Gaming With Grandma - 31

Another Saturday morning gaming session with three generations of my family; my Mum (Grandma), my 6 year old daughter Maddie, and myself. Today was Maddie's choice of games.

For our first game Maddie chose Nobody But Us Chickens. This is a fast-paced, trick-taking card game where players earn points by capturing chickens with their predators (foxes and rats) or protecting chickens with their guard dog. We always enjoy this game. Grandma came 1st with 31 points, I came 2nd with 30 points and Maddie came 3rd with 11 points.

After that Maddie chose Pass the Pigs. This is basically a push-your-luck game where you throw two pigs and score according to the positions in which they land. First person to 100 points wins. Grandma had the lucky throws today coming 1st on 100 points, Maddie 2nd on 46 and myself 3rd on 23.

Grandma wins in style with a double razorback!

Next up Maddie chose The Simpsons Slam Dunk game. In this game the dealer keeps turning over cards until one of the other players slams the slam dunk board and shouts out "Slam dunk!" thus taking all the face-up cards. The trick is to wait for enough good cards to be revealed and make the slam before the other players. As there were only three of us that meant you were only ever trying to beat one other player each round. Winner is the first person to win two hands. We chose to play only the one hand. Grandma came 1st on 32 points, I came second on 31 points and Maddie came 3rd on 24 points.

Following that game Maddie decided to play Pick Picknic. This is another family favourite and one we've played several times since it arrived as a present at Xmas 2005. It has a very similar theme to Nobody But Us Chickens but in this game players are vying for corn in 6 poultry yards. Points are scored by playing fowl to eat the corn or foxes to eat the fowl. It's another game where you try to outguess your opponents. I came 1st with 56 points, Maddie came 2nd on 54 points and Grandma came 3rd on 52 points. It was a very close game.

Maddie then wanted to play a couple of card games from the Kidz Cardz tin I'd bought her for a previous birthday. First up was Go Fish which Grandma won. We then played Old Maid and Grandma was left with the old maid card.

Our final game of the day was Loco! which I suggested. Loco! is a quick and simple game by Reiner Knizia. There are five different coloured chips, with six cards, zero through five, in each of the colours. The cards are dealt out, and then players take turns playing a card and taking any available chip. When one colour has all six cards played on it, then the game is over, and players use the last card played in each category to value their chips. The highest total value wins.

We played three games of Loco!

Game 1: Maddie 1st on 16, myself 2nd on 12 and Grandma 3rd on 8.
Game 2: Maddie 1st on 26, Grandma 2nd on 9 and myself 3rd on 6.
Game 3: Grandma 1st on 37, myself 2nd on 34 and Maddie 3rd on 29.

I was very impressed with the way Maddie played. We ended up calling her 'Loco Queen' due to the amount of times she frustrated the plans of Grandma and myself by slapping down a Loco! card on a colour in which we had both invested heavily.

Father's Day

We had a barbecue breakfast on the back deck this morning. The weather was great; clear skies with a cool morning leading into a warm day. The girls had made some Father's Day crafts at day care and school so they were eager to give them to me. I'll stick them up at work on my workstation. I was also excited to receive the 3rd season of Deadwood on DVD from Deb. I've seen the first two seasons of this brilliant TV series so can't wait to watch the 3rd season.

Maddie had found a recipe for fruit kebabs the other day and spent yesterday afternoon making them with a little help from Mummy. They had grapes, strawberries, kiwi fruit, marshmellows and banana on the wooden skewers. The girls also decided to cover them in chocolate before leaving them in the fridge overnight. We had them after breakfast - delicious!

Mmmm....chocolate-covered fruit kebabs!

After breakfast we drove to the Ferny Grove markets and walked around looking at the stalls. We arrived about 11.00am so by that time the stalls were fairly picked through. No matter.

Back home for a cup of tea and a read of the Sunday papers. We put Georgia to sleep in her cot and then Deb and Maddie decided to go rollerskating while I took the opportunity to have a nap. Three hours later I awoke when Georgia had awakened and started crying. Wow! Having the opportunity to sleep during the day is one of the things I've missed most since having children. What a pleasure it was to catch up on some sleep.

All in all a nice day.

Fun With Bubbles

Today was the first day of Spring for those of us in the southern hemisphere. This afternoon we blew bubbles for our kids. Georgia was particularly fascinated by them.

They're so pretty!

I wonder what they taste like?

Yucky!

Gaming With Grandma - 30

My Mum (Grandma to our kids) dropped by for her regular Saturday morning chat and gaming session. We chatted and had a cup of tea while 19-month-old Georgia played on the floor. It wasn't long after that my wife Deb and our elder daughter Maddie (6) arrived home from their visit to some early morning garage sales.

"Daddy we got a game and it only cost $2.00!" exclaimed Maddie, "can we play it?"

"It's over 40 years old." commented Deb.

It was Railroader, a Waddington game from 1963. It is a race between rival pioneering railway companies to lay a track and run the first train from Junction City to Buffalo Creek. The box was huge, measuring 36cm x 51cm and in surprisingly good shape considering its age. I opened it and was instantly intrigued by the little plastic trains and tracks. The board folded out to reveal a beautiful map of plains, rivers, lakes and mountains.

So Grandma, Maddie and I sat down and counted all the components. All 104 pieces of curved and straight track were present. All the plastic train pieces were present as well. The only missing piece was one of the 20 dynamite tokens which does not affect game play at all. After we'd checked all the pieces I separated them and put them into ziplock bags.

We decided to play a game with Maddie choosing yellow, Grandma blue and myself green. On your turn you make a choice of either laying track or moving your train. Each piece of plastic track is either straight, a left curve or a right curve. The board designates where each player lays their track. Each track piece is 4 spaces long. Spaces are classed as the space between the sleepers.

If you choose to lay track you roll a d6; 1-2 allows you to lay 1 track, a 3-4 allows you to lay 2 tracks and a 5-6 allows you to lay 3 tracks. Each track has a small peg on its base which locks it into a hole on the board. If you choose to move your train you roll 2d6 and move that many spaces. Trains are composed of three separate pieces that can be linked together; 1 engine, 1 coach and 1 caboose.

There is a constant management of the balance between laying track and moving your train. If you lay too much track in front of your train you will open up more chances for other players to sabotage your track. If you move your train too close to the end of your line you will face the possibility of derailing.

There are coloured points along each player's route that signify the possibility of some sort of action when the train engine ends its turn on them. Probably the most important are the blue points where your track crosses a river. When your engine comes to a halt over a blue point adjacent to a river you may send a saboteur along the river to another player's track and place a box of dynamite on it. The cool part is that all rivers join so you can reach any river crossing ahead of an opponent's train.

Other points are hazards where you draw from a deck of hazard cards and follow the instructions and ambush points where Indians attack and you are forced to detach your engine and send it back to the nearest garrison post for a relief party.

There is obviously a bit of luck involved in this game but the leading player can always be targeted for sabotage by the other players. The box of dynamite on your track prevents you from laying further track and reduces your movement from 2d6 to 1d6 until your train reaches that point to clear it.

We chose to sabotage randomly to spare Maddie's feelings of being purposely targeted when she was leading. The luck was with her with Grandma and I mostly placing dynamite on each other's tracks. This allowed Maddie to develop and maintain a decent lead. Maddie went on to win with Grandma and I racing neck and neck for second place. I ended up coming second but Grandma was only one roll behind me for third place.

Railroader is not a challenging game by any means but the beautiful board and cool plastic trains and tracks make it fun. I found it quite enjoyable actually physically laying the tracks and then moving my train along them.

Everyday Life in Victorian England

I was perusing a city thrift store when I came across a book entitled The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in Regency and Victorian England From 1811-1901.

From the blurb on the back:

In this timesaving reference book, respected author and historian Kristine Hughes brings 19th century England to life as she leads you through the details that characterize this fascinating era. From slice-of-life facts, anecdotes and firsthand accounts, to sweeping timelines and major historical events, this guide presents the delightful and often surprising daily realities of Regency and Victorian England. With it, you'll craft a vibrant story as you learn:

• What people ate, from pigeon pie and turtle dinners to syllabub and milk punch.
• Where a prisoner would go if he were remanded to the "hulks".
• The four coats a gentleman must have in his wardrobe, and other fashion requirements of the era.
• The rules honored by decent society, from the proper way to promenade to the polite hours to "call".
• How couples married and divorced, through churching, wife-selling and other practices.
• What people did for work, from cottagers and climbing boys to milkmaids and manservants.
• The meaning of common slang words like mawleys and moleskins.
• What Cook's Tours were like and where they could take the adventurous.
• Trends in entertainment, such as dandies, panoramas and more.

I've been fascinated with the 19th century for some time now so naturally I immediately bought the book. My interest in this era probably began through the reading of military history. Britain was involved in many conflicts during this period; most notably the Napoleonic Wars, the First and Second Afghan Wars, the Crimean War, the First and Second Sikh Wars, the Indian Mutiny, the Zulu War and the First and Second Boer Wars.

I'm also interested in genealogy and am currently in the slow and often disrupted process of tracing my ancestry. I have traced some of my English ancestors back to the early 19th century. To me, tracing my ancestors is more than just noting down dates from birth, death and wedding certificates, it's about understanding the times in which they lived. This book will be just another piece in the puzzle of building a picture of their environment at that time.

Solitaire Carcassonne

The other day I came across this thread on BoardGameGeek on a suggested way to play solitaire Carcassonne. Today at work during my lunch time I decided to try it out. I separated a random selection of original Carcassonne tiles and also the Inns & Cathedrals tiles into four piles of 19 tiles. I played the game over four rounds using the original starting tile each round plus one of the 19 tile piles for a total of 20 tiles each round. Each round, using only 4 meeple, I tried to score the highest points I could.

Round 1: 28
Round 2: 56
Round 3: 15
Round 4: 63
Total: 162 points

It took me about 30 minutes from set-up to to the game end. Although it was a pleasant diversion it didn't compare to playing against live opponents.

Under a Blood Red Moon

At exactly 8.37pm (Australian Eastern Standard Time) the Sun, Earth and Moon were in exact alignment causing a total lunar eclipse, also known as a "blood moon". It was the first total lunar eclipse to be seen from start to finish in the city's skies since July 2000. The next blood moon will not be visible until 11.45pm on December 10, 2011.

I managed to get a couple of photos of the eclipse before the moon became too dark to properly photograph.

Gaming With Grandma - 29

My Mum (Grandma to our kids) came over for her regular Saturday morning visit. After a cup of tea and a chat we sat down to a game of Scrabble.

I went first after drawing a W to Mum's X.

Turn 1 [Me] SMEARER 68, [Mum] FINGE(R) 20
Turn 2 [Me] (F)OOTY 22, [Mum] GA(Y) 21
Turn 3 [Me] JA(M)BS 34, [Mum] F(E)/F(E)Z 20
Turn 4 [Me] LO(O)N 10, [Mum] (R)UNT 5
Turn 5 [Me] (T)REY 14, [Mum] DARN(S) 10
Turn 6 [Me] (Y)EW 18, [Mum] PLAI(D) 14
Turn 7 [Me] ROUTErS/(YEW)S 70, [Mum] Q(I) 11
Turn 8 [Me] HO(U)R 33, [Mum] (R)IVEN 16
Turn 9 [Me] (D)RIVEN 10, [Mum] (J)UMP 15
Turn 10 [Me] HOTE(L) 24, [Mum] (H)ILT 8
Turn 11 [Me] (W)AX 26, [Mum] SI(X) 10
Turn 12 [Me] (D)I(B)/(S)I(N) 9, [Mum] DI(R)T 5
Turn 13 [Me] NEA(T) 4, [Mum] CLU(E) 8
Turn 14 [Me] EO(N) 6, [Mum] (P)EG 6
Turn 15 [Me] WAnE/n(EON) 33, [Mum] DIK(E) 18
Turn 16 [Me] (T)A 4, [Mum] B(E) 4
Turn 17 [Me] (N)O 4, [Mum] Pass
Turn 18 [Me] I(D) 3,

Mum was left with C & V for minus 7 points. This was an exciting game with me getting 2 bingos in the one game (a first for me). The first bingo was on my very first turn when I was extremely pleased to find in my initial rack the word SMEARER. My second bingo came on turn 7 when I put down the word ROUTERS with the help of a blank. Probably the most obscure words I played were FOOTY (paltry), JAMBS (plural of jamb, i.e. the vertical portion of the frame onto which a door is secured), LOON (a diving waterfowl), TREY (a three in cards, dice or dominoes), ROUTERS (pluralised form of a scooping tool), DIB (to fish by letting the bait bob lightly on the water) and ID (a part of the psyche). Final scores were [Me] 392 and [Mum] 184. I averaged 21.78 points per turn which is another personal best.

After that, Maddie (6) joined Grandma and I for a game of Der Plumpsack Geht Um (AKA Sherlock). It's a memory game where players must memorise the cards on the table which are then turned over. The player to your left places the plumpsack card next to one of the face down cards and you must guess what item is on that card. If you guess correctly the plumpsack is then placed next to a face down card as per the instructions on the just-guessed card. For example, there will be an arrow pointing left or right and a number stating how many cards away in that direction. Your turn continues until you fail to guess correctly. If you keep guessing correctly you will eventually be directed back to a face up card you had previously guessed. You then take that card as a point and another card is put in its place from the draw deck. The play continues with the player on your left. Games are normally played with the winner being the first player to achieve a certain number of points.

We played one game with 6 cards with the winner being the first player to get 3 points. I came first with 3 points and neither Grandma or Maddie scoring a single point.

Gaming With Grandma - 28

My Mum (Grandma), my daughter Maddie (6) and I got together for some games this morning after a two week break.

First up, Mum and I sat down to a game of Scrabble.

I went first after drawing a D to Mum's L.

Turn 1 [Me] HOT 12, [Mum] (H)OT 6
Turn 2 [Me] YE(T) 14, [Mum] NOIS(Y) 10
Turn 3 [Me] (O)X/(O)X 34, [Mum] PU(T) 11
Turn 4 [Me] NI(P) 5, [Mum] CA(N) 8
Turn 5 [Me] GI(N) 4, [Mum] (G)ROG 7
Turn 6 [Me] (HOT)EL 9, [Mum] (E)D/D(E)AN 8
Turn 7 [Me] (C)ROUPY 26, [Mum] (HOTEL)iER 30
Turn 8 [Me] HEA(P) 13, [Mum] (HEAP)ED 12
Turn 9 [Me] (H)INT 21, [Mum] (D)EW 15
Turn 10 [Me] TO(i)L 5, [Mum] (W)AD 7
Turn 11 [Me] BI(D)S 30, [Mum] (I)F 9
Turn 12 [Me] MAG(I) 14, [Mum] LI(M)E 12
Turn 13 [Me] (DEAN)S 12, [Mum] KIN(G) 10
Turn 14 [Me] JO(K)E 45, [Mum] (S)ELF 7
Turn 15 [Me] BE(GIN) 14, [Mum] CA(B) 7
Turn 16 [Me] (L)IVE 14, [Mum] M(E)N/(A)N 13
Turn 17 [Me] QuART/A(MEN) 75, [Mum] S(LIME)/S(CAB) 15
Turn 18 [Me] VOT(E)D 34, [Mum] R(O)W 6
Turn 19 [Me] (QuART)ER 15, [Mum] A(N) 4
Turn 20 [Me] (I)F 7,

Mum was left with Z,U,U and A for minus 13 points. Probably the most obscure words I played were CROUPY (affected with croup, a disease of the throat) and MAGI (plural of Magus, i.e. magician). I was pleased to see Mum get IER on to the end of HOTEL to score HOTELIER on a triple word score. Also impressed with her turning CAB and LIME into SCAB and SLIME with a single S on the same turn. Unfortunately she only scored 15 for that placement but it was a cool move nonetheless.

I was very happy to put QUART down, scoring both with the Q on a double letter square and the word on a triple word square and also simultaneously scoring the word AMEN. I scored 75 points for that combination which is my highest ever single turn score since playing Scrabble. I also scored a personal best final score in this game, finally cracking the 400 point score. Final scores were [Me] 403 and [Mum] 184. I averaged 20.15 points per turn.

After that, Maddie (6) joined Grandma and I for a game of Fraidy Cats. This is always a fun game to play with kids. There is always that tension as Mugs the dog careens around the board. We played two games. Game 1 - 1st Grandma, 2nd Maddie and 3rd Me. Game 2 - 1st Me, 2nd Grandma and 3rd Maddie.

Racetrack

I was perusing BoardGameGeek recently when I came across a GeekList entitled 'How Bolide save my life..... or your favorite games that you can play with pen and paper to keep yourself from going mad!' Bolide is a racing game which uses no cards or dice to move the cars, rather it uses a revolutionary mechanism able to reproduce the real accelerations, decelerations and inertial movements of the cars during the races. I really enjoy racing games and Bolide had been on my radar for a while but I'd never really done much research on it. So, curious, I checked out this GeekList.

Now, as GeekLists go, this one was unfortunately pretty spartan. It only had the single game entry for Bolide to explain how the user, TGov, had used the rules, sheets of graph paper and a pen to play the game during a particularly boring work conference. What really interested me was that he mentioned the mechanics were based on an earlier public domain paper and pencil game called Racetrack. I love it when GeekLists such as this alert me to cool games of which I was previously unaware.

The Wikipedia site for Racetrack states "Racetrack is a paper and pencil game of unknown origins, played by two or more players. It is also known under names such as Vector Formula, Vector rally or Vector race, or Graph racers, PolyRace, Paper and pencil racing, or the Graph paper race game. Racetrack is played on a squared sheet of paper ("quad pad", e.g. Letter preprinted with a 1/4" square grid, or A4 with a 5 mm square grid). The game simulates a car race. As the cars have a certain inertia, one must e.g. slow down before a dangerous bent in the track. Thus, the game requires foresight and planning for successful play."

I'm always interested in games that can be played with paper and pencil. There was also a link to a Java-based game called Vector Racer. I went to this site and played the game. I soon got a feel for the rules and was amazed out how elegantly this game mimicked the inertia of race cars. It really promotes gaining the 'racing line' just like in real car races. Click on the link and check it out for yourself.

So at lunchtime today I played a solitaire game of Racetrack. I made up a track (see below) and used three different coloured pens (blue, red and black) to represent the three race cars. I tried to win with each car but used slightly different tactics with each one. I tried not to think too far ahead and tried to play fairly quickly. It was quite fun and I crashed a few times.

Although I suspect there may be a runaway leader problem to this game (as there can be in real life races), I think the mechanics model the movement of race cars very well. I've been looking for a suitable set of rules to use for racing my Star Wars podracers. I think I'll play around with the Racetrack rules a little.

My Replacement Battlelore Dice Arrive

My replacement Battlelore dice arrived in Australia this morning, exactly 1 week after Days of Wonder confirmed they had sent them. That's great service.

Battlelore Replacement Dice Update

A day after I ordered my replacement Battlelore dice from the Days of Wonder site I received the following email.

We are pleased to inform you that your Days of Wonder order ##### was shipped on 08/06/2007. Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any problem with your package. We shall be happy to assist you. Again, we thank you for your order, and hope you will enjoy our games.
Best regards
The Days of Wonder team

Days of Wonder are renowned for their great customer service and this is another example. It's not the fact that they must have packed and posted my replacement dice within 24 hours of receiving my order (I may have been just lucky that it coincided with their weekly shipment), no, it's that they promised to send me an e-mail when my dice were shipped and they did.

Compare this to an earlier experience I had with Mayfair Games. On that occasion I emailed Mayfair to request them to replace a missing piece from my new copy of The Downfall of Pompeii. Although I received a standard automatic response within 90 minutes stating that they would send me an e-mail when my order was shipped, I heard nothing until a month later when the replacement piece turned up in my mail box. Now for that entire month, as I had not received my promised e-mail, I was wondering when, or even if, I would receive my missing piece.

It may only seem like a minor difference in my two experiences, but those experiences do affect customers, either positively or negatively. Hey, I'm blogging about them for goodness sake. The lesson for those in business is very clear - communication, and managing a customer's expectations is vitally important.

Ordered Replacement Battlelore Dice

Back in a post on 29 December 2006 I wrote about the problem Days of Wonder had identified with their first production run of Battlelore dice. Although I took the precaution of spraying my dice with a protective coat of laquer, I wasn't that satisfied with their quality straight out of the box. Unfortunately, for various reasons, I haven't had the opportunity to play Battlelore as much as I'd hoped this year, so haven't experienced the wearing of the dice to the extent that other people have. Due to the initial lack of quality of the dice, I'd always had the intention of taking Days of Wonder up on their offer to replace them, however, I thought I'd wait until the hubbub over the issue had died down.

Well, today I ordered my replacement Battlelore dice. It was very simple. My copy of the game had the relevent Battlelore Web Card access code commencing with BL-10 so I was eligible for the offer. I just went to the site and input my details.

This is the message I received:

Order Confirmation
Thank you for your order. Your order reference is:
#####
You will receive an e-mail when your replacement dice are shipped. Shipment occurs once a week. Dice are shipped via regular mail, so it will take several days to reach you - up to several weeks if you are located outside US, France or Germany. There is no use to contact us: as these shipments are not tracked, we would not be able to give you any useful information beyond "Yes it shipped, check your mail and wait". Thank you for your patience and your understanding.

Gaming With Grandma - 27

My Mum (Grandma) visited today for her regular Saturday morning catch-up and gaming session. The third member of our gaming group, my 6 year old daughter Maddie, was out with Deb visiting a school fete. That left me, 18 month old Georgia and Grandma alone at home. Georgie soon went down for a nap which left Grandma and I ready to game.

Our first game was Scrabble. Mum's been practicing Scrabble with a neighbour of hers and I've seen her game improve since doing so. However, I keep telling her she often throws away her blanks and S's for too few points.

Mum went first after drawing an A to my T.

Turn 1 [Mum] DENT 10, [Me] RA(N)CH 20
Turn 2 [Mum] (H)EW 9, [Me] B(RANCH) 13
Turn 3 [Mum] (B)IN 10, [Me] ZOOS/(HEW)S 34
Turn 4 [Mum] H(I) 5, [Me] (W)AVY 26
Turn 5 [Mum] (BIN)D 7, [Me] (H)I/I(N) 14
Turn 6 [Mum] G(Y)M 18, [Me] OILE(D) 7
Turn 7 [Mum] (M)IX 12, [Me] TRA(IN) 5
Turn 8 [Mum] SE(X)ES 39, [Me] N(O)N 3
Turn 9 [Mum] (O)PT 15, [Me] AL(L) 5
Turn 10 [Mum] (T)INT 12, [Me] FORD/F(ALL) 15
Turn 11 [Mum] KI(D) 13, [Me] (BRANCH)ES 15
Turn 12 [Mum] (N)AVE 14, [Me] (FORD)ED 22
Turn 13 [Mum] BA(D) 6, [Me] (A)WE 12
Turn 14 [Mum] (E)GG, [Me] QUI(E)T 28
Turn 15 [Mum] (T)AR 3, [Me] (Q)Is 33
Turn 16 [Mum] (R)AFT 21, [Me] (G)ONE 6
Turn 17 [Mum] (T)ROUt 4, [Me] PU(N) 6
Turn 18 [Mum] JI(N) 11, [Me] (E)LM 8
Turn 19 [Mum] LOC(K) 11, [Me] (J)A(P)E 15
Turn 20 [Mum] (S)O 1, [Me] Y(A) 15
Turn 21 [Mum] (O)R 2,

Mum ended the game by playing her last tile. I was left with an E and a U for minus 2 points from my final score.

Probably the most obscure words I played were QIS (plural form of a Chinese 'life force'), JAPE (to mock) and YA (you). Mum got the highest scoring word with SEXES for 39 points. However, I felt she threw away a blank on TROUT for only 4 points.

Final scores were me on 300 points and Mum on 232 points. I averaged exactly 15 points per turn which I'm fairly happy with. Anytime I score in the 300's is also very satisfying.

As we had some time left before Mum had to leave, I suggested Lost Cities. I haven't played Lost Cities since the 23rd of September 2006 so it was certainly overdue for a play. We always play 3 rounds as suggested in the rules. It turned out to be a very exciting and close game.

Round 1: Mum 27 - Me 72

Round 2: Mum 120 - Me 70

At the end of round 2 Mum was sitting on 147 points and I was on 142 points. The 3rd round would decide it.

Round 3: Mum 17 - Me 22

Total: Mum 164 - Me 164.

Yep, our points were tied! I carefully checked the rules to see if there was a tiebreak but there wasn't. We were both happy to call it a draw.

Some new (2nd hand) games

I arrived home from work this evening to find my wife had a little surprise for me. She'd stopped by a jumble sale (I think it was at a church somewhere) and picked me up some games. Deb knows to always look out for games and books for me when she's out and about. I'm even fine if she picks up games that are incomplete because I always have the option of using the components for other games.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I spotted Speed Circuit. This is a game I've been after for quite some time. It appears occasionally on Australian eBay and I've bid on a few but they've always gone for more than I was willing to play. Here was a complete copy of the 1971 3M version in excellent condition.

There is also a later Avalon Hill version with slightly modified rules and lesser quality components but this was the original 3M version with the double-sided plastic mounted map board which folds around the internal cardboard box that holds the components. I also couldn't believe it when Deb told me what she'd paid for it - $3.00!

It had all the original components - the rules, plastic-coated score sheet and holder, cards, nifty circular speed trackers, 6 painted metal cars and even the original crayon. I was so excited. Speed Circuit is probably the classic formula 1 racing game. There is no luck involved - it all comes down to the skill of the players in designing a car and making choices throughout the race.

The two other games were Seejeh, an abstract game of capturing your opponent's pieces by first placing your pieces and then moving them strategically, and Trippples, another abstract game where you are attempting to move your piece to a spot on the board but your move options are determined not by the three arrows on the tile under your (transparent) game piece, but by those under your opponent's piece. Deb had paid $1.00 for Seejeh and $2.00 for Trippples. Unfortunately, they were both missing a couple of playing pieces. Ah well, I guess I can't complain... :-)

Gaming With Grandma - 26

Another episode of my regular Saturday morning gaming group consisting of my mother (Grandma to our kids), my daughter Maddie, aged 6, and myself.

First up was Madeline which was selected by Madeline (Maddie). This is basically a memory game with a fair dose of luck where players move around a board representing the city of Paris searching for the 5 lost puppies of Madeline's dog, Genevieve. Maddie and I shared the win finding 2 puppies each. Grandma came 2nd with 1 puppy.

We then moved on to another of Maddie's requests - Tumblin' Monkeys. It's a Ker-Plunk rip-off with little plastic monkeys instead of marbles. I think I enjoy it slightly more than Ker-Plunk (which isn't saying much) because the monkeys will hang on the sticks and you can sometimes slide them off onto other sticks when you pull a stick out. The winner is the player with the least monkeys at the end of the game. I won with 3, Grandma came 2nd with 12 and Maddie came 3rd with 15.

18 month old Georgia peeks out from behind a chair in the background

Next up was another kid's game - the Snail Game. I loaded this game on BoardGameGeek and apparently I'm the only person who owns the game out of all the people registered. This would have to be one of my earliest memories of playing a board game. My grandmother bought it for my brother and I in the early 70's. Players lay card tiles on a track on a board of coloured (red, yellow, green & blue) squares. Whether you may lay a tile or not depends on background colours of the tiles and the relationship of other similar tiles already on the board. The winner is the player with the least number of tiles at the end.

Apologies for the blurry photo

Maddie then left to watch some episodes of Futurama on DVD while my Mum and I sat down for a game of Scrabble.

I went first after drawing a D to Mum's I.

Turn 1 [Me] FEE 12, [Mum] (FEE)D 8
Turn 2 [Me] NOD(E), [Mum] (D)AB 12
Turn 3 [Me] EL(F) 7, [Mum] (N)O 2
Turn 4 [Me] (FEED)ING 13, [Mum] (NO)ISE 10
Turn 5 [Me] (P)E(N) 5, [Mum] FIV(E) 18
Turn 6 [Me] QU(I)Z 44, [Mum] (G)OAD 7
Turn 7 [Me] (N)OR 5, [Mum] T(R)AM 18
Turn 8 [Me] CA(B) 7, [Mum] (O)X/(O)X 50
Turn 9 [Me] (Q)I 11, [Mum] (O)PEN 12
Turn 10 [Me] (A)WE 14, [Mum] (O)IL 3
Turn 11 [Me] PA(L) 15, [Mum] HEL(P) 13
Turn 12 [Me] (QUIZ)zES 24, [Mum] (C)RAG 8
Turn 13 [Me] BOaTIN(G) 20, [Mum] (CRAG)S 8
Turn 14 [Me] (S)EW 14, [Mum] (B)IN 10
Turn 15 [Me] TOOT(S) 7, [Mum] E(N)SUE 18
Turn 16 [Me] (T)RY 10, [Mum] DE(W) 7
Turn 17 [Me] (D)AM 12, [Mum] T(O)N 4
Turn 18 [Me] (M)ACK 17, [Mum] (A)IR 6
Turn 19 [Me] (K)ITE 24, [Mum] H(I) 5
Turn 20 [Me] (H)U(P)/U(S) 20, [Mum] JA(R) 10
Turn 21 [Me] (DEW)Y 11, [Mum] (R)U(T) 6



I was left with a V and G for minus 6 points and Mum was left with R,R,L for minus 3 points.
Probably the most obscure words I played were QI (Chinese 'life force'), MACK (wet weather gear i.e. Mackintosh), and HUP (a cadence marker). I was pleased to see Mum get the top-scoring word of the game with the 50 point skillful placing of a single X to form OX twice and score a double word score both ways. Final scores were [Me] 293 and [Mum] 232. I averaged 13.95 points per turn.

Gaming With Grandma - 25

My Mum (Grandma to our kids) was ill last week so we didn't get a chance to play any games together. This week, however, she was feeling a bit better so popped around for her usual Saturday morning visit.

My wife, Deb, had visited a few garage sales in the neighbourhood this morning and had brought me home a new shrinkwrapped copy of Tri-Ominos which she'd bought for $1.00. Mum and I decided to sit down and try it out.

Apparently it's similar to dominoes (which I've never played), but this time the pieces are triangles instead of rectangles. Each triangle has 3 numbers at the points, so to place a piece next to it, it must match two numbers on the side. There are bonus points for completing a hexagon or making a bridge between two rows. It's not a bad little abstract and would be good for teaching kids to look for patterns. Instead of playing to 400 points we decided to only play until the first person reached 200 points. I won 326 to 166 which took two rounds.

Gaming With Grandma - 24

Another Saturday morning gaming with my Mum (Grandma to our kids). Deb was helping Maddie clean her room so that gave me a chance to play a game of Scrabble with Mum.

I went first after drawing a G to Mum's H.

Turn 1 [Me] DIVE 16, [Mum] BOL(D) 14
Turn 2 [Me] T(O)Y 14, [Mum] (I)mP 10
Turn 3 [Me] (BEA(T)/A(B) 16, [Mum] HIR(E) 11
Turn 4 [Me] O(V)A/(M)A 10, [Mum] (H)OT 6
Turn 5 [Me] (MA)G/(E)GG 8, [Mum] (G)IN 6
Turn 6 [Me] (HOT)eL 21, [Mum] (HOTeL)S 8
Turn 7 [Me] PA(R)/A(B) 18, [Mum] (S)UN 4
Turn 8 [Me] (ImP)I 5, [Mum] TA(P) 10
Turn 9 [Me] I(T) 6, [Mum] (U)RN 5
Turn 10 [Me] (N)AIL 4, [Mum] VA(I)L 11
Turn 11 [Me] Z(I)N 24, [Mum] (V)ETS 21
Turn 12 [Me] (NAIL)ED 9, [Mum] HO(T) 14
Turn 13 [Me] (N)O/OUNCE 16, [Mum] (D)IRT 6
Turn 14 [Me] (Z)AG 13, [Mum] FE(E) 18
Turn 15 [Me] JOIN(T) 24, [Mum] W(I)RE 7
Turn 16 [Me] QU(E)ER 45, [Mum] (FEE)S 8
Turn 17 [Me] (T)O 4, [Mum] (TO)N 3
Turn 18 [Me] (AB)A 5, [Mum] (ZAG)S/S(HOT) 21
Turn 19 [Me] LE(A) 3, [Mum] (L)YRE 21
Turn 20 [Me] (E)XAM 16, [Mum] F(A)D 13
Turn 21 [Me] (M)E/(D)EW 11, [Mum] pass
Turn 22 [Me] (H)I 5 [Mum] (ME)D 6
Turn 23 [Me] pass [Mum] pass

I was left with a C for minus 3 points and Mum was left with an M, K & U for minus 9 points. It was a strange game with my early to mid-game being deluged with vowels and from the mid to end game being constrained by places to put down words. Final scores were [Me] 290 and [Mum] 214. I averaged 12.61 points per turn.

Probably the most obscure words I played were IMPI (a group of warriors - ie Zulus), AB (abdomen), ZIN (a dry red wine), ABA (a sleeveless Arab garment), LEA (a meadow), and OVA (plural of ovum).

Maddie then joined Grandma and I for a game of The Simpsons Slam Dunk Card Game. I picked this up at Toyworld in the Myer Centre in Brisbane for only $2.50. Even more surprisingly is it's designed by the famous Reiner Knizia (previously published as It's Mine!).

Slam Dunk is simple - watch the cards the dealer lays down. When you like what you see, hit the "Slam Dunk!" board and grab them all. The catch? Somebody else may want the same cards you do. The first one to slam the board claims the cards. Most cards are good, but some aren't. "Double or Nothing" cards only count if you claim a pair of them. "Toast or Most" cards only score if you have the most of them, and "Jackpot" cards score jackpot points depending on how many you get.

We played one hand with me 1st on 47 points, Maddie 2nd on 40 points and Grandma 3rd on 37 points.

Gaming With Grandma - 23

On Saturday my Mum (Grandma to our kids), Maddie (my daughter who has just turned 6) and myself got together for our weekly gaming session.

First up was Piranha which Maddie selected. Another gorgeous Ravensburger game with all the quality components for which they are well known. It's a dexterity game where you try and hang your piranhas off either the hat or other piranhas. The trick is that there can only be one of each colour piranha hanging off the hat and you can never have a piranha hanging from a piranha of the same colour. It's a fun game which is made even harder when the hat starts to spin. If any piranhas fall into the water on your turn you take them. The person who successfully places their last piranha wins.

It was a close game with Grandma and I neck and neck for most of the time. She ended up winning with me left with only one piranha and Maddie left with, well, the rest of them...

Maddie attempts to place her piranha...

Our next game was also picked by Maddie - Bratz Passion for Fashion. Can you hear the sound of my teeth gritting together? I was Yasmin. 'Nuff said the better. Oh yeah, I won! Take that Cloe and Sasha! Go girl!

Maddie turns the circular wardrobe. Will she find those stylish boots to wear to the party?

Last but not least was my choice - No Thanks! (AKA Geschenkt). This was the first time Grandma or Maddie had played it and I wasn't sure if Maddie would understand the play. No Thanks! is rated for ages 8 and up and Maddie's just turned 6.

In this game each player has 11 chips. There is a deck cards valued in ascending order from 3 to 35. 9 cards are randomly removed (without looking at them) after shuffling so none of the players know for sure what cards the deck holds. On a turn the top card is turned over and players make a choice either to take the card or pass by placing a chip next to the card. The person who takes the card also takes any chips sitting with it. The aim of the game is to have the lowest score when all cards have been taken. Cards are scored at their face value. The trick is that runs of consecutive cards are only scored as the lowest valued card. For example if I had the 23, 24 & 25 I only score the lowest of the run which would be 23 points. Any chips a player has left at the end of the game take a further 1 point each off their final score.

Maddie didn't really understand and she ended up just taking a lot of cards without really knowing what she was doing. Grandma got it pretty quickly and enjoyed it. Three players doesn't really do the game justice though. I ended up winning with 8 points, Grandma came 2nd with 48 points and Maddie came a distant 3rd with, well, lots and lots of points.

The Z-Man Games version of No Thanks!

Service From Mayfair Games

You may remember last month I bought The Downfall of Pompeii by Mayfair Games. It's a great game and I'm very happy with it. Unfortunately, it was missing one yellow playing piece.

I sent an email to Mayfair Games explaining the problem on 19 May 2007. Within an hour an a half I had a standard response back from their customer service. This is what it said:

Thank you for contacting Mayfair Games customer service. You will receive an e mail when your request is being processed. We look forward to serving you, thank you for your patience while we process your request. Requests are processed in the order they were received.

I then heard nothing until I received the solitary missing piece in the mail yesterday on 18 June 2007. While I would have appreciated a quick email as they'd promised to let me know when my request was processed I was happy to receive the missing piece. I guess a month is not too bad considering I'm in Australia.

So a thumbs up to Mayfair Games for replacing the missing piece.

Gaming With Grandma - 22

My Mum (Grandma) changed her visiting day to Sunday due to Maddie having a birthday party with some school friends at a local rollerskating rink on Saturday. One of Maddie's friends gave her the board game Fairyland Adventure as a present and Maddie was eager to try it out this morning.

Fairyland Adventure is a children's roll and move game where the players (fairies) are searching for items in the forest to enable them to gain a magical ring which will then allow them to travel to the Castle Clouds to locate an invitation into Fairyland. I must admit that while I found the game play boring the board and bits were beautiful. The game is based on based on Shirley Barber's Fairies books.

Some of the beautiful artwork on the board with coloured plastic gem playing pieces

Maddie displaying one of the magic rings players may wear

I was the first fairy to enter Fairyland with Maddie and Grandma coming 2nd and 3rd respectively.

I chose the next game. Coloretto was part of a recent gaming purchase and this was my first opportunity to get it on the table. I've played Coloretto once before and my records indicate that was back on 22 February 2006.

It's a quick fun game where the choice is either to play a card from the face down deck and play it to a row of cards on the table or take a row of cards that is already on the table. It's a set collection game where you try and score points in three colours only because cards of other colours will score against you.

I quite enjoyed this game. I was 1st on 49, Maddie was 2nd on 41 and Grandma was 3rd on 37.

Gaming With Grandma - 21

My Mum (Grandma), my daughter (Maddie), and I sat down to our weekly Saturday morning gaming session. We chose to sit inside at the dining room table as the first really chilly day of winter has arrived and it was too cold and windy on the deck.

Our first game was Loco! by Reiner Knizia. This was one of the new games that arrived yesterday as the final part of my recent game order. Loco! is amazingly simple; play a card and then take a chip. This would be an ideal game to play with people who are new to games.

The coloured chips are placed in piles in the middle of the table. There are five matching coloured suits of six cards ranging in value from 0 (Loco!) to 5. As there were three players we discarded three cards face down. Not knowing which cards are missing adds a bit of unknown to the game. The remaining cards were dealt evenly between the three of us.

On your turn you place a card in front of the matching pile of coloured chips. You then take a chip from any pile. Play passes to the left with the next player placing a card in front of a matching pile of coloured chips and then taking a chip from any pile. Cards are added on top of any matching coloured cards already on the table so that you can see what values have previously been played. As soon as six cards of any colour are laid down the game ends.

Scoring is based on the values of the colours of the chips you've taken. The value of a coloured chip is determined by the value of the uppermost matching coloured card. So for example, if you have two red chips and the top red card is a 3 then you've scored 6 points for your two red chips.

There is a tension as you can see the end of the game approaching and you're waiting to lay your value 5 card on the colour that you've got the most chips of. There is also the fun of throwing a Loco! (0 point) card on the colour that your opponents have the most chips of just before the end. We found Loco! to be lots of fun.

We decided to play three games and the person who had the most points at the end was the overall winner.

Game 1: 1st Me 26, 2nd Grandma 24, 3rd Maddie 20
Game 2: 1st Maddie 29, 2nd Grandma and Me 28 each
Game 3: 1st Me 38, 2nd Grandma 37, 3rd Maddie 30

So the overall winner was me on 92 points, Grandma 2nd on 89 points and Maddie 3rd on 79 points.


Maddie then chose Elefant Hunt as our next game. This is an insert game from a Dragon Magazine I'd purchased back in August 1984 when I was into Dungeons & Dragons. Elefant Hunt is a roll and move game where you organise a group of hunters to go on safari to capture animals. As you move around the board you land on Elefant squares which determine the number of animal chits you may draw from a cup. You then use the value of your hunters along with the roll of a 6-sided die to try to equal or exceed the value of the specific animal you are attempting to capture. You then sell the captured animals at the ports getting their value as points. First person to 100 points wins.

This is a game all about managing resources. You randomly select a team of hunters of varying skills and then must gather enough supplies to last until you return to either port city. As movement is only in one direction you must ensure you have enough supplies otherwise your hunters will leave. Along the way you also encounter rivers, swamps, quicksand, lost cities, and elefant graveyards which can all affect your resources in one way or another. There is also a huge element of luck involved.

My initial strategy was to load up on supplies and hunters before leaving the port. Grandma and Maddie left port before me on their safaris but soon found they were running short on supplies. Maddie experienced a lot of bad rolls in this game. She handled her bad luck quite well which is a sign she's maturing as a gamer. Maddie will be six years old in a couple of weeks and her reading skills are improving daily. When she is able to read it will open up a whole lot of new games for us to play.

Final scores were me 1st on 100, Grandma 2nd on 63 and Maddie 3rd on 8.

Another Parcel Arrives

A parcel arrived for me today. It was the final part of the games order I'd placed last month. There were three card games and an expansion.

No Thanks! - AKA Geschenkt is a simple yet fun card game.

Coloretto - Another fun, quick card game.

Loco! - AKA Flinke Pinke this simple card game is by Reiner Knizia.

BattleLore: Call to Arms - An expansion for BattleLore which allows personalised deployment of troops.

Gaming With Grandma - 20

My Mum (Grandma to our kids) came over for a visit this morning. First game we played today was The Downfall of Pompeii. Maddie (5 yrs old) really wanted to try it so we made it a 3-player game. This was only my 2nd game of Pompeii and my first 3-player game.

During the first half of the game we placed our playing pieces (people) throughout the city of Pompeii. I played black, Grandma red and Maddie was yellow. Both Grandma and myself showed Maddie how to place her people and also explained the relative rule which comes into effect when Vesuvius starts to seethe. Maddie picked it up pretty quick.

By the time the second Vesuvius card had been drawn both Maddie and Grandma had 18 people in the city and I had 17. Then came the fun part of the game when the lava starts to flow. Looking back on the game I realise we forgot the rule to only start moving people when the 6th lava tile was down. As we started moving people immediately the first lava tile hit the city I guess that meant more people escaped than should have.

It was still fun. The final score was Maddie and I tied for 1st with 12 people (we also tied on the count back of people in the volcano) and Grandma 2nd with 9 people. I would have won the game when Maddie had only 9 people out as I had the opportunity near the end to block the only means of escape for her last 3 people but relented when I saw the effect it would have had on her (ie, potential waterworks).

Maddie then went off for a little while. That left my Mum and I. Mum suggested we play Pass the Pigs. The first game I won 100 to nil. The second game Mum won 100 to nil. We decided to make it the best of three and were both more cautious with banking our points. Mum won 100 to 61.

After that we played the Labyrinth Card Game. My wife, Deb, joined in and co-played with Maddie. Final scores were me 1st on 8, Deb/Maddie 2nd on 6 and Grandma 3rd on 1.

Blue Max Online

I enjoy playing Blue Max online. I love the theme as I have an interest in WWI air combat. It's free. It fills my daily desire for gaming. I can sign up for as many, or as few, games as I like. It's easy and quick to complete a turn. There are hundreds of players from all around the world to play against. There are numerous planes to fly. There are hundreds of different scenarios to compete in. It fits perfectly into my busy schedule. Even though I don't get much time to play games I can always find 5 to 10 minutes to enter some moves.

You can play Blue Max at YouPlayIt.

Geek of the Week

BoardGameGeek (BGG) is one of my favourite sites. Thanks to an excellent idea by a local Brisbane boardgamer, Critical Mass, the Geek of the Week was born. Each week, one of the users of BGG is nominated as Geek of the Week and featured in their own thread and the BGG community learns a little about them.

The Geek of the Week for this week has just been announced and it's the first time that it's been someone I've actually met and gamed with. Congratulations to Friendless who is the 90th Geek of the Week.

I Get Vomitted On Twice! (er...Make That Three Times!)

My Mum didn't come over this morning for her weekly visit and gaming session. It was probably for the best as little 16 month old Georgia wasn't feeling well. My wife, Deb, and our 5 year old daughter, Maddie, were out all morning helping Deb's Dad with his garage sale while I stayed home to look after Georgia.

After giving Georgie a bottle I was sitting with her on my lap watching TV. Next thing I know she's vomiting all over me. After settling her and removing her clothes I notice that she's got spew in her hair and all over her arm. So I run a bath, get her cleaned up and then put her in fresh clothes.

She seemed to be a bit more herself after that. She ate morning tea at about 10.00am and after that went down for a nap. I took the opportunity to soak my spew-covered shorts and shirt, have a shower and change into some fresh clothes.

Georgia woke up about 11.30am crying. I sat down with her to give her a cuddle and switched on the TV. Five minutes later she vomits all over my front again! She's crying, I stand up and carry her to the bathroom, one arm holding her and the other arm across my middle trying to prevent the vomit from running down my shirt and splattering all over the floor.

Another bath for Georgia and another change of clothes for us both. Luckily, my wife arrived home about this time to give some assistance. Some medicine and a little bit of TLC from Mum, Dad and her big sister and Georgia's feeling a little better this afternoon.

Ah, the joys of parenthood.

[EDIT] 8.05pm - My wife was helping Maddie clean her room when we heard Georgia start crying from her cot in her room. I went in to check on why she'd woken up and found that she felt a little hot. I picked her up and was taking her to my wife to suggest some more medicine when - you guessed it - Georgia upchucks all over me again. That's THREE TIMES today! And as it was a couple of hours after her dinner this vomit had the most volume of all three. Now I've been spewed on before by my kids, but three times in one day has gotta be a new record.

Hopefully this is one of those 24-hour bugs our kids occasionally get. After another bath, a fresh set of clothes, some medicine and a cuddle Georgia soon fell asleep. I bet you she will be fine tomorrow morning and I'll be sick for the next week ;)

Happy 30th Birthday Star Wars!

I was only 9 and a half years old when Star Wars was released on 25 May 1977. I first saw it when my parents took my younger brother and I to the Redcliffe Drive-In Theatre. Although the drive-in is now long gone, my memory of that first viewing and my love of this movie still remains.

And regardless of what changes George Lucas has made to the original movie, in my mind, Han Solo always shot Greedo first!

Han Solo shoots first!

Greedo: [Though some believe he is speaking in Rodian, Greedo is actually speaking Huttese] Going somewhere, Solo?

Han Solo: Yes, Greedo; I was just coming to see your boss. Tell Jabba I have his money, at last.

Greedo: It's too late. You should have paid him at the first chance you had. Now Jabba's put a price on your head so large, every bounty hunter in the galaxy will be looking for you. I'm lucky I found you first.

Han Solo: Yeah, but this time I've *got* the money.

Greedo: If you give it to me, I might forget I found you.

Han Solo: I don't have it *with* me. Tell Jabba...

Greedo: Jabba's through with you. He has no use for smugglers who drop their shipments at the first sign of an Imperial cruiser.

Han Solo: Even *I* get boarded *sometimes*. Do you think I had a choice?

Greedo: You can tell that to Jabba. He may only take your ship.

Han Solo: Over my dead body!

Greedo: [He doesn't notice Han going for his gun] That's the idea... I've been looking forward to this for a long time.

Han Solo: Yeah, I'll bet you have. [Blows Greedo away]

[Han calmly leaves. On the way out he flips the bartender a coin]

Han Solo: [to the bartender] Sorry about the mess.