Heard It On/In The Grapevine

"the Grapevine" is the name of the (nearly) weekly e-newsletter at NewLife Community Church, the church I pastor in Easton, CA. (Easton is just south of Fresno.)

The articles here are not every one of my Grapevine articles - I only publish the ones here on the blog that I think will connect with my diverse audience.

Or, in some cases, that I like. So who gives a hoot if you guys don't?! :-)

• 10/23/03 - iMac Airport Cards & Linksys Wireless Routers
• 3/13/05 - Forward, Christian Soldiers
• 4/5/05 - Bananarama
• 4/21/05 - The Last Juror
• 5/2/05 - Google Me
• 6/2/05 - Dig Hay Zoose
• 6/23/05 - Boy Gets Stuck In Wal-Mart Toy Machine
• 8/17/05 - It's Not My Yob, Man
• 9/29/05 - Lovely Rita, Meter Maid
• 10/05/05 - The Tale of The Pig (And How His Influence Still Touches My Life)
• 11/08/05 - The Far Side of Evangelism
• 11/30/05 - My Brain's Still At DFW
• 1/12/06 - Unpacking The Baggage
• 2/21/06 - Broken Glass
• 3/4/06 - Truth or Fiction, Part One
• 3/9/06 - Truth or Fiction, Part Two
• 4/20/06 - 100 Years Ago
• 4/27/06 - 9 Years Ago
• 7/09/06 - Richard Niebuhr, John Travolta & Martin Luther King
• 7/12/06 - Not Exactly Summer Reading Material
• 8/10/06 - Level
• 9/5/06 - I Don't Want To Be Some Kind of Nutjob
• 9/30/07 - Not Always A Good Thing
• 10/16/07 - Mission-y-ness

Pod People - The Games

In a previous post, Pod People, I gave you some of the highlights of my trip to Santa Clarita in January. Now I want to take a minute to give you my impressions of some of the games I played.

Tsuro

This was my first time to play Tsuro... I'd heard nice things about it, but I hadn't given it a try. At it's heart, it's a simpler, quicker cousin to Metro/Iron Horse. It'll be easier to teach & and to rope non-gamers into - and it plays with up to 8 players. All is good here...

...except for the goofy Dragon tile rule, which none of us could make heads or tails of. Once I get that figured out, I'd like to own a copy of the game.

Ark

Ark was one of my Christmas presents, and I'd had a great time playing one game with my wife & family. So, I volunteered to teach Dave, Erin & Nikki (sp?). We made it through 3-4 rounds of turns before Ryan "Rain On Fluff Daddy's Pitiful Parade" Wheeler walked in and asked what we were doing.

Seems I'd managed to blow a key rule: you get to draw cards OR play, not both. (BTW, the game works my wrong way... sigh.) I think I blew another rule... but I don't remember what it was. (Yes, when I can finally update my website sometime later this spring, it'll go on the Lost & Found rules page.)

Jenseit von Thebes

All the positive buzz about Jenseit von Thebes had me intriguied... the first printing sold out in 2004, the second printing sold out in 2005, it's hard to find and well-thought-of by a number of folks I like (Mark Johnson, Joe Huber, etc.)

And I was not disappointed. This is an exploration/archaeology game that manages to have enough decisions to feel some control while enough luck to really feel like an exploration game. I thoroughly enjoyed the four player game we played - of course, it didn't hurt that I won.

The one glitch in our game is that the exhibitions came out at weird times - 7 of them in the first year (3 before any of us could gather artifacts) and 1 in the last year (that came too late for any of us to attend). On playing again, I would probably use some kind of variant that kept the exhibitions out of the top of the deck. (Ryan Davis suggested 3 cards per player, which seems about right... maybe 4.)

Now, my hope & dream is that a game company like Goldsieber decides to pick this one up and give it the "Goldland" treatment... imagine it! 5 bags with chunky round tiles for each of the dig sites, a Franz V. board, archaeologist pawns, better art & better quality cards... sigh. I'd buy a copy in a heartbeat.

Akaba

One of Braeden's Christmas presents was the Haba game, Akaba - and I got to play it twice this last weekend. Both times there was lots of hooting & hollering... this game manages to be great fun for adults & kids.

For those who haven't seen it, Akaba is a race/memory game... but the way you move your flying carpet pieces is with puffs of air from a squeeze bulb. Nifty!

Zahltag

This was the "discovery" of the weekend for me, as I had the opportunity to play this with Dave Arnott & Mark Johnson on Saturday afternoon. It's a very different kind of bidding game (you're actually lowballing rather than "winning" a bid) and there are some tricky ways to manipulate the labor market. Zahltag is fast (30 minutes or so) and a lot of fun.

I did really lousy at it, but I enjoyed it immensely. If anyone wants to get rid of a copy, I'm looking for it!

Reef Encounter

I have since played Reef Encounter a 2nd time, but it's important to note my initial impression... I felt like I was manipulating bits rather than immersed in a game. After a second playing, I can "see" the game better, but I'm not sure I'm going to like it any more because of that.

Trump Tricks Game!

Yet another trick-taking game, saved only by the fact that I played it with Dave & Mark. Otherwise, just more of the same. (I'd rather be playing Victory & Honor or Control Nut.)v

Route 66

After the insanely lukewarm reception this game got with the Fresno Gamers, I brought it out with trepdiation... but Dave & Mark (and I!) enjoyed ourselves immensely. It's a "take that" game with an odd race design - you want to get from Chicago to L.A. as fast as possible, then take your sweet time on the return trip (you get credit for sightseeing). I think it's a great "once a year" game from Wolfgang Riedesser, who is a designing hero of mine.

Hochst Verdachtig

Dave drove me back to Fresno and got a quickie introduction to the joys of kid gaming. First up was this game of detectives chasing a crook, powered by a tilting board. As usual, the Haba bits are scrumptious and the gameplay is good. This could be played without the random elements (die roll for number of moves, varied values on the victory point cards) but it wouldn't be nearly as much fun.

Rein Damit

We also played Haba's Rein Damit (which is NOT actually a cuss word!) - it's a game about feeding the animals in the zoo that uses the same basic mechanism as Bounce It In. Take a ball and bounce it into the grid at the spot you need. I like this one enough that we have enlarged copies of the artwork on the walls of our nursery.

Louis XIV

I'm sure it's better with more players (we played with 2) but I didn't find Louis XIV particularly compelling. It's Alladin's Dragons with some added depth. Since I'm not a big fan of AD, I didn't fall deeply in love with this one, either.

Africa

One of my favorite exploration games - it's great with 2 players!

Fjords

I've come to realize that I like Fjords for the same reason I like Carcassonne - I like building the board with tiles AND I can "see" the game really well. That translates into great fun for me. Fjords is shorter, but with less variety than Carc.

Kardinal & Konig: Das Duell

A two player variant for Web of Power created by Michael Schacht, I think it works like a charm, though it works best with 2 experienced players.

Kayanak

Any game where you poke holes through paper "ice" in order to fish for ball bearings with a magnet is time well spent in my book.

Industrial Waste (x2)

Two games of two player Industrial Waste convinced both Dave & I that the game is broken with 2 players... while the system works, there is no way to come back when you fall behind.

Random Memory Dump

Just finished re-reading the last two Harry Potter novels (Order of the Phoenix & The Half-Blood Prince)... they were both much better the second time around, probably because I wasn't expecting them to be like The Goblet of Fire, which is my favorite of the series. It's also good to read them back-to-back, because there is a great deal of "flow" between the two novels.

Monday night was "where'd everybody go?!" night at Fresno Gamers, so John & I ended up playing Queen's Gambit and St Petersburg, both games I enjoy a great deal and don't get to play nearly enough. My attitude about the evening isn't hurt by the fact that I won both games, either - as the Trade Federation, I managed a Darth Maul duel victory while Anakin evidently stopped for a 7 course meal on his way to the control ship... and in St Petersburg, I out-built John, buying both theaters + a number of other high point thingees.

This is an "easy" week at NewLife, as we have a guest speaker for the Sunday morning service. That means I've been able to help Shari Jo prep for the women's retreat she's leading this weekend - mainly by taking care of Braeden & Collin.

Speaking of Collin, he's in that "woodchuck" stage right now, where EVERYTHING looks edible to him. Braeden never really did this, but left to his own devices, Collin will attempt to chew the binding off of a board book.

The guest speaker, btw, is Allen Troxler (well, DOCTOR Allen Troxler, now)... who was the first associate pastor of the church @ hickory hollow. Spending time with him is always fun - and since he's a brilliant teacher, I end up learning a chunk whenever he does stuff like this.

Newest book in the reading queue: Sundown Towns by James Loewen. It's about the vast American heritage of towns/suburbs that practiced "racial exclusion" - in other words, these are the places that put up those "N----r, don't let the sun go down on you in ________" signs. Where my mom & dad grew up (the Ozarks), this happened in many places - and in a weird "haven't heard the name of my hometown in THAT context", he even mentions Placentia while talking about Brea's sundown status. Of course, Placentia didn't become a sundown town because it was a "Mexican" place. Again, weird. (BTW, Loewen has written two other books that ought to be required reading: Lies My Teacher Told Me and Lies Across America.)

Anyone else having odd flashbacks to the days when watching the Olympics was more like a Western movie, what with the white hats (Americans, or if we stunk in a particular sport, Australians or West Germans) and the black hats (Soviets, East Germans & Chinese)? I don't want those days back, mind you - but this is the first time it's really struck me about how much has changed in the last 30 years internationally.

One last Olympic-related comment: the new figure skating scoring system has made the pairs & men's competitions less interesting, but it's done WONDERS for ice dancing. (Hi, Charles, my ice-dancing, Settlers-winning buddy... you said you were going to call me back!)

Broken Glass

The church I planted/pastored in Nashville (the church @ hickory hollow) was just a few weeks old when we asked Jason Bullion to come & be artistic. (This wasn't a stretch for Jason - he was an art major!) While I spoke about the creativity of God and His dreams for the church, Jason painted an impressionistic work of a stained glass window.

Interestingly enough, the stained glass window looked like someone had thrown a rock through it... but the place where the glass was missing formed a jagged but still recognizable cross with white light streaming through the opening.

That cross became the symbol/icon for our church - a rag-tag group of people burned by more traditional churches who wanted to throw some rocks through the practices & beliefs we thought were enslaving us and let the light of Jesus illuminate everything we did & said.

In the end, we were probably better at breaking things than we were at letting light in. There was, at times, an attitude for all of us that reminds me of one of David Letterman's old stand-by jokes - throw something out the window and see how it explodes when it hits the ground. When I'm honest with myself, some of my desire to sledgehammer church tradition was out of frustration & anger rather than following the leadership of God.

And yet, even with the problems, I think we were onto something. Too often, we do church life (and the rest of our lives, for that matter) based solely on what has gone on before. We get so focused on keeping programs alive and keeping up with the Joneses (i.e.. the church down the street, across town, whatever) that the light of Christ grows dim behind our ever-thickening panes of stained glass.

So, the painting still hangs in my office.

And the spirit of the painting? It's still around, too.

Which brings me to Sunday nights here at NewLife. For the time being, we will not be having Sunday night activities for adults or children on Sunday evenings. (The youth, under Aaron's leadership, may still meet on Sunday evenings.)

There are a number of reasons why: wide age range of children to take care of coupled wit inconsistent attendance, a declining interest from the majority of our adults in participating in studies & classes, the need for more workers to adequately staff Sunday evenings - set against the need for workers for Sunday School and Children's Church...

...but at the heart of it, there's really only one reason to set these programs aside. We were doing Sunday night activities because we'd always done something on Sunday nights, not because we had a clear leading from God that we needed to do something.

I realized a few weeks ago that while we've done some good stuff on Sunday nights, we've primarily been working to find curriculum & leaders to "fill space" - to make sure that we have some kind of spiritual activity in a particular time slot. No wonder we had trouble getting people to come!

So, this spring, we're going to throw a rock through this stained glass window...

Now, that doesn't preclude us doing things with our Sunday evenings. I know of at least one life group (small group Bible study) that is about to begin meeting on Sunday evenings. This Sunday night, Dr. Allen Troxler will be teaching our Winter Bible Study. Later in the spring, we're going to use this time slot for "pilot" versions of our second "emergent" service. This decision simply means we won't be creating activities for the sole purpose of activity. Oddly enough, we'll try & be purpose-driven... for more than just 40 days. :-)

One Sabbath, Jesus was strolling with his disciples through a field of ripe grain. Hungry, the disciples were pulling off the heads of grain and munching on them. Some Pharisees reported them to Jesus: "Your disciples are breaking the Sabbath rules!"

Jesus said, "Really? Didn't you ever read what David and his companions did when they were hungry, how they entered the sanctuary and ate fresh bread off the altar, bread that no one but priests were allowed to eat? And didn't you ever read in God's Law that priests carrying out their Temple duties break Sabbath rules all the time and it's not held against them?

"There is far more at stake here than religion. If you had any idea what this Scripture meant--"I prefer a flexible heart to an inflexible ritual'--you wouldn't be nitpicking like this. The Son of Man is no lackey to the Sabbath; he's in charge." Matthew 12:1-8 (The Message)

This article originally appeared in the 2/21/06 issue of the Grapevine, the newsletter of NewLife Community Church.

Five & Dime: 2005 Recap

I first began keeping track of the Five & Dime lists back in 1999... and here it is, 2006. Eight years... wow. Here's the all the links for the 2005 Five & Dime reports.

• How It All Started
• Most Played Games
• Dimes
• Nickels
• Fresh Faces
• Lo, How the Mighty Have Fallen
• Joining the "In" Crowd

And here's the links for graphic 'over time' comparisons of the top games, which I call Wide Angle Lens:

• Eight Year Pix
• Seven Year Pix
• Six Year Pix
• Five Year Pix
• Four Year Pix

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

These graphs cover 2005 (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: Wide Angle Lens (Five Year Pix)

These graphs cover 2005 (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 Royal Turf San Marco Traumfabrik Werewolf Wyatt Earp

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

These graphs cover 2005 (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 Citadels Lord of the Rings (includes expansions) Princes of Florence Taj Mahal Tichu Web of Power (includes China) Zertz

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

These graphs cover 2005 (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

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

These graphs cover 2005 (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) 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 Take It Easy Through the Desert

Oym Hunt

Here's a new time waster for all of you computer solitaire nerds out there - you know who you are. (Yes, you with 1000+ games of Free Cell played on your Windows machine.)

Anyway, allow me to introduce you to Oym Hunt... an addictive bit of insanity created by Frank Nestel. And, yes, this is the "Frank" in Doris & Frank, the game company that brought you Ursuppe/Primordial Soup. (My favorite older D&F game is actually Tante Tarantel.)

I found the Oym Hunt thanks to D&F's newest card game, Ark. (Which, btw, is a lot of fun. It requires one full play to understand how all the cards interact, then you get to enjoy playing the wonderful little game.) One of the cards is the Oym... and kindly includes the web address so you can find the Oym Hunt.

Of course, I thought an Oym was something like a Jewish hamster - "Mazeltov, Rabbi - how is your oym doing in his new Habitrail?". Or perhaps a Yiddish expression of frustration? - "Oym... I wish you'd stop putting the robber on 6 ore hex, you schlemiel."

Five & Dime 2005: 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 2004
For Sale	+23.54%
Around the World in 80 Days (Kosmos)	+12.32%
Jambo	+10.91%
Fairy Tale	+10.71%
Samurai	+8.79%
Niagara	+8.18%
Schotten-Totten/Battleline	+6.97%
Blokus	+6.87%
Titan: The Arena/Colossal Arena	+4.55%
Reef Encounter	+4.14%
Boggle	+4.04%
Hamsterrolle	+4.04%
RoboRally	+3.94%
Torres	+3.54%
Settlers of Catan	+3.43%

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

1. They were reprinted this year (For Sale, Fairy Tale, Titan the Arena, RoboRally, Torres, Reef Encounter, Battleline)
2. They were "Essen" games... they were released late in 2003 in Germany and were only played 5+ times by a couple of folks in 2003 (Around the World in 80 Days, Jambo, Niagara, Reef Encounter)

The interesting games here are the ones that can not be explained by these reasons:

• Why the sudden interest in Samurai? (Great game, btw...)
• Settlers of Catan is just reclaiming some ground - it's been a solid contender on the Five & Dime lists since I started collecting them. It's also probably affected by the larger sample of gamers this year.)
• Blokus is growing in popularity each year - is this a "classic" in the making?
• Where in the heck did Boggle & Hamsterrolle come from?! (Again, both great games.)

Five & Dime 2005: 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 2004
Attika	-36.26%
St Petersburg	-32.22%
Ticket To Ride	-29.19%
San Juan	-24.24%
Goa	-17.88%
Liar's Dice/Bluff/Perudo	-16.46%
10 Days/Europa Tour	-15.66%
King's Breakfast	-15.45%
Puerto Rico	-15.35%
Alhambra	-14.24%
Power Grid/Funkenschlag	-13.94%
Hansa	-13.54%
Tongiaki	-13.43%
Flaschenteufel/Bottle Imp	-12.02%
Santiago	-11.92%

Note that many of these games are still highly rated on the overall and/or five/dime lists... this year, with the much larger sampling group, high percentages common to the top games (60%+) completely disappeared. So, Ticket To Ride, San Juan & Puerto Rico can all take pretty big hits in number of players... and still end up in the top ten of the overall five & dime lists.

Here's what I wrote last year:

Likely to be here next year: Ticket To Ride (which will combine natural attrition plus the release of T2R: Europe to take a bit of a fall), Goa (which will succumb to the "gamer-d out" syndrome along with Saint Petersburg), and Tonigaki (which is South Sea Islander for "jumped the shark last spring".)

It's always nice when your predictions are right on the money - contributes to your ego and all that. :-)

In 2006, it'll be Ticket To Ride: Europe (what with the new version & all), Louis XIV (suffering the same fate as Goa) and For Sale (which will drop back down again following it's rerelease) that'll end up here on the "fallen" list.

I'm not sure what to predict about Ingenious, Blokus, & Memoir '44. All three have managed to hold (Memoir '44) or gain over time (Ingenious, Blokus), which confounds the normal patterns for the five & dime lists.

Five & Dime 2005: 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
Diamant	420	28.79%
Ticket To Ride: Europe	355	27.78%
Shadows Over Camelot	325	27.78%
Louis XIV	195	15.15%
Pickomino	195	14.14%
That's Life	160	11.11%
Caylus	150	12.63%
Ubongo	135	9.60%
Palazzo	115	10.10%
Tower of Babel	105	10.10%
Easy Come, Easy Go	70	5.05%
Saboteur	65	4.55%
Poison	60	4.04%
Havoc: The 100 Years War	50	4.55%
Fjords	50	4.04%
Walk the Dogs	50	3.54%

Comments to come later.

OK, one comment for now... no game dominated the numbers like Ticket To Ride or Puerto Rico or Carcassonne in previous years. Is this an indication that the hobby is growing and/or is indicative of having nearly 200 people participate?

Five & Dime 2005: Nickels (5-9 Played Games)

Game	2005	2004	2003	2002
Shadows Over Camelot	22.73%	new	new	new
Ticket To Ride: Europe	19.70%	new	new	new
San Juan	18.18%	17.27%	new	new
Ticket To Ride	17.68%	21.82%	new	new
Ingenious	15.66%	11.82%	new	new
For Sale	15.66%	4.55%	7.89%	7.69%
Diamant	15.15%	new	new	new
Carcassonne	14.14%	16.36%	25.00%	10.77%
Take 6	14.14%	9.09%	15.79%	13.85%
Blokus	13.64%	10.00%	6.58%	6.15%
Lost Cities	13.64%	13.64%	17.11%	18.46%
Settlers of Catan	13.64%	6.36%	13.16%	20.00%
St Petersburg	13.64%	22.73%	new	new
Ra	12.63%	14.55%	11.84%	12.31%
Alhambra	11.62%	20.91%	11.84%	new
Power Grid	11.62%	22.73%	5.26%	10.77%
Puerto Rico	11.62%	19.09%	27.63%	26.15%
Coloretto	10.61%	12.73%	21.05%	new
Louis XIV	10.61%	new	new	new
Caylus	10.10%	new	new	new
Liar's Dice	10.10%	23.64%	10.53%	12.31%
Through the Desert	10.10%	10.00%	6.58%	9.23%

Comments to come later... for now, I just needed to get this published before I went out of town. Also, the "comparitive" lists (Fresh Faces, Joining the "In" Crowd, and Lo, How The Mighty Have Fallen) will be published next week.

Five & Dime 2005: Dimes (10+ Played Games)

Game	2005	2004	2003	2002
Ticket To Ride	26.26%	51.82%	new	new
San Juan	16.67%	41.82%	new	new
For Sale	15.15%	2.73%	3.95%	4.62%
Ingenious	14.65%	15.45%	new	new
Geschenkt/No Merci	14.65%	new	new	new
Diamant	13.64%	new	new	new
Lost Cities	12.63%	10.00%	13.16%	13.85%
Puerto Rico	12.12%	20.00%	35.53%	47.69%
Memoir '44	11.11%	10.00%	new	new
Carcassonne	10.61%	11.82%	19.74%	49.23%
Blokus	9.60%	6.36%	6.58%	1.54%
Ra	9.60%	13.64%	14.47%	4.62%
St Petersburg	9.60%	32.73%	new	new
Crokinole	9.09%	14.55%	25.00%	27.69%
Coloretto	8.08%	10.00%	15.79%	new
Power Grid	8.08%	10.91%	0.00%	0.00%
Ticket To Ride: Europe	8.08%	new	new	new
Transamerica/europa	7.58%	8.18%	9.21%	16.92%
10 Days/Europa Tour	7.07%	15.45%	13.16%	new
Bohnanza	7.07%	8.18%	6.58%	12.31%
Liar's Dice	7.07%	10.00%	21.05%	24.62%
Settlers of Catan	7.07%	10.91%	15.79%	23.08%
Take 6/Category 5	7.07%	9.09%	5.26%	12.31%
Zirkus Flohcati	7.07%	4.55%	13.16%	3.08%

The top three games on the Dime list are the exact same games as last year - even in the same order!

But where did For Sale come from?! It didn't even appear on this list last year. Obviously, the English release gave it a new lease on life at gaming tables around the nation.

Attika, Alhambra, Bang! & Street Soccer all dropped off the table from last year.

I'm not even going to try and predict what will happen to Take 6 or Zirkus Flohcati - the two of them have been flirting with the edge of this list for a couple of years.

I don't think Diamant or Geschenkt will hold their same level of popularity... but it would surprise me if either of them completely disappeared from the Top 20 Dimes. (Yes, if you count, you'll realize there are more than 20 listed... that's because a number of games tied for 20th place.)

Settlers is fading even more from the rabidly played status it once enjoyed... will it fall off this list?! Hmmm... I dunno. My guess is "no", but I'm a fan of Settlers.

The other big question: can Ticket To Ride hold it's position? History says "no" - take a look at the other 900 lb gorilla, Puerto Rico - but it will not drop out of the top ten.

Five & Dime 2005: Most Played Games

Game	Score	2005	2004	2003
Ticket To Ride	695	43.94%	73.64%	new
San Juan	510	34.85%	59.09%	new
For Sale	455	30.81%	7.27%	11.84%
Ingenious	445	30.30%	27.27%	new
Diamant	420	28.79%	new	new
Ticket To Ride: Europe	355	27.78%	new	new
Shadows Over Camelot	325	27.78%	new	new
Lost Cities	385	26.26%	23.64%	30.26%
Carcassonne	350	24.75%	28.18%	44.74%
Puerto Rico	355	23.74%	39.09%	63.16%
Blokus	325	23.23%	16.36%	13.16%
St Petersburg	325	23.23%	55.45%	new
Ra	315	22.22%	28.18%	26.32%
Geschenkt/No Merci	355	21.21%	new	new
Take 6/Category 5	280	21.21%	18.18%	21.05%
Settlers of Catan	275	20.71%	17.27%	28.95%
Memoir '44	310	20.20%	20.91%	new
Power Grid	275	19.70%	33.64%	5.26%
Coloretto	265	18.69%	22.73%	36.84%
Liar's Dice	240	17.17%	33.64%	31.58%
Alhambra	215	16.67%	30.91%	23.68%
Transamerica/europa	235	16.16%	16.36%	28.95%
Bohnanza	220	15.15%	15.45%	22.37%
Schotten-Totten	205	15.15%	8.18%	26.32%
Louis XIV	195	15.15%	new	new

"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

Wow.

This year, a record 198 gamers (3 groups and 195 individuals) chimed in with their five & dime lists. Of that group, there were 66 who participated last year.

Last year I predicted that Ticket to Ride would drop due to TtR:Europe... and I was paritally right. Ticket to Ride did drop... but it looks to me like a substantial percentage of that drop was the much larger sampling poll. OTOH, I think I blew it with blaming the drop on TtR:Europe - the vast majority of people who played TtR also played TtR:Europe.

I was surprised to see Ingenious (Einfach Genial) grow in popularity... this is probably due to the English release. For Sale's resurgence can also be attributed to the English release.

I'm still waiting for Carcassonne to reach a saturation point - in other words, "When will the next Carc expansion cause the whole franchise to 'jump the shark'?" (Hasn't happened yet...)

I was right in predicting that Hansa & Attika would drop out of the top 25, though Attika was still in the top 50. I was surprised by St Petersburg holding on - in some corners, it's become "cool" to diss the game.

But I was (happily) wrong about Memoir '44... it held in position, which is prety amazing. I'm guessing that the expansions and the great support from Days of Wonder helped that happen.

Shadows Over Camelot will not be here next year - I'm not saying it's a bad game, just that it won't have a lot of people playing it 5+ times. Louis XIV will drop off as well - but that's not a surprise to anyone, right?!

Five & Dime: How It All Started

The year was 1999... Prince (or, at that point, the Artist Formerly Known As Prince) was still telling to party like it was that chronological year. Y2K was the all the rage - many people were stockpiling water, food & medical supplies in preparation for The End of the World As We Know It (glancing R.E.M. reference). I, on the other hand, was stockpiling games.

And game statistics. You see, my practice of collecting "five & dime" gameplay lists began early that spring, as a post from Steve Zanini on the rec.games.board newsgroup set me off:

Anyone familiar with SUMO magazine, would also be familiar with the 5 & 10 list. This is a listing of the games you have played either 5 or more times or 10 or more times. Think this would be a good way to re-cap what you played frequently in 1998.

I found the posts that followed to be intriguing and compiled them to produce a "Most Played" list of 1998. Then I did it again the next year... and the next... and it slowly but surely took on a life of it's own.

From the miniscule number of gamers in 1998 (16) to the huge response this year (198!), the Five & Dime lists have snowballed into a very interesting way to track gaming trends, albeit only in the online community of "designer" game players & collectors.

Over the next week, I'm going to be releasing information about the 2005 Five & Dime lists here on the blog. If you want to play "catch-up" and see what the Five & Dime lists are all about, you can check them out at my gaming website, Game Central Station.

Pod People

I was down in the L.A. this weekend, spending time with Mark Johnson and the Santa Clarita Boardgamers... which was a lot of fun. I also had the rare privilege of hosting Dave Arnott back here in Fresno, which meant I had an incredible weekend all around:

• took the train down to Newhall on Friday afternoon
• gamed with SCBer's on Friday night (Tsuro, Ark, Jenseit von Thebes, Akaba)
• recorded a podcast with Mark on Saturday morning
• gamed with Mark & Dave on Saturday afternoon (Zahltag, Akaba, Reef Encounter, Trump Tricks Game!, Route 66)
• drove back to Fresno with Dave
• gamed with Dave late Saturday night (Hochst Verdachtig, Rein Damit, Louis XIV, Africa)
• had Dave visit at NewLife Sunday morning
• gamed with Dave Sunday afternoon (Fjords, Kardinal & Konig: Das Duell, Kayanak, Industrial Waste x2)

Of course, the focus of THIS post is the podcast. Mark & I talked about two main topics: the Five & Dime lists and replayability vs longevity in games. If you'd like to listen to our conversation, Mark just posted it this morning. His podcast, Boardgames To Go, is one of the longest running gaming podcasts on the web. (If you enjoy our talk, he has a great conversation with Mike Siggins last fall that's definitely worth your time.)

There's a couple of spin-off topics from the podcast that I need to write some more on:

• once-a-year games (games that aren't great but are quite enjoyable when you play them once a year)
• Son of Apples Project

So, that leaves you with something to look forward to... (grin). Last note: Mark comments on his blog (and on the podcast) about how some folks confuse the two of us in the gaming community. The picture here was taken a couple of years ago, but should prove we're actually two different people. He's the suave looking one... I'm the guy deep in thought.

Unpacking the Baggage

This article originally appeared in 1/12/06 edition of The Grapevine, the e-newsletter of NewLife Community Church.

As many of you know, we've been traveling a lot for the past couple of months. One of the great hassles of traveling for us is the unpacking. That's right - after you've played a 3-D version of Tetris trying to fit all your clothes & sundries into a suitcase (not to mention the odds & ends which traveling with a 8 month old require), you've got to take all of them out and put them where they belong. As my mom will be the first to volunteer, putting things where they belong is not one of my "gifts." (My gift is more along the line of "scattering things about in random piles of which only I truly understand the organizational structure." You can probably guess that this didn't endear me to my mother - nor does it score me any brownie points with my wife.)

So, I do not enjoy unpacking.

--

I don't know what Shari said to me on Tuesday morning... or what set me off. (Really... I've sat here trying to remember what it was. My brain can't call it back up - nothing, nada, zilch, zero.) Whatever it was, I do clearly recall standing next to our kitchen table, grumbling under my breath, then kicking one of Collin's toys across the room in an obvious bid to gain attention. (You'd think that a 41 year old man would have figured out better ways to gain his wife's attention - simple stuff like, "Honey, I need to talk about this" - but no, I have to see if I have any future as a punter and let the resounding clatter/crash act as my "signal" that she should pay attention to me.)

When she responded with a "what the heck was that about?" tone in her voice, I sort of apologized and then headed out to work through the garage, still grumbling. When the mop bucket and one of Braeden's bikes was blocking the door, I popped a gasket again, kicking them both out of the way.

Of course, Tuesday morning was the day I was supposed to go into the office and spend extended time with Aaron (our worship/youth pastor) planning & dreaming about the upcoming year in ministry here at NewLife - and about our respective roles as husbands & dads. I walked in and told him that I wasn't in spiritual shape to meet yet - "I need an hour."

Actually, God needed the hour.

--

I've been reading an excellent book, [re]Understanding Prayer (by Kyle Lake). In it, he talks about struggling with anger & prayer. And, of course, it's that book I picked up when I stormed into my office, shut the door & cranked up the stereo.

Rather than dismissing this anger episode as "an obstacle to real prayer," I listen to the rhythm of my soul. Its hard, rapid, pulsating beat. If my mind keeps going back to these things, then maybe I have some issues that need tending to - issues around forgiveness, anger, or significance. Rather than dismissing these thoughts, I open myself up to God's presence and sit with them for a few minutes. And through a combination of prayer, meditation, Scripture reading, and silence, I become compassionate toward the person I was... angry with.

Very funny, God. I'm wanting to throw a pity party in here - "My wife doesn't understand me or my needs!" or "I'm the worst husband ever... unable to control my temper - I don't deserve to be a pastor" or "See, I've blown the day. No way can anything spiritual happen now when you've choked like that" - and all You want to do is mess with my heart & make me more like You.

In fact, Jesus, you aren't looking for me to stuff my feelings... or to turtle up & go into defensive mode with Shari Jo. You aren't interested in me sulking, Ahab-like (1 Kings 21) because I didn't live the Christ-life perfectly. What you want is for me to unpack my baggage.

"Meanwhile the tax man, slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said, "God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.'"

Jesus commented, "This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you're going to end up flat on your face, but if you're content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself." Luke 18:13-14 (The Message)

--

You knew I'd eventually connect the dots, right? Unpacking is no fun when it's a Samsonite... it's even less fun when it's your own soul. But as good as it feels to finally get every piece of clothing back where it belongs, it feels even better to finally let God into the middle of every part of our lives.

So, in that God-filled hour, Jesus drug my petty anger out into the open, into the light of day, into the light of Truth. And it became clear that my frustration was rooted not in Shari's tone of voice or Braeden's genetically inherited inability to put away his toys but in my personal need to get everything right - to have everyone in my world roll over & play dead at my command. It was one of those mornings that I wanted to be God.

Thank you, Jesus, for your willingness to stick in there with me even when I'm a complete knucklehead. Thank you for unpacking with me - more than I ever will, you know the perfect place for each thing in my life. And you know what I need to crumple up and toss into the trash can.

This won't be the last time I have to unpack my baggage... and it won't be the last time Jesus does it with me. In fact, there won't ever be a time I deal with the junk in my life that He isn't standing right there beside me.

This is a sure thing: If we die with him, we'll live with him; If we stick it out with him, we'll rule with him; If we turn our backs on him, he'll turn his back on us; If we give up on him, he does not give up-- for there's no way he can be false to himself. 2 Timothy 2:11-13 (The Message)

And that makes unpacking easier.

I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you. Philippians 1:6 (Amplified)

Nuns With Guns

Thanks to Kevin Hendricks at Church Marketing Sucks, I saw this wonderful postcard... I still grin every time I see the image. I love it that these guys are trying to figure out ways past the "it's a church blah blah blah" barrier that keeps people from giving authentic Biblical community a legitimate chance in their lives.

Which reminds me of a story... when I was pastoring the church @ hickory hollow in Nashville, TN, we got a lot of interesting reactions to coffeehouse worship vibe. (It's really fun to watch diehard Southern Baptists try to wrap their brains around black curtains, candles, multiple screens, a pastor in cut-off shorts carrying around a diet Coke can & prodigious amounts of coffee in a worship service.)

But the best reaction was from the teenage daughter of one of our regular attenders. She came to the church @ hickory hollow somewhat begrudgingly... her mom & dad were divorced, and this was just part of spending the weekend with dad. Getting in the car that day after the worship service, her dad asked her what she thought of the experience.

"Well, this church sucks less than any other church we've been to."

From a youth, this is high praise. We jokingly considered putting it in our advertising: "We suck less than any church in Nashville."