My Gateway Board Games
Actualol
Views: 44821
Like: 1074
I talk about how I got into board games, and answer many other viewer questions.
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If you’re new to Actualol, my name is Jon Purkis. My two passions are writing comedy and playing board games, so I decided to combine the two in this YouTube channel.
I make all my videos on my own, in my flat in London, UK, with the help of a diverse selection of wigs.
Actualol is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
08.11.2023
LOVE the new paint color and setup! (And video too 😉)
Have you considered partner with a video editor for them to edit, while you write/record?
please check out red dragon inn , its my favorite board game
Agree completely regarding languishing. I have shared that article to lots of people who feel the same way.
For story telling games, try "1000 Year Old Vampire" by Tim Hutchings. The published copy ho so cool, but I think it is only available in it's PDF download right now. Very great single player RPG!
Magic maze without the sandtimer works well wirh children. Dexterity games have simple rules, but are very frustrating for my daughter. That’s why I like Menara.
I, for one, recommend an Old Chimney's Good King Henry Special Reserve before EACH character recording to get into the "zone" and make more of those character videos. This was a fun video and it was nice to hear how someone else got into the video world. I'm still working on my VERY low-quality playthroughs and keep trying to find fun content to think about recording.
I didn't get to ask a question so here it is. Who is your favorite stand-up comedian and why? Also, you get to craft the perfect game evening…what does that look like…go!
But Cosmic Encounter is so good 😢
I love the hour glass!!
Congrats on starting the vaccine, and glad things are getting better for you.
I like your channel and I am glad to see it growing. I don't really care for your characters and the skits. I prefer your more straight forward videos. Thanks for the great content.
Love the wooden table and table light behind you, very nice video it made me feel really cozy. Take care my friend and hopefully see you soon
A humidifier can help with electric shocks…also heard dryer sheets can help too.
Sad to hear Panic on Wall Street didn't land for you. It quickly jumped up into my #1 Party Game slot after the first few plays. I've yet to have a bad game of it. I also only bust it out though with groups that I'm positive will get into it as much as the game demands.
I love how candid you can be. Cool video! If you ever do another Q&A, I'd love to know more about the equipment you use and how it's evolved since you started.
I just love your honesty as a human.
I like your reviews and characters, and I've bought at least one game and have some more on my list because of you.
But I just think you're such a nice guy, with a nice wife, trying to make videos about a really nice hobby. You're kinda my hero. (Bong Joon Ho is one of my other heroes, don't worry I'm not trying to be either of you, although you're more English than me so maybe…)
Anyway, what a pointless comment. Keep doing good.
I can't believe I missed my opportunity to ask the hard hitting questions
Damn havent watch Actualol in a year- His gray hair game is running wild.
"I don't own any expensive games." Casually mentions he has a copy of Battlestar Galactica.
the change looks real nice tho! i LOVE this deep blue color
What a beautiful wall colour – which one is it?
I’ve bought the new version of Hotel. Not as good as I remember!
You have slowly become my favourite reviewer because of your humble and genuine presence on camera.
Hope our recent warm weather helps you stop languishing like a langoustine. 🦐
"Didn't have enough money to go out….Started playing board games" not sure that switching to this hobby was the best financially haha!
Great video, thanks.
On your comment on roll and writes, whilst I agree, I think there is space for a wide range of roll and writes weight wise. The benefit is the compactness and not having to have a massive table to play on but also be able to play something with a bit of depth, we like to play in bed or on the sofa and roll and writes fit this whilst giving us some crunch
I love the new background!! So professional and clean
Sorry for a post that will be nearly devoid of boardgame discussion, I just thought I'd pick up on your final question as I'm in a very similar position in regards to film vs TV, but I'm not so sure it's about a change in taste so much as shifts in both industries. I'd thought I'd share my thoughts and see if you were in agreement about any of them:
1 – Films have become much more conservative in what gets made – they largely now come from adaptations of other mediums, or sequels/extended universes of exiosting films or reboots, so things which are easy to market.
2 – TV has moved more in the direction of long form storytelling. If films are about telling short stories/novellas, then TV has become the medium of the novel with the richer and deeper characterisation that allows. You mention Friday Night Lights, and part of why that works is that you're allowed to slowly learn about a whole ensemble of characters, you're just not able in a film to explore as many relationships as the TV show lets you.
3 – The cost of sfx has come down to where TV has much greater scope for stories, but it's not yet so cheap that it can be a crutch like it can be for a film. Even in SFX heavy TV shows, they need to save the moments for when it has the impact, it's not like a film where they can have explosions from start to finish (though I do fear at some point we will get a Michael Bay TV series)
In short, it's less for me that my tastes have changed, it's more that the industries have evolved in directions that mean TV is much more satisfying to my sensibilities. If you'd like a few film recommendations though, I'd suggest:
-The Last Supper. An old film starring Cameron Diaz in an ensemble cast, it's a black comedy about a group of graduate students who choose to murder dinner guests whose politics they find objectionable. It's funny and fairly provocative
– Me And Earl And The Dying Girl. Indie film about a high school kid who loves making films striking up a friendship with girl who is terminally ill.
– The Half Of It. A high school athlete asks a quiet nerdy girl to help him write letters to a girl he is attracted to, but she develops feelings for her in the process
– Adult Life Skills. A quirky passion project starring Jodie Whittaker, about a women who is living in a shed in her mum's garden.
At some point though I expect these sorts of smaller budget films will end up just being made for TV, but if that comes true I really worry about the ability to find them and watch them (especially as streaming becomes more diffuse requiring more subscriptions for everything), it's getting hard enough to find indie films as it is.
If you can find a good streaming source for it in the UK, if you've never seen Babylon 5, I do strongly recommend that series as it's almost the birth place of modern serialised genre drama series. The first season is a bit slow as it slowly drip feeds details in, but once it starts to hit acceleration points, it becomes just a phenomenal show, arguably still ahead of ones like BSG and The Expanse. You can see it is a bit of it's time in that it's more episodic than modern shows tend to be, but it is also very modern with the story arc that lasts the full five seasons and becomes increasingly like a modern show through the 3rd and 4th seasons where it becomes much harder to think of a story in a single episode.
Anyway, I enjoyed the video, even if I was slightly confused by the idea of doing a playlist for BSG or Game of Thrones – can't you just put on the soundtracks for those? I always found it harder to soundtrack non-licenced games because I don't like using music that reminds people of a specific IP
Dice Heist is an underrated filler game that deserves more love? Everyone I introduce it to gets on quickly. Surprised that it really hits different number of players, uneven skill levels, and it really just hits "the mood" more often than not with others. Also great closer to the big game of the game night; like a wind-down dessert.
Oh. Good news about Libertalia… 🙂
That's funny, AGOT was my "gateway" into the world of "adult"-oriented board gaming… Really just plunged into the deep end! I was a huge fan of the show around 2014ish and saw that there's was a pretty well-received board game, and the rest is history. Coincidentally, I was also in the Walking Dead, and after watching a Geek & Sundry gameplay of it, Dead of Winter was my second purchase not long after. After that I made my way to the lighter, more "canonical" gateway games – Pandemic, Ticket to Ride, etc. Rest is history.
A game of thrones, Gateway? Is this like sparta? those who survive become men, and those who no longer stay friends are now sworn enemies?
Libertalia is coming!
I'm only here to say that thumbnail is genius!
Just watching this, and laughing that Libertalia was announced recently from StoneMaier
Good lord I felt the word languishing so hard.
16:35 Bananagrams: the first game my mom bought at a gaming store (and for herself) … at age 85
Thank you for your honesty and candor! Hope you don't mind a question for your Q&A episode: Have you ever tried Robo Rally?
It's an absolutely bonkers game that works for 2-8 players, and is full of chaos but super-simple to learn and play. Even when I lose I love watching the game unfold!
That hourglass near the edge of the table along with your moving hands has me all stressed out watching this video!! 🙂
Love the channel, and I think having chapters to help users navigate the content could make the experience even better!
pandemic showed you how interesting board games are be? that game is so boring maybe it was a long time ago and you dont remember, yeah that sounds more likly than any one thinking that game is good.
Good channel, why are you excited for getting vaccine!?
800th like! I know I’m late but just found the channel and watching randomly.
For the kickstarters not being what you wanted somewhere it is what someone wanted and you helped it get produced.
Nobody plays pandemic. Only influencers pretend they like it. I don't get it
My problem with GoT is that it does not really expect a player to be eliminated early on. Maybe this came from our inexperience with how the game is supposed to be played, but on turn three or so I was assaulting the capital of another player, and quickly took them out, and after that the game kinda broke because they had nothing to do for the rest of the evening.
Michael with the questionnaire… come on son
Ha I have the exact memories of Hotel as a kid. Me and my twin even drew our own version. Fast forward and now I am playing it with my 7 year old who adores it. Played dozens of games… and it's pretty terrible. 🫣
omg they're called "roll and write" games… I thought it was "roll 'em right", as in, you're hoping that you roll what you want with the dice
My old[est] friend is "Mille Bornes" a family classic that I owned that game for 40 years
do you have Twighlight Imperium?
I love the channel. Big fan. This video's title is very misleading though. Would've been more clear had you added "Q&A" or something similar to signal that this video was more of you answering fan comments