Yehuda

BGG.con Friday

2009-11-21T00:18:00.004+02:00

More info

Rachel is scholar and residence in Dallas this shabbat (not a coincidence). She landed in Dallas at 1:00, at the same time that I found my good friend Chris Brooks. Chris let Rachel crash for an hour in his room, and then I introduced Rachel to Aldie, Derk, Mischa, and Ted. Then the shul Rabbi picked us up and drove us to our hosts.

Dallas has a lovely Jewish Ortho community and it's growing.

Games played

Tobago: An Essen game, this is a neat game, light but doesn't feel insubstantial. You play cards that narrow down the possible locations of treasures on an island, and then you run to pick them up, splitting the values between the clue providers and the picker upper - but not simply splitting. I will write a lot more about it, but I enjoyed it, nearly completely. It had one irksome mechanism, which is the one where you can collect tokens that give you extra turns, and then spend them all at once. Not a good thing. But a minor problem, and easily corrected.

I lost pretty soundly.

Dominion Intrigue x 2: Only DI cards, and I learned to hate the Saboteur (and won against it anyway, so there). I won one, and lost the second.

Prototype 1: I'll fill in the guy's name later when I find it: he's from New Orleans, and the game was like hex using d4s, where you kill two nearly adjacent d4s by putting one equally their total in between them. The game was flawed, unfortunately, and the designer agreed with me.

Triumvirate: A small self-published game, I wasn't thrilled with it, though I only played a third of a game - it felt longer, though it was only 15 minutes. The problem is that it was very repetitive. I also felt like I got screwed with luck, but recognize that I may not have played optimally to counter the screwage. You might like it if you're looking for a light card game reminiscent of a trick-taking game.

Prototype 2: Micha's prototype, the game worked, at least, but there were some physical problems to work out, and I'm not enthused about the game play, yet. But it's mature enough that I think it could work out. I'm hoping to give him some constructive feedback on Saturday night.

Also, I forgot to mention yesterday that I played Age of Scheme, a fairly clean train + stock + merger game, not as frustrating as some similar efforts (where you cannot catch up if you're screwed), and it plays fairly quickly, too. The name is a deal-killer, however. It was remade into something sensible, I believe.

BGG.con Thurs

2009-11-20T09:09:00.006+02:00

More info and pictures

My computer decided to start working again, so I'll write while I can. Games played today:

Russian Fish

This is Go Fish for six players (possibly more). The 8's are removed from a deck of cards, yielding 8 sets of 6 cards in each suit (high clubs, low clubs, etc). All cards are dealt out.

On your turn, IFF you have a card from one of the eight sets, you can ask any of your opponent's for a specific other card from that set IFF you don't have that specific card. For instance, if you hold the 9 of diamonds, you can ask opponent B for the jack of diamonds. You can't ask for the jack of diamonds if you already have it, and not if you don't have one of the top six diamonds. if you get the card, you get to ask one of your opponents for another card, using the same criteria. When you ask for a card and don't get one, the person whom you just asked gets to ask next.

Whenever it is your turn, you can score a set if you and your teammates have all six cards of the set AND you can name exactly in which hand each of the six cards of the set are. Which means that many of the questions you and your teammates ask will not be to acquire a card, but just to inform your teammates (indirectly) about which cards you don't hold (and therefore, which card you do hold).

It's pure memory, and very difficult. It's not my type of game, but I know a lot of kids and other families who would like it a lot.

Our team won.

Le Havre

I very much wanted to try this one, even though I know the game is priced somewhat higher than other games in this weight category. But it was supposed to be comparable to Agricola. I like Agricola, though I'm not as big a fan of it as some people are; Puerto Rico is still a better game, by a good margin,

Le Havre does have some elements that compare to Agricola, but it seems more like Caylus in certain regards. It's a fantastic game, and easily better than the somewhat awkward Agricola. I'll try to describe it at a different time. Suffice to say I think my group would absolutely love it. I may need to swallow and splurge.

I came in second out of four with 92 points (the winner had 108).

Finca

I head this was a nice light into game, and it turned out to be a nice light intro game. Too light and simplistic for my group: scoring is too direct. Feels a little like Thurn and Taxis, from which is borrows a few mechanisms. But not a bad time. Again, more description later.

I cam in third out of four. Don't remember the scores.

Power Grid: Special

I played on someone's original version of the power grid board. I forget the name of the designer and of the special version.

The rules were the same as the regular game, with the following exceptions: There are four "island" cities that only have spaces in rounds 2 and 3 (for 15 and 20, respectively). The cost to connect to them is high (between 27 and 42), but you MUST have a plant in one of them in order to win the game.

I inherited a position around turn 3 or so, and it wasn't a particularly good position. The game was pretty much going to my RHO, until the last round, when my LHO foolishly bought a plant, "just because", which gave me access to a much better plant, AND opposite opponent failed to block the locations I needed to win. I had 16 cities, compared to no more than 14 by anyone else, but it was more their loss than my victory.

Dominion: Intrigue

I squeezed in a game of this. I came in second with 28. Maybe I'll write more about this later (but I doubt it).

Greed Incorporated

This is a Splotter game, and anyone who knows Splotter knows that their games tend to be longish, very creative, but ultimately flawed (I heard this was not true of Indonesia, but I don't know). This game is no exception. The object is to take your personal money and buy doodads for points. But you can only get personal money as payoff for being fired from your job as executive of a company. And you can only get fired if your company makes less this year (round) than it did in some previous year. So your job is to build a company to make a lot of cash, then burn it out so you get fired and steal the money from the company on the way out.

It's not at all bad, but quite unintuitive. I was halfway through the game and I didn't understand the reasons for doing anything I was doing. It finally clicked somewhere. But that's where it breaks down.

Because in order to win, you have to buy production not for the profit it generates, but so that you're guaranteed most payout when the company collapses. And then, only the people blamed get fired, which is a bad dynamic, as you can't blame yourself. That leads to kingmaking decisions at various points in the game. It's fulled with promising mechanics that don't seem like they get used very much, since they're not relevant to actual game success.

It could be that we were doing something wrong, or that further plays will elucidate our mistaken ideas of how the game is supposed to run. But it was already a long game, and the payoff wasn't big enough to warrant another play. Certainly not for a game costing over $100.

Though I was initially losing, I came in second due to some insights in the game flow during the last four rounds.

BGG.con Wed

2009-11-19T06:57:00.003+02:00

For more information, see my Purple Pawn entry.

Games I saw a lot of, so far: Tichu, Race for the Galaxy, Endeavor. Mischa brought me kosher food from New Orleans. Yum.

After helping set up, I played some games:

Peeper: Ted Alspach demonstrated this ladder-climbing game from Korea for me, Rick Thornquist, and Marshall. The game uses tiles, instead of cards, and his version was a deluxe version. Tiles go from 1 to 15 in four colors, as well as four X tiles, which are either 16s (when played alone), or jokers when played with something else. Valid plays are a single tile, pairs, ladder pairs, or straights of three tiles or more. Three and four of a kinds are bombs, which must be played on your turn.

Each round, each player scores one negative point for each tile left in his rack after someone goes out. We played to 50 points, and I won handily.

Tarantel Tango: Ted then demonstrated this new game from Essen. It is a silly party game. Each card has one or two animals and zero, one, or two spiders. You have to play your cards quickly, making the sound of the previously played animal and playing your card on the correct pile. Various kinks thrown in for good measure. A barrel of laughs for those that enjoy this sort of thing.

Automobile: I was hankering to play this and managed to find a spot in a five player game. It's a Martin Wallace game, what more needs to be said? A lot of worker placement, tight money, player interaction, painful results for miscalculation - but not TOO painful. With a scant three actions each round, in four rounds, you need to build factories, produce cars, and either get them to distributors or meet the market demand. As players buy plants, older ones become obsolete.

Tight, fun, dry.

Last Day in Oxford; Next Stop BGG.con

2009-11-18T09:26:00.000+02:00

Visited the Oxford Gaming Club to play a little more Magic. This evening, attendance was low and people had to go early, so we didn't play an entire draft and Swiss rotation like we did last time.

I started with a game of ... I don't remember the name. Oops. I thought it was The Great Wall of China by Knizia, but the description on BGG doesn't match what I played. Here's a description: A partial map of Italy (I think) divided into 17 areas. Each player gets 6 cubes. The object of the game is to win 6 areas, or any 4 contiguous areas.

There is a deck of cards, with various numbers of tan cards valued 1 to 10 (missing some numbers, I think). In addition, there are several special cards, such as a red 10 unaffected by other special cards, a red 1 that gives you control over where the next fight will take place, winter which cancels spring and changes all yellow cards to value 1, spring which cancels winter and gives a 3 point bonus to all highest valued cards, a raven that lets you take back a card, a cross that ends the round immediately (winning the current battle for whomever is currently in the lead), a drum that doubles all your card values, and others.

The play is like Havoc: each player continues to play cards, one at a time, until everyone passes. Once you pass, you can't play any more cards. The winner is the player who has played the highest total value. Every player then redraws back up to 10 cards plus the number of areas he or she already controls (the rich get richer).

I lost a few rounds because I didn't know what I was doing. By round 4 or so, I knew what I was doing. I lost one more highly competitive round, but then took 4 of the next 6 rounds, winning with 4 contiguous areas. The cross cards are deadly, and the drums nearly as deadly. The ravens are worthless.

It was ok. It worked, but it wasn't anything special. Kind of like Odin's Ravens or Traders of Carthage.

Next up I played a few games of Magic. I didn't have any cards, and we weren't drafting, so I played against a guy using one of his decks against one of his other decks.

My deck was WUG with Allies, which are very powerful. So powerful that I beat him while he was playing what he said was the stronger deck. We switched decks, and now I was playing BRG with a number of strange combo cards, such as cards that do damage to your opponent whenever your opponent tosses a card, and many cards that cause everyone to draw and toss cards. This time he won with his "weaker" deck, but I may have played my deck incorrectly, as the cards were all new to me.

One more game against a different opponent, this time with cards that had the new ability to give +1/+1 to any of my creatures until the end of the turn if it attacks alone. And since nearly every card I played had this ability, I did quite well. Especially once I got out another card that gave me a second attack round each turn; at which point I discovered that not only did I get +X/+X for my first attack, but +2X/+2X for my second attack (since the ability triggers twice and lasts until the end of the turn). And some of my creatures were unblockable. My opponent played an Elf deck, which is more annoying than effective, though it was close. He kept gaining life equal to the number of Elves he had in play, but I was still doing more damage than he could gain. Even when he played some Planeswalkers, all of which I believe are terribly overpowered.

After game night, I came home and played Scrabble with Rachel. She had two bingos to my one, and she also scored well with a double triple-letter X. Final score was around 400 for her to 320ish to me.

Airport

Now in the CVG airport.

I bought the ticket for this flight together with my entire international ticket, but my travel agent warned me that this particular leg to Dallas wouldn't be counted as part of the international ticket, so I would have to pay extra for my luggage (and wouldn't get the usual two free pieces). When I called American Airlines last night, they told me not only this leg, but also my leg to Toronto from Dallas wouldn't be considered part of my international flight, and I would have to pay extra suitcase allowance for that leg, too.

When I checked in this morning at the airport, the machine let me have two free suitcases on this leg, after all. I suspect that that's what will happen again when I check in for my flight from Dallas.

There was no one else checking through security; no one at all. Just me and six TSA agents. Out of boredom, they took a little extra time to pat me down (upper body only).

Yehuda

Slices of Heaven

2009-11-16T19:07:00.005+02:00

I'm usually the one who leaves his cell phone (or overcoat) in the airplane lounge. It wasn't me this time. I gave the phone to the agent at the gate, and it turned out to be the guy sitting in front of us.

Dante

Sunday morning I walked down Broadway, ending up at Kosher Delight. It may be fast food, but nothing beats a real New York hot dog, followed by a dish of Chinese beef and snow peas with fried rice.

While I played hooky, Rachel gave a successful talk at Lincoln Square Synagogue, and then we met at Port Authority to travel back to Cincinnati. The plane was a little delayed, and the gate was changed at the last minute; we were taken out to the tarmac, driven over to the new gate, directed back into the airport, asked again for our boarding pass, and then sent back out to the tarmac and onto the plane. Everything else went well; I didn't even get picked for the random extra security check.

More and more games are ponying up the minimum $75,000 fee to appear in Skymall's catalog, including some that I can't imagine will recoup their investment.

We arrived a little late in Cincinnati but made our way over to a night of entertainment so wonderful that I still haven't caught my breath.

Cindy sings and plays guitar and fiddle perfectly, just like she does on her albums. Grey is also wonderful: beautiful flute and tin whistle, fiddle, concertina, and harmonium, as well as harmonizing with Cindy's singing. I could happily listen to his music for a lifetime, but despite his great talent, I hope he won't be offended when write that it's Cindy who I find to be most incomparable: her melodies and her voice enter your body and soul like a hot cup of tea on a stormy New England night.

They work very well together, and should not be missed.

Grey, Cindy, and me

Rachel and Cindy

Storms

2009-11-15T08:09:00.004+02:00

Continental CVG to EWR

Rachel foolishly scheduled a Skype interview for 3:30 pm, which meant that we had to be at our destination and connected to the Internet by that time. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 11:30 from CVG and arrive at 1:30 in EWR (Newark). We reserved a service to take us to NYC from the airport - more expensive than AirTrans, but hopefully faster. All told we should have arrived at our destination at 2:10 or so.

I'll give you a moment while you clean up the coke you just snorted out of your nose and onto your keyboard.

I should have know what was in store for us when I saw this at Continental's boarding counter:

I'm pretty sure those went out of production in the 1970s (that's a TI Omni 800 series 810 RO).

Our flight was officially delayed by 1/2 an hour, and unofficially by an additional 1/2 hour. We left at 12:30, scheduled to arrive at 2:30. The delay was due to storming in Newark.

There's no storm like a storm experienced in a small airplane. The plane rocked back and forth like a boat in choppy water. We descended through clouds, descending and descending with nothing but white outside the window. I was sure we were going to land and still not be able to see anything. But some visibility did return at about 1,000 feet.

Our right wheels hit the pavement, then the left wheels. Then the right wheels left the pavement, then the left wheels. Then the reverse, and so on a few more times. But miracle of miracles, we landed.

We disembarked at 2:45, with only hand luggage. Our driver was quite good, and we only had traffic when we got into Manhattan. Breathlessly, we arrived at out destination at 3:25, paid the driver, and off he went. The apt number was E. The numbers on the door read 1 to 10.

Luckily Rachel had her cell. Turns out that she wrote down the wrong address: not 20, but 201, and not apt E, but apt F.

We walked the two or three blocks, arriving at 3:45. Luckily we were able to contact the interviewers during the walk.

New York Shabbat

We davened at Lincoln Square Synagogue (which is in the process of building a new building one block south from its current location). We stayed with, and ate with, wonderful families. Dinner was with a couple and their three wonderful children, with whom we sang and Rachel waltzed during dinner. After, we stayed to play Bananagrams and Anagrams.

I was stuffed. I got even more stuffed the next day when I ate at three kiddushes at shul, two with kugels and cholent. And then even more after another incredible meal.

Thank you for hosting us, wonderful families of New York.

Saturday Night Odyssey

Rachel's plans had canceled on us, so I contacted my good friends Yitzchak and Avigayil at the very last minute to "do something" on Saturday night. I poked another friend who didn't answer me back, but maybe I'll get to see her Sunday morning.

Saturday night, while my friends were scrambling to get the family in the car and drive in from Teaneck, I searched around for something that still had tickets available. We missed out on a lovely looking Irish dance thingie, but managed instead to score tickets to a production of Shakespeare's Pericles at American Theater Actors (54th and 8th). We had no idea if it would be any good.

I enjoyed it, but it was amateur theater. Of the cast, some of them were not very good, while others were quite good (Pericles was good). One was a substitute for this evening, and read half of his lines out of a copy of the play he held. There was no production or costuming to speak of.

The real trouble was the play, not one of Shakespeare's best plays: misogynist, confusing, rehashed plot materials from his other plays, and no standout lines that I can recall. Still, I enjoyed the night out, some of the acting was good, and I could usually follow what was going on.

On the way back, we walked past Lincoln Square.

We then spent an hour trying to find something kosher and open at 11:30 pm in the area. We finally had some H&H bagels at their warehouse store on 80th and Broadway; no place to sit. But darn good bagels. They deliver internationally.

To NYC

2009-11-13T15:47:00.004+02:00

We're off to NYC for the weekend. Rachel was invited to give a lecture in honor of Malka Bina, director of MaTaN, on Sunday morning. I have no idea where we're staying and what we'll be doing while we're there (Rachel does), but I know we'll have barely a moment to breathe.

We fly back on Sunday afternoon to go straight to a private, intimate folk music concert on Sunday evening by Cindy Kallet and Grey Larsen, given in honor of donors to some charity, and hosted by Grey's mom. Yowza.

Shabbat shalom.

A Revolution With Momentum

2009-11-13T05:00:00.005+02:00

I met Philip duBarry over delicious kosher vegetarian Indian food in Cincinnati.

Philip is the designer of Revolution!, now published by Steve Jackson Games. Here's the official site and BGG entry. His blog, Starting a Revolution, documents the trials and tribulations of getting his game to market.

Revolution is a pretty looking Eurogame. It's a blind-bidding area control game. There are seven locations on the board, twelve different things on which you can bid each turn, and three different types of currency (force, blackmail, and money).

Each round, you secretly allocate your coins to the twelve things. Each thing is resolved in order, with the player who allocated the most for the thing getting the thing: one or more coins, cubes in a location, points, some special action (such as swapping two cubes on the board), or (usually) a combination of several of these. If two players tie for a thing, no player wins the thing. All bids, win or lose, are lost to the bank. At the end of a round, pick money until you have a minimum of five coins of any currency.

Continue until all locations are filled. For final scoring, the player with a simple majority (plurality) on a location gains all the points for the location; other players get nothing. If there is a tie, no one gets anything.

It looks great, and I'd probably enjoy it. My game group is not big on blind bidding, but we love area control. I was trying to think how to change the bidding to something a little more open, such as worker placement or card play. It should be possible.

Philip also showed me two prototypes. The first was a worker placement game set in ancient Palestine, with mechanics partially based on the Caylus building mechanics. It looked interesting, if a little divorced from the theme. The second was a card driven area control game of influencing King Henry, which looked exactly like the type of game my group would go for. I hope I can get a copy to play-test when it's ready.

He's got yet another prototype under consideration at a publisher, and it also sounded good. If these games live up to their potential, Philip is going to make quite a name for himself in the Eurogame designer world.

I was going to give him a copy of my game, but he already had a copy; my publisher had sent him one.

Session Report, in which Abraham uses a crooked die in Stone Age

2009-11-12T16:54:00.003+02:00

The latest Jerusalem Strategy Gaming Club session report is up. Games played: Stone Age, Power Grid.

BGG.con prep:

I'm flying in on Wed morning and out on Monday morning.

It looks like I'll have a convention-wide game for 900 simultaneous players ready for BGG.con again this year. It's similar to the one I ran two years ago, but somewhat less complicated. And hopefully the rules will be printed on the cards this time.

I only sold/bought one item in the math trade, leaving me another 5 items to get rid of or lug back to Israel. Make me an offer.

One nice thing about the math trade is that I guessed the trade percentage correctly and won some kosher food, which means I will be set for food at the con without having to bring a lot of my own or traipse into Dallas to buy some.

I have a second bed available for Thursday evening, only, at the Days Inn across the street, if anyone wants to share.

And one more thing: As usual, I'd like to pick up spare Magic cards for my game group: commons or uncommons or unpopular rares or whatever. Anything from the last five years. People are often willing to give me a couple hundred cards for free, but I'll pay up to $0.02 each.

Yehuda

I Can't Give You Water Because We Sell Water

2009-11-12T03:11:00.007+02:00

Or, Adventures in Cincinnati

Half-Priced Books

I drove along small roads, because I couldn't figure out how to get onto and off of the major highways. Cincinnati's highways look like an overturned bowl of spaghetti. Look at your hand with your fingers spread out. That's what the end of I75 looks like, only, each finger has another hand coming off of it, some fingers merge back together, and there's no telling which ones go left or right around the bend.

Driving the small roads was, aside from a lengthier drive, a tour of the underbelly of Cincinnati. It's not pretty, at least the part I drove on (mostly Rt 27). But I discovered a Half-Priced Books. I loved the Half-Priced Books in Dallas. This one was ok, but only a third of the size of the one in Dallas.

I used to buy a lot of audio media: now I cycled through the records (my player doesn't work anymore), the cassettes (too fragile), and the CD's (I'll get these on occasion), and discovered that I'm really not in the market for audio media anymore. It's not that I don't listen to audio. It's that I can find any song for free, legally (a video, a promotional website). And, more importantly, I have access to so much music today, that I don't need any one particular song. I like genres of music now, not particular songs or artists. OK, I still like some artists more than others, but there are so many great artists that I'm not going to miss any one if I don't have their music.

That left games and books. I found one or two things I would consider reading, but nothing I would consider buying.

Newport on the Levee

Newport on the Levee promised shopping, an aquarium, movies, and I wasn't sure what else. Not really a fantastic choice. I think the zoo or Krohn Conservatory would have been better bets (and there's supposedly some downtown fountain area that I don't know much about).

Parking was $2, which was fine. I hit the aquarium, which was $20, which was about 50% too expensive.

It's a nice aquarium. Nice setups, interesting fish and slimy things, with the occasional out of place display (what's an owl doing here?). Staff are friendly. But it's smaller than I was hoping for. No jumping dolphins or whales, no sea shows. Little in the way of hands on exhibits. In short, it was worth $10, not $20.

Some pics:

This display included "four-eyes", little fish that hover at the surface of the water like submarines, their bubble eyes only above the surface, with split vision below the surface as well. You can't really see them in this picture.

I've got Australia and I'm going to wait you out.

Hiss.

Bark bark. (These animals go a bit crazy in here.)

Meow.

Birds at an aquarium. Whatever.

This guy was mammoth, and was slithering his way through the electric cables in the ceiling, crunching the light fixtures in his way.

The jellyfish display was the nicest part.

Freaky.

A shark ray, pretty rare. She just got a mate, and they are trying to play matchmaker.

Lawyers.

One of the few hands-on displays, you could pet these sharks.

Help, I've fallen and I can't get up. (Which reminds me: What did Jesus say when he wasn't allowed into the Disco club? "Help! I've risen and I can't get down!")

The gift shop through which they force you to walk was ok, but there was only one game on display: Oceanopoly. Hey Z-Man! Try sending them a few copies of Reef Encounter. Actually, I think I'll write to Zev about it.

It's Not Me

After the aquarium I went to the attached mall, which is mostly a waiting room for a multiplex cinema. Not much here, but they had free wifi.

Here is what life is like in America, for those of you who don't know:

Me: "I'd like some water, please."

Pleasant counter person: "I'm sorry. We sell bottled water, so I'm not allowed to give you water."

Me: "The sink is right there. There's a plastic cup right there."

PCP: "I'm sorry. It's not me. Those are the rules."

Me: "You realize that this is not good for PR, or for business?"

PCP: "It's not me."

Me: "Thanks, bye."

PCP: "There's a water fountain right over there."

Me: "So you can't sell me water, but you can point me to the water fountain?"

I sat down and connected to the wifi, but my battery was running low. There was a plug on the wall, behind a stand at which you stamp your parking ticket if you've been to see a movie, so that you can get some of your parking money back. The stand was not really close to the wall or the plug.

I plugged in.

Pleasant Mall Worker: "I'm sorry, sir, but you can't be back here."

Me: "I'm just plugging my computer in."

PMW: "It's not me. They just don't want anyone behind the stand."

Other than the mall work staff, there was no one else in the mall.

Me: "... Ok, I'll just sit here, a few feet away and not actually behind the stand."

PMW: "That's ok then."

I sat on the floor near a doorway into some shop, Christmas lights dripping over my head. Unless they stick a turkey into the manger, I think Thanksgiving decorations are no longer functional. Out came a shop worker.

Pleasant Shop Worker: "I'm sorry, sir, but you can't sit here. You're blocking the shop door."

Me: "I am?"

PSW: "Yes, it's not me. They don't want anyone blocking the door, so that people won't trip."

I scooted a few inches back toward the stand.

Me: "How's that?"

PSW: "That's fine. It's not me, you know. That's the rules."

Game Night at Yottaquest

Yottaquest is a game store in Northern Cincinnati, run by an amiable and well-loved guy named Matthew. Goodman Games chose it as America's favorite game store in 2009. They have plenty of space for gaming, and a newsletter.

And they have good taste in games (note the game on the left).

There were some 20 to 25 people gaming ...

All night gamers playing Descent ...

Euro gamers playing Power Grid ... (including me. I trounced them, playing somewhat unusually. I started with plant 4, and then, seeing the competition for cheap places to build, I rushed to build more cities than I could power. No one contested me for early high capacity plants. That let me rush through to stage 2, and pretty much end the game while others were scrambling for capacity.

The player on the left gave me the most competition, but he hung back in cities, not expecting me to push through to stage 2 so quickly.)

Playing Dungeon Lords ...

Playing Endeavor, which I really wanted to play, rather than Power Grid.

And, in the back room, playing miniatures ...

And role playing.

After Power Grid, I played a filler card game for 2 to 6 players called Alice and Wonderland Parade. The game has zero to do with Alice and Wonderland. It is a simple avoidance card game like Geschenkt.

There are 6 suits, each with cards numbered 0 to 10. On your turn, you add a card to the end of the parade and draw a new one from the deck. You then may have to take cards from the back of the parade and place them in front of you (negative points). You take cards as follows: Let's say you place a card of value N with a color of C. E.g. a 7 Red. You ignore your own card and the most recently placed N (7) cards in the parade. For all other cards in the parade, you take all cards of value N (7) or less, as well as all cards of the same color C (Red) as your card.

The game continues until the deck is exhausted, and then all players play one more turn without drawing any new cards, which leaves them each with four cards in their hand. Each player chooses two of these cards (simultaneous select and reveal) to add to their board in front of them. Then points are counted.

Count the face value of all cards. However, in any color in which you have, or are tied for, the most cards, you score only one per card. Lowest score wins.

On first play, the mechanic, like Geschenkt's, appears to be brilliantly balanced. There are no good or bad cards, but how you play them is quite interesting. It plays quickly and for up to 6 players (though I suspect it is best with 3 to 5). I loved it.

The cards were really thin and pathetic, unfortunately. I'll probably just play it with my set of Sticheln cards. Sorry, designer/publisher. And what's with the meaningless theme?

After this, I joined a Dominion game. Several games had already been played throughout the evening. We played with a mixture of cards, but many were from Seaside, with which I have no experience.

I got thoroughly trounced. The set contained very little in the way of bonus coin value; only Pirate Attacks gave dependable coinage boost, but I didn't recognize that until too late and they were all gone. Some other cards let you draw Silvers and so on, but the Pirate Attacks just robbed them away from you, especially in a five player game where you might be hit by three attacks by the time it's your turn again.

There were also no bonus actions, except for the Pearl Diver, which didn't do enough.

I ended with 6 points, while everyone else had at least double digits. The winner had 24 or 26.

I showed some people how to play It's Alive, but, again, I didn't see how it went, and, again, they didn't choose to play it a second time. Hmmm...

Another nice group of people and some fun gaming.

Gaming in Dayton

2009-11-10T04:28:00.004+02:00

Dayton's game group generally only meets on shabbat, which would preclude me from attending. Perhaps in response to my request for an alternative day for gaming while I was in the area, or simply by coincidence, one of the gamers - Bruce - held a day of gaming in his house this past Sunday.

Bruce. Note the three shelves stacked with games behind him.

Although Bruce's house appears on Google Maps if you know where to look, searching for the street, or the cross-street, or any other street nearby only yields locations in other parts of Dayton. I managed to find his street on GM only by visually tracing the directions he gave out on the Dayton gamers mailing list (directions which were not otherwise helpful to me, as they assumed an origin from the north) until I located his street. Then I clicked the street and asked for "directions to here". At which point GM grudgingly admitted that the street existed, and spit out the directions.

Upstairs, from sometime before I arrived at 2, until sometime after I left at 7, four or five people played one of the Axis And Allies games.

Football games were shown continually and in succession on large screen TVs upstairs, and smaller screens downstairs.

Downstairs a group was playing Chaos in the Old World when I arrived.

When I left, some of these same people, and some additional ones, were playing Battlestar Galactica.

I saw a copy of Dominion Intrigue, and although I already have a copy waiting for me in Toronto, I wanted to get in a play. It also played quickly and for two to four people, which would make it convenient while I waited for others. We played four players: myself, Jim, Bruce, and David. I think. I may have the names or people wrong.

Our kingdom set contained none of the new hybrid kingdoms, which made things a little less confusing. There were a number of cards that looked quite good but that I didn't get to play: such as the card that gave you two of +2 coins, actions, or cards, depending on the top two cards in the deck of the player on your left.

I played Upgrades and a lot of trashing. After a dozen turns, I still had around 12 to 15 cards, just none of them were Estates or Coppers. I also trashed curses as they came in. I also played another card that we misplayed: I read it as giving you +4 coins if you trash an Estate, but you actually have to discard the Estate, not trash it. Oops. Luckily I'm not the only one who played it incorrectly.

I began drawing Provinces well ahead of everyone else. I won, but a little closer than i would have liked. I had 36, David 29, Bruce 22 or so, and Jim, who had played the original much less and seemed to have some trouble grasping the game gestalt, finished with 3 (13 less 10 curses).

After that we briefly considered a few games that could accommodate 6 players (or splitting up into two groups, or not letting Bruce play) and settled on History of the World.

I'd played once, and wasn't too impressed, it being a dice-based combat game, and a fairly long one at that. However, I was willing to play nearly any game, so long as it wasn't Fluxx.

My opinion of the game went up a notch; ok, it's more enjoyable than Risk. And the game experience was certainly fun, since the group of players was good company. However, the game is still inordinately luck based. You don't lose too much when you lose as defender, like you do in Risk, but failing to win combat as the aggressor is just as painful as it is in Risk. Furthermore, so much depends on the kingdoms you draw in each of the seven rounds, and there is far too little control about that.

Whatever, we had a good 3.5 hours rolling the dice and moving our counters on and off the board. I rolled fairly well most of the time. Bruce rolled fairly poorly most of the time, and he still equaled my score. Jim and David both shined. We only made it to the end of the fifth turn. It was running late, and one of the players had to go. Our points ranged from 115 to 95, with me tied with Bruce for fourth and fifth place at 100 points even.

The players were nice, and the day was enjoyable. It was good to meet them. Unfortunately, I didn't get to show off It's Alive. And I didn't get a chance to see anything else in Dayton.

Hueston Woods State Park

2009-11-09T06:44:00.003+02:00

Some 20 minutes north of Miami University, Hueston Woods State Park is a small lake surrounded by short hikes and picnic grounds, riding, boating, a small nature center and a small beach. The park is entirely tame, the hikes are very simple. Yet it's a very beautiful spot.

Alien brain pods scattered around the park.

We spent the morning walking some of the trails. Rachel likes to get us lost on purpose during a hike. She was happy. We were never lost for very long, though the trails are not well marked.

Silvoor Biological Sanctuary

2009-11-08T07:07:00.005+02:00

Friday I walked around the Silvoor Biological Sanctuary ...

One of several plaques

Rickety bridge

I also stopped at the University Coop bookstore, which was a waste of time for anyone not interested in either U of M branded memorabilia or textbooks.

Sat afternoon Rachel and I started a Scrabble game, but she quit about halfway in, when it was clear she was losing. She was also playing with the most liberal two-letter word list I've ever seen (included CE, VE, VI, and others that are not generally accepted).

A Trip, But Not a Vacation

2009-11-06T14:29:00.003+02:00

At least, not yet.

Every other time I've traveled, I went out every day, camera and curious eye ready to see and report on something new. This trip, I've just been holed up in the house, working, just as if I was in Israel. One town is really like another with your head down over your laptop, brother.

Even shabbat is going to be here, in Oxford.

I can't let next week pass this way. As soon as the important work is done, I have to get out on the town.

Yehuda

Session Report, in which they play Fluxx while I'm away, thank God

2009-11-05T14:25:00.003+02:00

The latest Jerusalem Strategy Gaming Club session report is up. Games played: Fluxx, Amun-Re, Tichu.

First of four sessions at Nadine's house, while I'm away.

When Did Lectures Become Entertainment?

2009-11-05T13:55:00.003+02:00

I guess I always saw "lectures" listed next to movies, dance, theater, and so on, but somehow I never connected them to entertainment.

I must be an adult.

Seeing how Rachel prepares for her "performances", having prepared my own, having gone to a lecture about Darwin's influence on American culture last night, and recalling all the TED presentations I've now seen, I am now connected to the fact that lectures are entertainment. One man/woman plays.

Even more: lectures are verbal blogging. A post in a series of posts and responses in the continuous global forum.

Oxford Pictures

2009-11-05T03:57:00.006+02:00

First pictures of Oxford. I haven't gotten out much, yet.

Just outside of Oxford is a small lake. We stopped at the lake to tovel some dishes and silverware.

Rachel

Rachel tovelling

Off the side of the street on which Rachel is living, Silvoor Lane, Oxford

View down Silvoor Lane, towards Chestnut Street

Reverse view down Silvoor Lane

At the beginning of Silvoor Lane, there are steps down to the Silvoor Biological Sanctuary; I haven't explored it, yet

Fall colors on the Miami University campus

A Halloween banner on Dodds Hall

Leaves on grass

Xylophone players; in the background, hundreds of students practiced some kind of half-time show for a sporting event

A percussionist

The Ohio license plate reads "Birthplace of Aviation"

A Game of Thrones players at the Miami University Strategy Gaming Club

Pathfinder players at the MUSGC

Magic players at the MUSGC

Miami Magic and the Missing Mana

2009-11-04T05:35:00.004+02:00

Student life is vibrant at Miami University. Buildings and houses are still adorned with Halloween decorations. Banners call passersby to dances and performances. Students outside are engaged in discussion, music, and performance.

I met up with the Miami University Strategy Gaming Club, which meets Sunday and Tuesday evenings. The group started with wargaming and RPGs back in the mid-seventies, and was revived again by, among others, Dave Chalker in the late nineties/early aughts. Unfortunately, I didn't keep notes and so don't recall anyone's name (they were all nice people, however).

Five or six people played Pathfinder. The GM used his computer and an overhead projector to display the battlefield, and he positioned the virtual PCs in their locations, including such enhancements as line-of-sight, and so on. They all seemed to be having fun.

Three people played board games, from a stack which included the long and complex - Game of Thrones, Twilight Imperium III - and the very chaotic - Fluxx, Munchkin, Junta, etc, with nothing in between. There were no middle of the road strategy games like Settlers or Puerto Rico. I opted out of playing any of these. Later in the evening I convinced them to try It's Alive, I have no idea how it went over, except that they didn't play it a second time.

Around twelve people, including myself, played Magic: the Gathering. Eight of us played a tournament. We "booster" drafted from a collection of excellent cards from the past five years or so. Many rares and powerful cards in the lot, as well as some key commons such as Incinerate and Terror.

The remaining players played a Magic variant where you can play with any cards you want, but with only one of each card in the deck and a minimum deck size of 100 cards. Kind of bizarre.

All the players are regular players, with up to date knowledge of all the cards and how to integrate current strategy and tactics. My last analysis of Magic was around 4th edition, though I've played with the commons and uncommons of many of the sets since. None from the last year or so, however. I expected a) to take a much longer time drafting and playing than any of the other players, and b) to lose badly. But it looked like a challenge.

It's tough drafting when you have no idea of the relative worth of the cards you're seeing. And when of the fifteen cards from which you have to pick, four or five of them are simply awesome. I drafted nearly entirely black/red, with nothing but direct damage, creature kill, mana diversity and boosters, and fliers. I played a little light on land, only 15, plus some mana boosters, but it was also only a two color deck, and it was hard already leaving out cards that killed multiple creatures. Back in my hometown, the deck was unbelievably strong. How would it hold up here?

Against my first opponent, the answer was "fantastic". In our two games, I took maybe four points of damage in game two. His problem was, his deck was a control deck that used my creatures against me, but I had very little in the way of creatures. So he sat empty while I killed what he played and burned him down. I was surprised at my easy victory, and got a little cocky. Needless to say I lost the next two matches.

Both of them were very close. I went 2 games to 1 against both opponents, and in one of each of the games that I lost against each opponent I had him down to 1 point.

In my second match, my opponent played white, blue, and green. I lost the first game because he got out a nifty combination of cards: one imprinted a creature from his hand, so that, every round, he could pay its mana cost and bring out a copy of that creature; and the creature he imprinted was a Clone.

This also depended on me playing creatures he could use, but not entirely; he could target his own creatures as well. I got stuck. I also misplayed, having a hard time wrapping my head around the combination, and ended up giving him my cards to copy at the wrong times. He managed to clone one of his own creatures that let him draw two cards whenever such a creature came into play. He was drawing so many cards, he had to toss.

I won the next game, but lost the third from not having enough mana in my deck. I considered adding more mana to my deck, but I was reluctant to toss anything.

In the third match, I won the first game; he played a black and white deck, with multicolor splash. He knocked me down to 10, but I killed everything he had and then burned him. In the second game, I was a little light in mana, and he got out better cards, too many for me to control. In the third, I simply didn't draw lands until it was far too late. So I should have thrown in another land or two, after all. Die and learn.

Still, four games won and four lost, is not bad.

Where the golden grain dwarf the lovely flowers

2009-11-03T22:42:00.004+02:00

Cincinnati international airport is not, in fact, in Cincinnati. It's not even in Ohio. It's located in Boone County, Kentucky It's not owned or operated by Boone County, Kentucky. Kenton County, Kentucky, which owns and operates the airport, makes a boatload of money off of this strange arrangement.

It's a pretty country, and it reminds me in many ways of the outskirts of Ithaca, NY. Still, there is something depressing about rural America, and its homogenized stream of endless car dealerships, fast food restaurants, strip malls with cheap plastic and metal objects, supermarkets with 60 different types of processed everything, small farmyards, and churches.

This is just the outside. Inside, most everyone is polite and kind. Even the no-nonsense monotonous troopers at the BMV (Bureau of Motor Vehicles) were polite. Thick-headed, but polite.

Rachel tried to get her photo taken for an American driver's license, but their policy is that everyone has to have uncovered hair for the photo. As a religious Jewish woman, naturally she objected to this. To which we were told that there is an exception for Muslim women, but not for Jewish women.

Way to turn respecting a religious difference into a case of religious discrimination, guys.

Any idiot could see that the same principle should apply here and get on with the photo, but the clerk had only heard of Jewish people putting head coverings on in synagogue, and so wasn't convinced that this was an actual religious problem. She still wasn't convinced after being shown both an Israeli driver's license and a Canadian passport, all with pictures of Rachel with her hair covered.

Four phone calls later to various supervisors, and she was given the go-ahead to let Rachel take the picture with her hat on.

Rachel's car insurance was willing to cover my driving the car under my Israeli driver's license (which I can do so legally for 1 year), but only if I got an Ohio driver's license as soon as possible. No problem. I scheduled the first available driving test at the BMV, which will be on December 2. I'm leaving Ohio November 18.

I'm hoping to hit the Miami University strategy game club this evening.

Ups and Downs

2009-11-02T17:42:00.003+02:00

At Ben Gurion:

"Do you know why you were pulled over for additional checking?"

"The four bottles of wine in my suitcase?"

"Perhaps. How long have you owned this suitcase?"

"I don't know."

"A week? A year?"

"At least a year?"

"Have you loaned it out to anyone recently?"

"My wife. My stepson."

"Anyone outside the family?"

"No."

"Where did you get the wine?"

"My wine rack?"

"Did someone give you the wine to take with you on the plane?"

"I bought them at Supersol."

"Did anyone hand you something to put into your suitcase?"

"No."

"Any strangers ask you to take something, or deliver something for them?"

"No."

"Did you leave the suitcases alone and then see someone dark and mysterious lingering around them?"

"No?"

"Anyone run up to your suitcases, shove something in, cackle maniacally, and run away?"

"Uh ..."

"Anyone throw something into your suitcase while you were packing it and then dive for cover under the nearest garbage can, screaming "Allah Akhbar!"?

"..."

"Anyone with a pencil thin mustache slip something in while he thought you weren't looking, look evilly out the window, and, speaking in a low, resonant voice, say, "Revenge shall be mine! Nyeah nyeah!"?

"..."

"Did my cousin Itai give you something for me? He owes me two hundred shekels, the big oaf."

----

Security quick, but I was briefly pulled over due to my bringing four wine bottles.

At the airport used the free wifi to chat with Rachel and blog. Went through PP control and then filled my water bottle.

No lines. Boarded 55 minutes early (actually, I waited until 40 minutes early, and still no lines).

Everyone's personal screen worked except mine. Mine just kept crashing and rebooting. I can tell you that the computer for my screen was running a Red Hat Linux system build 540060-212, v1.02 compiled November 19, 2004. Platform SDU I386. A five year old OS; no wonder. During compilation, loader.c kept throwing multiple errors.

Guess they wanted to save money on the screen systems. They must have wanted to save money on heating, too, because it was freezing, and meals because dinner was a sandwich and breakfast was kind of sparse, too. Everything else went smooth enough.

At Newark:

I arrived at 6 am, with a flight leaving at 7:55. Despite all the roughness that now crept into my journey, I managed to get through everything, eventually.

Luggage carts are $5. It took a while for my luggage to come out, and then I dragged it around the corner to check it back in again. They told me to go up to the fourth floor and check it in directly through Delta, which took some time. Fine.

Delta decided that I needed a new printed ticket, and not the electronic one I already had. So they printed a new one, which took some time, and I went through to security (remembering to empty my water bottle first!). Either due to Israel, or receiving a last minute ticket, I was "randomly" screened to receive the extra security check.

Aside from taking off everything, they swab various parts of your luggage to test for traces of explosives, then wand you up and down, physically poking every part. Then they do it by hand, which includes turning the waist of you pants out.

This my second random screening; the first was in Dallas four years ago. Now, as then, the screener asked me if this is what it was like in Israel, as they heard Israel had tough security screenings. I said no; they ask more personal questions and then screen those who they feel are suspicious. They don't just pop up numbers and take random people. The guy said "oh". As I left, an elderly guy with a cane of some 80 or 90 years was being pulled over for the "random" security test.

That took some time. I still managed to make it to my gate 10 minutes before boarding. Checked wifi, but it cost $8 to connect. As I was boarding, they didn't like the cardboard boarding ticket I had, and gave me a new paper receipt. That took some time. Eventually we took off in the tiny plane.

In Cincinnati:

Need to wait two hours for Rachel to pick me up. Battery power running low and I forgot the American electrical adapter for my laptop. Wifi is free.

The Countdown Roundup

2009-11-01T18:47:00.008+02:00

I've been counting down the days to see Rachel on Facebook. For those that don't have me in their Facebook feed, here is how the last 84 days went:

84 days to go
83 days to go
82 days to go
81 days
80 days
79 days
77 days
76 days
73 days ... if you're keeping track, this only proves that I don't know how to count. (P.S. I will see Rachel on Nov 2) [I skipped two days inadvertently]
72 days
71 days
70 days, or exactly 10 weeks
69 days
68 days, which is also the name of a pretty good band
67 days, which is also the number of days that some random couple Kyle and Stacey will be goofing off in Orlando, FL, courtesy of the Orlando Visitor's Bureau, starting today.
66 days, which is also the number of days that some freak took to swim the Amazon river.
65 days, also the name of another pretty rocking band "65 Days of Static"
64 days, also the amount of time it took two guys on bikes and a documentary crew to cross the US. The documentary film For Thousands of Miles is in post-production and will probably be released under CC. The "making of" is vlog'd and called 64 days.
63 days, which is apparently enough time to run 63 marathons to raise awareness for ataxia-telangiectasia.
62 days, or the average gestation period for a cat (according to some sources, for some cats)
61 days, also the number of days it took to shoot the movie E.T.
60 days, or the longest period of time that would not necessarily include a complete month.
59 days, or the entire lifespan of the shortest-lived vertebrate, the Eviota sigillata aka seven-figure pygmy goby.
58 days, or how long it took 11 year old Zachary Bonner walk from Atlanta, GA to Washington, DC to raise awareness and money for homeless children. Zach is in sixth grade. He's been doing social work since hurricane Katrina, organizing over 2,000 schoolbags for children, running 24 homeless awareness events, and now plans to walk coast to coast. Little Red Wagon Foundation is his NPO.
57 days, apparently enough time to circumnavigate the world solo, in a sailboat
56 days, or 8 weeks, enough time to make this. After 8 weeks, an embryo becomes a fetus.
55 days, also the name of a movie (55 days at Peking) about the Boxer Rebellion, where 130,000 Chinese attacked foreign embassies to oust them from China.
54 days, which is the average length of time that a Brit spends snogging in his or her lifetime.
53 days, also the name of a rock band - not bad, a little like a number of other nineties bands, but not quite as good as any of them, I'm afraid
52 days, or how long Gedaliah ruled before he was assassinated.
51 days, or the number of days that the sun doesn't rise in Northern Finland.
50 days, a Shavuot. Or a Pentecost or a Whit Monday. Or a Sigd (50 days after Yom Kippur, celebrated by Ethiopian Jews). Or a Feast of the First Fruits of Wine (mentioned as 50 days after the Feast of Weeks in the Dead Sea Scrolls, but not observed by anyone today).
49 days, 7 weeks, apparently enough time to learn to speak Portuguese
48 days, which is how long Siddhārtha Gautama sat in meditation under a Bohdi tree before reaching enlightenment (on the 49th day), whereupon he became The Buddha (some say 49 days).
47 days, which is how long the Matisse painting "Le Bateau" was hung upside down at the MOMA, until a passing stockbroker pointed it out; 115,000 other visitors and the museum staff hadn't noticed.
46 days, Phish. 'nuff said.
45 days, a documentary film about Demon Hunter, a Christian rock group.
44 days, a film about skiing.
43 more days of annoying Nadine Wildmann with this countdown.
42 days since she left, 42 days until we're together
41 days, apparently enough time to run 5000 km (3100 miles)
40 days ... hmmm, if only there were something biblical that happened in 40 days ... nope, can't think of anything. 40 Days is an album by the kick-ass Canadian singer-songwriter trio, The Wailin' Jennys.
39 days, enough time to reach Mars using a 200 MegaWatt VASIMR ion rocket engine
38 days, too long to be lost at sea
37 days, also a blog about living by a woman whose step-father lived for 37 days after being diagnosed with lung cancer
36 days, enough time to fight the Battle of Iwo Jima
35 days, 5 weeks. Five Weeks in a Balloon was the name of Jules Verne's first novel, and the beginning of his Extraordinary Voyage series.
34 days, or slightly less than 3,000,000 seconds (2,937,600)
33 days; if you tell one person today, and then you each tell one more person tomorrow, and so on and so on, then in 33 days the whole world will know
32 days, sing it Carmen Fraser
31 days, or how long it took Ford to pardon Nixon
30 days. Enter to win fa-bu-lous fashion prizes in 30 days of fashion.
29 days, JW Jones: We'll be kissing in 29 days, you know it's true.
28 days, a Hollywood movie about alcohol addiction that I have a mild desire to watch someday
27 days, an EP from a decent band called Erase the Grey, which the record label didn't market enough
26 days, also endured by Brad Ward, who, in 2008, survived an incredible 26 days without his IPhone (you can donate to other IPhone-less sufferers via his site)
25 days, also a song from a strange but wonderful twee pop group Hello Saferide
24 days, enough time to lose $19 billion (from the time Skilling resigned to the total collapse of Enron)
23 days, also a song by country music group SheDAISY, a trio of sisters from Utah
22 days, also a song from the 22-20s, often described as a cross between Jimi Hendrix and The White Stripes
21 days, or 3 weeks. Three Weeks is a magazine about the Edinburgh Festival and associated festivals. I want to go, someday.
20 days, also an organization that helps UK citizens make the most of their annual "only" 20 days vacation (in Israel, the minimum is 10 days)
19 days, still too long. Also too long to spend with a peanut butter jar stuck over your head.
18 days, also an upcoming cinematic and video game franchise about the Mahabharata from Grant Morrison (Mahabharata is an ancient Sanskrit text, part of the Hindu lore, that emphasizes the number 18; Morrison is a prolific comic artist and writer)
17 days, also enough time for Scientology to kill a woman by denying her psychiatric care.
16 days, also a song by Whiskeytown (fronted by Ryan Adams)
15 days, also a song by Kyle Alden. Kyle sounds a lot like so many other wonderful folk music singer-songwriters traveling around the country, under the pop music industry's radar.
14 days, a fortnight. An essential element of the FFF system of measurement.
13 days, long enough to throw the world to the brink of nuclear war (the length of the Cuban Missile Crisis).
12 days ... this is a hard one. I'll give you three of them ... one, two, three
11 days, if only they would pass as quickly as did Sept 3 to 13, 1752
10 days, also a series of fun games from Out of the Box Publishing (makers of Apples to Apples)
9 days! [Absolutely ... Story of a Girl]
8 days! From a cartoon the Beatles didn't like, featuring a song the Beatles didn't like.
7 days! [One Week, BNL]
6 days! [Jerusalem of Gold, The Six Day War]
5 days! [Patrick Nuo - Five Days]
4 days! [Humble Pie - Four Day Creep]
3 days; holy crap only 3 days. This is from the most famous 3 days of peace and music.
2 days! A movie I hope to see with Rachel [2 Days in Paris]
1 day ... enough time for over 23,000 children to die from preventable problems: water-borne disease, hunger, malaria, diarrhea, premature birth, respiratory infection. Over 8,000 children, over 24,000 people total, die every day due to malnourishment.

Now blogging from the airport ...

Final Prep

2009-11-01T13:47:00.004+02:00

Last night I tried to check-in online only to discover that El Al didn't recognize my ticket number. It took until 10 am today before I cleared that up: between the time that I bought the ticket and today, the flight number had changed and the time had moved from 10 am Monday to 12:05 am Monday, and they were supposed to issue me a new ticket. Somewhere between El Al and my travel agent, the new ticket didn't get to me.

Luckily, I still had my flight reservation, and all I needed was the new number. No window seats available, though :-(.

Today I signed a 12 day rental lease with people who will be coming and leaving the apartment while I'm away (hopefully, the Pardes student also staying in my flat while I'm away will be able to help deal with them). Deposited their check, wrote a check for American dollars. Called Maccabi to get health insurance, since it didn't seem likely that Rachel would be able to get me covered under her insurance. Gave up on using my cell phone.

Packed, including all the games I may need to trade in the BGG.con math trade. If I don't trade them, maybe I can sell them; only it will probably cost me more in luggage allowance than I will make in the sale. Also submitted my requests for the math trade.

I was supposed to be lending my car to someone whose wife is in the hospital and really needed it to visit her, but I haven't heard from him, yet.

It's now 2 pm and, aside from a shower and preparing emergency food, I think I'm actually ready. The airport service told me to be ready by 7:45 pm. Maybe I'll even get some work done today.

Yehuda

Preparation Day

2009-10-31T23:27:00.003+02:00

Leaving for the airport tomorrow evening, 8:00 pm. My ticket id isn't being recognized by online early check-in on El Al's web site, which has me worried.

My Apartment

I'm letting a Pardes student stay in my apartment in exchange for taking care of the dog and general housekeeping. My kids will also be coming in and out.

Call Phone

My boss handed me a Verizon Kyocera K127 pre-paid cellphone with no cash on it. He said I might be able to add cash to it. I tried doing that online, but Verizon wasn't recognizing the phone number.

Called Verizon, and they said that my phone, which appears to be barely used and can't have been bought more than a few months ago, was now an older model, was locked into their network, would not work with their network, and that I should throw it into the garbage! Holy crap.

I'm bringing it anyway, just in case I can find a way to unlock it or upgrade it an a Verizon location.

Meanwhile, I checked the rates for my Orange cellphone, and, if I use their special long-distance call rate plan, I can avoid the 19 NIS/minute calling rate and call for a measly 9 NIS/minute, which is around $2.40/minute. Holy crap. No thanks.

Shabbat Gaming

Friday night I was able to help our hosts who had been playing Blokus incorrectly and found the game to be boring (they were playing two-player on a full board, one color each; the game always ended in a tie).

Saturday lunch I brought games to Mace and kids. Ksenia and two of the kids played Tigris and Euphrates, however they seem to have played it terribly wrong. I think they fought all conflicts, internal and external, in red, and Ksenia picked six tiles at the end of each of her turns, rather than back up to six as she was supposed to.

Meanwhile, Mace, Shachar, and I played two games of Dominion. We had a nice set: Moat, Workshop, Village, Throne Room, Festival, Witch, Lab, Smithy, Remodel, Militia.

I still struggled to get to 5 for a while. Shachar seemed to be doing better than I was. Eventually I started sailing, with the occasional Throne Room/Witch thrown in for good measure. Poor Mace ended the game with 10 curses. Shachar gave me a few, but I remodeled all but two of them. I won.

Mace wanted to play again with the same set, as he was just starting to get a feel for the game. Wicth was only used once this game. Once again I felt that I was starting slowly, as the other two both got to 5 and 6 several ties before I did. And still I managed a win. Didn't hurt having 15 treasure and a Throne Room/Remodel one round, which allowed me to toss two golds for two provinces and also buy another province in a single round. I was pulling my entire deck. Shachar was, too, but he just wasn't remodeling right. Or something.

Session Report, in which we have a new player and I get to play Santiago again

2009-10-29T16:50:00.003+02:00

The latest Jerusalem Strategy Gaming Club session report is up. Games played: Year of the Dragon, Dominion, Settlers of Catan, It's Alive, Santiago.

All the games were enjoyed by a lively group.

I tried to make an appointment to tour the US Playing Card company in Cincinnati, but they have no provisions for this and wouldn't accept me. They used to have a museum in their old location, but they didn't reopen it in their new one.

Any other suggestions on what important game sites to see in the Cincinnati/Dayton area?

Game Design Consultant for Hire

2009-10-27T17:17:00.004+02:00

I received the following email:

I found your name searching for a board game designer in Israel. My kids and I are working on a board game that is probably not ready to be evaluated. I wanted to know how much you would charge to sit down with me to discuss the development process ahead of us and get your recommendations on the best way to proceed.

I've reviewed many games, and I've told people what I thought of their designs, but I hadn't actually thought of myself as a game design consultant for hire. Still, we both figured that my advise was probably worth something.

I wasn't expecting much. On the other hand, the fact that this guy was interested in getting professional advice before investing time and money in developing the game was a sign that, at least, he didn't have self-aggrandizing stars in his eyes, like so many other wannabee designers do.

It turned out to be not a bad idea. Not my type of game (it's a party game), but it looked like it had potential: flexible, funny, engaging, pretty simple, sort of different but not too different from other games.

His big problem was his layering of overly complex wording in places where simplicity was called for, and overly complex components where frugality was called for. He already knew this, but apparently he needed to hear me confirm it. He was also as interested in the marketing aspects as he was in the game itself.

I suggested ways to simplify the components and rules, told him to stop thinking about the markets and expansion possibilities until he had a successful design, and told him to pick one audience and redevelop the game along these lines. If he makes progress while I'm away, I'll be doing more work with him after I come back.

I'm charging per hour. And if I end up making more detailed suggestions, I'll ask for design credit.