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Category Archives: Reviews

Game Overview based on the plays experience in a structured manner.

Solving Cases By Following Leads

DeadlineDeadline Review
So you are into detective stories, mystery or crime cases but do not want to get into long paragraph reading like Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detectives? Well Deadline might be the one game for you. Deadline is designed by A.B. West and Dan Schnake, published by Wizkids in 2017. The story setting is New York City in 1938 and players take the roles of Detectives (private ones at that) under Buckminster, New York Detective Agency. Its a cooperative game where players will hand in hand trying to solve the case in front of them. The game has 12 cases to choose from with various difficulties from one case to another. There are also 8 different characters to choose from, and like other cooperative games, these characters have different abilities that they can use once in the game. It also provides the players with a Case Book, Case Question and a Solution Book that hold as integral parts in the game. Each case has a story that can be checked on Case Book and Clue cards for the players to get information. To start the game, players choose which case to play and prepare the clue cards related to it, do not read the back of the cards since it’s crucial and give case related information. Players decide what characters to play and choose the first player, give him the detective badge, he will be the lead detective for the first round. Set aside the three bullet tiles and four matchbook tiles face down. Shuffle lead cards and place it face down to form a draw pile. Each player gets 3 cards from that pile. The lead detective then read the chosen case from the Case book aloud so all players can hear. At the end of the page, take and set aside the starting clues from the deck and place it face down. These clue cards are the clues available for players to check at the start of the game.

The lead detectives start the round by choosing which clue they want to follow and choose one action from the available three actions, whether to play a lead card, use their detective ability or use hot tips. If they do not want to or cannot take one of those three actions, they must Drop Out.
The active player may play a Lead card from their hand, if they play the first time in a round, they can play any lead card. But if they are following an already placed lead card, they must place their card overlaying one of the existing lead cards on the table by matching the symbols between the two overlaying cards. Blank space is wild, so any symbol can overlay it or it can overlay any symbol. The goal is to play lead cards with matching symbols shown on the chosen clue card.
The active player can choose to play their unused character ability. Each character has a different and powerful ability that can help them completing a clue card. The active player can also use Hot Tips. Hot tips can only be used if there’s more than one light match on it. The four different colors of the matchbook have a light match on the back side. Players flip this tile to the light match side when they play a lead card with a matchbook symbol on the left corner of the Lead card. When they play a card with this symbol, they can flip the corresponding matchbook tile face up (if it’s already face up, ignore it). The effect of the hot tips are different based on the amount of tokens they use. With two hot tips, they can draw a new card from the pile, with three hot tips, they can remove 1 plot twist card in front of any player and with four, they can remove 2 plot twist cards. Once used the matchbook tiles are flipped back face down and can be flipped again in later turns.
If by any means that a player cannot or choose not to take any action, the must Drop out. In order to drop out they check if there are any Plot Twist card in their hand. If there is, they must play the Plot Twist card in front of them, unless they already have two in front of them (the maximum number of Plot Twist a player can have in front of them is two) and then they discard their hands. Dropped out player cannot take any more turn in the round.

The round ends when all players have already Dropped Out and they fail to follow up the clue. Or when all symbols on the chosen clue card covered up by the symbols shown on played lead cards. If they fail they remove one of the bullet tiles to the box. Once there’s no bullet left, the investigation ends. If they succeed, they discards the played Lead cards and flip the chosen clue card, read the information aloud while take new clue cards listed (if any) and then they keep the completed clue card as reference at the end of the game. Players draw their hands back to three cards and then the next player clockwise will be the next round first player. In the next round, the lead detective may choose which clue card they want to follow, considering their hands of lead cards.

At the end of the investigation, players will review what information they’ve gained from all the clue cards and they will check the case question book to answer the questions related to the case. There are 2 different questions, critical and bonus questions. Critical questions are strongly related to the case that usually involve who is the criminal, what motive and the weapon of choice, etc. While bonus questions are something that players pick up along the way. How well they answer these reflects their performance / rate in the case they check this on the Solution Book where the answers lie. There are 4 different kind of levels, ranging from Master detectives to the lowest level, Gumshoes.

Final Thoughts
I find the game to be pretty simple. The rules are easy to discern and straightforward. There are 12 cases and by the looks of the game play this gives you 12 time replay value cause once you figure out the case, then you won’t be playing it again. Unless you are in for the mini game. Okay, what mini game? Yes, the game really revolves around you putting up mini game to get information. Why I call it mini game? Because it’s not related to the case itself. Players completing the lead without any context about the case at all, it’s not incorporated with the story or case you are dealing with. Alas if you compare this with Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective, I must say that they are both different in many aspects except cooperative game play and criminal mystery case solving theme. SHCD has a very strong theme that blends well with how the players act as detectives, unlike this game where players just handed out the information once they are done with the mini game. SHCD requires them to actually think, to decide where they should follow the lead. SHCD has a very long, tedious but masterpiece writings in its paragraph provides a very compelling story of the famous Sherlock Holmes cases. Deadline in the other hand, provides an easier alternative to the same spirit of crime-solving detective theme. I found the game to be quite similar with The Grizzled where players have their own hand and when taking their turns, need to play the correct card as they see fit, if not they need to pass / drop out. While works slightly different the plot twists in this game almost work the same as the trauma cards in The Grizzled. While dropping out might be a good idea to secure the lead chain for someone else, having a plot twist in hand might not be a good idea to do that since plot twists are mostly bad and give other players hard time to clear the clue card. The detective abilities are quite interesting cause they do a lot better / meaningful than the abilities in The Grizzled.

I like the game so far, unraveling the mystery of the case always interests me. Though you do not need to be a detective to enjoy the game. Though once I played all of the cases, I think about to let the game go cause there’s nothing much you can do. Unless the mini game is the appealing factor for you. Played the game once and there’s not enough variation in the game that makes you need to play it several times to really get the hang of it. I played the first case, easy difficulty and it’s just that is. The story is interesting if you like the genre. I call this game as a tea time game, where you can spend time with friends, having tea and solve crimes. A time well spent. But of course not the game that you really want to play, that leaves something behind from your last game and pull you closer to play it again. A game that makes you always talk about it, leave that impression that you always remember. A game that makes you eager to play it again though it’s a once a year game.

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Posted by on December 12, 2017 in Card Games, Reviews, Uncategorized

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The Magic Lamp of Randomness

Tales of The Arabian NightsTales of The Arabian Nights Review
I just recently took the experience of both playing this game and owning it. I already heard or knew the game for quite a long time. Its quite famous among board gamer’s communities. The very distinct thing in this game is no other that the story-telling element that drives the game. The game was published around 2009 by Z-Man Games. My wife had played it one time before me, which was a bad experience from her testimonial. The persistent main issue she kept saying over and over again is the long play time. It took ages to finish (if you can finish it) and dragging the game long enough makes it pretty much a boring voyage that even Sindbad feels tormented.

But as some of my friends who like the game keep telling me that the game is best playing with 3-players, not more. Though up to 5 players is listed on the box, they all agreed that with 4 and 5-players, its not recommended due to the long downtime and game length. So putting my faith on their testimonials, I jumped into the magic carpet and tried the game with my better experienced friends on the subject. My wife liking the game is essential for my plan for this game, so if I ever get the game, she must like it cause I intend it to be a couple game at least.

So the game comes with a really pretty looking game box (black background with beautiful Arabian decorations and stunning illustrated covers that involves genie and other Arabian tales. Inside, you can find some of the key components in the game which are the Book of Tales, the map board, Reaction Matrixes, player mats, cards and some punch boards for in-game tokens. The map board shows a huge world map with interesting places and the wide networks connecting them all. The center of it is Baghdad, this is where players start the game. But before that, players get a board (more of a reference) some tokens to keep track things like Wealth, Destiny and Story markers as well as Quest, Destination and Origin markers. They also get 3 random skills, drawn one by one (must be different). Then players must decide the amount of Destiny and Story points with the total of 20 (this amount can be adjusted as desired), which they kept it hidden from other players, these are their goals to win the game. The last thing before starting the game, they also draw a quest card. Each player takes turns in clockwise direction from the starting player, move from their current location (they cannot stay unless stated otherwise) based on their Wealth marker. This Wealth gives movement amount limitation in sea or land. Once a player decide to stop their movement, they draw an encounter card and resolve it. To resolve it, the encounter card shows a certain number which will be check in the Encounter book and the active player rolls a die, add the value with the location modifier and destiny modifiers if any. The result will determine the encounter, which then the active player and another player will check the matrix related to it. The active player then decide how they want to interact with that, based on the available actions listed in matrix. Once decide, they roll a destiny die and apply any modifier. The other player then check what paragraph the result is refer to and open that paragraph in the Encounter book (other player can help to do this) and read it aloud to the active player. Usually the reading will show the outcome of the encounter, though some encounters provide options or lead to another paragraph.

So how the paragraphs work? They’re random and the subject of this review title. Once your fellow partner read the paragraph, you just let it flow and move on. You start with 3 skills (drawn at the start of the game) and as the game progresses you might have more. The skills might help you on your encounters, the key word is might. Yes, you enter the encounter blindly and just hope that the skills are useful. The paragraphs have a chance to have skill or treasure related to it, in which somehow may help or do the opposite. Master skills are different, they’re some sort of upgraded skills, but better in such a big time. Why? Because when you have master skills, the paragraph readers will check whether the three available paragraphs have that master skill inside and the player doesn’t need to roll the destiny die. If there is none, then roll the die. So basically master skill helps you get the best outcome from it. So your freewill and composition of your skills quite likely determine the action you will choose, though there’s no restriction at all to go nuts and feeling lucky (if it is luck) and choose whatever the hell you want to do. Once you gain the required amount of Destiny and Story points, you need to go back to Baghdad and complete an encounter there in order to win the game.

Final Take
The game is a random fest, you will not know for sure what happen in your encounters. The randomness is high off the chart in this game, you think you know what to do and what will happen but in the end the game might prove you wrong. The game really focuses on the adventure / storytelling aspect, where the fun is. Your characters will have a crazy fun (or not) encounters that will shape the whole adventure in the game. So if you are okay with strong storytelling element that lead your gaming experience, this might be the game for you. It appeals more to players that really treasure the gaming experience and how the theme blends in with character’s progresses than to those who really take the final outcome as the utmost important thing out of the game.
On a side note, I do think that the components fall into more of a mediocre level, it’s kinda bit on the middle of things, not bad but not good either. Despite the beautiful game box cover, I found that the board is a bit drab (as map should be I guess) and the color tone is a bit heavy to my eyes. The cards, okay the encounter cards have illustrations, but it could have been done better with full illustrations instead of drab looking background. The quest cards is just a card with full of text pasted on it, but I guess that serves it’s purpose. Player standees, well cannot complain though, it’s just okay. In overall, this is a game where the components not really evoking how people see it visually but rather immersive to the story it provides. So if you cannot get pass through that visual boundary, maybe you can close your eyes and rely on your own imagination. In the end, I do like the game, it provides a unique gaming experience despite its huge luck factor.

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Posted by on November 23, 2017 in Ameritrash, Board Games, Reviews

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Counting Spells GO!

pic2209219_mdAbraca…What? Review
This game is hilarious. It’s from Korea (Dive Dice / Korea Board Games), designed by Gary Kim and illustrations from Marie Cardouat (Dixit). I got my copy from South Korea and I love to play this with hilarious casual group with spontaneous reactions.
Abraca…What? has a nice theme with a bunch of wizards trying to remember their spells correctly in a competition to be the best wizard in town. The interesting part of this game is that players will have to cast spells without knowing their own spells. Huh? Okay let me break it down to you. You can play with from 2 up to 5 players in the game and usually a game takes 30 minutes or so.

In the game, there are 8 different spells (number from 1 to 8) and the amount of each spell is the same as its number (there are only one spell of Spell number 1, two for Spell no. 2 and so on). The spells come in the form of plastic blocks (with thin insert to place the spell tile inside each of them) and these spells will be randomly shuffled face down. Players then will take 5 of these randomly and place it in front of them with the front side facing outward without looking at them. So players cannot check their own spells but can see their opponents’ spells (This would remind you of Hanabi from Antoine Bauza). Place 4 spells face down in the game board and the rest in the center. Each player choose a color and receive 6 life tokens with the respective color.

Game components

The game is played in rounds. In each round, starting from the first player clockwise, they must cast a spell. If they guess a spell that matching their spells, they managed to cast it and that spell effect is resolved. Place the spell in the game board on it’s corresponding slot. After that, the active player can choose either to cast another spell or end the turn. If they choose to cast another spell, the restriction is that the spell cannot be lower than what was already cast this turn (same type of spell can be cast again).
If the active player incorrectly guess the spell, that player’s turn ends and lose a life token, the player then refill their spells back to 5 spells.
The round ends in one of two conditions, either one or more player runs out of life token (by himself or the active player managed to make at least one player run out of life tokens) or the active players managed to cast all the spells on their hand.
Player who managed to eliminate a player gets 3 points, while surviving players get 1 point each. Eliminated players gain nothing. Each Secret Stone that the surviving player have also gives one point. Then next round begins from the start, shuffle back all the spells. The game ends when one player managed to get 8 points.

Life tokens, player markers and a six-sided die

The game involves deduction from spells that are available to check, you can check these spells from opponents’ hands, the already cast spells and the secret stones. It has pretty interesting deduction element, not just by eliminating the available spells but also by judging players’ guesses. It also has a very small bluffing element in the game, not really major but can still give interesting touch in the game. It’s a hilarious game, light and players very quick. Easy to teach, learn and play, has a high take that and push your luck element, leader bashing but restricted). Spells have different abilities, lower spells have more powerful effect while higher spells are less powerful, this is balanced by the amount of each type of spells. Spell number one has a very powerful effect that can force all players to lose some damages but there’s only one in the game, and it’s pretty hard to cast among all other spells if you not pretty sure you have it. But I have seen several players managed to cast this spell early in the game, which I believe a pure pushing their luck. Even if they managed to cast that spell, they also have to roll a six-sided die to determine the amount of damage (range from 1 to 3).

Spell tiles

The game feels fresh at first though repeated plays might force the game experience to feel samey and boring after a while. Different group plays differently, though playing it with a group of casual, non-gamer, family or children can be quite fun.
From my experiences, the pattern usually starts from spell number 4 or 5, getting a winning streak in a single turn is very rare. My tips for the game, appoint a person to check active player’s guesses (usually the player to the left), this is to ensure that no one else pointing the spell which could lead to break the game if there’s more than one spell that the active player guess and more than one person pointing to different spells. And do your best to play in a round table or round formation, since checking everyone else’s spells could be difficult in certain angles and in some degree you could accidentally see your own. You mainly target your neighbors, targeting another player other than your neighbors can only be done with spell number 1 and 2, and there spells are only 3 in the game, so rare.
Also playing with different number of players are surely different. If you are playing with less than 5 players, there are some random spells removed from the game (with 3 players, remove 12 spells, 4 players remove 6 spells). So playing with 5 players assures all spells are used, while in 3 or 4, there is uncertainty which spells are not used in a game. If having control over the game means important, playing with five is surely a good option.

Game in progress

The 8 spells are:
Ancient Dragon (1): roll a die and other players lose that amount of life tokens.
Dark Wanderer (2): gain 1 life token and other players lose 1 life token.
Sweet Dream (3): roll a die and gain that amount of life tokens
Night Singer (4): choose and take one secret stone from the board, place it aside in front of you face down.
Lighting Tempest (5): player to your left and right lose a life token.
Blizzard (6): player to your left lose a life token.
Fireball (7): player to your right lose a life token.
Magic Drink (8): you get a life token.

Spell board

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Posted by on July 12, 2017 in Board Games, Reviews

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Information Breakdown

pic3407521_mdH.I.D.E Hidden Identity Dice Espionage Review
H.I.D.E caught my attention a while back and when I had the chance to visit South Korea, I picked it up cause it’s quite interesting enough for me. It’s from Korean designer, published by Dive Dice / Korea Board Games. It can be played from 3-5 players. The minimum player count did make me hesitate at first, but since it’s a very quick game, why not? And what the acronym stands for is pretty neat, thematic and fit nicely.

The Theme
In this game, players are spies / secret agents who are trying to gather as many intel as they can. The goal is to have seven ranks to be a legendary agent or have the most rewards at the end of the third round. If you judge from the visual presentation it’s more like a James Bond secret agent kind of thing. You are trying to get intel from different locations and sometimes there are other agents (players) that also want you dead. Eliminate other agents seems give them better ranks. There’s nothing special about the artworks. It’s plain simple, not really that stunning. Fortunately the symbols look clear.

Game Components
Colorful dice, yes… lots of them (there are 4 colors, with 8 dice in each colors). The dice colors are vibrant, yellow, blue, red and purple. It has good material and finish, smooth to touch and has rounded corners, to make it easier to roll. Each player has a thick player board (pretty nice considering that it serves less important role to the game play) and screen (this one is important), and the rest are cards.

Inside the box

The Game Play
In the game, each player gets a player board and one screen. The game lasts for three rounds where in each round players will get a random gadget card (placed face up in front of them), one rank card on the respective space (right space of their board). The start player then reveal one intel card in each of the four locations (there are helmet, nuclear, submarine and satellite symbols, each symbol represents a different location) on the location board. These intel cards have different value rewards, range from $3000 to $10,000. Starting from the first player (clockwise), each player randomly take a single die from the dice bag (without looking) and secretly hide the drawn die behind their screen, and then decide which side they want to set (this is their identity die). The dice have 6 sides with different symbols (Submarine, Helmet, Satellite, Nuclear and 2 Gun symbols). Players must set their die to any symbol they want except Gun, they cannot set the symbol to Gun for this purpose, cause Gun symbol doesn’t refer to a location. After they set their die, they no longer can change it until the rest of the round.

Colorful Dice

After all players already set their identity die, the starting player draw a group of dice from the bag randomly (with the total of number of active players plus one) and roll them. Then in clockwise direction, starting from the starting player, each player choose a die from the available. The die then must be placed either in the player board or on top of the screen. To place the die, there are some restrictions to keep in mind. To place it on the player board, the die must not share the same color AND symbol of that player identity die. This action shows that the player’s identity die is surely not of that color and symbol. While in the other hand, to place a die in the top of the screen, the die must share at least the color OR the symbol of the identity die (though it can share both color AND symbol). After placing the die on the top screen, the player then guess an identity die of another active player (still active in the round). They must correctly guess both color and symbol. If the guess is correct, that player takes all the rank cards from the chosen player, place one rank card to their ranks and place the rest face down as a reward on the left side of the player board. The chosen player is eliminated and no longer participate in the given round (this player is not considered active). Then, the turn change to the next player. If the guess is incorrect, the chosen player just say no and the turn change to the next player. After all players take a die, the starting player card change to the player to the left of the starting player and the leftover die(dice) is returned to the bag and the new starting player takes another group of dice from the bag and roll them. Players can also use their gadget card (once in a round) to change one of the available dice to any side (not the dice that already taken by players), ignore the symbol on the card for this purpose, it’s only used during a showdown. This can be done before or after they choose a die, tap the card sideways to show it’s already been used.

This is repeated until all the active players have already taken 4 dice, where the round ends. All active players then reveal their identity die. If a player is alone in a location, that player takes all of the intel cards on that location. But if there’s more than one player in a single location, showdown must take place. In a showdown, the players who participate add their identity die to the top of the screen along with the dice that they already placed during the round, and if their gadget card has the same symbol as their target location, then they add another die to the top of the screen. These dice count as their life during showdown. In a showdown, players roll a single life die, when a gun symbol shows as a result of the roll, that player successfully shoot their opponents (other players in a showdown lose a life die). They do this repeatedly until there’s last man standing, in which that player takes one rank card from the draw pile and add it to the ranks and take all the intel cards on the location. Then the next round begins. If it’s the third round, the game ends and player with the most money from intel cards wins the game.
It is possible that there’s last man standing before the round ends, if this happened, the last man standing can decide to take intel cards from any one location ignoring his identity die’s symbol. Also if during the game a player have seven rank cards, that player immediately becomes a legendary agent and wins the game.

Gadget Cards

My Thought About The Game
Surely the game is a deduction game, from dice. In turns players are trying to guess other players identity dice without revealing their identities, while whatever players do, they involuntarily give information (possibly valuable) to the others. The game is simple if you already get the gist of it, which usually takes half a game to know clearly what you really should do. The game really lies heavily from information gathering, where you need to carefully observe what players do, say or think. It’s essential to guess other players identity. Every thing players do give information to other players, so carefully observe what other players do, say or anything could be very useful in later turns. You need to initiate table talk, in order to lure people talk, this is a great way to spill their beans. But be wary, the same thing goes for you. Basically taking a die gives information, though placing it on top of your screen do gives more information, but of course it depends on the current dice you have that determine the amount of information exposed. Getting the same dice over and over is a great advantage.

If you go deeper, there’s another layer of deduction to keep in mind, which is the set of dice left out after choosing a die are very important to figure out why you choose that die. So be careful on what dice you leave and observe what other players leave. The symbol on the gadget cards also give certain information on player’s tendency to follow the advantage given during a showdown, and the other hand, the amount of intel cards available in the locations also plays a great deal to determine which one is more favorable than others.
The game looks very interesting, and it plays better with 4 or 5 players. Though one minor thing that I think it’s pretty much logic, eventually you will get caught from information bashing from many players. Each incorrect guess leads to more greater possibilities until down to one, your true identity. So it’s a matter of time and what you do before you out of the round is critical. Be aggressive and try to eliminate players before they eliminate you is a good idea and a valid strategy the same as playing it safe.
I can accept the fact that that’s how the game works, if you incorrectly guess one’s identity, the next player has the advantage and that’s how it works. This makes the turn order really matter and players should consider this before their action.
I love the tense the game offers, many hilarious moments in the game, the AHA moments and surprise feelings when you got knocked out or fail to guess correctly in a 50-50 chance.

The location boards and intel cards

Replay Value
Well, the game comes as it is. You play all the contents in the game except some special Intel or Reward cards that can be included in the game or not. So adding them gives more variation to the game, though I do not think it’s not change the game play in a major way. So the replay value is not really high, you should have the same kind of game play over and over again, the only different thing is your group. How players play in your group will determine how the game really works out in the end. Whether they play aggressively from the beginning or play it safe to ensure not getting caught easily.

Game in progress

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Posted by on July 12, 2017 in Board Games, Dice Games, Reviews

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What Would Happened if?

pic1968267_mdCV Review
Have you ever wondered to do something different in your life? To do something else instead what you already did? What kind of life you would have if you change what you did in the past. You cannot turn back time, so it’s impossible to rerun your life from the beginning, but worry not, this game can. Yes, CV, which obviously stands for Curricculum Vitae is a game from the designer Filip Milunski with the vibrant, colorful illustrations from Piotr Socha, published by Granna in 2013, can be played from 2-4 players within 45-60 minutes.

The Theme
It’s very comical, about what will you do in your life. It reflects interesting point of views from different aspects that really matter in life. It stays true to one’s life timeline, starting from the age of childhood, to early adulthood, adult and ends with old age. In this one cycle of life, players will take turns rolling dice (it’s like our efforts and choices in life) and choose whatever set in front of them to take to add those cards to their life. From time to time, players will grow, and can get additional resources to help them in their future turns. It’s quite thematic and the most interesting part of the theme is that the cards have interesting title that are portrayals of life itself in a weird humor serve best with beautiful, cute and colorful illustrations.

The Artworks
Without a doubt, Piotr Socha had nailed this down. His illustrations are completely stand out with his comical surrealist style and full of peaceful colors. Personally I was first interested on this game solely because of the illustrations. But when I tried the game, it turned out to be good. So if you like Piotr Socha style, stay tuned to know more beyond the illustrations.

The Components
Needless to say, the box is pretty stand out with the cover, colorful and eye candy. It has a square shape and the size is a bit smaller than the usual square boxes. Though I think it could have been smaller with the components being just a board, cards, some tokens and dice.
The game’s main components are dice and cards. The cards are unusual in size, a bit larger than normal and need extra effort to get them sleeved with the correct size. There are seven custom six-sided white dice, these dice are in good quality though the odd amount of dice seems buggering me (I assume it’s about game balance, and for the sake of easier rule reminder, the amount of dice are limited to 7 as it’s the maximum amount a player can roll in their turn), or it’s about cost efficiency.
The tokens are used to help managing your resources during your turns, not really essential, the game can be played without any resource token if all players do not really bothered keeping track of their resources. They also have thin card stock, thinner than the usual card board tokens and also bland white color background with black symbols. Not really interesting I must say, but maybe this contrast combination serves well with the colorful components. The game also provides a score pad and one pencil to keep track during scoring.
It also comes with a plastic insert, to store all the cards, dice and tokens. But… I do not think it really serves that purpose well. You still need to bag the tokens and dice so they will not fall off the trays when carried, and also if you sleeve the cards, those will not fit back into the tray, so you either need to remove the insert or place the cards under it. So not really practical in the end, kinda bit disappointed with this.

Game Components

The Game Play
Before the game starts, some arrangements need to be made, separate and shuffle each deck (based on different color on the cards’ back), place each deck on the game board on it’s corresponding space. Deal one Goal cards (purple) to each player, place some cards on the game board (depending on the number of players), these cards will reflect as Public Goals. Separate Bicycle card from the Childhood deck and draw a number of Childhood cards based on number of players. Then add the Bicycle card to the drawn cards, shuffle them, place the rest of Childhood cards back to the box, it’s not used in this game.  As I already mentioned above, the game will take players to go through several eras in life, starting from Childhood, Early Adulthood, Adult and Old Age. Childhood is a special era, where players are dealt 3 Childhood cards randomly. Then each player will choose one card to keep and pass the other to their left. This drafting process continues until players choose 2 cards and receive the last card from their right. These three cards form their starting cards on their hand (just say it’s a resource that players receive right after they’re born). Player with the Bicycle card, place it in front of him and receive the Bicycle token, he will be the starting player in this game.
Starting from Early Adulthood, in clockwise order, players take turns to roll dice and buy cards from the available lineup. Starting from Early Adulthood deck onward. By default, each player rolls 4 dice (players can get more dice if they have the responding active cards in their tableau) and use the symbols from the result. They also have the chance to re-roll the result twice at most. If there’s any bad luck symbol among dice rolled, immediately set it aside, that die (dice) is locked and cannot be re-rolled. If a player gain the third bad luck, that player must discard one of his active cards.
But on the other hand, if a player managed to gain three good luck symbols, he can get any one card from the available ones for free. In a single turn, each player can get at most two cards. The cards they get are added to their tableau based on the respective categories (colors) or place it on their hands (if the card is one-time use / grey color).
Slide the available cards to the left and add more cards to the empty spaces. The next player take his turn.
If there’s no card at the current deck to refill the slots, the game is paused for a while. Players check their table and count their cards, if there’s a player who has half or less than the total cards from player with most cards, that players get a social assistance, they can get one card for free from the available ones. This is to make sure the balance or helping out the last position player for future turns.
The game ends after there are a number of cards left in the last deck as many as the number of players in the game. Players then sum the total of their points from their possession cards, public goals, personal goal and also the number of their Health, Relationship and Knowledge cards. Player with most points wins the game.

My Thought About The Game
I like it. It’s pretty simple, light and fun for family or friends that you can play casually over a tea anytime. The rules are pretty straightforward, easy to grasp just rolling dice and getting cards. Players start the game with 4 dice, and if they get the cards, they can roll more dice. Rolling more dice doesn’t really necessary to be good. More dice means more possibility to get bad luck, but of course on the other hand, same chance to get good luck symbols. I like how simple it is, you roll dice and use those dice to get something. And talking about luck, you can re-roll twice at most to get better results. The hard thing is bad luck, yes, once you get a bad luck, that die is locked. Having three bad luck symbols force you to remove one of your active cards, this is a major set back to your tableau. But getting three good luck, gives you any card for free, pretty big deal if there’s a very good card with expensive cost. The downside (which I can ignore most of the time) is that mostly the cards you want revealed after your turn ends, so it’s unlikely still available in your next turn. One of my plays had almost all the Possession cards were ‘filtered’ before me, left me with nothing. But hey, that’s a game of life. Surely nothing goes as planned, no matter how hard you plan or try. Which I said it’s also the interesting part. Just play the game as a nice simulation of life and how life can turns in many ways.
Basically it’s a combination of dice rolling and tableau building, so aside from rolling good results, you need to consider how you want to build your tableau. Possession cards give you huge points at the end, but pretty much useless during the game (most of them). I take the goal cards are not really that powerful, so these might mislead you in your quest. The card collections can generate very big points for you if you can get a lot of cards.

Available Cards

Replay Value
I don’t think the game has a very high replay value. The game uses the same deck of cards with 4 players. With less than 4, there’s possibility that all cards are not used (Childhood and Goal cards). So with several plays, you probably have already see all the cards. If it has more deck options like Agricola, that would be something. Aside from that, it’s just a simple dice rolling game with a decent tableau building mechanic. Pretty light for casuals and non gamer.

Player’s Tableau – End Game

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The Lower The Better

Parade Review
I came across this beauty by chance, yes I heard it and saw it before, but never in my mind I would have the game. Okay what is Parade anyway? At first the box looks cool, it has a fascinating illustration of Chessire the cat in Alice in Wonderland universe, you know the purple grinning cat that can disappear at will? If you don’t know, never mind, it’s an abstract anyway. Parade is a card game, small one (you can judge by the size of the box), but contains a very good game.

Once you open the small box, you came across a handful deck of cards with a scoring pad and a manual sheet. Aside from the scoring pad and manual sheet you will only play the game with only cards, sounds simple. The cards are in good linen finish, with manual sheet is printed on not-so-common paper, it has textured surface, so must be fancy paper. The scoring pad is nothing special, never use it anyway.

Game Contents

Sadly, there’s a little room to implement a strong theme in this kind of game. Its pure abstract, though I must say that even pure abstract could have a good art / theme. This game use Alice in Wonderland theme as its artworks and they’re beautifully illustrated.

About The Game
The cards consist of 6 different colors (characters) with 11 cards for each color (with its value ranging from 0-10). These cards will be shuffled and deal six card as a parade line, with one of its end is placed the draw pile. This end should be consider the back of the line. Then each player will get 5 cards from the pile. On their turn, players must play one card from their hand to the front of the line. The card played will determine the resolution for that player. The number on the played card shows how many cards are ignored behind that card, so if you play a 5, you will count 5 cards after that card to be ignored and only check the cards after it. For any cards with an equal value or lower than the played card in the rest of the line, that player will take and place them on their tableau. And if there’s any card with the same color as the played card in the rest of the line, no matter the value, that player also take it. Then before the player’s turn ends, draw another card back to 5 cards. Players repeat their turns until one condition is met, either one player collects all 6 different colors in their tableau or the draw deck runs out, the game will come to an end.
Players will play one more card which leave their hands down to 4 cards. Then they choose 2 cards to keep and discard the other 2. Then they add the two cards to their tableau and final scoring begins.

Color Sets

Unique Scoring
To count the scoring, players need to check cards majority based on colors. Check each color majority, the player with a color majority only count the number of the cards they have with that color. If there are multiple players who have majority over a color, they’re not considered majority, hence need to count the total value of that colors.
While other colors that isn’t majority, players count the total value. The sum value will determine the players’ final points. The winner is the player with the least points.

My Thought About The Game
The game is very simple, easy to learn and offers interesting choices while still maintain interaction and luck. The twist is very interesting, you need to keep your points as low as you can, which means try your best not taking many cards or best not taking at all (yes it’s possible, though you still need to place 2 cards in the end). If you have to take cards, try to take the smallest ones or maybe the cards that could lead you to gain majorities.
I found the game to be entertaining, with 4-6 players, more interactions, more players but the game length still the approximately the same. Luck might play a moderate part in the game but you can figure out what cards still out there once the deck runs out. So in the end, getting to know the cards distribution would give you something to ponder on before the game ends. I always think that getting a majority is a good thing, but way leading in a color might prove to be hurtful, so just keep it in check that other players cannot outmatch your majority, but still keep a back up plan in your hands.
The idea of the game is brilliant, trick taking, push your luck, take that and set collection game with simple math. There’s a good decision making in this and to be honest, I call the game to be a risk-management game of numbers and colors.

Replay Value
It has no variation, so the truth is that there’s no new elements in your plays but the interactions give good replay value. The cards are all the same, there are obvious moves, though opponents might make different moves / plans toward specific colors.  It is a good filler, so keeping the game for 15-30 minutes of free time is always a good choice.

Playing the game

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Posted by on June 14, 2017 in Board Games, Card Games, Reviews

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Shoot Kill Repeat!

pic3476604_mdAdrenaline Review
In video games, there is a game genre called first-person shooter, which basically playing a guy / dude with his point of view and shoot things up. If you are a video gamer, you will easily name some games with this genre, like Doom, Counter Strike, Quake, Call of Duty, Battlefield and such. And there’s a tabletop game that people think, is using the same mode of play. But not directly I guess, cause it’s different in a big way, though somehow it conveys the feeling for a fps game. It is called Adrenaline, one of some new released titles from Czech Games Edition, designed by Filip Neduk. So let’s get down to it and check what it has to offer us.

The Theme and Artworks
There’s nothing special on the backstory, it’s just a death match in a industrial world with characters in different appearance. Sounds simple and boring, but hey they are here to drop some bodies, not tell stories, makes sense to me. The artworks work fine and nicely made, not something spectacular but it’s drawn for purpose inline with the theme. The death match takes place in a locked compound with several rooms, the game board illustrated this map in eagle eye view, shows the different rooms with different colors to make it easier to recognize. In the other hand, the weapons look cool.

The player figures

The Components
Miniatures, yeah it has minis, just 5 pieces but hey better than none at all. Players have their figures based on color (five colors, you can play up to 5 players in this game) and each figure is different in shape and model. There are a space soldier, a steam punk girl, a robot and two different alien races. The figure’s colors are very stand-out and easy to see, especially on the board, so this is good. The other components are hit point plastic tokens in each player color. These tokens are tear drop shaped, like a drop of blood. Players will pass these tokens when they hit someone with their weapons to mark their point for majority. Aside from the tokens there are plastic semi-transparent cubes for the ammo, ammo tiles, victory point tiles in many denominations and the cards. The cards have 2 types, Weapon cards and Power-Up cards. Weapon cards are unusually over-sized with 61×112 mm in size, while the Power-Up cards are small with 45x68mm in size. The cards quality is good, very smooth though it’s not a linen finish. The game box is unusual, a bit larger than the normal size box like Agricola. So it’s kinda bit hard to keep your shelf neat to store it side by side with another box.

The Game Play
First of all, the goal of the game is to get the most points, nothing else matter. So in this game players running around, grab weapons and shoot others. Before the game starts players get their own player board along with the hit point tokens, figure, ammo cubes and action tile of their color and also 2 random Power-Up cards. The board is set  based on number of players configuration (it’s flexible and you can use any preferable setup despite the recommended setup). Place a random ammo tile on each room space on the board that doesn’t show spawn or weapon slot, set aside the other tiles face down next to the game board. Shuffle the weapon cards, reveal and place the cards on the weapon spaces (there should be 9 weapon cards on the board, 3 for each weapon slot). Place the rest of the weapon cards on the weapon deck slot along with the Power-Up deck. Randomize the first player, and give him/her the first player tile. The game is ready to start.

Deathmatch in progress

To start, starting from the first player, they need to play one of the two Power-Up cards they have to decide where their figure will spawn. A Power-Up card has a specific effect and cube with specific color. The color can be used during spawn or re-spawn, to determine where the figure will enter the board. The rooms are separated into 3 colors or more, the red blue and yellow color has a spawn point, the same color as the ammo type. During players’ turn they can take 2 actions. The actions are Move, Grab and Shoot. They can take the same action twice. After taking two actions, they reload and end their turn. Then next player clockwise take their turn.

A. Move Action
During the course of the game, players need to move around the board through rooms and spaces. The Move action lets players to move up to three spaces (single square space). They can move orthogonally adjacent from one space to another as long it’s not blocked by a wall. A room can constitutes from a single space or more than one space. A room is separated from another room by a door.
B. Grab Action
There are two things that a player can grab, a weapon card or ammo tile. Players can grab a weapon when they are on the weapon spot. The can choose one weapon from the available 3 (at most, can be less than) weapon cards on its corresponding slots. A weapon may have a cost to acquire and players can pay the cost from their available ammo supply. When they take the weapon card, they keep it on their hand, it is considered loaded and can be used when players take the shoot action. They can only have at most 3 weapons, so if they want to take the fourth weapon, they have drop one of theirs in the respected slot. When players take an ammo tile, they take ammo cubes shown on the tile from the their general supply and place it on their ammo box. A player can only have 3 ammo cubes from each color at any time, so any excess is wasted. If there’s a Power-Up symbol on the tile, players draw a Power-Up card from the deck (they can only have at most 3 cards by the end of their turn).
C. Shoot Action
Players can shoot other players if they have at least one loaded weapon and have a valid target. A target is considered valid based on several factor, the line of sight and weapon effect. Players can only shoot one weapon in a single action, shooting a weapon means place the weapon card from their hand to the table, the weapon is considered unloaded and need to be reloaded in order to take the card back to players hand.
Line of Sight, in general term is the range that a player can see a target. Players can see figures who are on the same room, while if a player figure in a space with a door, that player can see any figures located on the room connected with that door regardless their distance. Imaginatively that figure take a peek from the door into the other room and can see anyone inside that room. Beside the line of sight, valid target also decided based on the weapon’s effects. In this games, the weapons are one-of-a-kind and have various effects. When a player shoot a target, that target receives damage based on the weapon used. To mark this, the shooter give the target their hit point tokens which are placed on the life tracker of the target. For first blood (first damage to a target), the shooter get one point. When the amount of hit point token that a target has in their track equal as their hit points, they’re killed. When killed, the figure is removed from the board and scoring takes place based on damage majority. The killer gets to claim a spot on kill track by placing one hit point token on the track, or two if they overkill the target (by placing one more hit point than it’s necessary to kill a target). After the player already finishes his/her turn, the killed player draw one Power-Up card from the deck (even they already have 3 cards) and choose to discard one to determine where their figure will re-spawn. After get killed, that player place a skull token taken from the kill track on the empty left most point on their board, next time they get killed, the score gets less and less interesting.

One-of-a-kind Weapons

After players take 2 actions, they end their turn by reloading, they can pay ammo cubes to take one or more weapon cards placed in front of them back into their hand by paying full the cost listed on the card.

The game continues until the last skull token is used and then one final turn takes place. When the game end, players tally up their points, player with most points wins the game.

The Replay Value
I honestly think that the game has little replay value. The variations come from different weapons, different board setup and game modes are not enough to bring the game fresh in each play. Basically you just running around trying to kill others. Even all the weapons are one-of-a-kind, you can find out and feel almost all of them in a single game. The game also comes in several modes to play. The basic one is Deathmatch mode is like free for all mode, where you can running around and kill everyone you encounter to get the most points. Aside from that, there are Domination mode and Turret mode. I have played Domination mode, once but didn’t see the good in it, the game feels too fast than it should in 3-players and found it to be quite quirky. Turret mode should be different, since players can set trap and hit the turret. It shifts the aim of the game and makes it more tactical if I am not mistaken by reading the rules. I think it is ease to expand the game, to add another new contents into the game. New various weapons would provide fresh taste to the old game, so it could be promo weapons or something completely different by offering new set of iconic weapons in games or maybe real life. There also different modes that the game can be implemented, such as tag team, zone, time based, capture the flag and others. These new different mode surely give new taste on the bud. Or maybe introducing character abilities as new element or new map setups would make the game more interesting.

Victory Points

My Thought About The Game
I think the game does work well, it offers you new genre and feel to play. Maybe there are other shooting table top games out there, but none of them are just like this simple, easy to learn and yet so real to simulate the shooting genre. As people been saying that this game is a first person shooting game, well practically it’s different and not right to label it that way. For those who have not try the game yet might not agree with that since there’s nothing at all that describe the first person element. Yes you shoot people around, but not from the shooter perspective like an fps should. You still look it on the bird’s eye view, from top view of the game where you can see all the locations, all the figures and others. This is so oppositely different from a first person shooter. But, maybe in a way, you will feel there’s a slight taste or feel on the game play that reflects that first person element. For me, it is and after all, it doesn’t matter it is true or not, as long as you enjoy it. Personally I think the game does brilliantly convey the mechanic and theme into a very streamline and smooth shooting game while maintains or introduces new strategic factor into it by making the game as Euro game. Yup, I bet many of you didn’t see that coming. Taking from the visual, theme and style the game looks like, you would consider this game to be more of an Ameritrash game than Euro, it’s more make sense. But no, it’s an Area Majority euro game in disguise. Yes, killing and shooting people doesn’t feel gory in here, no blood splattered and no heads got blown off. There are only point crunching for majority, the rest are necessities. While you think the game is about killing and killing, it turns out to be efficiency and opportunity grabs. Your priority is getting the most points, not rolling heads, though killing your enemies sounds intriguing and fun. But in the end it’s about who has the most points. And last bu not least, there’s no player elimination (yes I know most of you do not like that, so its a plus right?).

Playing the game

I think the game is very simple, you can explain the rules under 15 minutes and new players are able to pick the rules rather quickly than most games. The obvious obstacle is the weapons effect. Since all the weapons are one-of-a-kind, the weapon cards only provide icon descriptions on it, though I must admit they work hard to design it as clearly as they can, which I think they did rather splendidly. Though simple icons cannot equal the power of texts and sentences to convey the real definition of something, I believe with one play experience, players will easily pick up the definition of the iconography. So first play can be a challenge. They also try to design the game with balance in mind, since this game type can lead to bullying or player bashing, they use the point reducing for a solution. Each time a figures is killed, he/she is less worthy to be killed again. This create balance on players targeting another in a brilliant way. Okay, players can ignore this but the real aim for the game is most points, so ignoring the rules can lead the players definitely not winning. There’s also an interesting part in the over-kill aspect. When players get over-killed, they set revenge by placing one of their hit point to the tag area of the killer, this way, it gives them incentives to hunt down their killer to get an additional damage.

While the game has different map setups based on number of players, the game is free to be played in any map setup from small, medium or large. Even the large map with 4/5 players it doesn’t feel big. In short, while the game has dude running around the map shooting something, the real is that the game is about getting points from precisely timed shooting opponents. You won’t get lost in it, most of players turn they can shoot somebody because most of the location is reachable with a single turn. I think this is a plus, since it won’t be so fun chasing around people and cannot reach them. The compound is specifically designed to be compact and minimized the labyrinth / maze aspect of the map, avoiding long alleys and secluded area and also dead end. Yup no dead end, all rooms are connected.

So in overall I love the game, it feels new, fresh and very easy to play. I like how dynamic the game is, highly interactive and offers a lot of game changer during the game. I love the weapons and how keeping three of them can create combos, also using the Power-Ups. The components are okay, and in addition, this still an Euro game at heart. Sadly my wife doesn’t completely agree with me. Shooting each other around is not a theme she kindly favored. But for those of you who think shooting weapons is fun and want to add strategy element while shooting people, this might be a good choice.

Crowded space, high conflict

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Tag Archives: chicken coop

room to spread their wings

i had to build a run and QUICK.    again, no plans.    i figured i’d just make a square around the coop i had (photo a few posts back) so i could let them roam around in a decent sized space.    i bought some chicken wire and some 8′ long 2″x2″ pieces of cedar wood and got to work.   if you’ve never tried to unroll a batch of heavy duty chicken wire…   i’m here to tell you it’s not easy to do alone.    i did not walk away unscathed.    OUCH.    i would recommend wearing a thick shirt….   with sleeves.    gloves are also a very good idea.

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the first few weeks

while the chicks were still tiny and needing a heat lamp i set them up in a plastic bin i got from target.    we kept them inside for the first couple of weeks and then i moved them into the coop i bought.    now, since i was completely inexperienced i didn’t think about the fact that those tiny things were going to have to grow significantly before i could tell which ones were roosters!     i INTENDED to only keep 6 or so.    the guy that built the coop assured me 6 would be fine in this coop.   well, as they grew i realized a) we were gonna need a bigger coop, and b) this coop was not going to hold up anyway.    i had a major dilemma.    i needed a much bigger coop and i had ZERO building skills.    my experience with a drill was hanging a few curtain rods.

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Your child, your choice

I have, for most of my life, advocated against spanking.  I truly feel that the world would be a better place if parents did not hit their children.  Not ever, not under any circumstances should anyone be hit, but especially not a child and especially not by someone they love and trust to keep them safe and secure.  Having said that, it’s not MY choice how you parent your child.

No parent should be shamed or blamed for parenting THEIR own child in the manner in which they see fit.  Unless a parent is abusive to their child or allows someone else to be abusive to them, they should not be judged on their parenting methods.  I’m not here to judge you.  I want to educate you on better, more effective, more humane ways to be the perfect parent for your child.  At the end of the day, what loving parent wants to hit their kid?  My guess is that none of them do.  More often than not corporal punishment is used by frustrated parents who just don’t know what else to do.  Spanking is swift and “gets the job done” in a timely manner which leads most parents who use this method to believe that they are doing the right thing by their child.  Studies prove otherwise.

There is a recent study published in The Journal of Family Psychology in which 33 families were audio taped after returning home for the evening.  The study recorded the actions of the families for six nights.  Out of those families, there were 41 incidents of spanking in more than half of the families over the course of the study.  Moreover, the spanking did not seem effective.  In almost every case, after being hit the child was misbehaving again within a few minutes.  Researchers, psychologists, psychiatrists and other experts have been studying the effects of spanking for more than a half century. The overwhelming results are that spanking is not only ineffective, it causes emotional and mental scars that can last a lifetime.  I’d be willing to wager that almost every parent who spanks, was also spanked as a child.  It’s what they were taught was the “right” way to discipline their own children. It’s a vicious cycle that repeats generation after generation.  I broke that cycle in my family and you can break the cycle in your family too.

I’m not here to condemn or judge you.  Please know that.  My goal for this blog, and the book I am writing, is to teach parents more effective, more loving, more lasting methods to rear their children.  As Oprah once said, “We do the best we know how to do.  When we know better, we do better.”

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Tuesday, January 14, 2014

The Abaas Plus-Three Noes or Palestinianism Negativity

Take note:

Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki met with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday at the office of the US ambassador to Paris, a statement from the PA minister's office said...Al-Maliki reiterated that the Palestinians oppose recognizing Israel as a Jewish state and insist that East Jerusalem becomes the future Palestinian capital.

And this

President Mahmoud Abbas stressed Saturday that there will be no peace agreement with Israel without an agreement over Jerusalem.  “Without Jerusalem there will be no peace between us,” Abbas told crowds from Jerusalem at his headquarters.  “Without Jerusalem written clearly and in bold, there will not be peace with them,” he added...Abbas stressed that the Palestinians have rights “and we will continue to demand our rights until in the end we get them.”

And this, too:

Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said Saturday that there will be no agreement with Israel without East Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the State of Palestine...“We will not accept anything less than return of East Jerusalem in total and will not agree to erase...the refugees nor any other of the negotiations files in addition to release of all the prisoners,”

So, how many is that?

Four noes?

Let's count the topics that are to be related to in the negative:

Jerusalem, in total.

Jewish state.

Other negotiation files (???).

No, more than four.

Palestinianism is negativity.

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Sunday, January 19, 2014

The Lies The ASAJews Tell

Here is a letter, published in The Tablet, the UK Church of England bulletin, by one "Beryl Maizels, Wembley, Middlesex", an ASAJew*:

As a member of Jews for Justice for Palestinians, I recognise Frank Baigel's 4 January letter, "Israel's record in the West Bank", as pure Israeli mythology.
It is totally untrue that Palestinian cars can be seen on roads in Israel and the West Bank.
In 2009, the Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem issued a report entitled "The Forbidden Roads: The Discriminatory West Bank Roads Regime", which states that Palestinians are completely banned on many roads, and for others special permits must be obtained.  It comments "The Forbidden Roads Regime is reminiscent of the apartheid system which existed in South Africa."
There is no part of the West Bank where no Israelis can go, as stated by Mr Baigel.
Illegal settlers often attack the indigenous population and uproot olive trees, while the police and army look on.
The illegal settlers are under Israeli law, the Palestinians under harshmilitary law, and Jewish Israelis can attack Palestinians with impunity.
Contrary to Mr Baigel's calculations, B'Tselem estimates that 180,000 Palestinians live in Area C, under full Israeli control.
...There is also large-scale demolition of Palestinian homes as described by Elena Curti (The Tablet, 14 and 21 December).
...the Israeli army deliberately destroys many Palestinian rainwater cisterns, on various pretexts.

I sent this to them for publication:

Even if Beryl Maizels is Jewish as well as a member of Jews for Justice for Palestinians, his January 17 letter is factually false, misleading and otherwise a sorry reflection on pro-Palestinian activists.

He asserts "It is totally untrue that Palestinian cars can be seen on roads in Israel and the West Bank".  I live there since 1981 and travel the roads almost daily. Maizels is fabricating.  At least 50% and probably more of the vehicular traffic on Highway 60, the main road from Jerusalem's municipal boundary all the way up north to Nablus, consists of cars, taxis and trucks bearing Palestinian Authority (PA) license plates.  At the Jewish shopping centres at Shaar Binyamin, near Ramallah and Gush Etzion, just south of Bethlehem, Israeli and PA cars are parked side-by-side as inside their owners buy the goods they need.

A second claim, that "There is no part of the West Bank where no Israelis can go", is also false.  Due to the propensity of Arabs to throw rocks, firebombs and shoot Jews, Israelis cannot enter Area A roads for fear of danger to life and limb.  Signs to that effect are prominently displaed at entrance crossroads.

On September 23, 2011, Asher Palmer and his infant son were killed when a rock thrown from a bypassing Arab vehicle on the same road just north of Hebron smashed into the from pane, severely injuring Mr Palmer and causing the car to crash and the deaths of the occupants.  Incidents like these prove the two points I made above: indeed, Arabs can be murderously dangerous and they do travel the same roads Israelis do.

One more point: in claiming that the Israel Army destroys water cisterns, besides his use of "many" being wrong, his throwaway of "various pretexts" is hiding the fact that those cisterns were illegal according to the agreements the PA signed with Israel.  Other illegal water-involved acts include siphoning off water from both Israeli and Arab pipes and digging unauthorized wells and then selling the water to Arabs for higher rates to make a profit in addition to a general lack of water infrastructure upkeep.

You know who I mean. “As a Jew, I am disgusted by…” or “as a Jew, let me say how much I disagree with…”.  The AsAJews only ever come from one side of the fence: anti-Zionist, pro-boycott and anti-anti-antisemitism. Have you ever heard anyone say: “As a Jew, I must say how much I support Israel’s right to exist”, or “As a Jew, let me state how much I disagree with the idea of a boycott”?

1 comment:

NormanF said...

I can support Israel because I don't suffer from a "Jewish guilt" complex.

Jews are far more dangerous to themselves than the Arabs will ever be.

Jews who identify with the Arab side.


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Suicide – A temporary situation.

A subject some people don’t like to talk about, I suppose it can be touchy as some people have very strong opinions on this subject.

I lost a friend eight years ago now too suicide, I remember him being here like it was yesterday.

Tall, blonde with glistering blue eyes and a smile all the girls went crazy for.

A true gentleman, He was more like a brother too me.

Jack enjoyed snowboarding, golf, winding up his brothers and drinking cups of tea.

A real sweetheart.

Jack unfortunately got involved with the wrong crowd.

His love for sport changed into a love of going out with his new friends.

Going on benders and taking drugs.

I saw him out and he was still the same caring sweet Jack I knew.

My sister confided in him her rape story she hadn’t told anyone.

He looked after her, listened to her made sure she was okay.

He had the biggest heart.

Loved his mum and dad more than the world.

One morning my dad saw him walking home all cheery full of smiles.

Two hours later.

He hung himself.

He spent his last final hours with his mother.

We will never know what went through poor Jacks head.

I cant help but believe some people who commit suicide are making a permanent choice based on a temporary situation.

Life can be so awful at times, we think we are going crazy and sometimes believe there’s no way out but there always is. Always.

You never know how you will feel in five years time, things can always get better. You might not feel like there are options but I promise there are so many people who care about you and would do anything to protect you.

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Wednesday, February 2, 2011

French Braid progress

I got the 3 divider sashes put together yesterday afternoon.  Each one has 3 strips.  I have the center one sewn to 2 of the braid strips. There will be a divider and another braid outside of each of these. 4 braids total - then a narrow inside border and a wider outside border.

And it's the outside border that will bring together all of the colors in the braids from the rusts to greens to blues.  I can't wait to see how it all comes together.

  1. It's gonna be GORGEOUS!!! Love the colors and the design.

  2. I've seen one of these in person and they are gorgeous! Your colors are fabulous!


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hitler, jesus and grandad

April 3, 2008

One of the more difficult things about learning a new language for me is finding reading material that is inspiring and fun yet not so hard as to make the whole thing a chore. The gossip rag Se og Hør used to do the trick for me (Mr Snow’s gran saves them up for me ever since I told her that’s how I learn, so every time we visit I get a massive bag of past issues!).

Even more fun though, and easy with the Comic Book Library just around the corner, is to read comic books or graphic novels. The pictures help a lot, obviously, and the storylines are entertaining and far from juvenile. My favourite so far has been this one by local illustrator Lene Ask. The book is about her time in Germany at art school, and trying to trace her family history: her grandad of the title was a German soldier stationed in Norway, and her grandmother was amongst those persecuted for having a child with him.

It’s not all sad and serious though as her book also simply and charmingly illustrates growing up in the 70’s and life and love today. And I read the whole thing from cover to cover in just a couple of days!

3 Responses to “hitler, jesus and grandad”

  1. manu Says:

    well, the power of visual arts!!!
    What works for me and my favourite semi-japanese, these days, is “my neighbor Totoro”…we watched it “only” 12 times (the little one learnt to play DVDs…)and my japanese went from non-existent to 20 words very quickly…I can now sing the songs too…joys of motherhood!
    daycare works wonders too for my dutch… 😉

  2. sunburn Says:

    so becoming a mum is another trick i could try 😉

  3. […] up online! Unfortunately, so far only for Norwegian readers (and the very patient). The creator of ‘Hitler, Jesus og Farfar’ was invited to visit Tanzania by aid agency Norad, to highlight the issue of child and maternal […]

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Monthly Archives: August 2010

An 11-Year-Old Bride Escapes

Follow link for an amazing, sad, inspiring story…one of so many. I’ve always been interested in other cultures and their implementation of, or disregard for, human rights. In college in my Women’s studies courses I found the curriculum to be extremely Eurocentric (no surprises there). There is so much work to do in the cause for Peace, Equality and Justice, but I’d like to remind all of us including me, that there are atrocities being committed against women and children all over the world. Often these atrocities are condoned by the culture in which they occur whether covertly or openly. Since our ‘involvement’ in the Middle East we have heard more and more stories from women who are finally able to speak up. And we hear the stories of the amazing courageous women who provide shelter and safety for these women. I think that once in a while at least, it’s important to look outside of our own culture(s) and remember that oppression against women and children is worldwide; and often happens in situations and conditions in which the level of horror and powerlessness is beyond our imagination. And yet we also discover amazing stories of hope, courage and compassion that cross borders, cultures, and economic status. I’d like to propose a reader challenge. When we were kids we played a game where we would spin the globe and with our eyes closed put a finger on a spot on the globe, stopping its rotation. In our game we would pretend we were going to travel to wherever our finger landed and imagine glorious, dramatic and sometimes gruesome adventures we encounter. I challenge my readers to do the “globe game” and then take some time to research the Human Rights conditions in that area, and especially the role of women and children. This can be fun…it can be educational. It can open our hearts and minds to a world we never knew existed. Give it a try, I’m going to do it too. I’d love to hear your discoveries!  © 2010 Nanakoosa’s Place, authored by Jennifer Hazard

Finding your style, and running with it

The initial stages of my blogging experience involved a lot of trial and error and experimentation. I felt like an explorer with a partial map, discovering new paths, new tricks new avenues; it’s been fun most times, frustrating at others.
Like any other social situation we are new to, we enter cautiously, careful not to offend anyone, trying to make a good impression. So we continue to write, we force our friends and family to read our posts, anxiously awaiting feedback (and hoping its positive enough to keep us going).
Then one day we sit down to write, maybe one of those days were feeling a little sassy, and we realize we are no longer “company’ or the new kid in class who has to maintain face.
We develop this comfort level with experience; a little feedback helps too, (hint, hint)
Now we feel free to open up a little more about our personal lives. We bring things down to a real level.
Depending on the type of blog you write and your intended audience, self-disclosure and daily observations may be the primary focus of your writing and will come quite naturally. If your blog is intended to be more informational and educational, you may rarely self disclose, if at all. I’ve seen blogs intended to promote business that run the gamut from “strictly business” to shameless self promotion.
I’ve found myself using more discernment and seeking balance between telling my story, and promoting my mission to unite survivors to advocate for themselves and other survivors.
I’ve decided that in order to be true to my mission I have to let the “wild woman” Jenny out to speak her truth, along with the Professional Jenny who is has the clinical and community resource knowledge to assist survivors. As I reflect on my original intention I’m finding that it is the Survivor/ “Wild Woman” whose voice is most relevant. She is the one with the most courage, the most moxie, with the most important stories to tell and the most capability for empathy.
It is also exciting that this transformation that is occurring during that point in my life where I’m finally reaching the age where I have more confidence, bigger perspective and less concern for what others think of me. How liberating for a woman who was anxious and socially phobic literally for as long as I can remember. So here I am a sassy middle aged survivor with experience, opinions and ideas just begging to be shared.
I’m putting out the call to all sassy middle aged women “with a history” to come together, share our knowledge and experience, humor, antics, irreverence and who knows maybe pave bold path for our daughters, granddaughters and all the young women who will follow.
Peace and Solidarity,

© 2010 Nanakoosa’s Place, authored by Jennifer Hazard

Finding Power in Peace

“Our mystical power should not be relegated to the distant past. It still exists. I want mine now, and so does every woman I know. Our power is not evil but good. We must reclaim our goodness as well as our power. Today, the reason we haven’t found our grail, the key to who we are as women, is because we look for it in worlds of false power, the very worlds that took it away from us in the first place” Marianne Williamson
The last line of this statement struck a chord within me. It was one of those moments when you know the deeper truth and meaning behind mere words. We women want our power and that is the first step. We’re just not sure how or where to find it
I have come to the conclusion that it’s not for lack of looking, but of too much looking. Marianne states, we look for it in the worlds of false power. At the most superficial level we look to the media to tell us what will make up whole. The answer is usually something material, of cosmetic.
Even if we decide to connect with enlightened others, we don’t find our “others’ until we are truly ready. We need to learn that although we can benefit from mentoring and guidance or support, the only way we will know we are truly ready is when we are able to look within, rather than outside ourselves
There are some good teachers and guides out there; and there are also a lot of people making a lot of money by telling people how to become enlightened, successful, and whatever else they’re selling. Some of them probably believe they are right and doing the right thing. Some of them are pure charlatans. Some of them may mean well but are ill prepared or improperly initiated into whatever system they are preaching.
The co-opting of The Native Americans various beliefs is a common example. Having not grown up within the context of the native environment would require extra training and self reflection to understand a system of beliefs that is based on a lifestyle and culture that is completely foreign and misunderstood. And then there is the very real betrayal that Europeans have stolen everything from the Native Peoples and now want to take the last thing they can call their own.
Please understand I’m not saying we shouldn’t learn about other spiritual systems. In fact I believe the more we can familiarize ourselves with the more likely we are to open ourselves to possibilities. We find similarities within all the beliefs we explore.
One thing that has become clear to me is that we have to learn to listen within, and in times and places of peace, to connect with our spiritual power. Ritual has its purpose, but it’s not necessary. We have all we need within ourselves to discover and. celebrate our power.

© 2010 Nanakoosa’s Place, authored by Jennifer Hazard

>Prisoner of air conditioning, coping with side effects

I hate to be redundant, but it’s freakin’ HOT! I never really liked air conditioning, I like open windows and a nice breeze; but when a friend recently offered to give me a small room air conditioner I finally broke down. It does help, quite a bit in fact, but I’m beginning to feel like a prisoner in my air conditioned room. I’m trying to avoid feeling useless and unproductive, which quickly leads to depression. I’ve been writing a lot, reading, and researching resources to help me get moved out of this apartment. All those years of Social Work and Advocacy are paying off. Resources are out there but knowing how and who to ask is essential. One thing that troubles me is the lack of support for Hep C patients. There are foundations for people with other diseases, but nothing, in my area at least, for Hep C.
But I’m digressing, what I wanted to do was talk about the importance of managing side effects. It’s kind of a snowball effect (mmmm snow); if you don’t manage the side effects, you feel crappy. When you feel crappy, you don’t get things done. when you don’t get things done, you feel more demoralized and depressed which leads to less motivation for self-care and side effect management, and so on it goes. We can’t change the weather but we can do things to be more comfortable. Air conditioning, cool showers, drinking tons of water and taking it easy. Sometimes we have to accept that we can’t get everything accomplished that we would like, but it is what it is. If there’s one thing I’m learning from all this its how to practice self-care, to ask for help (I’m still working on the not feeling guilty about it part)
It helps me to have reminders around telling me what I should be doing to take care of myself, and its a lot more effective than waiting until I feel horrible and then doing something about it.

A useful and comprehensive guide can be found at

it’s good advice, and can help make this process a lot less miserable. Next time: coping with emotions, or the three faces of eve revisited.
© 2010 Jennifer Hazard
image courtesy of Microsoft clipart collection

News and Updates

In accordance with my original mission I have begun work on my sister site, The intention and goal of this project is to organize survivors who wish to be actively involved in public policy making, service delivery and public education. There are many ways to accomplish these goals. Writing our stories and sending them to politicians, service providers and funding sources can have a substantial impact. Forming Advisory committees, organizing survivor speak outs, using art and film to record our histories are all effective methods to make our message heard. We ARE the experts on Domestic Violence, we know what services are lacking and which ones are working. We know how we want, and deserve, to be treated by social service agencies, police officers, and the judicial system. Finally, as older women we can attest to the long term effects of abuse and the need for ongoing services. The key to change is Communication and Organization, let’s Unite as Survivors and help create a future of Peace, Respect and Compassion.
In other business, I am continuing to work on my memoirs, blogging and making connections online. It’s wonderful to find so many compassionate, creative and like minded individuals.

My latest project is my new Hepatitis C blog describing my experiences with the disease and, now, being on treatment. I had started including posts about my journey through treatment on my survivors blog, but because this experience has been so much a part of my life; because my day to day activities are dictated by my side effects, I decided this chapter of my life deserves it’s own space. I am also discovering an urgent need for information and advocacy for individuals stricken with this often stigmatized disease. I will continue to share my personal story while also accumulating useful information about Hepatitis and treatment options.

© 2010 Nanakoosa’s Place, authored by Jennifer Hazard

Long term effects of abuse finally getting attention

Domestic violence victims have higher health costs for years after abuse ends
Victims of domestic violence endure significantly higher health costs than other women for three years after the abuse ends, a new study finds.

Well Duh, right? But seriously click on the link to read article, I’m looking for more statistics and stories about the long term effects of abuse. This was part of my original mission for creating this blog because it is a painfully overlooked area in Domestic Violence treatment and research.

© 2010 Nanakoosa’s Place, authored by Jennifer Hazard

>I am not Immortal…..

…at least not in the flesh. I won’t preach on the afterlife, we all have our own views on that. Fortunately I’m pretty comfortable with mine.
The more time I spend with doctors, taking meds, experiencing side effects from meds and learning about this disease the more my inner teenager is forced to relinquish her firm belief in immortality. Funny because in many ways I was always a rather neurotic kid. I was terrified of illness and death and yet I lived a life style that tempted harm on a pretty regular basis.There came a point in my life when this paradox suddenly made sense. I perceived my actions as some kind of protective ritual for me, a way of knocking wood. You see if I challenged Death and won, it meant two things: a) My existence was validated, I obviously deserved to be here, and 2)I didn’t have to feel so vulnerable to every potential disease, accident or fatal mishap that I had spend my childhood obsessing over.

One thing the young and daring fail to realize is that although they may survive one incident and lived to see the sunrise the next day, “validating your existence” and all that; there is a good possibility that something could come back to bite you in the ass 30 years later. For some of my friends it was HIV, then AIDS, most of them are no longer with us. For others it was overdoses, car accidents, liver failure and other alcohol/drug/brain damaged induced mishaps. You can only tease Death for so long before He gets weary and drops the old sickle on your head.
Others of us do the best we can, struggling along, eating healthy, taking vitamins, exercising a little, trying to maintain some level of sobriety and, like me, doing battle with the sneaky little virus that that set up shop in my liver some 30 years ago.

So, no, we are not immortal, but some of us are the “lucky ones” and we have the opportunity to appreciate life and to cherish the time and the people we have been blessed with.

© 2010 Jennifer Hazard


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Puppy Classroom Trade Secret #79

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The Teams that choose to come to puppy class are Teams that are showing you they want to learn, even if just by the effort of showing up, sans practicing during the week.

That is a huge first step.

I teach the basics, maybe some instability / balance work, tricks here and there, work and settle, freestyle (even though Connie is opposed to dancing), and I pluck through my repertoire of skills step by step, day by day, week by week.

I talk about management and the importance of meticulous management with a puppy, structure in the household, species specific nutrition, appropriate exercise both mentally and physically, and kind and considerate socialization.

This to me, in my brain, how my world works, is a complete package. But every single session for fifteen years someone will ask me how to control and/or dominate their puppy.

Now as Puppy Classroom Trainers we know that control is merely an illusion, at best, and dominating a puppy is already being done by the mere fact that humans are taller, bigger, louder, and most of the time adults. Done and done.

But, if my Teams want to know, I am there to walk them through this tricky to navigate conversation. How to control and dominate your puppy – Trade Secret #79.

The first step to controlling or dominating your dog is to make sure that everyone has taught the BETWEEN circus tricks behavior to fluency. It doesn’t take that much time really as puppies love this one. If you are unfamiliar with this, it is asking your puppy to go around your right side, and then between your legs, in a stand or sit.

Now your Teams are going to look at you as if you lost track of the conversation or didn’t get the question to begin with, but reassure them that you understand, tell them to hang in there, all truths shall be revealed in good time, and help the human end of the Team focus and stay on track, task at hand, consistency is important.

In one to two weeks everyone should have an awesome BETWEEN behavior, and both ends of the leash should feel a bit accomplished at this point.

Then introduce the next step to demonstrate control and domination, bigger feet and longer claws. Yes that is right, in order to really show your puppy who is the boss, who is the leader, who is in C.O.N.T.R.O.L. you must have bigger paws and longer claws. Puppies don’t, as in DO NOT, respect puny human feet with manicured nails and tender skin, as if.

Donning footwear shouldn’t take too much time before class, so make the effort, and then call to you any random puppy in class that is appropriately scampy for your demonstration partner. Call the puppy to you, ask for AROUND & BETWEEN, and as they stand there, between your legs, in your personal space, and have the realization that you have some seriously big-ass paws and claws, let them sink into that moment, let them learn on their own terms who is really in control, who is the dominant one. And what you will see, almost immediately, is the look of relief on the puppies face, that they no longer have to have the weight of the world on their shoulders, that the human will take care of things. Thank you thunder paws.

That is usually all it takes. But just to solidify the intention in the moment, leave the footwear on for good measure, you might also find more of the human end of the leash behaving as well. Control and domination of a puppy is just one foot step away – literally. – Nancy