{"id":2213,"date":"2012-12-30T21:07:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-30T21:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2012\/12\/the-games-we-play.html"},"modified":"2012-12-30T21:07:00","modified_gmt":"2012-12-30T21:07:00","slug":"the-games-we-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2012\/12\/the-games-we-play.html","title":{"rendered":"The games we play"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

At Christmastime at least. \u00a0We\u2019re a board game family. \u00a0From RISK <\/i>to Catan <\/i>to Monopoly<\/i>, you name it \u2013 we like to play games as a family. \u00a0Following the ancient proverb that the family that plays together, stays together, we\u2019ve logged in quite a few hours playing games over the years. \u00a0We like other things, but in recent years, finances have limited our travels and our excursions that come at a price. \u00a0This has made our stash of board games all the more valuable.<\/p>\n

Each year, we seem to get at least a few games. \u00a0We have about three shelves filled with games in the basement, not counting Flames of War<\/i> (my currently defunct hobby owing, once again, to our finances). \u00a0This year added a few more games to the mix, a few surprises and at least one stinker. \u00a0In the grand tradition of posts that mean nothing to anyone except me, the following are quick takes on the games we\u2019ve had a chance to play.<\/p>\n

Mansions of Madness<\/i><\/b>
A game based on Lovecraft\u2019s bizarre horror fiction, this bad boy was actually from last year. \u00a0But things were a bit crazy then. \u00a0Not that they aren\u2019t now, we\u2019re simply more resigned to the fact that things are going to change, or we\u2019ll be homeless. \u00a0Last year, it was all just hitting us as jobs were being lost on the eve of the Christmas holidays. \u00a0So even though this was something we were looking for, we just never got around to playing it. \u00a0I\u2019ve gone over the instructions, the boys are anxious, my wife is ready, so we\u2019ll know soon\u2026<\/p>\n

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Dungeon!<\/i><\/b>
Apparently this gift, playing on my boys\u2019 love for all things fantasy and in keeping with this year\u2019s The Hobbit\u00a0<\/i>environment,\u00a0 was actually a remake of a game from decades ago. \u00a0It was originally published in the 1970s by \u00a0the company TSR, that produced the infamous Dungeons and Dragons<\/i> roll playing game. \u00a0This was an intro to that game I guess, and was meant to expose people to the gist of the roll playing version. \u00a0All I can say is, I first thought \u2018oh well\u2019 when I saw it, but must admit, it\u2019s one of the funnest new games I\u2019ve played in years. <\/p>\n

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Telestrations<\/i><\/b><\/div>\n

Another game I hadn\u2019t heard of, but was pleasantly surprised after playing. \u00a0At first I thought \u2018Pictionary<\/i>\u2018 knock off, but found out it was a little\u00a0different. \u00a0It\u2019s sort of Pictionary <\/i>mixed with the old game of \u2018telephone\u2019, where one person whispers a secret, and it is passed around a circle of people until in the end, you see how far the secret got from the original. \u00a0Here, someone pulls a card, and then has to draw what the card says. \u00a0Then the next person writes what he or she thinks it is, and tries to draw it again, and so on. \u00a0Believe me, how The Godfather<\/i> ended up being a moonwalk is something only this game can explain. \u00a0Even my Mom got into it and laughed till her sides ached.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey<\/i><\/b>
Based exclusively on the Peter Jackson film, this board game sought to capture the scope and atmosphere of the movie\u2019s adaptation. \u00a0It failed miserably. \u00a0The real stinker of the year, this game left us, after almost two hours of playing, absolutely flummoxed. \u00a0The basic game, getting all 13 dwarves to the eagles\u2019 eyrie, was itself all but impossible even if it could be figured out. \u00a0But beyond that, the instructions were virtually non-existent, and what they said seldom matched the\u00a0game-play\u00a0 \u00a0Elements were left unexplained, game components ended in dead ends, or contradicted each other. \u00a0All around, an almost\u00a0embarrassing\u00a0failure that was obviously a half-baked afterthought rushed through production in order to capitalize on the movie. \u00a0Like my oldest boy said, who alone has seen the film \u2013 it\u2019s about like the movie, overdone and\u00a0under-planned.<\/p>\n

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So there you have it. \u00a0We received a few others, or at least the boys received a few. \u00a0We may play them, based on what they want to do. \u00a0There are other games as well, some we\u2019ve had years and haven\u2019t played for a long time, and one we haven\u2019t played at all that we might have a chance to try. \u00a0We\u2019ll see. \u00a0But these are the ones so far, for all the\u00a0billions\u00a0in the world who were itching to find out our latest snowbound forms of\u00a0entertainment.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At Christmastime at least. \u00a0We\u2019re a board game family. \u00a0From RISK to Catan to Monopoly, you name it \u2013 we like to play games as a family. \u00a0Following the ancient proverb that the family that plays together, stays together, we\u2019ve logged in quite a few hours playing games over the years. \u00a0We like other things, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe games we play<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"At Christmastime at least.  We're a board game family.  From RISK to Catan to Monopoly, you name it - we like to play games as a family.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2012\/12\/the-games-we-play.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The games we play\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At Christmastime at least.  We're a board game family.  From RISK to Catan to Monopoly, you name it - 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