issue 21// vol 45 Roll for space initiative > 'Roll for the Galaxy’ board game review Lauren Kelly Graphics Manager keen oll for the Galaxy is a board game for two to five players in which you work to build a better space colony than your opponents. You can choose what aspects of building your colony you focus on— will you expand and settle more planets? Will you develop new technologies to service your colony? Will you build a large shipping network? Ifyou use your resources and workers properly, all of these are possible roads to victory. At first glance, Roll for the Galaxy looks overwhelming. With over 100 dice, dozens of tiles, cups, dividers, and all the other bits and pieces, it seems like it will take many tries to understand. However, the game is incredibly intuitive. The first time I played it, I'd picked up how it worked very early on in the game, and everyone I've taught it to since has understood it completely after the first game (even if they were under the influence of something). Each game takes less than 30 minutes, so this is a small time investment to get everyone on board. So how does it work? Each die acts asa “worker” who you pay to do various jobs. There are five phases—explore, develop, settle, produce, and ship—each with matching symbols that appear on the dice. You start with white dice but can get different coloured ones throughout the game, and each colour has its own layout and distribution of phases. For example, military (red) dice have many develop and settle symbols on them, and consumption (purple) dice have many produce and ship symbols. In each round you roll your dice to see what kind of jobs your workers can do, assign them to phases, and then spend the money you earn to pay the workers so you can roll them again. Getting dice that match your strategy will help you greatly, as will adapting your strategy to match your resources. Much of the gameplay revolves around settling planets and building developments, which have abilities attached to them. For example, a planet might say, “When you place this planet, put two Military (red) die in your citizenry.” Alternatively, you may get a development that gives you an extra Victory Point for each different colour of dice you have. By developing and settling the right tiles, you can build a colony that works well together and nets you a lot of Victory Points and the win. There's just something special about Roll for the Galaxy. Each time I played Whatever happened to poetry? it is a blessing to be the color of earth - rupi kaur do you know how often flowers confuse me for home Poem by Rupi Kaur via Instagram WoLE AND WoMAN Some days Iam more wolf than woman and I am still learning how to stop apologising for my wild. iNikita Gull ‘Wolf and Woman' by Nikita Gill via Instagram she wasn't waiting for a knight she was waiting for a sword atticus Poem by Rupi Kaur via Instagram he Rw AA Image via egmr.com it, everyone had a great time and wanted to start another game immediately after, No one was upset about losing because the game is fairly insular—most of the interaction you do is with your own board, so you can't really screw anyone over. The game is a blast to play, and all the elements come together to make a pretty amazing product. I would recommend it to any play group because there's a lot to love here. >» Instagram poetry analysis Sonam Kaloti Arts Editor pee has been around for thousands of years, but in this age it’s far harder to run into it daily unless youre actively hunting for it. However, there was a trend for a few years of sharing picture posts of poems online, a format the internet calls “Instagram poetry.” It was a sort of poetry renaissance— the internet bringing life back to the quieted poetic landscape. Despite this cultural revival, this art scene has settled down once again. To bring it back, one must ask: What made poetry so popular again in the first place? On top of that: Which poets were able to craft masterfully enough to garner the attention of the ever- changing internet for as long as they did? “Instagram poetry” is a sort of mock- phrase thrown at poets who may use social media sites as a platform for their work, but also gain traction from it—enough to be republished onto other social accounts. This constant rush of posting modern (and popular) poetry onto personal accounts made it so anyone using websites such as Instagram would likely come across a poem or two while scrolling through their feed. It eventually became almost inescapable, depending on your following list. The posts worked well on social media in a variety of ways. For one, they conjure a certain aesthetic thanks to their minimal word, relatable-to-millennials, white background, 12-point serif font style. This type of post has existed for decades now (the earliest I remember it myself is from good ol’ Tumblr) and honestly, I don’t think it will ever really fade. It will always find its way back, whether it be in the form of song lyrics, TV show quotes, poetry, or anything else; this type of post has its grip on this generation. The last few years have brought many—now famous—poets to light. One of these happens to be a personal favourite of mine, Rupi Kaur. I have read two of her published poetry books, milk and honey and the sun and her flowers. I've found that not only is she a beautiful example of the foolproof aesthetic post style, she is also an extremely talented writer. I marvel at the strength of her words—so few, yet they capture feelings I may never have been able to express through words on my own. I find solace in the similar experiences we both share, whether it be struggles of love, family, self, or even sharing the same Punjabi-Canadian nationality. Of course, I am not alone in this appreciation of Kaur, seeing as she has a dedicated following of millions. There is no definite answer as to why it seems as though poetry has become less popular on the internet once again. Possibly the attention has moved towards memes, a different art form, or perhaps the internet is simply doing what it does best: Changing. Genre popularity comes and goes in acircle, much like how trends recycle themselves in the offline world. While the poetry craze was wonderful, it will come back. Until then, we can all read poetry on our own accord anyway—we just have to hunt harder for it.