Dear Santa: My Board Game Wishlist

Just a quick post to ponder which games I'm looking to add to my collection.

Games I Love But Don't Own: Puerto Rico
I've played this probably 10-15 times now and I'm definitely ready to own it. My brother is the only person I know who currently has a copy and he lives in Kansas. This should be the next game I buy so that I can begin to introduce people in this area to one of the all time great games.

Filler Games: For Sale
I've never played it, never seen it. Quite widely recognized on the Geek as a premier filler game. Since my collection is quite lacking in that category I feel that I should add one soon. For Sale sounds like a winner.

Expansion For a Game I Already Own: Cities & Knights of Catan
I've played this online and love the richness & complexity it brings to the original settlers game. I have yet to purchase a Settlers expansion (besides the 5-6 player add-on) and I think this needs to be the first. I'm getting to the point that I'd like to add a little variety to Settlers since I've been playing it a ton recently. Not that I'm sick of the game, I'd just like to spice things up a little now and then.

Strategy Game I Have Yet to Play: El Grande Decennial Edition
After studying up on all of the strategy games I would like to buy this is the one that sounds most appealing. It is area control and I don't have a game based on that mechanic yet, and the game is #6 on Board Game Geek. I need to wait until I can be sure to get a 2nd Ed. copy of Decennial Edition because of the misprint problems with the original 2006 release. If I'm going to spend good money on a game like this, I want the best version I can get.

Special Mentions: Most of the top rated heavy strategy games on the Geek are on my list. I'm a little wary of games in this category, however, since I have not been thrilled with Caylus thus far and I had very high hopes for that. I remain confident that with additional plays and an open mind I will still grow to love that title, but that remains to be seen.

1. Tigris & Euphrates
Tile laying strategy game that many love and some hate. Sounds like it has a ton of complexity. I think I will enjoy it.

2. Power Grid
With a few worries about its dry nature (like Caylus?) I'm still confident that this powerhouse of a game will suit me.

3. Ticket to Ride
It feels like I could easily own another accessible gateway game and TTR should look good next to Settlers and Carcassonne, both of which I very much enjoy. Another game to start new gamers out with leading up to the more hardcore games.

Of course there are lots more, but even these I've listed so far will probably take me at least a good year to acquire (being cheap and all), so I should probably wait until I get a few of these before expanding on my desires any further!

Happy Holidays and Gaming!

Games & Me: Status Report Part 1

Greetings and happy holidays to all in blog land! Although I have found no time and/or inspiration the last couple months for my blog, I have managed to play a few board games. Most notable was my annual foray to Vermont with the wife and kids where I engaged in lots of gaming. My brother returned from Kansas and my cousins travelled from South Carolina to attend the family gathering, so they were all present for this most recent board game endeavor.

As I have probably mentioned previously, the family board game history is steeped in Risk, Monopoly, and Clue. These are the typical games we'd play at the thanksgiving gathering and despite being currently enamoured with a number of newer titles we still feel the need to at least dabble with the more familiar ones.

This time around Risk was the traditionalist's center stage for the holiday incarnated this time as a 6 player 3 1/2 hour monstrosity that finished with my brother the victor (one victory of many for Toph over the course of the week, I'll touch on that later.) We were dabbling with a bonus army variant for Risk card sets that awards fixed amounts for different types of sets as opposed to escalating set values. I'm not fully convinced this is a poor option, but I think it requires a change from our usual strategy as we suffered through a good 2 hours of status quo with four players remaining and seemingly no way to advance the game. Eventually I began to just randomly change strategy and become much more aggressive and unpredictable. Alas this methodology did not secure my victory, but it did break up the standstill and got things moving again. Perhaps another game using these rules would play more smoothly with a few strategic alterations on my part from the beginning. Or I could completely forget about all of this silliness by the next time I play the game (next Thanksgiving?) At times it did feel like we were on the brink of playing a satisfying game, but we never did quite cross over into that territory (and perhaps the fact that I LOST has tainted my opinion of the session. NEVER! Quiet, you.)

The Mrs. would most certainly claim the session would have had much different results had she played throughout the game. Unfortunately my daughter's stomach was a bit angry with her and emptied itself upon the bathroom floor and then later in the recliner where she was resting. The Mrs. graciously took her back to my mom's place where we were staying for the holiday and took care of her at the expense of withdrawing from Risk before the game had really even begun. My uncle took over for her with very poor results, so we'll never know how she might have finished. She will point to the previous evening where she went 2 - 0 in Puerto Rico and Settlers of Catan and state that her victory was all but guaranteed had she played out the game. Toph had a pretty good week though, I think he may have been due at that point.

A little more on Risk while I'm on topic. It seems that I go so long between plays of the game that I forget little details I've learned from past plays. One thing I remembered midway through this last game is that I find Risk much more enjoyable when using the random generation of starting territories rather than the player selected option. Although this would seem to add more chance into an already luck dependant game, it serves to set up a much less predictable early game. When players choose all their opening territories strategies are locked in early and most small continents already have a dominant presence by a single player. In the randomized version, each player ends up with armies in all sorts of odd places they never would have chosen and it is really up to them to sort out their strategy and find a way to make the best of a less than optimal situation. This appeals to me and I find it to be much more rewarding. I also think this could easily allow for more players to be eliminated in the early rounds, which would make for a shorter game as well. This is a good thing. Despite its many obvious (and already much documented) shortcomings, I do still enjoy a game of Risk on occasion (especially when it is considered 'tradition.') I simply need to hone our house rules to the point that they optimize the fun and satisfaction to be had with this classic (read: often boring) game.

More to come on some other recent plays.

Finding Blogging Time In My So Called Life

Wow, I can't believe I haven't managed to blog in over two weeks! Apparently I just don't have the time to do it right now. Of course, I do have enough time in theory, but the few hours of downtime I have right now when I'm not at work, playing with the kids, or getting things done around the house are used simply relaxing and not much else. Now you might thing that those moments of relaxation would be the perfect time to get a few thoughts down on my blog, but as it turns out it doesn't work that way!

The reason I was so effective at blogging when I had time off from my job this summer is that I had so much free time that I could devote quite a bit to creative thinking and writing time. When I'm working as much as I have been these last few weeks (both at work and at home), I don't have the creative energy to blog. Sure, I could write a quick update now and then on the latest happenings in my life or maybe a few thoughts on food or kids, but without that extra bit of creative energy necessary to be thoughtful or clever or particularly interesting, I just don't see the point. I've enjoyed writing here a great deal, so I hope I can find the balance necessary in my life to start posting more, or find a way to spark my creativity a bit more often to allow me to write despite a hectic schedule.

Stay tuned!

Publishing, Painting, and Pooping

I do have a few interesting topics simmering on the back burner, but I have a feeling they'll have to be put off until next week when I'm sure to have more free time (yeah, right!) For now, here's a few quick highlights of a day in my so called life:

1. Game Carnival #4

New collection of game articles from around the web was just published by Yehuda. It features two of my posts from Splitting Eights and many other interesting stories, many of which I have yet to read (but will in the not so distant future). This is just getting off the ground, so please take a look and comment on what you like.

2. We're Home Owners!

The Mrs. & I just closed on our new house this past Friday and have been packing, cleaning, and painting in our free time ever since. This is my first real experience painting rooms and boy has it been an eyeopener--painting is a ton of work! We've worked the bulk of two full days and a few hours here and there shopping for supplies, cleaning walls, spackling nail holes, taping rooms, applying primer, waiting for paint to dry, and finally...actually painting! It's been fun, especially when we've been able to do it together, but we sure haven't made much progress. Since we're moving the bulk of our stuff into the new place on Sunday, much of the painting will have to wait. Oh well, it looks like we'll have two rooms painted anyway, which is better than none.

3. Potty Training Hell

When I picked up my son from daycare today we were informed that he had pooped in his pull-up, and this absolutely must stop right away. Apparently when a child reaches three (he will do so in September) and he isn't potty trained, his parents go to Hell. As if the entire potty training 'battle' wasn't enough, we need a little extra pressure from the peanut gallery. From my reading on the topic, potty training is something that you lead a child to, but the doing is up to him. I can't force him to do it, I can only help facilitate the process. So, I guess what I'm saying is...I want this as much as anyone, so do something constructive about it or shut the f&@$ up!

So, to sum up: 1. good 2. great 3. grrrr

Maybe one of these days I'll actually write something about games again. I think I need a muse.

IR Princess

"The Mrs" here. Nathan mentioned to me that I might want to explain my IR Princess nickname, as I work in a unique, specialized, often unheard of field, and many people may not be familiar with IR.

IR = Institutional Research. I work at a small, private, liberal arts university. At the University, I work in the Institutional Research office, which is charged with creating all of the surveys that we give to students, faculty, and staff, compiling and warehousing the data that we get from those surveys, and doing statistical analysis of that data for internal and external monitoring of the University. While this quantitative data analysis (from the surveys) takes up the majority of our time, we also do some qualitative research when trying to assist various individuals and departments in changing or forming policy.

So, that is sort of what I do. I always have a difficult time explaining my job. I do statistics. And as I am the asst. director, my friend Rex has given me the title "IR princess".

That's the story. I hope you enjoyed it and I taught you a little about what I do. If nothing else, I'm sure that Nathan might have learned something :)

Back To Work!

After a fairly brief summer off from work, I'm back to the grind on Tuesday. It is quite unfortunate that we weren't able to close on our house a couple weeks earlier (we close this afternoon) since we have a lot of work to do before it is move-in ready. Now with both of us working full time while we try to pack, paint, clean, and move, and only having two weeks to get it all done before our lease ends on our current home, we're sure to be more than a little stressed out. Hopefully work will be slow and I won't have to put in outrageous hours right away as the semester begins.

My emotions are a little mixed as far as returning to work is concerned. Certainly I had a lot of fun at times and did manage to relax a little when the kids weren't screaming bloody murder. Also I had a little extra time to do some reading, and lots of time to jump start this blog. I have some doubts as to how frequently I'll manage posts in the coming months; my current feeling is that two articles each week will be a good number to shoot for. Last week when I returned to work for most of a week I had a tough time working up the motivation to write anything at all. The issue isn't necessarily finding the physical time to post, but rather a combination of having mental energy enough to brainstorm ideas and motivation to get words down on (virtual) paper. I can find the time but it has yet to be determined if I can find the desire. Stay tuned!

There have been downsides to having the summer off as well, and not just the fact that I haven't received a paycheck in a couple of months. Although I loved the idea of spending lots of quality time with the kids at first, as the weeks passed my patience with them grew considerably shorter. On bad days I felt I should be committed (oh, the peace and quiet of a nice clean place with no kids! I can deal with the mentally ill.) On good days (well, day, I think there may have been one of those) I could sit back watching my brilliant, beautiful children and think how wonderful it is to be a parent.

Maybe an even tougher aspect of the time off is that I don't know what to do with myself when no one structures my days. I'm so used to being busy enough that free time is at a premium and it always feels like I need to make the most of it. When I'm here at home all summer one day leads into the next, I feel like I waste too much time just fiddling with the computer, and I never seem to really get anything accomplished or very often have much fun. I need structure! Sure, you'd think I could have self-imposed some structure on my free time, but if that's the case you obviously don't know me. Maybe I should have tried to get committed, I hear there's lots of structure there! Maybe next summer.

After saying all this it might appear that I am just an ungrateful bastard that doesn't fully appreciate a great gift that God knows how many busy Americans would love to receive in my place, but really I did enjoy the summer, and I am grateful to have had it.

But I'm still ready to go back to work. Of course, catch up to me in a month and ask me what I think about that, my answer may have changed by then.

Session Report: More Settlers With Dinner

The Mrs. and I played Settlers again with James and Karin, this time at their house and eating their dinner.

(aside: in order to keep the blog more honest (especially where it involves me), "The Mrs" (who, as a quasi-feminist, slightly despises that name and will from here on respond only to "Layla" or"IR princess") will be adding comments in purple. The blog owner (Nathan) states that he reserves the right to DELETE (not edit) any additions he finds particularly unsavory)

Dinner was great: ricotta stuffed manicotti, green salad with vegetables and olives, crusty Italian style bread, all delicious. I brought the wines this time around, although I managed not to pay much attention to the brands. I chose a simple Riesling and a Grenache/Shiraz mix, both of which were quite tasty. The Mrs. and I mostly drank the red (I'm a red kind of girl...and champagne! and long island iced tea! and shots of whiskey!), with Karin & James polishing off the majority of the white. Midway through our gaming later on we ran out of wine and had to transition into mixed drinks, so perhaps next time around three bottles of wine would be in order. They seem to be the white wine type, so I'm thinking two whites and a red is the way to go.

Everyone was eager to get to the game so we finished up with dinner and only paused for a quick smoke break before setting up the game. This time we jumped right into the random setup, unlike our previous one where we used the standard beginner's configuration. Everyone had lots of fun this time around and James and Karin seem quite addicted to Settlers, which is a very good thing!

The first game seemed to progress quickly until we had about six to eight victory points, where things began to stall. I was sitting on three cities, largest army, and absolutely no options for further building as close quarters gave me no room to place settlements. My only avenue to victory was pulling two vp cards out of the development deck. The Mrs. was stalled as well since she had lots of brick and lumber, all five settlements on the board, and was fighting over the longest road with Karin. She had no access to ore so had to rely on trading to upgrade to cities. James and Karin had been a little behind but began to edge closer as both the Mrs. and I spun our tires. I began to lose hope when the development deck got down to the last six cards, not even knowing if there were still two vps in there. Miraculously, two turns and two lucky vp cards later, I was the victor. An exhilarating win, indeed!

(Luck and persistence are the causes of this pathetic victory -- we were both at the same point, struggling with poor opening decisions, grasping at whatever we could do. The next game was much better....)

Karin suggested a second game, and we all heartily agreed. Certainly it is a good sign for things to come when everyone is up for another game when there are three exhausted kids in the next room and it is already 9:00pm. It was decided the kids could stay up a little later, and the game was on!

I don't remember a lot from our second game (defense mechanism), only that I had a good mix of all five resources and was building and expanding at a very healthy pace. Suddenly the Mrs. swept in, stealing the longest road from Karin, and adding it to her largest army and cities and settlements to score a decisive win. Still a fun game, but the ending was a bit of a shock, since I don't think any of us saw it coming quite so soon.

(Except Layla, who KNEW it was coming and tried VERY VERY hard to not give away the secret prematurely. The urge to shout "just give me the damn lumber so I can win already since it is happening ANY moment" was quite strong, but I called upon my meager allotment of self-control and managed to stun them. Honestly folks, it was a beautiful victory. I wish you had been there to observe their stunned silence at the massacre.)

This is as opposed to the previous game when the end dragged on a little until you expected someone to claim victory at any moment. We never had time for that feeling to develop in this one (too true).

Well, I'm quite happy to report that our first two sessions together seem to be pointing towards a frequent game night, which makes me very happy. Until our next meeting, I'll wait with much anticipation.

One last note: the unusually late bedtime for the kids (11:00pm) resulted in them both sleeping in until 9:00am...an unheard of occurrence in the Todd house! Certainly no complaints here (Layla isn't so eager to embrace this late awakening...who knows what tonight will bring).

Save or Spend: The Basic Financial Balancing Act

I would like to think of myself as a saver, and I tend to subscribe to the latte factor philosophy of savings. (I believe it is David Bach that owns the term, but the principle is universal. To see his take on the subject and calculate your personal latte factor, click here .) Essentially this consists of paying close attention to the details of your daily expenditures, then finding and eliminating those 'little' items that you buy but don't really need.

The basic point here is that it is quite easy to spend $5-$10 each day on coffee, snacks, magazines, and other seemingly small items that, while enjoyed for a moment, are really not very important to your happiness or well being, especially considering the immense impact the unneeded expense has on your finances. Every day when you spend that $10 it never seems like a lot of money but over a month, year, decade, etc. it adds up to a considerable amount.

This principle is important to developing a saving habit and goes a long way towards shoring up one's finances.

The goal of this exercise isn't to try to cut out as many expenditures as possible, but rather to perform a simple cost/benefit analysis on your spending. It leads to questions like "Is that latte and croissant every morning really worth $300 a month to me?" If it really is, then go right ahead and keep on spending that way. For most people, however, the problem is that they don't intend to spend that much on those items, but simply have never thought about the true costs involved. Those people will probably realize that their morning treat isn't that valuable to their lives and will look for for less expensive ways to start their day.

I think some people may take this principle to an extreme and forget that it is really just a method to make you pay attention to where your money is going and make you compare the benefit you receive from purchases to what you actually spend on them. I've seen some discussion recently online about people who are obsessive about saving for retirement (usually not a bad thing at all!), but perhaps make too many sacrifices throughout their working lives to fund their retirement accounts. What is the point in putting away all that money for your latter years when you may only barely be scraping by today? If money spent now on activities and items important to you would improve your quality of life significantly, by all means it should be spent! Sure, this is not a problem most people have, but it is important to realize saving can be taken too far.

Certainly it is important to save money for retirement, and there are lots of great guides out there for how much you should save and where you should put it. My point here is just to make sure you stay focused on the real goal for all of us: to lead a good life. Each individual must determine what they really want out of life, both now and far in the future, and plan accordingly. Spending too much now on frivolous things may make for a miserable retirement, but is an enjoyable retirement really worth misery in the present time?

The Mrs. and I are tackling this balancing act now, as we are both finally out of school and in the real world. Of course, making decisions about how much you need to spend to maximize your quality of life now and how much you need to save to maximize your quality of life in the future are not amongst the easiest you'll face in your lifetime.

The real point here is that it is vitally important to ask yourselves these questions even if you have no clue as to what the answers may be. Avoiding these questions, as many people do for far too long, only hinders you from controlling your own financial lives, and certainly reduces the chance of living a good life.

Country Boy in the Big City

Just a quick post while I'm packing for our big move...

We had a ton of fun in Ottawa, although we never did make it to any of the big tourist destinations. We did catch a glimpse of the Rideau Canal, but no art galleries, museums, or Gothic churches for us. This was largely due to running out of time, so our next trip will be sure to include more of those sights. We did spend a good deal of time driving around the city, and I'm happy to report that Ottawa is a very pleasant place to navigate. Sure, we had no idea where we were going most of the time, but we found our way eventually, and the driving process was much less stressful than I would have expected for any large city. One issue we had a tough time with was the lack of convenient parking; the spots we settled on were always a little further away from our destination than we had planned.

We ate at Anna Thai Restaurant on Holland Ave. Friday night, and the food was fantastic. This is coming from a professional cook, albeit one with very little Thai experience. In fact, I'd never had the opportunity to go out for Thai food until now, living as I do in rural America where they think Thai is something you do with your shoelaces. I've never considered myself someone who would like to live in the big city, but certainly if you can stand the cramped quarters and the rushed lifestyle, the food is well worth it! I can't wait to visit the city again simply to experience another good restaurant, an entity that if not completely extinct where I live, is certainly endangered. I don't recall names of dishes we had, but the Mrs. and I each started with a similar hot and sour soup with coconut milk, hers with chicken and mine with shrimp. I savored every sip of this delicious dish. One unexpected feature of the soup was that it contained sliced button mushrooms that were almost raw. At first I was skeptical, but it actually did work rather well in the end. I'm not sure if this was how the soup was intended or simply a rushed presentation, but it worked nonetheless. The Mrs. had a main course of chicken with vegetables and chilies: quite spicy but delicious. I had somewhat of a combination plate, one scrumptious shrimp spring roll with sweet garlic chile sauce, a good chicken and vegetable dish, and an orgasmic concoction of beef, peas, and eggplant fused together by a rich and spicy red curry sauce. I was very tempted by dessert (one of the selections was a ginger creme brulee which sounded heavenly), but I had practically licked my plate clean and was too full to consume another bite. If it wasn't for the variety and quality of restaurants in Ottawa I would be sure to come back to Anna on my next visit, and even so it might be hard to resist an encore at this fabulous restaurant.

So dinner was great, and the comedy club we attended afterward did not disappoint either. There were four comics performing at the club that night, but the best one by far was the MC of the evening, a Toronto performer named Andrew Evens. Check him out at www.angryandrew.com/ He looked just like the actor who plays House on television, and got lots of laughs for his joke about finally looking like a celebrity and still not getting any. Two minor complaints about an otherwise great experience: 1. Our waitress was rude and bitchy, albeit attentive and efficient. If she smiled a time or two she would have been great! 2. The bartender downstairs made the Mrs. a terrible Long Island Iced Tea (even calling this drink by that name is giving it too much credit). In fact this was the second similarly bad LIIT she had been served that night since she ordered one at a bar we stopped by on the way. Our interaction with the bartender went a little like this (of course edited due to poor memory):

Me: "So, do you make a good Long Island Iced Tea here?"
Bartender: "Yeah, sure."
Me: "You don't sound too convincing there, dude. We got one over at the Heart and Crown that was a disgrace to the name and your profession."
Mrs. "Yeah, it pretty much tasted like sprite."
Bartender: "It doesn't even have sprite in it."
Us: "We know."
Me: "Okay, I'm not sold on this, he doesn't seem to be too confident in his ability to make one."
Mrs. "So what is the best drink you serve?"
Bartender: "Long Island Iced Tea."
Us: Questioning glance at each other.
Me: "You weren't exactly selling us on it a minute ago."
Mrs. "Okay, I'll take one, but it better not taste like sprite."

He pours the drink and she tastes it as we turn to walk away. "Yup, just like the last one." I shake my head. Apparently they don't know how to make a Long Island Iced Tea in Ottawa. A shame, really, but next time we'll know better. Apparently we need to get better at interviewing bartenders before we let them make a complicated drink like that. It's evident that it was just too much for him. We need to ask specifically what the bartender thinks the ingredients are before ordering, and if only one alcohol is involved and the drink is 40% coke and 40% sour mix...just steer clear!

Anyway, an unexpected final highlight of our trip was shopping at Ikea. Granted the term 'shopping' here is used in only the loosest of ways since we didn't actually purchase anything there. We did compose a wish list totaling somewhere in the six digit range, but didn't actually pull the trigger on anything, largely because most of the items we wanted wouldn't fit in our car. Of course the fact that we just bought a $120,000 home and have almost no money to spare may have entered into the mix as well. We were very impressed with the store since in our area furniture is either much more expensive or much poorer quality than the items there, and usually it is both. Maybe next time we're there we'll actually buy something.

The final word on Ottawa for now: a beautiful city that I'll be sure to visit many times in the future. It certainly doesn't hurt that it's only an hour and a half away...

Cooling Off Party

This past Thursday, the Mrs. and I attended a cooling off party at the home we are purchasing. It was an odd feeling to be hanging out in the house we'd just bought with the sellers and many of their friends. In a way it makes sense since we needed to learn how to deal with some of the house's quirks before we moved in, but it was also quite strange since our perceptions of the party were quite different from that of the other guests. While everyone else there was recounting memories of the sellers and the home, essentially celebrating their time there, we were studying the layout, brainstorming paint colors, and considering furniture placement.

Perhaps the party allowed us a short glimpse of the life our place will have once it is filled with our friends and memories. A couple of odd moments--

The sellers' two year old dumped his drink on the hardwood floors periodically throughout the evening. Each time he did we would cringe just a little. "Those are our floors!" yelled the voices in our heads.

We talked with a woman at the party who we had met once before and discussed in conversation with friends another time. We were bound to remember her since her name is Rainbow ... needless to say she's the only one we know. She lives in the town we are moving to and has a daughter the same age as ours, so perhaps the second meeting means we are bound to become friends.

The house is truly beautiful with lots of natural light and great features, but it has really begun to sink in that there is lots of work to be done in the next couple of years. Most of this is cosmetic, but will still prove to be quite time consuming. I'm sure when all is said and done the finished product will be spectacular, but getting their might just take a bit of elbow grease.

The Mrs.

Good Morning Blogworld. As Nathan appears to be taking a sabbatical (now that he has a JOB again), I, the Mrs., have been given clearance to write a short post. Not yet a blogger myself, I am forced to rely on the kindness of others when the need to "get something out there" becomes too overwhelming.

Anyway -- on to the post! I woke up this morning after a horrendous night filled with one screaming almost-3 year old. The joys of parenting. Despite that loss of sleep, I still managed to be up and out of bed by 6:40, giving myself AN ENTIRE 20 MINUTES without the kids and husband hassling me. Since I am taking a vacation day, I did what any young parent would do when given child-free, non-work time: I hauled a few trash bags out to the Mazda and removed a few weeks worth of garbage from its interior.

Uninterrupted 'me' time always leads to random thinking. This morning's thoughts starred our daughter, Abby, as I contemplated her apparent knack for making new friends easily. A few short antidotes come immediately to mind:

1. A few weeks ago the four of us were out at a playground in the burgeoning metropolis of Massena. I was resisting the helicopter parenting urge quite well by sitting on a bench and doing a little recreational writing. Yet a conversation between Abby and another child caught my attention:

Random Boy: "Hey, what's your name?"
Abby: "Abby"
RB: "You want to be friends?"
A: "Sure."
Me: "Abby, what's his name?"
A: ::shrug::
RB: "I'm coming Abby!"

Random boy proceeds to shamelessly follow her around, chattering away until his parents decide to leave (which is THE ULTIMATE in awesomeness for other parents because it offers that wonderful "he is leaving too so this is a good time to go" option. Of course, It has come to my attention that this might be encouraging that awful peer pressure (oh honey, everyone is doing it. c'mon, you know you want to leave the park too!), but sometimes you are willing to do almost anything to avoid a 50 minute ride home of ... well, of a 4 year old who is bitter and wants to demonstrate to you just how pissed off she is.

2. A few weeks ago (ASIDE: to me, everything seems like it was a few weeks ago. It wasn't yesterday and I think it was this year so a few weeks sounds appropriate) we took the kids up to Parc Safari. We have been trying to bring them every year and, as this is the last year we can go without getting passports, we knew we had to make some time for it. Anyway, parc safari was fine. Not as great as other trips because it was HOT and overcrowded, but the kids were cooperative so it made the day pretty enjoyable. ANYWAY, because it was hot and sticky and Parc Safari has a "water park", Nathan took the kids swimming. Immediately, Abby picked up a friend who followed her around (although this time the friendship was more mutual with Abby loving this little girl and following her around as well). I would repeat some of their conversations (as they had many) except Abby's new friend didn't speak a word of English and I speak maybe 14 words of French. Trying to recall ANYTHING from my 3 years of high school French, I was able to direct Abby to say "Je M'appelle Abby," to which her friend said "OK." Her friend kept running back to her parents and I heard the phrase "ma ami" a few times. Her father and I exchanged that friendly our-kids-are-getting-along,-isn't-that-nice-even-if-we-cant-communicate-with-one-another smile. Although it is great to be social with other parents, the language barrier made it so nice because it wasn't even a little awkward to NOT make small talk.
Meanwhile, Abby and her friend are running around, talking at each other, not really caring that they can't understand anything that the other one is saying. It was adorable and awesome.

But -- what are these stories leading up to? Well -- I was just thinking about the incredible differences between Abby's ability to make friends and my own. Grown-ups, and I suppose I could be lumped into that category now (kids, husband, home ownership, real job, 403B ... all of these things would point in that general direction) just don't accept others that easily. We are too guarded. We have been taught to not become attached to people very quickly and, even if we do, certainly not to show it! We don't want to offer them anymore friendship than they are giving us and we certainly don't want to be publicly or privately humiliated for "loving" someone more than they love us.

I know that not all children have an easy time making friends, even when they are very young (as Abby is). So I have to wonder where her ability to put herself out there and make friends is coming from. Thinking about that 2 of us, I sure as hell know it isn't Nathan, so I guess it must be me. I will admit to being a fairly social person, especially under certain conditions (with people I already have a connection with, and if games or (even better) alcohol is involved). But I would like to harness more of those wonderful, "child-like" characteristics that would enable me to walk into a room filled with strangers and come away with some of their contact information. But perhaps what is a more important skill to learn is how to read people in order to accurately choose an appropriate topic of conversation as well as recognize their willingness to extend the relationship past a random house cooling party.

Anyway -- that is my 9 cents for the morning. I appreciate the ability to get it all out there. Nathan has been encouraging me to start a blog of my own. But, much like Ryan does for Creed in that wonderful show, The Office, I needed someone to screen my posts for me before taking it to the Internet. So -- please let Nathan know what you think by way of the comments thread. You hold my future in the palm of your hand. Use this power wisely.

Movie Games

My daughter loves video games, although she calls them movie games. This makes sense, I suppose, they are games and you do play them on a television just like movies.

A couple days ago my mother in law was visiting our area and staying in a nearby hotel. My brother in law had his PS2 with him along with his special guitar controller for the game Guitar Hero II. My daughter, after realizing that the instrument was actually a controller with a 'Wow!' said to him: 'You like movie games too!?' This line made me smile instantly. Her innocence and somewhat sheltered life was certainly evident here. She didn't realize that video games make up a huge industry around the world comprised of hundreds of systems and millions of players. She was just overjoyed that her uncle shared this hobby that to her was her own personal thing. To her this seemed a very unique and profound connection.

Of course, upon further reflection, her love of video games reminds me how assertive they truly are and how easily they can become the object of obsession. Of course, she loves board games too, but when Super Nintendo is offered (and even when it is not) it's certainly the activity of choice. With video games, the action comes to the players almost automatically, there is no need to set up the board or keep track of pieces in play. The visuals and controls are simply right there, obvious and blunt yet instantly appealing and addictive at the same time.

I've always liked video games since I was a child, especially the older Nintendo stuff, but this particular line of thought makes me glad I've chosen to pursue board games as my primary gaming outlet. It also drives home the point that what Nintendo I do let my daughter play must be a treat on rare occasions, not an everyday obsession. I feel board games are more constructive, better both socially and creatively. Board games will be the rule, movie games the exception.

Topic Diversity: Strength or Weakness?

As I've been posting this past week, it has occurred to me that my blog has become quite topically diverse. Looking back over my week of entries, I've noted the following broad categories: Monday, travel; Tuesday, kids' games; Wednesday, gambling, online board games; Thursday, food & wine, board game session report; Friday, goal setting; Saturday, classic video games; Sunday, blogging. This is only a glimpse of what is to come since I will certainly cover much more ground in the coming months than I have to this point.

Obviously the major reoccurring theme here is games, so I suppose you could say I write a blog about gaming. Over the long haul, however, if half of my posts discuss the gaming hobby and half cover my numerous other interests, is that really a 'gaming blog?'

Many blogs out there display much more of a singular purpose, acting like a magazine or newsletter covering one topic in depth. There are cooking blogs, sports blogs, personal finance blogs, and many many more. These strongly themed blogs may have occasional side notes on other aspects of life but tend to be fairly focused. Can a blog gain heavy readership and survive with such scattered themes as mine? Obviously not everyone who might stumble on a particular post will enjoy all of the topics I discuss, but what are the chances that enough of it is interesting to the point that they become a regular reader?

Comments from the Mrs. just recently led me down another train of thought:

There are many sites that cover a wide range of issues, events and thoughts. Although this type of blog tackles many different issues, usually it has a strong sense of perspective to tie the whole affair together. For instance, an economic blog might discuss almost anything happening in the world today yet approach each point from the perspective of an economist. This in itself becomes the theme of the blog despite the topics of discussion varying to a great extent. Another of this type of blog would be a feminist one. The events, thoughts, and stories related by the blog's author, though covering lots of ground thematically, would all be presented from the feminist perspective. These strong viewpoints give like minded readers plenty of opportunity to connect with the site and keep coming back for more.

Though I do have my own perspectives on life none are so recognizable, marketable, or thematically consistent as those I mentioned above, and thus probably aren't enough to hold a blog together on their own.

Thus I'm left with a little perspective, a partial theme (games), my writing style, a wide variety of topics that may or may not interest readers, and (thus far) a remarkably consistent posting frequency. Is this enough for a blog to gain a loyal following and a little visibility, or must I change my focus to achieve those results? Should I simply quit caring if people are reading and be satisfied that my blog is fulfilling its primary task of giving me an outlet to practice my writing and explore my own thoughts and interests? Might a wide variety of topics even be a strength, perhaps attracting many different types of readers, each finding Splitting Eights via a post closely related to their individual interests?

Please reply. I would love to hear some of your thoughts on this.

Super Bomberman

Recently I've been reminded of my love for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System due to my daughter's somewhat disturbing obsession with video games. While most of my favorite games for the system are mostly solo experiences, what is probably my #1 game of all time, Super Bomberman, is delirious fun with four players. All the bomberman games are fun, but out of those I've played the first Super Bomberman for SNES is the best. The best part of this game is its intensity. Power ups are littered throughout the levels, quarters are tight, and explosions are everywhere.

What makes this game GREAT:

• Power-ups are cool and powerful. Kick is great, but the flexibility of punch to both get you out of scrapes and wreck havoc upon everyone else is a beautiful thing. Detonating bombs are some of the most fun you can have on a console.



• Completely accessable to new players. The controls are a cinch to learn, and getting comfortable with the game takes a couple of minutes for most. Nothing is hidden, players can see everything going on, it takes almost no experience with the game to understand what's happening on screen. Each game is extemely short at two minutes, so even if you make a stupid mistake or even have an entire terrible match, it is a short wait until everyone starts from scratch and players have a fresh start. There is basically nothing here to prevent anyone from playing right away and having fun.

• The intensity is unparalleled. Very close quarters, crazy music, sometimes 6+ bombs per player, bombs being kicked and punched to all corners of the screen, full screen explosions, 'explosive diarrhea' poison, four bombermen launching into a blood frenzy simultaneously: if most levels didn't start off slow and only accelerate after a few seconds, it would almost be too much! Later chapters lacked the same intensity: Bomberman 2 replaced punch with throw and it tones the game down immensely. Bomberman 64 opens up the play area and allows easy 3d movement--meaning it is far easier to avoid explosions and the high pressure environment is gone.



• Four player simultaneous action is awesome. Sure, the five players of Bomberman '93 is cool, and I've yet to play that version so I suppose it could be superior. Let's face it, though, blowing your friends to smithereens is pretty much as fun as it gets, especially when you can multitask and obliterate three at once.



• The battle mode levels are a lot of fun. Lots of cool levels exhibiting special characteristics to spice up the basic game. One small weakness the game does have is that the adventure mode is very easy and dull. To me this does not reduce the game's stature in any way because battle mode is a completely different game and does not rely on the other in any way for its greatness.
  

At this point, being for such an old system, Super Bomberman probably is loved by many but may never be played by many others. This is a game that is very different from the majority of video games out there, especially since it is heavy on player interaction. It is very competitive and will cause lots of trash talking, but this is all in good fun! I have the suspicion that many people who don't generally enjoy video games would love this one. I personally have always had great success when introducing Super Bomberman to those not well versed in the world of video games. The first level played is usually enough to hook about anyone--it is simply a ton of fun. If you own a SNES and don't have this one you should definitely track it down--just remember you'll need a super multitap in order to play those 3rd and 4th players, and Super Bomberman with two players isn't half the game it is with four. Happy bombing!

My Goals For Fall 2007

I believe it is vitally important to have defined personal and professional goals in our lives, yet I have not spent the time to formulate any in a terribly long time. Even having had the summer off, far too many important aspects of my life have gone unexamined, and frankly been allowed to slip altogether too much. Especially since autumn should prove to be quite busy for my family and I, it is essential that I focus on these important issues. Here is a quick rundown of what I'd like to accomplish in my life from now until the end of 2007, in no particular order:


Family

• Find one on one time to spend with each of my kids here at the house. This could be playing a board game, reading a book, finding a quiet corner and chatting about the events of our day, making plans for future fun, or most anything that allows us to connect. Certainly I'd like to make this happen every day or at least 5 or 6 days each week.


• Work on becoming more patient with my kids. I need to learn to step away from them when they frustrate me and take a personal time out to breath and relax. Explore the concept of meditation.
  
• Spend time alone with the Mrs. to ensure we stay connected throughout our busiest times, at the very least spending a few minutes each day to give each other our full attention and to chat. Go on a full-fledged date at least twice a month with NO KIDS!


• Plan at least one fun activity each week where we all get out of the house and enjoy ourselves as a family.


• Stay better connected with my Mom & Dad, try to call each of them once a week.


• Do a better job maintaining relationships with my brothers and with my two closest cousins--all of whom are dear to me but I interact with far too rarely.

Social

• Look for new friendships and gradually develop the few that I have begun in this area.


• Be social in our neighborhood once we move into our new house. Host parties, invite people over for dinner, and generally get to know everyone around us. Find ways to get active in the community.


• Reestablish and maintain relationships with friends from my past through facebook, email, telephone, and face to face whenever possible.
  
  

Gaming

• Share my love of board games with a couple of new people every month. Explore possible gaming relationships with people I know now. Sometime early next year have enough interest to start a weekly board game group in the Canton/Potsdam area.


• Continue to explore the gaming blog community, give lots of feedback to those bloggers I enjoy reading, keep up with all the gaming blogs I enjoy. Listen to at least two gaming podcasts weekly, including The Dice Tower.


• Buy one or two new games and share them with friends, building my collection, the breadth of my gaming experience, and my gaming friendships.
  
  

Professional

• Propose new recipes to test for the St. Lawrence University catering department.


• Research flavor combinations and dishes that I would like to explore in the future. Read one book about food and find and read food blogs that I enjoy.


• Start a food journal with my thoughts on ingredients, dishes, combinations, recipes, what works and what doesn't.


• Learn as much as I can about wine. Drink wine with dinner at least once or twice each week. Read the wine bible from cover to cover.


• Volunteer for more responsibility at work if the opportunity presents itself, look for occasional experience baking and working the line in a restaurant setting.

Financial

• Hit the $10,000 level in my retirement fund through work.


• Rebuild our personal savings level to $10,000.


• Start a taxable investment plan with a small monthly contribution.

Intellectual

• Read one book on an interesting and important topic.


• Read the New York Times and Wall Street Journal (or other good daily newspaper) online on a daily basis.


• Listen to NPR three to four times each week.


• Thoroughly research the 2008 political candidates. Get well versed on the issues important to me and each candidate's stand on them. Get a good feel for the character of each of them. Generally learn as much as I can about the political landscape and become much more firm in my political opinions.


• Publish my blog at least three times weekly no matter how busy I am at work!

Physical

• Engage in one aerobic activity for at least half an hour three to four times per week. This could be a jog or a walk, playing tennis, going to the gym, etc.


• Find time to play tennis in particular at the St. Lawrence fitness center once a week if possible.


• Begin a strength training program even if it is very light at first.

Spiritual

• Try to figure out exactly what it means to be spiritual without necessarily being religious. Stay open to learning about the religious experience. Although I went to church as a child, I've never actively believed in God or had a personal religious life. (I also don't actively believe there is no God, I've just never had an experience that moves me in such a way to find meaning in any particular faith.) This is an area I understand very poorly and would like to explore.

Well, there you have it. The chances of me achieving all this are probably slim to none, but so long as I remain dedicated to giving it my best shot I'll be in great shape at the end of the year in a lot of ways. If anyone out there is interested in setting up some personal goals for themselves as well and would like to keep each other accountable I would be very open to that! Also, I would love to hear your comments on any of these topics.

Meatloaf & Sheep

Last night the Mrs. and I had friends over for dinner and a game. Karin works in the same building as the Mrs. and James is her husband. The dinner: meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, beef gravy, tossed salad, whole wheat dinner rolls, berries with Creme Anglaise, a bottle of red, and a bottle of white. The game: Settlers of Catan, basic game.

Act I: Dinner

Sometimes when I get a little too excited about a meal I tend to overdo it just a little bit. This was one of those times. Of course, the meals never seem that time consuming or complicated when I'm brainstorming what to serve; that part only becomes glaringly apparent when I actually begin the cooking. The bad side: the meal was obscenely labor intensive and took much more time than planned. The good side: everything turned out precisely how I intended and I was completely satisfied with my results. I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to food and it is extremely rare that I make such an unqualified statement such as this.

Of course since the preparation and execution of dinner was so much more than I had realized, my other big job of the afternoon, cleaning the house, was only half completed when the Mrs. arrived home from work. So I scrambled to finish the meal while she finished the housework. A little more hectic than I like, but everything turned out okay. The meatloaf and rolls were especially popular.

We drank two bottles of wine with dinner. The white was under the Black Tower label, a 2005 vintage of a grape called Rivaner, a variety I have never tried before. Its flavor was quite pleasant, very fruity, a touch sweet, and tasted strongly of grapefruit (although no one else agreed with me on this point). This is not a wine I would choose to drink on a regular basis; I prefer whites that are much more dry and typically that are much less fruity. To me it would best serve as a wine to enjoy on its own on a lazy weekend afternoon rather than drunk alongside a meal. The red was a Yellowtail Shiraz/Cabernet blend which I have had several times before and has proven to be very enjoyable. This is a very inexpensive wine, yet to my (admittedly fairly untrained) pallet, quite delicious. Also, being an assertive blend, it was strong enough to stand up to the bold flavors of the meal. The wine and the company were so good we relaxed for some time after the dinner drinking and chatting, a most pleasurable time indeed.







Act II: The Game


Our guests had a generally positive attitude toward board games, yet had never tried any of the modern strategy ones I typically play. The gateway game I usually reach for in such situations is Settlers of Catan. You can say all you want about weaknesses in the game after hundreds of plays, but there's just something about Settlers that sparks an interest in those new to the hobby. As James put it in response to a comment about liking board games: "I like that kind of game." Whatever you want to say about Settlers, either positive or negative, it is that kind of game. It's the kind of game that a lot of people would love except for the fact that they've never played one. There is this realization midway through that first game that they are glimpsing something grand, discovering something fun that they didn't know existed. Settlers really has that power to redefine someone's opinion of what board games are all about.

What makes the game a slam dunk besides exhibiting many great qualities of modern board games is that it is so accessible to new players. Not only is Settlers easy to learn and grasp strategically, the die rolling mechanism combined with the static starting board layout for beginners does a great deal for leveling the playing field and giving any newcomers an excellent shot at winning. This fact certainly adds to positive impressions after a player's first game.

This particular session was interesting (atypical?) in a couple of ways. Many games I've played end with one person being left relatively behind in the scoring, this time I believe all players had at least eight vps at the conclusion of the game: everyone was really in it to the end. At one point or another in the last few turns each player had nine points, due to the longest road card being passed between the Mrs. and Karin several times right near game's end. James was the victor, I believe with just settlements, cities, and one development vp contributing to the win. The Mrs. had both longest road and largest army, but failed to close out the win because she kept drawing development card soldiers instead of the one vp she needed to close the deal. Karin stumbled at the very end when the Mrs. finally secured the longest road for good, and I ended the game one wheat shy of building the city that would have been my tenth vp.

Another interesting point was that the number distribution of resource rolls seemed to be almost dead-on long term expected ratios. Funny that this would seem atypical, but certainly a very large percentage of Settlers games have a noticeable tendency towards a few numbers in particular. I noticed no such variation this game. There were lots of sevens, sixes, and eights, somewhat less fours, fives, nines, and tens, and very few of the least common rolls. Overall a very entertaining game, although it did drag at times because we had all been drinking and two of us were brand new players. We all look forward to our next game.

Tilt In Poker, Blackjack, & Settlers

The term 'tilt' in the world of poker involves being thrown off one's game usually after stumbling upon some bad luck. According to wiki: "Tilt is a poker term for a state of mental confusion or frustration in which a player knowingly adopts a sub-optimal, over-aggressive strategy." When lots of bad things start happening to you, especially after losing big hands where you had a large advantage, it is only natural that you start pressing a little. Every time a long shot hand beats you there is this little voice in the back of your mind saying 'if that hand can beat my monster one, maybe I can win by playing more hands like that too!' Although you may rationally acknowledge that those weaker hands will lose you more money in the long run, it is very difficult to ignore the sensory evidence that says the opposite. Before you know it you're playing far too loosely and losing more and more money. Overcoming tilt is one of the most difficult roadblocks to becoming a serious poker player. Recognizing the beginning of tilt in your game and having the emotional strength to correct it keeps you true to your strategy and gives you the greatest chance to leave the table a big winner.


Sometimes you just need to walk away

Although it is a poker term, tilt could be a useful concept when applied to other types of gambling and gaming. It might not hold the precise meaning of the original word, but certainly recognizing this type of behavior in any game will result in increased player effectiveness. I can relate this phenomenon to situations in my experience with blackjack. Blackjack requires a great deal of willpower--first to stick with your basic strategy and betting system, and then to follow through with your predetermined quit points. When high percentage plays start turning against you (dealer upcard of 6 vs. your 20 draws to a 21, for instance), and your session bankroll starts to shrink it is difficult to stay on track with a rational betting system. Often your gut reaction to these situations is to start making large 'inspirational' bets, desperately hoping to win a huge hand and recover a chunk of your bankroll in one big play. More often than not this type of behavior will bankrupt a blackjack player. Even if you win such a bet it sends the wrong message to your subconscious: that inspirational betting is a good strategy! Another key to blackjack success, quit points, can be very difficult to follow if you become frustrated and start to tilt. Once you have lost a predetermined portion of your bankroll the proper move is to step away from the table, swallow your pride, and accept your losses. As any blackjack player knows, however, when you are down big to the house it is very difficult to walk away! With a well timed winning streak, that small pile of chips left on the table could transform this into a winning session! While this is certainly a possibility, the most probable outcome of this line of thought is complete bankruptcy. The lower your bankroll gets, the less likely you'll be able to even make the proper bets to take advantage of weak dealer hands, and the more likely that the minimum bet at your table is much higher than a reasonable bet for your current bankroll.


The Dice...they hate me!

I even found myself exhibiting somewhat tilt-like behavior when playing Xplorers on Asobrain Games several days ago. Earlier in the week I went through a streak of about eight games where i won six times and placed second twice. All of a sudden all the good breaks that had been going my way started turning on me. Numbers stopped falling my way. Other players scraped up the resources for settlements blocking my way just before I could. Every development card I bought seemed useless to me. Nothing was going right. Of course, it's impossible to win at Settlers of Catan when everything is going against you, but the real problem starts when you start making bad decisions because of those uncontrollable disasters. I found myself basically going on tilt. Instead of spending resources this turn on a small advance I would wait another turn hoping to hit a big number and get back in the game. Invariably a seven would be rolled and I would be left with nothing at all. Once you get to that point where frustration starts to take over, many little mistakes follow. Maybe you make a poor trade, build a road in the wrong location, forget to play a soldier at a key time, etc. Maintaining control over your emotions is one of the most important aspects of game play.


Conclusions

It seems to me that this tendency towards tilt doesn't often appear in board games, probably because there is less at stake in a typical board game than in a poker tournament or at a blackjack table. My frustration level during this rough streak in Xplorers was higher than in most board games since I was playing ranked games. Every game I lost, especially by a large margin, cause my Xplorers rating to plummet. I went from about a 130 rating (excellent) to about 48 (pretty mediocre) in this one rough stretch. Even though this rating is a pretty foolish reason to become frustrated, it was enough for me at the time. Also, the fact that Xplorers games typically clock in at about 30 minutes rather than the hour+ of a live Settlers game, it takes a lot less time to lose a lot more games! I guess the lesson here is to always be aware of this tendency to tilt in games. When you begin to get frustrated during rough stretches, it is imperative to either regain control of your emotions or stop playing the game! By the time your next session rolls around you'll be back in control and ready to play at your best. Of course, for some of us, our best isn't exactly that good, but that's a story for another day.

9 Favorite Games To Play With My Daughter

My four year old daughter loves playing board games. Actually, she'll play pretty much any kind of game you put in front of her: video games, bowling, badminton, board games, card games, and any kind of made up game she can conjure up. In fact, she often insists on playing Caylus, Settlers, Carcassonne, or whatever adult game she happens to see on the shelf. I don't blame her, all those games that we never play together must be awfully good, right? I do break out Carcassonne with her on occasion since she gets the matching terrain aspect, although not so much the meeple placement/scoring aspect.

Personally I like board and card games the best, so that's what I try to steer her towards when she wants to play a game. There are numerous games we own that the Girl (this sounds odd, but somehow having one boy and one girl leads the Mrs. & I to refer to them by their sex on occasion rather than by name) likes playing that I don't care for. These tend to be the basic draw a card and move (Candyland), or spin and move (Chutes & Ladders), or even flip over one card after another (War). None of these games have decision making aspects and thus I will not place them on the list despite the fact that the Girl does enjoy them. Since this is a list of games we enjoy together, I suppose I'm allowed to nix those games that I don't enjoy. Not that playing a dull game with her is altogether bad: I still enjoy playing those games on occasion since it is a shared activity with my daughter. I have fun not because the game is good but rather despite the fact that it is bad. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that the list is games that we both enjoy playing frequently. We have fun with everything on this list, and it's in no particular order:

• I Spy Bingo (2-6 players, age 4+) Each bingo card consists of a 4x4 grid, each box in the grid containing about ten pictures, each beginning with the same letter of the alphabet. The player whose turn it is flips over the top card of a deck to reveal four random pictures. She then calls out one of the pictures on the card and places a bingo token over the box on her card that contains that picture (if there is one). Sometimes its easy to find a given picture on your card since it is grouped by first letter. However, much more often the 'I Spy' aspect of the game comes into play because it is not immediately obvious which letter the picture starts with. For instance, what appears to be a snake may actually be under 'V' for viper. Also the green apple isn't under 'A,' it's under 'G' (either for Green or for Granny Smith...I guess both work!) A simple little game but it always seems to be a fun time for us.


• Memory (essentially any number of players, age 3+) The old standby. We actually have three separate copies of this game: original, Finding Nemo, and one with pictures painted on wooden blocks rather than cardboard cutouts. The Girl loves this game, which makes it fun. The remarkable thing is that young children seem to be on a fairly level playing field with adults at this one. I think I win slightly more often than she does, but I never throw games with her and she certainly wins her fair share.


• Flea Circus (2-6 players, age 6+) This is the most recent addition to our kids' board game collection. Designed by Reiner Knizia, this is a card game that the Girl fully grasps and enjoys despite the higher age suggestion. The game consists of a deck of cards, a pile of blue dog pieces, and a pile of white cat pieces. The basis of the game is that the players each run their own flea circus and they are vying for the attention of a common pool of spectators. Spectators come in two denominations: cats are worth one spectator, dogs are worth two, and they are fully interchangeable. If you play a card that nets you four spectators you may claim any combination of animals that adds up to four. This was the Girl's first experience counting by twos and she loved the challenge of counting to three or four using both ones and twos instead of just ones. It may be difficult for some young children to grasp that 'one' dog is actually 'two' spectators. Each player maintains a hand of five cards, drawing back up to that number at the end of each turn. Each player has a pile of their previously played cards in front of them called the 'show stack.' Each flea card has a different effect when played (some take spectators from the common pool, others steal them from opponents, some can be played in multiples, some have varying values depending on what is on top of other players' show stacks. Flea Circus gives young children lots to consider since individual card values greatly vary depending on what other cards are in their hand and which cards are showing on the table. You should listen to the Girl trying to explain this game to people when we sit down to show it to new players. Her excitement about the game is amazing, but she probably comes off a lot like I would if I were to try to explain Puerto Rico to my grandmother. One last note about Flea Circus: although the game is way over my two year old's head, it is quite easy to keep him entertained by the very fun rubber cats & dogs. This is a good thing! Highly recommended.
  

• Junior Labyrinth (2-4 players, age 5+) This is essentially identical to the adult version of the game except instead of the board being a 7x7 maze it is 5x5 and there are fewer treasures to find within its twists and turns. Players are dealt treasure pieces face down that they are to seek during the game by moving their ghost character through the maze. Most of the maze tiles on the board can be moved, which is accomplished by pushing the one extra maze tile against one row of tiles on the board and pushing a tile out the other side. This changes the layout of the board slightly, opening up some corridors that were closed off and closing off others that were open. Each turn a player moves one row of the labyrinth, then moves his ghost along the tunnel either to the current treasure she is seeking or as close to it as possible in order to set up a future move to actually acquire it. The Girl and I enjoy this game but she does have difficulty visualizing how any given maze shift will effect the layout of the board. Usually I let her push a maze piece and see how that changes the labyrinth, then push it back and try another spot if it doesn't help her towards her goal. The winner is the first to find all of their treasures then return to their starting space. Not as much fun as some other games on this list, but not bad.

• Mancala This is a classic game that I've owned for years but just never thought to play with the Girl until recently. I learned the game from my aunt when I was a child and used to enjoy it then as I do now. Players move stones on their side of the board and try to get as many as possible in their 'bank' at their end of the board. By choosing the best pile of stones to move and landing the final stone of the sequence in your bank you earn another consecutive move and thus can rack up a high score through thoughtful and precise decisions. After a few plays the Girl really started to grasp the strategy and she now loves this game. You can't go wrong with Mancala.

• Zingo (2-8 players, age 4+) We've had this game for quite a while and had a lot of fun with it. Zingo is really quite straightforward, it's simply bingo with a little red tower that shoots out two bingo tiles at a time. The tiles each depict one picture and the picture's name written beneath it. Each bingo board has nine different pictures on it arranged 3x3. As two new tiles are revealed a player will call out 'I need a house!' if they see a house tile that matches their board. Depending on how you play, either the first person to call a tile or the first person to grab it gets to place the new tile on his board. The first player to fill their entire board is declared the winner! Usually we have the first winner, then we keep playing to determine the second winner, then the third, etc. The Girl likes this game a lot but for the most part has moved on to other games we've been playing more recently. The Boy actually understands Zingo very well and usually plays with us too, and he is only two years old. Definitely a good game for a family with young children.

• Guess Who? (2 players, age 6+) This is a game I remember from my childhood, although I don't think I was crazy about it: Guess Who? was more of a novelty to me, but the Girl really enjoys it. It is a very simple game but is short, entertaining, and functions very differently than other games in our collection so it is a good change of pace. Yet another game listed at 6+ that the Girl has no problems with whatsoever. Some of the conceptual subtleties took her a few plays to figure out (such as asking about characters' having 'facial hair' rather than just 'a beard'), but she enjoys the game and is great at it as well. A word of caution, however: the plastic framework of the boards are very breakable and you should probably not allow your two year old to play with them. Yes, I'm speaking from experience here. Overall a fun little game to play with your child, or for two kids to easily play together.

• Dominoes Another game that I've had for a long time but just never thought to give it a try with the Girl. Not too much to be said here besides the fact she enjoys it. We really haven't tried playing any complicated games yet, just the basic matching your piece to those already on the table and trying to run out your dominoes.



• Blink (2 players, age 7+) It is quite surprising to me that the listed age on this game is so high, since the Girl has no problem with it and has considered it her favorite game for a while. Blink is comprised of a deck of cards with symbols on the face that vary along three different characteristics: color, shape, and number. Each player is given a draw pile of half the cards, then draws three cards for her hand and flips over one additional card onto the playing surface. Players then try to play the cards in their hand by matching them by any of the three characteristics to the two cards already face up on the table. New cards are drawn for each one played and the first player to play all of their cards is declared the winner. Blink bills itself as the world's fastest game, usually played within two minutes. Conceptually there is nothing here that a four or five year can't grasp, you simply have to adjust how many cards each player is given in their draw pile to compensate for ability. For instance, I might give the Girl 1/3 of the deck while I take the remainder. Thus even though I'm much quicker at the game we should still finish at close to the same time and have an enjoyable and competitive game. Blink is great fun for all ages and I'd think would make a good learning tool for preschoolers or kindergartners.

Just a few ideas that have worked for me and my daughter. It really is never too early to get kids started on board games!

I'm Ottawa Bound!

I am deliriously excited about an upcoming trip I'm taking with the Mrs. to Ottawa, Ontario. I've been living in the Canton/Potsdam, NY area now for almost four years and have yet to make the measly two hour trip to the major city right in my backyard. I've always wanted to go, but the trip has been another of those things that gets put on the back burner of a busy life. Like many of those things that get set aside (keeping in touch with old friends, finding enough quality time with the family, etc.), this is an unfortunate oversight that will soon be remedied. We decided fairly quickly to go with the cheaper one night at the hotel instead of the full weekend, so we have a very limited amount of time to work with, certainly not nearly enough time to do everything we'd like.


Wait, what does this have to do with Settlers of Catan?

So now I've leaped into board game 'maximization mode.' I need to figure out exactly how to spend my limited resources (time & money) on activities in Ottawa to maximize our total benefit over the weekend (turn)! Of course the Mrs. would say that this is best put in economic terms, being an economist and all, but not for me! In my mind I've got a massive handful of resource cards and I'm trying to figure out exactly what I need to exchange and then build to get those last two victory points and win this one for the good guys! Is this guy for real? You bet I am! Now where was I?



The Task at Hand

Right, Ottawa! Now first things first: I need to define the basic parameters of our trip. My mom has graciously offered to watch the kids for the weekend. (Thanks mom!) She should be arriving on the Friday of our excursion at about noon. Half an hour to get the kids settled, two hours on the road, half an hour to get checked into the hotel and we're off to see the city by 3:00ish. We're staying one night so the task at hand is to plan activities from 3:00 Friday until Saturday about 10:00ish (late enough to have as much fun as possible, early enough to still feel very comfortable driving home). Am I putting way too much thought into this? Yes, almost certainly I am! Will my best laid plans be scattered like so many leaves in an autumn storm? Why are you asking so many negative questions? Admit it, you're one of those glass half empty people aren't you! Here's the plan thus far:

• Friday 2:30pm Check into Inn on Somerset, the B&B where we decided to spend our night. It seemed to be the best combination of location and price.
  
• Friday 3:00-6:00pm Begin some initial exploration of the tourist attractions in Ottawa, hopefully by foot. Interesting spots can be more thoroughly visited on Saturday.


• Friday 6:30pm Dinner. Now I am a cook and love good food. This makes me a bit of a restaurant snob--I am very picky about where I eat, which makes choosing a restaurant a fairly difficult task. Here's my list so far with pros & cons:
  

1. Anna's Thai Restaurant. Pros: Excellent customer reviews on RestaurantThing.com Cons: Location isn't all that close to Absolute Comedy Club (next on our agenda). Do we want to eat Thai?


2. Bento Sushi. Pros: Good reviews on RT.com, closer to where we are staying than other recommended sushi places, I haven't had sushi for years. Cons: Not nearly as close to Absolute Comedy as the next two on my list.


3. Leonardo's Ristorante. Pros: In Little Italy right next to Absolute Comedy, least expensive of the lot. Cons: Menu doesn't look as extensive or as appealing as Trattoria Caffe Italia.


4. Trattoria Caffe Italia. Pros: Excellent reviews on RT.com, great menu, very close to comedy club. Cons: Much more expensive than Leonardo's. So many decisions to make, no clear answer!
   

• Friday 8:30pm Absolute Comedy in Little Italy. I've always wanted to go to a comedy club, and this one seems good and moderately priced. I'm not familiar with the comedians performing, but I'm excited about this nonetheless. Plus they serve drinks, so I'm sure we'll have fun!
  
• Friday 11:00pm ByWard Market nightlife. There are lots of bars and clubs in Ottawa's ByWard Market from Irish pubs to blues bars to trendy clubs with a DJ. I think we'll just have a bunch of places in mind and wander the Market looking for what feels right.
  
• Saturday 1:00am Pass out back at the Inn. On the map our hotel seems like it is very reasonable walking distance from the Market, which is a big feature.
  
• Saturday 9:00am Eat a big breakfast at the Inn or wander a little and find a nice spot to spend a leisurely weekend morning.


• Saturday 10:30am See the sights! Walk the city, check out a museum or two, see what fun things we can find. The better we get to know where things are in the city, the more fun we'll have next time we scrape up the money for a trip!


• Saturday 7:00pm Grab a bite to eat, something cheap like a slice of pizza, a sandwich, or a burger. Find another fun spot to have a couple drinks and have some fun, either at the Market or somewhere else we've found in our travels.


• Saturday 9:00 or 10:00pm Wrap things up and head for home--hopefully very satisfied!
  

What didn't make the cut:

• Ottawa Lynx baseball. The triple A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles will be out of town for the weekend. Also, there is little use getting attached to this team since they've been sold and will be relocating to Pennsylvania next year. I love baseball, but I'll have to wait for another time.
• Casino du Lac-Leamy. This nearby casino would be a real blast, but several considerations will prevent us from going: 1. The Mrs. would be bored. 2. It would eat up lots of time. 3. I live an hour from a casino anyway. 4. It would put a real damper on our trip if I lost lots of money on top of spending lots of money on the weekend already. "Come on, honey, what's another $100?"
• Ottawa's vibrant strip club scene. For some reason the Mrs. doesn't really want to go. Women! Maybe next time I'm in town for a business trip... Apparently the city has lots of escort services as well. This really is the big time, huh?

Are we there yet?

If anyone out there has any recommendations for our trip, please don't hesitate to let me know. I'd like our weekend to be the most fun possible. On a side note, are you sufficiently bored yet? No? Well, I suppose you could go read a dictionary until I manage another post.

A Most Personal Impersonal Game

In reality I seldom play board games at this point in my life. I've been in this location for four years now, but have only very gradually begun to develop friendships locally, and no one that I would consider a friend or close acquaintance has much of a propensity for board games. This represents a radical departure for me since the vast majority of my friends from the past have been game aficionados. All my best friends from high school, dorm mates from college, two younger brothers, uncles on both sides of my family, cousins, dad, mom & aunt (on very limited occasions), and my lovely wife, have all indulged my predilection for board games.


Real game, imaginary friends

Just recently I've realized that this state of affairs desperately needs to end. I have the suspicion that the quantity and quality of my gaming experiences have a direct impact on my happiness in life. My primary objective to remedy this sorry situation is to begin a gaming group in the Potsdam/Canton area. As I begin to plan my opening moves towards this lofty goal, I will keep you posted. Although I do feel severely board game deprived, I do have three outlets for my passion: I play two player games with my wife on occasion, kid's games with my four year old daughter every day, and online board games on the site AsoBrain games. The first two points on this list I would love to elaborate upon, but those are topics for another day. Playing on AsoBrain games (mostly their version of Settlers of Catan, called Xplorers) has been a revelation, albeit a bit of a puzzling one. True, being able to play board games on a daily basis if I so choose is a fabulous opportunity indeed, and one of which I've taken particular advantage the last couple of weeks. I love that I play this very personal, familiar game with opponents I've never met from all over the world. Indeed this is a typical representation of our modern situation: I am at once experiencing much more connectivity with people I would have never had known in the past yet simultaneously experiencing much less immediate relationships with those I meet in this way.


Is it really possible to play board games on a computer?

Though I love playing at this site I am quite aware that the experience is missing much of what I love about board games, namely the immediacy of an experience shared with friends and the aesthetic appeal of handling game components and performing the basic rituals of play. Internet play with strangers is almost completely a matter of strategy in that although there may be a little chat amongst players, such games are devoid of that natural comfortable chat between friends and the (usually) playful banter that arises from games played in person. The interface for the online game is cold. Even when players chat, there is only so much of their feelings, reactions, frustrations, moments of elation, and the like that can be gleaned from watching the game unfold. Essentially all you get from the experience is the moves on the board. From a narrow strategy sense this could be a good thing, since there are few distractions from one's concentration on the game and the moves to be made. If the point of playing is to develop or hone one's game strategies then this is an ideal environment. However I would assert that the distractions, reactions and the like are at least as important to a gaming session as the strategy involved in the actual game mechanics.


For me, games are like food...really

As I've written previously, the presence of physical components that are held, slid, shuffled, stolen, flipped, rolled, slapped, and generally manhandled throughout game play, for me, results in a great deal of enjoyment. I would liken this in a way to most any simple pleasure in life. Anything that one is passionate about, even broken down into its simplest components or steps can bring great enjoyment and satisfaction to an experience. For instance, I am passionate about cooking & working with food. Sometimes this can be a job or a chore, or just another action that I perform. When I stop to think about it and allow myself a little immediacy as I prepare a meal I derive much satisfaction from the simplest actions, from the motion of peeling a potato, to the explosive pop & sizzle of a steak hitting a hot pan, to the slide of a knife separating whole vegetables into the small accessible pieces that become the components to be transformed into finished dishes. Just as there are thousands of tiny pleasures found in the preparation of a meal from start to finish, tiny actions, motions, and rituals throughout a favorite game each provide startling pleasure in and of themselves far beyond even the bigger context of the game. In my mind this is one primary reason why I have a stronger attachment to board games than to video games: the only tactile experience in video games is the controller since they are almost entirely visual experiences. Although I love many video games, especially those on the NES and SNES systems from years past, they fall short of board games precisely because of those weaknesses I highlighted in the case of video board games on the Internet: shared experience and ritual pleasures. Playing Settlers of Catan on AsoBrain games ends up having much more in common with video games than it does board games despite the fact that the game rules are essentially identical to the tabletop version of the game.


Looking for a few good opponents

All this being said, my new found Internet board game fascination was thrown for a loop several days ago when I played online for the first time with people I know in real life. My brother Christopher, one of his friends, my cousin Jennie, and I got together for a game of Xplorers on AsoBrain games. This promised to be a lot of fun because both Jennie and Christopher have been real life gaming opponents for essentially all my days of board gaming. We played countless board games as kids along with my brother Ben and my cousin Katie, and almost always play games when we get together although this usually only ever happens when we are all able to gather at my uncles' farm during the annual family gathering at Thanksgiving. This has become fairly difficult since each of us has become far separated from one another. The farm is in Vermont, while I reside in New York, Jennie in South Carolina, and Christopher in Kansas. My fingers are crossed that we will have the opportunity for a session this November. Yes, I truly miss mopping the floor with the old gang and would love to do so this holiday season! Now, if any of them ever actually read my blog, this should get them all riled up, which is a good thing...they'll almost certainly play angry and be way off their game.


Great time playing a painful game

Back to our session on Thursday. The experience was incredible. I had a great time chatting with Toph & Jennie and actually getting to play a game with them was a rare treat. That being said, the game certainly was brutal in a couple of ways. First, although I have played quite a few games on this site the other three players were Xplorers virgins: they all knew how to play the board game, but since they had never used this particular interface, the entire game was spent familiarizing themselves with how to actually get things done. Trading especially takes a little practice since players need to know how to ask for cards from other players, counter-offer, trade with the bank, and reject an opponent's offer. Familiarizing oneself with this system makes for excruciatingly long turns. A few more plays down the road a game of Xplorers will probably take between 30-45 minutes for us to complete. Unfortunately this one lasted twice that long. The other problem for me in this particular session is that I made poor choices for opening settlement positions (as did Jennie, although she does have the excuse that she's only played Settlers twice...I can't make such a claim). The result is that Jennie and I were almost mathematically eliminated from contention after two or three turns. Neither of us had access to the proper resources or the room to expand our territory sufficiently to win the game. What this means is that I spent the final 1:15 minutes of the game waiting for the misery to end.


Final Score: Ugly

Results: Toph obliterated all of us because of good opening placement, a bit of experience, and a little luck; I will admit it here and now that I was thoroughly outwitted. He may have one the battle, but mark my words: I will win...the next battle! It really was a lot of fun, and future games will certainly be even better since everyone will be more familiar with the interface, turns will progress much more quickly, and hopefully I'll preform more like the most experienced player of the group rather than the least. Was this experience even close to as much fun as playing with the same group in person? No, I don't think so, but it is the only way I can frequently play games with these people I love, and there is certainly much to be said for that. My life is richer because we've started to play these games, perhaps not so much as it would be if I were playing regular board games with friends face to face in this area, but a great development nonetheless. I await our next game with much anticipation.


Additional reading

One additional note: There are several sites on the internet that allow you to play board games online. Settlers of Catan seems to be the most available for online play, although I know Carcassonne and Ticket to Ride are also available (Carc on AsoBrain, even), and legions of Euro style board games can be played on BrettSpielWelt, a german boardgaming site. I urge anyone looking for a little more boardgaming time than their immediate surroundings allow to check out some of these resources. http://www.games.asobrain.com/ in particular is very accessible and I highly recommend giving it a shot if you enjoy Settlers of Catan or Carcassonne. BSW is definitely worth a look too, but I have yet to play there since it is a bit more intimidating and complicated. Get online and give it a shot!