Pandemic: Iberia

17 August 2018: Took this fantastic new game, a birthday gift from Amy, out for a spin tonight. So much fun!

Dick: A Card Game

14 January 2018:

Hannah: "Men or cheese, T. Which is it?"
Tim: "Cheese."

This context-less exchange brought to you courtesy of "Dick," the game I spent hours playing yesterday with Tim, Cory, and Hannah. I bought Tim the game for Christmas and almost immediately he was like, "Game session at my house on MLK weekend?"

So much fun. A terrific day.

Above and Below

4 February 2017: "You have to roll a four or higher to get two lanterns." --my friend Josh trying to explain the rules of Above and Below to me this evening.

Learning a new game can be tough, especially when it's one as imaginative and involved as this one was, but--fitting in with this year's blog theme--careful listening (and a patient teacher!) led to a lot of enjoyment. It's a very cool game with so many possibilities. After spending most of the day grading, an evening of fun, games, Anna, and Josh was quite good for the soul!

366 good things...

31 December 2016: A year ago, I set out on this (relatively modest) goal of posting about "one good thing" per day. And--with this post--I've done it. Plus, there's a lovely circularity to the project as December 31's good thing also involved someone who figured large in January 1, 2016's post. So here it is: the last "one good thing" of 2016 was playing this game with Jane and her family as we waited for the new year to roll in.

I am not alone in seeing 2016 as a pretty rough year in a lot of ways. And I am really fumbling for some optimism to get 2017 off on the right foot, but this little project helped me in the ways I hoped it would, so I am glad to have done it.

Now I need to think if I can/will do another blogging goal for the year. I have a couple of ideas, but nothing concrete yet. I am going to sleep on it again and, if I decide on a daily thing, I will do some catch up posts.

Reunion Time!

8 July 2016: Friday's good thing is Cranium, a game I actually hadn't played in a couple of years. BUt I played it on Friday night, the first day of a reunion in Durham with four of my best friends from grad school. We all got to the house we rented around 4:00, settled in, went out to dinner, barely made it back before the skies opened with some fantastic storms, and spent the rest of the night playing Cranium and laughing until it hurt.

School's (sort of) out!

2 May 2016: Since we are in that weird period right now where there aren't "school nights" (until Summer School starts for me in a couple of weeks), some friends and I got together last night for dinner and a few games of Pandemic.

The weather has been crazy for the last week (cloudy and cold, then sunny and hot--all on the same day) and I've got enough work on my plate that I am more anxious than usual at the end of the semester. But looking at my watch last night, seeing that it was well almost 10:00, and realizing that I didn't have to get up for class the next morning gave me that first whiff of summer. Pretty sweet.

We saved the world...once out of four times...

5 March 2016: Check out this Pandemic board. That's a win, my friends, and it was an impressive one. We didn't even use any of the good event cards. (Yes, I know this means nothing if you don't play Pandemic, but trust me, it was impressive enough to snap a picture.)

We lost the other three times we played, but man, we had fun.

"Oops! We're at your door!"

15 January 2016: That moment when you and two other friends just show up at a fourth friend's house on a Friday night when she isn't answering her calls/texts. You're pretty sure she's fine--she just isn't checking her phone--but you want to make sure and you don't want her to miss out on the fun. So you stop by, pulling into her driveway just as she finally texts you back. And she says in that text that what you thought is true--she wishes she could have joined you, but it's probably too late and she's got her pjs on. But you knock on the door anyway. And she protests a bit because she's in her jammies and hasn't cleaned and you laugh and blow off her concerns. And you all charge in and end up playing the game you were planning on playing at her house. And you all have a great time.

And later you realize--when you think about how silly and comfortable you all are with each other--that you all really are good friends.

Pandemic!

7 January 2016: So I know the post title doesn't sound like a good thing, but trust me here--hanging out with some great friends and playing this game is always a good thing. There's so much I love about this game: how you play with each other to beat the game, how it involves planning, debating, and figuring out the best moves, how one set of awesome friends introduced it to me, how I taught another set of friends and got them addicted, too. In short, this game reminds me of a whole lot of what's good in my life lately. 

Game night!

18 January 2014: Had a blast playing games with some friends. That really is my idea of fun! And now I am addicted to this game. I am itching to play again!

Dirty Scrabble Playin'...

No, not that kind of "dirty" (how would "Strip Scrabble" work, I wonder), but "dirty" as in "fighting dirty."



I love this clip and this advice, but if I was playing with this guy (especially with the triple letter blocking), I think I'd be fighting the urge to punch him in the face.