In Israel, every synagogue has one or more weekly Torah pamphlets available for its congregants when they arrive on Friday afternoon before services. The pamphlets include a few pages of discussion about the portion of the week, and may also include other stories or Halachic discussion.
You are supposed to read them after synagogue when you return home; of course, most people read them during synagogue when they are supposed to be praying or listening to the Rabbi's sermon.
The pages come in various languages: Hebrew, Russian, French, English, and from various political and religious bents: from Chabad, by settlers, women's voices, for kids, and so on.
The most popular English language Torah page is Torah Tidbits from the OU Israel Center in Jerusalem. The brain-child of Phil Chernofsky, TT is huge - some 40 to 50 pages - and populist: written in simple language with a very decisive strict Orthodox pro-Zionism slant. In each issue, you will find: almost no Hebrew, that everyone should get off their can and make aliyah (unless they really have no alternative), many word puzzles on the Torah portion, that adherence to the strictest of all opinions is probably best, and that readers must consult with their local Orthodox Rabbi for anything beyond the simplest of questions. (This may be a bit of an exaggeration, but not much.)
Anyhoo
TT has a weekly column called "Portion from the Portion". It's a small thought about the weekly Torah portion, followed by a recipe that is supposed to be linked to the portion somehow.
This week's thought was about Amalek, and how we have to protect the weakest elements of our nation to ensure that they are not left behind to fall prey to outside attacks. And the inspiration for this thought, according to the columnist?
Fantasy Flight Games' Ingenious by Reiner Knizia, known in Israel as Hiburim or Connections. You see, in Ingenious your score is the value of your least numerous color out of six colors. So you have to remember as you're playing the game to watch out for your least strong color, so that it doesn't get left behind.
Yeah, ok. But isn't it funny when you find games in places you least expect it?
...
Friday night we had some friends over for dinner. While waiting for the latecomers, we played Bananagrams. Actually, we don't have the game Bananagrams, but we played with Scrabble tiles. I'd never played before, but both Nadine and my wife Rachel had. It's cute, and I would rank it fairly high as far as word games go, but certainly lower than straight Anagrams. But I would have to play with the correct number of tiles and scoring to be sure.
Showing posts with label ingenious. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ingenious. Show all posts
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Get Ingenious for PC for Free Today
You can get a free copy of Knizia's board game Ingenious for the PC today at GiveawayoftheDay.com . It sells for $18 on Amazon.
It needs to fetch an activation key from the site during setup, but otherwise doesn't appear to have any other catch. I didn't see any spyware or have to provide my email address to receive spam. You have to download, install, and start the game today. And if you need to reinstall it at some later time you're out of luck. If you buy it on Amazon, it can be reinstalled at any time and comes with support, too.
It's a well-done version of the game, although the cheering spectators sound effect gets old fast.
And it's a good way to try out the board game.
Yehuda
It needs to fetch an activation key from the site during setup, but otherwise doesn't appear to have any other catch. I didn't see any spyware or have to provide my email address to receive spam. You have to download, install, and start the game today. And if you need to reinstall it at some later time you're out of luck. If you buy it on Amazon, it can be reinstalled at any time and comes with support, too.
It's a well-done version of the game, although the cheering spectators sound effect gets old fast.
And it's a good way to try out the board game.
Yehuda
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Raph Koster is Back on the Fun Track
Raph Koster is forging forward on the topic of fun, games, and grammar. His latest talk at ETech looks like it was very interesting.
When I reviewed his book, A Theory of Fun for Game Design, I proposed that the book was more about the theory of art in games than fun in games. This talk looks like a definite step back in the fun direction - less about internal transformations, and more about pleasure.
I'm looking forward to his next book, A Grammar of Game Play: How Games Work (due out when, Raph?).
Game News
Merscom will be bringing Ingenious to the PC. Details here.
The Herald Tribune talks about the shortening of board games. Apparently, Hasbro's down to 51.3% share of the marketplace, listing both Mattel and Cranium as its competitors.
Here's an article about a prisoner who hanged himself. And what, pray tell, does this have to do with board games? Apparently, the "attention" buzzers were taped off and the lights ignored while one guard was teaching the other how to play Backgammon.
When I reviewed his book, A Theory of Fun for Game Design, I proposed that the book was more about the theory of art in games than fun in games. This talk looks like a definite step back in the fun direction - less about internal transformations, and more about pleasure.
I'm looking forward to his next book, A Grammar of Game Play: How Games Work (due out when, Raph?).
Game News
Merscom will be bringing Ingenious to the PC. Details here.
The Herald Tribune talks about the shortening of board games. Apparently, Hasbro's down to 51.3% share of the marketplace, listing both Mattel and Cranium as its competitors.
Here's an article about a prisoner who hanged himself. And what, pray tell, does this have to do with board games? Apparently, the "attention" buzzers were taped off and the lights ignored while one guard was teaching the other how to play Backgammon.
Monday, October 16, 2006
Buzz buzz
Events buzzin' around:
I missed last week's ICON, which was not too surprising. One day of games was already enough. Still, too bad.
This week there's a game night at Gilad's in Modiin, but owing to the young ages of his children it won't start until 21:00, which is too late for me. On the same night in Jerusalem is the monthly meeting of the Jerusalem Go club, which is more likely.
I was contacted by a guy who is looking to develop a series of games and thought that I must work in the industry based on what he read on this blog. Whoops! Sorry, I don't produce games or invest in games. More's the pity.
I need suggestions for games to order for Hanukkah for the group. Any suggestions?
Last week I was able to help two people in toy stores. In one instance, I saw a woman puzzling over the rack of card games and I directed her to Take 6 instead of Taki (a cousin of Uno). In another, I saw a woman and her kids looking at what looked like a glorified version of Nine Men's Morris, and I convinced them to get Reiner Knizia's Ingenious instead, for the same price.
Just doin' my job.
Yehuda
Addition: I haven't hyped David in a while, so here is yet another heart-kicking post from Treppenwitz: Small Acts of Kindness.
Michael Totten, a journalist/blogger has put together a set of pamphlets containing essays and blog entries from the latest war. You can buy it at Amazon, too; it's called The Hezbollah War
Rabbi Boteach, famed for his book Kosher Sex, and for turning Michael Jackson, Roseanne Barr, and Madonna on to Judaism and Kabbalah, is starring in a reality TV show whose premise is that he visits families and helps them overcome problems. That's the first reality TV show I've heard of that doesn't sound entirely like pond scum. It still sounds rather voyeuristic, however.
I missed last week's ICON, which was not too surprising. One day of games was already enough. Still, too bad.
This week there's a game night at Gilad's in Modiin, but owing to the young ages of his children it won't start until 21:00, which is too late for me. On the same night in Jerusalem is the monthly meeting of the Jerusalem Go club, which is more likely.
I was contacted by a guy who is looking to develop a series of games and thought that I must work in the industry based on what he read on this blog. Whoops! Sorry, I don't produce games or invest in games. More's the pity.
I need suggestions for games to order for Hanukkah for the group. Any suggestions?
Last week I was able to help two people in toy stores. In one instance, I saw a woman puzzling over the rack of card games and I directed her to Take 6 instead of Taki (a cousin of Uno). In another, I saw a woman and her kids looking at what looked like a glorified version of Nine Men's Morris, and I convinced them to get Reiner Knizia's Ingenious instead, for the same price.
Just doin' my job.
Yehuda
Addition: I haven't hyped David in a while, so here is yet another heart-kicking post from Treppenwitz: Small Acts of Kindness.
Michael Totten, a journalist/blogger has put together a set of pamphlets containing essays and blog entries from the latest war. You can buy it at Amazon, too; it's called The Hezbollah War
Rabbi Boteach, famed for his book Kosher Sex, and for turning Michael Jackson, Roseanne Barr, and Madonna on to Judaism and Kabbalah, is starring in a reality TV show whose premise is that he visits families and helps them overcome problems. That's the first reality TV show I've heard of that doesn't sound entirely like pond scum. It still sounds rather voyeuristic, however.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Session Report Up
Games played: Ingenious x 2, Yinsh, Cribbage, San Juan, Cities and Knights of Catan, Entdecker, Attika, Modern Art.
Question regarding Ingenious: we only had the Hebrew rules. We played that after you get to 18, then every time you place a tile that gives you point in that color you place an additional bonus tile. That resulted in three or four tiles a turn after midgame. The English translation rules on BGG seem to indicate that you get a bonus tile only once when you get to 18, and not thereafter.
Which is correct?
Yehuda
Question regarding Ingenious: we only had the Hebrew rules. We played that after you get to 18, then every time you place a tile that gives you point in that color you place an additional bonus tile. That resulted in three or four tiles a turn after midgame. The English translation rules on BGG seem to indicate that you get a bonus tile only once when you get to 18, and not thereafter.
Which is correct?
Yehuda
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