Weekend Gaming

Passover is over. I spent the last day in Beit Shemesh with my parents, where I also lived for five years. I left behind a few gaming seeds, including the Elkins, whom I mentioned before, and the Ehrmans. Eli Ehrman, the father, formerly ran the 2am computer gaming company, and is also a former D&D player. His family now has Settlers, Puerto Rico, and some other games. One is Junta, which looks like a long Diplomacy type game with Steve Jackson sort of humor (but comes from West End games, 1984). I don't think any of them have actually played it.

We were invited for lunch. They always have something like 15 to 20 for meals on shabbat, and today was no exception. They are also all extremely bright. Yet, when I walked in, I found two teenage boys playing ... War. I guess even brightness needs to take a break once in a while.

They invited me to play Bridge, but, unfortunately, most of them don't know any bidding conventions. I don't know. I guess I acted kind of snobbishly, but I told them that playing Bridge without conventions was like playing Hearts. I kind of scuttled it, and convinced them to try Pit, which I quickly formed out of a deck of cards. They were happily yelling at the top of their lungs a minute later, for which the Bracha, the mother, thanked me from the kitchen (with humor and good grace). I told them to try the silent version next time for a change of pace.

Anyway, I always bring a new game with me, and this time I brought Tigris and Euphrates, which I can't get my game group to play, for some reason. Luckily, Saarya likes it, as do I. We played after lunch, and it went over pretty well. Saarya won 6/7 to my 6/6, with the other players at 4. Eli asked his children if they thought it was worth buying, and the ones who played said yes, so rah! The Ehrmans will hopefully spread the games to others, and thus the infection spreads until it overcomes all of humanity.

Yehuda