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

These graphs cover 2008 (top bar) through 1999 (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 first Five & Dime list in 1999.

Apples to Apples Crokinole Loopin' Louie Lost Cities Mamma Mia (includes Sole Mio) Ra Ricochet Robot(s) Schotten-Totten/Battleline Union Pacific Zirkus Flohcati

#17: Akaba

Akaba

• designer: Guido Hoffman
• publisher: Haba
• date: 2004
• BoardGameGeek rank/rating: 1575/6.58
• age: 5+
• # of players: 2-4
• print status: maybe OOP (or maybe not)
• cost: $35.99 (FunAgain)... there's also a punched "like new" copy for sale for $35.00 on BGG

This entry hearkens back to a couple of themes we've sounded during the Kid Games 100:

1. Haba has much better game names when it doesn't attempt to translate them from German - Akaba just sounds cool in almost any language.
2. This game is actually the first of the "puffer" series - The Black Pirate was #33 on the Kid Games 100.

So, you may be wondering why I'd turn back around and put another puffer game on the list. Well, I'll tell you - I think they're both great games that offer very different play experiences.

This is the more wild'n'wooly of the two games, since each player is working to move as quickly as he can... the active player puffing away at his magic carpet, scooting it around the board, while the player to his left is busy rolling a pair of color dice, hoping for them to match so he can yell "Stop!" and end the active players travel.

Tipping over your magic carpet is bad, as is landing in the fountain (a hole in the center of the board) or flying out of marketplace (off the board). Blowing other magic carpets is OK... but the penalty for making a mistake is a gift to the other player.

Your objective is to gather five different gifts from the various marketplace stalls, whose sides are delineated by chunky wooden pieces that fit into the board. Gift tiles also fit into the small holes in each stall - and here's where the memory element of the game comes in. Each player has an identical set of five cards telling which gifts they need... but you only have 2 cards in play at a time. So, you could well arrive at a stall to claim a gift - but it's not one that you need. You must remember where it is... or remember where another player showed you the item you were looking for.

When you do find the appropriate gift, you discard your "order" card and place the gift on the magic carpet - each gift has a slot which fits nicely around the magic carpet driver. BTW, the addition of gifts make the carpet a bit more difficult to maneuver... a nice catch-up mechanic.

The first player to get all 5 gifts wins the game.

There is a variant with magic lamps included in the box that isn't essential but adds a nice twist to the game.

While kids age 5+ can play the game, you need to be 6-7 years old to have the coordination to carefully puff your carpet across the board instead of blowing it about as if you're in an Arabic remake of The Wizard of Oz.

A final word: my older son enjoys this game more than The Black Pirate, I think primarily because of the frenetic pace of each of the turns. I was surprised by this, as I thought that the pirate theme would beat the magic carpet theme - but evidently not. I'm good with either of them: Akaba if I'm up for high-charging silliness, The Black Pirate if I'm wanting more of a careful dexterity challenge.

Entry #9: Oxygen for the Soul

From the incredible mind & heart of Erwin McManus in his book, Soul Cravings:

When there is no future, there is no hope. Where there is no hope, there is no reason to live. There is only despair. Our souls are not designed for despair. It's not where we are intended to live. If we live there too long, we will find ourselves soul-sick.

Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream and was killed for it.

When we have no dream, it kills us.

It's the same way with hope. Hope pulls us into the future. When you consider that the future is overwhelmingly uncertain, you can see why hope would have such immense value. Yet as essential as hope is for life, we live in a world that seems determined to take it from us. Hope is rare, but we don't need much of it to experience its power.

When we are full of hope, it's not because everything in the future is certain to us, but because the future is filled with promise.

At the same time, like the promise of a future, hope only comes from something we do not yet have, something we have not yet attained. In other words, how much you have in the world has no bearing on how much hope you have. In actuality, everything you have no longer qualifies as a conduit of hope. Once you have it, it's out of the arena of hope.

Anything you have already received or experienced no longer qualifies as a source of hope.Hope pulls you into the future because it comes from there. If you no longer believed in the future, you would lose all hope. And what's strange about this is that while hope is connected to the future, it's impossible to thrive in the present without it. There's a simple reason for this. It's exactly how God has designed you. We tend to take for granted the things that are most obvious to us.

It's sort of like we worry about paying the bills but never worry about having air to breathe. But really which one is more critical to life?

Daniel Amos Radio

Found some YouTube goodness for us old skool fans of Daniel Amos - the videos are only so-so, but the tunes are still as good as they were 25 years ago... Man, I wish I still had my cassette of Vox Humana.

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

This is Year Eleven - and that means that these graphs are getting better & better at showing patterns of repeated play.

These graphs cover 2008 (top bar) through 1999 (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 first Five & Dime list in 1998, though many of them were released before that.

Acquire Bohnanza (includes expansions) Can't Stop Carabande (includes Pitchcar) El Grande Euphrat & Tigris For Sale Formula De (includes Formula De Mini & Formula D) Guillotine Liar's Dice (includes Perudo) Medici Metro (includes Iron Horse) Mu & Mehr Samurai Schnappchen Jagd Settlers of Catan (includes expansions but not stand-alone "cousins") Settlers of Catan Card Game Showmanager (includes Atlantic Star) Take 6/6 Nimmt/Slide 5 Take It Easy Through the Desert

Five & Dime 2008: Nickels (5-9 Plays)

Game	2008	2007	2006	2005
Agricola	22.36%	3.35%	new	new
Pandemic	19.88%	0.61%	new	new
Power Grid	15.53%	12.20%	16.38%	11.62%
Dominion	13.66%	new	new	new
Ticket to Ride	13.04%	12.20%	13.79%	17.68%
Stone Age	12.42%	new	new	new
In the Year of the Dragon	11.80%	1.52%	new	new
6 Nimmt/Take 6/Slide 5	11.18%	6.71%	15.52%	14.14%
Can't Stop	11.18%	7.93%	4.31%	lost data
Settlers of Catan	10.56%	10.98%	12.93%	13.64%
Diamant/Incan Gold	10.56%	10.67%	16.38%	15.15%
Race for the Galaxy	9.94%	new	new	new
Tichu	9.94%	5.79%	10.34%	lost data
10 Days/Europa Tour	9.94%	6.40%	14.86%	4.55%
Lost Cities	9.94%	13.11%	9.48%	13.64%
Crokinole	9.94%	3.05%	5.17%	lost data
Kingsburg	9.94%	0.91%	new	new
Notre Dame	9.94%	15.24%	new	new
Galaxy Trucker	9.94%	2.13%	new	new
Loopin' Louie	8.70%	5.79%	11.21%	2.02%
Liar's Dice	8.70%	7.93%	18.10%	10.10%
San Juan	8.70%	10.37%	13.79%	18.18%
Transamerica/Europa	8.70%	7.62%	9.48%	lost data
Carcassonne	8.07%	13.41%	15.52%	14.14%
No Thanks!/Geschenkt	8.07%	11.89%	13.79%	6.57%
Ra	8.07%	14.33%	20.69%	12.63%
R-Eco	8.07%	4.27%	0.00%	new
Zooloretto	8.07%	10.98%	new	new

Just out of the running: Hanging Gardens, Sorry! Sliders

Power Grid is 3rd?! Wow. Almost as stunning as Agricola being 1st... I'd have expected Race for the Galaxy or Dominion. Of course, now that I think about it, their absence at the top is indicative of their "betcha can't eat just one" nature (as evidenced in their 1-2 finish on the Dime list).

There were a NUMBER of high-profile exits from the nickel list this year: For Sale, Hey! That's My Fish (finally!), Puerto Rico, Bohnanza, Thurn & Taxis, and Ingenious. (BTW, I called the exits of Thurn & Taxis.)

Battlelore appeared for one year... then jumped back off. IF Fantasy Flight starts cranking up the support for the game, it might get back here next year.

I predicted Yspahan would stick around (incorrectly) and that Notre Dame would be gone (also incorrectly.) Notre Dame will be gone by next year - that's a promise.

My predictions about Race for the Galaxy & Agricola were spot on - and if Agricola gets to stick on any list, it'll be this one.

Battle Beyond Space

I've been mentioning & writing about Frank Branham's prototype, Battle Beyond Space, almost since this blog began (the first mention I can find of it was April 19, 2005 - just about 4 years ago.) I've pointed out pictures of the prototype, I've agitated for someone to publish the game, I've gone on & on about how much I like this 45 minute card-driven epic space battle...

...and FINALLY someone wised up and is going to put it out there where the rest of you can enjoy it! Zev from Z-Man is going to publish it. Now, it's not due to release until sometime in 2010, but I couldn't be happier that it is going to receive the exposure it so richly deserves.

What follows is a quickie rules explanation published by Frank over on BGG:

The rules are very, very simple...almost Carrier Strike simple.

Each player starts with 2 Capital Ships, and 18 fighters organized into 3 squadrons. The game is 9 turns, and you have a card for each turn. The board is filled with open space, asteroids and a few victory point markers in the center.

On your turn, you play the card you drew at the end of last turn. The cars has you do the following in this order:

1. Move one squadron EXACTLY X hexes forward.
2. Have all ships in the moving squadron fire straight ahead 5 hexes.
3. Turn fighters in the moving squadron up to Y hexsides.
4. Move and turn one capital ship up to Z action points. (one action point per forward hex or 60 degree move.)
5. Fire at one target in any direction within 2 hexes.

All shots do one point of damage. Fighters die with one point of damage, capital ships take 2.

At the end of the game, killed fighters are 1 point each, cap ships are 4 points each.

Each player also has a secret weapon dealt out at random from a deck of 12. Some of these are one shot Death Blossom-like things, some are permanent powers.

A squadron is 6 small ships of the same type. They tend to fly in formation, but a squadron can split formation and go off in different directions

That is actually almost the game. No dice to determine damage--being in front of someone is simply your death. Notice also that fighters only turn AFTER moving and firing. You know the direction a player's next fighter attack can come from, but not the range. There are enough fighters on the map that almost nowhere is safe after the first turn.

You have 20 ships to start, and after 9 turns, you only have 0-8 left.

From the same thread, here's some design notes:

I started the design after watching the big giant mega-huge space battle at the climax of Babylon 5. I really wanted to play a big, giant space battle with dozens of ships per side. And so I went on a grand tour of space battle games...and the idea of big giant battle done quickly is 6-8 ships per side in "only 3-4 hours". (Silent Death might be the fastest. I bet you could get a 20 ship battle in 3 hours.)

Still, it took me years to rip things out and trim out choices to get the thing down to 30-60 minutes with 60-80 ships. So the folks looking for Star Fleet Battles in an hour are gonna keep looking. (There are far too many decisions and detail even in Federation Commander to play more than a tiny battle in an hour.) This is more of a simple, fairly fluffy beat-em-up...but with far less luck that is typical.

The odd thing about this game is that there aren't a lot of choices. You get to move a single squadron, and a single cap ship each turn. So there are only really four choices each turn:

1. Which squadron to move.
2. The new facing for each ship in the squadron for next turn.
3. Which and where to move a cap ship
4. What to have the cap ship shoot at.

That's not a lot of choices, and that's why the game plays quickly. The choices are sometimes easy but not always. And the end result is a pretty light little game.

The picture is by Sterling Babock and the guy in the picture is the designer, Frank Branham.

My Son, the Game Designer

Braeden really likes Michael Schacht's Zooloretto & Aquaretto - partially for the game play & partially for the multitude of cool little expansions you can get & use. (Funny - I feel the same way that he does!)

So, when playing Aquaretto earlier this year, he began dreaming up expansions. One of his ideas was good enough that I e-mailed to Michael, who has a website dedicated to all things "oretto".

And Michael posted it! It's near the bottom of the page on the German part of the site:

Erweiterungsidee:

Touch Pool (Aquaretto)

von Braeden Jackson (7 Jahre).

Download (pdf, A4)

In English, here is the rules for Braeden's Touch Pool variant:

A tile much like the Petting Zoo... players can put two babies in the touch pool which do not score points at the end of the game. Instead, the first baby gives the player 1 coin and the second baby gives the player 1 co-worker.

I couldn't be prouder!

Five & Dime 2008: Dimes (10+ Played Games)

Game	2008	2007	2006	2005
Race for the Galaxy	49.69%	10.98%	new	new
Dominion	45.96%	new	new	new
Agricola	38.51%	3.35%	new	new
Pandemic	30.43%	0.00%	new	new
Tichu	14.91%	10.98%	12.93%	6.57%
Stone Age	11.80%	new	new	new
Ticket To Ride	10.56%	13.41%	14.66%	26.26%
10 Days/Europa Tour	9.32%	6.71%	11.21%	7.07%
Lost Cities	8.07%	10.37%	9.48%	12.63%
Settlers of Catan	6.83%	7.01%	12.07%	7.07%
Hive	6.83%	6.40%	1.72%	1.72%
Power Grid	6.21%	4.57%	7.76%	8.08%
Diamant/Incan Gold	6.21%	11.28%	11.21%	13.64%
Loopin' Louie	6.21%	7.32%	10.34%	4.55%
Ingenious	6.21%	11.59%	11.21%	14.65%
Mr. Jack	6.21%	3.66%	new	new
Fairy Tale	6.21%	3.66%	2.59%	new
Through the Ages	6.21%	1.83%	new	new
Crokinole	5.59%	7.93%	8.62%	9.09%
Carcassonne	5.59%	11.59%	6.03%	10.61%
For Sale	5.59%	4.88%	9.48%	15.15%
Kingsburg	4.97%	0.00%	new	new
No Thanks/Geschenkt	4.97%	10.67%	12.07%	14.65%
Hanging Gardens	4.97%	new	new	new
Ticket to Ride: The Card Game	4.97%	new	new	new

Just out of the running: Category 5, Ra, Sorry! Sliders, Time's Up!, Amun Re, Hacienda, Risk Express.

There are a couple of perennial dimes that are about to give up the ghost: I'll give No Thanks one more year before it falls off the edge... and unless something surprising happens, Crokinole has two years tops before it flicks its way into obscurity.

I predicted Battlelore wouldn't be back w/out the release of the Heroes expansion, though I think I'm the King of Wishful Thinking (shout out to Go West) for hoping Memoir '44 would show up here again.

I also correctly predicted that Notre Dame would drop off. After 11 years of this, it's getting easier to see a trend of "the new cool potential replacement for Puerto Rico" games flaring up here one year & being gone the next. My nominations for "one year dimes" include Stone Age, Hanging Gardens & Ticket to Ride Card Game.

Of the top 4 games, I'm positive that Race for the Galaxy (which I predicted would be #1 on this list, thank you very much) and Dominion will be back here next year. Both are due for expansions and are short enough to encourage lots of plays. Pandemic, also being expanded later this year, should also show up here with less strength. (Pandemic will be on the nickel list without question.) Agricola will probably be the big loser as far as 10+ plays go.

Post #800: Easter

One of our family traditions is that each of the boys gets an Easter basket with some silly Dollar store toys & some serious amounts of candy. (Well, technically, they get their Easter basket filled - they each have one we use each year for this & for egg collecting.)

Here we see Braeden engrossed in one of his basket goodies: a 3D book about space. Very stylish eyeware, son.

Collin's 4th birthday was also Easter Sunday... and we've been celebrating Easter with the Archuleta family since we arrived in Easton. "Miss Amelia" babysat Collin on a weekly basis for a long time and so invited us to bring a birthday cake for him to the family gathering.

The cake is my creation - I took a regular 13x9 chocolate cake, did some careful cutting & built a ramp for the Hot Wheel car. (There's a LOT of icing on that cake - nearly two cakes' worth - in order to hold it all together.)

Collin is blowing out the candles in this picture... and having a wonderful time. Thanks again to Lucky, Amelia, Tina, T, Isaac & Lydia for making us feel such a welcome part of their family.

Marvel vs. the Citizens of Valhalla

Braeden & I are doing another one of our epic Heroscape battles... he's got 8 Marvel characters (worth 2090 pts) and I've got a collection of high-powered warriors from the Heroscape universe. (For the uninitiated, this is a LOT of points for a battle - typical battles are 400-600 pts at tournament level.)

You can see Thanos (a Marvel villain) going toe-to-toe with the Marro giant in the foreground. To the right of the river, you can see (barely) Spiderman under the bridge, while Captain America is on top of the bridge & Venom hiding behind the ruins on the right. Abomination is locked in mortal combat with the giant fly up on the dam... and you can't see Major Q9 working his way up the hill behind them. You can see the ninja crew & Krug (the troll) over on the left side of the river.

You can see Braxis (the black poison-breathing dragon) in the background, but he's not actually left in the battle. He took out the Incredible Hulk and then was pummeled by Abomination.

I'm not sure who's going to win - right now, I think it's me, but a couple of bad rolls and it could easily swing Braeden's way.

#18: Tante Tarantel

Tante Tarantel

• designer: Doris Matthaus & Frank Nestel
• publisher: Doris & Frank
• date: 1991
• BoardGameGeek rank/rating: 2307/6.32
• age: 10+
• # of players: 3-5
• print status: way OOP
• cost: this is a very difficult game to find... it was a limited edition game that was published over 18 years ago - expect to $70+ IF you can find a copy for sale

Auntie Tarantula (that's how the game translates into English) is an odd blend of think-y movement decisions (the movement of your bugs is fixed at one space per turn) and wild swings of random craziness (Auntie T., on the other hand, moves at the whim of a die roll). When you add the variable point scoring chart to the game, it's difficult to play this too seriously.

It isn't difficult to play, though - my oldest son was playing it (with an adult supervising the spider move) by the time he was 5 years old. I think that the age 10+ requirement is due to the movement of the spider & the odd scoring system.

Each player has 3 (or 4, if there are less players) bugs who are attempting to travel across Auntie Tarantula's spiral web to the "exit". So, in turn each player moves one of their bugs (pawns - though Doris & Frank did retail some plastic bug pieces to go with the game) a single space. Some of the spaces in the web accommodate multiple bugs while others allow only a single bug - so when one bug leaps into these spaces, it pushes the current occupant one space forward... and, yes, there can be chain reactions.

After all players have moved a bug, a die is rolled and Auntie T. begins to patrol her web. The die roll indicates both her movement (how many spaces she travels) and a modification to her movement. On a 1 or a 2, she moves one lane to the outside before moving. On a 3, she turns around. On a 4, she moves one lane to the inside. A roll of 5 or 6 doesn't affect her position.

If the spider reaches a space where there is a bug, she stops her movement. The first few bugs that are caught are simply tossed off the web to a space behind start. (While a player has bugs here, they cannot shove another bug or get a bug off the board through the exit.) But Auntie T. eventually reaches a point where she's ticked off at all the bugs crossing her web and begins eating the bugs.

The mechanic to make this work is a scoring track that serves three functions:

• it shows the current value in points for a bug who exits
• it shows a possible number to add to Auntie T's movement as she gets more & more angry
• it is the game timer

Every time a bug is caught or exits, the scoring track/timer is advanced one space. When it reaches the end, the game is over & points are added up based on how much each bug was worth when it exited the board.

I'd love to see this game reprinted - though I'd hate to have anyone but Doris do the art.

Climb Every Mountain

...or, in this case, climb every vertical climbing surface.

Hard to believe he just turned 4 yesterday. This is Collin climbing a 7 foot wall by himself late last week. Nobody taught him - he just watched Braeden & decided he could do it.

My Brute

As if any of us need another time-waster... but here it is: My Brute. (Be warned: clicking on this link makes you my pupil and I will school you with my awesome stick & net fu!)

Thankfully, it's one of those "5 minutes a day" time sinks rather than something like, well, Facebook or a blog.

Five & Dime 2008: Most Played Games

Game	Score	2008	2007	2006
Race for the Galaxy	880	59.63%	18.60%	new
Dominion	850	59.63%	new	new
Agricola	800	60.87%	6.71%	new
Pandemic	650	50.31%	0.61%	new
Tichu	320	24.84%	16.77%	23.28%
Stone Age	290	24.22%	new	new
Ticket To Ride	275	23.60%	25.61%	28.45%
10 Days/Europa Tour	230	19.25%	13.11%	25.86%
Power Grid	225	21.74%	16.77%	24.14%
Lost Cities	210	18.01%	23.48%	18.10%
Settlers of Catan	195	17.39%	17.99%	25.00%
Diamant/Incan Gold	185	16.77%	21.95%	27.59%
Crokinole	170	15.53%	10.98%	13.79%
Loopin' Louie	170	14.91%	13.11%	21.55%
6 Nimmt/Category 5	160	15.53%	10.98%	19.83%
Kingsburg	160	14.91%	0.91%	new
Carcassonne	155	13.66%	25.00%	21.55%
Ingenious	150	12.42%	20.12%	28.45%
Mr. Jack	150	12.42%	10.37%	4.31%
In the Year of the Dragon	145	14.91%	new	new
No Thanks/Geschenkt	145	13.04%	22.56%	25.86%
Notre Dame	140	13.66%	26.52%	new
Hanging Gardens	140	12.42%	new	new
Ra	135	12.42%	22.87%	29.31%
Ticket to Ride: The Card Game	135	11.80%	new	new
Fairy Tale	135	10.56%	10.06%	3.45%

26th place with a score of 130: Galaxy Trucker - 13.04%, Liars Dice - 12.42% San Juan - 12.42% Sorry! Sliders - 11.80% Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization - 9.94% Hive - 9.32%.

"score" is computed by giving a game 5 points for each person playing it 5-9 times and 10 points for each person playing 10+ times

the percentage numbers for each year are the percent of respondents who reported playing the game 5+ or 10+ times

It's Year Eleven - I'm kind of stunned this is still going on 11 years later. We were substantially down on entries this year (161 from our 2007 high of 328) but the numbers still seem to bear what I've been seeing during the past year. Ticket to Ride was finally shoved out of first place on the overall plays list by some powerhouse games: Agricola, Race for the Galaxy, Dominion and Pandemic. With three of those games getting highly-anticipated expansions, I'm guessing that all of them BUT Agricola will be back at the top of this list next year. (Note: this is not Agricola backlash - I'm a big enough fan to have bought vegimeeples - but I don't think this will see nearly as many plays in the next year.)

I've wondered for a number of years when Carcassonne would "jump the shark" - and I think it's finally happened with the release of the Catapult expansion. Losing almost 50% of the regular playing audience probably isn't a good sign, either.

Both BattleLore & Memoir '44 took major hits - which is not particularly surprising with the delays in new game-changing expansions for Battlelore but somewhat of a surprise with Memoir having 3 different expansions. My guess for next year is that the Campaign Book (Memoir) and the Heroes pack (Battlelore) should juice both of these franchises. I correctly predicted the slippage of Notre Dame (not like that was difficult) & the ascendancy of Race for the Galaxy (though I was wrong - it DID make #1 on this list). My "prophecy" about San Juan losing ground due to Race is problematic - while it did drop again, it has dropped roughly the same amount every year since the introduction of the game. I'm not sure you can blame that on Race for the Galaxy.

Four games that will NOT be back next year: Hanging Gardens, Ticket to Ride Card Game, Kingsburg & Stone Age. Again, not saying anything bad about those games, but they won't see consistent 5+ play in a lot of groups with new stuff fighting for board time.

The big questions for 2009:

• Will Dominion & Race for the Galaxy find any real challengers? My guess: probably not.
• Will Power Grid continue to grow in popularity? My prediction: I think it's reached the zenith of popularlity (for a heavy 2+ hour game) but I don't think it will lose much ground..
• Where will Small World end up? My prediction: it will be on this list... at least in the top ten and probably in the top five. (Ah, the advantages of waiting until the Gathering is finished to make my predictions.)

In fact, what do you think about any of this? Use the comments area (and keep it clean & friendly!)

Clips & Quotes

All of these are from my recent reading material...

My father was killed by ninjas. I need money for karate lessons.

• begging sign pictured in Killing Cockroaches: and Other Scattered Musings On Leadership by Tony Morgan

Every mistake, every pitfall, and every poor decision you could ever make has already been made & recorded somewhere in the pages of the Old & New Testaments. It may not match your situation detail for detail, but the principles will be right on target, and the solutions you need will be right at hand...

Let me reiterate a deeper source of guidance than human counsel. Remember: Everything you have gone through, someone in the Bible has gone through before you.

• Wayne Cordeiro in Leading On Empty: Refilling Your Tank and Renewing Your Passion

Here's the thing: I agree with the gist of Proverbs [he's referring to Proverbs 22:15, 23:13-14]. I need to discipline my son more. I need to give Jasper some tough love, dispense more time-outs, or risk having him turn into a three-foot-tall monster...

Look at the example set by God. The God of the Bible treats his children - the human race - with both justice & mercy. Right now, I'm out of whack; I'm 10 percent justice and 90 percent mercy. If I'd been in charge of the Garden of Eden, Adam & Eve would have gotten three strikes, then a fourth, then a stern warning, then had their bedtime moved up twenty minutes. God, as you know, kicked them out. As a sign of His compassion, he clothed them in animal skins before the eviction, but He still kicked them out.

• A.J. Jacobs in The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible

The [Indiana Jones] films even had a built-in Disneyland connection as well, as director Steven Spielberg had sent his sound designers down to the Park to record Big Thunder Mountain Railroad for the second film's mine-chase scene!...

At one point, the ambitious concept [for the Indiana Jones ride] called for the EMV ride system, the runaway mine cart, the incorporation of the Disneyland Railroad, and the even the Jungle Cruise boats converging inside a massive Indiana Jones show building...

• The Imagineering Field Guide To Disneyland

We cannot be dependent on ourselves and on God at the same time. When we consider the practice of rest unnecessary, we will also inevitably lose sight of the necessity of God.

• Anne Jackson in Mad Church Disease: Overcoming the Burnout Epidemic

I've sometimes wondered why Christians make such a big deal over the celebration of Christmas, esp. compared with Good Friday or Easter. It's true the magi provide a good precedent for the giving of valuable gifts. When they put me in charge of redesigning our culture, I'm going to design a holiday for which all the gifts are bought at great price on Good Friday and then appear on Easter morning, but mysteriously (perhaps even misleadingly) wrapped so everyone wonders, "What is that? What's going on?" That's where the first Easter Sunday began.

• Conrad Gempf in Mealtime Habits of the Messiah: 40 Encounters with Jesus

The Spiderman Cartoon Theme Song

Just doing my job, people... bringing you the highlights of my field trips through the world of pop culture. Today, thanks to the kind folks at the NPR blog, Monkey See, "Why A 42-Year Old Superhero Cartoon Is Better Than A Pony."

First, of course, the theme song: When its brassy, six-note opening blast gives way to the syncopated drum lick, try to keep from butt-dancing; try.

Then the lyrics kick in, and start going all Socratic Method on you:

Is he strong? Listen, bud: He's got radioactive blood!

Can he swing? From a thread! Take a look overhead!

Sure, it's no "In her satin tights/fighting for your rights," but it is, I think we can all agree, patently groovy.

Almost Four Years Ago

Collin's birthday is on Sunday. (The 4th birthday of this blog was actually last week - April 1st, to be exact. We'll talk more about that in my annual yet-to-be-published "Best Of" post that I still need to compile.)

Shari likes to look at pictures of the boys from when they were born right around their birthdays... remembering what they were like & how folks reacted to them. She was showing Collin pictures of me & "baby Collin" this morning and asked him why he thought Daddy was so happy.

"Because I came out of your tummy," Collin replied.

Then they were looking at pictures of Braeden & "baby Collin" and Shari commented on how much fun Braeden was having with his new baby brother.

Braeden, listening in on this, said, "It's not as much fun as it used to be."

#19: Schildi Schildkröte

Schildi Schildkröte/Twiddle Turtle

• designer: Ronald Hofstatter
• publisher: Haba
• date: 2004
• BoardGameGeek rank/rating: 2355/6.98
• age: 4+
• # of players: 2-4
• print status: in print
• cost: $35.99 (maukilo.com)

Let's get this out of the way: the worst thing about most Haba games is their English names. "Twiddle Turtle"? Is it a turtle who's twiddling his thumbs? Do turtles have thumbs? And if they do, are they opposable? Well, to bring it full-circle, I oppose the stupid English name of the game.

I do not, however, oppose the game. This game is an act of genius - and my hat is off (using my opposable thumb to grab it) to Herr Hofstatter for the brilliant design of the racing turtles at the 111th Turtle Olympiad.

I'm not sure my words can do the turtles justice. Imagine four small ball-shaped wooden wheels (on two axles) connected by a curved wooden yoke. Into that yoke fits a large wooden ball (the "shell") that makes contact with the four ball-wheels. When you roll back on the "shell", it propels the turtle forward.

Now, stick four of those turtles in a box, along with a double-sided board & some other bits (wooden goal posts, a small deck of animal tiles, a small foam ball, a weird four-sided color die, etc.) and a set of rules for five different games, and you've got Schildi Schildkröte. (BTW, I want to applaud Haba for a trend in their recent game designs - coming up with multiple ways to play games with some of the nifty "toys" they create.)

My older son's favorite game is "Turtle Soccer" while I'm partial to the dexterity game which requires you to move/roll your turtle to particular spots on the gameboard, based on which animal token is turned up. A similar game adds a simple memory element when you roll your turtle then try to match it with a face-down tile. The other two games are simple roll'n'move games that are easy enough for a 3 year old to play. We often play a series of games (just like the Olympics) and declare a winner based on how many "events" you win.

Of course, with bits this cool, it's fun just to play with them. It takes a minute or so to get the feel for how much spin to put on your turtle and then you can be whizzing him around the board like a pro. As far as we can tell, the pieces are well-constructed - our turtles have fallen off coffee & kitchen tables without breakage, though I wouldn't recommend it. It's also pretty easy to make up your own games.

The best rolling turtle game, however, is found in the sequel, Schildi Strandkröte (aka Twiddle Beach Turtle). It's available from maukilo.com for $25.19. "Turtle Bowling" is probably the most gamer-friendly of the Turtle Olympic events... it's dexterity & push your luck & skittles bowling... with a turtle! (You only get one turtle, though... sigh.)