Yehuda

Shabbat Gaming

2012-01-28T20:37:00.001+02:00

Tal and I ate lunch at Abraham and Sarah's. While waiting for Tal to arrive, I played my third game of Ticket To Ride (this one with the 1910 Expansion) with Abraham and Sarah. It's soooo light. It's ok and all, but I just don't see it as comparable to The Settlers of Catan. I can see it as a gateway game; I admit that Settlers has a few more rules, which can discourage newer players. But Settlers also has more depth and more involvement.

Maybe it's just a matter of what flavor you go for. Or maybe I haven't played it enough to appreciate its depth.

We only got about a third of the way into the game, and I enjoyed it well enough. Both Abraham and I were planning to complete our three short routes and then spend the rest of the game making random six routes to end the game. Oh yeah: the ability for one player to hasten the end of the game in a way that doesn't have to do with winning is another mechanic I don't care for.

After lunch we played Tichu. Tal and I scored 965 to Abraham and Sarah's 335, but shabbat was over so I decided to call it a draw. I pulled lots of bad hands but managed one tichu. I still don't know how Aaron called and made so many grand tichus against me at BGG.con.

Raanana and Jerusalem Session Reports

2012-01-26T22:12:00.004+02:00

Raanana session report: Carson City

Jerusalem session report: Hanafuda, Power Grid

Movie Reviews

2012-01-24T00:01:00.000+02:00

The Artist - An "ode to a bygone era" film. At their worst, films like these, while clever and precise, capture too much of the era to which they ode (often an era is bygone because we have progressed to better things since then) and concentrate too much on the technicalities of the capture and not enough on the soul (i.e. weak story, flat acting).

The Artist manages to escape this by about 70%. It recapitulates the story of an actor left by the wayside when the film industry moves to talking pictures. Unlike most movies with this story, this one is done (almost) entirely as a silent picture. The plot is actually closer to A Star is Born, and might be familiar if you know who Greta Garbo and John Gilbert were.

While the story is not earthshaking, it's entertaining. It doesn't capture the exact feel of silent films in several ways: the leading lady is too forward (I think her era regression stopped at about 1975), the acting not as absurdly stylized as it was in silent films, the pacing too modern and smooth, the camerawork too intelligent and diverse. On the one hand, these are good things; on the other, they are a little unsettling.

The film has a few deliberately jarring moments ala Pleasantville and Silent Movie. A nice film, but not an important one.

Fireflies in the Garden - A quiet family drama about a man mixing with his family after the death of his mother. In particular, the man confronts his tyrannical authoritarian father, who appears not to have learned much since the son has been away, except that his son doesn't like the way he was brought up.

The principal actors - Ryan Reynolds is the son, William DaFoe the father, and Julia Roberts the mother - as well as the rest of the cast do a fine job. If you had a father like this one, it may be a bit hard to watch at certain points, but it never gets too graphic. A "slice of life" film.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Swedish) / The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (American) - Yes, I saw them both. Guess what? They're both good. The American version is not a remake of the Swedish version; it's another movie based on the same book. Certain events and characters are left out of one and not the other, sequences of minor events are shifted, etc. The acting, directing, and photography of both are equally good. There's no need to see both of them, and it doesn't really matter which one you see.

The story is about a reporter who faces jail-time for libel. The story he published was (probably) true, but his sources recanted at the last moment. Before going to jail, an oligarch hires him to find out what happened to his niece who disappeared 40 years earlier; one of his family was probably involved. The oligarch hired a girl to compile a dossier on the reporter before he hired the reporter; this girl has troubles of her own with her state-appointed legal case worker (who controls her money until she is 25). She is eventually hired to help the reporter on the case.

The story is based on a best-selling book, and the movies do a reasonable job of covering its main points.

It's Kind of a Funny Story - Keir Gilchrist stars in another movie adaptation of a book, this one about a boy who feels parental and academic pressure and checks himself into a mental facility for five days. While there, he gains perspective by meeting other people who are sick and he experiences many happy Hollywood moments.

It's a feel-good by-the-book formula movie, which annoyed me. It skips over some of the real disgusting, dirty, and depressing things that you will find day-to-day in a real mental facility. However, for what it is, it works, and even a shallow exposure to a mental facility is probably better than none (most people's understanding ends at One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (which they haven't seen, but they imagine)).

Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol - This was actually better than it had a right to be. The action sequences were thrilling - I expected to be jaded by such things by now. Cruise actually hung from the Burj Khalifa tower to film his stunts; lord knows why. Oh right: it's Tom Cruise.

The movie manages to keep the series in pace with the Bourne series. In this series, characters make elaborate plans that, one at a time like clockwork, go wrong. Just enough goes right each time that the mission can be fulfilled by a series of last-minute chases, falls, bumps, and dumb luck.

Good summer fun.

Moneyball - The kind of movie you would expect Robert Redford to direct, this is a baseball movie about geek gamer statistics and how they changed major league recruitment. Hiring "all around good players" was the old-school way to make a team; the new way is to focus on players who do exactly what is needed to win: get on base, score runss.

It's a clash between old-school and geek, and there's no surprise who wins, though the story (which is true) doesn't follow the usual formula exactly. A good movie.

The Muppets - I was expecting this to suck badly given all the promotion I saw (usually a lot of promotion means a bad movie). Instead it was pretty good. I'm a little hazy on remembering the details, but I think it was suitable for young kids, which is who it's really aimed at. The plot doesn't quite hold together enough for grownups: things turn around too quickly, too often.

The idea is similar to The Blues Brothers: Muppets have to reunite from their disparate locations and vocations to stage a benefit to raise money to save Muppet theater. Meanwhile, the main characters have be true to themselves.

The comedy, singing, and dancing are nice. If there was still a Muppet show on television, this movie would prove that the Muppets are still relevant. Without one, it's hard to see that the movie will revive the franchise. The YouTube videos aimed at grownups are doing a better job of keeping them alive (for grownups, at least).

One Day - Another movie based on a book, this one is the story of a couple told over the course of several years. Each scene focuses on the same day in the next year, wherever, and with whomever, the two leads happen to be. It all goes well until a major plot point which takes us into cliched romance territory, which was both predictable and disappointing.

Forgettable chick-flick.

The Time Traveler's Wife - Yet another movie based on a book. Like most movies based on books, people who love the book love to hate the movie because they think the movie left out this or changed that. Grow up, people. A movie based on a book is a retelling of a story, not "the book in film format". It must be judged on its own merits.

The movie is lovely. Like most time travel stories, parts of it make no sense, and you have to give them a pass for those parts. The story is about a man whose main life stream is constantly interrupted as he travels suddenly back or forward in time - and space - but only to a very specific range of time and space, much of it in close proximity to his own past, the past of the girl he ends up marrying, or his future daughter (only as a young girl).

The sci-fi, like all good sci-fi, is used a metaphor for a man who is not always present, or about the course of a relationship. It's artfully done and romantic, but a bit sentimental for those who don't like that kind of thing (definitely a chick-flick). It inspired me to buy the book, so that I can become one of those people.

The Puerto Rico Slaughter

2012-01-22T10:35:00.000+02:00

Nadine slaughtered me, Bill, and Shirley in Puerto Rico.

Bill and Shirley are newer players. The position order was Nadine, Bill, me, Shirley. Bill's effect on me was to take coffee before my coffee; neither one of us produced coffee until past mid-game. I was already behind Nadine who had an early Factory and then Harbor, and I made the mistake of taking Factory on turn 8 or 9; that gave me lots of useless money by the end of the game but no points. I also made the mistake of not taking a Wharf a few turns before the game ended, instead taking buildings to complete my Guild Hall. I didn't anticipate how often I could have used it by the end of the game. Not that it would have made much difference.

Shirley's effect on Nadine was give her an early trade; this let Nadine get an early Factory and then Harbor. Nadine went on to get Custom's House and Wharf. Shirley also had a Harbor, so it was in her interests to keep taking Captain; this let her ship 4 or 5 points to Nadine's 9 or 10 points and also let Nadine take Craftsman again (instead of having to take Captain and Craftsman on alternate turns). My money-heavy strategy was only sufficient to beat Bill and Shirley.

Shirley had a tobacco monopoly which she used for trading but only occasionally for shipping.

Scores: Nadine 79 (44 shipping, 11 Custom's House), me 55, Shirley and Bill 52.

Jerusalem and Raanana Session Reports

2012-01-19T11:39:00.000+02:00

Raanana report by me: Power Grid, Antike, Ticket to Ride Norway, Detroit-Cleveland Grand Prix. And by Ellis: Power Grid.

Jerusalem report by Nadine: Nile, Year of the Dragon.

I played Mancala on Friday night with a young girl during dinner. The rules with which we played: 6 bowls on each side, 1 bin on the right for each player. 4 stones per bowl. On your turn, pick up and deliver, skipping opponent's bin. If you land in your bin, go again. If you land in an empty space on your side, take the stone and all stones in the opposing bowl and place them in your bin, but only if opponent has at least 1 stone in the opposing bowl. Keep playing until all stones are in bins.

I won the first game and we tied on the second. I think she was used to winning, which is why she stopped after two games. But she handled herself pretty well.

You're Fired!

2012-01-15T12:41:00.000+02:00

Definition: "Fired", as in "Fired up!" - On fire, hot, doing great, doing great work.

Hey managers! Your task today is to go around your office and randomly tell people "You're Fired!" Tell them loud enough so that their coworkers can overhear. Pump your fist in the air and make the "Woo Hah!" sound, too. It's a great way to increase morale!

Jerusalem and Raanana Session Reports; Hypnotism

2012-01-12T22:55:00.000+02:00

Raanana games played: Power Grid.

Jerusalem games played: Jungle Speed, London.

Hypnotism

I was in an audience with a practicing stage hypnotist. I don't know what I was expecting, but I was not expecting my reaction: I was disgusted. I walked out.

The subjects were made to forget their names, the number three, etc. When they could not (or would not) count, the audience laughed. The subjects smiled sheepishly. The hypnotist did not use any hypnotic induction; he just passed his hand over their heads and held it in front of their eyes for a moment, and then announced, out loud, what the subjects were going to do incorrectly.

My first thoughts were that, of course, this was bunk. But, then again, not necessarily. Although magic is bunk, some odd things about the human mind and body have some truth to them, even if the stories that surround them are nonsense. E.g. acupuncture apparently does have some real effect on reducing pain.

My second thought was that the performance, whether real or fake, was obscene. It's one thing to laugh at TV people being idiots for fun in a sitcom, or people in power (like politicians) being idiots. It's another thing to laugh at friends who are under the influence of suggestion. Even if they agreed to be hypnotized, they are being made to look like fools while helpless. It's embarrassing, like laughing at the handicapped. If it was a serious demonstration, I would have found it interesting ... scary and creepy, but interesting. But not for entertainment. So I walked out.

I asked the subjects after the fact, and they both denied any sort of collusion or trickery on their part. Neither was embarrassed at what had happened.

The odd part is that Israel is one of the few countries where stage hypnosis is absolutely illegal. I don't know how this guy gets away with doing it in public. He was a good stage magician, so the hypnosis wasn't necessary for his act. I have no problems with magic acts.

Two Near Car Crashes

2012-01-08T00:20:00.000+02:00

Friday Morning I went to see a small exhibit of Chinese/Japanese prints in the library of the Japanese embassy in Tel Aviv. The prints were lovely, but the exhibition was small, so I was done looking around quickly. While my friends were talking, I looked through the books until I found the Go section.

Bill and I drove from there to Jerusalem together, while Shirley and the others took the bus. I stopped on the way to do my exchanges in my first Israeli math trade. I traded In the Shadow of the Emperor for Through the Desert, and Aton for both No Thanks and Lucca Citta. This required stops in Petach Tikvah and Maccabim/Reut.

As we were driving from Reut to Maccabim, some guy (talking on a cell phone, natch) entered from my left and swerved into my lane (on the right). He didn't see me until my car tires were screeching as I jerked over to the right to avoid him. He glanced at me and continued on his way.

From Reut to Jerusalem, I was in the left lane trying to work up speed on an incline. A car a few hundred meters in front of me in the center lane suddenly started screeching and stopped. I reacted a little slowly, but finally slammed on my brakes when I saw that the car had halted right in front of a couch stretched across the middle lane and some of the left lane.

Although I stomped on the brakes, my car continued to slide forward, screeching the whole time. I was headed straight for the car in the center lane, but I couldn't turn my car; I had absolutely no control over the direction; stopping was taking a heck of a long time.

I saw we were not going to stop in time and I braced for impact; it looked like we were going to hit the side of the car. No one was going to get hurt, assuming that the guy didn't decide to open his car door or something. However, in the end, my car screeched past the other car, missing it by a few inches and stopping just shy of the couch.

A flatbed was ahead on the side of the road, obviously the one off of which the couch had fallen. I pulled over to the same side and took a few breaths to steady my nerves before continuing on. I said bircat Hagomel in shul the next day.

I saw Eitan, Emily, Bill, and Shirley after dinner on Friday night, and Bill and Shirley went out to a movie on Sat night. Two more weeks and they go back to the US.

Raanana and Jerusalem Session Reports

2012-01-05T10:06:00.003+02:00

Raanana: Ellis' report here, and my report here. Games played: Gobblet Junior, Sushizock im Gockelwok, Power Grid, Ticket to Ride Europe, Ticket to Ride Scandinavia

Jerusalem: Nadine's report here. Games played: Notre Dame, Microscope (RPG), Puerto Rico, London, Lo Ra.

New and returning people at both events.

Ten Weird and Wonderful Song Transformations

2012-01-04T17:50:00.000+02:00

Here are ten weird and wonderful cover songs on Youtube in no particular order, covering but utterly transforming an original smash pop hit. Most of the original songs are Hip Hop. Most of the transformations are soul or folk.

1. Tori Amos covers Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit

Tori Amos does a lot of soulsy covers of odd source material, including heavy metal and death metal originals (e.g. Raining Blood by Slayer).

2. Einat & Hakim cover The Black Eyed Peas' I Got a Feeling

These guys are pretty funky Israelis.

3. Alanis Morissette covers The Black Eyed Peas' My Humps

A joke, but shows that Alanis can't help sounding good even when she's not trying.

4. Jonathan Coulton covers Sir Mix-a-Lot's Baby Got Back

Also a joke, I suppose, but it's hard to listen to this and think that he's not singing something profound.

5. Pomplamoose covers Beyonce's Single Ladies

Pomplamoose has a number of odd, weird, funky covers, including an awesome cover of Lady Gaga's Telephone (which itself has an entire bevy of weird covers, from country rock to classical).

6. Sarah Bareilles covers Beyonce's Single Ladies

Another cover of Single Ladies, this demonstrates Sarah's talents, which go far beyond simple pop and ballad numbers.

7. Karmin covers Chris Brown's Look at Me Now

The most viewed cover on Youtube (56 million views and counting), the cover is funny, sweet, and silly; the original song is none of these. It's dumb, racist, sexist, stupid, and talentless. Karmin does a number of other interesting covers.

8. Mat Weddle covers Outkast's Hey Ya

Mat is aka Obadiah Parker.

9. Butch Walker covers Taylor Swift's You Belong With Me

Taylor twitted about how much she liked this cover and invited Butch to integrate his sound into one of her performances. Skip to about 2:40 if you don't want to see Butch peeing.

10. Greyson Chance covers Lady Gaga's Paparazzi

There are lots of kids and amateur wannabees covering pop songs on Youtube, but few can transform a recognizable smash pop hit and - astoundingly - make it better. And he's only 13, for crying out loud.

Bonus

Birdy covers Bon Iver's Skinny Love

Bon Ivers is relatively unknown, and the original song is folk music. But it's still amazing. And she's only 15 years old.

Jerusalem Session Report and wishes for 2012

2011-12-30T12:17:00.002+02:00

The latest Jerusalem Strategy Gaming Club session report is up. Games played: Nile, Agricola.

I had a difficult and tumultuous 2011, with a few bright spots. I hope you all had an easier and happier year, and I wish you all a happy, memorable, and peaceful 2012.

True Hearing

2011-12-28T15:03:00.000+02:00

A non-gamer hesitating on his first turn in a simple filler game with me recently made the following comment: I don't like not knowing what to play.

The very act of calculation against the unknown possibilities was not fun for him. I wanted to explain that decision-making was the definition of fun; I had to fight myself to listen to what he was actually saying: I don't find this fun. It was a difficult, but important, struggle. I think of decision making as the heart of a game and the heart of the fun. This is not the case for everyone.

Some people don't enjoy games, period. Some enjoy the company. Some like to watch what happens, and may even be excited about the game as it happens; they just don't want to guess. Let them pick a card or tell them to roll the dice. Give them a skill to perform or all the information they need for a quick calculation, but don't force them do math or memory or decide whether or not to buy something with a hidden value.

We need to listen to our gamers, just like we need to listen to our children or our parents when they tell us something. We can't just think that they're not seeing it the right way.

Raanana Session Report

2011-12-28T13:58:00.000+02:00

Participants: Laurie, Daniel, Ellis, Jon, Rochelle

I arrived as Laurie set up a filler game Piece o Cake for Ellis, Laurie, and me to play. This was the first play for all of us. It's a simple food-themed game of set collection with a divide and offer mechanic. There are five piles of cards.

Cards are worth a small number of points if they are "consumed" as soon as they are acquired, or nothing if not consumed; if, however, you have the most in a set of unconsumed cards, you gain a larger number of points. For instance, a cherry pie slice may be worth 7 points for having the most unconsumed slices at the end of the game (it doesn't matter how many of them you have, so long as you have the most), or they may be worth 2 points each if you simply consumed them. Note that if you will acquire all the cherry pie slices during the game, your best move it to consume all but one of them: the 6 slices will then be worth 2 points each consumed, and the remaining slice will be worth 7 points as the majority holder of unconsumed slices.

On each turn, someone opens a stack of 11 cards and arranges them into a circle without changing their order. The player then divides the cards into groups by the number of players; the division must not rearrange any of the arcs, but the division does not have to have an equal number of cards in each circle. Players then, in turn, select a group and consumes or not each of the cards in the group. Repeat for 5 turns. Score.

On turn three I had essentially reduced the game to its math, including how many points I was wasting trying to maintain majorities and how many slices were left in the deck so as to determine whether I really needed to keep one more slice unconsumed. Even with tracking, the game still holds interest, since you don't know the order in which the cards will turn up or how the other players will divide them. Ellis consumed nearly all of his slices. I squeaked out a win by 1 point over Laurie.

I then taught Rochelle, Ellis, Laurie, and Daniel how to play Amun Re. Of course, I changed the theme of stage four, and also changed the power card that lets you correct the offering value. In the latter case, I let players decide to use these cards after seeing the results of the offering and also to act in collusion. Even with these boosts, the cards were used only once to boost the offering from level 3 to 4.

I won the money war in the first half, and I was tied for the lead in points. I messed up round four by not buying the best province, ceding it to Daniel instead. I spent a lot of money to build my pyramids in the second half. On the last round, I wasn't able to complete four complete pyramid sets by a few gold. In fact, completing the sets lost me so much gold that I received no bonus points for money at the end. Meanwhile, Ellis solidified his points in the second half. On the last round, his bribe bonus was two power cards, both of which gave him extra money from the harvest, which was enough to bump his money holdings to first place. He was five points behind me in scoring, and then he took his six point bonus for money and ended the game one point ahead of me.

Daniel ended one point ahead of Laurie, about 8 points behind Ellis and me. Rochelle brought up the rear. The game took just shy of three hours to teach and play.

P.S. The JSGC had a game day on Hanukkah. Games played: Highland Clans, El Grande, Egizia, Princes of Florence, Louis XIV, Year of the Dragon.

38 Years of Bridge With These Guys

2011-12-25T23:58:00.000+02:00

I stopped in for a quick dinner at my brother's house, attended also by my other brother's family and my mother (and my son).

I've been playing Bridge with my brothers and mother for 38 years now. It's surprising how poor I am at the game (well, mediocre, actually) after all this time, especially since the skills I learned from Bridge help me to do fairly well at most other games. Still, it's nice that we're still playing together after 38 years.

As far as holidays goes, Hanukkah is a pretty nice one' hope you're having a nice one if you celebrate it. Merry Christmas to the rest of you.

Some Hanukkah vids:

Guests or Not

2011-12-24T23:26:00.001+02:00

Bill and Shirley came for shabbat, bringing decadent donuts from Roladin. These are donuts with fillings, icings, decorations, and even little syringe tubes with more filling that you can inject into your pastry moments before ingesting them. Over the top, but tasty.

Rochelle came over for lunch. After lunch, we all played Tichu. I taught them, we played two hands, and I won both hands. Then I taught them Apples to Apples, which I also won. Then I taught them For Sale, which I also won. Really, guys, I don't win every game I play, it was an accident. I tried throwing Apples to Apples rounds by playing cards that couldn't possibly get picked, but they started going for ironic or ridiculous choices and picked my cards anyway. It's hard to throw a game of Apples to Apples.

Anyhoo, after shabbat my guests left and I prepared for a small party I was throwing, my first in Raanana. I had sent invitations to everyone I currently know in the area (and some I don't). The only replies I got were from people who were not coming. I heard tell of three people who might come, and some people said that they might try to drop by toward the end.

Only one person (other than my kids) came. We talked a little and I showed him my Hanukkah Jeopardy game for this year. And these were probably among the best latkes I ever made, and some pretty good brownies, too. More for me, I guess.

Huh, I think there's something wrong with my belt.

I Had a Busy Weekend

2011-12-18T00:08:00.003+02:00

First off, last week's Jerusalem Strategy Gaming Club's session report is up, in which they play Train of Thought too seriously.

Thursday evening was my my only niece's bat-mitzvah. I picked up my kids and we drove out to the boondocks to their little community of Kochav Hashachar. The bat mitzvah was small but nice. Sis-in-law gave a heartfelt speech. Niece read a nice dvar torah (written in part or more by other sis-in-law).

Saarya, Tal, and me; pic by sis-in-law

After the bat-mitzvah, I slept in Jerusalem. Friday morning I was supposed to meet someone, but she cancelled. I found myself with some free time in Talipot right next to the wedding of a Facebook friend, a wedding I didn't think I would be around for. I dropped in to say hi and stayed to see the reception.

Friday evening I went to my old Carlebach shul and said hi to half the community that I had left when I moved to Raanana. Nadine joined me at my mom's house for dinner. After dinner, I read the first two chapters of Another Fine Myth to Tal, whereupon she finished the rest of the book. Classic.

Sat I went to the other shul I used to frequent and said hi to the other half of the community. Lunch was at Nadine's with the games gang and sundry: Nadine, me and Tal, Bill and Shirley (visiting from the US), Eitan and Emily, Shani and Shachar, Adam, and some moms. After lunch, a couple played Glen More, a group played Small World Underground, and I taught Shirley, Adam, and Nadine to play Inca Empire.

I hoped IE wouldn't take more than two hours, just like the people playing SWU hoped it would be a short game. Each of them took about 3.5 hours. I won IE with some major road playing at the end (I was forced to do this, since I was low in workers, but I was receiving a number of bonus roads from the played cards). I netted a good 20 or so points from this.

Nadine looked like she was winning for most of the third age, having played the card that let her (and only her) net 7 points a round from one of the temple/cities. But in the end she only ended the third age a few points ahead of me, and my board was stronger.

Adam suffered greatly from the loss of many roads in undiscovered areas (I warned everyone, and most of us (including me) lost a bunch of roads to this card several times). Shirley was pretty close to Nadine's position.

Sat night I went to see a showing of The Golem, the 1920 movie, playing alongside a live trio playing musical accompaniment to the silent film. The Golem is a good movie from a historical perspective, much in the way that a talented five year old can produce something quite enjoyable to look at, but not really be in the caliber of something objectively good.

The acting and direction is beyond bad; it's that stereotype of old silent films that is so weird that you wonder if the actors on film are actually Martians. They exhibit emotions and make movements that I've never seen any humans make in real life. What were they thinking? This was probably the height of good acting and directing in its day, and it looks ridiculous (I will mention in contrast that Charlie Chaplin films hold up quite well, even today). I was trying not to laugh out loud during the smoldering romantic or hysterical wailing scenes.

The story is well formed, though entirely straightforward and unsubtle. The cuts are kind of erratic, and, of course, they knew little about smart camera work or sensible lighting. It's supposed to be a horror movie, but it's not scary in the least. Except for its insulting portrayal of Jews.

And why is everyone, even the romantic leads, so ugly?

The live music was nice, though a few parts were kind of loud. The musicians are brilliant players; I prefer to simply hear them play their music without them having to sync it to a movie.

Raanana Session Report, in which I play Settlers with two Rochelles

2011-12-14T22:04:00.000+02:00

Participants: Laurie, Daniel, Jon, Ellis, Rochelle, Rochelle 2

Game night at Laurie and Daniel's as usual. Rochelle 2 is a friend of mine who was willing to try something new; she has no previous experience with games as an adult.

Dominion+

Jon 27, Laurie 11, Ellis 10, Daniel 6

Scores approximate. I brought over my box of four Dominion games and selected a random assortment from all of them.

Kingdoms: Market, Great Hall, Masquerade, Swindler, Ironworks, Sea Hag, Tactician, Bishop, Bank, Expand. No Platinum or Colony.

This is the first play for any Dominion expansions by the others. Actually, they're all still in single digit plays for Dominion altogether. Turns are still kind of slow going. There was a lot of trashing, of course. Swindler has the side effect of causing piles of cards to disappear rather quickly, which is why the game ended up with three piles gone, rather than the usual Provinces. I managed to nab three Provinces before the game ended, all by using Tactician.

An interesting combo was Ironworks to take Great Hall, which gave two out of the three bonuses with no drawbacks. Swindler also handed out a lot of curses, mostly to Daniel.

Settlers of Catan

Jon 10, Rochelle 7, Rochelle 2 5

Rochelle had played this once before but had forgotten many of the rules. So it was essentially a first play for both of them. They both picked it up without much difficulty. The resource distribution was pretty even, and so were the dice rolls. No one had to toss out cards from a roll of 7.

Rochelle took Longest Road fairly early. She also acquired a port mid-game, but it wasn't one she could use. Rochelle 2 built a few settlements and was often one road away from taking Longest Road from Rochelle, though she never threatened to do so. Luck was against her, and she often rolled up a resource right after she had traded for it.

I built an early settlement and then city on the ore, and then city on the brick. I had a port for brick and used it nicely. I ended the game with my ninth board point and a revealed development victory point.

Race for the Galaxy

Ellis, Daniel, Laurie

I didn't see how the game (or games) went. They actually play with an expension or two thrown in, though I don't know which.

An Irresistable Plea

2011-12-12T09:25:00.001+02:00

A game company is asking - begging - me to change their game to make it better. To add some "zazz". They're offering me (a currently unspecified amount of) money to do so.

It's a children's educational game. The thing is that the game is actually already pretty good. Yeah, it's roll and move with parent/child discussions about the topic interrupting the game flow, but it has nice components, a decent flow, quick turns, catch-up mechanisms, some clever collection mechanics, and engaging ideas. The topic is interesting and universal. In fact, there are three games in the box, and at least one of them (what appears to be the throwaway third game played only with the game cards) looks like a lot of fun, even for grown up game geeks like me.

The game has already won several industry awards and recommendations (some of these are handed out just for showing up, I think) and garnered good reviews from players and educational professionals alike. Of course I can throw some modern game ideas at them, but I am constrained by being not allowed to change the board or cards, only the rules.

I'm not sure what I can do for them, but I'm thinking it over. Even with the constraints there is a lot to work with.

A Growly in the Garden

2011-12-10T21:04:00.001+02:00

For lunch I had a guy and his three kids (ages 14, 9 and 7) and a single woman. The guy and kids (and his wife, who couldn't come) are homeschoolers and game lovers. They are hoping to have me over some time to play Settlers with them 4-player. The 14 year old was suitably impressed with the game collection and took some time to look through some of my Magic cards.

After lunch, I taught them Pit. The woman (who is not really a gamer) didn't care for it, and the youngest one had some trouble with it (actually, all of them kept forgetting that you couldn't pass the bear alone). But the others really liked it.

The family then taught me a game that they had brought over, A Growly in the Garden. It's a cooperative kid's game with some interesting risk calculation. There is a 4x4 grid you have to fill with flowers (tiles), and a ring of spaces for tiles around the grid. You gradually flip tiles, and must place them as they appear. Some of the tiles are growlies who eat flowers in a row or column, unless they are scared away by scarecrows or get the special item they need to go back to bed. Your job is not only to preserve as many of your flowers as you can, but also have the growlies get their items without going away sad. I told them that I thought it had a subtle ecological theme.

Like most coops, it's easy for one player to dominate with his suggestions to the other players. Unlike most co-ops, or any games, for that matter, there is no clear win or loss at the end, only a final score.

As kid's games go, it's pretty good. Still, I wish there had been some more tension. Co-op games have become more interesting since Dr Knizia tinkered with them, and there's no reason that kid's games can't adopt a bit more of that interest.

Raanana Session Report, in which I teach Agricola

2011-12-07T10:00:00.001+02:00

Participants: Laurie, Jon, Daniel, Rochelle

Ellis was in the middle of moving. He should be back next week.

Race for the Galaxy

Laurie 40, Jon 38

I arrived early and Laurie chose this as a two-player game for us. We played with no specific two-player rules, just one role each round.

I picked too many 6 point cards early on and had to toss most of them out. Still, I didn't fare too badly. I played the 6 pointer that makes other developments cost 2 less early on, and then I mistaken played a development which I thought gave me another 2 discount on further developments, but I noticed later that it gave 2 discount on worlds, not developments. That put a kink in my plans.

Laurie meanwhile started taking victory points early and ended the game when I only had 9 buildings out. My second mistake was not to realize that this was going to happen and to build in what was sure to be the last round, instead of uselessly produce. Really, the only thing that bothers me about this game is the way that it suddenly ends and the way one player can rush the ending out under another. I would like the game a lot more if it simply went 12 rounds or something.

Agricola

Daniel 34, Jon 29, Laurie 26, Rochelle 23

We started the explanation for this at around 8:30 and finished the game at just before 12. It's an odd game in that it has a lot to explain, and even during the game there is a sense of being overwhelmed, but the basic flow is easy to grasp. This is in contrast to other games that are difficult to explain but not overwhelming once the game is in play, like Princes of Florence, or remain overwhelming and also hard to understand the flow, like Puerto Rico.

Daniel insisted that we draw and keep our fourteen cards, rather than do something to ameliorate the luck factor, since it would only do to help the newer players. In fact, I drew reasonably well; nobody had any real game killers.

I played unusually with a lot of occupations and minor improvements, all of which helped me get points but not food. I didn't have a good food engine and so occasionally had to scramble for food at the last moment. I played a card early on that gave me four wood but also gave any player who ended the game without any negative points a five point bonus. That seems like overkill, since the person who has no negative points is typically winning anyway. I often end the game with no negative points, so I thought it couldn't hurt me.

Unfortunately, in the last two rounds when I needed at least one of the Plow actions (I had an improvement that let me plow three fields, rather than one), both were taken before I could get them. Not only did this leave me with negative spaces, it also left me scrambling for food, lacking points in the food items (I was also going to plow them, and no one else could effectively plow), and forced me to give up several other items since I had to use my actions elsewhere. It represented at least a 10 point loss for me.

Laurie also experienced people blocking what she needed on various occasions. She finally took the Start Player action, but didn't feel like it did much for her. Daniel is the only one who finished with no negative points, and the five points he got from my occupation card handed him the clear victory.

Raanana and Jerusalem Sessions Report

2011-12-01T18:30:00.000+02:00

Raanana

Participants: Daniel, Laurie, Ellis, Peleg, Tal, Jon

Back in the group for the first time in a few weeks. The games are currently held at Laurie and Daniel's house, so that they don't need to get a babysitter.

Finca: This game was set up and being explained as I arrived. Tal's eyes were glazed over, so I took her place. Daniel and Laurie played as a team.

Like the first time I played it, the game feels pastoral and mathematical, despite the pretty board and nice wooden fruit bits over which Laurie sat adoring. I don't mind it - not very high praise, but not damning either - and the calculations aren't that great, unless you want to start calculating what each of your opponents plans to do, which you really should but which I couldn't be bothered. As a result, I lost out on my final delivery.

Daniel and Laurie played slowly, but they also won by over 20 points. I came in last (actually Peleg left mid-game).

Dominion: We played with cards from the base set only, and it wasn't an inspiring set: Moat, Workshop, Bureaucrat, Gardens, Remodel, Thief, Laboratory, Library, Mine, Witch.

Actually, a Thief/Workshop/Gardens combo might have done well. But note that there are no extra buys and only Laboratory gave an extra action, and that only one. I played with the most Labs, with Moats, Gardens, and Remodels. I won by some 6 points over second. Ellis did poorly; I think he needs to play it more.

Jerusalem

Participants: Gili, Eitan, Jon, Estzer

My first play at the JSGC in quite some time, I just happened to have to be in Jerusalem on Wed evening. Knowing that Estzer cane from Hungary, I brought her a game that I received from someone while I was in Hungary but which contains no English instructions. I hope she will be able to translate the rules for me (BGG has been no help in this regard).

Detroit-Cleveland Grand Prix: I had played this at the Dallas games group on the night before my first BGG.con, and had been interested in picking it up ever since. It's rare to find a mid-weight strategy game that works well for up to six. It worked fine with four, too.

I read the rules briefly, but messed up a few of the rules, without any detriment to the game. For one thing, I allowed people to move cars in any order, rather than in the order listed on the card. This provided more, rather than less decision making, so I don't think it was a bad thing, but also made more cards more useful. I also allowed people to immediately play a movement card together with a switch card and had the switch card expire right before their next turn. Apparently this is a good thing, as none of us would have been willing to sacrifice a turn to play a switch card, otherwise.

I also had the last round give a double payout, bit Eitan (who was leading before the last round) objected to this after the fact, since it makes a lucky swing of events in the last round too punishing.

Our biggest objection to the game was that people whose car had already finished (and sometimes even those whose cars had not finished) had too much kingmaking power on the final results. In the case of players whose cars have all finished, I could solve this by having them play their cards randomly and the cars moved in the order on the card (which is how the game is supposed to be played). However, this doesn't address all kingmaking situations. It remains a flaw in the game, perhaps a small flaw if you go into the game accounting for this.

Otherwise, we all enjoyed the game experience, though I lost very badly. Gili won.

Hearts: I wanted to teach Team Hearts, but it turns out that Estzer hadn't even played Hearts, so it was enough for her to learn just the rules for the regular game. We played two hands; in the second hand we played with teams, but didn't use any particular passing conventions.

Day 19-20: A Round of Applause

2011-11-22T09:35:00.001+02:00

Sunday morning my friends dropped me at the Westin and began their trip back to KC.

Pax

I wandered around the gaming area looking for something short to play and finally joined a game of Pax. Pax is a short card game about contesting Rome. It's a set collection game with one of two objects. If, between all players, at least one player beats the board in at least four of the seven categories, then each player scores the points on their board and the player with the most points wins. Otherwise, players score only the points in one category (intrigue) and the player with the most points wins.

They call it semi-cooperative, but it's not really. I didn't understand all the rules until the end of the short game, so I didn't fare too well. It's not a bad filler, from what I could tell. I need to try it again to see if there's anything to the game.

BGG.con was very enjoyable and, as usual, amazingly well run. I and my friends all had a great time. I end up playing less games than it would seem time would allow, but more than it would seem possible. I meet many other gamers, people who know games and aren't puzzled or confused as to why I play them or how to play them. But mostly, I simply meet nice people, people whose work I admire and/or the occasional fan of my own blog or games.

Flights

I caught the 10:00 am shuttle to DFW. People on the shuttle discussed games they played. At the airport waiting for the flight to Toronto they discussed games they played.

I saw a redhead in line, and asked her if she was Jewish, divorced, around 40, and hoping to live in Israel, just to be sure I didn't miss my last opportunity to find one on my trip, but no such luck. While waiting for the flight, I heard a sustained thunder of applause that continued for ten minutes; it was a group of American soldiers returning on some flight, I assume from Iraq.

I watched Unknown, a thrilled about a man in Germany whose life is suddenly co-opted by someone else (even his wife appears not to know him) and his struggle to figure out what's happening. It was ok, well acted, and January Jones is always a pleasure (though she doesn't have much to do). Similar to The Bourne Identity series, but a little less so; doesn't add anything new, anyway.

Bought some Canadian Club in Toronto, used the free wi-fi, and then flew to Israel. I watched Bad Teacher. No one to root for and not funny enough. She supposedly undergoes a little personal growth by the end of the movie, but it was hard to see when that happened. I watched Hannah. It was quite good, with good attention paid to the cinematography, something they sometimes forget about in American made movies. Well acted, it's at or near the top of the pile for assassin movies.

I also watched some Modern Family and The Big Bang Theory. I didn't sleep much. In all, I was awake from Sunday morning 6:00 am Dallas time until Monday evening 8:00 pm Israeli time, with about an hour of dozing on the plane.

All my kosher food was in place on all my flights, and I experienced no delays.

The Haul

Games I hauled back include Navegador and Inca Empire (secret santa gifts sent to my hotel), Troyes (bought with box damage from Z-Man), Innovation, Amun Re, Detroit Cleveland Grand Prix, El Capitain (these four acquired through the virtual flea market), Highland Clans (aka Mac Robber), Train of Thought (these two from registration), some Magic cards, and one other game which I'm forgetting right now.

I return to massive amounts of cleaning, bill sorting, and all the other mundane tasks of life, jetlagged and still a little sick from my chill in Ireland. The trouble with vacations is that they come to an end.

Nadine blogs

Nadine has blogged the trip as well here.

Day 18: Shabbat in Dallas

2011-11-20T06:49:00.001+02:00

Shabbat

Shabbat was with my friend David. He made a vegetarian meal for us (pizza, with a tofu one for me). Friday night we also went to a "tish" reception for a visiting rabbi. Many of the other synagogue members were away for another member's wedding (or something), so it was a low-key reception.

At the tish the ewish geography was thick. I think there comes a point in Jewish geography when it's just a way of turning the conversation back to yourself. "I went to Cornell and ..." "(interrupting) Oh! I have a cousin who went to Cornell!"

Lunch and several shiurim at the synagogue, and I still felt sick, so I slept for nearly the rest of shabbat. We packed up and raced back to BGG.con with the expectation that I was supposed to finish up the scoring and present the award for Spare Squares.

Back at the Con

Like my arrival on Tuesday, everything was already done by the time I got back. Participation in the game was good (over 50 submissions). Most of the entries were in track A, which had 12 perfect scores. The rest were in the other tracks, each of which had a single winner. Owing to wanting to get through the awards ceremony as quickly as possible, Aldie simply announced the winners. I didn't get to tell a joke I had prepared for the announcements.

Still, I shook hands with the winners and heard some good things about the game, which appeared (despite the color problem) to have gone fairly well.

After this, I finally got in touch with the remaining people who were selling me used games.

Nadine and I played a game of Agricola with Jim Ginn and Chris Brooks. Jim played some amazing food production cards, but didn't follow through with the rest of the goods (animals, farm spaces, etc). Nadine didn't seem to move anywhere, except for her clay house. Chris did well with animals and house, etc, but I managed to squeak a 2 point victory over him in the end.

It was a good game, especially the company. Chris and Jim are just two of the nicest people I know.

We left early to go back to the hotel room, eat some kosher frozen dinners, repack for tomorrow, and sleep.

Day 17: Half-Day, Actually

2011-11-18T22:41:00.001+02:00

We are leaving in a moment from the Westin hotel to go to my friend David for shabbat.

This morning I played:

- A game called "Goblin Market" using a special deck of cards called Decktet. The cards each have two or three suits out of six them, and the numbers go from 1 to 10. The game was a simple auction game, where your score is the number of suits symbols you have in three suits minus the number you have in the other three. You gain money in a couple of ways during the bidding. I enjoyed it, though I realized mid-game that it was going to be hard for anyone to get more than 5 or 6 points, and that the maximum score was 14.

- Inca Empire: On my wish list, and I've always wanted to try it. It took a lot longer than I expected it would, or maybe it only felt that way, but it was still a very good solid game of route connection and resource management (with a punish the leader catch up system that works well). I thought that one of the rounds could have been eliminated.

I'm having a tough time finding the people I am selling games to/buying games from, but I'm down to only two left. They don't answer their phones. Hopefully I will find them on Sat night.

Ok. Shabbat shalom.

Yehuda

Day 16: Many New Games

2011-11-18T14:54:00.001+02:00

Games Played

Belfort: A worker placement, area control game by Tasty Minstrel Games. with a fantasy city building game. Actually, the only fantasy element is that you have elves, dwarfs, and gnomes as workers, instead of humans with specialties. The artwork is pretty but very busy, making the game appear to be FFG level complex when it's really straightforward worker placement.

Place guys to earn money, resources, more guys, or bonuses, including private worker placement locations. use resources to buy buildings in the five areas. Reward control in the areas after rounds 3, 5, and 7. Works fine, but nothing new.

Nefarious: Another game by Donald Vaccarino, designer of Dominion. Yesterday's other new game by him (Kingdom Builders) was pleasant enough spacial manipulation, but not really special imho. This one is better.

It's a bare distilled Race For the Galaxy/7 Wonders with a very light invention theme. The game is nothing but cards. Each round, all players select one of four roles to play and reveal. Each player ears money for the roles selected by his neighbors if he has assigned meeples to that role on his board. Then the players do the roles in number order. 1) assign meeples to roles. 2) pay money to play invention cards. These give points and usually a benefit like earn or lose cards or money. 3) take 2 coins and an invention card. 4) take four coins.

Repeat until someone has 20 points. One more thing: each game, two random special rules (out of 30 or so) that modify the game are revealed at the beginning of the game. That's it.

It was quick (20-30 minutes normally), challenging, and essentially perfect. However, in our game we drew the absolute worst two special rule combination possible (I checked afterwards, and I'm not exaggerating). After every invention was played, everyone other than the one who played the invention lost all of his or her money. It made for some frustration, but some humor as well. Plays for up to five, I think. Unfortunately, FunAgain was charging $60 for this card game, which was way too much.

Tanto Cuore: Nearly an exact clone of Dominion, except it's from Japan, so the game is themed about hiring maids with various skimpy outfits (nothing too salacious). It was being demoed by a girl wearing a skimpy outfit, too; she must have been freezing in the hall. The cards were unique to the game, at least, and there were a few minor rule twists, but nothing that changed it from being Dominion.

Meltdown 2020: A "rescue all your guys from the board" game, usually seen in a fire or volcano themed game. This one had hexes with scattered nuclear plants, which melted down. The more they melted, the more damage they did to neighboring citizens. Each citizen could take three cumulative points until dead. You had three vehicles of various sizes and capacity to rescue them. And the entire game ended if the plants hit a certain level.

It's a light filler route planning game, although I expect it's marketed and priced as a full meaty game. It was good. Didn't inspire me to buy it, but I'd happily play it.

7 Wonders: I joined yet another game, and played straight blue again. This time I was entirely straight blue, earning 15 points from my wonders, 37 points from blue, and -5 from military. That was it. I came in third with 47. The two winners each has 53.

Walnut Grove: By Lookout Games. This is a meaty western themed town and farm game. It was late, so I don't feel I gave it my all. There are eight rounds (years) to the game. Each year has four seasons: pick farm tiles and add to your farm, allocate workers to produce goods on the farm (one good for every contiguous tile in an area), move your guy in the large town rondel to buy stuff with your goods or buy more goods (worker placement, pay money every once in a while), pay your farm hands in food and heat.

It's a tough system, and you're (at least I was) constantly struggling for food and heat, making progress very difficult. There are many avenues for victory points, most of which I never had time to explore.

If you enjoy the Alea games, this will fit in nicely; if you don't, you'll probably be tired of games with pastoral themes and pushing cubes about. I'm happy to play again until I can get a handle on the game, at least.

Indian Food

For lunch, my friends and I went to Dallas to the one of three kosher eateries in Dallas, the Madras Pavilion. It's veggie Indian, authentic enough that most of the people eating there were Indian rather than visibly Jewish. It was also pretty spicy but good (better than my constant stream of cold cuts and peanut butter, anyway).

Day 15: Games and People

2011-11-17T08:14:00.001+02:00

I woke up early and slipped out to BGG.con at 7:00. The lines were just starting for registration that officially opened at . I parked my games and lunch on line and promptly left the line to go volunteer. For the next two hours I unpacked boxes, shelved games, and broke down boxes.

A number of others also volunteered, and all of us received our registration and goodies early. I left my stuff on the registration line anyway, so that Bill and Shirley could take it when they arrived (which they did at around 9:50). I didn't have a place held for Nadine, so she took a longer time to get through registration.

Nicer than all the games was seeing so many people again and having so many people come up to me to say that they know me from wherever.

What I Played

Agricola: I started with a game I already knew. The other three also knew the game already. Everyone was convinced that my RHO was going to trounce the rest of us, and he definitely had a huge improvements advantage. However, he also had no fields and 7 empty farm spaces. He came in third with 43 points. I won 47 to 46 over second place, also with a hefty improvement bonus.

Kingdom Builder: A new game from Queen by the designer of Dominion, this is a simple settlement/route creation abstract on a multi-terrained map. Think Through the Desert meets Taluva, perhaps. You place three guys on the selected terrain every round, but you always have to place your guys near your already existing guys if you can. You can earn special actions that let you split your settlement areas into multiple areas.

The trick is to find ways to split your territories and leave yourself with the flexibility of where to put your pieces each round to score best. Scoring is similar to TtD, but three special scoring optiona are available each round.

I thought it was good, but nothing special. The people I played with liked it more than I did. We had misinterpreted one of the special scoring cards, and so some of us were going for one type of area control while others were going for a different type; as a result, we weren't really playing the same game. I definitely won using one interpretation, but probably would have one with the other type as well.

The Manhattan Project: A new game from Minion Games (we played on a game that was half actual and half prototype components. It's a worker placement game of building atomic and plutonium bomb. The story was the same as it was for Kingdom Builder: I thought it was ok, the other players liked it more. There was an odd mechanic of getting your workers back and then spending them all in one turn on your buildings.

And once again it ended partially unresolved. I saved up and won the game with two bombs, only to discover that I only had 48 points, not the 50 needed. I easily had those other two points by taking an action on my previous turn, bit I didn't bother to take the action because I thought I had counted to 51. The others decided to give me the game, even though I was willing to continue, without rewarding my stupidity.

7 Wonders: Joined a game with 2 other experienced players and 2 newbies. I produced almost no goods and came second: Scores 55, 50 (me), 48, 43, 40.

Tichu: I wanted something short, so Rick Thornquist agreed to partner with me and we found two other players (Aaron and Sean). This was the shortest and most insane Tichu game I ever player. In half an hour - five hand - we lost 1000+ to less than zero. Our opponents bid and made three grand tichus. On on hand, opp opened a ten card straight that included a five card straight bomb. I bombed it with four jacks, opener bombed with four aces, and my partner bombed the aces with a straight flush. And they still succeeded with the grand tichu.

Crokinole: Jim Ginn and I played a game. We traded scores back and forth for a while, and then it took me four or five rounds, 5 points at a time, to finally win.

It's Alive: I taught this to some people. I lost; LHO won with the five point bonus.

Tobago: I stopped to teach this to three others, including the rep from Mayfair. I won, entirely due to my experience with amulets. We played with the curses, but said never again (with the original curse rules, anyway.

Nadine's Plays

Nadine played K2, Power Grid Sparks, Coney Island, Flashpoint, and Niagara. Bill and Shirley spent the entire day playing a single war game with each other.

Day 14: A Long Drive, A Welcome Return

2011-11-16T08:33:00.001+02:00

We woke early for our nine and a half hour drive from Kansas City to Dallas (actually, Irving). We miraculously fit everything in the car (including all of our food and snacks until Sunday). We drove south the entire way on I-35.

Kansas was flat and dull.

Oklahoma turned into some pretty territory after we passed Oklahoma City.

We didn't see much of Texas between the state line and Irving, but it was all steakhouses and other urban sprawl.

BGG.con

We arrived, unpacked, and walked over to the Westin. It was a heady, joyful feeling to be walking into a conference where I know I will have a great time, where a few people know me, and where I have a new game ready for people to enjoy.

I went straight to the administrative area, said hi to some good friends and the BGG admins and took a peek at the game cards for Spare Squares. As I had been told, the green and blue colors did not come out quite as I had expected (or as the graphic files look) and are closer in appearance than they should be. However, they are distinguishable when placed next to each other, so I think the game is still playable. Everything had already been packed up and placed in the kitty bags for registration, so I had nothing to do but play some games.

I showed Nadine how to play Crokinole. Then the four of us ate some dinner. Bill, Nadine and I sat down with someone who looked a little lonely to play a game of Roll Through the Ages. It's a dice-based game, so not one that's usually on my list. However, like many modern dice-based games, they try to make it so that nearly all the dice results are useful in some way or another, so that the choices you make are of primary importance.

You roll dice on your turn, adding results to complete bonuses: bonus points, bonus dice, bonus special abilities, etc, until the game is over, typically within 45 minutes. It was nice. However, there is barely any interaction in the game; a few attack results wouldn't have hurt the game (if the attacks could be handled in a manner that didn't end up in one player getting picked on).

I ended up winning, to my surprise.

Nadine and I then wandered around and found someone willing to teach us Troyes. A fourth person joined us as we learned the rules. It's another game of assigning dice for results, though quite different than the way Alien Frontiers handles it. It's actually quite complex, and the available options for gaining points is also complex, which makes it hard to wrap your head around. I thought I kind of figured out where it was going by mid game, but I ended up in last place. Nadine asked the most questions, and she ended up winning (I think, to her surprise; definitely to mine). I quite liked it, and hope to pick up a copy.

The Mayfair rep

Part of the library, not including Essen releases

The main room

Troyes

It's Alive iOS v1.1 Available

2011-11-15T07:54:00.001+02:00

An updated version of the iOS version of It's Alive is now available for download. Improvements include local leader boards, random start player, bug fixes, and additional features. Still at a fantastic price.

Go download it and leave a rating.

Day 13: Kosher, Spanish, and Chinese Style

2011-11-15T07:18:00.001+02:00

I feel like I slept through much of the day, a result of my jet lag and continuing sickness (slowly getting better, I think). As a result, most of what I recall are some images or driving around and food.

Me in Bill and Shirley's backyard

Kosher in Kansas City

The Hen House supermarket in Leawood has the most extensive kosher bakery I've ever seen in America, larger and more diverse even than several kosher bakeries I know in Brooklyn. It encompasses the entire supermarket bakery, and includes breads, cakes, donuts, pies, and everything else I expect to not be able to eat at a regular supermarket; all kosher. Very impressive.

The super also sports a kosher meat and deli counter with some prepared foods (similar to the one in Tom Thumb in Dallas), and the more ubiquitous three columns of frozen kosher products; there may have been shelves of non-frozen items as well, but I didn't look for it.

Spanish Architecture

We took a drive down Ward Parkway, a very wide and prestigious KC street that sports more elaborate mansions as you get closer to the plaza at the end of it.

The plaza is Country Club Plaza, a clean midtown shopping district dating back almost a century, but still looking pretty modern. The architecture contains Spanish influences with colored squares and diamonds. I didn't photograph the whole place or the most interesting places, just around the area where we sat down to eat.

Kansas City also apparently has a lot of fountains.

Everything on interest in KC is closed on Mondays, so the only other thing we could do was stop outside the WWI memorial and look out over downtown. We also checked out the science gift shop in Union Station (I almost bought a Star Wars Mad Libs for its high geek factor).

Looking up at the WWI memorial column

Looking over downtown KC; Union Station is in front

I went home to rest, and woke up to some more of Shirley's incredible cooking, a fusion of American and Chinese styles (but mostly Chinese). Yum.

Day 12: A Long Road and Good Friends

2011-11-14T18:44:00.001+02:00

After ten days of walking the lonely, beautiful country of Ireland, it is so wonderful to be back among good friends.

Traveling

The Sunday morning flight from Dublin to Newark was uneventful. The 757 had personal screens. I ended up watching three movies, all of which I had seen before.

The first was A Fish Called Wanda. The second was Music and Lyrics (I don't know why; I think I just wanted to hear the song). The third was My Sister's Keeper, over which I cried again. I just can't watch the beach scene (with that amazing song) and not leak like a faucet.

I was pre-cleared for US customs in Dublin airport. Dublin airport has a US only section of the airport (I remember when certain airports had an Israel-only section). So, in theory, I could just waltz over to my other flight at Newark.

However, I had tentatively discussed with my friend Yitzchak who lives in Teaneck about meeting him in the Newark airport. We didn't arrange a time or place, and I didn't have a mobile phone, and he hadn't exactly confirmed that he would come.

But I dutifully exited the secure section and wandered around the international terminal (C) and then the domestic terminal (A) to see if he was there, but he wasn't. Boingo gives 20 minutes of free internet, which was just enough for me to send him an email asking if he was around. He didn't respond by the time my free time ran out. So I checked in again through the ridiculously long security theater (1/2 hour) to my gate.

At the gate I found, for some odd reason, a free internet connection that existed for a brief time (around five minutes). Just enough time to see that my friend had responded and was, indeed, at the airport and headed over from terminal A to terminal C looking for me. I wrote back No! and dashed out of security. We finally found each other.

We talked until Nadine arrived; Nadine was in NJ and is joining my on my trip to KC and BGG.con before heading off to see her family. And so I went back through security for the third time. At least one of the guards was puzzled as why he had seen me before an hour earlier.

Our plane is small enough for me to wrap my arms around. Nadine and I played musical chairs with two other singles and a family of four in order to end up in contiguous seats.

Kansas City

Our friends Bill and Shirley picked us up and took us home and gave us an incredible meal at their lovely (ridiculously large and beautiful) house.

Shirley preparing dinner

Bill, Shirley, and Nadine

Monday will be shopping for kosher food and otherwise preparing for Tuesday's drive down to Dallas (actually, Irving).

Day 11: It's a Small Jewish World

2011-11-13T01:11:00.001+02:00

Coincidental meetings are common enough in Jewish circles that experiencing one, while it may get a surprised look and a laugh, is to be expected now and again.

So I was surprised, but not stunned, that Friday night dinner at the rabbi included two members of my synagogue from Jerusalem, friends from only a block away from where I lived. I wrote it off as coincidence. It's to be expected that a religious Jew passing through Ireland will have dinner at the rabbi's house, and it's merely coincidental that, if they are Israeli, I happened to know them.

But I was stunned when the same things happened the next day, with a different person at a different host's house. This time a very good friend of my (ex)step-daughter, and someone who had been in my house in Jerusalem on several occasions.

Like last shabbat, both meals by the warm and welcoming Jewish community members of Dublin were delicious.

Game Night

I headed out to central Dublin to meet some BGGers for a game night. It wasn't the brightest idea, as it meant a long trek in the cold while I'm sick. However, the people I met were lovely, and so was the evening.

Eoin on the right

Just don't expect me to remember their names, as I couldn't pronounce them. I gave Eoin (pronounced Owin) a copy of It's Alive as a gift; but then I decided to take a taxi back instead of a bus, and I was shy some cash, so he gave me some, so it ended up being kind of a sale.

They had never heard of my game, so we played that first. I'm not a fan of playing it five players, but the basic game worked out pretty well. The advantage of the basic game for five players is that both the high and low cards are worth something; since it's a while between each of your turns, this matters more. They played fairly slowly, but we still finished in 45 minutes. I think they all enjoyed it.

We then played Carcassonne, or one of its many variants. All I really need to know is what scores when, and how much, and if it scores incomplete at the end. I got some of this information - I didn't catch the half score for incomplete cities and roads, for instance - but it didn't matter because I couldn't draw the tiles I needed. Ever. I had three cities waiting to be capped, two from near the beginning of the game, and they never got capped because I couldn't draw a capping tile.

While frustrating, the game is still fun to play as you can mess up other players or just make pretty pictures.

Tomorrow: the airport.

Day 10: Half-day, actually

2011-11-11T15:39:00.001+02:00

This morning I saw the National Gallery in Dublin. A small collection as far as national galleries go: about 300 works, half of them from Ireland and the other half from the rest of Europe. Some nice pieces, once again highlighting the dramatic drop in talent as art entered the twentieth century and became "modern". Free entrance, so can't complain.

The gallery is around the corner from one of the four national museums, three of which are in Dublin. The one round the corner is the archaeological museum. I poked my head inside, but wasn't in the mood for more unearthed bone pins, clay pots, and gold necklaces.

It's raining so I'm back in bed in my effort to continue to get well. I stopped on the way back only to pick up a present for my friends in Kansas City, which is my next stop after Ireland.

Shabbat shalom.

Day 9: The Beauty that is Culture

2011-11-11T01:45:00.001+02:00

Absent Moonlight

Yesterday evening I was too tired to go out or even take a picture of the town of Castleconnell. Here are some snaps from outside the B&B this morning.

The B&B

Now imagine that with a full moon over it.

Everything takes twice as long to get to/drive to as I originally planned. Therefore, I have ended up driving hours more than I had hoped to. Still, I can't say that I didn't love what I saw.

Doctor

My only plans today were to drive back to Dublin, rest, return the car, and see a play to which I had already bought the ticket.

However, I was feeling worse than I had yesterday; this is not unexpected for a week-long cold. The throat issues generally kick in after three days, so that was right on schedule. Then I begin to get better after a few more days. I didn't want to suffer my entire trip (nor cough during the play), and just to be sure that nothing more nefarious was happening to me, I decided to get a check up at a doctor. Hopefully my travel insurance will cover this when I return to Israel.

The first two doctor offices I visited at random were bust; the doctors weren't in. Finally I found one available about midway between Limerick and Dublin. She said that nothing nefarious was happening, but she gave me a prescription for paracetamol and an anti-biotic. The former to control the hot and cold flashes that were leaving me drenched, and the latter to take only if I got worse.

Later in the evening I acquired the paracetamol and some cough syrup, and twenty minutes later I felt much better.

A Play and a Book: A Perfect Evening

All that driving around, only to discover that a perfect evening can be had reading a good book in a pub followed by a great theater experience.

After resting and returning the car, I hung out at a pub reading Dubliners and drinking a pot of tea.

Most of Dubliners is lovely - some of it is a bit weaker - but I have promised myself to read all of it in order to reward myself with the final story: The Dead.

At 7:30 (or as they say in Ireland, "half seven") I saw the production of Little Women at The Gate Theater. What a fantastic job. The sets, lights, and sound were very clever. The acting was phenomenal. Jo (Lorna Quinn) in particular had such a range of facial expressions, from a scowled, scrunched up face of disgust to happy bliss to pitiful tears. I'm a sentimental old fool, so I cried.

The screenwriting and directing was also quite good. The use of the scenery and some split stage work were quite inventive. My only complaint, perhaps, is that many of the scenes felt rushed or cut; too much emotional change occurred too quickly. But that's what you get for taking a very long book (I actually remembered it as too separate books, not one) and squishing it down to 2.5 hours.

The price was pretty good, too (20 EUR), though I paid the "preview" price; the official run prices are slightly higher.

Jerusalem Session Report, for an all girls game night

2011-11-10T10:11:00.000+02:00

The latest Jerusalem Strategy Gaming Club session report is up. Games played: Genoa.

Emily won in an all girls game night.

Day 8: Still Sick

2011-11-09T21:42:00.002+02:00

This morning at around 9 I left Killarney heading toward Limerick. And promptly got stuck motionless for 30 minutes due to road work. I didn't get to Limerick until nearly 12.

My first stop was at the South Court Hotel which is supposed to have a large antiques and craft fair, only I didn't notice that the fair is scheduled for Sunday, not today. My second stop was at the Hunt Museum, listed as a top destination on tripadvisor. Even though the hotel was "straight down the road, can't miss it", it once again took me an additional half hour of driving around - missing the museum, looking for a place to park - to get there.

Not the Hunt Muesum

Not the Hunt Museum

Also Not the Hunt Museum

As far as the museum goes: eh. It's an eclectic collection that was originally the private collection of some rich guy. The individual items might be interesting if you see them at a friend's house, but in a rich guy's house, or castle, or in a museum dedicated to just this guy's stuff, I feel like I'm watching Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. It's voyeurism; not deep enough to give any real history or be especially interesting. I can't stand castle tours for that reason; I have to pay a rich guy to see his stuff? Please.

Now, if the collection of historical items, jewelery, ceramics, paintings, etc were divided up among the national museums, each added to the proper collection, I would feel differently.

And that's the way Yehuda c's it.

Poetry

Anyhoo, the real reason I thought it might be worth my while to check out the museum in the first place was that there was supposed to be a poetry reading at 2:30. In this case, I had the right date, and the poet in question showed up only a few minutes late. Funnily enough, no one else turned up, so I was the entire audience.

The poet in question was a man named Barney Sheehan, who doesn't have much of his own poetry (I think). He runs a poetry reading night Wed nights at the White House pub in Limerick for the last ten years, which has apparently attracted some good Irish talent. Barney came to read selections from a book he created/edited containing pictures, quotations, and poetry from Desmond O'Grady, a man who counts as influences his personal relationships with Ezra Pound and others. O'Grady is still alive, but doesn't get out much.

Barney was thrilled to meet me, as someone from Israel and someone who has tried to organize poetry readings (and who has written some poetry of his own). Barney spent too much time reading the introductory notes and quotations from the book and not enough time reading the actual poems; he was proud of his work and it was important to him to impress on me the importance of Desmond. It didn't matter much, as I enjoyed meeting him and listening to him. And I got to read a few more of the poems while other people were wandering around us, viewing the exhibits and talking.

He was kind enough to gift me a copy of a different book containing poems read at the White House during the first years of the poetry gathering. He really wanted/wants me to come back to the gathering tonight, but I'm too sick. If I get out at all, I'll poke my nose around Castleconnell, which is where I'm staying.

Tomorrow it's back to Dublin.

Day 7: Beautiful Killarney

2011-11-09T07:15:00.002+02:00

Corkless

I basically missed Cork, owing to my being sick. I'm still sick, but I was determined to make the most of my vacation. I drank hot drinks and liters of grapefruit juice, I bundled up and I rested. In between, I saw some lovely sights. Unfortunately, only one of them was Irish.

One of my stops was at the Prince August toy soldier visitor center and factory, which I have blogged about on Purple Pawn.

Somewhere on the Road From Cork to Killarney

Yet another church

Yet another small town

Same town

Pottery shop and proprietress

Yes, there is Celtic knotwork on the vase and an Irish word on the plate, but the potter hails from the US

Moo crossing


More moo

Killarney National Park
Killarney National Park is beautiful: lake, hills, moss, ferns, etc. I hiked two km from what looked like an entrance to the Muckross House. Then it began to drizzle on and off, so I drove about 15 km south around the shore and then back. Someone told me that I should have kept going because the scenery gets even better. I'll have to take her word for it.

The first entrance to the park. I walked from here.

Muckross cathedral

One of the world's perfect spots

Same spot, looking right

Same spot

In order to give a better feel for the above spot, I have uploaded a p.o.v. video pan:

On the drive

On the hike

Moss and vine fighting over a tree

Path to the Muckross House (a mansion in the park)

This place must have been used in some movie, no?

Looking right from the above shot

Somewhere in the park


Somewhere else in the park

Killarney

After rest and drinks, I hazarded out to town to see what the local nightlife was like. Turns out: full of tourists.

There are a few spots with music. The crowded one was the Grand Hotel, with nightly entertainment starting with "traditional" Irish music and then a band on one side and a disco on another. The band wasn't bad, quite good in fact; a bunch of old-timers playing well and singing very well. They played to an entirely tourist audience, however, and the audience was loud, shouting while the music was playing and crowding the musicians.

One girl did some clogging, which was much appreciated. However, she hailed from Chicago.

I left the Grand and went down the street to another pub (O'Connors) with a younger Irish band playing American country music. Most of the patrons in that pub were watching a match on the telly.

Killarney at night

At the Grand

Clogging

Day 6: The Emerald Isle

2011-11-07T21:44:00.000+02:00

Don't Believe Google Maps

Google Maps is often right, but not often enough to make it truly reliable. On this trip it's been wrong several times: it directed me to the wrong end of the street for my (ill-fated) car rental; it added all sorts of little intermediary steps to what should have been a straight road to Clonmel. But the most egregious is that it directed me to the wrong location, 150 km from the location I actually wanted.

Glendalough is on this list of the 10 most beautiful locations in Ireland. Google Maps clearly has it located a few km south of Clonmel, which is why I went there to Clonmel the first place. Unfortunately, it's really located in Wicklow Mountain National Park, south of Dublin. It didn't even give me a choice among several Glendaloughs. The Glendalough that exists on Google Maps (and I think there really may be a hill or something called Glendalough in the Clonmel area) is invisible to anyone driving by, or through or past, it.

Moss Covered Fences

Nevertheless, it was a very pretty drive from Clonmel to Youghal. It was my first encounter with scenery as nice as Scotland's.

Animals abutting the roads include sheep, cows, and horses

The weather continues to be sunny and clear, as you can see.

At noon I was in Ballymcarby, reading my copy of Dubliners and eating lunch beside a small stream. Like many of these small towns, there doesn't appear to be anything more to the town than a pub (or two) and a small general store.

Ballymcarby

Further on the road to Youghal

A shrine in one of the small towns, not the only one I saw on the way

Youghal

Youghal is a small seaside port village that once had a wall fortification. The small streets between the wall and the docks were a nice stroll.

Tower on Main Street in Youghal

Door on Ashe Street

Outside a Cathedral on Ashe Street

Cathedral on Ashe Street; Ireland has lots of cathedrals, and they're probably interesting (but to me they all look the same)

Door adornment on Ashe Street

Ashe Street Sign in Youghal

Old Fortification Wall in Youghal

Overlooking Youghal Harbor Area

Not Looking Seaworthy in Youghal

A Nice Place to Sit in Youghal (not downtown)

From Youghal I made my way to Cork.

Cork

I made my way to the B&B and now I feel a cold coming on. I drove downtown, anyway, picked up a box of grapefruit juice, and asked about live music. None of it starts until 9:00 or 10:00, and it's only 7:00. At night, downtown Cork looks like many other downtowns with pedestrian areas: bars, restaurants, sporting goods, etc.

I'm going to bed. Hope I feel better in the morning.

Day 5: Plans Gone Awry

2011-11-06T23:39:00.000+02:00

Sixt Ireland

This was the place where I had made my car rental reservation. This was the news that I did not hear until I arrived at the rental location to pick up my car.

There was one guy left at the desk, on temporary assignment by the receivership until the last of the rentals are dropped off, and then he goes, too. He helped me make an arrangement over at Eurocar, which was nice of him considering he had just been fired. Of course, the new rental is more expensive and required a taxi-ride to get there. I plan on writing Sixt about it after I drop off the car.

That set me back about an hour.

Driving

I'd driven on the left side of the road in Scotland, so I wasn't nervous about taking the car out. Having the driver's seat on the wrong side is a constant reminder. I just drive slowly.

I planned my route to avoid major highways, which I thought would let me see more of "real Ireland". According to Google maps, my "blue highway" route was still only supposed to take two hours to get to Kilkenny, but it ended up taking me four. Combine that with my late start and my day was pretty much shot.

As far as seeing "real Ireland", I suppose I did see a little more, but really, except for a few rural fences and farms, a small lake, and a crafts village at a gas stop, there's not much real to see between Dublin and Kilkenny. Here's a shot of the lake.

Apparently, swimming is not allowed, but falling in is

Kilkenny

Kilkenny is noted for is castle and cathedral and a few smaller buildings. I tried to avoid them all, but everyone said I had to go look at the castle, so I went and looked at the castle (from the outside). It's a castle. History to be found on Wikipedia.

Meanwhile, Kilkenny has a number of rambling streets, some of them half-pedestrian, stuffed with shops with antiques or local crafts. These were nice. I picked up some earrings and a necklace for Tal.

Back street in Kilkenny

There are also malls and the usual stuff. I stayed only an hour. I could have stayed longer, if it wasn't already getting dark.

Sunny Weather

Speaking of ... things that have to do with the sky, I have had only lovely, sunny weather since last Thursday's drizzle.

Real Irish Music

I'm staying in Clonmel. My B&B host directed me to a pub three km out of town when I asked him about music. This was the real deal; no tourists, occupied by mostly the older folks. There were four people playing accordion, one person on penny whistle, and two or three people on bodhran. On each song, one or two of the older couples got up to dance (usually waltz).

I struck up a conversation with two senior ladies, and the next thing I know one of the bodhran players (2nd from the right) ropes me in for an Irish dance: something like a contra-dance, but simpler.

After the dance, which I performed well enough, they invited me to sit at the table with them.

Day 4: The Disappearing Jews

2011-11-06T02:02:00.000+02:00

The religious Jewish community of Dublin is committing suicide. Don't expect to find an Orthodox synagogue in Dublin ten years from now.

I spent shabbat with a few of the families who are left (but not for long). I can tell you what they told me.

Ten years ago the shul was packed for Yom Kippur, which means that over 600 people were in attendance. This last Yom Kippur they had 186 people.

The "Hebrew elementary school" is 45% Jewish; the Hebrew high school has 10 Jews in it, out of 200 students. And they don't learn much in the way of Jewish content, other than historical. No torah, no halacha, etc. For that you have to go to school in London or Manchester.

There are 40 or so elementary school children from the synagogue's families; there are ten or so teenagers. Where did they all go? They go to London or Manchester, or to Israel, or they leave Judaism. In ten years, less than a handful of families have moved in. In contrast, the death rate remains steady (say fifteen a year, so 150 over ten years) and young adults are making aliyah, leaving Judaism, or moving elsewhere. Of the several families I talked to, all but one told me that they were already planning to move out, and they named the month they were moving (so the plans were concrete).

This is the kind of thing Rachel and I heard about in the smaller communities in middle America; the kids all move to the bigger cities. In Dublin's case, the bigger cities are apparently in England.

The families were welcoming and generous to me as a guest in the community. The rabbi and rebbetzen had me over for dinner, along with several other guests. The rabbi had also arranged a place for me for lunch, and that family, too, were nice. All the food was scrumptious. I (re)learned to play Canasta with my lunch hostess (if you don't know, it's a rummy variant and that's about it; like all card games, it's better as a partnership game).

Sat night I went to another bar. The music was ok - covers of popular dance and rock songs - and I did a little club dancing. Not as nice as Thursday. Oh well. One girl turned down my request to dance, but another one (out with her mom on her mom's 60th birthday) danced with me for one song.

O'Connell Street, central Dublin, at night

First pub

Knightsbridge pub

The band

A giggle of girls wearing flashing bunny ears

Danced one dance with me

Day 3: Over the Cliff

2011-11-04T17:02:00.000+02:00

Nearly every person I've met here would like to help me but can't. Here is a typical conversation I have had with no less than three bus drivers:

Me: Can you tell me where your left hand is?

They: Eh, me what, now you be saying, now?

Me: Your leffft haaanddd. Left hand. Left.

They: Well now, I don't rightly know, exactly. You'll be looking for Rathhamfordshire. It's a bit up onthemiddleofturnmumblemumbleoverandall that after donderson lingle.

Me: Not Rathhamfordshire. Your hand. Where is your left hand? Hand? You know (waving hand) your hand?

They: Capford is after Terenure be going right up that. Where you be wanting to go in there? Are you going to the Donderson lingle in there now?

Me: No! Your hand! Hand!

They: I don't know about the lingle. Hey Paddy (yelling behind him), 'taint lingle on t'other side of the tree behind the bridge by the mickey?

Paddy: Oh rightly now I believe it's so.

They: Fantastic, That's just the thing I be wantin'. How's old Cork castle doing now?

Me: ???

Fear the friendly Irish. They speak fifteen syllables when one will do, and, as often as not, none of them are of much help.

This morning's outing was to the coast. It took a dozen different people to finally settle on someplace nice on the coast that could be reached by a bus ticket, which I had already paid for (everyone always first suggests the DART trolley). That place was Howth.

Howth is a little fishing village similar to Whitby in Yorkshire. Howth is on a peninsula and connected to other parts of the coastline with a walking trail along a cliff (more of a steep hill, really). I exited the last bus stop and walked along the cliff (about an hour) back down to Howth. There's not much to do in Howth other then hike the trail, buy fish, or eat at a fish restaurant. A promising looking used bookstore and a farmer's market were both closed today, open only on the weekends.

A lovely walk. Not jaw-dropping: standard purple and yellow hardy flower on bushes sprinkled amid green, cream, and brown hills, under blue, gray, and white skies. Cliffs that are serviceable, but not spectacular or really approachable by foot.

That's looking down at a 70 degree decline

Now I'm home to rest before shabbat starts. Shabbat shalom.

Yehuda

Day 2: Rain and Pretty Girls

2011-11-04T03:20:00.000+02:00

Flight to Frankfurt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes)

The flight was uneventful, though about forty minutes before landing they announced that there was a medical emergency on board and we should remain in our seats and keep the aisle clear. The movie was Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

I hate to give bad reviews; I give so many of them, you wouldn't know it. I recognize that years of effort and millions of dollars go into these movies, just like the great amounts of effort and money that go into the games I knock. These are somebody's babies.But I also know that there are thousands of movies and games, and people need to hear honest opinions about what's out there.I know I do; I rely on it. So, though it pains me, I can't say that I recommend the movie.

The effects were good and the story was ok. The apes reminded me very much of Jackson's King Kong. Like the Star Wars prequels, the plot of this movie lead to an inevitable conclusion, occasionally at the expense of those who don't know the original.

One of the characters shouts the famous line from the original "Get your filthy hands off me you damn dirty ape!" and that's fine even if you don't know it's a classic line from the original. On the other hand, some background noise about a Mars mission was distracting and meaningless to me while I was watching it; only after the movie was over did I realize that this was supposed to be the lost mission from the original movie.

The human characters are painfully one-dimensional; in the case of the protagonist and his girlfriend, this drags down the movie down into b-movie mediocrity. The story takes a long time to get going; this is not always a bad thing. But here, combined with the predictability of nearly every twist and the one-dimensionality of the characters, I got impatient.

Throw in the usual problematic science effects:

instant medical effects that should take much longer (expose the ape to IQ enhancement drugs during the afternoon and by nighttime they can work complex machinery they haven't seen)
a misrepresentation of how those effects should manifest
unbelievably perfect communication and memory among apes who were animals just hours before (and forgetting that all those other apes, that they freed from the zoo/lab, etc, never had exposure to the drugs and should still be acting like apes)
storm-trooper like behavior and aim of the police, etc
and other oddities (what were all those apes eating this whole time? who designs cages like that?)

and you end up with mediocrity. Good effects, followable story, some basic allegories about slavery and self-determination, but mediocre nonetheless. The movie might have been better as a ten minute intro to another movie.

Frankfurt

I had to walk two kilometers through Frankfurt airport to get to my connecting flight. The airport is devoid of local flavor; it's expensive luxury items and newspapers. I wasn't impressed.

The guy checking people in on the Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Dublin had some unusual tattoos on his wrist, the names of his wife and children.

I don't know: a Jew in Germany with a voluntary tattoo on his arm makes me uneasy ... moving on ...

Dublin Daytime

Dublin is surprisingly warm; I don't need my winter coat. This morning I made my way by bus to St Stephens greem, a lovely spot (it's the trees that do it: they make you feel cut off from the city) with a pond and ducks etc.

I sat down for breakfast and was swarmed with pigeons like something out of Hitchcock.

The sky is gray, and I imagine that that's often the case; the sun peeked out in the afternoon. It's easy to see how people in this climate yearn for the sun. It's not the gray or rain that bothers me, however; it's the damp. Everything gets damp, even under my poncho, and it stays damp.

I walked along some unimpressive expensive shopping district.

Perhaps the most distinctive element here is the number of people paid to hold advertising signs. Nothing impressive about the stores during the daytime.

Against all of my beliefs, I ended up taking a city tour bus: 16 EUR and you can hop on and off for two days. It helped me get my bearings. After driving around, I began to make some sense of the geography in my brain. I guess you shouldn't really need it, if you study the city map before coming.

I tried to go to IMMA (Ireland Museum of Modern Art), but it was closed. The cafe and bookshop were open. I passed by the literary and theater district and picked up a ticket for a play next Thursday. I got sneakers.

Dublin Nighttime

I went home to sleep and then went out to find the only kosher restaurant, open only on Thursday evenings and located behind the synagogue. Unfortunately, owing to a conflicting event, it was also closed. Still, I got to meet some Jews at the synagogue, which is always comforting when I'm among strangers.

I went back downtown to find music. And that's what's great about Dublin: music (and Guinness and Jameson's, to those who like that kind of stuff).

It was so easy to find live traditional Irish music. I stopped at one of the first pubs I saw and had a fantastic evening. I drank a ginger beer (alcoholic here, though they were non-alcoholic in Scotland).

I also met two beautiful women. One of them in particular I thought fetching. I sat next to her and told her she was beautiful, and then later I asked her to dance with me to the music, and she was happy to dance with me. Any guesses as to which one?

Too bad they're too young for me, even if they were Jewish. They are from France, also on holiday. The one I didn't choose spoke almost no English; the other one just enough to understand me when I asked her to dance.

Day 1: At the Airport

2011-11-02T15:54:00.000+02:00

Welcome to the first post in my new series of mis-adventures in travel. This time we're headed to Ireland - first Dublin, then a sweeping arc through the southeast, south, and southwest of Ireland, and back to Dublin - and then on to Kansas City and a drive down to Dallas - for this year's BGG.con gaming convention.

I will be flying Lufthansa to Dublin via Frankfurt, Continental to Kansas City via Newark, and Air Canada to Tel Aviv via Toronto. Six flights! Six airports! What fun!

My p.o.v. at Ben Gurion

Having checked in online, I arrived absurdly early to Ben Gurion airport, breezing through first security, baggage check in, second security, and customs in 15 minutes. When I was done, I still had three hours until the flight; but really, with a laptop and wifi, does it really matter where I sit while I play around on the Internet?

Reverse p.o.v. at Ben Gurion. Huh. Still scruffy, I see.

I arranged my Irish lodging and car rental (for the sweeping arc portion) in advance. I have few plans in Dublin; my goal is to soak in the culture, handicrafts, and music, stroll around the coast (if it's not entirely flooded) and some parks, and maybe see some literary stuff (Joyce, Beckett, etc). And buy a pair of sneakers (mine are falling apart). That's all I've got, so far. Plus some shabbat hospitality in the Jewish area. I'll buy a five day rambler bus ticket; if I stick to my B&B area for at least one of my Dublin days, that should cover all my transportation.

We are all born mad. Some remain so. -- Samuel Beckett

In other news, I met a woman online via Frumster. We have only talked twice and haven't even met in person, yet, but I'm hopeful. She seems to be lovely. Of course, considering this trip, the timing could hardly have been worse.

I Have My US Passport

2011-10-31T12:13:00.004+02:00

Yay.

And I went to the police to get the information about the man who hit my car, so my insurance agent can track him down, so we can get his insurance information. Important tip: if you're in an accident, get his/her: name, car number, license number, and insurance policy number. I forgot the latter, which is what's causing me a headache. I got his cellphone number, but it doesn't seem to work; next time, call it before leaving the scene to see that is works. Note down the time and place of the accident, of course.

I should probably add: yes, take the time to ask for the phone numbers of some of the people nearby who could be witnesses. It hasn't come to that yet, and I hope it won't so that I won't regret not having done so.

Yehuda

P.S. I'm leaving on Wed. I will be blogging my trip, with pictures. It's a good month to advertise on this blog (traffic should be up for a while), nudge nudge.

P.P.S. Spare Squares cards at the publisher, ready to cart off to BGG.con:

Gathering Storms

2011-10-29T22:07:00.001+02:00

How Come You Were Just Sitting There?

My car got rammed while I was stuck in traffic on the way home from work on Thursday. I didn't even stop short; several cars in front of me were negotiating a merge. After several seconds of waiting, I was suddenly rammed in the back by someone who obviously wasn't paying attention. Neither of us were hurt.

My damage didn't look so bad at the scene - it looked like a crushed bumper - but was revealed to be more extensive when I got home. The trunk won't open and the trunk lid is askew. It will take quite some money to fix. Unfortunately, my car is pretty old and I only have 3rd party insurance. If I'm lucky, the guy will admit to being at fault, and his insurance will cover it. I don't know that he will admit to being at fault, however. At the scene, between an apparent sense of confusion, he asked me why I was just sitting in the middle of the road not moving, as if that somehow made it my fault.

His damage was more extensive (being in the engine area). And he was young.

He Can Do It For 500 or 600

As I was going to get my car looked at the next morning, I began to feel faint: seriously, severely, faint. Cold sweat, drained face, nodding head, everything. I couldn't pull over. Somehow I managed to drive to the car garage and then lie down on the back seat for twenty minutes. After that I could get up. Every five to ten minutes I had to lie down again (which I did, several times, in the garage waiting room).

The garage guy had an assessor on staff who worked for/with my insurance company, so that was taken care of. The rest will have to wait until my agent can contact the other guy's insurance.

Sometime during my near catatonia at the garage, I got a call from my tenants who said that a tris (a thick Israeli window blind) was broken and the guy they had over said a) it had to be replaced, and b) he could replace it for 500 NIS or 600 NIS. Every handyman in Israel gives two prices; the cheaper way is always "ok, but not as good as" the more expensive way (the guarantee for the more expensive way isn't longer, by the way). I don't know the science behind this. Maybe I'm supposed to feel that I'm getting a discount by choosing the cheaper way. Or maybe I'm supposed to be responsible and choose the more expensive way. Either way, I'm pretty sure I'm being robbed.

In my confused state, I mumbled that she should choose the quick way; then I hung up and fell into another ten minute stupor. Only hours later did it occur to me that fixing a tris is not an urgent matter, and I should really have gotten someone else to look at the job and maybe offer a price for fixing the tris, rather than replacing it.

This is the US Embassy Speaking

I was dog sick from Friday morning until Sat morning. By Sat evening I was pretty much fine. I've had 24 hour things before, but never like that.

The good news is that I got sick here, and not in Ireland. The other good news is that I'm better. The other good news is that the embassy called and my passport is waiting for me to pick up.

JSGC Session Reports: Games Day and One More

2011-10-27T17:53:00.000+02:00

Two JSGC session reports are up.

Oct 18: Games Day. Games played: Carson City, GoSu, Taj Mahal, R-Eco, El Grande, Lo Ra, Tangrams.

Oct 26, in which they decide that they like Nile. Games played: Nile, Amun-Re.

2011 Holiday Gift Guide

2011-10-27T10:23:00.000+02:00

This guide includes games for young and old, for every sex, generation, temperament, and culture.

Whatever you do, and whatever you celebrate, there is no better way to spend a Christmas, Hanukkah, or what have you than together with friends, family, and neighbors with a warm cup of (fair trade) cocoa and a stack of casual board and/or card games.

The overwhelming majority of the games listed here are meant for newer players, non gamers or the like. I don't list the complicated, heavier games for gamers only.

I hope you enjoy the guide. Remember: the holidays are not only for sharing the warmth with family and friends, but also for sharing with those who have no one else to share with them. Give to your local shelters, hospitals, and so on, because that's the gift that keeps on giving.

	Apple iPad 2 I'm starting with this unusual choice for a board game list, because the iPad (and other tablets) is actually a perfect platform for playing thousands of face to face games for two to four players. Because you don't need to buy the physical components, you can stack all your games in a teeny space, the games (if not the tablet) cost very little, and you don't have to cut down old trees to make them or use fossil fuels to ship them. Tablets have their own environmental impact in their making, so that's a tradeoff; but if you're getting one anyway, most of the games on this list are available electronically.
	7 Wonders: Ages 9+, 4 to 7 players The same way that Dominion (later on this list) took the gaming world by storm a few years ago, this game took the gaming world by storm this year (and, like Dominion it uses another auxiliary mechanic from Magic: The Gathering tournaments). This is a game of drafting cards. You get a hand of cards; pick one and pass the rest. Everyone reveals the card they picked and puts it into their tableaux. Repeat. Done. Score points based on the combinations of cards you have at the end of all the passing. The graphics are fantastic, the theme not so visible. It's easy to learn, with depth enough to spare.
	Apples to Apples: Ages 9+, 4 to 10 players Apples to Apples is a party game that is simple to set up, learn, and play. There is no writing involved, and no board. And unlike many party games, reading all the cards doesn't ruin the game. Each player has a hand of red apples (nouns) with which they have to match the green apple (adjective) flipped up. Each player has a chance to judge the best match. The cards you have in your hand never exactly match what gets flipped up; you have to do your best!
	Antike: Ages 8+, 2 to 6 players Risk is a long game of laying low, with player elimination and just too much in the luck department; this game is the perfect evolution to, and replacement for, Risk. It plays quicker, there's dice-less conflict, no one gets to lay low watching while others fight, and - excepting truly poor play - everyone has a chance for most of the game. There's also a lot more to the game than just conflict, but the rules are short and elegant. Unfortunately, it's out of print, so it's a bit hard to find, and pricey when you find it.
	Backgammon: Ages 6+, 2 players Backgammon is a classic game that can be enjoyed by children and parents alike. While there is a large amount of luck in the game, there are also many meaningful decisions, which makes this a good stepping stone to future games with more challenge, such as Checkers or Chess.
	Blokus, Blokus Trigon, Blokus Duo: Ages 8+, 4 players (Blokus), 2-4 players (Blokus Trigon), or 2 players (Blokus Duo) Blokus, Blokus Trigon, and Blokus Duo are abstract games with very simple rules. Each round you take a piece and place it on the board such that it touches any previous pieces you have played, but only corner to corner. It can touch other players' pieces along corners or sides. The rules are easy, the components are beautiful, and it's a lot of fun.
	Boggle: Ages 8+, 2 to 10 players Boggle is a word game, whose simple rules - find all the words you can within three minutes - make it a game that is both fun and quick. Adults can play with kids by restricting the adults to have to find words of four or five letters.
	Carcassonne, variants, and expansions: Ages 10+, 2 to 5 players Carcassonne is a fairly new game that is a bit more complex than some of the other games here, but the beautiful pieces and the fun game play are worth the time to learn. Pick a piece from the pile, rotate and place it so that it fits on the board (like dominoes), and then optionally place one of your pieces on that tile. There are several ways to score, some of which occur during the game and some of which only at the end of the game. There are some more rules than that, but not too many more. The game play is engaging enough to make you want to play it more than once in a single sitting. There are dozens of versions to the game, and some of the versions have several expansions. The one that I linked to is called "Hunters and Gatherers" and is a good standalone game to start with.
	Checkers: Ages 5+, 2 players Checkers is a classic, and rightfully so. The rules are very simple, although there are regional variations. Although the game often hinges on who makes the first major mistake, it is worthwhile learning the tricks and the care necessary to play well. With two experienced players, there is a lot of depth to explore. It's cheap, and grandpa will play with you.
	Connect Four: Ages 5 to 12, 2 players Connect Four is a classic two-player strategy game, where the object is to get four in a row before your opponent does. Easy to set up, easy to learn, hard to master.
	Chess / Xiangqi / Shogi: Ages 6+, 2 players These three games, Chess, XiangQi (Chinese Chess), and Shogi (Japanese Chess), are all top-tier 2-player games that can occupy a curious mind for an entire lifetime. They also have wide followings, so learning the game is learning a language that will admit you to a culture of fellow players around the world. Board and piece prices range from inexpensive to very expensive, and Chess pieces come in many different themes.
	Chinese Checkers: Ages 6+, 2 to 6 players Another great abstract, and a pretty one if you find one with nice marbles. The rules are simple: move or jump your pieces from one side to the other. Finding chains of jumps is a thrill for all ages.
	Carrom / Crokinole / Nok-Hockey / Air Hockey / Billiards / Foosball, etc.: Ages 6+, 2 players Carrom is the most played tabletop game in India. Like Billiards, the object is to knock pieces off the table area, which you do by flicking wooden disks with your fingers. Crokinole is another classic finger flicking game, as is a racing game called Pitchcar. All kinetic tabletop games, from snooker to billiards to foosball, are loved by players of all ages.
	Playing Cards: Ages 3+, 1 to any number of players Decks of cards, whether they are the well known Western type with 52 cards in 4 suits, or special European or Asian decks, are a great starting point for any number of wonderful games, including Bridge, Hearts, Skat, Cribbage, Pinochle, Oh Hell, Bullsh*t, Durak, President, Spades, Solitaire, and many others. Check out Pagat.com for the rules to these games and to thousands of others.
	Dominion: Ages 10+, 2-4 players Dominion won nearly every major game award last year. It's a game based around deck building: as you play, you acquire cards which get shuffled into your deck. You need victory points to score, but too many early victory points will clog up your deck, making it harder to acquire more points. A brilliant adaptation of a mechanic, it plays quickly and every game plays differently. The game now has several expansions, all of which are good.
	Froggy Boogie: Ages 3-9, 2 to 4 players Froggy Boogie is a brilliant game to frustrate grownups and please younger children. All you have to do is remember where the picture of the fly is, under the left eye or the right eye? The dice have only colors - no counting necessary. It's a perfect first game.
	Go / Pente: Ages 6+, 2 players Beyond Chess, Checkers, or XiangQi is the absolute perfect game of Go (aka Weiqi); it's so popular, there are twenty-four hour television stations dedicated to it, an anime series based on it, and it's considered one of the four arts of the Chinese scholar. It really is that good, and the rules are easy, too. Best of all, a built-in handicap system allows two people of any skill levels to enjoy a challenging game against each other. The link I provided is to a nice inexpensive board; you should really play with a much nicer board. Pente, a game of getting five stones in a row, can be played on the same board. The rules are just as easy as Go, and while the game has much less depth, it is also a little less intimidating to new players.
	Hive: Ages 8+, 2 players Hive is another new game with simple rules and cute buggies. Each round, you either add a piece to the table so that it is connected to the other pieces, or you move a piece. When you move a piece, you can't break up the hive while doing so. The winner is the one who surrounds his or her opponent's queen bee. Each player has eleven pieces, with five different bugs and abilities. Its simple rules and nice pieces make this a game that generally gets several plays in one sitting.
	Ingenious: Ages 8+, 2 to 4 players Ingenious (sometimes called "Connections" or "Mensa") is another new and neat abstract game, where you score points by placing domino like pieces to create lines of colors. Your final score is whatever color you have the least of. It's another pretty game with simple rules and a lot of replay.
	It's Alive!: Ages 7+, 2 to 4 players A little plug for my own game. This is a simple set-collection auction game with a Frankenstein theme. It fits in well with the other games on the list: easy to learn, quick to play, lots of replayability. Of course, I may be biased, since I designed it. This game was published by Reiver Games.
	Jungle Speed: Ages 8+, 3 to 8 players There are several games of speed reaction / pattern recognition on the market; I chose this one because of the components. Players flip cards in turn and grab for the totem in the middle as soon as two matching cards are revealed. Don't play with friends who have sharp nails or finger jewelery.
	Magic the Gathering: Ages 8+, 2 players After a decade and a half, Magic is still The Bomb when it comes to collectible card games, although Yu-Gi-Oh sells more cards. These are not easy games to learn, but quick start guides can get you off the ground fairly quickly, and then you have months and years of challenging game play ahead of you. Don't get sucked into having to buy endless amounts of boosters; to play the game outside of a tournament, you only need a few hundred common cards which can be picked up for a penny each on various sites.
	Mancala: Ages 5+, 2 players This is widely known around the world under various names (e.g. Oware), and the national game of many African countries. The rules are easy: pick up all the seeds in one of your bowls and place one in each bowl around the table. If you land on an empty space on your side, you win the seed and any seeds opposite. There are a few more rules, but that's about it. It takes a few games to get up to speed; early victories tend to be lopsided. Once you get the hang of it, you can play several, quick, challenging games in succession.
	Memory: Ages 3 to 12, 2 to 5 players This is a first game for kids and adults, and a great game for it, because kids get the hang of it very quickly and adults find it a real challenge without having to pretend. All you need are one or two decks of cards, but an infinite number of these games are sold with various different pictures and themes. You can play with more than 5 players, but I wouldn't recommend it.
	No Thanks: Ages 7+, 3 to 5 players This is an easy to learn and addictive little card game. A card is flipped up, and you either take the card and any tokens on it or place one of your tokens on it and pass it to the next player. Cards are bad, and tokens are good. But runs of cards only penalize you for the lowest valued card. A simple and fun game.
	Parade: Ages 7+, 3 to 5 players Another easy to learn and addictive little card game. Add cards to the end of the "parade", taking cards from the parade into your pile based on a few simple rules. Points are bad ... usually.
	Pit: Ages 7+, 4 to 10 players I don't know if you can play up to 10 players with the original game, but you should. This is a loud trading game. The cards are dealt out, someone says go, and everyone shouts for what they need. The first player to collect a full set wins. Raucous and fun. The deluxe version comes with it's own bell to signal the start of trading.
	Poker: Ages 6+, 2 to any number of players Playing for money is not a good habit, but a nice set of poker chips and some decks of cards is a great way to spend an evening. There are countless poker games, too.
	Puerto Rico: Ages 10+, 3 to 5 players Go is my favorite two-player game; this is my favorite multi-player game. I hadn't included it in previous years because I thought it might be too complex for the beginning player, but I think I've been underestimating people. I've seen new players pick it up and love it. It's not easy to learn, but it's not that hard, either; it's just hard to master. A brilliant, brilliant game engine.
	R-eco: Ages 9+, 2 to 5 players This is another short and sweet card game, with simple clever mechanics that leads to enjoyable but no stress game play. Easy to learn and easy to play.
	Rummikub: Ages 7+, 2 to 4 players A game of rummy, but a good one. And also playable with the grand-folks.
	Scrabble: Ages 8+, 2 (or 2 to 4) players. Scrabble purists will tell you that you should only play with 2 players and a Chess clock, but for casual purposes it can be played with up to four. It is The word game, and for a good reason. My favorite way to play is to ditch the board and just play Anagrams: turn over tiles, and first to call a word gets it. A similar, recommended game is Bananagrams, where players race to create their own crossword boards.
	Set: Ages 6+, 2 to 10 players Those who don't have it won't enjoy it. For those who do, it hits just the right spot in the brain. All you have to do is call out matches when you see them, but the matches have to match or not match in all four characteristics.
	The Settlers of Catan: Ages 8+, 3 to 4 players This is the perfect game for beginning adult gamers that I use to hook new players into my game group. All you need to do is collect ten points through building settlements and cities, connecting roads, adding developments and trading with your fellow players. A unique board that changes each time you play, constant interaction even when it's not your turn, and a great balance of luck versus strategy makes this The Game to acquire if you still think that board games are only for kids.
	Shadows Over Camelot: Ages 12+, 3 to 7 players A cooperative game, this is no feel-good game of cooperation. The hordes of Saxons, Mordred, siege engines, and sinister knights are out to destroy Camelot, and you have to work together to save it. But lurking among the players is a traitor who wins if you all lose. Or is there? Pretty components, albeit more complex than most of the games on this list. But it's easy for people to join and leave midgame. Other recommended co-operative games that have made a splash in the last few years are Pandemic and Forbidden Island
	Stratego: Ages 6 to 15, 2 players By the time I was in my teens, I had outgrown this, but it remains a seminal game for early players, a great introductory war game with all the basic elements: strategy, tactics, and bluffing. Avoid the electronic ones; they break and they're noisy.
	Ticket To Ride: Ages 8+, 2 to 5 players Many of my fellow bloggers think that this, rather than Settler of Catan, is The Game. I disagree, but who am I to argue? New players will probably find this a great intro game, with lots of choices and great game play. There are several editions of the game.
	Tichu: Ages 8+, 4 players A partnership "ladder" game, similar to the game President (sometimes known by its crude name). It's similar, but the addition of a few special cards, a partnership, and passing elevate this to a perfect game for two couples. This is THE card game in gamer circles, and it's not at all complicated.
	Time's Up: Ages 8+, 4 to 10 players This consistently ranks as the number one party game on all of my fellow bloggers' lists. It's the number one ranked party game on Board Game Geek. Which says something. It plays a lot like the parlor game Celebrities.
	Uno: Ages 6 to 12, 2 to 8 players This could be a child's second game, after Memory, and before moving on to real games. There's not much in the way of thinking involved, but its simple rules, portability, and quick play make it an ideal game for younger kids in almost any situation. Just be sure to move up to better games when the kids are ready.
	Wits & Wagers / Balderdash: Ages 8+, 4+ players These are party trivia games where knowledge of trivia is not so important. The question is asked, and each player writes down an answer. These are revealed and players then bid on the answers they think are best. The winning answer, and the winning bids, all score points. Wits and Wagers does this in the form of a poker game setting, while Balderdash requires you to make up funny possible answers. Both have won awards and acclaim as a generation better than you-know-which famous trivia game.
	Zooloretto: Ages 8+, 2 to 5 players Winner of dozens of recent awards, Zooloretto is a cute game for kids and decent game for adults. Simply take the animals as they are revealed from the deck and try to fit them into your zoo without overcrowding. A few extra rules and some clever mechanisms makes the game enjoyable for all ages.

Enjoy,
Yehuda

It's Alive for iOS Now Available

2011-10-25T22:02:00.002+02:00

Clicky here.

Preparing for Ireland / BGG.con Trip

2011-10-25T15:09:00.000+02:00

I've been single - or effectively single - before. But I've never had so much to do every day.

Each day I have a list of ten or more things that must get done, and I'm the only one around to do it. I thought things would calm down after the summer or moving, changing jobs, etc. It must get easier with time. RIght now I feel I have to be on, all the time, full time.

I also thought I would be able to live within my means, finally, but I'm still spending over a thousand NIS a month more than I'm making, and that's not sustainable. There must be a way.

I could save the money I'm going to be spending on (already booked but not paid for) lodging and travel in Ireland. Luckily, the trip budget was allocated from separate funds (blog income) a long time ago; I already bought the non-refundable plane tickets. Otherwise, I might just have cancelled the whole damn trip.

Cell phone: Orange's offer to provide me cell-phone usage in Ireland was a joke. Instead I am renting an entire cell phone from D.systems Ltd for a few NIS a day, and $0.59 calls out and free calls in. It's too expensive to use in the US, but in the US I will always be with my friends Bill and Shirley who have cell phones with great service plans, so I won't need one.

Passport: I discovered a week ago Sunday that my US passport had expired in May. Ouch. A week ago Monday I dutifully called the embassy at 10:00 am (when they are open for receiving phone calls) and they said to come in without an appointment the next day. When I asked, they said that I could also come in today, if I got there before 11:00 am.

Driving through Tel Aviv is no picnic; I'm pretty sure I drove the wrong way down half a dozen roads. But I got to the parking lot across from the embassy at 10:55, got my photos taken and my bag stored, and made it inside. They promised me that my passport would be ready within a week and a half, and it would be faster for me to just come back to the embassy when they have it (rather than wait for it to be sent to me). It's now 8 days later, and 8 days until I leave, and I'm anxiously waiting to hear from them (I called yesterday, and they said that it hadn't arrived, yet). [1]

Electricity: I think I have a GB adapter somewhere. Have to go find it.

Money: I need to get some Euros for public transport and serendipitous spending. I have enough dollars to survive until Kansas City, and when I'm there I can use a US check to get out some money from my US bank account.

Activities (Ireland): Dublin, craft stores, or hiking every day, pubs and music every night. Shabbat hospitality courtesy of the Dublin synagogue and/or chabad. I hope to get a game in on one Thursday evening in Dublin.

Activities (US): I will be in Kansas City from Sunday evening until Tuesday early morning. Turns out that EVERYTHING worth doing is closed on Sunday and Monday in Kansas City. So not much planned. After that, it's pretty much BGG.con all the way.

Yehuda

[1] I am/was worried that Halloween would give me one less day of cushioning. Turns out that Halloween is not actually a US federal holiday. Who knew? Then again, why would it be?

It's Alive! for iOS!

2011-10-20T23:15:00.004+02:00

It's Alive! is coming to iOS (in time for Halloween, I hope).

The game was ported by Jeremy Maher, who has created several other apps for iOS, including Simon Graham and the Extraordinary Timepiece. Jeremy has been a pleasure to work with; I've really had to do almost nothing.

Says Jeremy:

Pretty much all of the features of the original are included. Two to five players (any combination of human and computer) can play on one device. Networked (online) multiplayer will not be part of the initial release. Each computer player has a name, and there are subtle differences in play style. All the basics are there - buy, sell, auction, coffins, villagers - with an option for either Basic or Advanced rules.

Games can be paused, saved, and resumed at any time.

There is some animation, as well as sound effects and an orchestral score. Volume for music and effects can be adjusted independently. There is also an in-game manual, which shows the original rules, edited and re-written as appropriate.

Here's a screenshot:

As soon as it's on the app store, go buy it!

Hag Gaming

2011-10-20T22:51:00.001+02:00

My shul had a traveling dinner; we hosted two families for appetizers, and we went to two other families for main course and dessert. As hosts, I subjected my guests to some Apples to Apples, which went over pretty well, though we didn't have much time.

During dessert, one of the other guests attempted to torment his non-family members with Snaps. He is the type who would not explain even a minute part of what was going on (no clues), taking pleasure out of being "in the know". I suppose he believed that we would enjoy being "driven crazy" while unable to figure out what was going on, but I don't really enjoy that; leastwise without at least some clue. So I simply looked up the game online, which greatly annoyed him instead.

Raanana Games Day Session Report

2011-10-18T02:08:00.001+02:00

Participants: Jon, Laurie, Daniel, Nadine, Abraham, Sara, Peleg, Ellis, Marcus, Ben, Omer

I suspected that the group would be small, even with my announcing the event in various locations. Everyone who came was a regular or occasional to the group, or a friend of one of them. This was fine, since my sukkah couldn't have held more people. Still, we need to find a way to reach out to more people; I know there are other gamers in Raanana and surrounding communities.

7 Wonders

Jon 75, Marcus 56, Omer 53, Ellis 52, Nadine 51, Ben 26

These scores are approximate, except for mine and Nadine's. First play for Omer and Ben, second for me and Nadine. I requested this.

The first time I played this I was unhappy with the amount of time you had to look at your opponents' boards and how difficult it was to do that. This time I felt a lot more comfortable doing it, and so could concentrate more on making better decisions. I enjoyed it.

People acted to thwart me, of course, but they had limited ability to do so. Often they didn't have access to the resources required to play a card, while I did (only one of my neighbors had the resource and I didn't). So they either had to dump the card under their wonder or toss it for a measly three cash, or simply pass it on to me. The latter happened many times in age three.

I started with two blue VP buildings in the first round. Most of the intermediate ones were then taken by others, but I ended with the most points in blue anyway (28). I built very few resources: only two. I had a yellow card that gave me a selection of one of four, and another yellow card that let me buy the other three resources for only one each from my neighbors. If everyone follows that strategy, a whole lot of buildings are not going to get built. It worked for me, though, because both of my neighbors built a lot of resources.

Two of my opponents across the way (Omer and Ben) were battling it out for military might (and neglecting other point cards). Omer ended victorious, which is why he scored better than Ben; on the other hand, he also didn't win. I won nearly as many military points as he did with two military power, because neither of my neighbors cared to invest in it much.

I also gained an (unfair) advantage with my wonder. The second level was "play any discarded building for free". We weren't exactly sure how to interpret that, but we took it that I could wait until the end of the game and then build any one card discarded from any age (including those discarded on the very last round of the game). The one I built was worth 12 points, far more than the value gained by any of the other players' second level wonder.

Boggle

Jon 4, Nadine 3

Played as an opener ...

Jon 13, Nadine 5

... and a filler.

Carson City

Nadine 47, Jon 43, Marcus 41, Ellis 36

The opening game for us. First play for Marcus and Ellis. Ellis scored big in the first round with 13 points. Nadine scored 13 points in the second round, and I scored 13 points in the third. I had a 35 income building, a church protecting it, and the role that doubles my income for one type of buildings and lets me keep up to $60. We thought I might be winning, but I was sure it would be close. I ended up with less owned property than I usually do, and Nadine squeaked by with the win.

I won a few battles that I shouldn't have won in the second or third round. Of note was the final round. Nadine won the three gun chip away from both me and Marcus. Marcus and I then fought for a particular building, and even though he still had a 3 gun advantage, I won it. It turned out, however, that it was not the building that I had actually intended to take (the one I wanted was next to it). So I screwed over Marcus and didn't end up with the building I wanted, anyway. Then Ellis picked up the building that he had bought, and he also realized belatedly that it wasn't the one he had actually wanted.

Dominant Species

Daniel 208, Abraham 158, Laurie 146, Sara 133, Peleg --

First play for all of them. Abraham had wanted to get the game to the table for a long time. He knew it would be too long for regular game night, so Games Day was the chance to try it. It took them over 6 hours, including the rules explanation.

I didn't see what happened. Peleg quit the game after about two or three hours, as he wasn't enjoying himself (he enjoyed only the attacking part, and there wasn't enough of it to make it worth his while). In fact, Peleg's attacking Daniel apparently helped Daniel win the game, as he was forced to take a lot of tundra (?) and he won many points on it. Or something like that.

I think everyone else enjoyed it.

Evolution

Jon+, Nadine

I tested this out two player on Nadine. We got through most of the deck and then Nadine resigned. I had her down to a single animal, while I had three carnivorous beasties with lots of abilities. It seemed unlikely that she was going to be able to get anything up and living any time soon, not when she drew only two cards each turn (she couldn't find a way to kill her last creature). I enjoyed the game, again, with the provision that this kind of thing doesn't happen often against prepared players.

Tigris & Euphrates

Jon 8, Daniel 6+, Nadine 6-, Laurie 5

Last game played, I taught it to Daniel and Laurie. Some very minor external conflicts arose before Daniel started a major one against me. I had seen it coming, and so I tossed out tiles in the round before, hoping to get exactly what I needed to defend against him: I had one green and one black; I tossed four tiles of blue and red; I picked two more greens and two more blacks). Now, I would have been content to have at least one of the colors defended. It turned out that I had exactly what I need in both colors using all six tiles: three green and three black tiles. Only once before in a previous game I had exactly what I needed using all six tiles (in that game it was 3 of one color, 2 of another, and 1 of a third). Daniel was rightfully discouraged - he had made the percentage play - but gamely continued to play.

I built two monuments near the end of the game; I didn't even fully utilize them, taking only a few points in one color from each of them. Surprisingly, other people barely fought me for them. I was the only one to build monuments, toss tiles, or play a disaster (one, splitting Nadine from half of her supporting tiles in a kingdom). These actions are under-utilized by my group.

Spare Squares: Rules Revision - RFC

2011-10-15T23:21:00.002+02:00

Here are the revised rules for Spare Squares; speak now with any comments or criticism before they go to print! (Unless. like Scott, you simply don't like the entire concept of a game played over the course of the whole con.)

Objective and Play

The object is to submit the best set of arranged cards in one of four different prize tracks (A-D).You start with four cards. Beg, trade, win, or steal cards from other players to obtain the cards necessary for a complete set. Submit a set to any BGG.con organizer before Saturday 5:30 pm. Results will be tabulated and winners announced at 10 pm.

Submission Rules

You must adhere to all of the following rules, or your submission will be disqualified:
1. You may submit only one set of cards. Entries must be received by 5:30 pm on Saturday.
2. The number in the center of all submitted cards must be the same, as pictured.
3. You must submit exactly four cards. You must arrange the cards in a 2x2 grid, as pictured. Mark all cards with their location in the grid as follows: TL=top left, TR=top right, BL=bottom left, BR=bottom right.
4. You may rotate cards as required; mark all cards with an up arrow to indicate the top of the card.
5. Submit the cards in an envelope with your name on it.

Scoring

1. On each exterior edge (b), you score as follows:
• 2 points for the two images matching shape
• 3 points for the two images matching filling
• 4 points for the two images matching color
2. Points are cumulative. For example, the set pictured scores 19 points (maximum is 36 points).

Prize Tracks

Your set is assigned to a prize track based on the following:
• Prize track D: All sets that don't match any other track (easy).
• Prize track C: If adjacent images on all interior edges (a) match in shape (medium).
• Prize track B: If adjacent images on all interior edges (a) match in shape and filling (difficult).
• Prize track A: If adjacent images on all interior edges (a) match in shape, filling, and color (fanatic).

Winner and Prizes

There will be one winner in each of the four prize tracks; the winner in each track is the person with the highest scoring set in that track. Ties will be determined randomly. Check out the list of prizes for the winners of each track by the registration area.

Shabbat Gaming

2011-10-15T23:12:00.003+02:00

I had a family from Raanana over for the first time for lunch, and the guy stayed after to play Scrabble with me. He was a tough opponent; he had obviously played in tournaments before. He played the only bingo during the game, but I beat him by a 50 point margin by playing a lot of double/double and double/triple moves.

Meanwhile, in two online Scrabble games that just ended, I played 7 bingos between them. That's a streak I don't expect to repeat. Playing bingos (or words at all) in online Scrabble isn't the same. Since you are not permitted to submit an illegal word, you just keep playing around and clicking submit until the game accepts your play. It takes a lot of the edge out of the game, and it's definitely different than face to face play.

Shabbat I went to my brother's and the kids wanted to play games (or hear stories) the whole time, even the five year old (I think he's five). I played Set with two of the younger ones, and I was shocked with how good them were, even the five year old. I didn't take sets myself; I only called Set and let them take the sets after they found them. So I would have killed them, technically. But I think they're going to get much better really fast.

The other game I played was Dominion, three times. I lost the first game taking Conspirators and Pawns against my brother who was simply taking silvers and golds. Actually, I also did some bad planning and had some bad luck. I took a Mine early when I should have taken a Market (before I settled on the Conspirator strategy), and I got to use it all of once during the game.

I requested the same set again, and this time I played more diverse and took more Markets and Spies. I won this game.

In the third game, there were no bonus actions on any cards, but there was Throne Room and Black Market. I picked well with Black Market while Ben had the same luck problem I faced during my first game. I had a runaway win, even though Ben had accidentally stacked 18 provinces instead of 12 (I took 11 of them, while Ben took 6).

Spare Squares: Rules Tweaking

2011-10-12T16:22:00.001+02:00

The design goals for Spare Squares include: easy enough that anyone who is the slightest bit interested (definitely not the majority of people at BGG.con) will feel that they have some prospect of winning even if they don't spend a great deal of time on the game; yet rich enough so that those people who enjoy fiddling with the cards will have fun spending a great deal of time on the game and earn some kind of reward for doing so. It's not easy to hit that balance.

An average random but legal arrangement of cards scores yields about 12 to 20 points along the outer edges. The maximum edge score is 36.

Here are some ideas for tweaking the rules:

1. Requirements: I am thinking of removing the requirement for any kind of interior edge matching. All you have to do is match the numbers. In practice, that will require trading with no more than two or three people. This should yield a set with about 16 to 20 points with a bit of rotation. Trading with a larger group, say 12 to 20 people, should yield a decent score of 24 to 30. Those last few points to get to 36 are the hardest.

2. Bonus points: Completing the first level bonus is about as hard as trading with two or three people (up to five, perhaps). That yields the average edge score of 12 to 20points plus the 10 points bonus, for 22 to 30 points. This automatically shuts out a casual number match and rotation submission. A better first level bonus is 6 points, putting you in the same category as the edge match and rotation submissions.

The second level bonus is as hard as the complete edge match. When combined with the average edge score (12 to 20), it should yield a little less than a perfect edge match (36) so as not to shut out edge matchers, so should be around 18. So 6/18 seems to be about right for bonus points.

Of course, if someone has access to hundreds of cards and lots of time (as they will), they're going to raise their scores above 36 and they will win, putting everyone else out of contention. This is a discouragement to the other players. On the one hand, isn't that the way games are? The person who practices more at Chess or Tennis than you is going to win. On the other hand, I don't have the luxury of only catering my game to fanatics; I have to be inclusive of lazy people.

3. To solve this, I could make each point an "entry" into a random draw. In this way, a casual submission counts as 16 entries if it is worth 16 points. A fanatic entry of 40 points is 40 entries, but still not a guaranteed win. This neatly solves the problem ... except that I hate lotteries. I may have to swallow my pride.

4. Another solution is to divide the field up according to play tiers: one prize for sets with no matching middles, one prize for sets with first tier matching, and one prize for sets with strong (perfect) matching. Fewer people will play in the strong match tier, and one of them will get their prize. Many people (one hopes) will play in the no matching middle tier, and the winner can be chosen randomly among top scorers of this tier.

This option still requires the number matching for all tiers, however prizes are not given out based on the number, but based on the tier (three prizes instead of four).

I'm still thinking about it. Any other suggestions (that don't involve changing the entire concept of the game, or the design of the cards) are welcome.

Yehuda

Spare Squares: A many-player social strategy trading game for BGG.con 2011

2011-10-11T12:05:00.001+02:00

I created a new game for the next BGG.con. The game will be produced by Blue Panther LLC in a limited run of one. I struggled to figure out how pay for its production, since it was going to cost more to produce than BGG was willing to spend. I came up with the idea of asking BP to sponsor the run and put their logo on the game, to which they agreed. Win-win-win.

I'm having fun with this design genre: "many players" social-strategy-trading games. I'm pleased with this particular design, which has strong design integrity. Designing for this genre has a kind of artistic integrity. Not many people are doing it. To make money, I would have to get hired by convention organizers or large companies or organizations who want a brainy activity for their employees during the yearly company kickoff meeting. However, the game could be adapted for a smaller group of players, say as few as three.

Here is the game:

Spare Squares

Created,designed, and illustrated by Yehuda Berlinger for BGG.con 2011. Published by Blue Panther LLC. © 2011, YehudaBerlinger. To obtain a copy of this game with customized rules and components, contactYehuda at shadjon@gmail.com.

The BGG.con print run is 5000 unique square cards.

Objective and Play

The objectis to submit the best set of arranged cards in one of four different prizetracks (1-4).

You startwith four cards and an envelope. Beg, trade, win, or steal cards from other players to obtainthe cards necessary for a complete set. Submit your set to any BGG.conorganizer before Saturday evening 8 pm. Results will be tabulated and winnersannounced at 10 pm.

Entry Rules

You must adhere to all of thefollowing rules, or your entry will be disqualified:

You may submit only one set of cards. Entries mustbe received by 8pm on Saturday night.
The number in the center of all submitted cards mustbe the same, as pictured.This number determines the prize track.
You must submit exactly four cards. You mustarrange the cards in a 2x2 grid, as pictured. Mark all cards with theirlocation in the grid as follows: TL=top left, TR=top right, BL=bottom left, BR=bottomright.
You may rotate cards as required; markall cards with an up arrow (↑) to indicate the top of the card.
Adjacent images on each of the four interior edges (a)must be the same shape. Filling and color do not have to match.
Submit the cards in an envelope with your nameon it.

Scoring

On each exterior edge (b), you score asfollows:
- 2 points for matching shapes
- 3 points for matching interior
- 4 points for matching color
Points are cumulative. For example, the set picturedscores 19 points.
Bonus points:
- If all adjacent images on the four interior edges (a)match in shape, filling, AND color, add 20 points to your score. (Note: This isnot cumulative with the previous bonus.)

Winner and Prizes

There willbe one winner in each of the four prize tracks; the winner in each track is theperson with the highest scoring set in that track. Ties will be determinedrandomly. The prizes areas follows: [TBD, but each is generally a donated game of around $100 in retail value]

Thoughts

Your thoughts? I will be playing around with the bonus scores to find the exact right values, but as long as it's in the ballpark it should be ok. I was considering a doubling bonus for matching the interior edges exactly, but doubling got me in trouble in the first game for being too strong.

Does it look fun?

The players write on the pieces to play; this is required for a large convention like setting, but would not be required for a game played by 3 to 10 people around a table. For only three or four people I would start them off with more cards.

Part of the integrity of the design is that the tiles and the rule-set are separate. The game can be made easier or harder on demand (by requiring no or all edge matches, or by requiring or ignoring matching fillings), or varying the point values (for instance, matching specific colors can yield different points).

My inspiration comes from my previous BGG.con games, which were in turn inspired by Sid Sackson's Haggle. When I first saw the larger games that were to be played at BGG.con, they were all lotteries or tournaments. I thought that a convention of strategy gamers should have a single game to play with upwards of 100 people at a time that was not a lottery, trivia, or quiz games or a tournament of smaller games.

I also drew inspiration from Eternity II, a game/puzzle I haven't actually played and whose name I actually forgot. Still, I remembered the idea of matching pieces and that there was some math behind it.

Making Progress

2011-10-07T02:05:00.002+02:00

I've cut down to 50 RSS feeds from my previous over 500. I used to see 50 new headlines every 15 minutes. Now I see about 20 an hour. Still too many really.
Here is what has survived the cut:

BGG:

BGG.con: Because I'm going to the con
Hot Deals
It's Alive: Because it's my game
News: Official site announcements, not the former BGN
Official terms of service: rarely updates
New publishers x 2 (board games and RPG): Because I still maintain a large db of this kind of information

Pure distractions

Buttercup Festival
Dilbert
Girls With Slingshots
Miss Manners (from The Buffalo News)
New Yorker Fiction Podcast
New Yorker Outloud Podcast
NPR's On The Media Podcast
Order of the Stick
PostSecret
PRI Design for the Real World Podcast
PRI Science and Creativity Podacst
PRI Selected Shorts Podcast
PRI Studio 360 Podcast
PRI To the Best of Our Knowledge Podcast
Questionable Content
Roger Ebert Movie Reviews
Something Positive
The Devil's Panties
This American Life Podcast
WNYC's Radio Lab Podcast
XKCD

Games:

Applied Game Design
The Dice Tower Podcast: See above
Jerusalem Strategy Gaming Club (my own feed)
Loot
Mind Your Decisions
Raanana Gamer: Local gamer
Yehuda (my own feed)
Tapuz board games, a Hebrew Israeli board game forum

News

Official IDF feed
Israelli: Official government feed
Jerusalem Post Front Page
CNN Main
CNN Entertainment: I'm a bit embarrassed about this one
New York Times International

Tech

A List Apart
CNN Technology
Discover: Technology
Giveaway of the Day
New York Times internet
TEDTalks Videos

A friend's personal feed
Updates to my Facebook wall: I waste less time on Facebook this way

I download the podcasts for long distance trips and occasional listening during work. I don't listen to all of them, God forbid. Cut out the podcasts and I'm down to 39 feeds, of which 30 or so are actually active.

What's missing is striking: nearly any game blog, for one. It turns out that, if you're not interested in reviews, thoughts about upcoming games, rehashed game design notes, or session reports, there's not much out there. I would continue to read Purple Pawn, Eric Martin's BGN (now BGG News), and one or two others, but I'm forcing myself not to.

Other than The Dice Tower, game podcasts are generally poor, unprofessional, and uninteresting. A few might have made the cut, such as Have Games Will Travel and Garret's Games and Geekiness, but the other mainstream podcasts are just so much better, and I haven't got enough listening time as it is. TDT is also still an order of magnitude less professional than the mainstream podcasts, but it's also an order of magnitude better than any other game podcast.

I cut out fire-hose feeds like Techdirt, Slashdot, Mashable, and so on, since the real tech news will end up on CNN or NYT, and the rest of it was opinion. I'm a little surprised that the mainstream media won out in favor of blogs, but apparently they still know what they're doing.

Naturally, I've also resigned from over 50 mailing lists (I'm still getting some list mailings; I can't seem to get them all) and removed most of the sites from my bookmarks and quick toolbars.

Since I discovered the feed for my Facebook wall, I no longer feel like I have to remove friends from Facebook, though I still removed 50 friends; I'm down at 350. Many more will definitely be cut: gamers who know me from my writings but whom I don't really know. I'm waiting to see if I friend any of them in real life at BGG.con.

The Point

When I have a spare moment to kill now, I still reach for my distractions: my RSS reader, some additional bookmarks. But there's a lot less there to distract me, now.

As a result, I got back to work on a game design I want to complete by and for BGG.con, and it looks like it will be ready to print and ship on time. I'm just working out the money and sponsorship.

Yehuda

Jerusalem Session Report

2011-10-06T23:18:00.000+02:00

The latest Jerusalem Strategy Gaming Club session report is up. Games played: R-Eco, Stone Age, Tribune.

Raanana Session Report

2011-10-05T23:52:00.002+02:00

Participants: Abraham, Sara, Jon, Tal, Rochelle, Tanya, Laurie

Rochelle brought another new player, Tanya.

Tichu

Avraham/Sara 80, Jon/Tal 20We played only one round of this. The hands were unremarkable and no one called Tichu. I went out last. Laurie arrived midway and looked on.

Ticket to Ride

Sara+, Rochelle, Tanya, Tal

A girl's game of TtR. I didn't see what happened. Here's Abraham:

Rochelle and Tal started off in the middle of the map, with Tanya focusing on the east coast and Sara on the west. Competition for the routes was light, and everyone seemed to finish their original tickets with only a little trouble. Everybody drew more tickets to complete, but no one seemed to draw tickets that fit their existing networks well. Rochelle and Tanya realized near the end that it could be expedient to get points just by claiming routes without relevant tickets. No one completed all of their tickets. Rochelle helped Tal in this regard by blocking one of her needed routes in the final round. Sara got the Longest Route bonus, and Rochelle got the Most Completed Tickets bonus. Sara won, with Rochelle not too far behind in second place.

Stone Age

Avraham 180+, Yehuda 150+, Laurie 110+

I hate dice. Every once in a while I'll play a dice game just to see if my feelings have changed. I find this game dull, except near the end when specific point avenues are calculable. And all because of the dice.

I tried a starvation strategy, and it did pretty well. It would have done even better if a) Abraham didn't specifically thwart me on several occasions taking cards that were ok for him but much better for me, and b) I didn't make a few missteps, choosing higher valued goods only to dump them as resources for cards, anyway. And the set collection mechanic doesn't work; even if you collect the entire set, it's still only 8 points a card - less than the 10 or more points that many other cards provide. And you're not going to get the whole set, because you have to wait for very specific cards as your set nears completion. as opposed to other cards that have many copies.

Abraham adds:After some discussion on what to play, we settled on Stone Age. Laurie, who had never played before, was impressed by the components but was skeptical about the role of dice in this game. Yehuda was willing to play anything, and furthermore, was willing to give Stone Age another chance despite previous bad experiences. Yehuda went for a starvation strategy, while I focused on the food track. Laurie, who was trying to figure out the optimal way to play, was influenced by our strategies and tried an occasional starve strategy while also advancing on the food track, which is not a viable winning strategy.

Yehuda, although sitting in front of me in turn order, often did not choose the options that would gain him the most points as his first choice, to which I would scoop up opportunistically to thwart his plans. This greatly reduced the level of enjoyment for Yehuda, but I view as proper play in any worker-placement game. I won with a score of 180 something with Yehuda roughly 30 points behind in 2nd place. Laurie enjoyed the game, and although Yehuda was agitated by my style of play, seemed content with the feasibility of the starvation strategy.

I was happy that the usual complaints of “whoever rolls the highest wins” did not surface at the end and that my victory was more from choices than chance.

I (Jon) will note that I had a number of good rolls, while Laurie had a few bad rolls as well as a number of poor, wasted choices.

Jaipur

Sara+, Tal

Tal played this with Sara while waiting for us to finish Stone Age.

Abraham:Sara offered to play something with Tal while we were finishing up Stone Age. Tal chose Jaipur because it looked pretty and nice, which it pretty much is. Sara won the first and third rounds, and Tal won the second round. Both the first and third rounds were decided by fewer than five points.

Decluttering, Unfriending, and Starting a New Chapter

2011-10-02T20:15:00.000+02:00

I am taking steps to cut myself off from most of the electronic world. It's achingly hard. I'm addicted. I don't want to be addicted.

I've tried to delete some - any - Facebook connections for YEARS. It took me that long to delete JUST 10; 10 people who I knew once but have not heard from since, in whom I have no interest, and apparently who have no interest in me. Why did it take so long? Because I'm addicted.

Why delete a Facebook connection when I can hide it? Why delete an RSS feed when I can skip over or suspend it? Because if it/he/she is there, then, in my spare moments, I peek at it. My electronic life is so full of convenient interesting distractions that I could spend ... I have spent ... every spare moment consuming, instead of producing.

Actually most of my spare moments, for the last three and a half years, have been devoted to Purple Pawn, scanning, reading, searching, writing, researching, etc, etc. With the help of some co-writers (more or less; I wrote many more posts than the others did) I turned Purple Pawn into a strong. though small, voice in the game world. I became a better journalist, learned a great deal about the game industry, broke a few important stories, and made a number of friends and contacts.

However.

Before I started Purple Pawn, I wrote a great many excellent posts on this blog; since I started Purple Pawn barely any. Purple Pawn - and the other time suckers I have let overwhelm my life, such as social media - distracts me from new game designs, completing a short story I started, writing a number of books, going out, meeting people, experiencing culture, exercising, ... I don't know that I'm going to get these done if I drop these distractions, but I know that I'm not going to get them done if I don't.

So. I am cutting Purple Pawn out of my life (for at least three months, probably far more). I am eliminating 90% of my RSS feeds, including nearly all game related info (my blogroll is disappearing, sorry), most tech, and nearly all news. Don't be offended if you are suddenly dropped from my social media; it doesn't mean I don't like you.

This blog will continue; writing is a small distraction, but it also stimulates my creative process. It will especially be used during my upcoming November trip to Ireland and BGG.con. If you want to follow along, and you're no longer connected on Facebook, feel free to use RSS or Feedblitz, located on the top right of the page. If not, thanks for reading until now. This chapter is over.

Yehuda

Raanana Session Report

2011-10-02T00:45:00.000+03:00

Participants: Abraham, Peleg, Jon, Tal, Ellen, Rochelle, Laurie, Daniel

Daniel finally returns after traveling.

Taki

Ellis+, Jon

While waiting for others to arrive to play Evolution. I reminded Ellis about the rules to this game. I think he won fairly quickly.

Jon+, Rochelle, Ellis

I then reminded/taught the rules to Rochelle. I won this with a multi-color Taki card.

Evolution

Daniel 18, Jon 16, Rochelle 13, Ellis 6

Scores approximate; first play for everyone. This was game number three of four sent to me by a Russian game company to review, which I will do in full once I have played all four. The first two games were simple and not too interesting, although they may hold some appeal for younger players. This game actually looked pretty good.

We played it, and what do you know, it was pretty good. You simply have to play your cards and keep as many creatures alive as possible from round to round (until the end, which is the scoring, and so the only point that really matters). Easier said then done. I'm eagerly looking forward to trying it again. There were, however, a few rules questions, and a few concerns about luck and repetition.

Nexus Ops

Abraham, Peleg, Tal, Laurie

Peleg had requested this game already last week, as he was eager to play something that involved units and conflict. Laurie was interested in playing with the nice bits. I don't know how the game went.

Alien Frontier

Jon, Rochelle, Ellis, Daniel

I suggested this game. First play for the other players, second play for me. It was a little more complex than the games Rochelle had played until now, but she picked it up well enough.

I recalled enjoying the game to some extent, but having a problem with it. Abraham reminded me of what it was: downtime on other players' turns. Yup. Still there, and still a problem.We had far too many piracy attacks, so I took a decoy ship card which sent them elsewhere for the rest of the game. Ellis got an enhancement that moved him faster on the standard module development track, and that's nearly the only thing he did from then on.

I pulled into a lead at one point, carefully knocking down the player closest to me each time in the process. This process was almost always reverse within a round or two, and I was back to being tied for first. That's how the game ended: Rochelle gained a module and tied me in a territory. I won on the tiebreaker.

Ticket to Ride

Abraham, Peleg. Laurie

I don't know what happened.

Shana Tova

2011-09-28T16:14:00.000+03:00

I have a few longer things to say - including last night's session report - but no time right now. So shana tova, and I'll see you on the other side of the (very long) weekend.

Yehuda

Shabbat Gaming

2011-09-25T13:16:00.005+03:00

Nadine, Abraham, and Sara joined me for lunch. Nadine came early, and we played two-player Puerto Rico with my usual changed buildings (I changed Discretionary Hold to save one barrel, instead of three, but neither of us bought it).

Nadine had early corn and an early victory point lead. But my building was far overtaking hers, even though I let her take Factory and instead took Large Business (provides both Builder and Captain privileges). LB is underrated. It can't undo the victory point lead the way that Harbor can, but it can stop the erosion and still provide a building boost.

We didn't finish, but we were pretty sure that I was going to win.

After lunch, Sara, Abraham, and I requested Antike, which we played over Nadine's mild objections (she would have preferred Power Grid). Turned out to be a great game experience, even for Nadine.

I won the game 8 to 7 to 7 to 7 (we play to one point less than the suggested value); as you can see, very close. We played on the Arabian board. I started in Palestine, smack in between the other players. I kept tight control of my little area, using my first-player advantage (which offset my pathetic position) to nab Market for the first victory point. But I had competition for Know-hows, and Nadine ended up getting four of the VPs there. I build some temples, but Abraham destroyed one when he took Wheels. Luckily only one, as he was one unit away from sacking both.

The next round I placed dozens of units to protect the rest of my holdings and, together with Democracy, I was undisturbed for the rest of the game. Nadine floated around Greece, pulling ahead to 6 points over my 5, because no one was disturbing her. Abraham tried his opening triple temple strategy again. Sara built up a huge pile of resources and exploded suddenly from 3 to 10 areas in one turn. Then she sacked one of Abraham's temples, since he had left them open after he had sacked mine.

Then Abraham sacked one of Sara's temples, since she had left hers open to sack his. This left one of Abraham's temples open for me to sack, which gave me the one extra point necessary (together with 7 seas) to pull ahead of Nadine to 7 points. I was easily able to take my last point in the Know-hows (all 8) regardless of what the other players did, though all of them got one more point in the final round.

Session Report, in which Lo Ra is intense

2011-09-22T22:33:00.000+03:00

The latest Jerusalem Strategy Gaming Club session report is up. Games played: Taj Mahal, Lo Ra, Yinsh, Whatzit.

Nadine gains 17 bonus points at the end in Taj Mahal.

Raanana Session Report, in which Laurie compares Puerto Rico favorably to Age of Empires III

2011-09-21T00:28:00.002+03:00

Participants: Jon, Peleg, Abraham, Rochelle, Tal, Ellis, Laurie, BenAh, a normal sized game night (for Israel). It's been a while since I saw one. Rochelle is a new player. The others have experience with gaming.

Parade

Abraham 16, Tal 19, Rochelle 19, Peleg 23, Jon 23

Or something like that. First play for everyone except me, I think. Everyone enjoyed it, and there was definite direct confrontation.

Settlers of Catan

Abraham 10, Tal, Peleg, Rochelle

First play for Rochelle. She liked it a lot. She kept Longest Road for some a lot of the game - though not because she was pursuing it - until ~~Abraham~~ Tal stole it. I don't know much else about the game.

Puerto Rico

Jon 56, Rochelle 51, Ellis 41, Ben 33

First play for Laurie, third or so for Ellis. Ben had played before, but certainly nowhere near as much as I had. I'm guessing that his experience is limited to a small group of other players, a) considering his strategy and b) considering two rules misconceptions that he held. As to the former, his first play as Governor was Builder/Construction Hut, which he followed up with Hospice, Hacienda, and three quick quarries (and eventually a forth). He shipped only 8 points, and ended with two large buildings, one of them unmanned. As to the latter, his first misconception was that you could buy multiples of the same building, and his second was that, if you didn't like the available plantations, you could instead draw one at random from the face down supply.

Ellis also put stock in a Hospice and some early corns. His major mistake was in choosing tobacco as his trade good, even though Laurie on his right had already acquired tobacco. Laurie accepted guidance, of course, but also made a good number of her own decisions. She had a hard time keeping the roles straight, especially as to how they fit into the "production path".

As second player, I took Small Market on round one, and then Settler/quarry, despite two available corn plantations. Most of the rest of the corn showed up early, so I got some anyway. I took indigo and coffee. I had a coffee monopoly until the end of mid-game. My chance for a third row building was at the end of mid-game and I chose Harbor over Factory (I had enough money with coffee). The other players also left me Guild Hall, even after I encouraged them to take it.

Like many Puerto Rico games, unexpected choices occurred frequently. While this sometimes helped me, it also sometimes threw me off my game.

Whatzit

Tal, Rochelle, Abraham

I picked this up from someone for free. No one is interested in playing the game, but the cards are fun to look at.

Yinsh

Abraham, Rochelle

First play for Rochelle. It started off okay, but once there were a lot of pieces on the board, she started to get a headache.

Raanana Session Report, in which Abe wins Age of Empires III due to luck, luck, and (maybe) luck

2011-09-15T01:18:00.000+03:00

Participants: Jon, Abraham, Sara, Peleg, Ellis, Laurie

Laurie is back from summer vacation. Sara also joined us, but opted to "join Abe's team" when we had six, and she had to take care of the baby anyway. Before settling on Age of Empires III, I set up a game of Guardians of Graxia, but we didn't get to play it (I wasn't about to try it with 5 or 6 players).

Age of Empires III

Abraham/Sara 94, Jon 91, Ellis 64, Peleg 59, Laurie 55

First plays for Laurie, Peleg, and Ellis, and second or third for Abraham and Sara. I chose this because it supports five players well and has a wee bit of combat in it. I know that Ellis and Peleg are war game fans, but I don't have many games with these elements; I'd be happy to try them on Antike. Laurie was a little nervous because it didn't look like something she would like, however.

Turned out to be a success, even with Laurie, I think. Peleg saw soldiers in his pieces and dedicated the rest of his game toward acquiring them and using them to shoot people. He did some damage, though sometimes he just shot them for the fun of it. He also had some money coming in from his soldiers discovering.

The "take $20" building didn't some out until round 2 (and I would have thrown it back to ensure that it didn't come out in round 1), and Laurie was the only one who could buy buildings in round 2. She also got the "free discovery" in round 2, making me thing that she had a decent lead at this point. However, she tried an failed to make several discoveries, often by a single person. Other people then stole those discoveries from her. This set her back.

Ellis had decent money coming in from a building in age 2 ($10 a round). I'm not sure where he went wrong, but a) he didn't seem to build up anything in particular, and b) Peleg kept shooting his guys (when he wasn't shooting mine).

That leaves me and Abe. I started unusually for me by concentrating on commodities instead of discoveries and buildings. It slowed me down for some time. Only when I got a few extra specialists and was able to take some merchant ships did I begin to pull ahead (in income, anyway). Together with placement and buildings, I was getting one of each specialist a round.

As usual, I took a number of second place victories in the New World, a position that slipped under the other players' radar, apparently. After my income was secure, I went back to concentrating on discoveries and some final buildings.The trouble was that though I at least succeeded in my discoveries, they were all low valued discoveries of 4 or 5 points.

Meanwhile, Abraham was doing as many discoveries as I was (even more) and his were all 6 or 7 points. He also ended with a lot of money. He had 61 final scoring points in discoveries, cash, and buildings, which was impressive. I came rather close to that by adding my income.However, would I have picked his cards, and he mine, the final result would have been reversed.

Or maybe not ... it's possible that if I had picked his cards that I might have failed one of the discoveries, since I generally send n-1 guys. Ok, so maybe it wasn't entirely luck.

JSGC Session Report, in which Emily scores the same in two games, but comes first in one and last in the other

2011-09-08T23:24:00.000+03:00

The latest Jerusalem Strategy Gaming Club session report is up. Games played: Lo Ra, It's Alive, Louis XIV.

Good to see game night continuing without me.

Raanana Session Report in which I win Glory to Rome using Forum but feel guilty

2011-09-08T23:19:00.000+03:00

Participants: Jon, Abraham, Peleg, Ellis

Some others were hoping to make it, but in the end they couldn't.

Seven: Card Game

Abraham 3, Jon 2, Peleg 2

Another game I was sent to review, the review will go up on Purple Pawn in time. I warn publishers before they send me games that I'm a harsh reviewer, and I try to turn down games that I know I won't like. This one came through anyway.

It's a souped up version of Go Fish. Instead of all items in a set being the same, there are seven different items in seven different sets and you have to ask for the item by name, but only if you have an item in that set already. There are also about 20 special ability cards. A few are bad (reveal immediately), but most are good, and you can only play good one per turn.

I'm not a fan of Go Fish, and neither were Abraham or Peleg. However, they both appeared to enjoy themselves while playing the game. Abraham even took my copy home. Peleg didn't think he would play it again.

Glory to Rome

Jon+, Abraham, Ellis, Peleg

First play for all the other players. Maybe I should have, after all, not played with the building powers, as is suggested for the first play. I am pretty happy with this game - so much so that I ordered the new edition with nicer graphics - but I think that the Forum ruins the game. I don't mind broken combinations, because there are usually several, and at least everyone feels like they are still completing for the original goal. But, when you do well and play well, and then a card says that the game is over and the win handed to the player who drew and played the card, it's a letdown.

There are ways to combat a Forum, unless it is played and completed on the same turn and near the end of the game. And if these ways come into play, the building isn't necessarily broken. It is simply broken sometimes, and that's too many times for me.

Oddly enough, despite my concern that I would turn them off the game, I was the one to play a Forum. The other players had plenty of time to work against me, and did so to some extent. In fact, they could actually have ended the game by taking the remaining foundations, but, for some reason, they didn't. I ended with a Forum victory when there were two foundations remaining.

Which brings me to another note: I play with one change to the rules: each player can only be building, at any one time, three buildings. This restriction only actually hampered someone once during our game. I created the change because I thought the game play devolved when every player started six buildings all at once, and ended before pretty much before anything was built. However, I note that, by restricting the number buildings you can build at a time, I am decreasing the ability of the other players to stop the Forum. So I may have to rethink it.

Another possible change I am thinking of is having the game end as soon as one player completes one building of each color.

The rest of the game saw pretty balanced play, with no powerhouse combos brought into play. Ellis wasn't too keen on the game. I'm not sure how the others felt.

Board Game Blog World Roundup

2011-09-02T10:20:00.000+03:00

New to me since the last roundup:

Boardgaming: A new social media site for board games, the feed includes various contributors from the site.

Boards and Beers: Michael Taylor, NH.

East Tennessee Gamers: Greg Schloesser, Talbott, TN. The original game pumbah has a new site with a feed.

Games & Grub: Eric Leath, Columbus, OH. Mostly games.

Growing Up Gamers: Randy and Angie Newnham, Eugene, OR. Gaming with kids.

Kevin and Games: Kevin O'Sullivan, Sussex, UK. Session reports.

Lillian Cohen-Moore: WA. Some sparse notes from a game co-designer and magazine editor.

My Board Game Ideas: Clive Lovett, Kamloops, Canada. Thoughts on game design.

Play the Past: Multiple contributors on multiple genres of gaming.

Raanana Gamer: Ellis, Israel. Session reports from my new game group.

The Royal Society of Gamers: Henrik, Conrad, and Karl. Podcast.

The Secret Life of an American Geek Mom: Sara Yarrington, Manchester, NH. She also podcasts.

Tim Stellmach: Arlington, MA. Video game designer who talks a lot about board games.

Warpig Radio: Ed Healy and Dan Repperger. Podcast.

Raanana Session Report in which Abraham wins Agricola because he had better cards

2011-09-01T10:06:00.000+03:00

Participants: Jon, Abraham, Ellis, Peleg

Quest Adventure Cards

I promised the company who sent me this game to give this a review. I had tried it once before and found it lacking, so I was determined to try it one more time. It was still lacking.

Abraham and I gamely gave it a go. We drew random cards and played them whenever we could. We ran into some rules questions, which didn't matter too much.

And then, simply by luck, the game ended before we could score the last quest, which resulted in a tie. Even though I was winning by a great number of points. Even if Abraham could have ended it, he had no incentive to do so.

Agricola

Abraham 39, Jon 24, Ellis 24, Peleg 21

First plays for Ellis and Peleg, something like third or fourth play for Abraham.

I found it a challenge to explain the game as simply as possible, even though Ellis and Peleg are both pretty smart gamers. But we started without too much trouble and everything ran pretty smoothly. Still, a few finer points of the scoring rules tripped at least Ellis up around the game's end.

Since it was the first play for two out of the four players, we simply dealt 7 occupations and minor improvements to each player, rather than do any kind of draft, which is what we would normally (and really must) do. As a result, everyone but Abraham had one or two good cards and the rest mediocre of useless cards. Abraham ended up with god-like cards, including a free early family member, lots of free early food (and the Well, nearly for free), and bonus points up the wazoo.

Abraham scored more bonus points than I've ever seen in a game - 19, but we all really thought he would be scoring even more than that. As we watched them pile up, I was sure that he was at least 10 to 20 points ahead of the nearest competitor, who I was pretty sure was me. (In fact, he would have scored another 5 bonus points if everyone didn't allow me to take back a play I made on the last round in favor of a better play that blocked him.)

Abraham's board was complete, but mostly minimum, and he scored only 12 points for people and nothing for buildings. Ellis also had an even, mostly minimum board with a full people count but only 1 bonus point. Peleg also had an even, minimum board, but he had 8 empty board spaces, which counteracted his 4 room stone house. And only 1 bonus point. I had minimum in most things, maximum vegetables, a full board, a clay house, full people, and 8 bonus points.

Ellis wasn't looking terribly impressed, mostly because Abraham had a good early lead from his cards and there wasn't much we could do about it. However, the prospect of drafting cards appeared to spark his interest in giving the game another go.

JSGC Session Report, in which, without my sensible guidance, they play The Game of Life

2011-08-31T11:26:00.000+03:00

The latest Jerusalem Strategy Gaming Club session report is up. Games played: Hive, Lo Ra, Shadows Over Camelot, Citadels, The Game of Life.

The Game of Life. Really.

JSGC Session Report, in which Nadine begins her reign as queen of the games

2011-08-24T23:59:00.000+03:00

The latest Jerusalem Strategy Gaming Club session report is up. Games played: Set, A Touch of Evil, Lo Ra.

Nadine hosts game night, writes the session report, explains the games, and wins every one. Lo Ra is Nadine's own biblical-themed version of Ra.

I would like to add here that I played a game of Oh Hell with Tal earlier in the week which I narrowly won.

Raanana Session Report in which we play Container and I win somehow

2011-08-17T19:52:00.000+03:00

For the moment, Raanana Game Group session reports will go here, until Ellis tells me what to do with them.

Games played: The Kingdoms of Crusaders, Container, The Enigma of Leonardo

Participants: Abraham, Jon, Ellis, Peleg

We played at Abraham's house. Ellis is the usual host, but he is in the process of moving.

The Kingdoms of Crusaders

Abraham 3, Jon 2

The Kingdom of Crusaders (and The Enigma of Leonardo) are two of the four games that I was sent to review from RightGames - Russian Board Games. All four games come in boxes whose size is comparable to boxes containing software CDs with manuals. The inserts are white foam. The pieces contain lovely art, but the quality of the components is rather flimsy. In some cases, it's hard to separate the pieces without ripping them.

TKoC is the only 2-player only game in the lot; however, it plays for 3-4 players if you buy two copies of the game. The rules are, in fact, written for 3-4 players and not really for 2. Speaking of the rules, the English is obviously by a non-native, but the rules are short - generally two sided of a single page with graphics - and written well enough so that the game play is readily understandable.

TKoC is a stripped down card-driven area-control game akin to Battle Line. The theme has something to do with the Crusades - a celebration thereof, actually, which I find distasteful; luckily the theme is entirely non-existent in the play. Cards have between 1 to 5 symbols in the 5 colors of the game. Each player has a hand of 5 cards.

On your turn, draw a card and play a card into one of the five areas. You will play exactly 4 cards into each area, for a total of exactly 20 cards. The game is over after each player has played their 20 cards.

You win the area if you have the most complete sets: a complete set is when all four of the cards you played in the area match in a symbol. You can achieve more than one complete set in an area if all the cards match in multiple symbols. If there is a tie for most complete sets, the symbols are ranked (like artists in Modern Art) to break the tie. If there is still a tie, compare incomplete sets with only 3 symbols (one of the cards didn't match). Etc.

The player who wins the majority of the 5 areas wins the game. In the case of multiple players, you get 3 points for first place, 2 points for second, 1 point for third. Highest score wins.

The game is pretty straightforward, as are the strategies: hold your best cards for when you need them, know when to give up a fight and use that space to dump weak cards, try to not be first to show strength in an area, etc. Naturally, you're at the mercy of the cards you pick. One game proved sufficient for an experienced adult. For kids or people a little slower on the uptake, the game might be enjoyed a few times. As it is, you wouldn't buy it in favor of other, better games such as Battle Line or Lost Cities. However, there is an expansion available that adds some special abilities and may spruce up the game,

In our game, I had two areas under control and thought I had a third as well, but I forgot about symbol ranking. Abraham kept dumping cards into areas he had already lost until he found what he needed to win this area. Abraham didn't enjoy the game.

Since "Play-Draw" is a better mechanic than "Draw-Play", we played with 6 cards in hand, drawing at the end of the turn, instead of 5 cards drawing at the beginning of the turn. This presents no change to the mechanics other than when you draw your card.

Container

Jon 99, Peleg 93, Abraham 79, Ellis 70

First play for everyone except Abraham. I had played about two rounds of the game previously. My memory of the previous game didn't match up with this game. In my previous game, I felt a complete loss as to what to do and how things worked. In this game, I understood the economics completely, and all that remained was to calculate the benefits of expenses versus income and convince other players to buy from me at a high price and sell to me at a low price.

You pay 1 to produce goods, a small amount to buy good into your warehouse, a larger amount to buy them from a warehouse, and a similar amount to buy them onto your island. You make the most money selling them to someone who wants them on the island (earning double, because you also get from the bank) and acquiring goods on the island, but only in a certain way.

It's the latter mechanic, acquiring good on the island, that caused me the most grief. Island acquisitions always seem to not be worth it; however, the sum total of many acquisitions is worth it. You have to look at the first purchases as a foundation for future purchases. Only in the last few rounds of the game should you be particularly concerned about what you do, or don't, acquire. I didn't grasp this until mid-game, when I was well behind the other players. Finally I acquired some items, keeping them low, even, and accurate. I earned less than the other players on the island, but I made up for it by selling far more goods to them, which gave me by far the most cash in hand by the end.

It's certainly a tough, but interesting game. However, I am bothered by the gaping flaw it has - not dissimilar to other games - that a single bad play by one person can completely hand the game to some other person, thus making the rest of the play irrelevant. In Puerto Rico, it's usually a series of bad plays that can do this; here it can happen in a single auction. Ellis netted $30 from a single auction in which Peleg payed him $15. Luckily, Ellis was far behind.

Furthermore, your production and warehouses won't empty until other players decide to empty them; you can offer your goods at attractive prices for this to happen, but there's no guarantee that it will; and until it does, you're kind of stuck. That keeps me from liking the game unreservedly. Too much depends on other players regardless of what you do.

The Enigma of Leonardo

Ellis 7, Jon 6, Peleg 6, Abraham 5

The second game from RightGames, this is a card driven pattern forming game. Each card has 2 symbols on it, out of a total of 12 symbols altogether. Some of the cards are duplicates (have both the same two symbols), while most cards either match or don't in one of the two symbols. The card quality is poor.

The game also has a number of small tiles with one symbol each. You collect these during the game, trying to get 7. You can't have more than one of the same type. Oddly, each tile has one symbol on one side and a different one on the back. In order to find the symbol you need when you have earned one, you have to flip the symbols over and around, and you must hope that they are not already on the backs of symbols you or another player already collected. This was a bizarre, highly annoying production choice. We managed to always (eventually) find what we needed, but I haven't checked to see if this is always possible.

Each player has a "cross" of five cards in front of him. On your turn, play a card into your cross, take the card you replaced and replace the card in the same location of the cross on the player on your left, and then discard the card you replaced from that player. When you form a line down or across on your own cross with one of the symbols matching on all three cards, you take the matching symbol tile. You can't take the same symbols twice. However, should you ever have all five cards with a matching symbol, you can take one symbol of your choice; but you can only do this once per game.

At first it was hard to notice or care about other players' crosses, and fairly simple to gain symbols every turn or two. As the game went on, we began to a) mess with the player on our left, and b) anticipate what we would get from the player on our right. Eventually I was looking across the table to see what he would give to the player on my right and whether that same card would then end up in my cross.

So there is some interaction, and a little planning and hoping. But it seems to be a crap-shoot as to what cards you pick and whether they will help you. I would like to be able to skip my turn in order to toss out all my cards and pick five more. But with four players holding 10 cards each (5 in hand and 5 in their crosses), the deck contains only a few more cards, so we had to mix half a dozen times, which is too many. A larger deck would have been nice. Apparently an expansion to the game is available.

Abraham liked it more than the previous game. I thought it was OK. Ellis and Peleg weren't impressed. Again, the game would be more appropriate for a younger audience, and not for experienced gamers.

Hi, I'm Yehuda

2011-08-15T00:06:00.000+03:00

Random Strangers

It amazes me how the acts of random strangers determine so much of my life. On Tisha Ba'av (a day of public mourning for the destroyed temple of Jerusalem), I began to walk in the general direction of the two shuls that I knew, without any clear plan as to which one I would attend. I ran into a family getting into a car, obviously on their way to shul, so I asked them for a recommendation. Turns out that they were going to the Carleback shul (Kinor David), one of the two shuls. I rode with them, and that determined where I davened on Tisha Ba'av.

In shul, after I finished Maariv (Evening service) and waited for everyone else to finish, after which we would read Eicha (Lamentations), I quietly told the Rabbi that if he doesn't have enough readers for Eicha that I could read a chapter. He looked at me in a humoring way and thanked me for my offer but assured me that they had enough reader by now (of course). Two minutes later I saw him confer with someone, and he suddenly signaled to me that I should read chapter 2. Heh.

The person who read chapters 3 and 4 (out of a total of 5 chapters) was the guy who drove me to shul.

Friday Night

I spent my first shabbat in Raanana. Tal elected to stay home from shul, so I went on my own.

This time I met someone on the street and followed him to a shul, which turned out to be Lechu Neranena, the other shul I happened to know. I sat down to wait for Mincha (afternoon service). For some reason, I hoped that someone would notice that I was new to the shul and alone, and come over to welcome me. There are very few shuls that this would happen; I'm sad to say that this wasn't one of them.

On my left were a group of "talkers": 50-70 year old men, speaking in English and joking amongst themselves. They had all the copies of the weekly "Torah Tidbits", which I like to read for the advertisements. I went over and snagged one, hoping that this would engender conversation, but other than a quip about my requiring membership privileges to take a copy (a joke), I still didn't get a greeting.

A few minutes later the gabbai (shul organizer) asked if anyone wanted to lead Mincha. I waited a few moments to see if anyone had a chiyuv (obligation), but no one did. The gabbai asked again, and it was obvious that the "talkers" weren't going to volunteer, so I did. It took a few moments to get the gabbai's attention, but eventually I did and I lead Mincha for the shul. I figured that would be a honorable way of drawing attention to myself.

Afterwards, I sat down directly in the talkers section, but other than one or two yasher coach's ("well done"), still nothing. Well, I guessed the subtle way wasn't going to work.

So, after Maariv, I turned to the person next to me and said, "Hi, I'm Yehuda. I'm new here. Do you know any families with girls aged 17 to 19 or so for my daughter to meet?" [1] And thus began a conversation. He pointed to a family next to me, and it turns out that the boy next to me had a 17 year old sister. But his father was not home that shabbat. When asked if I have other children, I told about Saarya (my son) who is in yeshivah Yerucham, and the guy called to a man two seats away whose children also go to Yerucham. Yes, they knew Saarya.

I still had to bluntly ask if I and Tal could come for dinner that evening; but once I asked, the offer was generously extended. In truth, I had dinner enough for Tal and myself in our new home, but it was store-bought since I don't yet have a working stove/oven. Dinner was delicious and generous, and the family was very nice.

Next day I went back to the same shul (Lechu Neranena) and the gabbai came to me near the end of shul, told me he was impressed that I volunteered to lead Mincha, and that he had thought I was somebody's guest, not a new resident. He told me about all the shiurim (lectures) and kiddushes that followed services. I went to one and he introduced me to many of the other people; nearly all from the talkers section, all of whom stayed for the kiddush and the shiur (English gemara in Masechet Bava Metziah, a section from the Talmud). They all said hi, individually asking me about where I came from, where I moved to, what I did, where my kids were, etc. Suddenly, I felt welcome.

Between the 60 or so people, they downed at least three full bottles of single malt scotch, lots of kugel, herring, humus, and crackers. The beer came out during the shiur. There was a speech by the guy who sponsored the week's food and drink, thanking everyone for coming, and praising the community and the kiddush club for being just that: a community, a neighborhood, and a family.

The gabbai walked me back almost to my home, telling me about the various classes and a local mixed English and Hebrew kollel (learning community) that is open all week, every day. And that I was most welcome. And that he will be away next week, but would like to have me as a guest after that.

Games

I had Abraham and Sara over for lunch. A and S are former Jerusalem members now living in Raanana, just like me. They have a cute new baby.

After lunch we played a full game of Tichu. Tal and I started off well, eventually gaining a lead of 660 to 240. Our luck ran out, and Abraham's gumption rose. He called and made at least three Tichu's, and we ended up losing.

Tal then convinced A and S to play Mau, a card game I pretty much loathe [2]. Tal was the only one "in the know" against the three of us who weren't, and it wasn't quite as excruciating as most of my experiences playing the game. We even had some laughter. I won the first game. My new rule, though a tad annoying, also elicited laughs during the second game. However, that was enough Mau for A and S.

They left, so I didn't get a chance to teach them Team Hearts. Some other time.

[1] I added the last clause to assure him that I wasn't a creepy man who wanted to meet 17-19 year old girls.

[2] Though not as much as Fluxx ... ok, maybe as much.

Session Report, in which Nadine beats me on the tie in two games

2011-08-14T09:57:00.000+03:00

The latest Jerusalem Strategy Gaming Club session report is up. Games played: It's Alive, Puerto Rico, Princes of Florence.

Nadine hosts and I was able to make it.

Session Report, in which it's my last night shepherding the group and a new player shows up

2011-08-05T16:53:00.000+03:00

The latest Jerusalem Strategy Gaming Club session report is up. Games played: It's Alive, Puerto Rico x 2.

Nadine and Gili take over the group from now on. A new player comes, rather disappointed to hear that I'm moving away. And we play our classic games: It's Alive and Puerto Rico.

It's Alive on Tanga

2011-08-01T12:29:00.002+03:00

My game on the discount rack for $10. Oh, the ignominy!

Session Report, in which the last die roll determines the game of Carson City

2011-07-27T23:41:00.000+03:00

The latest Jerusalem Strategy Gaming Club session report is up. Games played: Carson City.

Ben plays Carson City for the first time.

Last shabbat I played Quelf for my first and last time.

Movie Reviews

2011-07-27T16:53:00.000+03:00

The Adjustment Bureau

Matt Damon stars with some random woman (the casting was entirely unimportant; all she does is look nice and hold his hand) in a plot that should have been a 22 minute TV show. John Slatterly (Mad Men) and some other dude play angels whose job is to keep people on track with their fate. Despite complete access to everything everyone is thinking and will think in the near future, these angels fail spectacularly just when a plot turn is needed.

It all makes little sense, somehow the entire universe is centered around the NY area, and the ending (and most of the movie) is predictable, a cop-out, and stupid, but John Slatterly always looks good in a fedora.

Captain America

Captain America the most comic book of all comic book movies. Deux ex machina rules, the hero can do anything, has any skill, and can do no wrong. People appear where they shouldn't, women lead charge into battle (in WWII), cars can fly faster than planes, metal shield always bounce back when you throw them, and inertia and gravity apparently don't exist when they're not needed - no one ever gets hurt in an accident, no matter how fast they were flying or falling.

The two mcguffins are a) an infinite energy crystal or some other dohickey belonging to the gods, and b) a serum that makes, together with vast amounts of radiation, a superhero. Ok. Why not? Nazis with lasers are cool.

The other recent superhero movies, such as Batman, Spiderman, Iron Man, etc tried tempted us with seriousness using flawed heroes. Captain America is superhero for the pre-teens and teens who wouldn't understand that stuff (you'll say "Sure, why not?" many times). And for the adults who can remember being too innocent to care about complexity. Actually, one small scene at the beginning of the movie pays lip service to a modern sensibility, namely that it's not about killing but about standing up to bullies; but this is quickly forgotten. There are endless scenes of killing and explosions, but no blood or gore.

A very enjoyable summer blockbuster, some quotable lines, and shallower than a kiddie pool.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2

The finale of the eight part movie series, the movie doesn't spend even a second getting you up to speed, so make sure you've watched the previous films. There's little in the way of characterization or exposition. Heavy, emotionally gripping, and important scenes in the book are passed over in a few seconds of screen time. Spells that would be particularly useful in certain situations are often conveniently forgotten.

However, there many well-directed action sequences, as well as kisses, daring rescues, dramatic flights, humor, climax, and denouement. If you've come this far, you'll want to see it. It's satisfying.

Jane Eyre (2011)

Another adaptation of this novel, the main question is how it compares to the 1995 version: they're about the same (both good, but quiet drama pieces). They both tell the same story. Ok...

Morning Glory

A light comedy with Rachel McAdams and Harrison Ford. McAdams plays random smart but overwhelmed protagonist girl (think Sandra Bullock in nearly every movie except The Blind Side), and Ford plays gruff older man who won't give anyone the time of day but eventually is seen to actually have a heart. Formulaic. It was ok. Other than the first bullpit session, it's all pretty forgettable.

Source Code

Jake Gyllenhaal, some random woman, and Vera Farminga. Again, the love interest is eye candy and not much else. Jake is a dead? dying? army dude sent to occupy a mind and body on a train that is going to explode in eight minutes. Somehow the "memory" of the train event, and every person on it, is recorded and able to be run in simulation, over and over, with each repetition changing depending on how Jake acts. Not only the train, but every possible location and person within travel distance of the train. It's not just the memory recorded; apparently it's the entire world and what each person would do if the script changes.

The bomber is on his way to set off another explosion, so time is of the essence. And yet, only through Jake's unsubtle, brute force detective work will they be able to find out who actually planted the bomb on the train and where that person is headed now. No, it doesn't make sense, but you kind of go with it. Until there is some kind of hint that the alternate flashback reality can be made into something more than just a simulation, and then I got lost.

Jake and Vera are both good presences on the screen (though I tend to get Jake and Tobey MacGuire mixed up). The material should have been written by someone who understands paradox, consciousness, time travel, ... heck, science, a little better.

Speak

A very good adaptation of an excellent novel starring a pre-Twilight Kristen Stewart, this is some super acting and directing work about a teenager at high school with a secret that's not so much of a secret to the audience, but that doesn't matter. It's not a feel-good movie; but it's not a downer, either.

Super 8

A movie that feels like a classic 70s/80s Spielberg movie, interspersed with explosive effects from a JJ Adams movie. It's got a lot of sweetness and a lot of kid-centered action driving the plot. However, it moves along at a quicker pace than I remember actual Spielberg movies moving; remember ET slowly crawling around picking up Reese's Pieces, or long treks with singing kids in The Goonies? We don't have time for those types of scenes today.

The payoff might let down some people, and some problems raised in the movie's middle are not dealt with by the end of the movie. But it's good, solid, summer fun.

Thor

Eh.

Trust

Along the lines of Speak, this is another very good movie about a similar subject (rape) in a similar setting (high school). Only this time the creep is a 35 year old man who hides behind the identity of a teenager on the internet. A tad didactic, but beautifully acted and directed with a great script.

Womb

Creepy European movie about girl meets boy, girl loses boy, girl clones and gives birth to boy copy, and what happens next? Is this kid ... her future lover? Ick.

Contains the oft-seen trope of prejudice against "them" (clones, this time). But mostly you need to know that the movie is a string of pregnant images with little in the way of conversation. Each shot is a beautiful frame or moment, mostly of barren coastlines and landscapes, but it's all very unreal. Most jarring is that boy clone ages from birth to adulthood, but no one else (especially the girl) ages at all, which makes little sense and kind of skews the point of the movie. For lovers of cinematography.

Session Report, in which I have bad luck in Cities and Knights of Catan

2011-07-21T11:01:00.000+03:00

The latest Jerusalem Strategy Gaming Club session report is up. Games played: Quest Adventure Cards, Santiago, Cities and Knights of Catan.

We try out Quest Adventure Cards (full review coming to Purple Pawn soon), discover that Santiago doesn't work as well with three players, and I have astoundingly bad luck with the dice in Cities and Knights.

I have now packed away most of my games in preparation for moving.

Session Report, in which we teach a visiting player Homesteaders

2011-07-14T18:05:00.000+03:00

The latest Jerusalem Strategy Gaming Club session report is up. Games played: San Juan, Odin's Ravens, Homesteaders, Tribune, Tichu.

We entertain a visitor to Israel, an experienced gamer from Germany.

Actually, the session report is pretty boring. So anyway:

Israeli Tournament: Dragonicon

There will be a game convention at Bar Ilan University on Thursday August 18th, from 8:30 am until 9:30 pm (or so). Games will be RPG, mini, board and card games. Entrance is 60 (or maybe 65) NIS for the day. More info (in Hebrew).

Anyone Else Want to Produce My Game?

2011-07-10T21:21:00.000+03:00

Reiver Games aka Jackson Pope has finally sold off the remaining stock of the second edition of my game It's Alive! and released the rights back to me.

So, any other publishers interested in producing it? It's still a game that I enjoy playing, and I'm a pretty fierce critic of games, you know. I'm especially interested in retrying it with a religious theme (Menorah, Santa, etc) which would immediately make it one of the few decent religious games on the market.

I still have a few copies of the second edition, as well as a few of the prototypes from the original Menorah version.

Board Game Blog World Roundup

2011-07-08T15:12:00.000+03:00

Time for another roundup of board game related blogs that are new to me since my last roundup. These are blogs that update with some regularity and that cover general board game topics. As usual, I also dropped a number of blogs that haven't updated in the last several months.

A note about this blog: this blog has been pretty slow for the past two years, since I've been concentrating on Purple Pawn. Traffic has slowed to around 150 visits per day. My advertisers have all bolted. C'est la vie. This is likely to continue for the foreseeable future: a weekly session report, the occasional snippet about my life or something humorous, an occasional philosophical musing on gaming, and my travel adventures (look for daily trip reports and pictures in November).

2d6 - Kevin, Marco, Bob, George, Eric, Landon. Written and video reviews.

Cartrunk Entertainment - John Moller, Wyoming, DE. On games and gaming events.

Castelli Board Game Reviews - Harry max Ryan, Sydney, Australia. Podcast and reviews.

Debbie's Board Gaming Book - Debbie Ohi, Toronto, CA. Board game cartoons and stuff.

Deck Building Games - Jeremy Mueller, Portland, OR (I think). All about the title.

Dice Food Lodging - Tim Rodriguez, NY. Podcast on games.

Drunken Goblin - Mike Devonald, Bristol, UK.

FANTASARD - Tony, Faye, and Mark, New Zealand. Fantasy meets war gaming.

Game People - Ed Stephens, somewhere in the UK. The board game section of a gaming site.

North of Reality - Sean Johnson, Avon, IN. A pastor on board games.

Perpetual Geek Machine - Kevin Alexander, Dan Zuccarelli, Ryan Hewson. Game reviews and stuff.

Tabletop Hell - Branko, Serbia. Sessions, thoughts, etc. Also runs TCG Hell.

The Card Gamer - David, Cleveland, OH. Reviews and video reviews.

The Dump Stat - Gregory Schuster, Japan. RPGs and other games.

The Game Traveler - Daniel M. Perez, Miami, FL. Highmoon Games hosted podcast.

The Noble Gamer - Ian Noble, El Dorado Hills, CA.

Session Report, in which I grimace through an entire game of A Touch of Evil

2011-07-07T14:37:00.000+03:00

The latest Jerusalem Strategy Gaming Club session report is up. Games played: A Touch of Evil, Vegas Showdown.

First play for all of us for A Touch of Evil.

Real Estate Agents Think I'm an Idiot

2011-07-04T22:09:00.000+03:00

"Here's the bathroom. That's the shower. There are tiles on the floor. And over here is a kitchen. See that six foot tall, three foot wide large box like object with two handles with the word 'Amana' written on in? That's the refrigerator. It's a big refrigerator. You can put food in it for shabbat. Or if you're having a party, you can also put food in it. Here is a sink. You could put a table here. Or you could put it here."

Shut. Up.

I've seen a lot of acceptable, some nice, and some very nice apartments in Raanana. I nearly took one that was stunning, but I would have ended up paying more than I wanted to pay, and he appeared to be taking less than he wanted to accept, and we were still haggling over terms (not the price). I decided to pass, after all.

The agent who showed me today's apartments takes a month rent from BOTH seller and buyer, which is simply ridiculous; I thought agents only took from one or the other. He didn't provide much in the way of service, other than to show up late, get in my way, make promises I know he won't keep ("I'll tell the owner to put in central a/c for you!"), and annoy me.

Which is a pity, because the first apt he showed me I would take at the listed price, but after paying his fee, the price bumps up to 10% more (a month plus VAT divided over a year's rental), and that's above my price range. There are so many apts listed for rent, with dozens as nice and equivalent in price to the ones he showed me, that I can afford to be picky.

More days of uncertainty. Wish I didn't have to move at all.

Session Report, in which we are uninspired by Canal Mania

2011-07-01T17:48:00.000+03:00

The latest Jerusalem Strategy Gaming Club session report is up. Games played: Canal Mania, El Grande.

Our group was not inspired by Canal Mania, but they only played a third of a game. A pity.