Board Games and Coronavirus - How Millennium is Dealing With COVID-19

Hey folks, I hope you're safe, healthy, and still living the American Dream in one way or another. Without question, COVID-19 has dampened spirits and has changed our daily lives in unexpected ways.

But no worries, my response to this virus regarding the Millennium game is simple because viruses are certainly a part of the apocalypse and it's fairly easy to add playing cards and chits to thematically reflect a sign of the times, which I already had in play as a generic plague.

New COVID-19 Playing Card

The question is, what does COVID-19 look like in the year 2157? For now, it looks like the common flu since several vaccines have been developed to fight it, however, about 5% of the population is still dying when infected. Anything goes at this point and the details are only as important as the action you want to add to the game.

I don't like to use losing turns like a game mechanism, but this is COVID-19 after all so the punishment fits. I can adjust the number of turns lost and will probably wind up with 2 turns lost so as to not discourage gameplay.

Other than that, Millennium is better than ever and I plan to print another prototype this coming month and continue testing the game. I've already started working on the introduction video to the game and I'll be able to add game-play rules as soon as I get the new box and game board. As far as the launch date, that remains to be seen because I had planned to launch this game on September 11 but I might push that to a later date; maybe November or even another month in 2021 because of the election this November.

As anxious as I am to get Millennium out there, I don't want to rush things either. The launch date is important because The Game Crafter website helps promote the game initially and so I want to pair that with my own promotions to generate stronger momentum.

That first push and intro are important to keep high and wide at first and then narrow the promos to the niche audiences who are most likely to buy the game. Some might say that the opposite is true but I think that wider exposure from the outset is the way to go.

Either way, Millennium will be on the market soon enough and my 3-year secret will be exposed for everyone to see. 

Millennium's stealth mode is about to unveil the inevitable and glorious introduction to one of the most exciting and most innovative board games planet Earth has ever known.

Lofty hyperbole, yes. You've got to think big and reach for the stars, my friends. We've got but one life so we must make the very best of it while we can.

Live long and prosper.

COVID-19 And The Apocalypse - Just Ask Robert De Niro

Like most Americans, I'm stuck at home trying to find myself amid this COVID-19 chaos. But in all fairness, I've been stuck at home, half-crippled for the past 13 years after my brush with death of another kind back in 2007.

But that's another story for another time. Right now, the world is standing still; waiting for who knows what else. I happened to catch Robert De Niro last night on CNN saying that this COVID-19 virus is like a bad movie. I get that same feeling because it just seems unreal when you see the barren streets of Times Square and other big cities, like ghost towns.

How did we get here?

I've seen enough boring bookcases lately.

It's a double whammy for me but nevertheless, I go on with my life as we all must go on with our daily routines, masks firmly in place. Either find a hobby or load a gun. I stopped watching television altogether, except for an occasional good movie that comes around. You know, it's mostly re-runs these days. Not that Hollywood wasn't already rebooting every show known to humankind before the virus. As for the live shows from home. No thanks, I've seen enough boring bookcases lately. It's all horrible and unwatchable.

The late-night shows were horrible before the virus with all the ass-kissing hosts on full display, night after night. Always trying to be so damn nice and proper as if their guests are so delicate and vulnerable to life's hard truths. It's appalling what this world, especially the entertainment industry has come to these days. There's no edge. No honesty in anything they say or how they present it. They are absolutely unwatchable ass kissers, panderers, and politically correct left-wingers. A bunch of sore losers who still can't get over Trump being president.

Get over it people. The son-of-a-bitch will most likely win another 4 years. I'm pretty much apolitical in case you haven't noticed by now. And forget Bernie Sanders. He seems to mean well, but it's all just a scam. Like most politicians, he just uses politics as a publicity platform. It's a disgrace.

What else can I say?

It seems the apocalypse has snuck up on us and delivered it's first glancing blow as we await its full fury in the form of nuclear war. What else can we expect? Is COVID-19 the beginning of the end? Who knows?

I can't call it. It's anyone's guess at this point. We'll have to go along for the ride of our lives and see where all this takes us.

Hopefully, it leaves us in a better place providing we can survive it. From De Niro's point of view, we're all stuck in a movie scenario, something unreal.

Except that COVID-19 is very real.

So suck it up buttercup and deal with it, people.

Deal with it!