The Robinsons Go To Church (Classic)

This Grapevine post from April 2007 has been slightly edited... but the truth at the heart of it is still applicable to church life.

Last Thursday night, Braeden & I got to have a "boy night" - that's when, for one reason or another, it's "just us guys" going out or staying in. When we have "boy night" at home, we usually eat our dinner in front of the TV, have extra candy, play board games, and generally behave like a couple of guys training to be college students.

Now that Collin ends up with us, it doesn't work exactly the same - but there's still lots of wrestling... and most recently, we've added indoor basketball to the menu - boys vs. Dad. (Collin shoots baskets while Braeden tries to pin me to the ground. In real basketball, this would be a foul. In the NBA, this would be standard operating procedure. Sigh.) 

[Note: when this post was written, Braeden was almost 6 and Collin had just turned 2. Ah, how the years fly by.]

Anyway, our "boy night" was a trip to our local movie theater to see Disney's Meet the Robinsons... which, by the way, was a wonderful film. (You can read my review - "Keep Moving Forward".)

And the Robinson family, from the giant octopus butler to the interstellar pizza delivery guy to the mob-connected big band frogs, got me thinking about church life. (I am NOT suggesting that our band sounds like a bunch of frogs - who actually sound a bit more like the Rat Pack in the movie.)

No, it was the whole "peanut butter & jelly gun incident" that got me on this track. Lewis, the main character, starts the movie attempting to invent a gun that solves the main problem with PB&J sandwiches - "portion control!" Unfortunately, the gun jams & he manages to shoot peanut butter onto a man who is allergic to peanuts. (According to the film, this pretty much guarantees that these people won't adopt you... but that's another part of the story.) Later in the story, the Robinson family has trouble with their PB&J gun (don't ask how they got one) and Lewis ends up attempting to fix it.

He fails. Once again, he splatters everyone in sight with sticky goo... and you can almost hear his heart break.

And then the family starts applauding, telling him he's done a great job failing. Which, to our culture-trained ears, sounds like complete hooey. Yet the family goes on to encourage Lewis by explaining that great things happen when you're willing to fail over & over in order to find the right answer.

Which is where the whole "Mark thinks about church life" comes in... if we who follow Christ are going to make a God-sized dent in our communities, then we're going to have to be willing to fail. Snowboarders don't pull a180 the first time down the half-pipe - they end up eating a lot of snow before they even get off the lip. (Those of you who don't know snowboarding just nod your head & pretend you know what I'm talking about, OK?) The same thing is true for us in the church... in order to reach people for Jesus Christ, we're going to try stuff that doesn't work.

That's a GOOD thing. It's OK that we create a program that doesn't attract many people - as long as we don't try & keep it alive just because we started it. It's OK that we attempt a new element in a worship service that, well, bombs - the only way to fine-tune things so that they are relevant & meaningful is to try them.

Our job as followers of Jesus is to applaud courageous & honest failures... to give people "props" for trying to follow God into new ministries & new ways of expressing the love of Jesus Christ to other people.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Hebrews 10:24-25 (NIV)

One small note of warning: applauding failure is not about applauding laziness or incompetence. It's not about glossing over mistakes or procrastination. It's about spurring one another toward love & good deeds... wait a minute, doesn't the Bible say something about that?!

Quotes of the Week

Around here, however, we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things... and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.
Walt Disney (quoted at the end of "Meet the Robinsons")

Tell yourself, "I'm not a failure. I failed at doing something." There's a big difference.
Erma Bombeck

Lord, deliver me from the man who never makes a mistake, and also from the man who makes the same mistake twice.
Dr. William Mayo

We ain't where we wanna be We ain't where we're gonna be But thank you, Jesus, We ain't where we used t'be. African-American spiritual

My life is not futile; my failures are not fatal; and my death is not final. That simple bit of beginning theology, stolen from Max Lucado's Six Hours One Friday nearly fifteen years ago, is a lesson I still need to hear, and a truth I still have trouble believing. My actions don't often confess these three truths. But at the rock-bottom core of my being, I desperately cling to them as the core of the Gospel.
Steve F. on his blog, Ragamuffin Ramblings

#43: StreetSoccer (Mark's 100 - 2014)

StreetSoccer

Mark's Ranking

• 2014: 43rd
• 2012: 86th
• 2010: 24th
• 2005: did not appear

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 1081
• rating: 6.62

Print Status

• don't think it's in print... but there are lots of copies available on the secondhand market

Why It's On The List

• It doesn't so much simulate soccer (like Pursue the Pennant attempts to simulate baseball)... instead, it uses a backgammon-ish mechanic to simulate the feel of a soccer game - and does so brilliantly.

Tips & Tricks:

• Like playing backgammon, winning at StreetSoccer is as much about the position you leave yourself in as well as pushing hard to score...
• And like backgammon, what appears initially to be a random dice game actually reveals itself to be a very tactical game of risk & probability.

Extras

• There are three different online PBEM versions of StreetSoccer... the one I used to play on (a lot!) was Little Golem.

#44: The Rivals for Catan (Mark's 100 - 2014)

The Rivals for Catan

Mark's Ranking

• 2014: 44th
• 2012: 18th
• 2010: 90th (as The Catan Card Game)
• 2005: 81st (as The Catan Card Game)

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 438
• rating: 7.17

Print Status

• in print

Why It's On The List

• This is a streamlined & MUCH improved version of the 2 player Catan Card Game (which I first played - with German cards! - as Siedler von Catan: Das Kartenspiel).

Tips & Tricks:

• The expansions are both very good... and add a lot of variety to the game.
• You can NOT neglect building at least 2 settlements... that's really the only "don't miss" strategy tip.
• This is, like many games with lots of cards w/effects, a game that plays quicker & with many more interesting decisions once you've played it a few times to get to know what the cards can (and can't) do. I strongly suggest playing the introductory game followed almost immediately by a "regular" game with the Age of Gold deck in order to begin learning the system and the basic cards.
• Notice how far up this game jumped in my top 100 due to the new version... I'm the president of the "Rivals kicked Siedler:DSK to the curb" society.
• I have now played the iOS version - it's not perfect but the AI is pretty good and I'm glad I own it.

Extras

• I wrote incredibly in-depth reviews of the base game and of the expansions for the Opinionated Gamers (which were then re-published on this blog)... the first one is particularly aimed at those who were wondering if they should make the switch from the original game.

Questions to Ask the Church Search Committee

Really, you should read the whole excellent blog post that inspired this (by Bruce Reyes-Chow) - but I'll whet your appetite with my personal top ten (or so) from his list of twenty-five. These are in no particular order

• What has been the most imaginative thing that the church has done in the past year?
• Are there any topics, issues, situations that have been treated, intentionally or unintentionally, as “off-limits” and if so, what are they and why do you think they have been avoided?
• What have been the congregation’s behavior patterns when dealing with conflict?
• Where in the church do you see the most life and energy and where has the church become a little stuck or calcified?
• If the church closed its doors tomorrow, would the community miss its presence and if so, how?
• Over the past 10 years how have most people found this church and if they have visited, why have they chosen to stay or not?
• How does the congregation approach the use of technology and social media in the life of the church: communication, pastoral care, evangelism, administration and/or worship?
• What are your expectations, spoken and unspoken, about how your next pastor will balance church and family time and energy?
• With what church tasks and activities is there is agreement that the pastor should NOT be involved?
• What about my gifts, experience and perspectives have lead you to think that there may be a call between you and I?

Bruce closes with this wonderful quote from Frederick Buechner:

“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

article found courtesy of churchjobs.tv 

Friends '88 in 2013

This video is two years old... today. It was filmed as we drove eastward across the mountains into the Mojave Desert.

Enjoy!

#45: Lost Valley (Mark's 100 - 2014)

Lost Valley

Mark's Ranking

• 2014: 45th
• 2012: 34th
• 2010: 20th
• 2005: did not appear

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 790 (new edition - 2073)
• rating: 6.84 (new editiion - 7.25)

Print Status

• original edition is OOP - but a new edition (with some changes) is in print

Why It's On The List

• A very cool exploration/gold mining game with mean & tricky heart - if you can't accept that stuff you build will be used by others to mess you over, you don't need to be playing this game..

Tips & Tricks:

• You can not do everything - although it is legal to own both a canoe & a horse - and there's a tipping point in the game where spending gold is actually spending away your chance at winning. One of the important skills is figuring out when you just need to ride out the strategy you've chosen, even if the terrain isn't particularly friendly.
• As much as I want it to work for 3 players, I think about half of our three player games end up with the player who goes "solo" (doesn't travel the same side of the river as the other players) ends up winning - it's easier not to fight. The only way to avoid this is to either (a) cooperate w/the guy on the same side of the river as you to race each other, or (b) only play with four players.
• Watch the timer - a player with a substantial enough lead in gold & a decent mode of transportation is highly motivated to find the source of the river & start that timer rolling.

Extras

• There are some great player aids up on the Geek - and it's probably required for you to download & read the extensive FAQ.
• The new version of the game is Lost Valley: The Yukon Goldrush 1896. I have not played it yet - but I hope to correct that very soon!

Memoir '44: Operation Barbarossa - Phase One

It's no surprise to my faithful readership that Memoir '44 is one of my favorite games... and that one of my favorite ways to play Memoir '44 is playing a chain of multiple scenarios (a "campaign"). This blog post is a battle by battle record of a Grand Campaign against my son, Braeden.

Operation: Barbarossa is actually three smaller campaigns layered together to create an epic 10-13 scenario series of battles. (If you're a fan of Memoir '44, I can't recommend the Campaign Books highly enough - this campaign is from Volume I. I wrote an extensive review of Volume II when it was released.)

The Grand Campaign is divided into two phases:

• the first two battles of each zone (North, Center, East) are fought in the first phase (which you're reading about in this post)
• the remaining battles of each zone are fought in the second phase (which you'll be reading about in an upcoming post)

There are also historical "what if?" events that occur and further complicate the strategic and tactical planning.The Soviet Defensive Strategy enabled Braeden to dig in with sandbags as we began to advance... but the Finns went ahead and attacked Leningrad, which reduced his reserves in the North.

Barbarossa Center: Bug River

Boardgaming echoed actual history as my Axis forces rolled out strongly in the center & right flank, over running the tank turret field bunkers and using armor to block the troop train from reinforcing the bridge over the Bug River.

It was a rout - but this is early in the campaign and the Russian winter has yet to flex its muscle.

• Axis: 6 (including the bridge objective)
• Allies: 0

Barbarossa Center: Pruzana

An Axis tank attack across the center of the Russian line was repulsed with heavy losses... mitigated only by a strafing run that gave broken units time to retreat. Later, though, an infantry charge across the open ground of the left flank was wildly successful, due to the slow response time dictated by the Russian commissar system.  

• Axis: 5
• Allies: 3

Barbarossa North: Raseiniai

At the same time (historically, if not in game time), Army Group North pushed on towards Leningrad. The battle at Raseiniai (a Russian counterattack against the relentless Axis advance) began well for the Russian cavalry, as they routed the waves of tanks plunging through the center. A delayed push on the left flank with German tanks & mechanized infantry manages to push through to the key bridge across the Dubysa River. The Axis (me) triumphed, but not without heavy losses. 

• Axis: 7 (including the bridge objective)
• Allies: 5

Barbarossa North: Velikaya Bridgehead

The Axis advance was nearly stopped at the Velikaya Bridgehead. Weakened German tank units were routed by Russian cavalry & armored forces on the right flank, forcing the slow movement forward of Axis reserves and a counterattack on the left flank. The Russian commander (Braeden) had horrible luck - which was the only thing that allowed my mechanized infantry to lunge into the town of Pskov on the left flank for the win (barely).

• Axis: 6 (including the town objective)
• Allies: 5

Barbarossa South: Brody

The largest tank battle in history (until Kursk in 1943) took place on the southern edge of Operation Barbarossa... and this time the Russians prevailed by pushing forward with their tanks. Worse yet, they managed to kill Der Panzergraf (a heroic German leader) - breaking the spirit of the Axis troops. 

Though the Allied forces managed to converge on the center of the line, the Germans were able to push the Russians out of the town of Dubno, albeit a hollow prize after the death of their beloved Panzergraf.

• Axis: 4
• Allies: 5

Barbarossa South: Russian Breakout

The Axis forces won an important victory in their attempt to reach the oil-rich regions of Southern Russia when they attempted to escape the oncoming onslaught. Despite an impressive display of air cover from Russian fighters, the German tanks were able to decimate the Russian forces as they attempted to push forward in the center and the right flank.

• Axis: 6
• Allies: 3

The campaign will continue (we've even got the next battle set up on the game table)... but the advantage now shifts to the Soviets defending their homeland. I could be in trouble.

Akaba Redux: A Cool Discovery

Highlights

Here's some highlights of what I wrote about Haba's Akaba way back in the day.

I had listed both The Black Pirate & Akaba in my 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.

Dexterity games are always tricky... younger kids like the action but don't always have the fine motor skills necessary to play competitively.

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.

Of course, I had to get in 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.

A Cool Discovery 

I had played Akaba 20+ times over the past decade... but it wasn't until yesterday afternoon that I discovered this on the board...

Yes, that's right... the guys on the board are playing Akaba. Sadly, the nifty headgear was not included with the actual game. (I'm not sure I'd look good in a fez, but I'm willing to try.)

#46: Around the World in 80 Days (Mark's 100 - 2014)

Around the World in 80 Days

Mark's Ranking

• 2014: 46th
• 2012: 48th
• 2010: 76th
• 2005: did not appear

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 954
• rating: 6.58

Print Status

• out of print (but pretty easy to find a copy on BGG)

Why It's On The List

• another lovely implementation of theme (getting from place to place while using time wisely) that allows for both hare & tortoise strategies to play out

Tips & Tricks:

• Buying cards at the right time is as valuable as getting re-rolls... use your coins wisely.
• Use the detective not only to keep people from moving forward but also to force them to move in ways that cost them time.
• On the flip side, don't let the appearance of the detective rush you into decisions that will cost you more time than the penalty for ending your turn with him.

Extras

• There is another enjoyable game on the same theme from Wolfgang Kramer - Around the World in 80 Days - which has a different but also unusual movement mechanic..
• Six players is a little much in this game - but it works. I like it best with 3-5 players.

#47: Lost Cities (Mark's 100 - 2014)

Lost Cities

Mark's Ranking

• 2014: 47th
• 2012: did not appear
• 2010: 71st
• 2005: 53rd

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 253
• rating: 7.12

Print Status

• in print 

Why It's On The List

• I've played this over & over and I'm still intrigued each time. How far can I push my luck? Should I play aggressively or defensively? For such a simple game, it continues to draw me in. (Probably doesn't hurt that the production of the game is gorgeous.) Now, it's not that I win all that much. My wife is a pro.

Tips & Tricks:

• I know some people don't like the big cards or the board... but I do.
• Good Lost Cities play is based not only on the cards you draw but also on the play of your opponent. It is a game about reading their plan as much as executing your own.
• Lost Cities spawned a whole series of games:
• Keltis & it's uglier cousin, Lost Cities: The Board Game (I enjoy them both)
• Keltis: Die Orakel (which I have not played)
• Keltis: Der Weg der Steine (which I like enough to put on my top 100 games list)
• Keltis: The Dice Game (so-so)
• Keltis: The Card Game (decent - but I like Lost Cities better)

Extras

• Here's a link to what I wrote about Lost Cities for The One Hundred...

#48: Midnight Party (Mark's 100 - 2014)

Midnight Party

Mark's Ranking

• 2014: 48th
• 2012: did not appear
• 2010: did not appear
• 2005: did not appear

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 1497
• rating: 6.43

Print Status

• OOP - but it's been released in multiple editions and isn't impossible to find

Why It's On The List

• #3 on my Kid Games top 100 list... this game is equally successful with kids and adults. It's a chase/push-your-luck/filler game that never ever falls flat.

Tips & Tricks:

• I strongly suggest not grouping your partygoers together - that's an easy way to get nabbed by Hugo post-haste.
• The missing numbers on the dice (replaced by ghost symbols) are 3 and 6... plan accordingly, especially when you are aiming for the +3 rooms.
• My copy is now 26 years old - I bought it on a date with my bride-to-be (we celebrate 25 years of marriage in June!) at the Texas State Fair.

Extras

• There was supposed to be a new German edition of this game in 2013 - but according to the Geek it was never released.
• I wrote an extensive review of Midnight Party for my Kid Games 100.

Round, Round Like A Record Player, Baby (Classic)

Another classic Grapevine post from February 2007... for the record, today is one of those "33 1/3 record in a 78 rpm world" days as well.

Remember record players? Yes, I know that some of you don't... that the only record player you've actually seen used in the one in the hatch on the TV show, Lost. But for some of us, there's a certain warm glow around the memories of picking up an album & sliding out the sleeve, carefully putting the record on the turntable & setting the needle down. Depending on the size of the record, you set the speed - 33 1/3, 45, or 78 rpm's (revolutions per minute).

Of course, by the time I bought my first stereo system (complete with record player, cassette player and... wait for it... 8-track tape player), they weren't making 78's anymore. My dad, who had a pretty decent collection of jazz records, didn't have any 78's in his pile of albums - and my stash of late-disco-era platters (ELO, Barry Manilow, Donna Summer, Yes, the Star Wars soundtrack, etc.) certainly didn't have any. Of course, like any kid, every once in a while I'd crank a 33 1/3 record up to 78 rpms and enjoy the chipmunk-ish sounds.

Well, today is one of those days where I feel like I'm a 33 1/3 record in a 78 rpm world. It's not just that my brain feels like it's mired in super-glue... it's that the very speed of my life, the multitude of responsibilities & obligations whizzing at me, feel like they're going to tear away pieces of me.

As a follower of Jesus, I realize that isn't the whole story - but down here on the turntable we call "life", it can be hard to see when everything is zipping past me. All I want to do is close my eyes & hang on. So, in moments like this, on mornings like this... heck, every morning, I have to turn to capital "T" Truth to gain perspective:

So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever.     2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (The Message)

And then I open my eyes & see the world afresh. It may not move any slower - I may not move any faster - but it's no longer a complete blur. It's no longer a string of unrelated obstacles & trials... there's something bigger going on.

#49: Harry's Grand Slam Baseball (Mark's 100 - 2014)

Harry's Grand Slam Baseball

Mark's Ranking

• 2014: 49th
• 2012: 76th
• 2010: 59th
• 2005: did not appear

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 2561
• rating: 6.33

Print Status

• recently OOP - you can still find copies, though

Why It's On The List

• It captures the feel of a baseball game - and does so in 15 minutes (or less). The Out of the Box production is very nice as well.

Tips & Tricks:

• Use Fly Out cards when there aren't any runners on base.
• This is a tremendous filler game.

Extras

• This game lends itself to playoffs/tournaments at gaming weekends - games are short enough to be held between "real" games.
• The story behind Harry's Grand Slam Baseball is fascinating... listen to Mark Johnson's "Boardgames To Go" podcast on it for more information.

#50: Timber Tom (Mark's 100 - 2014)

Timber Tom

Mark's Ranking

• 2014: 50th
• 2012: did not appear
• 2010: did not appear
• 2005: prior to publication

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 2182
• rating: 6.62

Print Status

• very OOP 

Why It's On The List

• An amazing 3-D board and top-notch components make this racing game (you're racing to get to the top of two of the four mountains) a great family experience.

Tips & Tricks:

• There's a heavy "take that" element in this game that I normally don't like it - but it works here.
• Marco (the designer) published a 2nd edition set of rules that are MUCH cleaner and easier to learn from than the first set of rules.
• While I love this game, I don't recommend buying your own copy unless you're independently wealthy. The only ones I can find right now run $150 or more.

Extras

• Here's a link to what very little I've written about Timber Tom...

#51: 1st & Goal (Mark's 100 - 2014)

1st & Goal

Mark's Ranking

• 2014: 51st
• 2012: 89th
• 2010: prior to publication
• 2005: prior to publication

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 1154
• rating: 6.86

Print Status

• in print

Why It's On The List

• Stephen Glenn has created a fun & fast-playing dice football using a card deck to call plays - which allows for a greater variety of outcomes without unduly complicating the process.

Tips & Tricks:

• It takes a couple of games to get the hang of hand & clock management...
• There are six expansion sets that change up the dice for each team... we own four of them and absolutely love playing with them. (With one caveat - see below.)

Extras

• 1st & Goal essentially replaces Pizza Box Football in my top 100 - the only thing I really miss about PBF is the (very abstracted) real NFL teams.
• The 1st down marker & the ball are magnetized, btw - they won't slide around on the (metal) field. A very nice production touch!
• I wrote about one of the best decisions R&R Games made - to publish Special Teams cards to go with each expansion team - in my blog post Making Special Teams Special Again. (This is the caveat I told you to look for...)
• There is now an iOS app for 1st & Goal... but I haven't got to play with it yet.

#52: Viva Pamplona! (Mark's 100 - 2014)

Viva Pamplona

Mark's Ranking

• 2014: 52nd
• 2012: 53rd
• 2010: 39th
• 2005: 56th
• appeared on all four lists

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 2597
• rating: 6.36

Print Status

• very OOP

Why It's On The List

• It's a great theme (the running of the bulls) with great art and even better game play... you must have courage to win - and the willingness to shove your opposition to the ground.

Tips & Tricks:

• The tempo of the game can vary wildly - depending on how the Toro cards appear. That's not a bug... it's a feature - part of what makes the game so charming..

Extras

• I was pleasantly surprised how well this game works with 3-4 players... of course, it's a "more the merrier" game that is an absolute joy with the full complement of six people around the table.
• This is from the same gaming design family as Viva Topo and Midnight Party. (It's a family I'm fond of...)
• I've often wondered about how you can lose courage points when someone else shoves you (and worse yet, they get them!), but it's still fun.

#53: Prophecy (Mark's 100 - 2014)

Prophecy

Mark's Ranking

• 2014: 53rd
• 2012: did not appear
• 2010: did not appear
• 2005: did not appear

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 923
• rating: 6.73

Print Status

• in print

Why It's On The List

• Once upon a time, I loved Talisman. This is Talisman with actual meaningful decisions.

Tips & Tricks:

• While there are tactical decisions to make, this is still an experience game. You have been warned.
• We play with no more than 3 players (it's just too slow with 4+) and usually play "first to 3 relics"... though we do the "whole shebang" every once in a while.
• I really like the Dragon Realm expansion - if only for the Races and the extra cards in the main deck. (I have not played the Water Realm expansion - which only came out in English last year.)

Extras

• Most inflammatory comment I've ever made about these type of games: "Between this game & Return of the Heroes, no one in their right mind should be playing Talisman or Runebound."
• Here's what I wrote about Prophecy for my 10 Games I Want to Play More post.

The Lidless Eye

When you stare into the abyss the abyss stares back at you. (Friedrich Nietzsche)

Sometimes, my best blog post/sermon ideas come to me while I'm in the shower. I'm not sure that what follows is one of those - but it did occur to me while I was trying to get shampoo out of my rapidly thinning hair, so I guess that's gotta count for something. Right?

The title of the post comes from The Lord of the Rings (which we can also blame for Dungeons & Dragons, large chunks of prog rock, and Peter Jackson's remake of "King Kong")... it's one of the names of the "big bad", Sauron. More importantly for my purposes, it's a phrase that seems to aptly describe the new realities of television in a world full of smartphones and massive amounts of bandwidth.

Between the 24 hour news cycle and the ability to stream content at will, we live in a world where the lidless eye is (as the name would suggest) always open. Scarier still is the fact that the lidless eye truly peers at us without blinking... with our television sets hooked up to DVR boxes and our iPhones harvesting a couple of Santa's worth of cookies, we are feeding information about ourselves, our habits and our tastes into the voracious maw of a variety of companies & entities.

Now, I'm not here to advocate dropping off the grid or even exiling your TV to the junkyard. We are not going to be able to put the genie back in the bottle... and, while I'm pretty much over pop-ads and 95% of the videos on YouTube, I don't ever want to go back to watching TV without a DVR. What do I want to suggest that this lidless eye reality has a profound effect on how we "do church" and/or "walk with Jesus".

We have, I think, a trio of options when attempting to speak "capital T" Truth into the lives of those around us:

1. We can attempt to out-shout & out-sensationalize the culture. We can be flashier, bigger & louder.
2. We can run away & hide. We can demonize the culture & the technology that carries it into our lives.
3. We can be the voice of reason & faith. We can engage the culture with wit, wisdom & the heart of Jesus.

If you've read this blog before, you've already figured out that I'm a big fan of #3. 

Quickie Applications (for church leaders):

1.  Bigger/louder isn't necessarily bad - there are times when we need to attract attention to the truth. When our volume is always goes to "11", however, it's easier for people - both Christian & non-Christian - to tune us out.
2. There are times for contemplative retreat & silence - but walling ourselves off from the culture means that we will cease to be "salt & light" (Matthew 5:13-16) to a world around us who needs to hear & experience the love & grace of Jesus Christ.
3. Engaging the culture is not an event - it's a lifestyle that has to be modeled and taught.

Quickie Applications (for Christians in general):

1. You don't have to shout, literally or metaphorically. You don't have to win every argument. Not every theologically questionable statement needs you to bump/set/spike it back in their virtual faces with a Bible verse and and an alliterative cliche. 
2. You need to listen to people who you don't agree with - whether it's politics, theology, philosophy, culturally.. or if you just think they're wrong about their taste in music. The only way we get a chance to speak truth in a way that will be heard is to listen first. You don't have agree with their pseudo-Gnostic beliefs, their love for Coldplay and/or support the politician they campaigned for... but you do have to treat them with respect.
3. Engaging the culture is not an event - it's a lifestyle that has to be chosen & prayerfully lived out.

I've written about this subject before... you may be interested in reading:

• Richard Niebhur, John Travolta & Martin Luther King
• Diving Beneath the Surface
• Open Mic: The New World Slang

#54: Small World (Mark's 100 - 2014)

Small World

Mark's Ranking

• 2014: 54th
• 2012: 19th
• 2010: did not appear
• 2005: prior to publication

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 95
• rating: 7.44

Print Status

• in print

Why It's On The List

• While I know I'm going to inspire some carping & complaining, I believe that the designer & Days of Wonder took a decent but flawed game (Vinci) and turned it into a whimsical, more enjoyable and better game - Small World. This is fantasy combat in a pretty abstract form... but still packed full of fun.

Tips & Tricks:

• This is one of those games where owning some expansions adds to the enjoyment - the extra races & powers keep the replayability high.
• Order in which to buy expansions (in my ever-so-humble opinion): #1: Be Not Afraid, #2: Grand Dames of Small World, #3: Tales & Wonders, #4: Cursed. (I have not yet played Royal Bonus or A Spider's Web.)
• Though I enjoy the Necromancer Island expansion, it's not worth the $$ people are selling it for - Days of Wonder has recently reprinted this one where you should no longer be buying it elsewhere.
• If you're going to buy Small World: Realms (an expansion that lets you build your own maps & scenarios), you'll probably want the stand-alone Small World: Underground (which I don't like as much as I do the base game)... and you won't need to bother with tracking down a copy of the Tunnels expansion, as it is included in Realms.
• Don't bother with the Leaders expansion - we certainly don't use it.
• You have to be a certain kind of person to revel in the chaos of the Tales & Wonders expansion - but if you are, it's very, very good. (I am.)

Extras

• Days of Wonder just recently released a new edition of the iPad version of the game... I don't own it but I'm told it's well done.
• Here's what I wrote about Be Not Afraid & Necromancer Island for this blog.
• And here's what I wrote about Vinci for The One Hundred.

#55: The Ares Project (Mark's 100 - 2014)

The Ares Project

Mark's Ranking

• 2014: 55th
• 2012: 24th
• 2010: prior to publication
• 2005: prior to publication

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 1288
• rating: 7.07

Print Status

• in print

Why It's On The List

• It's not an easy game to learn (there are some tricky interlocking systems), once you've got over the rules assimilation hump there's a fantastic game to explore. Players are asymmetrical factions in a war over a distant planet... any resemblance to the computer game Starcraft in play speed and/or theme is purely intentional.

Tips & Tricks:

• It's going to take you 4-5 games to start to see the wide variety of ways you can use the various types of attacks to advance your progress in the game - hang with it! The "wow" factor the first time I figured out how to make a Raid turn the tide of battle was worth the price of admission.
• The rules look worse than they are - follow the suggestion in there to play a "battle only" game so that the rest of the system doesn't overwhelm you.

Extras

• Each faction has a distinctive feel & play style… but unlike Summoner Wars, the differences are so pronounced that each faction in The Ares Project has it’s own mini-rulebook. They produce & use power in different ways, have different units, modify those units with different kinds of cards… even create new units through various methods... please don't let that complexity keep you away from a tremendous game!

Five & Dime 2014: No Matter What, It's Personal

Hey, campers... I may have stopped collecting the Five & Dime stats for everyone else - but I haven't stopped collecting my own!

Here's my own personal Five & Dime list (the games I've played 5+ and 10+ times in 2014).
  
Games with an asterisk [*] were on my Five & Dime list last year, games with two asterisks [**] have been on my list for the past two years, games with three asterisks [***] have been there for three years, games with four asterisks [****] have been there for 4 years... and games with five  asterisks [*****] have been there (wait for it) for the past 5 years!

Quarters

• DC Comics Deck-Building Game 49

Dimes

• Star Realms 21 
• Summoner Wars 20 ***
• Fast Food Franchise 15 **
• Eminent Domain 14 **
• Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition) 13 *
• Suburbia 12 **
• Machi Koro 11
• Race for the Galaxy 10 ****

Nickels

• The City 9 ** 
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Deck-Building Game 9
• Memoir '44 9
• Wiz-War (eighth edition) 9
• Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Skull & Shackles 8
• Rampage/Terror in Meeple City 8
• Can't Stop 7 *
• Web of Power/China 7
• Eminent Domain: Microcosm (playtesting) 7
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Deck-Building Game 7
• Marvel Dice Masters: Uncanny X-Men 7
• Quantum 7
• Roll Through the Ages: The Bronze Age 7 *****
• Ticket to Ride 7
• Tiny Epic Kingdoms 7
• Bounce It-In Game 6
• Gelini Nightlife 6
• Numeri 6
• Sentinels of the Multiverse 6 **
• Smash Up 6 *
• Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game 6 *
• The Battle at Kemble's Cascade 5
• Au Backe/By Golly! 5
• Castles of Mad King Ludwig 5
• Clash of Cultures 5
• Hop Hop Hooray! 5
• King of Tokyo 5 *
• Quarriors! 5 **
• Qwirkle 5
• Rogue Agent 5
• Tier auf Tier: Jetzt geht's rund! 5
• Völuspá 5