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

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.