Gaming Resolutions

Jumping into the resolutions:
This year I hope to play more Tichu. There were years when I resolved to play less Tichu because I felt forced to play it. Now, I really like it. I even thought about creating a Meetup for it so I can play more. The problem about meetups I've had though is despite having more people to socialize with and game, I usually lose most of the people I played with before the meetup. This happened with both the Earlybirds Disc Golf Group and the Central Texas Boardgames Meetup.

Continue to calculate bang for the buck for games before buying. This means that I probably won't buy boardgames again this year. I spent $45 to buy a video game called Dragon Age and probably played it 80 100 hours. That's a lot of hours but it's what I do instead of watching TV and I got a wireless headset so I can play after the family is asleep. Most boardgames I'm darn lucky to get played. Without a bigger house or place to play regularly, I just won't be putting more dollars into the cardboard. Maybe I can support the hobby in different ways like getting some games for the Iphone. I know I'd play those at least and Knizia has had a few releases lately.

Play more word games. We've got a once a month word games group that's a lot of fun. I stopped going for a while this year mostly to play afternoon disc golf. I always enjoy:Crossword Pyramids, Scrabble Express, Boggle

Played quickly enough, I also enjoy the odd game of Quiddler, Palabra, and Parlay too. I hate Pick Two though because it all comes down to luck at the end of the game, in my opinion. Not for me.

I need to play more Age of Steam. It's the one meaty game, outside of Caylus I guess, that I really enjoy. We played the basic game at a recent meetup and it reminded me how fun this is. Hey, it was also the first time I got to play my copy of Age of Steam. Other people have played it before and I've played other people's before.

1 vs 100. Oh, yeah. I have to play more of this fun trivia game show on Xbox live. I can never beat Jill Jones but I enjoy trying. At least, I think it's Jill. She uses Jeff's avatar so you never know. I do pretty well until I'm asked Radiohead's nth album, or who voiced a character in a video game, who directed a movie, or another entertainment question. I thought I was going to do really good on the episode about toys and gaming. Blokus was the answer to one category but I just wasn't too up on Cranium, Clue, Sorry, and the rest of the games they asked about. I thought I would do well with girls in gaming too but nothing came up about Susan Rozmiarek, Valerie Peters, Buffy Burnet, or anyone else I know. They seemed to be more about Lara Croft.

I hate becoming what I made fun of. Even if I wanted to get back into Bridge, can't do it because it interferes with live night of 1 VS 100. To quote The Breakfast Club, "Hey, it's sorta social. Demented and Sad, but social."

I'd like to get rid of probably mediocre games I've owned but never played. Let's see, glancing at the first shelf I see China Moon, Parthenon, Kings Cribbage, Sonehenge, Mall World, and Desert Bazaar. I don't know how I let the collecting bug bite, but at least it hasn't hit in a couple of years. Games are pretty hard to get rid of. They are bulky and expensive to ship if you find a compatible trip. It's a long way to game events that have flea markets to sell them. OK, maybe I just resolve not to add to the stack.

Ace Pot Nonsense

We had someone else get confused about ace pots this week. We've been taking in ace pots so that if someone playing with the Earlybirds hits an ace, they get some financial reward as well. So far nobody has hit. Some people are upset that they haven't been paid for the ace they haven't hit. I want to say tell it to the cops if you feel you've been wronged. I'm sure that would be an interesting conversation. "I paid $2 several times and I didn't hit an ace. I got nothing."

If I were running a tournament and we all paid $5 for the ace, we'd have a throw-off at the end if no aces were thrown. That group of people is probably never going to play a round just like that again. Having a club is different and the ace pot builds. We've got some backup, but nothing like the huge backups the big clubs have locally. One club has thousands of dollars from ace pot money. Having funds give options like adding concrete tees, signage, and baskets to courses that need them. Some folks think we should just give all the ace money out despite the fact that no aces have been made. I prefer to track the funding and use it for something special.

Here are some very special things about our club:
It's always free to play. Don't feel like you can hit an ace on the course we are playing? Don't pay.
It's very casual friendly. We play with people of all skill levels.
If you don't get an ace and you are in the ace pot, you qualify for a CTP, a closest to the pin prize. We've given out things like a ton of discs, restaurant coupons, tee shirts, stools, mini discs, and more. Most of those came as donations from me. I signed up for a "disc of the month" program with Prime Discs and put most of those discs up for grabs. Several others in the group have put prizes in. I bought and gave out shirts for our one disc challenge, got business cards with our clubs information on them, and more. None of my CTP donations ever required a debit from club funds, it was just something I wanted to give back.

Meetup has a nice tool for tracking Money. After our rounds I put in an ace pot tally so we know how much we've been taking in each week. This isn't something members see. I think of it like the ledger if we had someone elected treasurer.

Someone accused us (me) of plotting to only go to hard courses so that nobody will hit the ace pot. We've played The Rivery, Cat Hollow, and Cactus Patch. In the old days we even played Wells Branch and The Lutheran Church. We got very little attendance at these "beginner" courses.

I'm usually OK when people leave. Some have done it very well by just not showing up or by removing themselves from the group. It's frustrating when people think they have to post a political treatise on why they are leaving. My general philosophy is Don't go away mad.. just go away. It would have been different if they said "I want to step up and run some contests for prizes at our rounds. Can I have some of the ace fund and I'll buy some prizes." I guess some feel they get better results from a rant but that doesn't play with me.

Games Packed for today

Hoping to play:
Caylus or Age of Steam
Stoneage
Kingsburg
Hamburgum or Imperial
Tichu.

Actually, I'd be happier just playing Tichu all day but we've got 31 people coming to Planks and I want to mix things up. I'd play some new games if people brought them and they are a) not cooperative and b) not too fiddly and c) not too long. We'll see.

Thoughts on VGA Awards

Watched the Video Game Awards... well, what I could stomach. Award shows are jokes for the most part and that one was no exception. I realize the only reason why I've gotten into video games is that I haven't had to travel so much this year. I spend entire days teaching classes from a laptop in my living room. Some day we'll all be virtual and I'll be able to look up and see a virtual classroom and their breakout sessions will be more than just conference calls. Video games help me see what that future will be but it seems the future is always farther away than you think. I also was initially attracted to the Xbox because you can play Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, and (I thought) Lost Cities. I tried Ticket to Ride but it's not the most compelling thing to play on the Xbox. Yucata.de is a better platform for boardgames, even if it is turn based after email notifications.

It seems the game of the year, Uncharted 2, is only on the PS3. I've thought of getting one of those but it feels ridiculous to have all 3 platforms. The Wii just sits there for the most part. Last night the family and I were watching the Star Trek movie again on DVD. I hate that regular DVDs don't take advantage of HDTV. So if you get a blue-ray player, my thoughts are you should spend the extra $100 or so and get the PS3. Then you can also play Uncharted 2, Ratchet and Crank, and a few other exclusives. Just not going to pull the trigger on that one for a while.

I'm already enjoying the Xbox 360. A Netflix movie is streaming as I type this and pack a few games for today's board game meetup. The device itself wasn't expensive and I've bought practically all the games on Craigslist. When you add it all up including the guitars, the drums, the controllers, the third-party wireless headset, you get a reason not to switch. Plus I really enjoy Xbox Live 1 VS 100. I know you don't have to switch but it seems silly to pay for another device that I'd mostly not be playing.

I was hoping Batman Arkham Asylum would get game of the year. Of course, I haven't played Uncharted 2 so I'm not really informed on the decision. I do like Dragon Age: Origins. It didn't take long for the hours I spent on that game to exceed the Modern Warfare Single Player I was playing. Sometimes you just get tired of being shot at.

Dragon Age is a role playing game that reminds me of Ultima 3, Bard's Tale, and the like with a cloth map and "enter the code on page 27, third word" kind of things. I used to play those in college and shortly afterwards. It's a big shift to have me equipping characters with the right armor and spells instead of just running into battle Halo Style.

Bust voice actor: Jack Black. Haven't played Brutal Age and I probably won't. I don't want to listen so much to the heavy metal music. Mark Hammil was so awesome as the Joker that I thought he would get it.

Next purchase will probably be Assassin's Creed 2. I've got so many unfinished games right now I don't need to dive into it soon. Funny, having Netflix streaming movies also gives me a ton of half watched movies in my queue. Sometimes I'll put one one while I work and then when the kids get home I have to turn it off due to mature content. Then I check the queue and it's got movies with watched 75%, 83%, 59%, etc. I guess that's better than having the physical DVD sit around till you send it back.

The Trailers for World Premiere's were also disappointing. Halo Reach didn't show any actual game play, just cut scenes. Spec Ops looks decent as a cover based shooter. That Crackdown 2 looked interesting and fun. I guess it's very expensive to create a new game so developers deliver mostly sequels.

Nice Reaction

I thought the wife would not be pleased at the new hardware, a Wireless headsets for the 360. She said, "that's one of the best things you've done lately." I guess she didn't want to hear "and now it's time for a bonus question" and "we need to rethink our strategy, let's run it again" over and over.

Shawn is opening his disc golf store on 620 pretty soon. It's going to have a cafe and some couches so you can chill in the disc golf store. I just don't get his "disc golf, and you thought being a vegan was cool" tee shirt.

I'm really looking forward to games at Plank's on Sunday. Caylus, Stoneage, and Age of Steam are all possibilities. I won't go out of my way to play something new but if something cool shows up, that's a possibility too. Then we will finish up with Tichu.

Lately I've been hanging out on 1 VS 100

I've had an Xbox 360 for a few months now. I've been geeking out on it. My gamer tag is jgravitt - come and join me in a game of trivia if you like. I'm not as good as I used to be. In high school I captained a Science Olympiad team and an Academic Bowl. I'm sure you are not surprised. Give me a buzzer and ask a question and I'd lead you to victory.

These days, maybe not so much. There are a lot of questions about music after the 80's, comic books, television, pop culture, etc. and I'm not really good at that.

I also like Modern Warfare 2. Yes, it's a violent shooter but that's the genre I played way back in the past playing Doom on PCs. I need somebody to help me beat those special operations that are designed for two because they are really hard all by yourself.

I hate Idiots who vandalize disc golf courses

The penises on all the baskets weren't enough? I can't believe they took a crap in a basket and smeared it.

Sorry for the photo but I can't believe they did that. That' is very high and in the woods not far from a well-used walkway.

The Also Rans were pretty good last weekend

I would have loved to have played Texas Teams this weekend with the Earlybirds. 360 something disc golfers camping would have been a ton of fun. We did field a team of 9. Vanessa, Judd's wife (who is expecting) played as an amateur woman for us and that's what we needed.

We played some fun disc golf at the Rivery though. 12 was a great number considering the weather and the fact that 9 of us were hanging out in Wimberly.

If I could ever know my schedule in advance, I'd like to return to BGG.Con. It's a great bargain if you live in Dallas and it's not too bad if you live here and have to get a hotel room.

The spending for board games isn't there for me. I'm not allowed to host games any more at home (cause I don't do enough in the house and I'm not nice to the family when guests are here.) Let's say that I guy a game I like like Stoneage for $35 and play it for 5 times. That's not a good investment in entertainment dollars. So many games sit on my shelves unplayed that I don't even want to count the wasted dollars:
Fury of Dracula
Neuroshima Hex
Batavia
Journey to the Center of Earth
Parthenon
La Citta
Die Saulen von Venedig
Factory Fun
League of Six
etc. etc.

I did get to play a couple or word games I like this weekend. I really enjoy Crossword Pyramids. I missed Quiddler by arriving half an hour late but I don't think I'm capable of enjoying a game of 8 or 9 people. We also played Scrabble Express. Scrabble Express is a tiny faster version of Scrabble I enjoy better. It uses a timer, there aren't as many places to play on the board, and you roll letter dice before each play. This cuts way down on Anaylsis Paralysis. I lost Crossword Pyramids by one point (love close games) and had a weak win on Scrabble Express. Scrabble Express only goes to someone gets 200 or more. I went out with a false word that nobody challenged, "munged." Two of the people thought that was safe as in "munged" the data but the IT slang hasn't made it's way into the OSPD. At least I don't think so, I've misplaced my Official Scrabble Players Dictionary.

Austin Ridgeline course

I got to play Austin Ridgeline, Austin's toughest disc gold course yesterday. This course is "like Brusy Creek Rec Park" on steroids someone said. It's got a ton of great elevation changes and it will get a lot of love when it opens 10/31. It's at a church called Austin Ridgeline Bible Church and it was designed by John Houck who designed most of the best courses in the area.

It looks like Tony is trying to fly off the mountain.

One of the holes plays a lot like ski lift courses. It's down the hill, but it's got a fairly tight fairway lined with trees most of the way down.

Jud says, "congratulations. Houck spent hours designing this course so that people can't use Tomahawks and Thumbers and you still found a way to do it."

This course already has some wrought iron benches by some of the holes, a wooden scout-built bridge over a creek, and amateur tees set up as well as the pro ones on most holes.