Tuesday, April 03, 2007

My Pee Smells Like Matzah

One would think that, given a selection of all meats, milks, fish, eggs, fruits, vegetables, sweets, and fake flour products, that a diet on Passover could be more than simply matzah and salt, matzah lasagna, matzah rolls, matza kugel, matzah pancakes with matzah, .... (insert vikings singing here).

But anyhoo ...

I'm not here to talk about my pee.

The Game Doctor

It's nice to receive a number of emails after Hag about my birthday and my father, as well as a few questions about games. Makes me feel all fuzzy.

Before Hag started, one of the neighbors from the nearby village swung by to borrow a game which they asked that I bring since they knew I would be staying at my brother's. The doctor is in.

And then ...

Hag morning I'm sitting in shul next to a guy I don't know. Never seen him before. Halfway through the prayer services he turns to me and asks - I swear, these were the first words out of his mouth - "What do you usully start with for the first move in Puerto Rico?"

"Oh. Settler/quarry, mostly," I answer.

"Thanks. I've been doing Builder/Small Market."

Wha? How?

He saw me come in with my niece, and figured out that I was the brother with the games.

Games Played

I told a lot of stories. We played a lot of the games at the seder. The Four Sons one went over very well.

In the afternoon we got down to more serious business.

24/7: I brought this ridiculously bulky game because it doesn't get played much at our house, but I thought it might work for my 7 year old niece. She didn't quite get it, but I suspect she could with some more play. We didn't play with scores, because that's not really the point.

It's ok for kids. Sorry, but it's not much of a grown-up game.

Bridge: A few hands with the wife, mom, and brother. I think I declared most of them.

Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers: I didn't play this, but my brother, niece, and sister-in-law did. I'm kind of missing it. One of the few games I traded away that I may need to reaquire.

Settlers of Catan: Played with my brother and niece. I had a reasonable setup, but the dice favored my brother a bit more. My niece and I both had 6 points. My niece also gained from the "2 hex" strategy, in that 2's were rolled more often than 6's (or 9's).

Puerto Rico: Played with my brother, sister-in-law, and Rachel. My sis-in-law let my brother have a few choice trades, which made my situation rather difficult. Despite this, I blocked a number of boats, acquired a complete Factory, and grabbed Guild Hall. In the end, he still won 52 to 50 over me, with Rachel and sis-in-law trailing.

Game News

Gamasutra talks about in-game branding. (Thanks, Duncan)

Talisman Island is a site about all things Talisman.

Game Day tomorrow. Toodles.

Yehuda
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Monday, April 02, 2007

Quick Post About Ancient Egypt and the Jews

I'm stealing some time before Hag on my brother's computer.

He wants to play Amun-Re with me tomorrow. He bought the game to play with his gaming neighbors, but unfortunately let them see the rules before explaining the game to them. As a result, they got the unedited version of the rules which includes the infamous Step 4 (sacrifice).

As a result, they refuse to play the game. Let that be a warning to you.

Meanwhile, my niece and I are making up new cards for the Four Sons activity (one of mine: brunnette, blonde, redhead, gray).

Yehuda
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Happy Passover

Tonight's my birthday. Woo hoo. Here are my wish lists on Amazon and BGG, in case you were wondering ;-).

I will be bringing my Passover games (wordsearch, jeopardy, four sons, and bingo) to the seder. You may also enjoy my four stories (1, 2, 3, 4).

For gamers, last year I made A Gamer's Haggadah.

And you can revisit my Passover greetings from last year - words that are still true today, unfortunately.

Games Day is on Wednesday.

Don't eat too much; save room for the afikomen.

Hag Sameach,
Yehuda
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As Long As We're Linking 20 - My Updated Gaming Blogroll

This is my regular update on the board game blogosphere.

Seeing as we're up to issue 20, I thought I'd repost the complete blog-roll, so that those of you keeping score on RSS can also enjoy it.

New Blogs

AngstyBlog - Appears to be a collective blog. At least one of them lives in Canada.

Ed's Gaming Blog - Edward Wedig, Columbus, OH.

Fortress: Ameritrash - This collective blog, spearheaded by Michael Barnes, started after Michael left BGG. Although a bit pedantic, it's covered some interesting topics. They cover American games, highly themed and often luck-based, such as Axis and Allies.

In the Games Cupboard - Social Work Dad, UK.

Just a thought... - Michael Erb writes mainly game reviews.

The Metagamers - A podcast by Mark Haberman, Jay Little (ynnen), Jim Cote.

On Board Games - Another podcast, with Donald Dennis, Erik Dewey, and Scott Nicholson (the latter of boardgameswithscott).

Roll To Hit - All types of table top games, including board games.

Table Top Land - Primarily CCGs, but also other game types.

Two If I Play - Nathan Livni, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Working on game design.


Luke's Gathering of Friends 2007 Blog - This blog by Lucas Hedgren will be active only for one or two weeks as a journal of this year's Gathering of Friends.

My Gaming Blogroll

If a blog is in this list, it: is about board games, or has occasional postings about board games, or its game content is sufficiently general that it can apply to board games; updates frequently and has updated lately; is of general interest, and not simply commercial announcements. If a blog is in this list and does not adhere to the above list, it is likely on the way to being dropped from my list.

If a blog is not in this list, it: may be unknown to me; is only about a single board game, such as Chess or Poker, and is irrelevant to other board games; does not adhere to the above list of requirements.

I track a number of other gaming-related blogs that are not in this list because they: contain occasionally interesting articles about board games; are new and have not yet proven themselves to be worthy of inclusion; are interesting in some other way.

If I'm missing any blogs or sites that warrant inclusion, please email or comment.

Yehuda
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Sunday, April 01, 2007

Other Board Game April Fools

Board Game Geek went green and became Board Game Goo, and the number one rated game became "Monkey Auto Races" instead of Puerto Rico.

Wizards of the Coast announced plans for a D&D based Monopoly, among other products.

Chessgame's game of the day was a quick stalemate.

Boardgame Babylon's The Pre-Pre-Pre-Pre-Pre-Essen 2007 Show on upcoming games.

Update: Fantasy Flight Games reveals its 2007 release schedule.

Many other online pranks today.

Yehuda
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March Gaming at the Jerusalem Strategy Gaming Club

The Jerusalem Strategy Gaming Club roared through March, playing the following games:

Blue Moon City - Played for the first time. This is an area control "series of conversions" game. Seems ok, theme is pretty divorced from play.

Bridge x 2 - The classic four-player card game. It's great when we get in a 12-round round-robin with four players.

By Hook or By Crook - A blind bidding game with a paper-rock-scissors outcome, too blind and too much bidding for my tastes.

Checkers - Under-appreciated by gamers, this doesn't get much play in our group.

Chess - Also doesn't get much play in our group. I play it very tactically.

Children of Fire: the Board Game - Another area control game with blind bidding, but not as much blindness. The theme is integrated into the game, but there are a few rules issues and you have to set a round limit at 10 rounds.

Cosmic Encounter - A classic crazy game of aliens, diplomacy, and alliances. Elijah always wants to play this, but somehow I never get to play it myself.

Dvonn - Perhaps the best abstract Gipf game, hidden patterns within seeming randomness.

Geschenkt - A nice, very quick, dirt-simple filler card game for up to 5 (and even 6) players. Great for new players.

Go - A perfect abstract game for two players.

Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation x 3 - A quick intense fantasy board game for two players. Reenact the Lord of the Rings in 10 minutes.

Mykerinos - An enjoyable and compact area control game. Not much theme integration, and a little like a lite version of Louis XIV with some elements of Caylus.

Netrunner - A grand old CCG, quite fun.

Power Grid x 2 - Gaining in popularity, oddly enough. This is a great meaty game, but heavy on the math calculations and often dependent on the luck in what plants flip up in the market.

Prototype - I try these occasionally.

San Juan - A nice medium-weight card game, with a good system, but desperately needs a few expansions to keep it interesting.

Taj Mahal - A great weighty game of resource management, bluff, area control, and set collection.

The Menorah Game - I don't know how many more plays this will get before the published version comes around, but some people will continue to want to play it because of the original Jewish theme.

Tichu x 3 - A much easier, but still good, four-player card ladder-climbing, partnership, shedding card game, with flavor.

Tigris & Euphrates - An excellent weighty board game of conflict and territory.

Zendo x 2 - A much enjoyed game of induction, where one player sets the rules and the others try to guess them.

Yehuda
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Pre-Passover Game Sale

Hey one and all. In cleaning out my closets before Passover, I found a few games I don't play anymore, and figured I would put them up for sale. If you want them, just leave a comment on this post. If you comment in rhyme, I'll knock a few more bucks off the price.

Dark Tower - Some sort of old game from the '80s. Works fine, but who would want to play it? $5.

Titan - Another game from the '80s, but it's a war game with lots of dice. Shudder. Still in shrink. $10.

ASL - God, more war games. I got a whole shelf of these with lots of books and squares and so on. Puhlease. $20 for the lot. Heck, you can have it for free if you pick it up.

Roads and Boats - Some sort of long Euro-style game. Takes forever. $15.

ElfenRoads - An old Alan Moon game, in shrink. I tend not to like his style of games, so take it. $10.

Cosmic Encounter - Having acquired the newer Mayfair version, I don't need old EON junk lying around. $5.

Settlers of Catan 3D - Some sort of lumpy version of the original. My Plexiglas doesn't fit over it, so it's of no use to me. Kind of bulky. Cost of shipping, I guess.

Poisson d'Avril - This is the only game on the list that's a real game; solid, playable, endless hours of fun. I kind of outplayed it in my youth, but a real find. Make me an offer.

Go - I have a few boards for this game that an archaeologist friend of mine found buried in some sort of tomb. Really old - a few thousand years - but still playable, I guess. They're taking up space in my house, so just come pick them up.

Enjoy,
Yehuda
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