Tabletop Mentorship Stories

Semi-Technical discussion ahead. A few people that have seen the game have suggested I try to simulate lots of play tests to make sure nothing breaks in the game. I'd heard about Monte Carlo simulations, but did not know how to make one. Searching online for examples didn't show me much in the way of examples either. So, I decided to brute force it using Excel and macros. I think it turned out pretty well, and wanted to share it with everyone in case others can use it too. Below is a description of how the tool works: 1st, a quick description of the game I'm modeling. Abstractly, it's a card shedding game, like Crazy 8's, or Uno. A game ends when one player plays the last card in their hand.  Cards can be identified by a color (Coded SF, R, H, M as the first character(s) in the description) or a suite (Coded S, C, M, A as the next characters in the description), and finally a number. An example of one of my cards is coded SFC3, or RM2. There are also starting cards ...

I have a fulltime job in the crazy world of robotics and automation. I won’t say which company, but during crunch time, it’s reasonable to expect 60+ hours weeks. I’m heavily involved in my church, especially this past year, as they’ve relied on me almost exclusively to move services online during the Covid crisis. I have a family. My oldest child has autism, and my youngest is all of 7 weeks old. My wife is also quite busy, trying to get her new business venture off the ground. I said all of that to say that when I read about people who describe their morning or afternoon or weekend routine where they’ve set aside a few hours to work on their game project, I stand up and salute those people! I wish I had my act together to be able to do that. Mad props to those who are able to pull that off. I am not one of those people. But, the good news is that it is still possible to make progress. I keep a notebook with me and try to make notes about ideas or cards during my lunch break. Hold...