On new games received, and games yet to come

Happy Holidays one and all, whatever those holidays may be.

I will also specifically say Merry Christmas!  Not because because I am Catholic or Christian (though I do claim both identities), but because I have been a very good capitalist consumer this year, driving the global economy.  I have also been the beneficiary of a lot of other good capitalist consumers this holiday season.

I came to the realization a long time ago that, in many parts of the world, the Christmas holiday is joyfully celebrated for a myriad of reasons, many of them having nothing whatsoever to do with religion.  Whatever the Christian community may like to think, they no longer have sole ownership of the Christmas holiday.  While they may still claim origin and history (historians and scholars feel free to scoff at this, I certainly do) they cannot any longer claim ownership or control in modern global society. Society in general needs to realize and accept openly that Christmas is a secular holiday that has had religious influences and is celebrated differently by different groups.

On to more important things, like games and the aforementioned capitalist consumption.

Due to spending and gifts this year, the Koester Game inventory passed a significant milestone.  There are now 500 items in the inventory.  There have been a number of threads on BoardGameGeek talking about New Year resolutions for cutting back or culling excessive game collections.

Naturally I, along with most of the respondents, scoff at this.  We are gamers, not hoarders.  Embrace the obsession.

Some of the games received recently:

Tiny Epic Galaxies: Deluxe Edition - A Kickstarter that was long in coming and highly awaited.  The other two games in the series (Tiny Epic Kingdoms and Tiny Epic Defenders) are both awesome games and I fully expect this one to be the best yet.  Who doesn't like space games?

Musée - Art themed organization game with a dash of player interaction and bluffing.  Seems initially like a cross between Rack-o (classic that I enjoy) and that stupid briefcase money game on TV.  I don't mean to sound disparaging at all.  This looks like it will be a lot of fun, and the game itself looks fantastic.  It is classical art after all.

Minecraft Card Game? - The question mark here is not a typo or a measure of my level of doubt as to the games veracity.  That is actually the published name of the game.  Wife and son played it tonight as I was updating the inventory and it actually looks pretty fun.  Not complicated, mind you, but enjoyable.  You are doing exactly what you do in the real game, collect resources, build stuff.  The real unfortunate thing is that this means that I will only be able to keep the real Minecraft game out of the house for so much longer.  My son is getting old enough now that he does actually understand what the game is supposed to do and show some genuine interest.  Maybe I can steer him in the direction of real creative building and construction, as opposed to the cheat codes god mode zombie kill-fest that I see most kids using the platform to accomplish.

Crazy Cats - Fun little Haba game for young kids.  If you have small children and you want to get em into board games, go into your local game store and find the section of shelf loaded with all yellow boxes.  Pick two or three and get started.  You will not be disappointed.

Star Patrol: Carrier Commander - This was another Kickstarter.  The game did not look all that interesting, but it was a whole three bucks shipped worldwide.  I was more curious to see what he could actually pull off for three bucks a game.

Karnivore Koala -  I mentioned this Kickstarter in an earlier post.  I need to get it to more meetups and  with more people.  While it is good fun with two players, I expect it will be a riot with five.  To refresh memories, you play tribes of backstabbing, murderous koalas trying to hunt down a dinner of mutant critters.

Wombat Rescue - Is anyone seeing a theme here?  Technically this has not arrived yet.  It is sitting at the Oregon Postal way-station (read in-laws house).  This looks to be another cute one to play with groups and/or kids.  Oddly enough, I believe neither of these games were produced by Aussie designers.

Geoengineering 101 - This was a Kickstarter that I backed, albeit at a low level.  The project looked a little weak, but the concept behind the game was interesting enough back at a low level to get the pdf files for the game.  I finally got around to producing my copy.  The idea behind the game is that climate change is real and the effects are disastrous and happening now.  Players are engineers and world leaders planning mitigation steps.  Sometimes they help, often they have unforeseen consequences.  Eventually everyone loses.  The "winner" is the player that loses the least.

My final entry is for a game that I Kickstarted much earlier in the year, Evolution (with the Flight expansion).  I play this game frequently and it has become quite popular at the local meetup group.  Players in this game are developing species, assigning traits, with the goal of food consumption and survival.  An opportunity came up recently to apply to join a group a play testers for the next expansion, Climate.  I quickly applied and was accepted.  In the new expansion, there is the addition  a changing climate mechanic and new traits to offer protection and advantage in a changing climate.  I have play tested this expansion four times now and I can say it makes the flavor of the game VERY different.  It also makes each game far more variable from one to the next.  My initial thoughts is that it will greatly enhance replayability for those that like Evolution.  I will be very curious to see how this develops over the next few months.  I will also likely be writing a post at some point with more detail on the expansion and my thoughts.

On being home for the holidays...

As I look back on my early youth, holiday routines were, for a time, extremely predictable.  Thanksgiving was held by one paternal relative, with the extended family Christmas gathering held by the paternal relative that did not host Thanksgiving.  Even later when the extended family gatherings had ceased their predictable cycle, Christmas Eve and Day were always at home.  The Christmas Tree was always a real tree that sat one one particular coffee table.  Even the specific meals were part of the tradition.  Christmas Eve dinner was always a Steak and Kidney meat pie, and Christmas morning breakfast was always Eggs Benedict.  Prior to setting out on my own, this meal pattern in particular was deviated from a scant few times.

Now that I am looking forward to celebrating another Christmas Morning with my own family, I reflect on the importance of tradition.  We have established a breakfast tradition of our own with aebleskivers providing the centerpiece. While I dearly miss the Eggs Benedict, the new family tradition is something that everyone can point to as our own.

A quick note on Eggs Benedict and Hollandaise sauce.  I had resigned myself long ago to the idea that the art of a good Hollandaise sauce was wither lost in the USA, or my father did something special and strange in his preparation that I really can't do without.  I can say with great joy now that it is just restaurants in the USA that are lacking, because every time I have ordered Eggs Benedict here in Australia it has been utterly delightful.

Aside from the Christmas breakfast tradition, there are precious few things that I point to in my family that are real repeated traditions.  Especially this year, as we celebrate the Christmas holiday so far away from friends and extended family, this has been a source of some worry for my wife and I.  The cause is relatively easy to find.  While I moved once before the age of 18, as an adult I have been far more mobile.  Since I met my wife, we have not lived in any one house for more than three years.  It is hard to to put down routines when the background shifts that much.

With all of that in mind, I like to remind myself the most important tradition is one that has been maintained continuously from my youth.  Christmas Eve and Day are spent at home with the people that matter most, family.  One of my favorite sayings is "Home is where the heart is", meaning that hart is wherever one has family to share with.

Enjoy and give thanks for the peace of your home and the joy that family brings.  Also take a moment to give some thought to those who, for whatever reason, cannot be home during this holiday season. Share your own joy to the extent you can.

Now on to more serious matters...

For those of you that are not yet aware, meetup.com is a wonderful thing.  The basic premise of the site is to use the internet to get people to do things in real life.  For a gamer like me in a new environment, this is a godsend.  Tuesday night is my usual gaming night here in Melbourne, and the other regulars at this particular Meetup have come to expect me to show up with a few games from my personal collection to play and teach.

The timing of one's arrival at these events is more important that one might think.  Most of the regulars show up within 5 minutes of the opening, with the first games starting soon after.  This week I arrived about 15 minutes late.  This had real consequences on the games that I played and the other players with which I played.  With all of the regulars occupied, I got the stragglers. With the impending holiday, the general attendance was lighter than normal, so there were even fewer stragglers than normal.  These players also seemed to be unusually green and tentative.  Unfortunately most of what I brought to play consisted of more complex games.  The feeling that I was getting from these players indicated that I needed to keep the offerings simple.

Game 1: Lift Off! Get Me Off This Planet!

This is a cute little semi-coop.  Your planet is about to explode and you need to get all of your alieneeples off planet.  The semi-coop nature of the game comes from the fact that it is nearly impossible to accomplish this task solely on your own.  You need help, yet there is only one winner.  Our game ended in either a two or three way tie, depending on how liberally you read the rules.  Fun was had by all.

Game 2: Between Two Cities

This tile placement, city construction game moves so fast and is relatively easy to teach, so I suggested it next.  They picked up the drafting and placement mechanics pretty quickly.  It was a nice close game, and I came out on top.  I have to say that I won largely due to experience.  The other two players were less than efficient in placing the tiles and the scores suffered accordingly.  I am sure that will get better in subsequent games.

Game 3: Tsuro

The Game of the Path is one of my go-to games when I need something that is fast setup, fast playing, and takes little effort to teach.  Place a tile, follow the line, draw new tile.  Can't get simpler than that.  Played two games.  Fun had by all.

I watch my wonderful wife herd the stoned sheep that once were my children through the bedtime routine.  Once this is done, there should be, in theory, enough energy for she and I to play a game or two before we go to bed ourselves (and the real games begin).

What we eventually sit down to is an abstract that I picked up some time ago called Array.  You have a series of colored cards in your hand with 2, 3, or 4 colors on them.  Your goal is to add cards to the Array on the table by matching colors in your hand with open ends of the Array.  You can also chain moves together, slice the existing Array into two, as well as a few other moves.  First one to play out their hand wins the round.  Fun little game.  I could see it being more fun over many rounds and with more people.  My only complaint is with the cards themselves.  Odd shaped cards are always a pain to stack and shuffle.

Good food, good company, good games, good scotch.  It is a wonderful life.

On Tomato Sauce, the Reckoning of Time, and Abstract Games

One of the things that I am most proud of from by upbringing is my (albeit limited) ability to cook.  An oft repeated item on lists of "Essential Man Skills"is the ability to cook something well, even if (or especially if) your significant other is responsible for most of the meal prep.

I have been making scratch-made tomato sauce since I was old enough to safely reach the stovetop.  True to my teaching, I never really measure anything during the process.  This has a number of advantages and disadvantages.  While it does make for a more relaxed cooking experience, not being tied to a specific recipe, it has the disadvantage of a somewhat inconsistent product.  In general, what I produce has never been what I would call bad.  It also means that replicating some of the fantastic results irritatingly difficult.

Here is the basic procedure that I follow:

1. If meat (preferably Italian sausage) is to be put into the sauce, brown first.
2. Set meat aside, drain most off the fat. 
• Given the leaner nature of meat these days I have found draining to be unnecessary.
• My wife sometimes disagrees with this assertion.
3. Saute 1 finely diced onion until soft
4. Mince enough fresh garlic to kill off the local vampires.  Add to the pan and cook just long enough for the whole room to smell.  Take great care not to burn.
5. Add tomato paste to the pan and brown for a few minutes
• This is a trick I picked up from random cooking show on left.  It does make a big difference.
6. Deglaze the pan with red wine, if available.
• Do not skimp on this.  Little is good, more is better.
• Any red wine will do, as long as it is drinkable.  My recollection is that best results come from a Burgundy or Chianti. 
7. Add tomatoes.  If you are really ambitious use peeled, seeded, finely diced, fresh tomatoes.  I am rarely THAT motivated.  Quality canned diced tomatoes will do.  Let these simmer for a while.
8. Re-add the meat.  This is important to do before final seasoning especially if you are using italian sausage.  I also like to add fresh sliced mushrooms at this stage if available.
9. Season to taste.  This is where my real inconsistency is.  I always throw in some salt, pepper, basil, parsley, oregano, rosemary, and maybe some others depending on what I have on hand and what the sauce seems to need.
• Sometimes I find that a sauce just needs more tomato flavor.  The best fix for this is a Knorr product, Tomato Bouillon cubes.  This is miracle stuff.  Works great for chili too.
10. Simmer for at least 20-30 minutes, longer is usually better.  Add water from the pasta pot if it gets too thick.

When there are leftovers, do not under any circumstances let them go to waste.  It will always be even better the next day.

As I was packing up the dinner leftovers last night, I was initially looking forward to making the rest of the office smell my tasty yum-yums as I wolf them down with glee.  Then I remembered that I am on vacation and I don't have to go to work.  The following thought was the realization that I was not even sure what day it was.  I find it somewhat amusing that, despite the pervasiveness of technology around me (multiple computers, tablets, smartphones, smart watch), my conscious brain still primarily relies on my daily routine for its reckoning or time.  This gives me a certain amount of hope that, were modern technology to suddenly vanish, humans would in general be able to adapt and survive.

When it came to moving games half way around the world, I made a conscious decision to bring a fair number of two player games as I knew that the primary players would be my wife and I.  Many of the two player games on the market are in that interesting category called Abstract Games.  There is no real theme to the game, just pure strategy and mechanics.  Game for the sake of the play and nothing else.  The most classic examples in this category are of course Chess, Go, Backgammon, etc. I have to admit that these are generally not among my wife's favorite games.  She claims not to be able to strategize well enough to be able to compete with me in these games.  I usually counter that it is simply a matter of practice, and then sometimes remind her of the 2-3 abstract games that she does routinely beat me.  I also remind her that despite my apparent skill, I am also a terrible chess player (lack of practice, mostly), so it all depends on the game.

The game we attacked last night is one of my favorite abstracts, Terrace.  It is rather difficult to find as it has been out of print for quite some time, copies do show up periodically at thrift stores.  This is one of my favorite abstracts for a number of reasons.  First, Terrace will play either two or four players just as easily.  Second, it is simple to teach to new players.  Third, it has multiple formats.  There is a short format that plays in under 20 minutes.  There is also a long play format that can take over an hour to complete.  Fourth, it made an appearance on Star Trek: TNG. (Terrace is one of two that I own that have that distinction.)

My wife and I played two rounds last night.  Both played very quick.  During the first, I could tell that she was trying to get a feel for the mechanics again.  The second game was a much closer and I almost lost.  Given a few more games, I suspect that my wife would have won at least one, at least in the short format of the game.

Enough of that for today.  I need to go finish Christmas shopping for the wife.

On Hot Weather and the Effects on Motivation

It has been hot down here lately.

When I first came to Australia at the tail end of the last summer, I was optimistic to what the following two years was going to bring with regards to weather.  I should have known better.

Back in February, everyone I talked to was complaining about the unseasonably cold summer.  For Aussies, this meant high temps in the low 80's F.  The paramedics were all bored at the Australian Open Tennis Tournament, as they did not have any heat stroke victims to treat.

This year has already been noticeably different.  This October was the hottest start to a summer season on record.  There have been multiple days north of 40C (~105F). The apartment we are living in has no air conditioning.  Twenty years ago, I might have been able to survive without under these conditions.  Twenty years ago I was hardened by Iowa summer conditions, where a week of 95F with 85% humidity was not uncommon.  I grew up under these conditions with no air conditioning.  In addition, the conditions here are better in that there is less humidity (generally) and the apartment is exposed to no afternoon sun.  Unfortunately, I have been partially spoiled by the temperate nature of the Pacific Northwest.  A couple mild summer years has removed all tolerance for heat sans air conditioning.  As such, the portable air conditioner has been ordered and should be delivered in a few days.  As I said, I should have known better and done this weeks ago.

Fortunately, it is not so hot that it removes the motivation for gaming.  We had a very nice session with the boys today.

First game- Exploding Kittens

This has become one of my eldest son's most requested games.  It is a simple enough game, and he does actually get most of the strategy.  What he does not get is most of Matt Inman's jokes.  That is fine for now.  His favorite part of the game is the Nope cards.  These are essentially interrupt cards that allow you to cancel another player's action.  In particular he gets a kick out of the concept that you can Nope another player's Nope, or even Nope that Nope.  Anything that produces 7 year old giggles like that is ok in my book.

Second Game- Lift Off: Get Me Off This Planet!

This is a semi-cooperative game by Eduardo Baraf that I Kickstarted some time ago.  I was actually on the verge of passing this one by, but my wife intervened saying that it looked cute.  After a number of plays, it is actually quite a lot of fun.  The game is rated for 2-5 players, but I would say that 3-4 is the sweet spot.  As a two player game it is rather boring, but perks up a lot when adding the third player.  My only other irritation with the game is that there can be something of a runaway factor.  Once one person gets ahead, it can be nearly impossible to get caught up, much less win.

Third Game- The Dinosaur Game

This is a roll and move game designed to teach some pretty basic concepts of dinosaur adaptability and survival.  The names and traits that are assigned to the dinosaurs are accurate (near as I can tell), an there is not so much science that it overwhelms the rest of the game.  For my eldest son, nothing in the game is new information simply because he has the entire series run of Dinosaur Train memorized.

What the hot weather does affect significantly is the motivation to cook dinner.  Compounding that was the fact that we also are in dire need of a grocery run.  As such, we decided to go out to eat.  Most of the time this means fast food.  For whatever reason (or simply for that reason) fast food did no sound good.  So we hop a tram (I love Melbourne transit!) and head in the direction of St. Kilda Beach.  Normally this would have been a relaxing endeavor, even with three kids in tow.  Unfortunately, it was raining.  That also meant that all of the relatively convenient outdoor seating was out of commission.  

We eventually duck into a cafe and site down to dinner.    Al told, it was not too bad.

Drinks - decent.  My wife's wine was quite good.  My gin martini was pretty good, albeit not nearly as dry as I had ordered.

Kid's Meals - decent. Sausage with fries and baked beans or steamed vegetables.  What was likely turkey sausage was ok.  Fries were quite good.  Baked beans tasted canned.  Steamed vegetables were excellently prepared, but there was enough cauliflower on the plate to kill an army.

Wife's meal - very good.  She got the Cannelloni.  Tasted very good, but there was no meat in it.  That almost always takes dishes down a notch for me.

My meal - ok.  I got the Duck and Chorizo on tomato Risotto. Duck was dry (an impressive feat in my experience), and the risotto was undercooked.  Other than that the taste was really pretty good.

We got Garlic bread too,  but that was late in coming and was nothing impressive.

All told, I almost wish we had stayed home and had leftover curry.  But that would have meant that I would have had no caffeine in the morning and that is just unacceptable, even if I don't have to go to work.

On Sickness, New Toys, Games, and Resolutions

Hello again.

For those of you who have ever embarked on a period of extended or periodic writing, you know the trials of getting started.  There is an initial burst of activity and motivation, that quickly wanes.  It takes a dedicated support structure, a true passion, or pathological stubbornness to keep going.

Sometimes a combination of all three is what actually manifests.  We geeks are, if nothing else, variable complex critters.

Now a portion of the preceding was intended to make the following excuse seem less lame.  Part of the reason I have not posted anything in the last couple weeks is that I was ill for a significant portion of that time.  I do not get sick often, and it is even rarer for an illness to prompt me to take days off from work.  I should have gone to the doctor sooner than I did (the act of swallowing was uncomfortable or painful), as the prescribed penicillin helped in short order.

Quick tangent on the subject of medications.  If a doctor prescribes 10 days of treatment, take the entire regimen, especially when it comes to antibiotics.  There are few things in this world that are more dangerous than self-diagnosis.  Never stop taking prescribed medication just because you feel better.  If you do you are contributing to a possible world apocalypse.

Not kidding at all here.

And I told you this blog would be random at times.

On the subject of toys.  I recently received a long awaited gadget.  I backed a project on Indegogo some time ago for the AfterShokz Trekz Titanium headset.  This is a new Bluetooth headset designed for the active lifestyle (not even remotely why I backed it).  What caught my attention was the technology behind the product.  The headset uses bone conduction transducers, rather than traditional speakers to deliver sound to the listener.

Aside from simple curiosity, there were practical reasons behind my interest in the product.  One of my irritations with my previous headsets was that the in-ear nature of the speakers had the effect of blocking out nearly all of the ambient sound.  Now before anyone says, "Well, isn't that the point?",  I should clarify a couple things.  First, sometimes full environmental noise blockage or cancellation is a good thing, airline flights for example.  Second, for me at least there are far more situations where it is helpful to be able to listen to music AND be able hear the world around to.

First case in point.  Life in the big city.  For the active person in the big city, the daily run or bike ride and be a treacherous undertaking when one is unable to hear simple things like traffic.  Since the Trekz Titanium leaves the ear canal open, you will be able to hear the bus before it hits you. (Something that is of genuine concern if you don't have a Ring of Protection vs. Buses)

Second use case.  Throughout my technical career, I have found it to be essential to always have one ear open to what is going around the office.  In general it is the people who have the best grasp of the "big picture" who are able to do their jobs and contribute to the organization most effectively.    While this can be interpreted by some managers as a lack of focus, those same managers will likely not notice this because they are too busy being amazed by your unusually broad comprehension of operational subject matter.  In addition to leaving the ear open so I can hear what is going on, more people come to me with questions/discussions because it does not look like I am either on the phone or otherwise distracted.

If anyone is interested in getting a set of their own, you can pre-order via the link above.  For the tech geeks out there, here is a link to a specs page.

Games we have been playing:

The illness interrupted my game a day efforts for a bit.  Not too concerned yet as the goal was intended to be a New Year Resolution.  December is just practice.  Or at least that is what I am telling myself.

Takenoko:  Introduced this one to my son with a couple plays recently.  The basic concepts of moving toward specific objectives are within his grasp, so now it is just a matter of getting him to multitask, as with this game, you almost always need to be working towards a number of objectives at the same time.

Forbidden Island:  Wonderfully simple Co-op game.  Played this recently with my wife as a quick 2-player game (we won handily).  I need to get this out with my oldest son as well.  I am pretty sure he will have fun with it.

Poison: a Knizia classic.  Got this one out with my wife and son as well.  The basic mechanic is simply counting.  You put colored, numbered cards into cauldrons, with each able to hold cards totaling 13.  A player who exceeds that gets all of the cards in the cauldron.  You generally don't want cards, unless you have the most of a given color.  Poison cards are always bad.  My son can count, but the intricacies of strategy and planning are going to take time.  The wonderful thing about this game is that intricate strategy can quickly fall apart and backfire, allowing the simple approach to win, as my son found out when my game collapsed and he ended up winning.

Viticulture with Tuscany Expansion:  This is one of my personal favorites and by some measures one of the best worker placement games ever.  It has proven to be very popular at the weekly Meetup, so despite the weight I continue to regularly haul it with me.
Here is the list of expansion modules that are part of my Meetup play set:

• Mamas and Papas
• Advanced Visitors
• Properties
• Extended Board
• Structures
• New Visitors

Some things that I would like to do in future games.  First, I would like to pare down the stacks of visitor cards.  There have been a number of discussions on BoardGameGeek on matching the list in the Essentials edition of the game.  I like this idea.  Second, I would like to start using the special workers.  To date, I have avoided them as the additional rules would be too complex for new players (usually everyone at the table save me).   My efforts have been paying off in that I have been seeing repeat players at the table for a number of weeks now.  Now my be the time to turn up complexity just a bit more.

Gobblet: Classic abstract game from the Red Orange library.  We have both the Junior and regular version.  I have started playing the regular version with my 7 year old.  He is getting much better and is able to win about 1 out of 5 games.

On the indoctrination of children....

On the Indoctrination of Children...


In the inaugural post I made the (potentially-self defeating) declaration that I wanted to spend the entirety of next year getting more use out of my game collection and to that end set the goal of playing at least one game a day for that year.

Accomplishing this goal is going to take more than a little dedication from not just myself, but the entire family.  The fact is that there are simply not enough game meetups to meet the requirement, and even if there were, attending them would negatively impact the aforementioned family.

Fortunately, my game collection is, I believe, up to the task.  Even taking into consideration the fraction of the collection that was moved down under with us, there is enough variety there to keep all players engaged.  This was, of course, part of the calculus that went in to deciding what games were moved in the first place.  We intentionally moved some key kid games, and quite a few two-player games for my wife and I to play together.  I would like to note however that the choices made were not perfect.  There are a few 5-6 player games that I relegated to storage because I foolishly thought that I would not be able to find enough willing players during my two tear tour in OZ.  Fortunately, there are others with a copy of Cosmic Encounter here, and I will relish my games of Rex that much more upon my return.

Now, back to this evening, and the children.

My kids are aged 7, 4, and 2.  I have learned to approach these creatures differently when it comes to games and the ultimate goal of moulding them into dedicated gamers themselves.

The youngest, for obvious reasons, is largely excluded at this point, though my wife has had some success in introducing games like Yahtzee Junior to her in combination with the older two.  But for the most part, her presence in or near games is destructive, either figuratively, literally, or both.  While she does sho interest, her interest involves claiming pieces for her own, scattering pieces randomly, or just demanding enough my my wife's attention that I ultimately lose her for the session. As such, the common strategy is one of distraction, either with a flashy screen, or food.  Anyone who has toddlers knows that even this is never 100% successful.

The older two are much easier to deal with, mostly.  The four year old is at least capable of recognizing patterns and understands the concept of taking turns ( an essential life skill, by the way and one of the chief reasons it is critical that ALL children should be gamers ).  The seven year old has the same skills to a higher degree, with the addition of some concept of forethought and strategy.

What is lacking in both (sometimes more so in the elder) is focus and attention span.

Case in point.  We played two games this evening.

First game up was Sequence for Kids.  Box rated for 3-6 years old.  The elder son was fully into the game and understood the goal and the strategy.  The four-year-old was getting hung up on the having to keep track of his cards and did not quite grasp the concept that he needed to hold them so as to hide them from the other players.  Baby-steps.  The other lesson learned was for the elder son.  While he was into the game, his focus was entirely on this train of thought and his actions, to the extent that he had to often be reminded that it was his turn.  I have been trying hard to teach him that watching what the other players to is VERY IMPORTANT.  It not only helps you retain interest, it is instructive on how to play the game better.
Two rounds were played, my wife won one, the younger son won the other (if only because I did not capitalize on information gleaned from aforementioned child's poorly hidden hand of cards).

Second game was Pirate's Treasure from Ravensburger.  This is a game that I picked up quite some time ago at a thrift store but to date had never gotten it on the table.  For those of you that are unfamiliar with the game, it is somewhat like Battleship, but with a few twists.  It is primarily a memory game.  The players arrange 30 tiles face down for one of their opponents.  The goal is to move around the field, revealing tiles, and looking for certain key tiles in sequence.  A die roll determines how far you can move, so there is a certain amount of luck/unpredictability to where you go.  That luck factor is what makes this more than just a game of Memory.
For a game that is rated age 7+, I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun it was.  My son was into the game, and it moved fast enough that he did not have enough downtime to zone out.  Since the map is set my the players, there is the potential for some interesting doublethink were this to be played by four adults.

Final result for the evening, indoctrination proceeding according to plan.

The Wandering Sysad Gamer Approaches.....

Welcome Everyone to the Gaming Adventures of the Wandering Sysadmin

My name is Adrian.  I am a former High School Teacher, UNIX System Administrator, Hobby Gamer, and general all around ubergeek.

I have been considering starting this kind of online journal (sorry, I despise the term blog) for some time now.  Some recent adventures prompted me to get off of my ass and just do it.

Several months ago I had the opportunity to move to Melbourne, Australia for work.  This involved a major work shift for me, going from a software support position (which I have never really liked) to a professional services position.  The insanity of this project is something that I will likely rant about in future posts.

Aside from work, the other major implication of this adventure is the impact that it has had on my gaming.

In the process of moving to the other end of the planet, there were some key decisions to be made.

First, the game collection had to be limited.  It would not be possible to move the entire game collection (board, video, or RPG)  Regarding video games, I left most of them behind, as my primary obsession has been on the board game front.  Most of the physical copies of the RPG resources were left behind as well, as I have digital copies of virtually everything.  That and I was not really looking to get into a new RPG group during my relatively short tenure (2 years) in OZ.

The Board Games were the real issue.  The collection at the time of the move was pushing 400 items.  I knew at the time that I wanted to move things that would actually get played.  As such, I narrowed the collection down to my favorites, some of the kid's favorites, and some small games that travel well.  All told I moved about 20% of the collection.

After the move, of course, the collection continued its growth rate (Damn you Kickstarter!).  This is not inherently a bad thing, but it does create some storage headaches in my small apartment.

So, after that rambling introduction, here is my goal in all of this.  I would like to have a record of this and future adventures.  In addition I have resolved in the new year to get more use out of my extensive game collection.  To that end, I resolve to play at least one game every day.  I will endeavour to document many of these plays, especially if the fame is new or particularly interesting to me.  Interlaced with these gaming posts will very likely be some of my personal ramblings on whatever subject that my be on my mind at the time (religion, politics, anime, scotch, food, etc.)

If any of that sounds even the slightest bit interesting, stay tuned.  There is more coming.