A lovely little poem....

My dear sister is a writer in her off-time (although I don't know how she gets off-time with 4 kids and a full-time job!)  Lately she's been writing poems for a contest and she dedicated her latest to me.  It's a pantoum and she explains what that is in her original post . 

Once you've read the poem, I think you'll start to wonder about our family.  Thanks, Laura....

#9 - To Play the Classics
An honourable opponent,
She chose the thimble, I the shoe
She lived for the moment.
She rolled the dice, her roll was true,

She chose the thimble, I the shoe,
Thimble moving in a blur,
She rolled the dice, her roll was true,
The dice, they favoured her,

Thimble moving in a blur,
Properties collected,
The dice, they favoured her,
It was as I suspected.

Properties collected,
She played the banker, too
It was just as I suspected,
As her hotels and houses grew,

She played the banker, too,
I watched from my spot in jail,
As her hotels and houses grew,
Roll doubles; epic fail.

I watched from my spot in jail,
Gleeful, she grabbed Park Place,
Roll doubles; epic fail,
Smug grin upon her face.

Gleeful, she grabbed Park Place,
My heart sinking lower every roll,
Smug grin upon her face,
Her stack of money flush and whole,

My heart sinking lower every roll,
I slowly approached the blue,
Her stack of money flush and whole,
What was one to do?

I slowly approached the blue,
So close was I to losing.
What was one to do?
A final act of poorest choosing.

So close was I to losing,
I stood and tipped the table,
A final act of poorest choosing,
The legs must have been unstable.

I stood and tipped the table,
She knew what it really meant,
The legs must have been unstable,
For, I'm an honourable opponent,

- Laura F -

Family vacation...

Last evening of my parents' visiting and our road-trip to Boston and P-town.  Nothing else to do in Syracuse but play Dominion in the local Tim Horton's.  Love my family.

My partner and parents playing another round of Dominion...

My mother's son...

This past weekend I was on the phone with my mother back in BC and she was rather exhausted.  I guess her, my Dad, and my sister and brother-in-law were up playing Dominion on Saturday night till 2 am.  My sister and father even went out for an ice cream and potato chip run at 11:30 to stay fueled up.  My mother says she woke up in the middle of the night with sugar hangover.  Ha.  Didn't discourage them, though, because I guess they played a few more rounds the next morning.

Uh huh.  That's my family.

Guest post: a review of Sorry Sliders...

Sorry Sliders is a game marketed to children, ages 6 and up. I just played it with my three year old and she had the hang of it after the first slide. In fact, she beat me.

Sorry Sliders really doesn't resemble its predecessor at all, with the exception of the logo and the little game pieces. The best way to describe it is that it's basically a board game version of curling; without the sweeping and the obnoxious shirts. Kind of like a poor man's Crokinole. Set-up is really simple and if you pay attention to the diagram, which I didn't, you can have all the pieces punched out and attached in less then five minutes. If, like me, you choose to wing it... well, you're looking at about 8 minutes once you realize you put the edges on each piece upside down and you have to pull them all off and re-attach.

The nice thing about this board game is that it comes in 2, 3, and 4 player options. You just attach the coordinating number of sides and fill in the other edges with walls. That's it. Easy as pie. There are also four variations of the game so when you get bored of the first one, you can add a little challenge into the play.

We played cooperatively, as I feel badly beating my three-year-old at board games. So neither of us had to say "Sorry" at any time during our game. And neither of us had to send our pieces back to home. I suspect that when I play this with my sons, there's going to be a lot more gleeful "Sorry"-ing going around as they aim to send my pieces flying of the table. Game play is super simple. Basically, you take turns sliding your tokens down the board trying to get as close as possible to the middle ring, which is worth the most points. If you managed to send an opponents piece to the edge of the tabe in the process, well, that's where the apologizing starts. The further from the ring, the lower the point count. We playing 3 rounds (12 slides each) and finished the game. Because I let my daughter score first, she won, but in reality, it's was probably at least a draw.

So, from the perspective of a young child, Sorry Sliders is a great game. My daughter said, and I quote, "I like getting my pieces home best." The least "I don't like when you lose." Awww...

From my perspective, it's a fun, quick little game. It's certainly not as frustrating as I remember the Sorry from our childhood to be. Don't expect to utilise any strategy as this is definitely a no-brainer. And don't bring it out to your university game night... they're just not the target audience!

Pros: Easy to set up, colourful, easily grasped by young children (and if you're like me, easy to let them experience winning)

Cons: The four-player version might take up a bit more table room than you expect. This might be a floor game when fully set up. Of course, when you have kids, empty floor space is hard to come by, too...

- Laura Freeman resides in Vanderhoof, B.C, where she is a social worker, mother of three amazing kids, soon-to-be published novelist, and all-around amazing sister!  She also scrapbooks avidly and you can check out her scrappy antics at her blog Scrapbooking Beats Housework.

(Editor: Hmmmm, wonder who gave them them that game for Christmas....)

UPDATE:  04-Jan-2012 - I may have been premature when I wrote my comments about Sorry Sliders after playing it with my daughter the other day.  We pulled it out again yesterday at my five-year old’s birthday party.  It scored some decent table time as each of the guests in attendance wanted to have a go at it.  So, to update my opinion of the game, I thought I’d add that Sorry Sliders is much more competitive and much more fun when played as a four-player game.  And tilted on an angle, it actually will fit on my kitchen table. We only used the basic board, and have yet to try any of the three variations, but despite the simple instructions, it was a ‘hoot’.  Adults, unlike three-year olds, can strategize. Instead of just aiming to land their sliders as close to the bulls-eye as possible, adults will aim to knock each others’ sliders out of play; Or even more cut-throat, knock them into higher scoring rings when, towards the end of the game, opponents are looking to score ones and twos to land their tokens in the home square.   To my surprise, and delight, everyone enjoyed the game and got into the action.  So, I guess I just want to add that this is an excellent family game as everyone will enjoy the action regardless of age or skill level.

Gaming back home....

Two things:

- Small World for Ipad is about the best travel game ever, you know, Small World without the accounting.  One caveat:  it only plays 2 people.  But if there's 2 of ya, it's about the perfect pastime....

- My mother and the rest of the family are now in love with Dominion.  I need to visit more often.

Motivational poster....

One of my favourite little quick card games is Circus Flohcati, not only because it's an easy-to-explain game of pushing your luck, but also because it retains some strategy in its quick play.  That, and it's easy enough for my 5-year-old nephew to play on his own and still win (he's a smart kid, now 6).

Yesterday my lovely sister made sure to remind me of all the games of "Fleas" that he beat me at last summer.  Someone please uninstall her Photoshop....

Click on the picture to see a bigger image of Alex rubbing it in



You tell me: holiday gaming...

What games will you be playing back home this holiday with the family and/or friends?  How many new rulesets will your grandma be subjected to?

The ones left behind....

When I moved from BC to Ontario three years ago, I had to say goodbye to a LOT of games. I gave some away that I never played and stored the rest at a dear friend's place where they have stayed. So every visit home is a bit of a gaming pilgrimage. I bring one big suitcase with me and leave with two. This trip I grabbed a few favourites like Mississippi Queen, Union Pacific, San Marco, Through the Desert, and the fantastic Tonga Bonga.

However, this barely made a dent in what is left. I still had to leave such great games as Star Wars: Queen's Gambit (which is worth a ton now!), Tyranno Ex, New England, Medieval Merchant, and the great Civilization. I'll just have to leave these ones till next time....

Gaming memorial....

This past weekend my extended family on my mother's side got together for my grandmother's funeral. My mother has had a rough two years as my grandfather passed away last year as well at the ripe old age of 82. He was an ornery, stubborn old bastard who died the way he lived: on his own without the help of others.

One great memory I have of grandpa are evenings playing Rummoli at the table in is his lttle home in Riondel, B.C. If you haven't played Rummoli yet, don't. It is a bland, entirely luck-based mix of poker and rummy. It fails to excite and it lacks all control, HOWEVER it can be played with money. And this is why I remember it so fondly as a kid. The different pay pots would fill with cash and when you played the right card you would gather all the cash. When we played, grandpa would seed these pots with real money instead of just pennies. Loonies, toonies, and sometimes these disgusting licorice all-sorts that we'd trade with our mother for cash (she was the only one who liked them).

This past Saturday night, my sister organized a memorial game of Rummoli with us and the relatives. We didn't really get to say goodbye to grandpa so this worked just fine. She bought the licorice and brought the pennies and just to celebrate the old man, she seeded the pay pots with shots of Crown Royal - his favourite. Everytime someone went out first or collected a big pot they had to share a grandpa story before they downed the shot. Strange but somehow it seemed appropriate. It's funny how these classic games seem to tie families together, whether it be Yahtzee or Rummoli or even Ticket To Ride. The point, I suppose, is that despite him being gone, we still play on and the memories remain in the cards.

Then the next day we buried our grandmother beside her parents. Lovely woman who I remember having a fondness for jewellry and little plastic horse. May they both rest in peace.

That's all for now, I'm gonna go spend some quality time with my mother who is happy to have family around right now. We're gonna play Ticket to Ride, her favourite....