Here is the page to help you find a game to play during the next Open Game Night. If you click on the link above, it will take you to a Google Docs spreadsheet of games we have available and several details of the game. If all you’d like to do is browse, all you have to do is click, but if you’d like to actively search for a game you think you’d like, read on.
To start your quest for a new favorite game, begin by right-clicking the link above and opening it in a new tab, so you can refer back to these instructions. Once the site opens, you’re going to want to save the spreadsheet to your computer so you can make changes to it, so click ‘File’ at the top, then ‘Download as’, then either ‘Microsoft Excel’ or ‘OpenDocument format’ (OpenOffice should be able to open Excel files, but Excel probably doesn’t open OpenDocuments).
Save the file to a folder of your choice, then open it using your preferred software. The following images and instructions are for OpenOffice, but Excel should be similar.
The basic premise is to eliminate the games you don’t want, so that you’re left looking at games that you might want. The best way to go through this is probably by example, so let’s say you’re looking for a party game for 3 people, ages 10 and up, with a voting mechanic, but no fighting, that takes less than 2 hours to play. The first thing you’d want to do is delete the top row with the merged cells, because they cause problems when deleting and sorting columns. So right-click on the number 1 in the top left, then click on ‘Delete rows’ to make things easier.
Now work on finding games that will accommodate 3 players. First, click on the ‘Min. Players’ cell, then click on the ‘Sort Ascending’ button to sort all rows by minimum number of players (if you don’t see a ‘Sort Ascending’ button you can find a Sort function under ‘Data’ in the menu bar).
Once the column is sorted, look for any games that require more than 3 to play and delete those rows. Do this by clicking & dragging on the numbers of the rows until they’re all highlighted (in this case just the one), then right-clicking on one of the highlighted numbers and selecting ‘Delete Rows’.
You’d follow the same procedure for the maximum number of players. Click on the ‘Max. Players’ cell, then click on the ‘Sort Ascending’ button to sort all rows by maximum number of players.
Once the column is sorted, look for any games that require fewer than 3 to play and delete those rows. Do this by clicking & dragging on the numbers of the rows until they’re all highlighted, then right-clicking on one of the highlighted numbers and selecting ‘Delete Rows’.
Next, get rid of games that take more than 2 hours. Click on the ‘Minutes’ cell then ‘Sort Ascending’.
Once the column is sorted, look for any games that require more than 120 minutes to play and delete those rows. Do this by clicking & dragging on the numbers of the rows until they’re all highlighted, then right-clicking on one of the highlighted numbers and selecting ‘Delete Rows’.
Now eliminate the columns of types, categories, and mechanisms that don’t matter. You can do this one at a time, or by clicking on the letter of a column you don’t want, then pressing and holding the Ctrl button while clicking the letters above all the other columns you want to get rid of, then right-clicking on one of the column letters and selecting ‘Delete Columns’.
Delete the games that aren’t party games by clicking on the ‘Party’ cell then ‘Sort Ascending’ and clicking & dragging on the numbers of the rows that don’t have an ‘x’ in the ‘Party’ column until they’re all highlighted, then right-clicking on one of the highlighted numbers and selecting ‘Delete Rows’.
Delete the games that are fighting games by clicking on the ‘Fighting’ cell then ‘Sort Ascending’ and clicking & dragging on the numbers of the rows that have an ‘x’ in the ‘Fighting’ column until they’re all highlighted, then right-clicking on one of the highlighted numbers and selecting ‘Delete Rows’.
Finally, delete the games that don’t have a voting mechanic by clicking on the ‘Voting’ cell then ‘Sort Ascending’ and clicking & dragging on the numbers of the rows that don’t have an ‘x’ in the ‘Voting’ column until they’re all highlighted, then right-clicking on one of the highlighted numbers and selecting ‘Delete Rows’.
And you’re done. You should be looking at a sheet with only party games for 3 people, ages 10 and up, with a voting mechanic, but no fighting, and that take less than 2 hours to play.
To request that the owner of the game bring it to an Open Game Night, click on the link to that event on the right side of this page and write a post asking that they do so.
Norwin Game Knights 