interesting, graphic, black flavor, with police, prisons, bribes, and elections, but the best part is the battles that break out when you stop on squares occupied by other players. The content of the game is really quite simple and straightforward. Each player offers an amount of money to the other, as in an auction, and the one who offers the highest amount wins. The winner loses money, and the loser does not lose money but is arrested and sent to jail!　The winner loses money, and the loser does not lose money, but is arrested and sent to jail!

Compared to board games such as "Momotetsu" and "Ita-Sto," this title has more obstruction elements and negative-effect squares, making it a fun, aggressive game in which players drag others down and take great pleasure in others' misfortune.

Although the rules of this game seem a little complicated with its many types of cards and squares, the game is much easier to play than you might imagine, as you can check the descriptions of the squares and cards by hovering the cursor over them at any time during the game. In an analog board game, you would have to stop playing every now and then and look up the rules in the rulebook, but being able to quickly check the rules with the cursor is a true advantage of a digital board game.

Of course, you can play this game with your Steam friends, so please enjoy pulling each other's legs with your good friends. Just don't ruin the friendship!

100% Orange Juice "

• Manufacturer: Fruitbat Factory
• Release date: September 10, 2013
• Price: 698 yen (as of May 24, 2020)

It is said that the balance between luck and strategy determines the fun of a game, but it is also interesting to play a game where luck is more important, as if you are testing some unfathomable ability that lies dormant inside you.

The game "100% Orange Juice" introduced here is a game in which strategy is a factor, but luck is more the key.

(C) 2013 Fruitbat Factory, Ltd.

This is a backgammon board game for 4 players. First of all, the cute and loose illustrations are sure to catch the eye. This game is the work of a Japanese doujin circle called "Orange Juice," and the characters of "Orange Juice" gather together to play backgammon battles.

The visuals are somewhat reminiscent of late-night anime, and although it is my guess, I am sure that Akiba Research Institute users will find something appealing!　I am one of those who fell in love with the characters as soon as I played the game.

The victory condition in this game is to clear the set quota, raise the quota level, and reach level 6 before anyone else.

Players can choose whether to "collect stars" or "increase the number of battle victories" for each quota level. Stars are earned by stopping at certain squares or by winning battles against other players.


Battle victories are earned by winning battles with other players or monsters that appear in the field. This "battle" is one of the key elements of the game.

In battles, players reduce each other's HP by rolling dice.

The first attacker rolls the attack die, and the defender rolls a die, choosing to defend or evade.

In the case of evasion, the damage can hopefully be reduced to zero, but there is a risk of taking full damage if the player fails.
Also, as in an RPG, both characters and monsters have their own stats, such as attack and defense, which are added to the roll of the dice as a compensation.

In any case, the roll of the dice is important for winning the battle. In a real board game, you would be throwing the dice with all your might.

Another important feature of this game is that it has cards.

When you think of cards in a backgammon board game, you tend to think of Momotetsu, but this game has a deck-building system in which you select 10 cards from your deck and bring them into the game.

However, these 10 cards do not become your deck as is, but rather a total of 48 cards, consisting of 30 cards brought in by other players and 8 hyper cards with powerful effects, which are drawn from the deck by stopping at card squares.

Cards have a wide variety of effects, such as doubling the number of moving dice, buffing or debuffing stats during battles, and trap cards that can be placed on squares to affect the player who steps on them. The game also has a trading card game element, in which players use currency earned from playing the game to purchase packs of cards that contain random cards. The cards have illustrations and flavor text, making them fun to collect and look at!

While this game has strategic elements such as deck building, there is also a strong element of luck in this game, as many things, including battles, are decided by the roll of the dice.

While it is of course fun to play silently and strategically by yourself, I felt that the real thrill of this game is to play together with real friends or online with strangers as if it were a party game. With the phrase "luck is part of skill" in mind, please try your luck with the dice.

Heart of Crown PC "

• Manufacturer: iluCalab, FLIPFLOPs, Japanime Digital
• Release date: December 13, 2017
• Price: 2,570 yen (as of May 24, 2020)

In the board game world, the term "board game" is read in a broad sense to include not only board games such as sugoroku and chess, but also card games. The "Heart of Crown PC" we are about to introduce is also a card game and a digital version of "Heart of Crown," which is available as an analog board game.

This fantasy card game is based on the struggle for the throne of an empire.

The player takes the role of one of the empire's most influential figures and tries to defeat rival candidates in order to coronate his favorite princess as emperor among the candidates for successor.

The first thing that catches the eye is the beautiful and cute illustrations. In particular, the princesses, who are the key to the game, are a must-see. I'm a fan of the twins, Princess Rain and Princess Zion!　Cute little witches!

This game is a "deck-growth" or "deck-building" card game.

All players start the game with a deck of the same 10 cards, and they buy and collect cards during the game and incorporate them into their own decks.
The feeling of building one's deck into an ideal shape is reminiscent of TCGs such as "Magic the Gathering" and "Yu-Gi-Oh," but deck building in this game is real-time and speedy. The game is played by repeating the cycle of acquiring coins each turn by using cards, buying cards from the market with those coins, and incorporating them into the deck.

The goal of the game is to complete the game and, as stated in the storyline, to coronate the princess as the emperor.

The condition for accession is to pay 6 coins to retain the princess and obtain at least 20 inheritance points, which is the victory condition. To gain inheritance points, you must use coins to purchase cards that have effects to gain inheritance points.

Purchased cards are incorporated into the deck and cannot be used unless they come to your hand. However, as the number of cards in the deck increases, the probability of the cards you want coming to your hand naturally decreases. What a dilemma!

Therefore, it is necessary to remove unnecessary cards from the deck, such as the weak land card "Rural Village" and the inheritance point minus card "Apprentice Samurai.

The author felt that this thinking about purchasing cards and compressing the deck is the heart of the game and the key to its fun.

Each princess has her own unique abilities, which are also a key element of the strategy.

From Princess Luluna Saika, who immediately gains 6 inheritance points when she is retained, to Princess Clam Clam, whose card purchase cost is reduced by minus 1, the princesses are unique and varied in their abilities.
Princess Lurnasaika is the first child of the former emperor. Because she is well-liked, she has the advantage of inheritance points from the start, and Princess Krumkrum has the strong backing of the empire's largest merchant family. It is also interesting to note that the abilities are based on the setting of each character, such as being able to buy cards at a discount because she herself is a merchant.

It is good to choose a princess based on the strength of her abilities and the strategy you want to pursue, but it is also good to simply choose a princess based on her appearance and put her in your favor!　It is a great pleasure when you win the game because of your love for the character. I, by the way, could not win at all with my favorite princesses Rain and Zion, so I chose Princess Luluna Saika as a trial, and to my surprise, I won for the first time. I could have won, but the result was somewhat frustrating. ......

The game offers a variety of modes: CPU mode for offline play by yourself, online mode for battles with strangers, and a campaign mode where you can read a short story using the points you accumulate from battles. The appeal of this game is its highly addictive nature, which will surely make you want to play one more game and then another. If you enjoy this game to the fullest, you may want to purchase the analog version to experience the feel of the actual cards.

4. Digital board games have "advantages" that only digital games can offer.

So, we have introduced three recommended board games that can be played on Steam.

Board games are best enjoyed around a table with like-minded people, but digital board games are also packed with "digital advantages," such as online competition, easy confirmation of rules, and no need to prepare before playing or clean up afterwards. Please find your favorite digital board game on Steam and enjoy playing with your friends and online buddies!

Author：Nero Hyakkabe

Freelance writer who buys too many games. I currently have more than 300 games in my stack. Also a novelist. He is the author of "Goaken Unrated Edition" (Kodansha) and "My Mother's Lie" (in "Malicious Kwaidan") (Takeshobo).

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