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Don’t Blink!

Literally. If you blink, you might lose! In Blink, you all have an equal amount of cards. You can have 3 cards in hand at once. You are trying to match the card in the middle. This is a speed game. You are not waiting on the other player unless you cannot match the card in the middle. You can match by color, shape, or number. You win by finishing all of your cards before the other player. Blink

This is actually a really convenient game for waiting at restaurants, even fast food places. Shuffle, split the deck, play, put away, all in the time it takes for your food to arrive. The best part is, you don’t have to talk. You could be playing with someone who doesn’t speak English and still be able to play with them.

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Schrödinger’s Cats

Schrödinger’s Cats is a small card game with a lot of betting and (go figure!) cats. You are betting how many boxes (cards in the round) have dead cats, alive cats, or nothing at all! You are all Cat Physicists, trying to prove that you are right about the statistics. Schrödinger's Cats

It is an elimination game, so each round one player gets out until the next game. If there are 5 players, you each start with 5 cards. Then the next round 4, then 3, etc., until there are only 2 players with 2 cards each.

The Cat Physicists all have names and powers (unrelated to the name). Some names are Sir Isaac Mewton, Stephen Pawking, Albert Felinestein, and Madame Purrie. The powers include skipping your hypothesis (bet) for one turn, adding 1 empty box to the findings, and using a power someone else has already used this game.

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You Have To Babysit Lil’ Cthulhu!

Lil’ Cthulhu is another Kickstarter game. You are cultists of Cthulhu, and he has given you a challenging task: babysitting his young son, Lil’ Cthulhu. And you thought his Dad was bad! Lil' Cthulhu

You make toys for Lil’ Cthulhu, play Dark Toys to foil with other cultists, and endure many a Tantrum from the Lil’ Brat himself. I enjoy playing this with a plush Cthulhu to play out the Tantrums. One particular time, the title of a Tantrum card referenced “My Father”, as in, Cthulhu. My plush acted this out well:

Lil’ Cthulhu (as acted by my plush) “I’m telling my Daddy!”

Me: “Shut up, Malfoy.”

I have only played against Mom, winning twice out of three times. There are two ways to win: be the last with sanity or make Lil’ Cthulhu’s three current favorite toys (picked at random from the deck of 6).

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Windycon 43: King of the Nerds

Alas, another Windycon has come and gone. During this convention, I played Munchkin Cthulhu and Machi Koro (to name a few), went to The Melting Pot (mmm…), met a brilliant artist named Juan Carlos Martinez and bought yet another Cheryl Storm dragon (go figure)! WindyCon 2016 - MJachi Koro, Morse Code, Teletype machine

Let’s start with Juan: he makes flowers and others cool trinkets out of coins! One piece he was selling was a dalek! The coolest part was you could actually turn the dalek’s head, thanks to a magnet inside.

The charity this year was Save-a-Vet, where they rescue veteran dogs that can’t be adopted (due to trauma, having been trained to kill, or possibly having killed). Then they buy a house for the dog and hire a disabled veteran to live with the dog. Yes, it’s the dog’s house. If the dog wants to sleep in the sink, it will. In return, the veteran lives there rent-free. I bought a t-shirt to support the cause. (A $20 T-shirt, in camo colors, to be exact.)

I, as usual, did Critter Crunch. I, as usual, drove the Spider. I also drove Army Tank, which has a rotating turret. There are little buttons on the controller that “fire” the two separate guns. (Firing is a little LED light flashing red and making noise.) I, as usual, got lots of cool swag, including a toy dragon!

I spent some time with W9W, a group with a Morse Code set and a teletype machine. I got to try out both!

Most importantly, I had fun and socialized with people. After all, isn’t that what the con is all about?

I’m A Chrononaut!!!

Want to film the Creation of the Universe? Want to go to the future and bring back a cure for cancer (in easy-to-swallow pill form)? Now you can, in Chrononauts!

Everyone has an ID with a timeline containing 3 things that either need to be changed or need to stay true in history. For instance, in 1939, instead of World War 2 initiating, fair-goers could enjoy German cake! You also have a mission involving what artifacts you want, like the Shakespeare’s Last Play. These are how you win. (There’s also the ~~evil~~ giant cockroach that wants the world to explode, which happens if there are 13 unpatched paradoxes).

Rewrite history and collect artifacts to make the world a better place (or, you know, to win)!

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English Lesson: The English word “chrononaut” comes from the prefix “chrono”, meaning “time”, like in chronological, and the suffix “naut”, meaning “traveler”, like in astronaut. Thus, “chrononaut” means “time traveler”.

Gamehole Con

Last weekend I went to Gamehole Con, a convention hosting our own smaller convention: Dorkstock. Dorkstock is John Kovalic’s convention, one I’m proud to say my mother is occasionally the con chair of.

My mother ran multiple games, including Chez Geek, Camden, and Unspeakable Words. No, no cussing involved. I promise. Dorkstock 2016

I encountered Looney Labs again. With them, I played assorted Pyramid Games, Fluxx, Chrononauts, and Mad Libs! I also got free cake (it was Andy Looney’s birthday), a little plush flower, a Pink Hijinks set (Pink Hijinks is a Pyramid Game), and a special Fluxx card.

Pyramids, Munchkin bookmarks, and Dorkstock banner Over the weekend I also played Munchkin, and ran a game of Munchkin Oz. One guy brought in prototype games and we played them. I thought it was great and look forward to seeing them published.

Dad and I did Paint N’ Take. Paint N’ Take is an event where you grab a figurine, paint it, leave it to dry, then come back and take it home. It’s really fun!

I’m Shipwrecked!

Shipwrecked is yet another John Kovalic-illustrated game. You are bidding on resources for your character. The truth is it doesn’t much matter! Only the resource type, the point value, the income, and the normal value matter. You win by having 100 points in one resource type or 150 points overall. Shipwrecked

Some resources you can bid on are coconut milk (drink), fruit (food), treehouse (housing), lean-to (housing), pet cricket (pet… not food!), parrot (pet) and more! The price starts at 5 and works down by 1 in each round of bidding.

I think the best part of this game is either the illustrations or the role-playing. In one game, I lived in a treehouse drinking my coconut milk, with a lean-to at the base of my tree for my pet cricket and parrot.

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Virus Alert! Virus Alert!

Virus Alert is a computer-oriented card game involving strategy and sabotage. You add different parts of the computer, like graphics and software (it doesn’t matter which ones) to the collection in front of you. You can sabotage the other player by playing piracy, which lets you steal 1 card from their collection, or cards like virus, which allows you to put virus tokens on the other players’ cards. You can also play cards to remove virus tokens from your cards. You win by having ten computer pieces without viruses on them. Virus Alert

When I played with my mother, I won! I actually won with closer to 13 computer pieces, since six of my cards had viruses early on. I however, managed to play a card that, by chance (rolling a d6), let me clear six virus tokens. That was great! I had around 4 graphics cards in play by the end.

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Kids of Catan

Kids of Catan is a children’s game from the Settlers of Catan. It was, unfortunately, discontinued before they came out with Catan Junior. I’ve played it since I was 3, and I personally enjoy it. While not necessary, I found the back story in the instructions quite fun, and also wryly amusing, as the Mad Robber is called Eric (I know several Erics). Kids of Catan

The characters are placed in slots on a spinning table, kind of like a Lazy Susan. Behind each character are 3 slots for resources. The red-roofed buildings are split into groups depending on the number of players. When you role the die, move 1, 2 or 3 spaces (depending on the role), and pick up the resource in that space if you don’t yet have it. If you land on Eric, take a resource of your choice out of your cart and put it in a matching color-coded space.

When you reach all three resources, unload them all and place one of your red-roofed buildings. When you run out of those, the next time you earn all three resources you place the green-roofed building. This symbolizes that you won.

Each of the little buildings has markings on it. They are actually symbolizing real places. There’s a church, a bakery, a butcher, a school, a tower, a gate, and 2 different types of houses, both of which come in larger quantities. The green-roofed building is the Town Hall. I love the simplicity of this game, yet at the same time the complexity of the story and buildings. I like the fact that the story isn’t necessary, but very complimentary.

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Why was 6 afraid of 7?

Because 7 Ate 9! 7 Ate 9 is a lovable math game. It’s small and portable, so you can play it at a restaurant (I have!). It’s a very fast moving game, though, so beware! You and your partner each have half of the deck. You draw as many as you want at a time. There will be a card in the middle, with either a +/-1, +/-2, or +/-3 on it. The numbers on the center of the card range from 1-10. You have to use the +/- numbers on the side of the card to find which card to play. (2+/-1=1 or 3. 9+/-3=6 or 2. (9+3=12, last digit is 2.)) 7 Ate 9

This is, I repeat, a speed game. Thus, you are not waiting for the other player to play a card! Your goal is to be the first person to finish your deck of cards by playing them. Then, eat the food you surely ordered before starting the game! Mmm, burrito bowl (my personal experience)! Yum!

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