Wednesday, December 14, 2016

The Intersection



Here we stand on this busy street corner
At the intersection of memories and tradition

The traffic circle where what we believe
and what we hope for
and we hope in

Merge

And yet the temptation is to rubberneck

To look at the pretty lights
Tear open the carefully wrapped presents
Admire the Nativity sets for their beauty
rather than their meaning

And while there's nothing wrong with
enjoying the scenery
Perhaps it would help to remind ourselves
that the ultimate destination
of this Baby's journey
is the Cross
and the Tomb

And we are here at the intersection

of God's grace
and our sin

The traffic circle where His love for us
and our hopelessness without Him

Merge

poem by Mark Jackson

Tuesday, December 06, 2016

Gamer Gilligan's Island

One of my good friends (and a friend of this blog as well) is Joe Huber: game designer, man about town, devoted husband, classy friend... and the guy who will introduced me to Entenrallye and Novo Dice. He asked the following (self-described) "weird question."
You're on a deserted island - and failed to pack your top 10 games (or any games, for that matter). Given the materials available on the island (think Gilligan's Island, material-wise), what games do you cobble together to pass the time? Or do you instead focus on designing your own games, to best take advantage of the materials?
Now, here's the deal... I want to be cool and maker-friendly and all that and say something like, "I think the natural elements could inspire me to create a game that is both organic to the island and profoundly playable." In reality, I'm gonna be trying to figure out how to make dice out of dried coconut and playing cards out of palm leaves.
Follow-up: you're on a desserted island. Which do you try first? And which desserts do you think would make the best materials for cobbling together games?
Cookies, please.

I think you could do some interesting things game-wise with fondant and hard candies... but it would likely be a Legacy game where the pieces got destroyed.