Children love games. I use them wherever I can because it gets them to study/review material without feeling like “work” and it gives them a chance to interact about the conent. I love games too!

I thought I would share a few resources that make incorporating board games in class easy and inexpensive.

First, I create my own games using file folders and beautiful templates that you can find here:

http://jc-schools.net/tutorials/gameboard.htm

The PowerPoint template prints on two pages and fills both sides of the file folder. You can also explore different Microsoft Word tempates on this site. Download, print, attach to file folder, a quick trip through the laminator and voila! a durable board game. You can use the template “as is” or you can modify it to make it your own. I started with a few generic boards that I could use with any content, and the children liked it so much I started designing boards that were specific to each unit. I’m now teaching a different content, so that is back on my todo list again.

They have a business card template that you can use for questions, but I just set up a two column table in word. I like my rows set at about an 1.25 to 1.5 inches and at least 14 point font. I use vocabulary words and questions from my test bank for each unit to create the questions. Print them out, use a paper cutter to make the job go quicker, and store the cards in a business envelope attached to the board or stored separately. These could be laminated, but its so easy to print a duplicate set if necessary that I don’t.

Dice from the dollar store and water bottle caps complete this resource.

Other things you can do with the templates:

I like to use these on my Promethean board to play whole class games. I make a few shapes that are colored for pieces, and let the students compete in teams using the Eggspert.

The Eggspert runs between $60 and $99 and is totally worth it. It allows you to know which child “rings in” first. These very photogenic children are not mine, this picture is from the Eggspert site: www.eggspert.com

I like to put students in teams in rows, and they rotate every turn so that every child gets the chance to ring in. It also provides movement for all the students.

You can also have students make their own gameboards. Read Write Think has come up with a terrific lesson plan using gameboards as project for novels, but is easily adaptable to any content. I wrote a post about my recent adaptation of this here.

[This is the final part of my three-part Stronghold Replay post (part one and part two) which is a more in-depth look at Stronghold.]

HEROES
The defender has two heroes who enhance the troops at a wall.  These are very useful, especially as they can not be killed.  One can increase the strength of the units on a wall, and the other adds some strength and can kill an invader unit before the assault.  Of course, both of these special effects cost hourglasses, but can make a big difference.

FLIPPING THE PHASE CARDS
The reverse side of the phase cards works really well.  At the start of a turn, the invader can flip any of their phase cards over to use the options on the back which are different to the front. For example, rather than build siege weapons, the invader can draw two cards for one siege weapon’s shot.  However, once turned over, they can not be turned back again so it’s a one-way process. 

When reading the rules, this seems okay but it becomes clear that they are actually a really nice game mechanic as the game progresses.  The reason for this is that some phase cards become much less useful over time, i.e. if you’ve built all the equipment allowed.  If these cards remained unchanged they would not be used in the later game.  So, this flipping keeps the 6 different phases alive, rather than dwindling down to just 2 or 3 useful ones.

GLORY
Winning the game is not just about breaking into the stronghold.  Breeching the walls and entering the castle ends the game but the winner is decided on glory points.  The invader starts with 10 points and gives one to the defender each round.  So, for the invader, it is a race against time as the longer the defender holds out, the more glory they will get.  The invader earns 3 points if they break into the stronghold and can earn some extra points for other actions such as having 4 trolls on one wall section, sacrificing 12 goblins in rituals and a couple of others.  The defender is different as they start with 4 glory points and can give them up to get one-off benefits such as gaining a few more hourglasses (because they stall for time with shameful negotiations) or gain a couple of extra troops (by releasing their prisoners).

I would like to see the same system used to select phase cards for the extra glory points.  This would more variety to the scoring system so the objectives could be a bit different each time.  The ones that are there are good, but a bit more choice would be nice.  (I can imagine having secret objectives being very cool to so you would need to try and work out what your opponent might be up to.)

So far, it seems like a hard game for the invader to win and they can end up be fighting a battle that is already lost.  However, I think the game is more balanced than I have experienced due to a few rule errors we made and also learning what works well in combination.

LONGEVITY & EXPANSION
There is a lot of replayability in Stronghold due to the set-up of the phases.  The one thing that could have given the game even more variety/longevity is if the board was double-sided and the rear had a different stronghold on it with a different configurement of walls, ramparts and paths.  Maybe even a small stronghold for a short game.  No new actions need be created for this – so the invader and defender would have the same options – just a different layout.  I’d love to have the option of a ‘quick’ game.

Of course, expansions could be released with new stronghold layouts.  (These could include new actions for invader and defender but could still work well purely by offering a different layout.)  I still want to see a Minas Tirith Stronghold… please.

I’m sure that new actions/options could be released with some more phase cards to match them.  Also, I mentioned that I’d love to see some more options for glory points too.  Plus, new heroes for the defender, heroes for the invader, and more.  But these things aren’t needed yet as Stronghold already has a lot of variety to offer.

DOWNSIDES
I only have one main complaint about Stronghold which is that it’s a shame that the rules are not very clear in a lot of places and the diagrams in some examples do not match the text descriptions too which make it even more confusing.  However, there are lots of questions with answers on the forums so it is possible to work it out.  I found it took a play and a half to finally have them all sorted.

There is one other downside (but this is more my fault) which is that this is an epic game so it takes an epic amount of time to play it.  I don’t expect games to deliver an epic feel without them being deep and/or long – just like I don’t expect a 30 minute film to deliver a rich story, plot twists and character development.  If I was younger, myself and my friends would have more time on my hands and could play Stronghold  more often.  As it is, it is a game we will not to play as often as we would like (like War of the Ring, Arkham Horror, Twilight Struggle, and other such epics).  So, this isn’t really the game’s fault.

FINALLY
One last note I’d like to mention is that I think Stronghold executed a great pre-release campaign.  The designer posted 10 designer diary posts on BoardGameNews which really delved inside the design of the game and I think really raised awareness and interest with perfect timing for Spiel 09.

Well, that’s it for my three-part Stronghold replay thoughts.  Tomorrow, I’ll be back to reviewing other games as usual.

James.

Here’s what we promised, our list of Black Friday Specials. Some of them behoove the early bird, but everyone should be able to find something for gifts or even for themselves. Remember that we open at 9AM and the first person to spend $25 or more gets a copy of one of my favorite games for FREE! (our distributor accidentally sent us and extra one, so we’re out to spread the love).

The first person to purchase:
Humans!!!
Zombies!!! Expansions
Munchkin Base Set
Sinister Woods Dungeon Tiles
Scary Tales
Zombie Fluxx
Axis & Allies
Feudo
Alkemy
Arcane Legions
Game of Thrones CCG
Call of Cthulhu Box Set (or Expansions)
Killer Bunnies & Journey to Jupiter (or Expansion)
Millenium City
Mouse Guard RPG
Colonial Gothic RPG
Primal Power RPG
Traveller Introductory Book
Savage Worlds Explorer’s Edition RPG
Pathfinder Core RPG
MTG – Planechase

…gets 50% off!
After that, they’re 25% off all day!

All Graphic Novels and Manga are 25% off all day!

All Jinx Tshirts come with a free Jinx black/white sticker

Buy $70 or more of any Dungeons and Dragons branded merchandise (except singles) and get a FREE pack of Dungeon Tiles.

D&D Legendary Evils and Dangerous Delves Miniatures 25 percent off all day.

Magic: the Gathering:
Get 25 percent off of ALL intro packs!
All booster packs $3.49!
Buy four Shards of Alara, Conflux or Alara Reborn boosters for $10!
Get a FREE Alara block booster pack with a purchase of the premium Slivers deck or a Garruk vs. Liliana Duel Deck!

World of Warcraft:
Buy $50 or more of any WoW branded Merchandise (except singles) and get a FREE pack of Alliance or Horde Wrapping Paper – perfect for wrapping a stuffed talking Murloc, a Horde Beanie, or the Art of the Trading Card Game Book (and we happen to have all three of those)
Red Bearon – Big Battle Bear Loot Card for your WoW online account marked down to $85! (we only have 1)
Buy two World of Warcraft booster packs, get a third (of equal or lesser value) for FREE!
All World of Warcraft Miniatures boosters just $5!
World of Warcraft TCG Arena and Death Knight packs 50%!
Boxes of: Fields of Honor, Drums of War and Blood Gladiators just $59!

[This is a follow-on from yesterday's Stronghold Replay post (part one) which is a more in-depth look at Stronghold.]

TRAPS AND BRIDGES
Most of the pathways to the castle can have either a trap (placed by the defender and which will kill some specific enemy units if they use the path) or a bridge (placed by the invader and which mean no trap can be placed there).  Once they are placed, they can not be undone and remain there for the game.  These seem relatively small but, once laid, the paths and traps really start to define the battlefield.  Obvious routes that the invaders troops will probably follow start to form and this starts to determine which walls will be the preferred targets.

I thought this was a really nice gameplay mechanic and I would look to lay down traps or bridges earlier in future games.  That way I could control the battlefield a little bit and (as the defender) would try to build wall defences afterwards so that they work in harmony with the traps, or (as the invader) would bring troops onto the board at the best locations.

As with all things in Stronghold, there is a limited amount of traps and bridges (three of each) so no player can completely over run the other.

DEFENDING THE WALLS
One of the key items for the defender is how to lose as few troops as possible especially in the build-up to assaults on the walls.  This is because troops can be trained to be better but no new ones can be created so your forces can only diminish.

Packing a wall with defending troops will give it the best chance of resisting the invading army but troops on walls that are hit by siege weapon fire (and potentially goblin archers) are killed so go out of the game.  Also, the defender may want some marksmen on the walls to pick off some enemies who don’t have cover.  (The invader can use cover to keep their troops safe from marksmen but, like with most things, the invader only has 3 pieces of cover to deploy so can not cover every area.)  So, what’s right balance of troops to have on a wall?  Maybe you should keep them off a wall and only send them in when required?  These are questions to which the answers are only found by playing and depend upon the situation.  I packed my walls with troops to defend because of the threat of enemy forces but it meant I lost a lot of troops to siege weapons (primarily because my opponent sacrificed vast amounts of goblins to get the blood stone enhancement which means catapults can take out troops too).  I would probably hold troops back a bit more next time, but I would prefer to lose a few troops to siege weapons than risk a breech because I left a wall too poorly defended with not enough time to deploy troops to it.

The defender has another decision on the walls too – What to fill turrets with?  Turrets can hold posts (which can remove enemy units on the wall), cannons or marksmen (which can both remove enemy units approaching the walls).  With only a few turrets, the choice can be quite difficult, which makes it an interesting game.

COMBAT
The combat on the walls is diceless – both sides add up the total value of their troops plus any bonuses (like wall sections and heroes).  The difference between the two values is the amount of losing troop strength that will be removed, i.e. 2 points difference could remove 2 white units or 1 green unit, etc).  I like that it doesn’t feel totally random, but it might be nice to have a little bit of randomness to it so that players can not be 100% sure of the outcome.  There is some randomness if the invader uses hidden orders, or if the defender has a post on a neighbouring turret but these are quite small differences.  Maybe that is all that is required, but I did have a thought about the potential addition of a dice that rolls 0 / 0 / 0 / +1 / +1 / +2 and each side adds their result to their total score.  It would just add that extra uncertainty.  Without trying it I can’t tell – I’m sure some people would love it and some would hate it.

The defender has one advantage in that units removed in combat at a wall go to the hospital.  At the end of a round, two units in the hospital will return to duty and (the others are removed).  As an invader, if you’re attacking the walls you want to cause many losses at once so the hospital is overwhelmed which will thin out the defender’s ranks.  (Note that one option the invader may have available is to be able to raise any units that do not survive the hospital as undead and add them to their own forces.  I love the idea of that.)

INVADER ORDERS
The invader can issue orders to invading units at specific walls to give them special effects, such as orcs can blow themselves up to automatically remove wall sections.  These are an interesting item although we found the defender always spent hourglasses to remove the one order that could potentially do the most damage.  As a result, we thought the invader really needed to be attacking on at least two fronts to use orders well because the invader can only remove one order each round.  Orders will be used a lot better in our next games.

End of Part Two.

For more, check out the third and final part of these Stronghold posts where I’ll cover heroes, flipping the phase cards, glory, expansions, and more.

James.

Need an extra gift for the holidays? She Scribes and McNeill Designs have teamed up to offer some lucky readers great games — and just in time! Visit She Scribes at to enter!

Below is an excerpt of the She Scribes review of Twisted Fish. Fun for the entire family!

“This is NOT the “Go Fish” you grew up with. This is Go Fish on a whole new, challenging level. You have to have a really good memory to play this game. It took us a bit to get the hang of it but after we finally figured it out we had fun playing it. I LOVE the cards. The fish are so hysterical looking. The game features other sea creatures too so it’s just not a bunch of cards with fish on them. The games also figures a few “Zinger” cards which can totally throw you off…”

–Don

Don McNeill is a quintessential entrepreneur, the inventor of the multi-award winning language game You’ve been Sentenced! and the CEO of McNeill Designs.

In celebration of the local harvest festival Thanksgiving, the day on which people eat way too much meat, carbohydrates and sugar, Held Action is taking the day off. Any time after 2:30 PM EST or so, you’ll find me stretched out on the couch, groaning slightly.

As you know, dear readers, many of the most exciting children’s games began as a warnings against hanging out with ugly people, and foreigners. We need only look back to the nuclear age to discover one of your personal childhood favorites: “Ring Around the Rosey.”

“Wait,” you say, “doesn’t that have its origins in plague-stricken England.” Well, first of all, this is my blog and I wait for no one. If you can’t keep up, well, you’re an illiterate boob. Secondly, you are clearly Irish or something.

There'll be no "Ring Around the Rosey" for you mister...until you clean up your mess.

 With all the newly evacuated, so-called, “Brownfields” in Japan and places in the U.S. of A., like the New Mexican desert and Pittsburg, and the surplus of bland 1950’s children, entrepreneurs saw a way to make money by combining the two. They turned these toxic waste sites areas of low vegetation and non-potable water into Magical Learning-grounds!™

Teacher: “Look children, a three eyed fish!”

Ignorant Child: “Why does it have its intestines outside its body?”

Teacher: “How the hell do you know what ‘intestines’ means?!…I mean, here child, drink some water…”

"Ashes, ashes, we all play in a nuclear blast site!"

 Over the years, the lyrics to “Ring Around the Rosie” have changed, but children have always held hands while running around a glowing mudclod. Especially the dim ones.

This brings me to “Backgammon” (there’s no good segue to this), a game young children hate. Just as much as they hate dental visits, broccoli, and cleaning up after their alcoholic parents. There’s good news though; we can solve this problem with “information” (the Backgammon problem, not the alcoholic parents problem – sorry kids!).

Before the advent of nuclear war, people had trouble coming up with stuff to do. But after several thousand years of trial and error, they decided to stick with error.

The curious countenance, the bloodshot eyes, and the yellow mustard-stache. Notice the signs of genius? No, me neither.

Enter Hans Gammon, the inventor of “Triangles, Circles, Numbers, and Racoons.” It was wisely retitled after his death, against his wishes. Here’s how you play:

1.) Find an empty table. No empty table? Try the floor. No floor? Where are you? Outside? You heathen.

2.) Just add water! Just kidding – add 30 checkers, four die, a doubling die (you know…for kids), and a board covered with triangles and a bar in the middle.

3.) Oh! I almost forgot, you also need a caged rabies infected raccoon. If you don’t have a raccoon, a beaver with bad breath will work.

D.) Now, place all your checkers on the table, or “flatwood” as the Brits call it. Roll to see who goes first…then that person rolls the dice to determine the number of moves.

0.) I know what you’re thinking now, seems pretty intuitive. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong! Oh, dear Lord, you don’t know how wrong you are! Roll two sixes? Move 24 times. Roll a five and a six? Time to get the doubling die!

10.)Doubling die: using an unnecessarily obscure mathematical process (multiplication) a player “ups the odds” or, as I say, “increase the risk.” Player one rolls a five and six, and the first of the two players to grab the doubling die gets to roll it. The other player will use the rolled number to determine how many times he has to stick his hands in the raccoon cage.

Zucchini.) The first player to get all of his checkers off the board, and doesn’t have rabies, wins.

Final Analysis: I realize, however belatedly, that this was probably not very convincing. Also, using a beaver with bad breath is not actually an option in tournament play.

As a game designer, I work primarily with MMOs so I’m used to having sprawling, complex worlds to create and work within.  For one of my classes this semester, however, I’ve been designing a board game and I’m finding it an unexpectedly intriguing challenge.  The key difference?  In computer games computers uphold the rules, whereas in board games players must uphold the rules.

This is a whole different ball game.  In computer game design there’s a lot of “behind the scenes” stuff we can get away with, and just present the final data to the player in a nice, palatable form.  Players in WoW aren’t required to calculate the effects of all their armor on their character’s statistics, the game does this for them.  With board games, there’s no man behind the curtain.  Players must be able to understand the rules enough to uphold them themselves, and so we are limited not only by the constraints of the human brain, but by the constraints of what people consider fun.  As we see tastes vary in all games, the amount of effort people are willing to put into learning the rules of a game varies – most people at some point learn the rules to Monopoly, but a much smaller percentage of people learn the much more complex Dungeons and Dragons.  Designing these types of games is an intriguing process precisely because of these constraints, and a worthwhile challenge for any computer game designer.

I’ve been having a growing interest on board games as of late. It makes sense when I think about it. The only games that I play on the Wii are games that I could play around friends. It was only recently that I figured that the games I play emulate the same environment I would get from playing board games. Perhaps it’s just me diving deeper into geek culture as video games are becoming more mainstream, who knows. It just more entertaining to be surrounded by friends and playing something. However, my new hobby comes with a price, the same price in fact that I paid when trying to get friends into video games: board games are just too intimidating. It’s just too awkward to bring it up. How do you casually place a game of Settlers of Catan on a Friday night?  Just teaching everyone the rules of the game is daunting alone. It was hard enough to teach friends how to hold the Wiimote and Nunchuk properly for Wiisport Archery.

Luckily, I’ve been paying frequent visits to Board Game Geek for suggestions of games that I think would be of interest for casual players. As of today, however, my box of Robo Rally is still collecting dust and I’m still very eager to get a game going (c’mon guys, it’s easy to learn AND it’s going to be fun). Sad to say but I’m sure my collection of board games will become quite the hefty size before I can get my friends interested. I know for sure I can get my friends into one game. I’m dying to get my hands on Lightning Reaction Extreme but it’s going to be a bitch to find.

What’s even worse is the realization that my interest in board games could’ve sparked much sooner if I wasn’t such a social retard in high school. Ironic, I know. I almost forgot that one of my better teachers, in charge of the chess club, tried to get his students into other board games. Everyone else but me held no interest for anything other than chess but I never spoke out my interest.

Sorry, Mr. Wolff.

Stronghold is an epic game.  It is filled with relatively simple options and decisions but there are lots of them and no definitive answer as to which will be right or wrong.  The players act and then re-act to one another and there is little (or even no) downtime as play passes back and forth between invader and defender.

Having played Stronghold a couple of times, I thought I would post some thoughts on the game.  I discovered that not only is Stronghold epic but the length of this post was to become similarly epic too.  So, below is the first of a three-part Stronghold replay report which I will post over the next three days.

I should point out that Stronghold has a lot of different game mechanics and I won’t be trying to explain all the rules; however, I will mention some basics as I go.  If you’re interested, the full rules are available for download.

TROOPS
Both sides have troops which are white (strength 1), green (strength 2) or red (strength 3).  For the invader these are goblins, orcs and trolls, and for the defender these are marksmen, soldiers and veterans respectively.  The defender starts with a fixed amount and can train some to be better; whereas, the invader draws 14 (in a two-player game) at random from the bag of 200 units each turn.

It’s at this point you realise that losing troops is all going to be part of Stronghold and giving your units (cubes) names will only make it more painful when you lose them.  This is especially so for the invader as they will discard troops (along with resource cubes) to make equipment like shields, siege engines and bridges as well as lose them in battle.  The defender just needs to lose units at a slow enough rate to give themselves a good chance of winning the game.

HOURGLASSES AND RESOURCES
The core gameplay mechanic involves hourglasses.  Each time the invader performs an action, the defender receives hourglasses which are the currency the defender uses to take actions.  The more the invader does, the more time the defender has to prepare.  The invader can use (discard) better troops to perform actions more quickly so they don’t give the defender as many hourglasses.

In addition to using units (manpower), the invader has brown resource cubes too which are also required to build equipment and siege engines.

SETTING THE PHASES
The first really nice game mechanic that you encounter in Stronghold is the invader’s set-up.  It is at this point that the invader player selects what tools will be available to them during the game.  To do this, the invader draws two cards for most phases and picks one.  These phase cards dictate what tools and options the invader will have in each phase of the game.  Once picked, they do not change.  So, if the player doesn’t pick the battering ram, they will not be able to build a battering ram at any point of the game.  The selection of the phase cards sets the invader’s strategy right there.  With several cards for each phase and each having different mixtures of tools/options on them, each game could be quite different.

I’ve only played with the recommended starting configurement so far (which is a nice inclusion as you have no idea what to pick on your first play) and I look forwards to the various other options, especially the battering ram, in future.  This should really increase variety when playing the game multiple times and longevity is a good thing.

SIEGE WEAPONS
The game usually starts with the build up and preparation of invading forces and they will probably build their support weapons and equipment before launching full troop assaults.  Siege weapons usually get built early on to start harassing the defender.

The way the siege weapon cards work is excellent.  When built, each siege weapon starts with a deck of 7 cards – 5 misses and 2 hits.  Each time it fires, a card is drawn – any hits are put back in the deck but any misses are removed.  This is a great simulation of a weapon finding its range.  Plus, the defender and the invader can both take actions to add extra cards to the deck too.  It does mean quite a bit of shuffling with decks of just a few cards but I like how it works.

The siege weapons the defender has are a bit different as they all use the same 6-card deck containing cards which say what type of enemy is killed, i.e. a goblin, an orc or a goblin, any unit, and one card which is a complete miss.  No cards are ever removed from or added to this deck.

End of Part One.

For more, check out part two and part three of my three-part Stronghold replay thoughts where I’ll cover traps, attacking the walls and trying to defend them, and more.

James.

After playing the game with her family, Kimberly at She Scribes had a few choice words for the creators of You’ve been Sentenced! including “challenging,” funny,” “silly,” and “great!”

Kimberly, is a well established freelance writer. Her work can be found on the Internet including Virtual Online Magazine, Bizy Moms, Associated Content, Ezine Articles and Blissfully Domestic. And many of her blog posts can be seen on sites such as the Chicago Sun Times, the Herald News, Livestrong.com (Lance Armstrong Foundation) and Computer Shopper — to name just a few!

Kimberly’s review can be read in its entirety at http://shescribes.blogspot.com/2009/11/youve-been-sentenced-to-have-fun.html. A brief excerpt follows:

“Now that the holidays are here and a lot of people are going to have overnight guests and friends over to celebrate, why not consider picking up some fun party games that you can use to entertain your guests and have a great time together.

Are you tired of the usual board games? Are you looking for something more unique? If you answered “yes” to these questions then you’ll want to check out a fun word game called You’ve Been Sentenced! by McNeill Designs for Brighter Minds.

You’ve Been Sentenced is a challenging, yet funny, game that uses random cards that players need to form into actual sentences…”

SHE SCRIBES IS SPONSORING A YOU’VE BEEN SENTENCED! GAME GIVEAWAY! CONTEST ENDS DEC. 1, SO ENTER TODAY!

Well, it’s that time of year again, time for Thanksgiving and Black Friday, the two busiest days of my life. One day I spent cooking and eating the greatest food on Earth, then I have a midday nap and I get ready to stand out in the cold so that I can get amazing shopping deals.  I am definitely, thinking more about myself then others in this fine season.  This year, I am heading to the board game aisle and taking care of me.

I have figure out a way to even get more off on my Black Friday sales.  My master plan this year is to get gift certificates that at a discount on sites like citydeals or others and then use them for payment on my items.  This is what I call a double bonus, a genius move on my part!

With Turkey Day fast approaching I have had some time today to reflect on past holidays with family.

There are a few things that are guaranteed at one of our holiday extravaganzas.

• Free flowing cocktails
• Endless courses of amazing food
• Non-stop, gut wrenching laughter

It’s the laughter part that I’d like to chat about today.

We are a family of game players.  We love to try out new group games at holiday functions.  There are a few standards like Catch Phrase, Cranium and Apple to Apples.  With each game, comes a story that we can laugh about, over and over, as the years go by.

Today, I’d like to give you a glimpse into the comedic chaos that is our family.

I’ll start with Apples to Apples.  If you haven’t played this game here’s the basic premise: Each player has cards that portray a person, place, thing or event.  And, the judge chooses a card that has some sort of descriptive word. Then each player must choose a card in their hand that best matches the descriptive word and the judge gets to choose the one that they think is the best fit.  The catch of course is that the judge’s ruling is final and it’s completely subjective.  And if you’re playing with our family, you quickly realize that absurdity and silliness can sometimes win against practicality!

Take an example of play.. the word could be Annoying .. and two of the submitted cards might be Mosquitoes and Lindsay Lohan.   If I’m judging and you’ve played Lindsay Lohan you are the hands down winner… not that I don’t think mosquitoes are annoying but come on… against Lindsay Lohan???  However if Grandma happens to be judging this hand, it’s likely she’s gonna pick Mosquitoes cause Lindsay is a “nice girl” and we shouldn’t pick on her.

So, you see the challenge here.. you really need to cater your answers to the person who is judging… and although you can try to debate your answer, it’s unlikely that you’ll ever sway a judge (we take our game playing pretty seriously!!)

When we are playing with Hubby and his brother, there is some sort of unwritten communication between them (sort of as if they share one brain.. which actually could explain a lot).  So, even though the card submissions are anonymous… somehow they are always on the same wave length and they always pick each other’s answers.

There is also a Trump Card (and no, I don’t mean Donald Trump) when playing with hubby (and his brother).  This card provides a hard & fast rule.. it wins against all other answers.  What, you may ask, could always win?  Well, it’s the William Shatner card.  It can be played for virtually every answer and it will ALWAYS win (cause, Hell….. it’s William Shatner and he’s friggin’ cool – according to the boys).

And then there was the T-Rex story.

Hubby’s brother is the judge.. his descriptive card is Quiet.  

I’m certain I’m gonna win this round since one of my cards is The Vatican… I confidently submit my card.

Hubby submits his card…. T-Rex

Brother-in-law reads all the cards out loud and declares T-Rex the winner.

I’m like “ Huh????  WTF?  I put the Vatican.. it’s the home of the Pope for God’s sake.. .it’s friggin quiet!!!  Dinosaurs are not quiet??”

Brother-in-law says… “Dinosaurs are too quiet…. They’re DEAD! T-Rex is the winner!”

Hubby says… “I knew you’d understand!”

And there you have it…. That’s what it’s like to play with hubby & his brother

But I think my all time favorite game story highlights Hubby’s craziness….

It was a heated game of Cranium.

One of the categories in this game is a charades style question.

It’s hubby’s turn (he’s had many cocktails by this point). 

There are many of us around the table.. cousins, aunts, uncles. 

He chooses his card and he prepares himself to act out his answer to me.

He’s gesturing and I’m not understanding.. his arms are moving and I’m spitting out answers..

“you’re putting on a hat” “cooking”, “pan”, “frying”….

Then before I know it he’s run into the kitchen.

He’s grabbed a pot off the rack.. he’s grabbed a spatula

“cooking”, “cook”, “chef”

He’s nodding vigorously….

The next thing I know.. he’s unbuttoning his shirt… he’s shaking his pan… waving his spatula

I’m like… what the hell???

He’s got a pan in one hand.. he’s whipping off his shirt..

“you’re taking off your clothes??” “you’re cooking” “you’re shirtless”  “you’re oh wait… you’re NAKED??”

“naked cooking?”

His hand goes towards the button on his jeans….

“NAKED CHEF”… “NAKED CHEF”.

To this day, I’m not sure how much further hubby would have gone… but I’m thankful I got the answer before the pants came off!!

As you can probably guess, I’m looking forward to our Thanksgiving celebration… not only because I’ll be getting some great food but even more so because I can’t wait to see what sort of game playing craziness we might have this year!

Wish me luck!  And, Happy Turkey Day to you all!

I don’t understand it.  Why did I spring for Catalyst’s $60 photo album but find myself balking at $3 for Leviathans?  Obviously this price is far too low.  And Eclipse Phase is a Creative Commons product?  Meaning what, it’s free?  The laws of Economics have been repealed and nobody told me.

It takes nerves of steel to win as “Mr. X” at Scotland Yard (Ravensburger, 1983); if you take it seriously enough, you could die from over-anxiety.

One person plays “Mr. X” – a fugitive from the law. The other players (2, 3, 4, or 5 of them) play the part of five detectives trying to track him down. Mr. X must move throughout the map of London over the course of 24 turns. If Mr. X makes it to the final turn without being discovered by the detectives, he wins and they lose. But if one of the detectives manages to land on the same space as Mr. X, the game is over and Mr. X has lost.

A key element in Scotland Yard is the choice between modes of transportation. Detectives and Mr. X are allowed to use a taxi to move from a yellow hub to another yellow hub along a yellow line (for example, space 125-131 in pic below), a bus to move from a green hub to another green hub along a green line (154-156), or the underground to move from a red hub to another red hub along a red line (153-140). A player may not use a mode of transportation if they are simply on a line – they must be at the appropriate hub. A player on space 167, below, is on a bus line and an underground line, but not on a hub. Their only choice is to take a taxi.

Both Mr. X and the detectives, taking turns, move around on the map of London. But the moves of Mr. X are hidden, so detectives only get to see the mode of transportation taken by Mr. X. On the third turn and then at the end of every 5 turns, the location of Mr. X is revealed and the detectives can adjust their strategy accordingly. The player taking on the role of Mr. X records board locations (each with a unique number) on a special “Mr. X Movement Log” (see pic below). This log allows the detectives to see what mode of transportation was taken by Mr. X, and the spaces 3, 8, 13, 18, and 23 are marked to remind Mr. X to reveal his location after moving there.

To add a further wrinkle – and a much greater challenge – detectives have only 24 transportation “tickets” to start the game, and once used they can’t be replaced. There are only four underground tickets, Eight bus tickets, and twelve taxi tickets. This becomes important, especially late in the game, because if Mr. X manages to make it across the map and a detective is low on underground tickets, he or she would be a lot slower making it to the appropriate neighborhood.

Finally, Mr. X begins the game with only a few bus and underground tickets, but gains every ticket used by the detectives – making his options basically limitless. In addition, Mr. X has three extra tricks at his disposal. He has four black tickets, which serve as wild cards and are essentially modes of transportation unknown by the detectives. The black tickets also allow passage on the Thames River barge (for example, from space 157 on the first map, above). The third trick is his ability, twice during the game, to use the 2x ticket, which allows two consecutive moves.

This is a great collaborative game, for the detectives, and a very stressful game for Mr. X! More than a few times during most games, Mr. X will find himself right next to a detective. One lucky move (intentional or otherwise) and the game is over. From the collective perspective of the detective (couldn’t resist the rhyme, sorry!), there is a premium on deductive logic. In the beginning no one has any idea where Mr. X could be, so detectives have to fan out and be ready to be anywhere after the third turn, when Mr. X is revealed. After that, there is some idea where Mr. X is, as long as the detectives are effective at limiting X’s moves by protecting underground and bus hubs and preventing a long range move on the part of X. Even so, Mr. X has a wide array of possibilities, including a wild goose chase by taxi around some of the more complicated neighborhoods.

Scotland Yard is a tried-and-true game for people who like intellectual stimulation and a little drama. Veterans should be Mr. X! It’s a great game for bright children (10 and up), teens, and adults – and I have listed it as one of my top 10 family games.

Buy Scotland Yard at Amazon!

We had a smashing game of Arkham Horror last night at Quarterstaff, with a full table of eight players, with one substitute, running around the titular town, as well as neighboring Innsmouth. I don’t think I could possibly do it justice. Off the top of my head, we had a federal agent, a spy, a dilettante, a violinist, a newspaper photographer, a lady adventurer, a gangster and a bootlegger doing their damnedest to put the brakes on Rhan-Tegoth’s plan to break through and devour the earth.

It didn’t work out in the end, unsurprisingly, but it was a fun ride getting there. By the second or third turn, we had three of the five elder signs in our possession, thanks to starting draws or lucky shopping trips to the Curiousitie Shoppe. That meant we could send almost whomever we liked into gates, letting the other five scurry around town scooping up clues and dealing with the monsters. The player of the gangster was particularly preoccupied with racking up a monster kill in order to become the deputy. In fact, it was the federal agent that eventually racked up enough trophies to become deputy of Arkham. There’s a lesson in there about the roles of state and federal government.

Honestly though, with eight players, Arkham seemed a little empty. There were never many monsters on the board and the first couple of turns, it seemed like we twiddled our thumbs waiting for enough gates to open to dispatch all the investigators we had on hand.

By 9:00 PM, we had four gates sealed, including Devil Reef in Innsmouth, which is a fairly frequent location. It began to unravel when two investigators, my violinist and Brennan’s photo-journalist, found themselves dragged off to the Plateau of Leng while scouting out the Unvisited Isle. Having two characters on the same interdimensional road trip meant there was one less available to put out whatever fires cropped up in the real world. I recall one gate cropping up late in the game at the Esoteric Order of Dagon that no one seemed particularly motivated to approach, probably because of the folderol we went through getting Ursula the adventurer off Devil Reef, just to have the rescuer dragged back there themselves.

It was the gates that did us in finally. With eight players, there can only be four open at any given time. In the last couple turns, we hoped for a series of surges or even cards naming sealed locations — with the Innsmouth Horror expansion, gates that fail to open add tokens to the Deep Ones Rising track, which initiates the final battle when filled, but at the time, the track was empty, so we could stand a few Deep Ones tokens in the name of buying time — in order for the otherworld investigators to find their respective ways home, but it didn’t work out. We took too much time getting them in the gates, relative to the speed at which new gates were opening. The turn before the bootlegger would have returned to Arkham with an elder sign in his pocket to seal the gate, the fifth one opened, allowing Rhan-Tegoth to burst forth onto the world.

Since by then it was 10:30 PM and we had to clear out of the game space by 11:00, I decided we’d skip the final battle and inevitable loss. Aside from the lateness and impending closure of Quarterstaff’s game space, the group just wasn’t armed for it. Rhan-Tegoth would’ve had seventeen doom tokens, thanks to the three cultists that found their way onto its sheet, plus a physical immunity that no one could really deal with, since our unique items tended more towards utility than monster-slaying and we didn’t have a single focused spell-caster.

My only regret for the evening is I forgot to bring my camera. I’d've loved to get some shots of a full complement of players around the table, laughing and groaning as the game brutally tore through the ranks with impossible skill checks and unhappy choices.

I just wrote 3,200 words…the most in one sitting in over a month.  Most of it went into my novelette The Final Study of Cooper M. Reid (this one is probably about 75% done now) and the rest went into the start of the opening lines of Chapter 3 of the story that was supposed to be my NaNo book.

The past week has seen me do very little writing other than this.  Yesterday at lunchtime I penned a poem that I like quite a bit.  I think it’s going to be titled “Symmetry in Board Games” but I’m not sure yet.  See, I love my new job very much but it leaves NO time for writing.  Not yet anyway…soon I hope to grind out some time every week for writing.

In other news, Arkham Tales is folding after only 5 issues.  Not only is this a shame because it was a great e-publication, but it also makes my previously accepted story “Accidental Deaths of the Dying and the Dead” homeless.  So when I get a moment (perhaps after writing this post), I need to find a home for it.

Nothing else to report.  This is merely my way of trying to stay active.  I will, however, close by saying that it is so very odd to hear someone in casual conversation say, “Hey man, I saw your book today,” or, even better yet, “I bought your book today.”  I’m still rather perplexed at how this getting published thing happened…

‘Til next time…

When I heard the designer of Carcassonne had a new game, I knew I wanted to check it out.  Players build forts and towns in the land of Albion (Roman Britain) where the south is tame but the north is inhabited by the Picts who are less welcoming to the Romans.  Each player controls Settlers (who build buildings and collect resources) and Legionnaires (who increase military strength in their region).  The first player to complete three level 4 buildings (including one in a far North region where it is most hostile) wins.

MOVEMENT
An interesting gameplay mechanic is movement.  Each turn, a player can move as many of their own units as they want.  The number of regions (distance) each unit can move is dictated by what buildings the player has built.  At the end of the player’s turn, all settler units are returned to a home camp.  At the start of the game, players only have one home camp in the South.  Legionnaires do not have to return to these bases each turn.

BUILDINGS
Settler units can create level 1 buildings (if the player doesn’t already have a building in that region) or develop an existing building by one level.  This costs one unique resource for each level of the new building.  There are 4 different resources in Albion (fish, wood, stone and gold) and the player only starts with access to 2 of them – the others are further north.  New or developed buildings give the player extra abilities such as gaining a settler unit, gaining a legionnaire unit, +1 movement, +1 military strength, a free building development, a new home base, and a few others.  Also, if you develop a building in an area where another player has a higher level building, you must give them one resource.

PICTS
When you create/develop a building, you must turn over a face-down Pict token in that region (if there are any left) and add up the total of the hostile Pict icon, including any that are permanently drawn on the board in some regions.  If this number is greater than any player’s own military strength (based on buildings owned and any legionnaires in that region) then that player’s building is destroyed by the Picts.  SO, more than one player could be affected.  Note that you can not directly attack other players.

OVERALL
Some of Albion’s gameplay mechanics feel quite different to many other games like the way units move back to home base as if they’re on elastic and the way you assess if Picts destroy buildings.  The order in which you build different buildings is absolutely critical to your game.  Do you increase your movement range, or get more units first to accomplish more each turn?  Do you develop your resource centres so you get more resources each time you gather them, or do you be the first to build in a region so the other player has to pay you a resource?  Tight resource management ensures you can not do everything you want and the timing of your actions compared to other players can also be important.  These principles all sound good and the game does feel different to other games.  Increasing your gathering power, movement range and military might whilst trying to be first to expand is a lot to consider, which is a good thing.

However, in spite of this, I didn’t get on with Albion.  Looking back, some of this was my fault as I think I made a mistake in my very first turn by developing one thing and not another – I was trying not to do exactly the same actions as the first-player.  As a result, I ended up playing catch-up from then onwards because my opponent developed buildings in most regions before I did, which meant I had to give him quite a few resources during the game which made it harder for me.  I know that if players that make bad choices they shouldn’t win, but feeling like I couldn’t recover from one choice I made in the first turn felt frustrating.  I am hoping this was just a mistake I made and not the game’s fault.

It’s nice to see an empire building game which is not complex and Albion is quite simple with just a few different building types and only two units.  However, this can also be a weakness as the options available to you on a turn can often feel quite limited.

Those issues aside, I’m not convinced Albion works well with 2 players as one player in a stronger position can dominate because there is no pressure on them.  I’d like to try Albion again with 3 or, preferably, 4 players as I think that would have a lot more decision-making and variety in it, there would be more pressure on the leader, and that would give it the life my game felt it lacked.

Even though my game didn’t go very well, I believe Albion could be a good game.  I would like to play it again to find out.

James.

[Played with 2 players]

Read the thoughts of the other player (my friend Rick) at: http://www.gamesetupmatch.com/news.htm#12

Dear Thanksgiving,

I would like to give thanks for:

1. Ok, well, guys, let’s start here– I am in school. I am a student. This means I LEARN THINGS all the time! And it’s what I’m supposed to be doing! I show up, I learn some things, I go home, I think about some things. I do not make coffee or sit in a cubicle all day or dig ditches. And for that, I am grateful. I mean, I don’t know, maybe you love your job digging ditches, and for that I thank you. I need ditches in my life probably. For culverts and stuff. Those seem useful, even if I can’t think of exactly why.

2. …FOR POETRY. I am in SCHOOL for POETRY. This means not only do I live the life of a student– and seriously guys, in case you’ve forgotten, that means like 2-3 hours of class a day and then….umm….drinking coffee and playing board games, mostly– but as a student, my main jobs are to read some things and then to write some things. This is what I do with my life. In fact, this is what I get to do with three years of my life. I would like to thank whoever thought up MFA programs, and whoever decided they were a legitimate way for people to spend their time, and my parents for supporting my dreams, and my heart for dreaming, and “last but not least, the wonderful crew from McDonalds who spend hours making those egg McMuffins without which I’d never be tardy” (Clueless? Anyone?). Ok. Well. Seriously. Thanks. I will be in my armchair reading some more words on a page. And writing some other words down sometimes.

3. Cookies. Baking. Dancing while baking. (DANCE-BAKE.) That doesn’t link to a definition of Dance-Bake. It links to my friend Kristen. Who is the definition of Dance-Bake. Anyway, Dance-Bake is pretty self-explanatory. You dance and you bake. Or you dance while you bake. Whatever. Put on some music, make some cookies, see what happens.

4. New Friends. Including ones that like to talk about poetry. And dance. And bake. And tease. And go to the beach. And sometimes play board games with me: bananagrams, chess, cribbage, Jenga. Yeah ok, it’s an odd list, but it’s what we’ve got. Next on the list: backgammon. Also: actually learn how to play chess, not just memorize (mostly) which pieces can move where. I’m working on it, ok?! It’s hard. Cut me some slack.

5. A seafood taco truck. You heard me. I’m not going to even tell you where it is. But I will say this: $1 fish tacos.

6. Bagels. I have a lot of bagels in my life. I love it.

7. Hillcrest. I have a lot of drag queens in my life. I love it.

8. My apartment. I love it.

9. The restaurants around my apartment. This really counts under both “Hillcrest” and “my apartment.” But the restaurants! So wonderful! Deserve their own listing.

10. The Dog. She’s my parent’s, but I get to see her sometimes, and she’s soft and cuddly and will let you haul her around with you like a stuffed animal (a really, really big, patient one).

11. Family. Hi guys!

12. Books. Who came up with books? High five.

13. Food.

14. Doughnuts. The real ones, not the vegan ones. Or Donettes. Not real but I am grateful for them anyway.

15. Health. HEAR ME, WORLD? I am grateful for my health! After four years of illness, sickness, ailments, infections, whooping cough, I am HEALTHY. And I appreciate it every day that I wake up feeling like I can tackle whatever comes along, that I can commit to plans whether they be today, tomorrow, or a month from now, that I can take on an extra class or extra work hours or sign up for yoga and not worry that it will go to waste. I appreciate every day that I can walk around breathing easily and thinking clearly, every day my body moves, jumps, stretches, breathes without pain.

16. The ocean. I live near the ocean. I try to remember to go see it at least once a week. Just to sit with it. It makes me happy.

So Thanksgiving, happy you to you.

Another year, another turkey (it’s such a boring meat! what is UP with having the most boring meat the centerpiece of the biggest food holiday of the year?)

With thanks and blessings and yams with marshmallows (of course that is my favorite part, obviously),

MM

For those that will be having fun with the crowds on Black Friday, I’ll post some of the board and party game listings at the mainstream retailers.  So happily hop over to the board game section and get some great deals.  $5.00 for your fill of New Moon longing looks and teen angst in board game form… priceless 

Walmart : Nov 27th

$5.00 games

Twilight Saga New Moon, Cranium Wow, Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader, Life Extreme Reality and Life.

$15.00 games

Pictureka!, Scattergories, Taboo and Catchphrase

$9.00 games

Elefun, Gator Golf, Hungry Hungry Hippos, Battleship and Connect 4 and Ker Plunk and Tip It.

Target : Nov 27th

$10.00 games

Apples to Apples to go, Movie Scene It 2nd edition, Scene it Disney, Uno Spin, Balderdash, Rock’em Sock’em Robots and Toss Across.

$12.00 games

bop it!, Sequence, Apples to Apples Junior, Connect 4×4 and Zingo

$17.00 games

Catch Phrase, things, Mad Gab, Would you Rather…?, Scattergories and Taboo

Toys R’ Us : Nov 27th – 28th

50% off games

Hot Potato, Ker Plunk, Booby Trap, Othello, Gnip Gnop, You Gotta be Kidding, Would You Rather…?, Wheel of Fortune, Monopoly Town, Animal Scramble, Hyper Jump, Chutes and Ladders, Family Feud, Partini and Moment of Truth.

70% off games

Seinfeld Scene it, Star Trek Scene it and Disney Scene it

40% off games

Apples to Apples Kids 7+

Buy 1 Get 1 Free card games

Uno, Go Fish, Rook, Monopoly Deal, Crazy Old Fish War, Littlest Pet Shop Go Fish and Scrabble Slam

Note : Black Friday sales and discounts may not apply in your area and have limited availability.

Pat. at Here and There has done it again. As a former teacher with 30+ years of experience, she took one look at You’ve Been Sentenced! and said, “I wish I were back in school teaching. It would have been a great tool in my eighth-grade classes!”

You can also WIN a copy of You’ve been Sentenced! by visiting Here and There at http://hereandthere.us/index.php/2009/holiday-gift-guide-youve-been-sentenced-game-system/ There are also extra ways to win, so please read through to the bottom of her instructions.

A short excerpt of her review follows below.

“The latest in the evolution of games, “You’ve been Sentenced!” is the first game in history to really turn making sentences into a very funny, playable, and challenging game. Using a unique word deck of pentagon shaped cards containing conjugations of funny words, famous names from throughout history, familiar places, and wild cards, players have to make grammatically correct and justifiable sentences. The real fun begins when players have to read their sentences out loud and explain what they mean to the rest of players. They form the jury and vote thumbs up or down on whether the sentence and justification stand and the points are scored. 540 cards with over 2,500 words insure billions of possible sentences so the game is never repetitive and has unlimited re-play value.

Multiple other methods of play are available on our website that turn “You’ve been Sentenced!” into not just a game, but a full game system! We even have a lesson plan to turn “You’ve Been Sentenced!” into a classroom teaching tool. This game makes learning grammar and sentence construction fun and easy.”

Susan McNeill is a wife, mother, author, co-founder of the literacy organization Success Won’t Wait and VP of Public Relations at McNeill Designs. Susan also writes blogs for  fashion http://blog.whimsyworldwide.com, literacy http://successwontwaitinc.wordpress.com and education http://backtobasicslearning.com/learningblog.

A flying monkey basks in the sun of a late November afternoon. Shot by yours truly.

Following on from the successful trial run of playing board games at the Fletcher Free Library this past Saturday, Brennan and I have started Burlington Board Gamers, a social network on Ning.com. The site will serve as a place to coordinate and list all the board gaming opportunities in and around Burlington — and even further afield, as Vermont’s gaming population overlaps with other regions.

It isn’t necessary to register to view the site, which is why we chose Ning over a service with more widespread use, like Facebook. So even if you’re not interested in making an account with yet another social networking site, you can still use Burlington Board Gamers as a resource to visit occasionally to see what’s up in the local board gaming scene.

And if you’re a member of Nearby Gamers, consider joining the group’s iteration there. It’s not as featureful as Ning as a social network, but it’s a solid gamer finder I wrote about previously that can always benefit from a greater population.

Stepping across the chessboard
Misplot the moves – get decapitated
The King counts his taxes
Counts on the Queen’s flirtations to avoid assassination
For every coup that takes place a thousand and eight are considered
Conspirators abound
Wishing there were more conspiracies to go around
They conspire privately to ditch the Count
when they go a’Hunting Foxes
You conspire to ditch Steve from accounting
when you play board games and drink martinis

Spies embellish their reports
Reap a little praise when the propaganda takes hold
Profit reaps what ignorance sows
Money is funneled through two banks
a shipping line and a florist
The pawns move ahead one step at a time
Rare is the one that reaches the corner office on
the other side
Some get waylaid by highwaymen
Some just never get laid

All the hollow silver gets lost in the the wooded deep
But the bloody broken cadavers are ours, ours to keep

Could Betrayal at House on the Hill be getting a second edition? Designer Bruce Glassco thinks so.

If it’s true, I’ll plotz myself and then buy a copy of my very own.

Not sure how I’ll handle the underground lake not being on the second floor, though.