Saturday with New Games

Saturday started with me waking at 7ish, rising, and beginning to write the blog. Coffee was my drug of choice, and I needed the caffeine. I must have been partying with Morpheus; focus and writing were difficult Saturday morning. Also, the sneezing was endless, and the sun rose on another dry and sunny day. The fallen pollen has started, and the air-cleaning rain and Oregon Mist will not begin until Wednesday.

I could not get enough liberal coffee this morning, so I added water to the French press. The bitterness of liberal coffee reminds you that so much can be better and that there is much to do. Hope is in my cup, too—hope that we will overcome injustice and poverty and that people will invest in making a better world, not someday–today. Try some liberal coffee; there is delicious and cheerful hope in there!

Stepping off the soap box, I continued to write, read emails, and read the news (focusing on the war in the Middle East and political news). I read yesterday that Harris was up in the political polls (the news today is that Harris is down in the different polls). I read that more Nobel prizes were awarded to the AI community, which is excellent.

Lunch is reheated ribs from BJs Brewhouse with the extra sauce supplied by my waiter, Mo, poured on them. I opened a can of baked beans to go with them, thinking I needed some cole slaw to go with this, too, but that will have to be just a thought. And while I thought I was not that hungry and that I would leave a few ribs, only some beans were put back in the frig. I remember Susie eating ribs while I dined; she loved them.

I dressed, and soon, I took Air Volvo to Big River coffee with the plan to write some code. I do manage some of that—just reading and understanding examples. I was mostly out of focus and looked at some travel options, texted, and chatted. I watched a video on how to play today’s game, Andromeda’s Edge.  Still, it was an enjoyable afternoon.

Time was plentiful, and then was not. I return home and have a quick dinner of leftover pasta and sausage via the microwave. Traffic on Saturday always surprises, and I crawl across Beaverton and Portland, finally arriving at the Safeway and getting more goodies for Richard’s gaming group (pretzels do not have oil and thus cannot damage a board game, and the same goes for Pringles). I add some travel mix of nuts and dried fruit with a low risk of damaging a board game. Richard is there early, too (he often goes for a walk before the game), and he invites me in. He does a teach, but the video covered the game well.

Chris joined us, and we played a three-person game. This is a reimplementation (with improvements) of the older and loved Everdale board game to a SciFi setting. Well-loved by some, I am not a fan, and this older game is in my “yes, I will play it if you bring it” category of board games. This reskinning to SciFi and rebalancing and rule fixing has produced an excellent new game. Richard’s copy was the all-in Kickstarter version and now sells for about $250, maybe with shipping, and has lovely plastic and wooden bits. The game was surprisingly efficient, and I found that my turn was easy to plan and understand what was happening. Richard slammed into Chris and me, and I soon lost every battle, but I had a pile of cards that had me retrieve my ships and suddenly recover and add more capabilities in the first turn, returning me to full power and better. Richard continued to attack and slam into us; he was unstoppable. But I still liked it and certainly enjoyed it better than Everdale. When preparing to play, I had read that Everdale owners were now only playing Andromeda’s Edge. Our game played fast and was done in two hours, even with me requesting clarification and help occasionally. Expecting to score at the bottom, I matched Chris’s score, 104, and we were both amazed by Richard’s 180+ score. A good showing for me in a first-time play.

The game is well-balanced, full of choices, and multiple-focused play. There is not one good path or a few promising paths like many games, and no part of the various tracks needs to be forgotten. Combat advantages can be mitigated by cards that are not difficult to obtain to the point that when I received a hand of cards, Richard refused to attack my ships (wisely).

I forgot my hat at Richard’s and will have to retrieve it before I head to New Orleans on Wednesday.

I look forward to playing it again, and I might swallow the price and order a copy, thinking Z and others might enjoy it. I am finding these re-implementation games to be an excellent investment.

I barely remember the trip back to Air Volvo; it was uneventful. I had time to make muffins from a pumpkin mix I got on my last visit to Trader Joe’s. I made 15 (not 16!) muffins. While waiting for the muffins, I enjoyed “Slow Horses” season three (three new episodes have been released since my last viewing). With the muffins cooling and looking well and cooked, next was a shower and PJs. I finished the night listening to more of The War of Worlds with a favorite, “There must be something to live for. There must be something even worth dying for” song. I was singing along to that one. With Progressive Rock filling my mind, I found sleep taking over and did not resist. I slept through with all my dreams forgotten, but there are hints of the red planet in my mind from dreams.

Thanks for reading!