I've Moved

My blog is now being hosted at Fortress: Ameritrash.

So Wrong.

I found out that last week they made Francie play Fury of Dracula at game club. That is so wrong. I've been told that the expressions on her face during the game were photo worthy.

This week enough people showed up that Francie got to play something more to her liking. She learned three new games last night. She is no longer allowed to complain that I teach her too many new games, when it's really only like one new game every month or six weeks. Truth is however, we have gotten to the point that there are no more new games I want or need to teach her.

I played Pandemic which I would play again, but I don't need to own. I think I have pretty much a three tier rating for games:

Must have my own copy.
Will play other people's copy.
Avoid playing.

Also played Escape from Atlantis, which was very fun. The guys kept calling me evil. "You're are an evil, evil woman." The sea serpents and sharks just don't get rolled often enough.

Shopping Spree

Today I took Z on a little birthday shopping spree. Al came along to carry the packages.

First stop was Time Machine, the most awesome hobby shop in the world. Z picked out a little fairy figure and a pack of gum as a reward for behaving at game club while I was trapped in the endless game of Power Grid. I picked up Rails of Europe and three green glitter dice. Al got nothing.

Then on to the Mall.

Build-A-Bear. Z used her birthday Build-A-Bear coupon to get PJs for her stuffed cat. Al got nothing.

Limited Too. They were having a buy 1, get 2 free sale on accessories. For some reason games are considered accessories. Z got High School Musical Mystery Date, a pillow with speakers in it for her ipod, and a Polly Pocket. Total cost $16. Al got nothing.

Bath & Body Works: Al got sexy shower gel that makes him smell all outdoorsy and manly. Al says that technically he still got nothing, since the shower gel is really for me.

Z and I played Mystery Date when we got home. Z says she rates it a 20.

Game Club

I really like the guys at game club. They are all so nice and so funny. Today I played Power Grid for the first time. The game took forever. I think the first turn took an hour. The fun part was spending most of the game whispering with Star, who was sitting at the far end of the table next to me. He was saying the most catty things, and I was calling him Cordelia, because everything he said was true. Then Dave would make faces and roll his eyes at us.

Power Grid reminded me of Railroad Tycoon, which I like better. Therefore, I don't need to own it, but would be happy play again if someone suggested it.

Excellent Gaming Over the Past 2 Weeks

I got Pirate King on sale at B & N. We had lots of fun playing that last week.

Al gave me Cavetroll for Valentine's Day. Haven't had a chance to play yet, but will probably try it before the weekend is over.

Last night at game club exactly five of us showed up. We played an awesome game of Fury of Dracula.

Today we all got snowed in, so Francie came over in the afternoon. She brought Arkadia which I liked. It's a Euro puzzle game, but it doesn't pretend like it's not. It is very pretty too. Francie had been telling me that it was a really easy, light game, but it isn't. Pirate King is a light easy game. Arkadia is somewhat Go like. I was surprised Al liked it, since he doesn't like Through the Desert. Then we played Railroad Tycoon. Over vacation, Francie borrowed Age of Steam because she had heard so many people raving about it. She convinced us all to try it with her. We all decided it wasn't any fun. While we were playing Railroad Tycoon Francie kept commenting on how much cooler all the bits were, and how much more fun it was than Age of Steam. I kept teasing her that she had a little bit of Trash in her soul. After RRT, we had dinner, and then another game of Arkadia. Al and I both beat Francie this second game. So Francie said that maybe the game was harder than she thought.

If the roads are clear tomorrow, Francie and I are going to game club. Otherwise she may come over here again for a couple games of something.

Done is good

Something I learned from working in the theatre is that "Done is good," otherwise you can go on tweaking things forever.

Anyway, I think that it is time for the curtain to go up.

New Years Eve

Wild party time. Count down to midnight.

9pm - So far we have played Caveman, PacMan, and Dig Dug. And we ate pie.

11pm - We played Klax, watched Monty Python and drank champagne.

1am - Watched MST3000 & watched the ball drop. Put the Z girl to bed. Now time for sleep.

What I have been doing this week.

It took a lot longer to recover from the concussion than I thought it would. I really didn't start thinking clearly until at least Wed or Thur. I also had to rest a lot, and got frequent sudden headaches that felt like an ice pick through the ear. This is a shame, because there were plenty of gaming opportunities. I also don't remember much of the week. I am not sure if that is because of the concussion or a side effect from the narcotics (a.k.a. the silver lining to smacking your head on the concrete).

Dan came up from NY on Friday the 21 and stayed for about four days. Francie came over a couple of times to play. Sat the 22nd was the game club's monthly meeting. Yesterday one of the game club guys got a place nearby for another day of gaming. So I know that I played a bunch of games. I also know that I passed on a bunch of games to lie down in the dark until the flashing lights stopped. However, I don't remember much of what we played.

What I do remember is that Last Night on Earth made us laugh all week. I think we played about three times, and the Zombies won every time. Z won Red Dragon Inn and wants to play again. Dan gave me Curse of the Dark Pharaoh, and we played an awesome game of Arkham Horror with just the base game and the one expansion. Dan brought up Goldland and Francie finally played. She really liked it. I knew she would. She is such a Kramer whore.

Aside from playing games, and ordering delivery all week, I have also been working on the F:AT website. I think it is nearly done. It's nothing fancy, but it is a step up from blogger. Blogger basically sucks. I'm thinking of eventually moving to wordpress myself.

Anyway, that's it. My head is starting to hurt again. Hope every one (all three of you that occasionally read this) had a happy holiday and have a happy new year.

Guess what I got today!

I got a concussion. Slipped on the ice and knocked myself cold. Yay me. My head hurts like I'm playing Torres. Al says I have to get ugly boots that actually have some thing called traction.

Boo! Ugly boots!

Yay Zombies.

Just spoke to Al on the phone. There is a box from the game store sitting on our front porch. Yes, Last Night on Earth has finally arrived. Just another half hour of stupid work, then the commute home, then dinner...do we really have to eat dinner? Can we just skip it and go straight to the Zombies. No. That would be wrong. Plus Al & Z get wicked cranky when they are hungry. So dinner, and then the family thing, and getting Z to bed, and then, finally ZOMBIES.

My Mistake

So I made the mistake of replying to a couple of threads in the general forum on BGG. I've decided that far too many of the Geeks are social retards who believe that conversation is a competitive game. I'm going back to confining myself to the parent's forum. At least the parent's have enough social skills to attract a member of the opposite sex willing to breed with them.

Playing with Francie

Francie is finally back home. Tonight we played Age of Discovery again. It's an hour of crunching numbers, but I like it. I like boats.

Francie may be up for CGC game night tomorrow. It depends upon how the knee is doing. She is also worried about doing the stairs. It's in the basement of an old textile mill, and the stairs are pretty crappy. I got my heel stuck in a knot hole once. I'm worried about the temperature. It has been wicked cold here. If we go I'll have to bring gloves.

Age of Discovery and Fire & Ax

Went to Elliscon yesterday with Al and Z. Didn't get there until 4 pm because, well, I'm a slug and slept until 12:20 p.m. Bought some "used" games for $10 each - no shrink, banged up boxes, but unpunched. Mystery of the Abbey, The Hobbit, and Monster Mash I. Played half a game of Fire and Axe: A Viking Saga with the CGC guys. We had to quit before we were finished because Elliscon was closing. The CGC guys were not happy that we didn't finish, and I felt kind of responsible because I was the one who really wanted to play and talked them into it, even though it was getting late. I did point out to them that now five of us know how to play, so we can play on a Thursday night. It was only half a game so I don't know what I think about it. Raiding is fun, but it is clearly not a good path to victory.

I found out that three, yes, THREE of the CGC guys have StarCraft but NONE of them have played it yet. Gamer dudes bewilder me sometimes. So it looks like I may get a chance to play sometime in the next month. Yay!

Today I went to visit Francie. The people from work sent her a "Get Well" fruit basket with three games. We flailed through Age of Discovery. I think that I like it. We'll probably play again over Thanksgiving break.

Elliscon

Going to Elliscon tomorrow. Francie won't go with me because she is totally lame. I mean really lame. She's recovering from knee surgery.

And More Playing Children's Games

Saturday, Z "took a tone" with me, so I banned Disney channel for a week. If you take the TV away, you have to actually pay attention to your child for an extra hour every evening. Last night Z wanted to play Once Upon a Time, but we couldn't find it. She noticed the Icehouse stashes in the card game drawer, and decided she wanted to play "that game." So I taught Al and Z how to play a modified Zendo. I expected the game to crash and burn, but Z and Al really enjoyed it. Z wasn't too bad at it either. Z wanted to play Zendo again tonight, but my brain was too burnt from work, so we played Castle Keep and Clue instead. Al really dislikes Clue. He was so miserable.

Biting My Tongue

I'm guessing I shouldn't recommend Sword and Skull to this lady.

Mothers in Gaming

So as the Organizer of Orange County Board Gamers in California, the wife of a long time gamer, and the mother to 2 up and coming gaming boys, I spend a lot of time CHOOSING games for my kids.

I am VERY consciencious about what is "appropriate" for them to be playing, not just where their skill level is at.

My sons are 3 and 6 and we started them off with. Snails Pace race, and Chicken Cha Cha Cha. We then moved on to Jr. Labyrinth. I love the game Jr. Labyrinth for what it teaches about spacial reasoning and logic, but have always been bothered by the "pistol" as an item the kids are supposed to collect. So we just removed that token. Although it is still on the board, the kids are no longer trying to "pick it up".

But it isn't just guns. It's things that "teach" violence that I'm concerned about. Boys are all about jumping, kicking, running, climbing, throwing, moving, and playing. But in the continued effort to raise boys with good charater and values. I feel the need to be "choosy".

Recently I played Mr. Jack, and I enjoyed the game. I thought in general, it would be a good deduction game for kids. Even the "Cartoony" graphics made it FEEL appropiate for kids. HOWEVER, I was VERY dissapointed that they choose to make the villian "Jack the Ripper" instead of Sherlock (who is a charater in the game) Holmes' arch nemises Professor Moriarty. Jack, who's only claim to fame is the Murder of female prostitutes, is depicted as a dark figure with a bloody knife throughout the game. There is even a dead body on the front cover of the box.
Moriarty, although a murderer, was also a villian known for underworld crime. This latter theme could have easily been replace to make it more accessable for kids, and the murder aspect played down. I think the suggested agae of "9 and up" is rediculous. I believe strongly, content SHOULD be taken into account when these age recomendations are made. However as it is, I would definately not recomend it to other mothers for their children age 9.

Likewise am by no means a "puritanical" sexually repressed woman, but I find a lot of the disrespectful "oogling" art of women in some games not something I want my sons to think is "ok" way to represent women.

Also just to be clear, I have NO problem with these themes for adults. They have the education and maturity to understand these issues. In fact, once the kids have gone to bed I'm the first one to bring out BANG!

Just some thoughts for the day.
Heather Hughes

The Z Girl

Z added all her games to her Boardgame Geek user ID and rated them all. She gave about a third of her games a 10. Kids feel strongly about stuff. There is not a lot of middle ground. She also edited her own profile. I think she was a bit nervous about my seeing what she wrote about me, but I can't fault the child for being honest. Truth is, it made me laugh. At least she didn't say I drink and I smoke and I tell dirty jokes.

The upshot of this is that I took Z's games off my account, so I can sort through the adult and family games we have a bit more easily.

Sword & Skull

Played Sword and Skull with Z and Al today. Sword and Skull is a great mainstreamy, kid's game with a Talismany/Monopoly feel. I know some gamersnoots who think these type of games are a waste of time, and want their kids to play "intellectually challenging" Euro games. But kids just really enjoy these roll and move and get stuff type games. These games are really designed for kids to play with other kids. I think the -ology games may also fall into this category. I know Ghost really likes Dragonology: The Game. I am thinking of getting one of the -ology games for Z to play with the other kids on game club days.

So Cool!

UPS arrived today. The stupid game I got looks so cool. Z saw it and said, "Ewww! That's an ugly man game." I just finished going over the rules with Al. Now he's reading Z her bedtime story. As soon as he is done, we are going to kick some ass. Total bloodbath.

Shipping Notice

I got an e-mail that our group game order shipped. Only two of the games are mine, and both are nothing really special. One is a card game to play with some newbie gamer friends, and the other is a silly, inexpensive impulse buy. But it kind of makes up for the no Mordred until December.

That reminds me, I need to invite Ron & Holly over again to play. They want to play Ticket to Ride again. *sigh* Introducing newbies to games requires some patience, but it is worth it in the long run. I think Holly will be playing Railroad Tycoon in no time. I also have gotten friendly with our new neighbors, a nice goth couple with a little girl in first grade. I'm thinking of inviting the wife to join our ladies after school game group. Too bad Holly works full time, she would be a great addition to the group. Maybe we can get together in the evenings once in a while so Holly can join us.