Games

Bored games

/ edebock / 2 Comments

I may be languishing, but sometimes I think hubby is just plain bored. Almost every day, as soon as we’ve cleaned up from lunch, he announces that the table is clear. That’s his way of saying, “Let’s get out a board game!” Yes, we’ve played a lot of games over the past few months. Our sons are avid game players and have gifted us some great two person games over the past couple of years. Today I’m going to review four of them that have helped stave off boredom for us during the past year of sheltering at home.

7 Wonders Duel

7-Wonders-Duel-300x300Like the parent game, 7 Wonders, this is a civilization building game where players collect cards that represent economic, cultural, scientific, and military achievements. While easy to learn, it presents plenty of interesting challenges and with three possible ways to win, it definitely keeps you on your toes. The game typically takes no more than half an hour to play, so we usually play twice in one sitting. While there are expansions available, we’ve probably played the original 100 times or more without getting tired of it, so we’ve never felt the need to purchase them. For us, another advantage to this game is it’s compact size. It’s easy to pack into the trailer or even a suitcase.

Splendor

pic1904079In this Renaissance inspired game for 2 to 4 players, each player increases their wealth by collecting chips (gems) and using them to purchase cards. The cards, some of which are worth points, give you permanent gems and can be used to make future purchases. In addition, they help you acquire nobles which are also worth points. The game is easy to learn and takes about half an hour to play. The Cities of Splendor Expansion includes four different expansions in one package each offering a unique playing experience. While we don’t have it yet, I can see where we might want to add it at some point in the future.

Alhambra

pic4893652Alhambra was the palace and fortress of the Moorish monarchs of Granada, Spain. The object of the game bearing its name is to purchase building tiles of different kinds and place them strategically to build your own Alhambra. In 3 scoring rounds, points are awarded based on who has the most buildings of each kind. Each player also receives additional points for the longest portion of wall that they’ve managed to build around their Alhambra. The game is designed for 2 to 6 players. In a 2 player game there’s an imaginary third player. At first, we thought that that might be a bit weird, but the third player doesn’t actually enter into the action and his tiles are placed in full view of both players. The game is easy to learn and takes about 45 minutes to play. While there are expansions available, my understanding is that they are better suited to playing with 3 or more players.

Rivals for Catan

Screen Shot 2021-04-24 at 10.52.31 PMRivals for Catan, an adaptation of the original Settlers of Catan, is an updated version of the Catan Card Game. Rivals is a 2 player strategy game that is actually 5 games in one. Each player starts with a small principality and by harvesting and spending resources, builds roads, settlements, buildings, trade ships, and cities and hires heroes. The Introductory Game is a good starting point as there’s lots to learn in this game. It takes about 30 minutes to play. Once you’ve mastered the Introductory Game, new challenges await in The Era of Gold, The Era of Turmoil, and The Era of Progress. Each of these takes about an hour to play. Once you’ve played all three a few times and become familiar with each one, you’re ready for the Duel of the Princes which combines elements of all three and is by far the ultimate Rivals experience. It, too, takes about an hour to play. We have the Deluxe version which includes trays to keep the piles of cards organized as well as a few extra cards which you may or may not choose to incorporate into your playing experience.

Though we’ve been weeding through our collection of games and passing several of them on to our children and grandchildren, we still have a shelf full of older games. These four, however, are the ones that have been keeping our minds active and helping prevent boredom during these months of mostly staying at home.

Found it!

/ edebock / 16 Comments

We have a new toy and a new hobby! The toy is a Garmin Etrex Legend HCx handheld GPS receiver which we are still learning how to use and the hobby is geocaching.

Geocaching is basically a grown up, high-tech game of hide and seek. Participants use GPS units to hide and find containers called geocaches or simply caches and then log their activity online. A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook where the finder records the date they found it as well as their geocaching username. It may also contain small items for trading or a trackable item such as a travel bug or a geocoin that is moved from cache to cache. Each trackable has its own unique tracking number stamped on it and its own online diary that follows its movements. To watch a 2 minute video that explains geocaching in a nutshell, click here.

There are currently more than 1.6 million geocaches hidden in over 100 countries around the world. They can be found on every continent including Antarctica and there are over 5 million registered geocachers out there looking for them! Today we joined their ranks.

Though we look forward to finding caches in many interesting and faraway places, there are lots to be found close to home. This afternoon, we set off in the sunshine in search of two of them. We had a little trouble finding the first one, not because it was so difficult but because we were still trying to figure out how to use the GPS! We’re not the most technologically savvy pair on the planet! Once we figured out how to enter the coordinates and follow the directions, the GPS led us right to what we were looking for. Our first find was an ammo box hidden within sight of the school I used to teach at.

Can you see it?

The second one, which we found much more easily, was a little further from home. It was a camouflaged peanut butter jar hidden in the edge of a farmer’s field.

After just two finds, we’re definitely hooked! Geocaching is a perfect activity for retired folk like us with plenty of time on our hands and a love of the great outdoors.

One aspect of geocaching that we are very pleased to participate in is known as Cache In Trash Out. Geocachers around the world are dedicated to preserving the natural beauty of parks and other cache-friendly locations by picking up trash as we go. It’s easy and it enhances the beauty of our surroundings.

On the way home after finding our second cache this afternoon, we wandered some back roads and found something else that we weren’t looking for but it will be the topic of my next post!

Lonely lament of a gamer’s wife

/ edebock / 4 Comments

There’s a new breed of women these days that didn’t exist when I was growing up. We’re the gamer’s wives, women married to men who spend countless hours playing video or online games. Most gamer’s wives are younger than I am. Some, like our daughter Melaina, married their husbands knowing that they would be sharing them with their games. A few even play the games themselves.

Richard used to make disparaging remarks about men who wasted hours on end playing games. Then he joined their ranks. Most men get hooked on MMORPGs, massively multiplayer online role-playing games like World of Warcraft, but Richard’s game of choice is Farmville, a social networking game favoured by women in their forties! When he started playing 20 months ago, I wasn’t surprised that it quickly consumed him. That’s the kind of person he is. When he gets into something, he’s in 110%. I am surprised, however, that it’s lasted this long. I guess that’s because I just don’t see the game’s appeal. From what I’ve observed, it looks about as engaging as watching paint dry or grass grow!

I’m glad this latest obsession of Richard’s didn’t start until after our kids were grown. The dad they grew up with started every morning reading his Bible. Now, he turns on his computer the minute he crawls out of bed and spends an hour exchanging virtual gifts with total strangers before breakfast. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that he neglects his spiritual life but it does irk me that he who claimed for many years that first thing in the morning was the best time for personal devotions, now gives that time to Farmville!

Richard doesn’t like me using words like obsession or addiction to describe his passion for Farmville but I don’t know how else to describe it and there are certainly plenty of self-described Farmville addicts out there who don’t play anymore than he does. Richard has offered to quit playing because he knows it bugs me but most of the time, I don’t actually object to him playing the game. After all, it’s pretty harmless and there are a lot worse things he could be doing but I do object to the nine or ten hour days when he only emerges from the computer room when he’s called to the table for a meal. The blogger who calls herself the gamer’s wife, who is also a certified counsellor, agrees that this is unacceptable. Fortunately, there aren’t too many days like that at our house.

I also object to the fact that when he’s absorbed in his game, he’s oblivious to whatever else might be going on. When I go into his ‘cave’ to tell him something that I think is interesting or important, I’m often met with silence or a blank look that tells me that he hasn’t heard a word I said. He didn’t even respond when I mentioned that a growing issue in divorce and estate settlements is who gets the deceased person’s online assets. I think he already knew that I’d have absolutely no interest in inheriting his pink cows!

At first, I also resented the fact that our schedule had to accommodate him being home at the right time to harvest his virtual crops. I didn’t think that that was part of our retirement plan! Apparently, either he’s much better at planning these days or that isn’t as big a part of the game anymore as we haven’t had to come home on time to harvest in a long time. I suspect it’s the latter as I know that the game has grown to include much more than simply planting and harvesting. I noticed this morning, that he even has what appears to be a marina and a lighthouse now. They sure don’t have those on the real farms around here! I’m also thinking that it’s too bad that I can’t visit his ‘farm’. I’m pretty sure it also has a spa and after spending so many hours on an actual combine over the past several days, I could sure use a deep muscle massage!

Oh well, out on the real farm Richard finished swathing today but I have many days of combining left. Now he’ll have plenty of time to overdose on Farmville while I’m not here to be bothered by it!