Gaming With Grandma - 48

My mother (Grandma to our kids) came over for her usual Saturday morning gaming session. As it was Georgia's second birthday the day before, Grandma had a present which Georgie gleefully opened. We also had a small chocolate birthday cake which everyone enjoyed.

Our first game was chosen by Maddie - Enchanted Forest. This is a memory game in which players move through the enchanted forest searching for magical items. The first player to successfully advise the king in his castle of the correct location of three of these items becomes the king's heir. When a player's pawn is adjacent to one of the trees the player may look underneath the tree to see what item lies beneath. The roll of two 6-sided dice is used for movement. The numbers rolled are treated separately for movement purposes but each number must be used to move fully in a certain direction. For example, if you rolled a 6 and a 4 you could move 10 spaces in one direction, or you could use them to move 6 spaces forward and 4 backwards thus giving you a net movement of 2.

Another quality Ravensburger game

As there is no reading necessary it's a perfect game to play with young children. I also enjoy it as an adult and I'm sure it would make a challenging game for a group of adults. There are elements of screwage where you can land your pawn on another player and send them back to the starting village. There is also the opportunity to bluff when you are making your way to the castle perhaps causing the other players to use magic to change the face-up magic item to one where you may know it's location. Obviously there is a fair amount of randomness in rolling dice for movement, however this applies to all players so over the game I feel it evens out. And of course memory is the most important part of this game. I won with 3, Maddie with 2 and Grandma with 1.

Our second game of the morning was Packrossli (AKA Pakkesel). This is a fun little dexterity game with lovely wooden components in which each player is attempting to stack sticks of their colour on to the back of a donkey. Each player is assigned 12 sticks in their colour. Starting with the youngest player and proceeding clockwise each player attempts to place one stick of their colour onto the saddle of the donkey. If a player knocks over the accumulated bundle of sticks then they take those sticks. The first player to place their last stick (of any colour) onto the pile of sticks on the donkey's saddle wins the game. We played one game which I won. Coincidentally, my wife bought this game at a garage sale almost exactly one year ago to the day (27 January 2007). It ended up being a fairly close game between myself and Maddie.

Captain - she canna take any more!

Our last game of the morning was Der Schwarze Pirat. Maddie chose to sit this one out but stayed to watch. This is a fun dexterity game in which players use a rubber bellows to blow their wooden ships around the board collecting treasure. The two dice rolled during the game determine which ship is moved (your own or the Black Pirate's), how far (either 3 or 4 squeezes of the bellows), how much, and on what islands the gold coins are placed.

The dreaded Black Pirate!

A cool part of the game is that on a player's turn the dice may determine that they move the Pirate ship. In this situation you may use the Pirate ship as you would your own and move it to an island to claim the gold, or you may use it to board another player by moving it to touch another player's ship. If you board another player they must take 3 of their gold coins and distribute them as they see fit in their two closed fists. The Pirate player then chooses one of the hands and claims the gold coins within. I was the only player in this game to use successfully board another ship - in both cases my mother's ship. And both times she had 3 coins in one hand and none in the other. Unfortunately on both occasions I chose the hand with no coins. However, I did go on to take the win with 23 gold coins to Grandma's 13 gold coins. The more I play this game the more I enjoy it.

My Prototype Dice Tower

Back in late October 2007 I built a dice tower. Now, for those of you who don't know what a dice tower is let me explain. A dice tower is a tool for randomising the roll of dice. You drop the dice into the top of the tower and as they fall they hit a number of alternating sloped ledges within the tower before falling out the bottom ramp into a catchment area.

The benefits of a dice tower are that 1) all players use the same mechanical method for rolling dice (reducing possible individual influence over dice rolls), and 2) the dice when rolled are kept in one area (thus eliminating game components being knocked over or the dice falling off the table).

The dice tower almost complete except for the final face of the tower

I really wanted to make a dice tower out of wood. However, I realised that it would be wise to make a prototype out of cardboard first. I chose card of about 3mm in thickness which was similar to the thickness of mounted game boards. Then, armed with a metal ruler and craft knife I set to work.

I didn't work off any plans. I knew roughly what I wanted and based the dimensions on what card I had available. I first constructed the tray the dice would fall into. Then I built the tower to fit into the tray. I purposely only built three sides of the tower so that I would have room to insert the internal ledges.

This shows the internal ledges and ramp

After measuring and cutting, the card pieces were glued with normal white glue (PVA wood glue). This glue gives a really strong bond to card board. The internal ledges were inserted at roughly 30 degree angles. After waiting for these to dry I glued on the front of the tower and then left it over night to fully dry. The completed dice tower stands about 30cm (1 foot) high.

The completed dice tower

I was very happy with my first dice test. The dice fell through the tower hitting the internal ledges with satisfying bumps and came to rest fully randomised in the tray. The tower is actually quite fun to use and is now a regular part of any game that requires the roll of dice. I haven't bothered to paint it or decorate it in any way as yet.

I'm now in the planning stage for my next project - building a wooden dice tower.

Gaming With Grandma - 47

My mother (Grandma to our kids) popped over for a cup of tea and our regular Saturday morning gaming session. We were joined by my daughters Maddie (6.5) and Georgia (almost 2). Maddie wanted to play a new game Mummy (my wife Deb) had recently purchased for AU$5.00 from a thrift store - Electronic Whac-A-Mole.

This game can be played with 1 to 4 players and can be set for varying degrees of difficulty. Each player is assigned their own mole and takes a plastic mallet. The multi-player game begins with a mole voice stating each player's 'sound' which they must listen for. Then the game begins and every second or so a random player's sound will be made and the corresponding mole's helmet will light up. The player then has a brief moment to whack their mole on the head before another player's mole's helmet lights up.

"Die, mole, die!"

It's fun and Maddie loves it but I couldn't see myself playing more than a couple of times in a row. At the end of the game the mole tells each player their score. I came first with 100, Maddie 2nd with 90 and Grandma 3rd with 80. Georgia had wanted to whack some moles so we let her go for it as we were setting up the next game.

Our next game was one we hadn't played in a while - Money, Money, Money. This is an interesting game which comes with what's got to be the sturdiest bag I've ever seen! I think it's made out of canvas. There are 77 plastic coins within the bag. They comprise of 17 each of yellow, red, blue and green stackable coins numbered $1-$16 plus a 'wild' coin, and also 9 white 'instruction' coins.

The final combined stacks. Can't get that ABBA song out of my head...

Each player attempts to collect the most coins and stack them according to colour in front of him. On a player's turn they guess either 'higher' or 'lower'. They then draw a coin from the bag. They then compare the value and colour of the coin they've drawn to the topmost coin in the stack of the same colour as the coin just drawn. If they guessed correctly they place the coin on the top of the same coloured stack and continue. If they guessed incorrectly they put the coin back in the bag and their turn ends. Obviously, at the start when a player does not have any coins their first guess will automatically be correct because they have no coins with which to compare the first drawn coin. However, as a player builds stacks and has a stack in each colour the ease of guessing becomes more difficult. For example, your yellow and red stacks may have low numbers on their tops but your green and blue stacks may have high numbers on their tops. This is where your memory may help to recall what numbers were drawn and are now hidden within other player's stacks or you can base your guess on how many of a certain colour have already been drawn by looking at all the stacks on the table. When all the coins have been used, each player joins his four stacks together and the winner is the player with the tallest stack (or most coins). The 9 white coins throw a little randomness into the game (e.g. 'miss a turn', 'collect coins', 'lose coins'). Grandma made some great guesses to win on 29, Maddie came 2nd on 20 and I came 3rd on 19.

Our next game was G.I. Joe - Live the Adventure. This is a game we haven't played for quite some time. That's probably because I'd moved it from our dining room game cabinet to a downstairs cupboard in the hope that it would fade into obscurity in the memory of the children of this house. Alas, it was not to be so. While Maddie was rummaging through the game cabinet she asked "Where's that G.I. Joe game?" Downstairs I had to go.

"Die, Joe, Die!"

In this roll-and-move game players take turns rolling a die and moving a single G.I. Joe token around a circular board. Most spaces consist of a "battle" with a Cobra soldier. Battles are resolved by the active player and an opponent of his/her choosing each playing one of two cards. If the active player wins he receives a Badge of Honor. The first player to earn 6 Badges of Honor is victorious. Grandma was the luckiest with her rolls to win with 6 badges, Maddie came 2nd with 2 and myself 3rd with 0.

After that game Maddie wanted to go into her room to play so said that Grandma and I could continue without her. For our next game I chose Rack-O. My wife had picked this up at a garage sale for AU$3.00 back on 27 January last year and it was as yet unplayed. There is a deck of cards numbered 1 to 60 and a plastic tray in which they sit. Each player (from 2 to 4) has a plastic rack which sits in front of them and holds 10 cards. The aim is to be the first player to accumulate 500 points. Each round consists of the dealer dealing 10 cards to each player. In a two player game only the cards 1 to 40 are used. As each player receives one of the initial 10 cards they must put them in the rack in order from the back to the front. This will mean you'll most certainly have a range of cards mixed in value ranging from the back of the rack to the front. The aim is to get the cards in any numerical order from the front (lowest) to the back (highest).

The Rack-O racks make great card holders

After the initial 10 cards have been dealt the deck is placed face down on one side of the plastic card holder which sits within reach of the players. The top card of the deck is turned over and placed face up in the other side of the card holder to start the discard deck. On a player's turn they may either choose the top card of the face up discard deck and then must exchange it with one card in their rack, or they may choose the top card of the face down draw deck and may exchange the card with one card in their rack (if they choose not to exchange the card it goes face up on the discard deck). So, each turn by choosing and exchanging cards both players try to go Rack-O by getting all their cards in any numerical order from lowest to highest. When a player goes Rack-O they get 75 points. The other players get 5 points for every card in any numerical order from lowest to highest. When counting these cards they stop receiving 5 points as soon as they reach a card that is not in numerical order.

It took us 9 rounds for one player to achieve 500 points. Grandma won 540 to my 435. This is a fun game which feels a little like Lost Cities in having to choose which card to exchange because as that card goes to the discard deck it could be used by your opponent to their advantage. There is also the similarity of waiting for a certain card to appear. There's also the difficult choice of deciding where within your rack you will place a certain card. All in all it's a decent game which I'm sure we'll play again. We may reduce the victory level to say 300 or 350 for a two player game next time though.

On a side note I just noticed that all of the games played today were purchased second-hand from various garage sales, thrift stores, flea markets or school fetes.

Gaming With Grandma - 46

Our first Saturday morning gaming session of the new year was attended by my mother (Grandma), my six-and-a-half-year-old daughter Maddie, and myself. Although she didn't play, (and I know she wanted to!), almost-two-year-old Georgia sat on various laps wriggling and attempting to grab game components when they were within her reach. My wife Deb was out this morning with her father.

Maddie chose the six games we were to play. She then informed us of the order in which they would be played. This morning we would be playing the games in order of their individual box sizes, from largest to smallest. It was as good a method as any I've used before so we began.

First up was the largest box - Fraidy Cats. In this game the board is a 3d back yard with fences on the four sides of the yard and a dog house in one corner. Placed in front of the dog house is the battery-operated 'Mugs' the dog. The players are cats trying to make a precarious circuit of the dog yard along the top of the fence posts. Your token is a cat on a spring-loaded base. On your turn you roll two dice which have numbers and a picture of Mugs on the die sides. If you roll numbers you move that many spaces along the fence posts. If at any time either of the dice are rolled and you get a picture of Mugs that player presses a button on Mugs after they've moved. This then sets Mugs careening off from one side of the yard to the other, bouncing off the fences and turning every which way. If he happens to bump into a cat token sitting on the fence he triggers the loaded spring in the base of the token which then shoots the cat up into the air. The unlucky cat then has to return to the most recently passed trash-can (safe-spot) or the starting point if the trash-cans are occupied.

Mad Mugs the cat-hating dog

Sure, this is basically a roll-and-move game and I normally don't like roll-and-move games. This game, however, is a hoot to play with kids. There are squeals of fear when Mugs comes close to their cat and cheers when Mugs bumps into their opponents - and that's just me - the kids are pretty vocal during this game as well!

Mugs was particularly vicious this game, targeting me on several occasions and sending me back to the starting point. Grandma ended up winning with Maddie 2nd and myself 3rd.

The next box in size was Gulo Gulo. This is a fun dexterity game from Germany where those with dexterous fingers will egg-pluck their way to victory. Each player is a Gulo (wolverine) searching through the Swamp-Vulture-infested swamp to find the missing Gulo Jr (or Baby Gulo as we've nicknamed him). To move from dry land to dry land you must pluck an egg the colour of the land you wish to move to. The eggs are different shapes with the smaller ones obviously harder to pick than the larger ones. In the center of the egg-bowl (nest) is the Swamp-Vulture alarm. If it falls and touches the table, or you knock and egg from the nest, you set off the alarm and move back to the most recently passed land of the same colour as the egg you failed to take. Like she has done many a time before, Maddie was the ultimate winner.

A beautiful game that looks good enough to eat!

The next smallest game was For Sale. Maddie has said many times that she really likes this game. It's fast and it's fun and my daughter enjoys it which means it should see a lot of plays in 2008. This game was odd, with Grandma trying a different strategy of passing a lot to save money. I'm never really sure of Maddie's strategy but she always seems to do fairly well. Final scores were me 1st on $82K, Maddie 2nd on $77K and Grandma 3rd on $50K.

Hot property - but how much are you willing to bid?

The next game in size was Nobody But Us Chickens. This is another game I really enjoy. The object of this game is to score the most points in chickens. Each player has the same hand of cards representing chickens of varying values, a fox, a rat and a guard dog. A number of rounds is played equal to the number of players. Each round represents a night. Each round ends when all cards have been played from a player's hand. Each turn players play one card face down to the center of the table. The cards are then revealed and the outcome depends on what cards were played.

A fun game of bluff and counter-bluff!

If only chickens were played then those chickens stay in a pile (the chicken coop - we use the box to represent this). If chickens and a fox were played then the fox takes the chickens (more than one fox they share). If chickens and a rat were played the rat takes all the chickens. If a rat is played with other foxes then the rat has first pick of the chickens but can take only one. If a guard dog is played with any predators then he chases off the predators and rescues the chickens for points. If there are no predators the guard dog gets nothing. It's quite a fun game trying to outguess your opponents.

Night 1 - Me 22, Maddie 1, Grandma 1 (Wow! I scored big with the fox and guard dog!)
Night 2 - Me 10, Maddie 3, Grandma 3
Night 3 - Me 3, Maddie 11, Grandma 4

Final scores were me 1st on 35, Maddie 2nd on 15 and Grandma 3rd on 8

The size of our next game was again smaller than that of the one before - Pick Picknic. This game is similar to Nobody But Us Chickens in that each player secretly plays cards and the outcome is based on the comparison of those cards to any others played in the same area. It features lovely artwork by Doris Matthäus which also makes it visually appealing. In this game players are vying for corn in six poultry yards. The corn is represented by small coloured wooden cubes of values 1, 2 and 3 which are placed on the poultry yards. In our three player game, each turn each player played two cards of different colours on to separate poultry yards. If you were the only bird at the yard you ate your fill of corn. If there was a fox the fox ate the birds and gained points equal to their value. If there was more than one bird at a yard they could duel by rolling a d6 and adding their value to the roll. Highest roll got all the corn. There was also a fleet fowl who (similar to the rat in Nobody But Us Chickens) could pinch one corn and get away before having to duel or being eaten. It was a fun game with Grandma 1st on 61, Maddie 2nd on 60 and me 3rd on 47.

Mmm...corn.

And so we had made our way from the largest game box to now the smallest - Der Plumpsack Geht Um (AKA Sherlock). I have the German version with the scrotum-like Plumpsack gracing the front of the box and also the title-card which is used in the game.

In this game play proceeds clockwise. Everybody has 30 seconds to memorise the cards and then they are turned face-down. The player on your right places the plumpsack card next to one of the cards. If you guess correctly you follow the directions on the card. There will be an arrow and a number. You then must guess the card so many spaces in the direction of the arrow. If you keep guessing correctly you keep turning cards face up. When you finally guess a card that directs you back to a card that is already face up you win that card.

It was as we were setting up the game that my wife and father-in-law arrived home. Deb saw what game we were playing and immediately wanted to play. We decided to make it 8 cards laid out and the first person to win 3 cards would be the winner. So it was Deb, Maddie, Grandma and myself in a battle to see who would be the best at recall. I've played this game before against my wife and she's pretty good at it. She did explain to me that she uses the pictures as items in a story. In this way she can better remember their order. This is a similar method to how some people can memorise the correct placement of a randomly shuffled deck of cards, or the names of people in a studio audience.

Apologies for the photo - it was blurry - unlike my memory in this game! ;-)

With that knowledge I approached the first layout of 8 cards. They were an alarm clock, a shoe, a sweater, a cap, an apple, a lollipop, an anchor and a yellow duck. I visualised myself waking up in the morning (the alarm clock), getting dressed (the shoe, the sweater and the cap) having breakfast (an apple and a lollipop), then having a bath and playing with a toy boat (the anchor) and a rubber duck (the yellow duck). This visualisation helped me to win the first card of the game. But here's the thing - when you win a card you take it as a point and replace it with another from the face-down deck. I ended up winning the apple and replaced it with a feather. This fit my story perfectly as it came straight after the cap allowing me to amend my story by placing a feather in my cap and reducing my breakfast to only a lollipop.

As expected it was a close game between myself and Deb. I ended up coming 1st with 3, Deb came 2nd with 2, Grandma 3rd with 1 and Maddie 4th with 0.

2007 - My Year of Gaming

On the last night of 2007 I'm going to take a little time to reflect on my gaming over the last 12 months.

In 2007 I played 75 different board/card games face-to-face and logged a total of 182 plays. Compare this to 2006 in which I played 107 different board/card games face-to-face and logged a total of 414 plays.

My gaming has noticably reduced in 2007 and the main reason for this is because I didn't attend any game clubs as I did in 2006. I've found that with parenting responsibilities (and disrupted sleep from having a toddler in the house) I just haven't had the time or the energy to commit myself to any regular gaming group. My wife also started her own business this year and due to this I'm usually taking care of the kids on the weekends. What this has meant is that I've spent a lot more quality time gaming with my family, especially my mother and elder daughter Maddie.

So here's my list of games played in 2007. I don't log games played online - only games played face-to-face.

Scrabble	17
BattleLore	8
Pass the Pigs	8
Loco!	7
Guess Who	6
Battle Line	5
Bratz Passion for Fashion	5
For Sale	5
HeroScape Master Set: Rise of the Valkyrie	5
Amazing Labyrinth	4
Cartagena	4
Diamant	4
Gulo Gulo	4
Hive	4
It's Mine!	4
Madeline	4
Carcassonne	3
Der schwarze Pirat	3
Fraidy Cats	3
Ingenious	3
Racetrack	3
Chairs	2
Chateau Roquefort	2
Downfall of Pompeii, The	2
G.I. Joe Live The Adventure	2
Go Fish	2
Gobblet	2
Labyrinth Card Game	2
Lord of the Rings - The Confrontation: Deluxe Edition	2
Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation	2
Money Money Money	2
Nobody But Us Chickens	2
Old Maid	2
Pounce	2
Sherlock	2
Squad Leader	2
Star Wars: Epic Duels	2
Through the Desert	2
Travel Blokus	2
YINSH	2
Balloon Cup	1
Bamboleo	1
Bitin' Off Hedz	1
Coloretto	1
Crazy Eights	1
Dungeonquest	1
DVONN	1
Elefant Hunt	1
Enchanted Forest	1
Fairyland Adventure	1
Hairy Maclary Game	1
Hamsterrolle	1
Harry Potter Hogwarts Dueling Club Game	1
HeroScape Expansion Set: Thora's Vengeance	1
Hide and Seek	1
Jenga	1
Lost Cities	1
Mamma Mia!	1
No Thanks!	1
Pakkesel	1
Pick Picknic	1
Piranha	1
Poison	1
Railroader	1
Razzia!	1
Reiner Knizia's Amazing Flea Circus	1
Rummy	1
Snail Game	1
Snakes and Ladders	1
Star Wars: Episode 1 - Clash of the Lightsabers	1
Tri-Ominos	1
Tumblin' Monkeys	1
UNO (including themed editions without new cards)	1
Werewolf	1
ZÈRTZ	1

Scrabble was my most played game this year and my only 'dime' (a game played more than 10 times), played mostly with my mother and a couple of times with my wife. My Xmas present of 2006, Battlelore, only ended up being played 8 times (although I'm undefeated against 3 opponents). Other games I really missed playing in 2007 were the Commands and Colors series - Memoir '44, Command & Colors: Ancients and Battle Cry, none of which were played at all!

My 2008 gaming resolution will be to reduce my game collection (currently 211) to under, say, 150 quality games, and also to get some more face-to-face gaming in with other players.

Well, 2008 is almost here. Happy New Year to you!

Gaming With Grandma - 45

My mother (Grandma to our kids) came over this morning for her weekly chat and gaming session. The rest of the family were out this morning which gave us the opportunity for some two player games. Young Georgia toddled between watching us play and watching Maisy the Mouse on DVD.

First up was a favourite of ours - Cartagena. We decided to play the Tortuga version which means all cards are face up on the table and there is a line of 12 face up cards from which you refill your hand. This is an interesting version because not only can you see what cards your opponent holds, you can also see in what order you will get cards when you choose to move your pirates backwards. This is much more of a thinking game than the normal version where all cards are hidden.

In this game I played green and mum played yellow. I ended up winning convincingly 6 to 1.

The pirates about to escape the prison in their boat. Yellow is feeling a little outnumbered.

Next up was another firm favourite of ours - Battle Line. This is a tense game of tough choices where you are constantly weighing up the odds of card combinations to either claim 3 adjacent flags for a breakthrough or 5 flags in total for an encirclement. Last time we played Mum beat me. I was eager to gain supremacy over her in this game but it was not to be. She won the battle with a breakthrough of 3 adjacent flags claiming victory with 4 flags to my 2 flags and 3 undecided.

The view from my side - another crushing defeat for my army...

After that I pulled out a game we hadn't played in a while - The Labyrinth Card Game. This is a cool little compact game that is ideal to take travelling. Essentially all you need is a small flat surface and the cards. An initial maze of four cards is laid and both players are dealt two cards. Each player takes it in turn to lay a card from their hand on to the maze so that the edge of the card laid matches the edge of the card next to which it is laid. On each card are two items. If you can draw an unbroken line along a passage from an item on the card you just laid to a matching item on a card in the maze you can take that card as a point. The only restriction is you can't take a card from the maze if it means that by doing so you will leave part of the maze disconnected from the rest of the maze. This is sort of like the 'one-hive' rule from Hive.

The ever-shifting card maze...

They say men are better on average at spatial visualisation than women so maybe it was this innate skill which allowed me to end up trouncing Mum 16 to 5. Then again, maybe the cards fell my way ;).

The rest of the family arrived home at about this time and Maddie wanted to join us for the next game. We chose another favourite - For Sale. This is a short card game where players bid on properties and then attempt to sell them for the highest price. Maddie enjoys it and she has even won on occasions.

Ewww! Who got lumbered with the outhouse?

Although the game only lasts about 15 minutes it's always fun. Final scores were me on $88K, Grandma on $64K and Maddie on $57K.

Maddie wanted to choose the final game of the morning. As she came back from the games cabinet I was pleasantly surprised with her choice - Ingenious. This is a really cool looking and fun abstract game. It's all about matching coloured symbols to gain the most points in six different colours. The trick though, as in several other Knizia-designed games, is that your final score is the lowest score in all of the six colours. So it's all about ensuring you are always trying to get points in your lowest scoring colour.

Lots of fun and pretty to look at as well!

At first it seems that there is plenty of room to lay your tiles. However, every time I play this game, I'm always aware of a specific point in the game when I come to the sudden realisation that (oh crap!) the space is fast running out. Once again, like other Knizia-designed games there are tough choices to make - do I make a grab for several points in a certain colour or do I try to block that colour from another player? It was a close game with Grandma winning with 9 (on a tie break) with me also on 9 and Maddie on 5.

How I got my new Xbox 360...

Today I made the leap into the 21st century and upgraded my fourth generation gaming console, a Sega Mega Drive (AKA Sega Genesis in North America), to a seventh generation gaming console, a Microsoft Xbox 360.

My old Sega Mega Drive

Yes, my last game console, a Sega Mega Drive, was purchased way back in 1991. It was fun in it's day and is still going fine. In fact now, 16 years after I bought it, I've recently dusted it off and have been enjoying playing Sonic the Hedgehog with my 6 year old daughter Maddie. It's been fun but it's made me think about what the current state of gaming consoles is like. The only other computer gaming I've done recently is some 4-5 year old PC games I've picked up at garage sales or flea markets. I felt it was time to round out my multi-gamer needs.

A couple of months ago I became aware of a game called Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. I've watched the trailers and gameplay on YouTube and I've simply been blown away. This first-person shooter looked so realistic. I was intrigued. Through watching the YouTube videos I became aware of other really cool games. From that I then researched the different gaming consoles and available games. There are a number of great systems available at the moment; the Nintendo Wii, the Sony PlayStation 3 and the Microsoft Xbox 360. After a lot of time weighing up of the pros and cons of all the gaming systems I finally chose the Xbox 360. However, a purchase of this financial magnitude was not to be taken lightly. It required spousal permission...

Let's stop for a moment and go back in time about eight years. In the late 90's I attended a gaming convention in Brisbane. At a bring-and-buy second hand stall I bought the original set of the three Against The Giants series of AD&D modules. These three original modules were written by Gary Gygax and were the first modules ever printed by TSR in 1978. I paid $7 each for them. I knew they were old and that I'd eventually resell them, but I had no idea of their real value. A couple of weeks ago I listed my $21 investment on eBay and they sold for $601.00! Woohoo! I now had the money to buy my new gaming console! And as I would be funding my new Xbox 360 from the sale of existing gaming possesions it met with spousal approval :)

I turned these into an Xbox 360!

So, I had the cash to buy the Xbox 360, however, during my research I became aware that Microsoft had recently changed the internal electronics of the 360 by reducing the 90 nm CPU to 65 nm. This new chip was codenamed Falcon and was rumoured to be produced in consoles manufactured from September 2007. This change will obviously reduce the manufacture cost for Microsoft but will also reduce the internal heat of the console which has been blamed for the poor reliability of the Xbox 360 since it was introduced in late 2005. The only problem was that nobody really knew with any certainty which consoles would have the Falcon chip. The other new change was the introduction of a HDMI port which the 360 previously did not have.

So I've been patiently reading the appropriate forums and checking the manufacture dates of boxes in stores and waiting for the Xmas rush to flush out all the older systems. From my research I was finally fairly certain that I would get a Falcon 360 if I found one that had been manufactured in November. I knew 360's with manufacture dates as late as 5 November had been purchased in Brisbane. As I had today off work it was the perfect opportunity to go and buy my new Xbox 360.

My first stop was the local K-Mart. It was the closest store to me that sold Xbox 360s. I took with me the latest Big W catalog as they were selling the Premium bundle for the cheapest price that I could find at $498. K-Mart had $538 on the same bundle but when I showed them the Big W catalog they agreed to match the price. I was ecstatic when the first box they brought out had a manufacture date of 21 November 2007. That was only just over three weeks ago! Woohoo! Not only that but they gave a further discount and reduced the price to $494.

My new Falcon Xbox 360!

When I got it home I did the flashlight test to confirm I had a Falcon. Yep! It also had the new HDMI port. My patience had paid off and I had my Falcon!

The Premium Xbox 360 came bundled with two games - Viva Pinata and Forza Motorsport 2.

The two games bundled with the Premium Xbox 360

Ahh, but what about the game that had been the catalyst for the purchase of my Xbox 360? Just 6 weeks ago when it was released, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was selling for $109. Last week in the Big W catalog they had it on sale for $78.84. I was prepared to pay that but when I was at K-Mart I checked their catalog and they had it for $69! Woohoo! Unfortunately, my local K-Mart were sold out.

I then drove to Big W and bought another of the games on my wish list - Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6: Vegas. They had it reduced from $68.84 down to $40. I then drove to another K-Mart where I purchased Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for $69.

Two cool games to scratch that first-person-shooter gaming itch

So that's how a couple of old AD&D modules paid for my new Xbox 360 and 2 new recent-release games. The only problem now is that I've only had the Xbox 360 for barely 12 hours and already my elder daughter and wife have each clocked up more game time on it than I have! Doh!

Final eBay Auction Results

Well, over the last few weeks I've listed 32 auctions on eBay of my games and game-related items (29 sold). I listed the auctions in two stages; the first lot ending on 18 November and the second lot ending on 9 December. My goal in doing this was to 1) to sell some games that I no longer have either the time or desire to play, 2) make space for future games and 3) make some cash prior to Xmas.

For those of you who are interested in how much these items sold for and where they went I've provided the final combined list below. All prices are in Australian dollars (1 Australian dollar is approximately equivalent to US$0.86 at the time of the auctions).

AGAINST THE GIANTS (The original 1978 TSR printing of these 3 AD&D adventure series G1 - G3) - Sold on 9 Dec 2007 for $601.01 to buyer in Hong Kong.

ALIENS APC 1.35 MODEL KIT - Late 1980's Halcyon kit - Sold on 9 Dec 2007 for $102.56 to buyer in United States.

AXIS & ALLIES - Milton Bradley boardgame - Sold on 9 Dec 2007 for $31.00 to buyer in New South Wales, Australia.

THE BARBARIANS: WARRIORS & WARS OF THE DARK AGES - Reference book - Sold on 9 Dec 2007 for $8.50 to buyer in New South Wales, Australia.

THE BISMARCK 1:570 MODEL KIT - Revell - Sold on 9 Dec 2007 for $18.50 to buyer South Australia, Australia.

CRESCENDO OF DOOM - Avalon Hill Squad Leader expansion - Sold on 9 Dec 2007 for $20.50 to buyer in Australian Capital Territory, Australia.

DAWN PATROL - TSR boardgame - Sold on 9 Dec 2007 for $43.85 to buyer in New South Wales, Australia.

DIPLOMACY - Avalon Hill boardgame - Sold on 9 Dec 2007 for $21.65 to buyer in Australian Capital Territory, Australia.

EUROPE AT WAR - Jedko Games boardgame - Sold on 9 Dec 2007 for $31.00 to buyer in New South Wales, Australia.

GIVE ME THE BRAIN - Cheapass boardgame - Sold on 9 Dec 2007 for $9.95 to buyer in Western Australia, Australia.

HEROQUEST - Milton Bradley boardgame - Sold on 18 Nov 2007 for $39.05 to buyer in Western Australia, Australia.

HEROQUEST - Milton Bradley boardgame - Sold on 9 Dec 2007 for $36.01 to buyer in New South Wales, Australia.

HEROQUEST - KELLAR'S KEEP - Milton Bradley expansion for HeroQuest boardgame - Sold on 18 Nov 2007 for $36.00 to buyer in Netherlands.

HEROQUEST - KELLAR'S KEEP - Milton Bradley expansion for HeroQuest boardgame - Sold on 9 Dec 2007 for $36.00 to buyer in United States.

HEROQUEST - RETURN OF THE WITCHLORD - Milton Bradley expansion for HeroQuest boardgame - Sold on 18 Nov 2007 for $37.00 to buyer in Netherlands.

HEROQUEST - RETURN OF THE WITCHLORD - Milton Bradley expansion for HeroQuest boardgame - Sold on 9 Dec 2007 for $33.00 to buyer in Queensland, Australia.

HUNDRED DAYS BATTLE - Avalon Hill boardgame - Sold on 18 Nov 2007 for $12.37 to buyer in New South Wales, Australia.

KILL DOCTOR LUCKY - Cheapass boardgame - Sold on 9 Dec 2007 for $10.50 to buyer in Western Australia, Australia.

KINGS & THINGS - West End Games boardgame - Sold on 9 Dec 2007 for $44.55 to buyer in New Zealand.

MHING - Mah Jongg-style card game - Sold on 9 Dec 2007 for $10.50 to buyer in Western Australia, Australia.

REGATTA - Avalon Hill boardgame - Sold on 9 Dec 2007 for $9.95 to buyer in Victoria, Australia.

THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN - Jedko Games boardgame - Sold on 9 Dec 2007 for $49.50 to buyer in New South Wales, Australia.

RUNEQUEST - Chaosium Games Role Playing Game - Sold on 9 Dec 2007 for $71.00 to buyer in United States.

SAMURAI SWORDS - Milton Bradley boardgame - Sold on 18 Nov 2007 for $84.00 to buyer in New South Wales, Australia.

SKELETON WAR MACHINES - Chariot/Citadel miniatures kit for use with Warhammer Fantasy Battles - Sold on 9 Dec 2007 for $36.44 to buyer in Japan.

SQUATTER - Jedko Games boardgame - Sold on 9 Dec 2007 for $9.95 to buyer in Western Australia, Australia.

SUMO - Hasbro boardgame - Sold on 9 Dec 2007 for $15.53 to buyer in Queensland, Australia.

TANTRIX & TRI-OMINOS - Two abstract boardgames - Sold on 9 Dec 2007 for $22.02 to buyer in South Australia, Australia.

U.S.S. NEW JERSEY & SHINANO 1:1200 MODEL KITS - Revell - Sold on 9 Dec 2007 for $20.50 to buyer in United States.


The three items which did not sell were The Best of Dragon Games (boardgames), Baa Baa Black Sheep (children's boardgame) and Trivial Pursuit (boardgame).

All in all the final price of all items sold was $1,500.84!!!

Gaming With Grandma - 44

My mother (AKA Grandma), my daughter Maddie (aged 6.5) and myself got together for our weekly gaming session. Also in attendance for most of the morning (at least until she went down for a nap) was Georgia (aged almost 2). My wife was at work.

First up was a game of Battle Line between myself and my mum. This game replicates an ancient battle fought in a line along which are nine key points represented by flags (red wooden tokens). Players play cards one at a time along this line at the flag points to try and achieve combinations (similar to poker) to beat the opposing card combination. If a player wins 3 adjacent flags or 5 flags in total they win the game.

The battlefield viewed from my side

Battle Line is always a tense and exciting game for me. Although I go into these games feeling confident that I can beat my mum, she is no pushover. Like she demonstrated today. I was trying to achieve a breakthrough (3 adjacent flags) but she thwarted my attack at a key point which meant that it then looked like either of us needed 5 flags in total for the win. It came down to the last 2 flags with her eventually winning 5 to my 3 with 1 flag left undecided. A great game!

Maddie joined us for the next game and chose The Simpsons Slam Dunk Card Game. In this game one player lays down cards one at a time while the other players wait until there are enough cards that they want to take. At that point the first player to hit the slam dunk pad and shout "Slam dunk!" takes the cards. That player then places the stack of cards face down in front of them and becomes the dealer. In a three-player game players are only allowed a total of four stacks. When all the cards have been dealt the cards are scored on their points and combinations. Highest points wins the hand. Victory goes to the player who is the first to win two hands.

Mmm...donuts!

This is another Reiner Knizia game and, similar to Ra and Razzia, there is an initial learning curve on what are valuable cards and at which point it is worth taking them. However, unlike Ra and Razzia, there is no auction involved which makes this game a little more quick and easier (and fun!) for children. Having a Simpsons-theme just tops it off for me and at only $2.95 new on clearance at Mr Toys Toyworld it was a real bargain.

Maddie and I tied for points on the first hand on 32 each with Grandma on 27. The second hand was won by Grandma on 46, myself then on 11 and Maddie on 25. That meant any of us could win the game by winning the third and final hand. Grandma slam dunked her way to the win of a close fought hand with 33, leaving myself on 28 and Maddie on 20. A great final victory to Grandma winning two hands and myself and Maddie winning one hand each. I enjoyed the game that much that I decided to raise it from 6.5 to 7 on my BGG ratings.

Last game of the morning was Jenga. We'd picked this up at a garage sale for only $4 several years ago. This is a classic dexterity game and one which I was surprised to find my mum had never before played. Straight out of the box the tower comprises 18 levels of 3 wooden blocks on each level. Each turn a player carefully removes one of the blocks from a level below the topmost level and then places it on the top level. As the game progresses the tower increases in height but also increases in instability. We ended up getting the tower to 29 levels before I made it topple, giving the much-deserved win to my exultant daughter Maddie. And so she should be proud of that victory because I was playing to win.

An early photo of the teetering tower of our game of Jenga

Gaming With Grandma - 43

Another Saturday morning gaming session attended by myself, my daughter Maddie (6.5) and my mother (AKA Grandma). As my younger daughter Georgia (almost 2) took ages to go down for a nap our gaming session was delayed somewhat. However, we did get to play a game I haven't played since the 23rd September 2006 - Balloon Cup.

In Balloon Cup, the players compete in several short balloon flights (hops) to collect the coloured cubes associated with each hop. Four landscape cards, two Plains alternating with two Mountains, are laid out and 1, 2, 3 or 4 cubes in assorted colors (grey, blue, green, yellow, red) are added. From a hand of 8 Balloon cards players must try to pass each landscape by adding cards matching the coloured blocks onto their side of table. High-valued balloon cards are played on the Mountains and low-valued balloon cards on the plains. Whoever has the respective higher or lower total of cards wins the hop and takes the cubes on the landscape card. When a player has collected enough cubes of a given colour, he earns the Trophy card for that colour. The first player to earn 3 trophy cards is the winner.

Maddie watched as Mum and I played the game using the optional rule that you must fully complete your set of cards on your side of the landscape card before you could play cards on the opponent's side. We also chose not to use the rule of cashing in 3 cubes of other colours for 1 cube of the colour you wanted. It was a close game with me scoring 2 trophies on the final turn to win 3 trophies to 1 trophy.

While it's an enjoyable game, Balloon Cup's mechanics compete with two other excellent and similar card games in my collection - Battleline and Lost Cities, both of which were designed by the prolific and talented Reiner Knizia. For me, Balloon Cup just doesn't generate the tension and excitement of those two games. In fact, Balloon Cup was very close to being listed on eBay with my recent auction. It was only reprieved when my wife stated that she'd enjoyed Balloon Cup when we'd last played it together (18 months ago?). So Balloon Cup remains in my collection, saved by a kind word by my wife. Don't get me wrong - it's not a bad game - it's just that it may not make the final cut of what I want my lean, mean, future board game collection to be.

Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of the game due to my wife being out and having the camera with her. We also only had time for the one game today.

Werewolf at Work

I was asked to run a team-building exercise for my section at work today. Someone in my area had remembered that five years ago I was in a trainer role and had run the game Werewolf with groups of new starters to our organisation. My manager suggested I use that game in our team meeting today as a team-building exercise.

There were fifteen players not including myself as moderator so I ran the game with three werewolves. I got the players to randomly select their roles from an envelope and I then spent a couple of minutes explaining the game. These are all non-gamers to my knowledge and the majority of them enjoyed themselves. The game took around 45 minutes and ended up with the werewolves winning with no loss to their number.

It's interesting watching co-workers play games - their personalities certainly come out, especially when involved in a role playing game such as Werewolf. The individuals I suspected who would get into the game did and the ones I suspected would not kept relatively quiet. Overall, it was a success with everyone committing to have more fun in the workplace.

Now it's up to me to show them what fun really is...

More Games on eBay

I've put some more games (and game related items) up for auction on eBay. I now have the following items due to finish next Sunday evening (Australian time).

• REGATTA
• AGAINST THE GIANTS G1-G3 TSR AD&D modules
• THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN Series II
• HEROQUEST
• SUMO!
• THE BEST OF DRAGON GAMES
• DAWN PATROL
• DIPLOMACY
• HEROQUEST - KELLAR'S KEEP
• HEROQUEST - RETURN OF THE WITCH LORD
• KINGS & THINGS
• TANTRIX & TRIOMINOS
• EUROPE AT WAR
• BAA BAA BLACK SHEEP
• BISMARCK Revell 1:570
• RUNEQUEST RPG Boxed Set
• SQUATTER
• ALIENS APC HALO1 Halcyon 1:35
• TRIVIAL PURSUIT
• SKELETON WAR MACHINES Citadel Miniatures
• THE BARBARIANS Warriors & Wars of the Dark Ages
• KILL DOCTOR LUCKY
• U.S.S. NEW JERSEY & SHINANO Miniships Revell 1:200
• MHING Classic Card Game based on Mah Jongg
• AXIS & ALLIES MB Games
• GIVE ME THE BRAIN
• CRESCENDO OF DOOM

If you're interested you can check out me eBay page here.

Gaming With Grandma - 42

My mother came over for her weekly Saturday visit this morning. Maddie (6) was excited to not only play games with her but also to have Grandma present while we put up the Xmas tree.

Our first game of the morning was Der Schwarze Pirat. The components, from the wooden ships with cloth sails to the raised islands and blue ocean gameboard, are visually stunning. In this game players use a rubber bellows to blow air on to their ships to move them around the islands collecting gold. The two dice dictate how far you may move your own ship or if you will take the role of the dreaded Black Pirate for that round as well as onto which islands gold will be placed. Being the Black Pirate will allow you to try to board other player's ships to take their gold or use the pirate ship to collect gold from islands as normal. It's just such a fun game to play. Final scores were me 17, Grandma 10 and Maddie 9.

Maddie blows her red ('No, it's pink, Daddy!') ship

Our final game of the morning was The Amazing Labyrinth. This is a great family game which has really stood the test of time. Of all my games this tops the list of 'games played in the most months', up there with Gulo Gulo. It's also a really easy game to handicap when adults play with children. Maddie is 6 and a half years old and we always let her look at the top 3 cards whereas the adults may only look at the top card when searching for an object. I love the shifting maze and trying to make moves to connect corridors to get where I want to go in the most efficient way. There is also the element of chaos caused by other players shifting the maze again prior to your next turn. Final scores were me 8, Maddie 7 and Grandma 4.

The shifting corridors of The Amazing Labyrinth

Summer's here!

For those of us in the southern hemisphere, today, December 1st, marks the start of summer.

The Game Culling Continues...

I decided to put some of my less-played games up for auction on eBay this evening.

Here is a link to my eBay site.

I have the following games for auction:

• Regatta
• AD&D Against The Giants G1-G3
• The Russian Campaign
• HeroQuest
• HeroQuest - Kellar's Keep
• HeroQuest - Return of the Witch Lord
• Sumo!
• The Best of Dragon Games
• Dawn Patrol
• Diplomacy
• Kings & Things

Huntsman Spider

Huntsman spiders are fairly common where I live. This one was on a wall downstairs and at only about 5 cm (2 inches) in length is only a baby. Adult males can attain a legspan 25 - 30cm (9.8 - 11.8 inches). My understanding is that although they are venomous a bite will only cause local swelling and pain but I'm not in any hurry to test this out. They tend to be most common in the garage and around trees in the yard.

Huntsman spiders don't build webs because they hunt and forage for their food. Their main prey are small insects. These spiders are very fast and are also occasionally found on walls and ceilings in the house much to the horror of the females in my family. I'm the one that captures them and lets them go in the garden (while having a quiet chuckle at the hysteria one little spider can cause).

The Culling Begins...

My boardgame collection has grown a lot over the last few years. My profile at BoardGameGeek shows that I own 224 games. I'm at a point now where I have a pretty good feel for what games are keepers and which aren't. I also have a number of old games which I've never played and I'm fairly certain I never will. On top of this I also have collections of role playing games and miniatures games which are unlikely to hit the table any time soon (if ever).

The forces of time and space were the catalyst for me reviewing my gaming collection. Time is precious and with a family including little kids I do not have time for games that take over about an hour. That pretty well accounts for all my role playing games, miniatures games and wargames.

Space is the other consideration. Games take space. As our kids grow more of the house will need to be family area. Although I have a limited area to store my games it is now overflowing. I want to restrict myself to this area so that when future gaming purchases are made some of the less played games will have to go.

So with all that in mind I recently put some games up for auction on eBay. This is what they sold for:

Heroquest (to buyer in Western Australia- Australia) - AU$39.05

Heroquest - Kellar's Keep (to buyer in Netherlands) - AU$36.00

Heroquest - Return of the Witch Lord (to buyer in Netherlands) - AU$37.00

Samurai Swords - (to buyer in New South Wales - Australia) - AU$84.00

Hundred Days Battles - (to buyer in New South Wales - Australia) - AU$12.37

Although I made over $200 the sad part is that I only reduced my BGG games owned from 224 to 223 by the sale of Hundred Days Battles. I still have more copies of the others.

Back to the culling.

Gaming With Grandma - 41

Another Saturday morning gaming with my mother (AKA Grandma) and my daughter (AKA Maddie).

Our first game was chosen by Maddie - Burg Appenzell. In this game your mice run through the castle looking for matching cheese tiles. If you have two of your mice on matching cheese tiles you receive that cheese. First player to find 4 different cheeses wins the game. Grandma won with 4, I came 2nd with 2 and Maddie came 3rd with 1.

On a side note I was surprised to see that Burg Appenzell's name has been changed to Chateau Roquefort on the BGG database due to that being the title of the Rio Grande English language printing of the game.

Our second game of the morning was For Sale. This is one of our favourite short games. In the first part of the game each player bids on property cards and then in the second part of the game they try to sell their properties for the highest cheque values. Maddie came 1st with $80,000, I came 2nd with $72,000, and Grandma came 3rd with $66,000.

Our final game of the morning was Razzia! This is the German version which I recently got in a combined order from Germany with some other Brisbane gamers. I had the English rules translation and the components are language-independent so we were good to go. We decided to only play one round.

This a Reiner Knizia designed game. I've heard it's similar to his other games Ra (which I've played only once) and The Simpsons Slam Dunk Card Game AKA It's Mine (which I've played 3 times). I can definitely see the similarity in attempting to gain (and deny your opponents) certain cards which are worth certain points individually, in combinations or in quantity. There are a lot of things going on which you have to be aware of in this game and I believe there is also a bit of an initial learning curve in understanding the value of the cards and when to call auctions.

The scores after round 1 were Maddie 26, me 19 and Grandma 4. I think Maddie was a little bored with this game (she's only 6 after all) but Grandma and I both commented that we had just started to see some strategies and that this is one game that would definitely benefit from repeated plays to unlock its gaming goodness.