In anticipation of the Asian Board Game Festival coming to the Philippines for the first time in May, I've decided to prioritize reviewing all of the regional board games that we own. That has helped to push the total board game reviews on the Geeky Guide to 235. Because we're Base 10 creatures, I guess I'm looking forward to celebrating when I get to 250 reviews or something. This inadvertent audit of which Asian board games we own but haven't played will inevitably influence our two game nights this weekend. Dear gaming friends, expect to see a mix of smaller regional games join us at the table just so I can write proper previews before May.
Admittedly, the bulk of our regional games either come from Japan or Singapore, and we have the likes of Oink and Origame (respectively) to thank for that. And while we do own a couple of Filipino board games as well, the local publishing scene isn't quite as prolific as some of their regional counterparts. The pandemic definitely played a big part in slowing the momentum we observed a number of years ago, but that may just be my perception of things. We'll continue to support local publishers when we can, but I hope the local indie scene gets more support somehow.
I've gotten into the rhythm of posting one long-form article on the Geeky Guide every week - currently scheduled for Saturday at noon. This week will mark the fourth such article I'm publishing, and I have to admit that I'm really enjoying the exercise. Writing reviews can get rather repetitive over time, but these feature articles require a lot more thought. I end up needing to bounce ideas off of Tobie as I try to map out what topics or themes to pursue, then determine which games would fit. These essays need to hit at least 1,200 words in line with current SEO best practices, so they're no joke to write.
Thankfully, just including a good 4-5 games tends to get me most of the way there in terms of word count. And it's not because I'm just repeating my review content, but I'm able to focus more on personal stories of our game nights and actual experiences playing through these games. Tobie has helped me to develop a rather robust gaming vocabulary over the years, and all that exposure is really coming in handy when I tackle writing these pieces.
I'm still at the stage of hoping for the best in terms of all this working together to make the site successful. I'm doing everything that I can do to support the growth of the site just short of paid efforts, and I'd really prefer to avoid going that road while the site doesn't have a means of revenue yet. So far, it remains a labor of love and best hopes for the future.
The Geeky Guide is still in recovery mode after years of neglect, and it has quite a long way yet to go.
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