Category: Gaming

8.5 Carcasonne

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I got Carcasonne for Andrea for Christmas based on three factors: it was one of the “classics” that has several expansion packs available; everyone at Games Galore recommended it; and it claimed to be a ‘great game for two players’. It was a steal, too, even with the Castles and Inns expansion pack.

It’s been a lot of fun. It’s not too complicated, but there are lots of choices as you build out a map of interconnected cities, roads, and farms.

I’m going to score our games as I rate them on several categories, higher always being better:

Pure strategy (no luck involved): 7
Player paths intertwined: 10
Multiple strategies available: 9
Complexity: 7



HTHAM: The Grapes of Frath

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The neighborhood got together for a “How To Host A Murder” party on New Year’s Eve, aka Larry’s birthday. It was a hit! Larry stormed around as the captain, yelling “don’t call it a boat, it’s not a boat, it’s a ship!” and “I don’t remember what I was doing, I was drunk at the time…”. Scott was decked out in a racing jacket and gloves, and Greg played out the accusatory investment banker perfectly. All the ladies were “dressed to kill”, which played out perfectly, as they all ended up running brothels or being romantically linked to the deceased.

To cap it all off, the role of the murdered host was played by none other than… Michael Jackson. Perfect casting!

Everybody had a blast, and we hope to do it again some time soon.


Heroes Incorporated

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Sammy, a good friend of mine from way, way, way back in the salad days of high school, made his fortune, and nearly lost his sanity, producing The Two Towers video game for Electronic Arts (yes, “that” TTT). Hurling himself from the jaws of the corporate grind, he “quit the biz” and decided to pursue a true passion of his, creating his own board game. He’s been working hard on it for a while, and it’s looking great.

He chatted me up the other day to bounce around some ideas for a tagline for the game, which has a theme of superheroes fighting crime whilst simultaneously soliciting the funds needed to keep at it as a full time profession. I immediately thought “let’s extend ‘crime doesn’t pay’ in some way”, but we just couldn’t shorten it up enough.

Sam: Like, “crime doesn’t pay, but Heroes Incorporated does!”, only, not stupid…

Then he hit the nail on the head… check out the Quest Machine website for the answer to the perfect tagline!

Lan Partython

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Thanks again to Jason for hosting anotha LAN, all day long this time. Counterstrike and Diablo ][ devoured the day before we knew what hit us. Chau, Stephen and Brenda, Zac, Jason and Julie, myself and 4 or 5 friends of Chau were in attendance…

Mah new computer!!!!!!

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coreyd writes…

“guess what? this is the Mikes nephew, who goes by corey d.

and he just got his new computer!! yay. hooray for him.(isnt talking in 3rd person fun?)

anyways. it cost just under 700 bucks. want the specs? o so you dont, well you will get them anyway.

amd athlon xp 2000
512mb pc2700 ram(ddr of course)
gforce 4 ti 4200 128mb ddr, golden sample.
some case.
Gigabyte mobo with raid, onboard sound and i think network card maybe,its just a good mobo.
and 1 80 gig hd, 7200rpm. Probably getting a second here very shortly.

and i think thats all, i already had the cd drives and that stuff.

corey d”

Lan Party ]I[

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Roster: Jake, Chau, Frankie, Zac, Me, Wolfie, Bill
Games: Counterstrike, Warcraft ]I[, and (what we played just about all night)…

Jedi Knight ][: Jedi Outcast



Jake is the ultimate host, LAN’s us, feeds us, he does it all. This was Frankie’s last round for the summer. Come back and whup up on us real good again soon, boy.

nutha LAN party

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At Jason’s again, what a host! This time it was me, Chau, Jason, Frankie, Zac, and a special guest appearance by Abhi! Frankie showed us how to play Counterstrike and Warcraft III. At least how to get dominated. More tronning. There was some Eternal Darkness, Descent, and Tribes ][ here and there for good measure. Finished up with Monkeyball, of course.