When it rains...

So, Eileen and I had the best week last week. I worked all week, but I swear it felt like I was on vacation. It was so awesome.

It all started last Sunday, August 23rd, when we hosted my coworkers. It was the first time we had my coworkers over as a group with their families. Eileen came up with the creative idea of doing a "build your own pizza" night. The pizza was wonderful and everyone enjoyed making it and eating it. We laughed, talked and just connected as friends, not just coworkers. As an added bonus, I got to play chess with one of the sons and Eileen played the board game Jamaica with the kids too. It was a wonderful time.

Monday was normal, so I'll skip it. Tuesday night, Lisa spoiled us by watching Kaia overnight, while we went out to eat with our friends Jon and Kirsten (who are expecting their first baby soon). We went to Buddy’s Grill. It was good stuff as usual.

Then Wednesday night, we hosted a bunch of friends for a nice dinner. Eileen rocked it making French dip sandwiches and an awesome salad! Delicious! Afterwards, we played Egyptian Ratscrew (which is mostly a speed card game taught to us by our friend Christy). Then after that we played Hoopla (which is in the Cranium family games series). Love the food. Love the games. Love the people. Can't beat it.

Then Thursday night, Eileen went out with one of her friends, while Kaia and I kicked it at home. It was a solid night.

Friday night, Eileen, Kaia and I decided to go to Traildust Town on Tanque Verde. We just walked around, rode the little kids' train and carousel. Kaia loved the train. When the whistle would blow, she would move her arm while Eileen said “woot, woot”. While we were there we randomly ran into some more of our friends: Jon and Cara Hasbrouck, and their 3 month old daughter. We ended up talking for a while and eventually staying to watch the stunt show together. Random meetups with friends rock!

Then Saturday morning, we dropped Kaia off at the Conners and left for PHX with Michael and Lisa. We went to the new waterpark! The lines were really long, but it was still fun. We stayed the night at a Marriott Residence Inn. Slept in Sunday, did some window shopping and ate good food. It was so nice to just hang with Eileen without Kaia. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Whew. I’m finally done. What a week! Like I said, I worked all week, but I felt like I was on vacation since I got to hang with so many friends and family. We are ridiculously blessed.

Wired for Gaming

I recently came across this article in Wired Magazine. It is called "Monopoly Killer: Perfect German Board Game Redefines Genre". It speaks about how the now famous board game "Settlers of Catan" has revolutionized the board game industry.

Having fell under the spell of this Settlers board game several years ago, I can attest to the truth of this article. The best part about the article is that fact that it goes out of its way to point out why Settlers is so successful, and why it is so educational and edifying for families.

Here's some quotes from the article:

"Settlers is now poised to become the biggest hit in the US since Risk. Along the way, it's teaching Americans that board games don't have to be either predictable fluff aimed at kids or competitive, hyperintellectual pastimes for eggheads. Through the complex, artful dance of algorithms and probabilities lurking at its core, Settlers manages to be effortlessly fun, intuitively enjoyable, and still intellectually rewarding, a potent combination that's changing the American idea of what a board game can be."

"...but part of the reason we don't play much Risk and Monopoly as adults is that those are actually poorly designed games, at least in the German sense. Derk Solko, a garrulous former Wall Streeter who cofounded the Web site BoardGameGeek.com in 2000 after discovering Settlers, explains it this way: 'Monopoly has you grinding your opponents into dust. It's a very negative experience. It's all about cackling when your opponent lands on your space and you get to take all their money.' Monopoly, in fact, is a classic example of what economists call a zero-sum game. For me to gain $100, you have to lose $100. For me to win, you have to be bankrupt. Gouging and exploiting may be perfect for humiliating your siblings, but they're not so great for relaxing with friends.

Monopoly also fails with many adults because it requires almost no strategy. The only meaningful question in the game is: To buy or not to buy? Most of its interminable three- to four-hour average playing time (length being another maddening trait) is spent waiting for other players to roll the dice, move their pieces, build hotels, and collect rent. Board game enthusiasts disparagingly call this a 'roll your dice, move your mice' format.

Unfortunately, Monopoly still dominates. 'It's the Microsoft of our world,' Solko says. 'If I could wave a magic wand and replace all the copies of Monopoly out there with Settlers, I truly think the world would be a better place.'"

Anyway, I suggest you at least skim the article. It's chock full of good information about the wonderful pasttime of board gaming. Enjoy.

F5

or in the case of tonight, F6. Allow me to explain. Every First Friday of the month at Five Fifty-Five pm we have a game night. Well tonight could be called F6, because the first Friday of June happens to fall on the Fifth, and is still at 5:55. :) David started these game nights in January of this year.

The first hour or so can be a little crazy for us moms & dads because our kids are still up and having lots of fun with each other and/or are cranky, because they're hungry or tired. Around 7:30, most of the kids have gone home or are sleeping here.

Lots of different games going on (often simultaneously)... card games, strategy games, games that people here have invented, even some DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) every now & then. Tonight, I think a record was set of the most people thus far... 15 adults and 4 kids. We weren't expecting very many people tonight, so I was pretty busy making more food - they just kept coming... so awesome! I felt like it was a "real" party when 5 people walked in that I had never seen in my life (don't worry - David knew a couple of them).

It's about 9:15pm and so far, there have been two games of Sabateur (card game), two games of Yes Master (card game created by BJ - one of the "gamers" here), one game of Acquire (one of my favorite board games), and one game of Gangster (board game). This'll probably go until midnight, so more games to come... I'm blogging now cause I just finished making food and am waiting for one of the groups to start a new game so that I can jump in.

Good food (every game night you can be assured that I will make California Club Pizza & have peanut M&Ms on hand - there's a lot more than that, but those are consistent), amazing people and fun games... join us anytime. If you'd like to be on our email list for F5 reminders, just let us know.