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Falling behind
I have been working on a post from my birthday for a few weeks now. It’s not so much that it’s long but I’m trying to include photos and that seems to take a lot of time. I will hopefully have that up in a day or two…maybe within a month of my birthday if I stick to it long enough.
Meanwhile, the year continues to pass by so quickly that it’s hard to imagine we’re near the end of the fourth month already. Despite the passing of the months, the seasons have been a bit more sluggish. We finally saw the beginning of autumn weather a couple weeks ago after a particularly warm start to April. The nights are definitely much cooler now but summer has not left us just yet. Tomorrow is supposed to be pretty warm and it’s going to be hot on Friday, hopefully the last gasp of summer. Then we are due for possible showers over the long weekend. I won’t hold my breath at this possibility as it only leaves room for disappointment. I think it’s quite possible we will be watering our yard well into winter this year.
That said, the Scientist and I are going to an outdoor concert venue on Monday night to see Neil Finn and Paul Kelly perform. We believe it’s more likely to rain then than at any other time. Of course, it could very well rain at the venue but not here at home. It’s located in the Perth hills, which have had considerably more precipitation than we have in recent months. This will be the first time seeing Paul Kelly and a first solo Neil Finn show for us. It’s a special Anzac Day show called Songlines and will also feature Lior And Ben Merito, singer/songwriters from Australia and New Zealand. It should be a special night of  Australian and New Zealand music in the hills overlooking Perth.
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Review: Oystercatchers
Oystercatchers by Susan FletcherMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Just as with her first novel, this one swept me away with its beautiful writing. Unlike the earlier book, this one took much more time to read as it didn’t fully engage me until much later in the story. This isn’t a bad thing and it was good to take more time to absorb the story before moving on. Also unlike Eve Green, the ending was quite satisfying. I’m looking forward to reading more by Susan Fletcher.
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Red letter day
Yesterday was a family version of what some might call a red letter day. The excitement has been building for months, heightening in the past few weeks. March 10th was the date of release for not one, but two very important games. That was specifically the case for Game Fanatic, who was enthusiastic for both. Both he and Lego Lover have been awaiting the release of Pokémon Black and White for nearly a year. Game Fanatic also had a copy of Dragon Age 2 on pre-order at EB Games and had definite ideas of how the day would go once he got his copy.
The pre-order turned out to be a major mistake because the retailer kept changing the price so that the final price to pay was quite a bit higher than the advertised price. It now occurs to me that had the price been paid in full when the product was reserved, he would have got the lower price. Lesson learned. The shop was supposed to contact us to advise the product was in, but this didn’t happen at all. I finally telephoned at noon to be told it was in and that I should have been notified.
The boys got ready and we went off to the shopping center to make purchases. There was a bit of a crowd in EB Games when we arrived and we had to wait for about ten or fifteen minutes to be served. Once the product was in hand, the sales dude tried to sell several other products, none of them related to the game being purchased. Â Payment was made and we moved on to see about the Pokemon games.
We got to the store that had advertised the best price on Pokémon yesterday, only to find no copies on the shelf. In fact, there were none in stock. There was something about floods preventing the train, which held the precious cargo, from crossing from the east into our isolated capital. There was something of a sense of déja vu about it since this is a similar story to what we’ve heard for other highly anticipated video games in the past. (It  hasn’t always been a flood, but is often a train derailment that is to blame.) We moved on to the store with the next best price to hear the same story. It was also revealed that the other major discount retailer was in the same situation, along with JB HiFi, one of the major resellers of video games locally.
I don’t know why, but EB Games always has games in stock on the day, no matter whether there has been a train delay due to derailment/floods/some other crisis or not. I don’t know how they manage this when so many other stores fail to get theirs. Maybe all the stores get their shipments from the same cargo load.
I already knew the games were in stock at EB Games since several people had picked up copies that had been pre-ordered. They were charging $21 more than the lowest price though. We were in a stuck situation because Lego Lover just had to have his game on the day and he was willing to pay the extra since that’s what he had originally set aside from his budget anyway. Game Fanatic tried very hard to persuade him to wait but he would not be swayed. I wasn’t happy about it but was not stopping him spending extra if that’s really what he wanted. We had an appointment not too far in the future so we got the game at a higher price. Game Fanatic was quite distressed by this chain of events and was far more upset than anyone else, even though he had not been directly affected.
We came home and Lego Lover immediately started playing his new game. The night before, he’d stayed up late working on school work so that he’d be free to play all day yesterday. He happily played for many hours with the occasional break. Game Fanatic had a doctor appointment to attend so delayed setting his game up due to lack of time. When we returned, he got properly started and played for many hours into the evening.
Because this was such a special day, Game Fanatic asked to have his favorite meal, a rice pilaf sort of dish (with chickpeas, mushrooms, potato and Spanish chorizo sausage), to celebrate and I obliged him. Fortunately, I can now make the dish fairly easily with our pressure cooker and it doesn’t heat up the kitchen these days. The Scientist and I even got a bottle of fancy sparkling apple juice to aid in the celebration since Game Fanatic likes it so much. I will point out that Lego Lover isn’t much concerned about special foods for this sort of occasion and he doesn’t like any of the foods prepared so had an alternative. And we forgot about the apple drink last night so didn’t have that until today.
I know for a fact that Lego Lover had a great day. And I think Game Fanatic had an overall good day even though he gets a bit caught up in the negative details at times.
Since Game Fanatic was keen to get his own copy of Pokémon, I did some calling around this morning to work out if any other shops had copies now available. This included one phone call where I spent ages on hold while waiting to be transferred, only to have phone disconnect when the call finally got through. Eventually I worked out that Dick Smith Electronics did have copies available, and at just a couple dollars higher than the cheapest price. This absolutely sickened me because they had a store in the same shopping center and quite possibly did have them in stock when we were there. Just meters from the EB Games store, in fact. I never considered them because I thought I’d seen them advertise a much higher price. And I didn’t think of them at all when we ran into supply issues elsewhere. Today, that store didn’t have any stock available but another one nearby did. The Scientist phoned them and reserved a copy. Game Fanatic and I left soon afterwards and were there in less than twenty minutes. So today, Game Fanatic has been switching back and forth from one game to another and seems reasonably content.
Since it was my stupid lack of thought that cost Lego Lover the extra money, I gave him back $20 of the extra he had paid. He shrugged his shoulders and stashed it with his other money in an old Bionicle box. He is still quite happy with his new game.
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Crowded House, November 14th
Last Sunday, the Scientist and I had the pleasure of seeing Crowded House again and it was a really great show. A major plus this time was the close proximity to home. There is a winery near us called Sandalford Estate that started doing concerts a few years ago and this is the first one we’ve attended there. We arrived shortly after the gates opened but the traffic getting in was backed up quite a bit. Still, we were inside and parked within the first fifteen minutes, I think. We had a couple problems with the cooler we took in. Firstly, we weren’t allow to take in our real forks so the Scientist returned cutlery to the car, leaving me with the cooler and other things. Then I got up to the front where I wanted to sit and was told I couldn’t keep the cooler there as it was a standing area only. It is a big cooler and it wasn’t very full. I decided to take it back to the car and move the food into a smaller cooler bag from the grocery store once I’d found the Scientist as he returned. Eventually we did get settled right up at the front. Most of the people had stayed further back so they could use picnic blankets and low chairs, etc. There were only a handful of us die-hard fans up front.
Once we were settled, we had a bit of food and waited for the first of the two opening acts to reach the stage, which was probably an hour after we had claimed our space. The first act was a local Perth band. Their music was fine but there was nothing I’d rush out to buy on cd. The second act were also good but were far more engaged with the audience. The singer chatted at length about the absolutely gorgeous sunset we were experiencing. For several days before the show we’d had strong, gusty and chilly winds all through the evening. On this night, though, we had some beautifully warm weather with an almost perfect breeze. The sunset was an attractive bonus.Â
Once the second act had finished its set, there was another break while the roadies set up for Crowded House.  The Scientist went off in search of toilet facilities while I held our spot in front of the stage. While he was gone, a guy came up to my left and started chatting. I’m a pretty die-hard Crowded House fan, but this guy makes me look like a casual fan. He did a bit of showing off of all the concerts he has attended but seemed to accept me as one of the more serious fans. The Scientist returned and joined in the conversation while we waited for the show to begin.
The show itself was quite an event with many of my favorite songs being played. The crowd was particularly responsive and the band was in fine form. Every song seemed to get special treatment. And we were at the front so had very little obstruction and a close view of the band. There was a group of people next to us who were in fine spirits, having indulged in quite a bit of wine over the evening. One of them threw a doll up to the stage with Neil Finn’s face pasted on. But it got no attention at that point so through much of the remaining show there were constant chants to him to look at the doll, which was sometimes a bit distracting. Unlike the show I saw earlier this year at the Blues and Roots festival, I never felt like I was in a crush of people. And aside from a strange woman who came up behind me and rubbed herself up against me, everyone was very respectful of personal space. The woman apparently came out of nowhere and pushed up against me but didn’t remain there. It’s a mystery what that was about.  The band dedicated an incredibly moving song to Paul Hester, the band’s original drummer who committed suicide five and half years ago. Neil Finn’s wife came on stage twice to sing on a couple of songs. Several planes flew overhead…the venue is quite near the airport and there was a steady stream of air traffic going in to land.  The crowd sang along in fine voice to many of the band’s popular songs. It was a great feeling to be part of that crowd.  At quarter to ten and after an encore, the show came to an end.
Once the crowd behind us thinned a bit, we started to find our way out, stopping at the merchandise stand to buy a programme. We reached the car and waited a bit longer for traffic to clear. There were a couple of exits available and traffic was heading to them from all directions. It looked very chaotic before we started out. But once we got going we found our way to a line of traffic and found there were parking staff directing vehicles in a very orderly way to the back exit. We were out in pretty quick order and were soon on the road home. I think we did well to exit through the back because when we passed the entrance, traffic was still quite backed up. We arrived home less than fifteen minutes after leaving the venue. It was an exceptionally satisfying evening.
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15 albums in 15 minutes
I thought I would elaborate on a meme that I was tagged for on Facebook. The idea was to list fifteen albums in fifteen minutes that will always stick with me. This isn’t a favorite album list although some are favorites. Just what came to mind during a few minutes of my day.
- Rumours by Fleetwood Mac- When the album was released back in 1977, I wasn’t a fan of it in any way. The radio stations pretty much played it to death. That summer I went to my aunt’s wedding where it was also played repeatedly. At the time I didn’t care if I ever heard it again. Years later, I went to see Fleetwood Mac with the Scientist and I became a big fan of the band, at least in that incarnation. These days I am not quite the big fan I once was but I still like the band and this album is one of my favorites.
- Abbey Road by the Beatles- I knew a Beatles album had to be included and it was really difficult to decide which one. This is probably my favorite Beatles album although I might change my mind on another day. My instinct was really to include Beatles Love Songs because that was the first album I bought by the band and in a way it has always stuck with me and pretty much propelled me into Beatles fandom. I still like the album although I’ve not listened to it in decades. I just like that collection of songs…but that seems a bit like a sacrilege with all the great albums produced by the band.
- Straight Lines by Silverchair – I never cared for Silverchair’s earlier albums. Their music just didn’t appeal to me. This album was totally different. Â When it was released, all the songs on it were played over the course of a week on a radio program I listened to at the time. And I liked just about everything I heard. The title song was played constantly and I never tired of it. Even a few years later, I am always up to hear that song. And the rest of the album is wonderful. I just love hearing it from start to finish.
- Strange Bird by Augie March-Back when Moo You Bloody Cow was released, I heard an interview with Augie March/Glenn Richard on Triple J radio. The first song I they played was a cover of a Beach Boys song (the title escapes me now) and I really liked it. I bought MYBC soon afterwards which started me into Augie March fandom. While I think that album will always stick with me, Strange Bird is an earlier one that probably fits this list far better. It’s a collection of well-crafted and beautiful music, even when the subject matter is not at all beautiful. It’s the  the Augie March album of choice when I think of them.
- Together Alone by Crowded House-I pretty much love just about all music by Crowded House but this album is my favorite. My favorite CH song is Private Universe, which evokes such a sense of escape for me. “Pineapple Head” and “Fingers of Love“ are also high on my list. Hearing “Fingers of Love” at the show I saw in March was just heavenly. I guess I’d say most of the album has something of an otherworldly feel and never fails to please.
- Stunt by Barenaked Ladies- This isn’t my favorite BNL album and doesn’t even contain my favorite songs by the band but it does stick with me, possibly because this was my introduction to this very talented band with a very good sense of humor.
- All That You Can’t Leave Behind by U2-I’ve liked u2 since I was in high school so this was kind of a hard choice. I nearly chose Unforgettable Fire, partially because it was my first U2 purchase and also because it has Pride (in the name of love), which is a favorite of mine. But the whole album hasn’t stuck with me so much as a few songs…I only have it on vinyl so haven’t listened in quite a while. Maybe I will change my mind if I hear it again though. ATYCLB, though, really does stick with me. This was a purchase made while in Canada as it was released while we were there. After the disappointment of their Pop album, this was such a pleasure to listen to. Â I absolutely adore “Beautiful Day” because it just makes me feel good every time I heard it. And the song, “Elevation” always makes me feel nostalgic because it was the first song Lego Lover ever liked. He always called it the “Beep” song when he heard it. :)
- Ghost in the Machine by the Police-I’m not quite sure why I put this one on the list because it’s another album I had on vinyl and haven’t heard in a long while. This was my first album by the band, so that probably is why it came to mind. I used to listen to this constantly when it came out and later went on to buy other albums by the band. Synchronicity probably fits this list a bit better in hindsight. It came out right about the time I graduated high school and was extremely popular by the time I started college a couple months later. And the songs do still say with me all these years later, far better than GitM…
- I’ll Be Lightning by Liam Finn- This was only released a couple of years ago so I might be wrong to include it. It’s a great debut album that is basic and raw and very appealing. I haven’t heard it for a while but I still feel connected with most of the songs.
- Belladonna by Stevie Nicks-Once I became a fan of Fleetwood Mac, I was bound to become a fan of Stevie Nicks. Back then her voice was still quite good and she really rocked out on this album.
- Glass Houses by Billy Joel- I was given this album as a very belated birthday present by my aunt while visiting one summer. She took me and my cousin to the Jamesway department store to choose a something and this was what I found. I listened to this one endlessly that year and knew all the songs by heart. This is another instance where I had this on vinyl but unlike other cases, the music is still fresh in my mind even after all this time. I might very well have chosen The Stranger except I’ve never listened to the album. I may very well know all the songs but as an album I don’t have any connection with it. I keep thinking I will buy a copy one of these days but it hasn’t happened yet.
- Everyone is Here by the Finn Brothers-I think this is one of my favorite Finn works from the last decade. It probably helps that I’d already been a fan of all things Finn for a number of years. I really liked Tim and Neil’s first collaboration, Finn, when it came out. It was a great raw and somewhat experimental album. This EIH is a finely polished work of art that I’ve enjoyed since it was released. I also associate this album with seeing my first Finn concert the year after this was released.
- Rio by Duran Duran- I used to be a big Duran Duran fan back in my early days at college and bought just about anything they released. I recently discovered several old Duran Duran records in a box while I was in the US recently. They might be worth a bit of money these days. I don’t know. I’m not quite so keen on them these days but I haven’t completely lost interest. I was given a recent concert dvd a couple years ago as a birthday present and discovered I still like a lot of their music. And I really love this album.
- Long Distance Voyager by the Moody Blues- This reminds me of my teenage years although not so much with high school itself. My strongest attachment may well be for the cover art which used to fascinate me. But my reason for buying it was nothing to do with the art work and all to do with the music. It’s not in the same class as earlier Moody Blues music but I still quite like it today.
- Double Fantasy by John Lennon and Yoko Ono- Maybe this isn’t a great choice for this list but I do have a very emotional attachment to the album. I will admit I’m not a Yoko Ono fan, but I didn’t mind her songs too much on this record. And John Lennon’s songs were mostly quite good. I still hear a few of the singles today and think of how good some of them were.
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Sleeping Beauty
When I was a child, my favorite Disney movie was Sleeping Beauty. I saw it at the movies and was given the soundtrack as a gift at some point. To be truthful, I don’t remember seeing it at the movies but I do recall listening to the record quite a bit. It was enough that when I played the record again (yes, it did survive my childhood somehow) all the songs came back to me quite readily. And I’ve seen it on video a few times as an adult and it still felt very familiar.
A friend was fortunate to get some free tickets to see the dress rehearsal of the ballet of Sleeping Beauty and invited me to attend last night. Neither of us had ever been to a ballet. I have to admit I’ve never really had a burning desire to go to the ballet. But with free tickets, it was definitely worth having a look. We had a rather leisurely dinner at a restaurant in the same complex before going into the theater. The show started promptly with a few minutes of  music played by the local symphony orchestra before the curtain rose.
We’d been given a page with a synopsis of the performance to read beforehand but neglected to do this. I soon discovered I didn’t know the story quite as well as I had thought because I had trouble following what was going on.  I made sure to read the information for the second and third acts during the interval. To be honest, I didn’t care much for the ballet part of the performance. I found many of the movements very weird and uncomfortable to watch. The business of walking on toes for long periods seemed terribly unnatural and made my feet hurt to see it. Most of the women were way too skinny. Watching the men dance was preferable to the women because they weren’t so thin and their dancing didn’t have so many of the unnatural movement as the women. Despite lacking much interest in the ballet,  I really enjoyed the symphony orchestra and will consider going to the symphony should an appropriate opportunity arise.
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Games, games and more games, part 2
A few months ago I wrote about our family’s recent interest in board games. I had intended to write another post a short time later but that somehow never happened.
The family was so enamored of the new games that I ordered more games from the supplier on the east coast. They’d had a sale on for all of January and I think I ordered a second time right at the end of the month. New games this time around were Puerto Rico, Blokus Duo and the card game Fluxx. It was a bit like Christmas again when the package arrived quite promptly within a couple of days of ordering. Not only were the prices cheaper than anything local but they offered free one day shipping.
I think Puerto Rico is one of my favorite games now. It seemed incredibly complicated when we first started but once we got going, we all enjoyed it. And once you know the basic play, it sort of falls into place. We’ve played this quite a few times since we got it and it never fails to be a couple hours of fun for us. I somehow managed to win my first game against Lego Lover and the Scientist when we played this weekend. Lego Lover was doing quite well so it was something of a surprise when he was a couple points under me at the end.
Blokus Duo is just a two player version of Blokus. It’s a smaller board and players don’t start from the corner as in the original game. It’s far more competitive for two players. This works really well when we aren’t playing as a family. Unfortunately we are kind of stuck when we have three players, as has happened recently. The original game board is a bit too easy with three players. When we played over the weekend, we all finished equally in one game. In the other one, the only difference between winner and loser was the fact one had played the single tile last. It would be good if there was a travel version available here because it would be a good game to place with Lego Lover on the plane. It has been released on the iPhone/iPod Touch but it takes up 95mb and I don’t want to use up so much space on my iPod.
I bought the card game, Fluxx, on a whim when I placed the last order. The game is incredibly easy to play because there is a very simple basic rule to start and the cards provide new rules as you go. The new rules can get pretty silly and strange at times but it’s definitely never dull.
More recently, I found a Lord of the Rings board game at a Salvos (Salvation army) secondhand shop for just eight dollars. It normally would sell for over $70 new. It is missing one piece, but it’s just a marker and is no loss to game play. We haven’t played this one so I can’t say anything about it just yet.
The next games on my to-buy list are Agricola and Ticket to Ride.
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Musical fun
It seemed for a while that I was running from one musical event to another. Last month I saw Chicago with the Scientist and his mum. We booked tickets for a matinee session, which allowed us to leave the boys at home without any worry. We really enjoyed the performance, which included Caroline O’Connor, Craig McLachlan, Sharon Millerchip and Colleen Hewett…all big names on the theater circuit in Australia. I’d been to see Phantom of the Opera a year to the day earlier and was left with the desire to see more. This production was quite different to the lavish Phantom, filled with gorgeous sets and magical scene changes. Chicago was quite minimal by comparision and consisted of a background highlighting the band with minimal props for the actors at the front of the stage. It worked quite nicely and the actors were excellent. It was fortunate that most of the action occurred at the front of the stage because we were to the far right end of the fourth row, which made it impossible to see part of the band from my seat. I again was left with a very favorable impression of the musical theater.
It just happens that the production of Cats was announced not long after Chicago. The friend who accompanied me to see Phantom last year was also interested in seeing Cats so we booked tickets. This is quite unusual around here because we get about one big production a year in Perth. Interestingly, Mama Mia will follow not long after Cats…So it’s been a busy year for Perth musical theater.
Anyway, my friend had a new job set to start on the 12th and the production started playing on the 11th. So our tickets were for the opening performance which was again a matinee session. The week before I watched the dvd of the London production so that I’d have an idea of what it was all about. I’d gotten a bit worried while watching the dvd because there really isn’t much story until well into the production and I wasn’t really quite getting what it was all about. It did improve in the latter part and I felt it should be an interesting show. I will point out the dvd was filmed without an audience, which is an extremely important factor for this show.
Anyway, we arrived early and had lunch in a nearby restaurant before going into the theater. For the two previous productions I’d seen in this theater, there was a lockout with nobody allowed in once the show had begun. I’d not heard anything for this show and it soon became apparent why this was so. The “cats” mostly entered from the back of the theater, stopping and scratching members of the audience and they made their way to the stage. I happened to be seated at the end of the row so was a lucky recipient of feline scratching with slight surprise. The stage sets were more elaborate than Chicago but far simpler than Phantom. Most of the action occurred in the same scene, though, so this wasn’t too surprising in the end. The ‘cats” returned to the audience at various points in the show and again entered the theater from the back after the intermission. The audience was still settling in and had not quieted down just yet. I was pawed this time around and we watched as another “cat” went up to a woman a few rows ahead. She was several seats in, and had her back turned to the aisle while she was talking with a companion. When the cat scratched her, she nearly jumped out of her skin and shouted out before realising what was happening. Then she joined in the laughter of all around her. I thought the show was quite good when it included the interaction with the “cats”. The Scientist had warned they would move about the audience but he was under the impression this occurred mostly near the front of the theater. We were seated fairly close to the back this time but I find it afforded us the chance to see far more of the action than if we had been near the stage. While I enjoyed the performance quite well, I don’t think my friend liked it as well as Phantom.
Reflecting on the dvd, I think it was quite flat as compared to the live performance. The lack of an audience just seemed to leave a lot out. Also, I am almost certain there was a whole sequence of scenes not included on the dvd because I had no recollection on them at the show.
There won’t be any more musicals for me in the near future as I’ve got some big plans that have required significant monetary outlay. So Mama Mia and any other shows will be missed this time around.
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West Coast Blues and Roots Festival (very long)
Okay, so it’s now three days after the fact and I’m still feeling rather run down after this event. But to back up, this is a festival that’s been running successfully from Fremantle for several years now. I’ve never been to the event before but when I heard Crowded House were headlining, there was no question as to whether I would go. I think the definition of blues and roots must be really stretched to include Crowded House (or a few of the other acts), especially as headliners. Anyway, I bought my ticket the day they went on sale.
This was something of a new experience for me in more than one way. I’ve never been to a festival of this nature. What seems a lifetime ago, the Scientist and I did attend a concert festival at Carowinds in Charlotte where Stevie Nicks was headlining. But in that case, all the acts played on the same stage. This festival had four stages of various sizes with acts playing throughout the day. But the biggest new experience is that I was on my own for this one. It ran from late morning until 10pm and we weren’t really comfortable with the idea of leaving the boys for such a long time on their own. Before this event was announced, we’d already booked tickets to see the musical, Chicago, for Saturday afternoon, so the boys were already going to be on their own all Saturday afternoon. So the Scientist decided he’d stay home and I would go by myself. It wasn’t an ideal situation but I went along with it.
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Games, games and more games, part one
As mentioned in the Australia Day post, we have some new board games at our house. Games Paradise, a retailer from the eastern states, had sale on during January for 15% off everything until stocks ran out. I ordered two games earlier this month: Blokus and Smallworld. The latter is a game wanted by Game Fanatic for quite a while now. He’d found out about it in some roundabout way through his favorite website, TV Tropes, and was obsessed with getting it. He also had various other games or dvds he wanted and still hadn’t gotten a copy by Christmas. Blokus was an extra to push up the total enough to get free shipping.
Blokus
Blokus has turned out to be incredibly easy to learn and lots of fun to play. For my part, it is also a game I seem to be be reasonably good at playing, so there’s a decent chance I will win the round. The game consists of four sets of playing pieces, in different colors. Each set is comprised of all differently shaped pieces. There is a square, tiled board where the pieces are placed so that same colors only touch at corners. The goal of the game is to to play the most number of pieces of all the players. We’ve played quite a few rounds and the lowest score so far has been 2 pieces left. The nice thing about this game is its playing time is short enough (about fifteen minutes) that it’s not necessary to block off several hours of an evening to play. The only drawback is that you really need four players for a decent game. It just doesn’t work very well with anything less.
Smallworld
We’ve only played Smallworld a few times so we are still learning the ins and outs of the game. There are a lot of pieces in the game, but not all of them are used for each game. It looked really overwhelming when we first started and it takes a bit of time to set it up. The game is a sort of world domination sort of game…a bit along the lines of Risk but seemingly less complicated from what I can tell. There are a number of different races(dwarves, elves, humans, etc.) that each player eventually will choose from. The races are paired with a power (e.g., berserker, heroic, etc.). These are paired in a random order before the start of the game. The first player must choose a pair to start the game and this influences how many playing pieces are received by the player to use on the board. I will also point out that different boards are used, depending on the number of players. It gets bigger, the more players involved. The first player must place all the units on the board strategically before the next player starts. There are ten rounds (I think) in the game. The first one is essentially a setting up phase. During subsequent rounds, the object is to conquer as much of the territory as possible, based on the game rules. At some point, a particular player may lack the ability to do much more so has the option of going into decline. This leaves certain pieces on the board for the original combination to claim territory and allows the player to start again with a different race/power combination the following round. A player can go into decline as often as they like within the ten rounds of the game. Points are scored each round, based on how many territories are controlled by the player.
The first game went kind of slowly so that we ended up reducing the number of rounds so that we could finish before it got too late. Everyone was enthusiastic at the beginning but Lego Lover lost some interest after awhile and wasn’t active in the latter part of the game. On Australia Day, he’d been ready to give it another go but the game had to put away due to delays in getting started. The game claims its age range is 8+ but I think it’s a bit complex for younger kids to play with any chance of being competitive with older players. I might have judged it more appropriate for a ten year old.
We’re enjoying playing the board games so much, I ordered more games last week and they arrived Friday afternoon. I will write more about those in another post. I think one of our next games will probably be Ticket to Ride. We played this once at a friend’s house a few years ago and really enjoyed it at the time. Game Fanatic is also keen to get a player expansion for Settlers of Catan so he can play with his Dungeon’s and dragons group. There’s been discussion about mixing it up a bit and having regular board game days instead of the usual D&D, so he’s keen to share some of the games.