Hello friends! It has been a minute. My last blog post was back in May and then life swept me up like a giant pterodactyl and deposited me – somehow – at the end of August. Where did the time go? Well, I was teaching a creative writing (fiction and poetry) class this summer at the University of Edinburgh AND finishing the edits on a new book AND hosting friends AND traveling in Sweden AND interviewing and landing a new job (!) which I’ll tell you more about soon. Phew. All of this to say: thank you for your patience during this crazy time. More Madeira Mondays will be back (the first Monday of each month), with a few ‘Friday Finds’ sprinkled in there too.

And this ‘Friday Finds’ is an exciting one for me because it’s a first: my first board game review!

I was lucky enough to be sent a copy of the ridiculously fun B Movies board game from Kolossal Games earlier this year and my friends and I finally got around to playing it this summer. The game was funded by a Kickstarter Campaign (very cool) and it is perfect if, like me, you love movies. Especially old sci-fi and horror movies. But even if you don’t spend your evenings watching Harryhausen films (The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms! Earth v. The Flying Saucers!), I think anyone who enjoys movies and/or is a bit on the geeky side would get a kick out of B Movies!

There are multiple different ways to play this game: one where you pitch movies to each other (that’s what we played!) and another where you create a film together. I’m eager to try this second way, but we played the first.

To play, you’re each given a handful of cards with prompt words on them like: ‘Spiders’, ‘Aliens’, ‘Cars’ etc. For example, here was my first hand.

Everyone in turn becomes ‘the Screenwriter’. You have to create a title based on the cards in your hand. Then (although I’m not sure it’s strictly required by the rules!) the screenwriter describes the movie in a bit more detail: concept, who would play the key roles etc.

The others, who play ‘Producers’, then vote on if they want to make that movie or not. You get points in the form of popcorn shaped tokens if you’re in the majority (e.g. if you voted ‘no’ and the movie isn’t made). You also get points as a screenwriter if the others accept the pitch. It was easy to set up the game and figure out how the points worked – we picked it up pretty quickly!

And we really got into character as both the Screenwriters and the Producers. The instructions say that you’re ‘free to get into the character of a movie Producer’ and we took this to heart. My partner made his producer character snobby and only go for the ‘high brow’ entertainment, whereas I made mine a bit of a sleaze. It added a layer of comedy to an already funny game, but also if you give the producers characters then it doesn’t seem so personal if you either reject or accept your friend’s film ideas.

Which leads me onto my one caveat for the game: this could potentially be a nerve-wracking game (at least the way we were playing it) if you didn’t know the people too well! It asks you to think creatively, on the spot, which for us was super fun as we’re all good friends and comfortable with one another. But if you were with new friends, you might feel a little stage fright at first!

My friends came up with some great titles and concepts: my favorite was my friend’s pitch for a film about cars that get possessed by evil spirits and need to go to the Vatican to get an exorcism. Exorcism of the Soul-Eater Cars was definitely a highlight for me.

(Apologies for the slightly blurry photos – some Aperol Spritzes had been consumed by this stage in the game!)

My two films I pitched that got made were Spider Moon (basically a rip off/mash-up of Teen Wolf and Spider Man, about a dorky young boy who plays soccer and is bitten by a spider and now turns into a spider every full moon) and Adventures of the Cannibal Alien Family, which I pitched as a sequel to House of Gucci, in which it is revealed that Lady Gaga and Adam Driver are in fact evil aliens (which would explain their accents in that movie) bent on destroying the Earth.

Also, special kudos to the illustrations. I really enjoyed them and one of my friends, who is a professional artist and illustrator, said were good too. He mentioned that they give you ideas, which I thought was an excellent point. The art encourages silliness, which is what the game is all about. The whole thing looked great to us: from the cards to the VHS tape shaped box! So, well done to designers Yann and Clem and the illustrators and graphic designers.

B Movies is a super fun game and the evening we spent playing it was such a nice one for me. We laughed, we made ridiculous jokes, and we came up with ideas for some really, really dumb movies.

If you have someone in your life who likes movies and/or boardgames, then this would be a perfect gift for them. In all the chaos of life, there’s nothing like a board game with friends to keep you engaged and in the moment. What would be better?

Thanks to Kolossal Games and especially Mattie for sending the game!

Stay tuned for more Friday Finds this year (including another board game review, a book review and more) plus ‘Madeira Mondays’ historical content starting up again in September! Including some historical site visits in Sweden…

Thanks for reading 🙂