inconsequential ruminations

I recently read two well-written articles:

• Destination Gaming is a strange article. It’s as if Rob Lyon is writing for a canoing magazine, explaining the appeal of gaming. It’s long and rambling, but it gives good insight to the appeal of wargaming. My imagination has never been ignited by wargames, which could be a generational thing. My parents are pacifists, so my upbringing always made me uneasy about real wars as a subject for gaming. Maybe if my father had fought in WWII or Vietnam, I might feel differently. Of course, slaughtering orcs by the thousand is another matter entirely.

• A Welcome to GiocAreA is written by Derek Carver. This is interesting because it describes how he found and developed his love for gaming. His group has been going for 35 years. I pray my games group develops upon similar lines. He also makes some good points about the direction our hobby needs to go to become more popular.

On Saturday night we had two friends over for Tichu. (You know you’re a parent when you spend Saturday nights playing cards).

Last time we played this we enjoyed it, but we were frustrated by lots of rules questions. This time we played with the official FAQ, which helped a lot.

It’s the only partnership game I own, and Ness in particular enjoyed it. We’ll be playing a lot more of this one as it’s got plenty of depth. It’s definitely the best climbing card game I have played, although it’s a bit heavy. I’ll play Olé when we’re in the mood for something lighter, or if we have 3 or 5.

I normally buy my German games at Discount German Games, but I have noticed some good deals at German online suppliers.

Die Macher, Dshunke and Mull and Money look particularly interesting.

Here are a few of the better ones from Spielenet

Java € 15.00
Mull & Money € 9.00
Vabanque € 9.00
Clans € 9.00
Corsari € 5.00
Bamboleo € 25.00
Inkognito Mini € 4.00
Corruption € 5.00
Bongo € 5.00
Dragon Delta € 15.00
Hyle7 € 9.00
Magia von Pangea € 9.00
Dschunke € 15.00
Where’s Bob’s Hat € 3.50
Foppen € 4.00
Tom Tube € 7.00
Bayon € 4.00
Canale Grande € 4.00

Playme deals

Die Macher € 16.00
Dschunke € 15.00
RHEINLÄNDER € 15.00
Busen Memo € 10.50