Renovating Your Zoo(loretto)

I've been in a conversation over on BGG about the expansions for Zooloretto... just thought I'd post my thoughts here as well. I divided them into three categories: expansions I've played, expansions I own & expansions I don't own.

PLAYED

• Three Extra Enclosures - this is 3 two-space pens specific to zebra, flamingo & elephant. They are available for purchase from the center of the board for $2. I'd combine 'em w/the Savings Book and/or the Petting Zoo.
• The Petting Zoo - the OP is right... probably the best simple expansion out there. The trade-off between cash & victory points is really nice.
• Polar Bear/Gorilla - I like these better now that I have 2 of them and it's not simply a crapshoot to see who gets the special power first. I also own King K, which offers a 3rd choice. All of these are single tiles which add a special power to your zoo - they are claimed by finishing your 6 space pen.
• Three Additional Buildings - we used these once & I wasn't overwhelmed by what they did or didn't do. Had to look up the rules on them a number of times.
• The Savings Book - an exercise in delayed gratification... makes money less tight later in the game, which is a good thing when using some of the other expansions.
• Zooloretto XXL - have only played once w/2 players. Adds the ability to "clear" 2 of your complete pens for lower points (ship them off to another zoo) and refill them. I'm not sure the extra time is worth the trade-off... however, the Aquaretto XXL expansion is very cool (included in the same box). I want to try this one some more.
• Zooloretto Exotic - have played twice now and really enjoyed it both times. It makes the end game dynamics very different as players have more tiles to avoid and scoring considerations to worry about.

HAVE NOT PLAYED

• King K - see notes on Polar Bear above
• Building Sites - introduces an element of "take that" to the game that I don't like... probably won't ever use them.
• Mission Cards - Looking forward to trying these... but only good with experienced players.

DON'T OWN

• The Reindeer - was a Christmas card giveaway postcard... a single tile like the Polar Bear & the Gorilla. You can print a copy from http://www.zooloretto.com.

If I was going to rank the expansions in "need to own" order, here's how I'd go:

• Polar Bear expansion pack (includes the Polar Bear, Petting Zoos, Building Sites, 3 Extra Enclosures & 3 Additional Buildings) - online cost: around $7
• Gorilla expansion pack (includes the Gorilla, Savings Books, Mission Cards & 2 expansions for Aquaretto) - online cost: around $7
• Zooloretto Exotic - online cost: around $19
• Zooloretto XXL - online cost: around $22
• King K & the Reindeer (both giveaway postcards you can print'n'play)

In fact, you can print-n-play most of the small expansions from Michael Schlacht's website, zooloretto.com. I just like having the nice professionally printed pieces for my set.

Clash of the Tokens

Actually got this recommendation from the people who are working on the documentary Under the Boardwalk: A Monopoly Documentary... you can buy a print of this directly from the artist (John Tebeau) on Etsy. ($23 shipped... yeah, I want one for my game room... or my office!)

Five & Dime 2008: Joining the "In" Crowd

These are games that have appeared on the Five & Dime lists before... and have risen in overall playing percentages.

Game	percentage gain from 2007
Agricola	+54.16%
Pandemic	+49.70%
Race for the Galaxy	+41.03%
Kingsburg	+13.99%
Galaxy Trucker	+10.60%
Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries	+8.39%
Brass	+8.09%
Oregon	+8.09%
Tichu	+8.07%
Airships	+7.46%
Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization	+6.28%
10 Days/Europa Tour	+6.14%
Jamaica	+5.29%
Time's Up/Celebrities	+5.07%
Power Grid/Funkenschlag	+4.97%

There are two main reasons that games appear on this list:

1. They were reprinted and/or had another game added to their franchise this year (Time's Up, Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries, Through the Ages).
2. They were "Essen"/end of the year games... they were released late in 2006 and were only played 5+ times by a couple of folks in 2006 (Agricola, Pandemic, Race for the Galaxy, Kingsburg, Galaxy Trucker, Brass, Oregon, Airships, Jamaica).

As always, the interesting games here are the ones that can not be explained by these reasons:

• Tichu, which continues a steadily growing reign as "king of the gamer card games".
• Through the Ages, which did get a new edition but moreover got some real exposure and increased the fan base.
• Power Grid continues to do well... it doesn't seem to be slumping much after 5+ years.
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• And I'm loath to explain the growth of 10 Days... though we did play USA at least 5 times last year.

Maintaining Radio Silence

Haven't been blogging lately - not Five & Dime, not pictures of the boys, not odd & whimsical musings on faith & life. I'll explain:

We have two kids playing tee-ball & rookie baseball.

There... those of you who are parents know just how amazing it is that I managed to get even these few lines typed.

Save Chuck!

Viva BuyMoria!

Linda Holmes, one of my favorite bloggers on the planet, just wrote about the fight to keep our much-beloved Chuck around for a third season over on Monkey See. From there, I followed a link to Maureen Ryan's blog for her pleas to get involved in the campaign to get a Nerd Third.

I've pretty kept out of the fights to keep shows alive... but in this case I'm making an exception. Shari & I both enjoy this show (which makes it pretty unusual & wonderful) and it needs to live!

So, here's what you can do:

• Watch Monday night for the season finale (8 pm East & West Coast)
• Write NBC (Ben Silverman, co-chairman of NBC, at this address: 3000 W. Alameda, Burbank, CA 91523. Write to NBC's president of prime-time programming, Angela Bromstad, at 100 Universal City Plaza. Bldg 1320, 4th Floor, Universal City, CA 91608.)
• E-mail NBC (start here and choose "Chuck" as the show you want to comment on).
• Anything else you can think of!

Look, this isn't going to change the world. It's certainly not as important as people having their lives changed by Jesus Christ or making wise financial decisions or even eating more healthy foods. But do it anyway.

A special treat - here's a great fan-made recap video that will get you up to last Monday night...

...and then you can watch the episode from last Monday on Hulu. And you'll be good to go for the finale on Monday the 27th!

Five & Dime 2008: Lo, How The Mighty Have Fallen

These are games that have appeared on the Five & Dime lists before... and have fallen in overall playing percentages.

Game	percentage loss from 2007
Yspahan	-18.50%
BattleLore	-14.27%
Hey! That's My Fish/Pingvinas	-14.23%
Notre Dame	-12.86%
Carcassonne	-11.34%
Ra	-10.45%
No Thanks/Geschenkt	-9.52%
Blue Moon City	-9.15%
Coloretto	-9.06%
Thurn and Taxis	-8.39%
Taluva	-7.85%
To Court A King	-7.83%
Ingenious/Einfach Genial	-7.70%
Bohnanza	-7.49%
For Sale	-7.45%

Once again, this is the list I'm most accurate at predicting: I called the two of the top three games to appear here. (Yspahan & Battlelore). I thought Notre Dame would be #1 (which it wasn't) but I was close. OTOH, I thought San Juan would be here (it missed the list by ONE position) and I couldn't have predicted that my personal dislike of Hey! That's My Fish would finally start to spread.

Predictions: Agricola will be here next year (in the #1 spot), as will Stone Age, In The Year of the Dragon & Hanging Gardens.

Return of the Greatest Hits

Usually, I've tried to do this post on April 1st, the actual anniversary of the blog. (BTW, it's 4 years old.) Didn't actually make that date this year... in fact, I missed it by 20 days. (That's what we in the blogging business call "a wide margin of error.") Anyway, we've had four years now of deep thoughts, random musings, adorable pictures of my two sons, and just a wee bit of discussion of games.

Those of you who follow this blog realize that I did a post very much like this last year and the year before that... which, frankly, I copied & pasted to provide the meat of this post. However, I've added the last year (2008-2009) of "highlight" posts down at the bottom of the list.

In honor of this momentous occasion, I've picked a post (or two or three) from each month that I think is a "highlight" (you are welcome to disagree - but you'll be wrong with a capital "Wr").

• April 2005 - 12:13 pm - Collin is born!
• May 2005 - How In The Heck Did I End Up Here? - the stories of my ministry life (yes, I still need to write a couple more posts in this series)
• June 2005 - Dig Hay Zoose - this story still blows me away...
• July 2005 - Interview #2 - wherein Tom Vasel does an e-mail interview with me & I manage (I think!) to get my thoughts straight about the crossroads between being a Christ-follower & being a gamer
• August 2005 - Welcome to Pat's World - which explains why the catchphrase "Be Like Pat" is never going to gain traction
• September 2005 - Enter Pastor Man - the history of my musical tastes & a pretty decent summary of how I deal with art from a Christian perspective
• October 2005 - The Tale of the Pig (And How His Influence Still Touches My Life) - ah, the Pig... I wonder where he is now?
• November 2005 - Small Soldiers Big Battle - I'm finally figuring out how to write a review that sounds like me
• December 2005 - Blasts From The Past - gaming & autobiography... a theme I'd return to with a vengance during the summer of 2006 for my series about D&D
• January 2006 - Unpacking the Baggage - one of my most painfully honest posts
• February 2006 - Five & Dime 2005 - where I finally find a good way to showcase all the data I've been collecting over the years
• March 2006 - Come Back To The One Hundred, Blog Reader, Blog Reader - which is a signpost pointing to another blog I created with Stephen Glenn & 65 of our closest friends about the best games ever...
• April 2006 - Pastoral Advice For Engaged Meeples, Minefield, Minefield Spawns a Question, & 9 Years Ago - April was one of those months where I was writing lots of good stuff... so, I picked four.
• May 2006 - Minefield, Part Deux & The "M" Word - Cuz you really shouldn't read all that stuff I wrote in April without reading the follow-up stuff in May
• June 2006 - Stay Out Of Range Of The Giant: Descent - Journeys in the Dark, The Day I Quit Playing D&D, & Say It With Me: "Non-Binding Resolution" - D&D and alcohol... June was evidently a dark month or my attempt to write a rebuttal to Chez Geek
• July 2006 - DW, Bill Cosby & Evercrack - the "Return of the King/Return of the Jedi" of my D&D trilogy
• August 2006 - Three Geeks... er, Caballeros - a surprise reunion of high school friends
• September 2006 - Underwear & the Four Gods - one of the weirder analogies I've made... in print and/or while preaching
• October 2006 - I Don't Want To Be Some Kind of Nutjob - in which I talk about spiritual warfare & how I'm scared of being a holy roller
• November 2006 - Crackpipe Remote OR Yes, As a Matter of Fact, I Do Watch Too Much Network Television - the title says it all
• December 2006 - Asleep on the... Hershey Bar? - I'm still weirded out by this one...
• January 2007 - This is News? - Obviously, Chris Herndon & his flying monkeys did not live near this lady...
• February 2007 - The Mouse Gave Me The Bum's Rush - how I got thrown out of Disneyland
• March 2007 - Peanut Butter & Karo Syrup - I had some of this just the other night... it's still very yummy.
• April 2007 - Soundtrack of My Life: Steve Taylor - the first (and so far - sigh - only) post in a planned series on the music that has dug deep into my soul.
• May 2007 - I wrote a set of posts about my trip to SoCal for The Origins Experience: Yelo, More Yelo, Origins Experience: Tuesday & If Everyone Jumped Off A Cliff. Not a big blogging month, but a pretty profound one in my pilgrimage as a leader.
• June 2007 - We played games at Braeden's birthday party... and he got games... and somehow the post Birthday Gaming has become one of the more commented upon posts in the history of this blog.
• July 2007 - After four years here in Fresno, I ended up meditating on the nature of my profession & how easy it is to live the Christian life like a magic trick in a post entitled Shattering the Illusion.
• August 2007 - In response to questions I got as part of an Open Mic series at my church, I began answering some of them with the blog, starting with Open Mic: Sex, Lies & Videotape.
• September 2007 - For some reason, I got inspired in September & pumped out some more really good stuff in the Open Mic series (Knock Knock Knockin', All Day Singin' & Dinner on the Grounds, and The New World Slang) as well as a post on the game, The Settlers of Catan, that I feel real good about (The Unofficial Guide to Catan, Part I).
• October 2007 - I answered a question no one asked (Open Mic: The Question Nobody Asked) about why we homeschool and also wrote a really good game review entitled 1492/Ocean Blue (about Mayer's game, Columbus).
• November 2007 - As we close in our Disneyland vacation, I launch into an extended theological musing about DLR I called The Hypnotic Power of a Bug Zapper & the Happiest Place on Earth... and I also managed to finish my guide to all things Catan (The Unofficial Guide to Catan, Part II).
• December 2007 - Two posts stick out in December: my plea for sanity in the face of a potentially anti-church film (Three Requests) and my plea for sanity in the face of sub-standard Monopoly play (Giving Away Your Own (Monopoly) Money).
• January 2008 - Less pleading this month... instead, I wrote a lot about religion & politics. The best of the bunch was Religion & Politics: Oil & Water.
• February 2008 - Of course, there was a chunk of Five & Dime posts... but the highlight of the non-statistical/gaming stuff was Evangelical Does NOT Equal "Right Wing Nut Job".
• March 2008 - Take Me Out To The (Ball) Game... where I ruminate about baseball & board games
• April 2008 - Klutz & Konsulting... the story of how I ended up as a consultant for a board game book for kids
• May 2008 - I wrote a series of posts on the emerging church: Emerging?: 13th Gen to Pomo, Emerging?: Pomo to Emergent, and Emerging: Celebrity Death Match.
• June 2008 - The Kid Games 100 began... but the individual post I'm proudest of was Swingtown, White Guilt & Splitsville.
• July 2008 - I wrote a number of different posts last year about marriage... Framing the Conversation: It's Got A Good Beat & I Can Dance To It - I'll Give It An 85 is one of the best of them in that it managed to offend both sides.
• August 2008 - It was a good month for writing long semi-autobiographical posts that turned into theological/ethical musings: Against All Odds We're Living Separate Lives and Mental Pinball & the Hamster Wheel.
• September 2008 - Camping At Limekiln is how pictures recaps should be done... and not how I end up doing them most of the time.
• October 2008 - A great political post (Religion & Politics: When Atheists Attack) as well as two posts chronicling the biggest Heroscape battle we've had to date (Battle Royale & Battle Royale: National Heroscape Day.)
• November 2008 - The end of the election prompted a couple of posts: Framing the Conversation: How To Get Tossed Out of a Game Group & The Wrong Glass.
• December 2008 - This reminds me... I need to write the last post of this trio about Disneyland: DLR in a Day: Morning & DLR in a Day: Afternoon.
• January 2009 - Both Moral/Ethical/Legal and Memory Is A Funny Thing are great examples of what I call "trigger" posts... where something happens that sparks deep thoughts about something completely different.
• February 2009 - Graceland ruminates on music & memories while Warning Signs is my plea for people to avoid close-minded liberals & conservatives, regardless of their religious persuasion.
• March 2009 - If you want something serious: Brother, Can You Spare A Definition?; something silly: Keep Your Godless Commie Pinko Hands Off My Candy!....

#16: Hüpf Hüpf Hurra!

Hüpf Hüpf Hurra! (Hop Hop Hooray!)

• designer: Heinz Meister
• publisher: Ravensburger
• date: 2007
• BoardGameGeek rank/rating: 2571/6.46
• age: 6+
• # of players: 2-4
• print status: in print
• cost: $20.37 (Amazon)

Back in the day, I had the opportunity to play Tupperware's only original game, Bounce-It-In, thanks to Frank Branham. (Tuppertoys also made plastic poker chips. My father-in-law, a poker fan, owned a set & complained that they didn't "clink", which is evidently a major component of enjoying poker chips.) In the game, you bounce plastic balls into a 5x5 grid of holes. There are three sets of rules included: two which give various scoring values for the different holes & one that simply requires you to get five balls in a row (of any color). It's the "5 in a row" game that appealed to me enough (we played non-stop for 30 min. with each game taking about 5 minutes to play - it was like eating potato chips) to put it on my wishlist & eventually acquire my own copy.

Meanwhile, Haba released one of their small rectangle box games, Rein damit!, which used a cardboard frame & wooden rings to make a 4x4 grid into which you bounced small foam balls. This time, you scored by picking up a small animal token (using an included dart-like plunger device) - 3 sets of three tokens won you the game. (BTW, the English name is "Spot on!" so you don't have to worry about your kids learning to curse unless you decide to teach them yourself.)

Both of the games have some neat ideas but suffer from some problems... as written, the rules to Bounce-It-In can make the game last way past its welcome (we don't allow players back in after they've been knocked out, which cures that.) It's also tough to get a complete copy - I actually have 1 and 1/2 copies. Rein damit! is really cute (the animal art is great) but the board is prone to being bumped and the dart-plunger really requires an older sibling or parent to operate it. It also can bog down a bit as players can use empty rings to steal tokens ad infinitum.

But Heinz Meister, the designer of Rein damit!, managed to take some of the basic ideas from these two games and mold them into a game that's been a hit with kids, families, adults & gamers (yes, I made "adults" and "gamers" two separate categories - sue me) over & over again.

The theme is not welded to the mechanic but you are hopping (bouncing the balls) into the pond (the game box which doubles as the board), so I can buy the whole frog milieu. By getting three frogs (marbles) in a row, you receive a kiss from the frog princess (scoring token). If you manage to get 3 of the same color in a row, you get two kisses. Make multipile lines in one hop? You get as many kisses as you make lines. Note, however, that only sets of 3 count; it doesn't help to make a line of 4 or 5 frogs.

And that's pretty much it. Players take turns bouncing marbles into the box, scoring points, and generally have a grand old time hooting & hollering at each other. You get three tries per turn to "land" a marble... 3 strikes & it's the next players turn. When the kisses run out (there are 40 of them in the game) the player with the most kisses wins.

There are a couple of nice physical design ideas that make the game even more enjoyable. The pond grid is set into plastic insert with sloped sides... so it's possible to bounce a marble and make it roll around the sloped side into position on the other side of the board. As well, the grid that the marbles sit in does not hold the marbles "locked" in position - if hit with sufficient force, marbles already in place can move.

One of the variables that you bring to the game is where you play it. When played on a standard Costco plastic 6 ft table, you've got to give the marbles a pretty serious throw to get the right bounce. On a wooden veneer table, they're pretty "live" - we've been known to play a time or two throwing marbles from behind our chairs for long-range and/or multiple bounces. I've even played this on our entry hall floor with my boys, which is marble tile. Now that is some serious bouncing.

While you can't predict exactly where your marble is going, with practice you can definitely improve your ability to score. At the same time, luck does play a large role, which makes this very enjoyable for mixed age groups to play.

My only complaint about the game is the lily pad rings provided to corral your marbles. They aren't thick enough to hold them in place unless you are very careful. My plan is to buy some of those little non-skid feet for them, which should make them high enough AND keep them from drifting around the table.

I also think that the suggested age on this is way too high. With appropriate adult supervision (so no one is eating the marbles), my 3 year old was able to play & enjoy the game.

Five & Dime 2008: Fresh Faces

These are games that appeared on the Five & Dime lists for the first time... in some cases, they may be older games that just hadn't reached a particular play threshold.

Game	score	percentage
Dominion	850	59.63%
Stone Age	290	24.22%
In the Year of the Dragon	145	14.91%
Hanging Gardens	140	12.42%
Ticket to Ride: The Card Game	135	11.80%
Sorry! Sliders	130	11.80%
Le Havre	105	9.32%
Risk Express	75	4.97%
Tribune: Primus Inter Pares	65	6.21%
Ghost Stories	60	6.21%
Cheeky Monkey	60	4.35%
Space Alert	50	4.97%
Sushizok im Gockelwok	40	4.35%
Snow Tails	40	3.11%
Shadow Hunters	35	3.11%

Tied at 3.11% (less than 35 "score"): Tinner's Trail, Wasabi

A couple of short comments... the number of Essen games that reach this list is increasing - probably due to the speed w/which Essen releases are reaching the United States and the increased international scope of the Five & Dime lists. For those who wonder, I don't count prototype plays for figuring out whether or not a game belongs on the "Fresh Faces" list, only published plays.

Plans of Mice & Men...

...often get sidelined. (Well, that's sort of what Robert Burns said.)

I'm headed out to get the compressor on my car's air conditioner fixed, so the Five & Dime list wil have to wait. See you back here tomorrow, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel.

Five & Dime 2008: Wide Angle Lens (Four Year Pix)

These graphs cover 2008 (top bar) through 2005 (bottom bar). The bar is the percentage of players reporting who played the game 5+ times in the given year. The games here first appeared on the Five & Dime lists in 2005.

Ca$h N Gun$ Caylus Diamant/Incan Gold Hacienda Pickomino/Heckmeck im Brautweck Railroad Tycoon/Rails of Europe Shadows Over Camelot That's Life/Verflixxt Ticket to Ride: Europe Tsuro Ubongo Vegas Showdown Wits & Wagers

Five & Dime 2008: Wide Angle Lens (Five Year Pix)

These graphs cover 2008 (top bar) through 2004 (bottom bar). The bar is the percentage of players reporting who played the game 5+ times in the given year. The games here first appeared on the Five & Dime lists in 2004.

Blue Moon Goa Hansa Heroscape Ingenious/Einfach Genial Memoir '44 No Thanks/Geschenkt San Juan Santiago St. Petersburg Ticket To Ride (does not include Marklin or Europe) Tongiaki

Five & Dime 2008: Wide Angle Lens (Six Year Pix)

These graphs cover 2008 (top bar) through 2003 (bottom bar). The bar is the percentage of players reporting who played the game 5+ times in the given year. The games here first appeared on the Five & Dime lists in 2003.

10 Days in the _____/Europa Tour Age of Steam Alhambra Amun-Re Attika Balloon Cup Coloretto Fearsome Floors Gulo Gulo Hey! That's My Fish/Pingvinas King's Breakfast Paris Paris Rumis

Five & Dime 2008: Wide Angle Lens (Seven Year Pix)

These graphs cover 2008 (top bar) through 2002 (bottom bar). The bar is the percentage of players reporting who played the game 5+ times in the given year. The games here first appeared on the Five & Dime lists in 2002.

Alles im Eimer/The Bucket King Bang! (includes expansions) Blokus Carcassonne: Hunters & Gatherers Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation Power Grid (includes Funkenschlag & expansions) Puerto Rico Street Soccer TransAmerica (includes TransEuropa) Trendy (includes Crazy Race)

Five & Dime 2008: Wide Angle Lens (Eight Year Pix)

These graphs cover 2008 (top bar) through 2001 (bottom bar). The bar is the percentage of players reporting who played the game 5+ times in the given year. The games here first appeared on the Five & Dime lists in 2001.

Africa Catch Phrase Dvonn Flowerpower Hick Hack im Gackelwack/Pick Picknic Royal Turf/Winner's Circle San Marco Traumfabrik/Hollywood Blockbuster Werewolf Wyatt Earp

Five & Dime 2008: Wide Angle Lens (Nine Year Pix)

These graphs cover 2008 (top bar) through 2000 (bottom bar). The bar is the percentage of players reporting who played the game 5+ times in the given year. The games here first appeared on the Five & Dime lists in 2000.

Battle Cry (AH) Carcassonne (includes expansions but not stand-alone "cousins") Cartagena (includes Cartagena 2) Citadels Lord of the Rings (includes expansions) Princes of Florence Taj Mahal Tichu Web of Power (includes China) Zertz