Anybody here like playing Axis and Allies Anniversary Edition?

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Castout

Actually that already crossed my mind too

The thing is our brain is designed in such a way so that more efficient result could be gotten from frequent usage. I've noticed that while playing certain board games I tend to get a mild headache which is only noticeable towards the end or after the game(usually after the game though). And it's not due to illness or high blood pressure or anything.


This headache will gradually diminishes after frequent plays of that specific board game. I sincerely believe it's the neuron pathways connecting in a way they were never before. The brain is rewiring itself. It can only do this if one gives a serious effort to the thinking process despite the difficulty.
If one just simply plays without committing to winning there's no way the brain is going to form new pathways.

I take it it's the same or similar process happening when one plays chess regularly

Edit now I just re read your previous post and it became a lot clearer well English is not my foremost virtue (sheepish)

I have a university diploma in clinical psychology, and we also needed to do some stuff on psychophysiology and neurology and brain. It's the first time I heared that neurological activity patterns that have not be run before should cause a headache, and brain neurons themselves also cannot feel or cause sensations of pain. Also, neurological "rewiring" does not take place from one instance to the next, but just repeated and repetitive practice, again this is a painless process.

If you have headaches during playing, this can have many origins, from stress, over your body'S position while sitting (especially neck and back), to bloodpressure, environmental factors (light, bad air, noise), and other things like that. Headaches are mostly caused by sensory input by the nervous system being interpreted as "pain" in the brain, or the blood vessels in the brain changing their volume and swelling, increasing brainvolume and implying pressure on the whole thing (making pressure sensors ringing the - painful - alarm bell). Swelling brains also are likely to influence your cognitive functions and the activity of the effected brain areas sooner or later. Brain neurons have no pain or pressure sensors, that'S why during brain surgery you get an anestesia for cutting through thre skin, flesh and bone, but not the brain matter itself - certain types of brain surgeries even are done with the patient being conscious, he does not feel the cutting of neurons, but must report any change in his general body perceptions or cognitive functions.

Find some less exotic explanation for why you have headaches when playing certain games. Neural re-construction of your brain network are not the cause, I promise you.

[raymond6751]

The price of board wargames today is a result of the dwindling supply and the fact that many are out of print.

They have become collectors items. I object to the prices asked for pseudo war games like Risk and Axis and Allies today.

The world is turning away from the physical games and towards the video game 'imaginary' experience.

Personally, I turned away from the video gaming and went back to a genre that made sense to me. I invested some writing time, folks invest some reading time, and it costs nothing.

[nikimcbee]

I have the Guadalcanal one, but I don't have anyone to play with.

[Castout]

Originally Posted by Skybird

I have a university diploma in clinical psychology, and we also needed to do some stuff on psychophysiology and neurology and brain. It's the first time I heared that neurological activity patterns that have not be run before should cause a headache, and brain neurons themselves also cannot feel or cause sensations of pain. Also, neurological "rewiring" does not take place from one instance to the next, but just repeated and repetitive practice, again this is a painless process.

If you have headaches during playing, this can have many origins, from stress, over your body'S position while sitting (especially neck and back), to bloodpressure, environmental factors (light, bad air, noise), and other things like that. Headaches are mostly caused by sensory input by the nervous system being interpreted as "pain" in the brain, or the blood vessels in the brain changing their volume and swelling, increasing brainvolume and implying pressure on the whole thing (making pressure sensors ringing the - painful - alarm bell). Swelling brains also are likely to influence your cognitive functions and the activity of the effected brain areas sooner or later. Brain neurons have no pain or pressure sensors, that'S why during brain surgery you get an anestesia for cutting through thre skin, flesh and bone, but not the brain matter itself - certain types of brain surgeries even are done with the patient being conscious, he does not feel the cutting of neurons, but must report any change in his general body perceptions or cognitive functions.

Find some less exotic explanation for why you have headaches when playing certain games. Neural re-construction of your brain network are not the cause, I promise you.

Umm I always assumed that way because the headache would diminish after more play though the tensions would not. It's most obvious when playing euro game the first time that put thinking first and foremost. In fact I had only this headache on my first and second time playing Shogun and not other games.
Umm maybe the headache was caused by mental drain or tiredness but the rewiring is definitely there as I found playing to be easier and progressively easier the more I play which is signified by the lack of headache unlike in the first or second game.

And I never said that brain wiring happening from one instance to the next . You missed the point that a board gaming session could last 3-4 or even 6 hours and much of that time is spent on certain certain type of thinking so it is a repetitive process lasting for several hours.

It might not be the brain rewiring that caused the headache perhaps simply mental drain but the brain does indeed form new pathways made evidence by the getting easier to play the same game with much the same tensions. I simply took a liberal conclusion if it was so tiring and a challenge to think evidenced by the slight headache then the brain will rewire itself much like muscle ache. What is surprising is that the challenge and the headache diminishes after every play, most notably after the first play so somehow it does an indication of the brain being more efficient in its thinking processing.

It's similar to the condition of studying something new for extended period of time where the difficulty gets diminish as I become used to reading the book for some pages. No headache in this instance though. But I found it easier to read and understand the book or concept after some time( some substantial minutes put in from 30- 60 minutes).

Heck even just listening to certain type of music or sound could cause activation of certain part of brain. It's easy to stimulate the brain. Mid brain activation is popular here nowadays. The children after being exposed to certain type of sound that's supposed to activate their mid brain could read while being blindfolded, smell colors, see blindfolded, and solve cubic puzzle blindfolded within a very very short time and riding bicycle while being blindfolded.

[Castout]

Originally Posted by raymond6751

The world is turning away from the physical games and towards the video game 'imaginary' experience.

Actually board gaming has never been so popular now at least that's how I perceive it. People are coming back to social gaming than electronic gaming.

Originally Posted by nikimcbee

I have the Guadalcanal one, but I don't have anyone to play with.

Aye I would probably just play the game once or twice too . People just have fewer friends as we get older and older. My best friend is the one from my primary school time. It's just harder for me to make best friends with new people nowadays. People are just more reserved as they get older.

[Skybird]

I put it short, Castout:

Learning does not hurt. Never. Not physically, and not in a transferred sense.

You will not find any neurologist or brain physiologist in support of that theory of yours. Neurons can establish new connections in neural networks, and in side the brain. But it is not as such a simplified process and not to be accompanied by physical sensations. That olyu are sitting at the table for 6-8 hours, has more to do with it. I occasionally needed to sit at a cashdesk for 6 and 8 and 10 hours, years ago. And although I did not learn anything there and my brain slowed down into coma mode - I also had headaches and felt a drain of concentration and focus after some while and could not multiply 2 and 3 for a correct result of 6 at the end of my shift. The headache could be helped by getting a better chair, and moving a bit if situation allowed, and avoiding cold wind touching my neck.

The only way neurons in the brain can produce pain themselves , is infections. Such diseases are rare, but they are from hell. There is for example an infection by amebas, that overcome the blood-brain-barrier and enter the brain, there starting to eat the isolating myelin sheath of neural axons. The reult is a pain as intense that it floods your consciousness - and cannot be avoided at all, becasue this sensation cannot be redcued by tranquilizers and painkillers, no matter which one - the whole chemical and physicological process by which painkillers become effective, is being bypassed. A disease like this must be amongst the most desparte, hopeless things that can happen to humans, or any organsim with higher brains. It's living hell. You are doomed to live through the most intense pain sensations the nedural network can produc e, all time long, and there is no way to tame it. Even when being put into sleep or artificial coma, the pain sensations still are there.

But learning does not destroy the myelin sheat of axons, thankfully.

Myelin sheats help to increase bioelectrical signal speed along the axons by making the electric potential "jump" from one rupture of these sheats to the next, instead of needing to travel through all the axon between two such points.

[Castout]

Ahh thanks for the xplanation. I've a feeling I need a better chair maybe though it would be just for one game that will probably not going to happen again. At our first Shogun game we did play on the floor for about 5-6 hours straight.

But I never said anything about pain just mild headache that though may not be symptom of the brain making neuron pathways may indicate either tiredness or being mentally drain from playing this particular game and which seemed to diminish after subsequent plays which I took to indicate the brain being more proficient to process the thinking process and pattern while playing that particular board game hence the new pathways.

Hmm but then again may be it's because the game was just so mentally demanding and the resulting stress. I haven't found another game that match the stress level of Shogun. It does get easier with more plays.

After all this I still found myself interested in the damn kids game . The only thing keeping me at bay is the realization I would not be able to play it often.

Axis and Allies Anniversary Edition: game which trains strategic thinking, multi enemies with allies, naval, air and land battles though not tactical . . . . global scope . . . .can it be so wrong?

[Castout]

And so I relented to the temptation. Can't say I regret buying it. Bought it near original MSRP at $135.00 while many other new copies abroad are selling more than 500 bucks.

Played it on Saturday with two other friends who came without appointment to my surprise. I played the Allies and we played for 5 hours from 6 PM to 11 PM excluding setting up and rule explaining. We also used custom rule which I named single board naval fog of war and modified submarine combat.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/...-naval-warfare
The custom rule explaination may sound or look complex or more complex that it actually is. The custom rule is actually easy to be remembered since it follows common sense, just that writing the whole things makes it look complex with so many sentences that had to be broken down to points.

A picture of a set up game



I've realized because of the fixed setup the game opening gambit for each player or nation power will likely be the same more or less.

and @Skybird: no headache for this one though in 5 hours we were mentally drained. Only Shogun caused me mild headache on first time playing it. Well I accept that it wasn't due to the brain making pathways :-)