Fast Facts
Game Title: Tabletop Simulator
Genre: Highly customizable sandbox tabletop simulator and creator
Platform: PC
Price: Currently $9.99 via Humble Bundle
Why You Should Get It
I'm not afraid to admit right here and now that Tabletop Simulator saved my love of tabletop games. Anyone into the hobby right now eventually finds themselves saying the following things as to why they're not playing as much as they want...
- "I love Tabletop but I never have the time to meet up and play somewhere"
- "I love Tabletop but I don't know what to play other than X"
- I love Tabletop but I seriously have spent so much on it that my marriage is in shambles."
- "I love Tabletop but I don't have any friends"
For me personally, it came down to having a wife who hates Tabletop, and an availability to play only when the local game shops had shut down for the evening. Even so, I still did find time to make it out to the occasional game night to play either the same game I played every week or something new that I hated and wasted 90 minutes of my life with for the good of the gaming group.
I'm not lying when I said Tabletop Simulator was a salvation.
I get on, browse the server, and play what I want and connect with other people who like what I do for future gaming sessions.
You can literally play ANYTHING. Chess, Checkers, Monopoly, D&D, Settlers of Catan, Secret Hitler, Cards Against Humanity, Bloodborne: The Board Game...seriously anything. A lot of this is possible due to the dedicated fan base who have uploaded most every game you can imagine as a mod to the highly customizable game. Seriously, it's more of a challenge to find a game that's NOT on here than one that is.
Don't know how to play a game? Make it known when you jump in a server and you'll be a master by the end...the video below is from me playing Fantasy Flight's "Dracula's Fury" for the first time and having a great time. At the end of the 2 hours I learned a game, joked around, and made some new internet friends...
There is a bit of a learning curve when you purchase so I suggest you check out the tutorial to learn the controls and save yourself some hard learning by just jumping in. Once you get it down though, you'll almost prefer it to regular tabletop gaming.
For example, I love the ability to hit the ALT key over any card on the board. In real life you have to huddle around a bunch of other people to read what the card says or have it read, where here you can just click and it's in front of you without disturbing the play.
Of course, things can get wild with random drawings, memes and griefing, but whoever's host can change the settings so that the game is as controlled or crazy as one could want. I suggest doing that before starting so no one flips the table when the game inevitably doesn't go their way...
If you're a lover of Tabletop this is a must own. I can't express that enough. How often does $10 offer you a limitless library of games?
TL;DR
All the tabletop games you could want for $10 bucks and an amazing community of willing players. Side note if anyone wants to play some games together once picking it up find me on Steam at Mickarooni!