1880: China Overview

October 19, 2022

This is a quick overview what makes the 18xx game 1880: China unique. 1880: China is a longer title in the 18xx series with a bunch of weird rules that work together well to make a game where you're trying to make the best corporations.


Ambie's Top 100 Games: 20-11

February 3, 2020

Ambie's revisiting her top 100 games as of the end of 2019! This video is numbers 20-11.


18xx with Ambie: Private Companies

September 6, 2019

18xx with Ambie is Ambie's video series about 18xx board games featured on The Dice Tower's YouTube channel.

In this video, Ambie talks about the private companies.

18xx with Ambie: Stock Markets

June 25, 2019

18xx with Ambie is Ambie's video series about 18xx board games featured on The Dice Tower's YouTube channel.

In this video, Ambie talks about some of the different stock markets in 18xx games.

Dice Tower Con 2017 Recap

July 12, 2017

by Ambie Valdés
I just got back from my 4th Dice Tower Con ever! It was my first time as a Dice Tower contributor, but I was still able to play a bunch of games, as well as meet a lot of people and go to different events. I had a lot of fun!

Over the course of the 5 days (really 4 and a half, since we left after lunch on Sunday), I had 65 plays of 46 different games, 32 of which were new to me! Granted, a couple of those were demos or incomplete games, but I still got to get the feel of them. I also participated in my first megagame ever, Future Tense!

We were in line early for registration, a little before 9 am on Wednesday (Registration opened at 10). There were already quite a few people in line, but there were so many more that showed up afterwards. The hotel had free breakfast and coffee for us, which was pretty awesome. Also, the Dice Tower crew were giving out promos, and there was a table full of promos. I got a couple BattleCON promos, which is pretty exciting. Usually I don't own the games they have promos for, so I'm happy that these ones will get some use!

Portland 18xx Tournament 2017 Recap

June 28, 2017

by Ambie Valdés
Toby and I got to go to an 18xx convention for the first time! Since we live on the west coast, we decided to go to the Portland 18xx Tournament (there are other ones further away) last weekend. Although it's called a tournament, it's not really a tournament - everyone records the scores of the games they played and get ranked based on that, but most of the people didn't care about the tournament and were just there to play 18xx games and have fun. We were there Thursday through Saturday, and we played 6 total 18xx games.

Even though this is one of the smaller convention libraries, it probably has the highest density of rare games!

Episode 30 - Winning Isn't Everything

June 22, 2017

Ambie, Cassadi, and Crystal discuss some games they've played recently, including 1817, 1880: China, 1857, Between Two Cities, and Mint Works. We then talk about being a good sport in board games both in winning and losing. In this week's "Board Game Etymology" segment, Crystal discusses the origins of the word "tie."

Strategically Thematic: HeavyCon

June 21, 2017

Strategically Thematic is a segment featured on The Dice Tower's bi-weekly Throat Punch Lunch videos usually about games where the theme and mechanics go together really well. This one is about my time at HeavyCon.


HeavyCon 2017 Recap

May 31, 2017

by Ambie Valdés
This weekend over Memorial Day weekend, I got to attend HeavyCon for the first time! HeavyCon is a convention run by Heavy Cardboard, a podcast about heavier board games (heavy Euros, 18xx games, and wargames). There were 90 attendees, and since everyone was there to play heavy games, it was easy finding people to play pick up games of heavy economic games and 18xx games! Toby and I typically don't schedule games at conventions, and this one was no exception.

Over the weekend (Thursday-Sunday), I had 23 plays of 22 unique games. A bunch of the games were new to me, and 3 of the games were 18xx games (although those weren't new to me)!

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