Forbidden Island

How cool is this? A cooperative family game by Matt Leacock - the designer who created Pandemic and Roll Through the Ages - produced by Gamewright, a company with a much longer reach into the mass market than Z-Man or FRED.

And you've got to admit, the preview is pretty neat.

More information to come following NY Toy Fair...

Spielbox in English?!

Just passing this important information along...

We are considering producing an English version of spielbox magazine. We would like to know your opinion: if you d be potentially interested in an English edition of spielbox, please send an e-mail with the subject yes to vote@nostheide.de. (Your mail address will*not* be used for any other purpose than this survey.) Of course you can answer directly to me too.

Best regards

Barbara Nostheide

Permission To Speak Freely

Anne Jackson is not related to me... as far as I know. (There are a LOT of Jacksons wandering around the good ol' US of A.) But she's a writer/speaker of amazing wisdom & grace... and her latest project is worth checking out. Click on the graphic to find out more.

Content of My Character?

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

Which raises the question... what is the content of my character? What is it like today?

You can find the text of the speech here.

Migration: A Provocative Email

I thought this post was already on here - but evidently it's not. So now it is. (This post is suddenly relevant again, thanks to Pat Robertson's comments about Haiti. And if you're really a glutton for punishment, I've written about Pat & his ability to insert both feet in his mouth at the same time before: Welcome to My World and Welcome to Pat's World.) I originally wrote this on September 25th, 2001.

It was the weekend after the horrific events of 11 Sept 2001... in fact, it was Saturday night. I was "putting the sermon to bed". ("Putting the paper to bed" is an old newspaper term - meaning "stop working on it and publish it".)

And then I got this e-mail from an atheist friend. He'd sent me a link to a story about the statements made by Jerry Falwell & Pat Robertson on the 700 Club a couple of days after the terrorist attacks... and he'd added the following comment.

My first reaction was to send this to my secular friends as an example of "Christian Love". And then, instead, I decided to forward it to somewhere it might do some good - to a pastor whom I have great respect for. I hope that within your church, and through your greater church organization, you will denounce and distinguish yourself from these officers of the Western version of the Taliban. These snakes must be censured by Christians if the religion is to be kept clean, just as we expect Islamic Americans to denounce the violence done in the name of their religion.

And so, challenged by his 'faith' in me and sickened myself by the remarks that had been made, I attempted to respond.

I wish Disney Corporation would build a REAL new amusement park in the States (like the almost-open Tokyo DisneySeas) rather than the cheap "good enough for Six Flags" California Adventure. I wish all of the games on my search list (held by Manu) would be found and shipped to me. I wish someone would give me enough money to pay off my mortgage and buy a new car. I have a lot of wishes.

I wish people who should know better would learn to keep their mouths shut... to follow the teachings of Scripture and be "slow to speak, quick to listen, slow to anger". But, over time, I've come to expect little more than this from the vast majority of tele-evangelists and Christian media types... Neil Postman was DEAD ON in his incredible book, Amusing Ourselves To Death, when he suggested that religion is profoundly changed by being broadcast on TV.

First, let me apologize to you for those who share my basic faith (in the need for a personal relationship with God through the sacrificial death & resurrection of Jesus Christ) yet still manage to make mincemeat of the truth when you point a camera at them. While I agree that certain behaviors and worldviews attacked by these two are not biblical, I would quickly point out that God could just as easily "lift the curtain of protection" (sigh) for religious hypocrisy or profiteering off faith as abortion or pagan religious beliefs. (Jesus saved his most blistering attacks for those who abused their spiritual leadership.)

Second, I need to point out that the views you've heard expressed by these two (and are being expressed by others) are not necessarily the Christian mainstream, any more than the Taliban or the terrorist organizations speak for all of Islam. In a peculiar blending of scriptural interpretation and "my country - right or wrong" patriotism, they have assumed the promises given to the Jewish people in the Old Testament directly apply to the United States because of it's "Christian" origins. [Never mind that: a. the Jewish people took it in the teeth a number of times in the O.T. even with those promises in place, and b. that America's origins may have some routes in Christian belief, but also include healthy doses of Deism, rationalism, and pure, unadulterated greed.] As you can probably guess, I don't share their viewpoint.

Third, I hope you'll be heartened to know that my sermon/teaching tomorrow morning will be focusing on the scriptural concepts of "overcoming evil with good", "in your anger, do not sin", and "in Christ, there is no Jew or Greek" - as I attempt to lay out some solidly 'Christian' reactions to the horror of these attacks. One of my greatest fears right now is not lousy theology (there always seems to be plenty of that around) but racism in the name of patriotism.

Fourth, there have already been a number of folks in Christendom who've taken Robertson & Falwell to task for their grandstanding during this time of crisis. I had actually read of their remarks on Christianity Today's website Friday, who took a decidedly dim view of their tomfoolery.

Fifth, I take issue with your equating two televangelists with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. While they are irritating and often maddening, they have not recently taken over a country and instituted Sha'riah (sp?) law. (Yes, I understand that many of the legal changes they would like to see would be stifling... but what they long for is an idealized view of the 1950's in the suburbs/South as much as a "Christian" nation.) I understand your anger - but think your metaphor is inflated.

Sixth, thank you for paying me the compliment of forwarding this story to me. As always, I appreciate your friendship and the intellectual challenge of our conversations. If you would not mind, I'd like to use your original note to me and my response as a base for my e-mail newsletter to my church this next week.

yours in Christ,

mark

Within 24 hours, he answered... with permission to do this article and a couple of other interesting comments.

ME: "I need to point out that the views you've heard expressed by these two (and are being expressed by others) are not necessarily the Christian mainstream..."

Well, this is an interesting distinction. Unmistakably they do not speak for all Christians. However, through their visibility, they can easily come across, rightly or wrongly, as representing the mainstream. I truly don't know what goes on out there, and unfortunately, much of my knowledge of American Christianity (as a practice, not as a theology) comes from the media, which is to say, from those who speak the loudest. So I imagine it must be an especial burden for someone like yourself to see your religion so profoundly misrepresented.

And this is why I believe it is so important for you to *actively* distance yourself, and for more Christian churches to come down hard against these people. If the Falwells of the world are the ones who put a face on Christianity, then this is the face that people will see.

Additionally, I am sure that many in your congregation listen to these shows. If someone like yourself does not take a stand, then there will be those in your congregation who come to believe that the ideas expressed by Falwell do indeed represent Christianity.

And that was that... except that the news went a different direction in the days that followed and one of my friend's comments became even more interesting in light of it.

The Rest of the Story

In the next couple of days, both Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson issued statements.

Pat Robertson first supported the remarks made by Falwell, both on the telecast with comments like "I totally concur" & "Amen" and in statements issued to AP: "In no way has any guest on my program suggested that anyone other than the Middle East terrorists were responsible for the tragic events that took place on Tuesday. I again emphasize that there are organizations within the United States which have labored unceasingly to strip religious values from our public square, and in the process, to take away the mantle of divine protection which our nation has enjoyed ever since the days of its founding."

And then, there was an about-face. In his final press release on the comments, he castigated Falwell for uttering "a political statement of blame directed at certain segments of the population that was severe and harsh in tone, and, frankly, not fully understood by the three hosts of The 700 Club who were watching Rev. Falwell on a monitor." He then told Fox News that he considered the remarks "totally inappropriate."

Meanwhile, Jerry Falwell was doing some back-pedaling of his own. His first statement was as follows: "I sincerely regret that comments I made during a theological discussion on a Christian television program were taken out of their context and reported, and that my thoughts - reduced to sound bites - have detracted from the spirit of this time of mourning... My mistake on the 700 Club was doing this at the time I did it, on television, where a secular media and audience were also listening. And as I enumerated the sins of an unbelieving culture, because of very limited time on the 700 Club, I failed to point the finger at a sleeping, prayerless and carnal church. We believers must also acknowledge our sins, repent, and fast and pray for national revival."

I can't pretend to know what happened next or what motivated Falwell's actions... but this is where things got really interesting from a Christian perspective. Jerry Falwell issued a second statement a day later. What follows is part of the AP News story.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The Rev. Jerry Falwell apologized Monday for saying God had allowed terrorists to attack America because of the work of civil liberties groups, abortion rights supporters and feminists. Falwell said his comments were ill-timed, insensitive and divisive at a time of national mourning. President Bush had called the minister's statement inappropriate.

"In the midst of the shock and mourning of a dark week for America, I made a statement that I should not have made and which I sincerely regret,'' Falwell said. "I want to apologize to every American, including those I named. When I talked about God lifting the curtain of protection on our nation, I should have made it very clear that no one on this earth knows whether or not that occurred or did not occur." He said if the destruction was a judgment from God it was a judgment on all sinners, including himself.

Falwell told The Associated Press that no one from the evangelical community or the White House pressured him to apologize. However, he said a White House representative called him Friday while he was driving to the National Cathedral memorial service in Washington, and told him the president disapproved. Falwell said he told the White House that he also felt he had misspoken.

So?

Now that all the dust has cleared (and, btw, that's the main reason for waiting to write this up - it's way too easy to write/say something that quickly becomes outdated by current events with a situation like this)... so what? Why spend this much bandwidth on what is essentially a two-week old news story?

For me, it's my friend's comment:

If the Falwells of the world are the ones who put a face on Christianity, then this is the face that people will see.

I agreed with him completely that Saturday night as my outrage against anyone claiming to speak for God ("THIS is the reason 4,000 people died" - blech!) burned white-hot.

And I agree with him now, as I've watched a very public religious figure, a lightening rod for controversy and ridicule, very publicly apologize for what he said. While I don't always agree with Jerry Falwell, I'm thankful that a major part of this story is his saying "I was wrong." In doing that, he's putting "a face on Christianity" that shows humility, teachability, and an absence of pride.

There's a number of ways to still be cynical about this: "He just did it to get people off his back" or "He didn't mean it" or... well, the list could go on and on. Honestly, the spirit of his apology and what it means is for Jerry to take up with God - as people who claim to follow Jesus, we can simply accept it at face value and move on.

What About Pat?

I'll let you make your own decisions about Pat Robertson's "point the finger" defense. For me, it just offers a sickening counterpoint to Jerry Falwell's apology.

What About Responding?

Was it OK to respond with righteous indignation to the reports of their remarks on the 700 Club? In short, yes.

In long, yes... as long as our legitimate anger at mishandling the Truth didn't bleed over into cynicism and name-calling. It's all too easy to end up in the same place, claiming to speak for God when accusing of others of being unable to speak for God. Sigh.

What About Me?

In light of all this, ask yourself a couple of questions:

1. Who do I need to apologize to? (Take a cue from Jerry and offer an apology without finger-pointing. Chances are you've left someone in your wake in the last 48 hours that deserves your humble plea for forgiveness.)
2. Will you let this go? Will you forgive Jerry Falwell? Granted, he's made himself the target of barbs & criticisms (some of them justly deserved). But when we place him in the category of 'Christian buffoons' and refuse to extend grace to him, we set ourselves up for a fall.

Jesus: "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." Matthew 6:14-15 (NIV)

Let those roll around in your heart & mind today...

Thanks For Reading...

...and thanks again to J.D. for letting me quote him and turn some of what he said into a teachable moment.

Odd Bits Of Video

Set the Wayback Machine for 2003... when, after the closing of the church @ hickory hollow and before I came to be senior pastor here at NewLife Community Church, I worked for a fulfillment house. Our main customers were Tae-Bo & Gaither Homecoming - meaning I worked most of the time on an assembly line of sorts, inserting advertisements into video cassettes and/or stacking & boxing them. About 6 weeks into my employment there, we took over fulfillment for Hot Licks Instructional Videos - which are primarily rock & jazz guitar videos.

Part of the process of sorting out the horrendous mess that was Hot Licks (the previous folks doing fulfillment sold us their entire stock & basically dumped it into pallet sized crates) was having new videos made from the masters... and that's when I discovered Tuck Andress' amazing rendition of Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror."

It occurred to me this morning that this might be on You Tube... even though I haven't heard/seen it for nearly 7 years. And it was. Enjoy.

You Tube has other fun things, of course, like this... for example, one of the games coming in my Amazon.de order (German Amazon.com, btw) was previewed on this video from the Nürnberg Neuheiten early in 2009. Those are mirrors! (The name of the game is Burg der 1000 Spiegel - "Castle of 1000 Mirrors.")

And, because you never can have enough obscure Canadian CCM bands mentioned in a blog post, I give you the boys of Hokus Pick. (Man, we loved these guys... some of the best live shows I've had the privilege of attending. Check out their MySpace Music page as well...)

Hello, BGN Readers!

If you've found your way here thanks to Dale Yu publishing (or re-publishing) my puzzle, welcome! There's lots of different content here - but here's some really good starting places for the game-obsessed:

• Five & Dime Reports - Each year I take in lists from people who've tracked their gaming and let me know what they've played 5+ times (nickels) and 10+ times (dimes)... and then generate lots of lists & graphs from it. (BTW, I'm taking submissions for 2009 right now!)
• The Kid Games 100 - Over the last year & a half, I blogged about my top 100 games for kids... I'm pretty proud of the list. (It was a lot of fun to make, too.)
• The One Hundred - It's actually on it's own blog, but this is a list compiled a few years back by Stephen Glenn (the designer of "Balloon Cup") and published by yours truly about the best 100 games of all time.
• The Apples Project - Another separate blog... but this one is my own personal project to create game awards based on something besides the year they were released. It's been done twice (in 2002 & 2006) which means I probably should think about doing it again this year.

Five & Dime 2009: This Time, It's Personal

Here's my own personal Five & Dime list (the games I've played 5+ and 10+ times in 2009). I decided to break it into three categories

Face-to-Face (not predominately with kids)

DIMES

• Race for the Galaxy 229
• Memoir '44 25
• Roll Through the Ages: The Bronze Age 18
• Pandemic 16
• Finito! 14
• Sorry! Sliders 13
• Sushizock im Gockelwok 13
• Bounce It-In Game 12

NICKELS

• Monopoly Deal Card Game 9
• Zoff im Hühnerhof 9
• Zooloretto 9
• Dungeonquest 8
• Hop Hop Hooray! 8
• Aquaretto 7
• Battlestar Galactica 7
• Bungee 7
• Diamant 7
• FITS 7
• For Sale 7
• Harry's Grand Slam Baseball Game 7
• Mow 7
• Star Wars: Epic Duels 7
• Ra 6
• Showmanager 6
• Ca$h 'n Gun$ 5
• Hit or Miss 5
• Lord of the Rings 5
• Lost Cities: The Board Game 5
• Skip-bo 5
• Small World 5
• Snow Tails 5
• Sylla 5

Online (games played versus online players through yucata.de, mastermoves.eu & brettspielwelt.de)

DIMES

• Dominion 74
• StreetSoccer 53
• Powerboats 48
• Café International 28
• Pickomino 15
• That's Life! 12
• Carcassonne 10

NICKELS

• Lost Cities 9
• Category 5 8
• TransAmerica 6
• Tally Ho! 5

Kids (played primarily with kids)

DIMES

• Cheese Snatching 22
• Tier auf Tier 19
• Fleet Fins 16
• Walter Wick Can You See What I See? 11

NICKELS

• Herd the Sheep 9
• Kayanak 8
• Marrakesh 8
• Duck, Duck, Bruce 7
• Hula Hippos 7
• My First UNO 7
• Nacht der Magier 7
• Phase 10 for Kids 7
• The Secret Door 7
• Auf die Schätze, fertig, los! 6
• Bärenstark 6
• Brawl 6
• Hamsterbacke 6
• Kleine Gewitterhexe 6
• Ring-O Flamingo 6
• Aargh! 5
• At Full Throttle 5
• Battle Masters 5
• Casino Hot Dog 5
• Eierlei 5
• Fluch der Mumie 5
• Funny Bunny 5
• Glücks-Piraten 5
• Go Fish 5
• Mouse Trap 5
• My Haunted Castle 5
• Obstgärtchen 5
• Round-Up 5
• Sorry! - Pokémon 5
• Thing-a-ma-Bots 5
• Wackelkuh 5
• Zitternix 5

Five & Dime 2009 - Hey, It's Time!

That's right, kids & kiddettes... it's time to start up those spreadsheets and/or fire up the Geek and make our your five & dime game lists for 2009. And then, of course, send 'em to your crazy ol' Uncle Mark so he can mash 'em together & turn out stuff like the 2008 Five & Dime Report.

Want more details? Go to my post on the Geek and give it a big Ebert & Siskel thumbs up.

Glennz: Secret Habit

This is the T-shirt I'm wearing today... and it's one of the many VERY funny designs from Glennz Tees. (I first saw one at Doug Garrett's Bay Area gaming shindig back in 2008... and three of them ended up under the tree this year with my name on it, as well as a desktop calendar.) Here's the other two shirts I received:

By the way, they're having an end of year sale this week...

How Much Life Insurance Do You Have?

Once again, James Emery White manages to hit one out of the park... if you're a church leader, you must go right now and read his entire blog post, "How Much Life Insurance?" A short sample:

“How much life insurance do you have?”

According to a recent blog by Seth Godin, Zig Ziglar liked to say that with that one question, you could tell if someone was a successful life insurance agent. “If they’re not willing to buy it with their own money, how can they honestly persuade someone else to do so?”

Godin went on to note that if you are in the music business, but you never buy tickets or downloads, can you really empathize with the people you’re selling to?

His favorite: If you work for a non-profit and you don’t give money to charity, what exactly are you doing in this job? “And the shame of it,” Godin adds, “is that this inaction on their part keeps them from experiencing the very emotion that they try so hard to sell.”

And then he goes on to apply that to ministry and proceeds to shine a bright light into the often dark & musty corners where our motivations hide. Like I said earlier, a MUST read.

3 Things Pastors Secretly Pray For

Stuff Christians Like #676: Secretly hoping your city's NFL team stinks so people will come to church.

3. That parents with screaming kids will take them to Sunday School. Hot topic, hot topic, but pastors of the world, I got your back. Imagine if you were at work, in a cubicle and someone came over and said, “Hey, I’m going to sit my screaming 2 year old right here on your filing cabinet. He’s going to scream and throw whatever objects are within his grasp for the next 30 minutes while you work.”

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Merry Christmas!

About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone had to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David's town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiancée, who was pregnant.

While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel.

There were sheepherders camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God's angel stood among them and God's glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said, "Don't be afraid. I'm here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David's town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what you're to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger."

At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God's praises:
Glory to God in the heavenly heights, Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.

As the angel choir withdrew into heaven, the sheepherders talked it over. "Let's get over to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has revealed to us." They left, running, and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. Seeing was believing. They told everyone they met what the angels had said about this child. All who heard the sheepherders were impressed.

Mary kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself. The sheepherders returned and let loose, glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen. It turned out exactly the way they'd been told!

from Luke 2 (The Message)

Stocking Stuffer Games + Amazon Prime

This weekend, I blogged a bit about Eric's stocking stuff podcast... and thought about adding a few suggestions of my own. Here's 10 really great stocking stuffer games that you can have by Christmas Eve thanks to the magic of Amazon Prime shipping. (While I do receive review copies on a regular basis from Haba & Gamewright, Amazon gives me nothing. I wish they would, of course, but they don't.)

• Ark (Rio Grande) - not really a kid's game (despite the charming art)... this is a card placement game where you are one of Noah's helpers trying to load the ark so that the wrong animals don't get put in the same cabin. I'm a big fan of this game & think it got sadly overlooked a few years back when it was released. $14.03 is a nice price... and the Ark Extra Mix expansion is only $3.99 with Prime shipping as well! (I haven't reviewed this game... but I'd be honored to teach it to anyone who asks. You could also read Susan L's excellent review.)
• Can You See What I See? (Gamewright) - a game for the preschoolers in your house... this is a sturdy & enjoyable bingo-ish game that has inspired deep love in my 4 year old. $15.00 is a good price. (Read my review!)
• Dancing Dice (Mayfair) - as long as you have family members/friends who don't cheat (there's a lot of hidden actions taken in this game), this is a very fun dice game about marathon dancing that's actually more enjoyable with more players! You'll need a big stocking to fit it in, but it's a big deal at only $10! (I haven't reviewed this game - but I really like it, as does my lovely wife, Shari - the non-gamer in the family. You can read Eric V's review, though.)
• Duck Duck Bruce (Gamewright) - originally published in Germany as "Kleine Fische", (Little Fish), this is a great push-your-luck game that works with kids as young as four & has whimsical duck/dog art to make it even more enjoyable. Well worth $9.55... and you can find this even cheaper sometimes in Target or other stores that carry Gamewright card games. (Read my review!)
• Ka-Ching! (Gamewright) - originally released in Germany as "Combit", I like this less abstract version better. It's a two-player game of investment chicken... not so much for the kids but great for ages 10+ who like quick-moving but think-y games. The price is right, too - $8.97. (I haven't reviewed this... but I'd be happy to get a copy for Christmas! Meanwhile, read Tom Vasel's review.)
• Keep It Steady (Haba) - better known by the German name (Zitternix), this is a very clever game of vertical Pick-Up-Stix. A favorite with adults & kids... $17.00. (I haven't reviewed Zitternix, but I'm very glad I own a copy - thanks to Dave Vander Ark for showing it to me originally!)
• Pig Pile (R&R Games) - it's lighter than air & extremely silly (you keep score with plastic piggies!) but it's become a family favorite in the "better than Uno" light card game genre. A bit pricey at $20.54 but it can be there by Christmas! (I haven't reviewed this game - I've just been playing it consistently since it was released. Neil Thomson has a nice review of it on the Geek.)
• Pirate's Blast (Haba) - another game possibly better known by the German title (Das Schwarze Pirat: Das Duell). Translated, that's "The Black Pirate: The Duel" and it's a two-player version of the award-winning "The Black Pirate" game. This is a dexterity game of sorts - where two players use air pumps to blow their ships about the table... and fire on them with tiny wooden cannons! This is a STEAL at $12.97! (Read my review!)
• Pocket Battles: Celts vs. Romans (Z-Man Games) - the first in a planned series of small tile-based 30 minute wargames, this is the only stocking stuffer on the list that I haven't played. I want to - a lot - but it just came out. It would be a treat for any gamer on your list - for example, me! $15.00 is a little higher than you see it in the standard online gaming locations - but Amazon Prime = free 2 day shipping, so it pretty much evens out. (Of course, I haven't reviewed it... but Mike Siggins has.)
• The Suitcase Detectives (Haba) - a clever & creatively designed smuggling game... can you find the stolen items?! A great deal at $14.54! (Read my review!)

Stocking Stuffers & Party Games

My friend & one-time game convention roomie, Eric Burgess, has a nifty podcast about boardgaming entitled, aptly enough, Boardgame Babylon. (Get it? "Babble on." He's a card, that Eric Burgess.) We keep talking about me being a guest on the show, but I think he's too busy hobnobbing with game designers to give me the time of day. (The preceding sentence is a joke - Eric is a really nice guy!)

His latest podcast is about stocking stuffers & party games... I just wanted to make comments on the podcast & point you in his direction:

• I really, really am tempted to buy Small World in order to buy the expansions... I have a serious expansion fever problem.
• I'm curious - for those of us who are not fans of Ticket to Ride: Europe (but love the original game), is the 1912 expansion worth the money?
• Didn't know that Trendy had been reprinted as Horse Fair... you should go buy this game immediately.
• I'll 2nd & 3rd Eric's suggestion of Wits & Wagers (and Say Anything!) as great party games.
• Eric mentioned Ring-O Flamingo... I'll be doing a review of the game later this weekend. Short preview: my review is positive.
• Finally, where we disagree: Monopoly is NOT tedious unless the players make it that way.

Thanks for a great podcast, Eric!

Small World Christmas

It's Christmas time at Disneyland... and for the first time in 3 years, we aren't there. (This would be the appropriate time to say "thanks" to my Imagineering buddy for getting us in last year & to Klutz Publishing for making me a consultant the year before that paid for most of our trip... and to the folks @ NewLife, who are incredibly generous about vacation time for myself & the rest of the staff.)

One of the added bonuses of homeschooling our kids (in tandem with me pastoring a church) is the flexibility it allows us in taking vacations - we're not restricted to weekends, holidays & summer. In fact, weekends are pretty much out (seems the good people of NewLife Community would like me to show up on Sunday mornings & talk to 'em!). So, we go to Disneyland during the week while public school is still in session between Thanksgiving & Christmas.. meaning the crowds are low, the park is decorated beautifully & there are fireworks every night.

I really do have a spiritual point to this... hang on a minute.

The first time we went (back in 2003 - Braeden was only 2 years old!), we had a number of wonderful experiences:

• taking pictures of Braeden & Shari riding Dumbo from the elephant in front of them - which is almost a perfect echo of a picture my dad took of my mom & me 40 years ago
• riding Heimlich's Chew Chew Train enough times that we memorized all the dialogue... (btw, one of the downsides of low crowds - if your kid likes a ride, you're going to get to see a lot of it)
• Braeden getting his picture taken with Mickey... and as he left, turning around & running back to hug him and tell him, "I love you, Mickey."

But the particular memory I want to focus on is standing in line for It's A Small World right around dusk. They turn off all the surrounding lights... there's some dramatic music... and then the colored lights come on all at once. There's an almost collective gasp/intake of breath at the beauty of the moment... and then people erupt into spontaneous cheers. (I've seen this a number of times now - in fact, we try to time it so that we're near Small World around dusk if we can - and it's the same response every time.)

That moment awe & wonder, that childlike delight in the lights & the music & the "magic" of Disneyland - frankly, that's just a taste of what we're meant to enjoy when we realize the meaning of the Christmas celebration. We are kneeling (physically or metaphorically) at the feet of a baby who is fully man & fully God, who will - in a short 33 years - give Himself up on the cross in order to pay for all the cruddy, evil, horrible things we've done. We are in the presence of God - it's worth a gasp of breath & an eruption of cheering & praise.

I love to turn the lights on our Christmas tree... particularly when it's dark in the living room. It reminds me - just a bit - of the amazing show Disneyland puts on each night through the holidays. I want to challenge myself (and you, by extension) to be reminded each time you see the lights wink on & the room fill with color to remember the amazing grace of God that He showed so clearly through the birth of Jesus Christ.

Merry Christmas!

P.S. If you'd like to read more about Disneyland at Christmas, you can check out my Disney-related posts on my blog: http://akapastorguy.blogspot.com/search/label/Disney.

It's a small world... at Christmas

Picture originally uploaded by LowellB23

Advent

A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes...and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 1943

Fremantle Prison: The Cells Originally uploaded by garry.pettet

Kid Games Reviews: Wiggling Cow

Wiggling Cow

• designer: Brigitte Pokornik
• publisher: Haba
• date: 2009
• BoardGameGeek rank/rating: not ranked/4.33
• age: 6+
• # of players: 1-4
• print status: in print
• cost: $21.59 (maukilo.com)

My feelings about this game have been a veritable roller coaster of highs & lows:

• LOW (looking at the cover when Haba shipped it to me) - who in the world OK'd the English name? Maybe it's me, but it just sounds wrong. (Though not as wrong as Pocket Rockets - which actually sounds like a decent kids game but won't be entering my house because I don't want to have to keep my boys from loudly talking about their "pocket rockets" and not realize what kind of problems they're causing me & their mother.)
• HIGH (opening the box for the first time) - the cow is very, very cute & well-made. The tiles are thick & chunky... and there's a wooden fork in here! As usual, excellent components from Haba.
• LOW (after our first play) - did we do something wrong? Why wasn't this any fun? The idea seemed promising... but our first play left us cold.
• HIGH (after playing with our problem "fixed") - Aha! The primary audience for this game is kids... this is a dexterity game that little guys (for example, my 4 year old) can play.

So, I'm guessing you'll want to know how we "fixed" the game... but before we get to that, I need to explain the game.

See, there's this cow, standing on a pile of hay (tiles). We (for some unexplained reason) need to get the hay without tipping the cow over. (Yes, I realize I've made subtle reference to the sport of cow tipping - now move along.) Using the wooden fork, each of us tease one (and only one!) piece out from under the cow and off the edge of the board. If you knock the cow over, you don't get a tile that turn & reset the cow for the next player. The game ends when all of the tiles are gone or (this hasn't happened yet) all of the players tip the cow over in succession. The most tiles wins.

There's a variant scoring rule which we use as a regular rule - the tiles have 1-3 flowers on each side... and some of the tiles have different amounts on opposite sides. When you take a tile, you get as many points as there are flowers on one side of the tile - whichever side you like!

And now that you understand the intricate workings & strategic depth of the game (he says, grinning), I can share with you our "fix": don't EVER put the cow on one tile. If you do, the cow will essentially "surf" on this tile while the players tease out tiles with impunity. You need to place the cow with her front legs on one tile & her back legs on another. Seriously, that took the game from "so what?" to "this is a lot of fun."

I will say that Wiggling Cow has worked best with kids or with mixed groups of adults & kids. It's not one of those "kid games that adults play when the kids are bed" kind of games... but it is a great deal of fun and very accessible even for age 4+.

Kid Game Reviews: Casino Hot Dog

Casino Hot Dog

• designer: Wolfgang Dirscherl
• publisher: Haba
• date: 2008
• BoardGameGeek rank/rating: not ranked/5.36
• age: 7+
• # of players: 2-4
• print status: in print
• cost: $28.79 (maukilo.com)

Chances are pretty good you've seen a picture of dogs playing poker... you know what I'm talking about, right? I've even got a Peanuts T-shirt with Snoopy & his various relatives arranged in similar fashion. Well, when Haba decided to put bags filled with poker chips in a game about dogs racing across the yard, it's no surprise that you're reminded of the ubiquitous paintings. (The box cover art is just icing on the cake.)

BTW, these are not your average kids game poker chips - or even the nicer Hasbro/Avalon Hill chips that you find in Vegas Showdown and Axis & Allies: D-Day. These are the real deal - they've got weight/heft (or whatever poker players like to say about good chips) and are custom printed for this game. (How do I know they're custom printed? I'm guessing not too many standard poker chip sets include a dog poop chip.)

The game itself is a race game (be the first to zoom across the board) powered by a push-your-luck mechanic. The first player (which rotates each turn) rolls two dice that tell the dogs (aka "players") what the prizes will be for this round. It's either a number of spaces or a golden bone... and there are golden bones scattered along the track.

Then the players reach into their bag & grab (sight unseen) one of their chips. They are revealed... and then the game begins in earnest! The players must now decide if they will:

• reach into their bag & fake drawing out a chip (in other words, choosing to stand with the number on their chip) OR
• reach into their bag & draw out another chip

Those next chips (or empty hands) are revealed... and the process is repeated until all of the players have stopped drawing chips... or found their dog poop tile. (Finding doo-doo puts you in deep doo-doo, at least for that round - you're knocked out of the running.)

The two players with the highest totals will get prizes, with the highest total choosing first. If there's a tie, the player closest clockwise to the "first player" goes first.

There is one other wrinkle (which can be ignored when playing with younger children) - there is a 2x chip which multiplies the value of all your other chips. I like that simply removing this chip makes the game easily playable with kids who can do basic addition.

Press-your-luck games are always interesting with kids... just like adults, some are unable to quit drawing chips until things go wrong, while others are completely unwilling to take risks. This would be a wonderful game to train kids in judging probabilities & rate of return (though if you use those particular words in trying to teach the underlying concepts to a 6 year old, you need your examined).

My 8 year old son loves this game - and only partly because he gets to use the word "poop" when we play. He isn't perfect at judging the odds, but he's old enough to figure out his chances for himself. My 4 year old son is less enthused by it... but he's willing to play. I myself think it's good light fun - but it IS a press-your-luck game, so if you're turned off by those kind of things, run away now.And while the rules say it will work with 2 players, it's not nearly as fun as playing with 3 or 4.

Lego Toy Story 3!

7596 Trash Compactor Escape Originally uploaded by fbtb

Man, my wallet is in SO much trouble next fall.

For more info, check out this page on From Bricks to Bothans.