Board Games 12 - 22

12. This Town ain't big enough for the 2-4 of us

Very Carcassonne, but with a western theme. Probably would have been better with more people

13. Lost Legacy

Again better with more people. But what a nice velveteen bag it comes in!









14. Love Letter
Pretty much the same as the previous game, except in a castle instead of in space








15. Angry Dice
I think this is named because you get angry...with the dice. Not my cup of tea at all.








16. Coin Age
Pretty good for a game that uses a credit card sized card and a handful of coins.






17. Formula De
Take it easy on the corners!! Break on the straight before it's to late, and other various road related slogans. All quite appropriate here.




18. Dungeon Roll
Still a goodie, what's better than rolling a bunch of pretty dice and fighting dragons (or running away from dragons as was the case here)

19. The Fury of Dracula
Oh dear, we gave it a really good go. Once we had read through the rules (2 hours of them) we played for another 2 hours and eventually dracula (Scott) got the upper hand. A game you need to devote much of the day to.


20. Wok Star
Madly making recipes from ingredients against the ever present ticking of the timer - not stressful at all!!

21. Sushi Go
The newest game in Scott's arsenal (for now) pretty cool, cute illustrations and a fun game. Again - probably better with more players.

22. Kingsburg
One of the oldest games in the collection. Still love this one (and still haven't played with all the expansions)

Board Games 5 through 11

5. Rattus

Ahh yes the plague, good entertainment. trying to populate the board to get rid of all your pieces, but not have them all collect in one area (because if the plague hits you are in trouble. 

6. Elder Sign

We used to play this so much, But now, you know, Pandemic. It was good working together to kill the big boss guy, a few of our adventurers died, but we won in the end.

7. Pandemic

I was having Pandemic withdrawal after our Pandemic Legacy marathon (which is the coolest game ever) So we upped the difficulty of our regular game. 5 epidemics and the superbug. It was all looking pretty grim for a while, but we got there.

8. Agents

Sorry, I forgot to take a photo of this one, I was all excited because I was pretty close to winning, but then I pulled some pretty foolish final moves (classic Ruth) and alas, Scott claimed the victory today.

9. Ghost Stories

Well, still the hardest cooperative game Scott owns, No joy was had today, even though we realised that we have been playing it wrong this whole time!

10. Escape

Racing against a soundtrack to get through a maze adds stress and panic to an otherwise restful evening. Here is the curse I usually get (means you can't talk) along with a very bad dice roll. 

11. Dice Town

Poker meets dice meets the old west. Get the gold and the money, and the properties. Win for Ruth (but only because I stole Scott's good stuff at the last minute.)

Board Games 2, 3 and 4

Game Two

We had only played this once before and found it kind of pointless, this time was better though, we started close together, so got in each others way the whole time (what is supposed to happen)

Game Three and Four

Seasons was our third (left) 

and Tobago our fourth right),

Both these games get the stamp of approval for their 'very nice box inserts' They are specially made and everything fits!! 

A thing of beauty

Board Games

Well my working year has drawn to a close and unfortunately there are a lot more days to fill before the 2016 work starts. Now there are only so many times you can go to the gym in a day (I try to keep it to one) so I am on the lookout for cheap (preferably free) activities to occupy my time. I have decided to try and play all the board games Scott owns, who will of course aid me in my quest.

Day One: Castle Panic

Nice co-op for 1 - 6 players. We played with the Wizard's Tower expansion

Before:

We are set up ready to go, cup of tea in hand

During

Things were looking grim for a while: this was a particularly stressful moment.

But in the end we did it! we had exactly two walls and two towers still standing.

Adventures In Unreadable Labels: Bonus Round 1, The American Way

Some foods you hear about on TV when your a kid you relegate to always being fictional.
With me, one of those foods was the Pop Tart.

The legend... at last!

I mean I know they are real, but they were always a mystical American junk food... synonymous with the kind of childhood happiness that comes from screaming around on a complete sugar rush, as I imagined all American junk food induced.

But today I cross that line, and sample such a thing from a VERY readable package.

EVERYTHING:

I'll dispense with my usual format, because a) this is a bonus round and b) it all happened so fast.

Pre-toast'n

I opened the packed to the aroma of a delicious chocolate chip cookie.
I read the instructions and dialed back the toaster all the way, then popped the little pastry treats in to bake.

The wait was not a long one but it laced the room with the aroma of fresh warm cookies!

And then one bite, a series of munches and they were gone... back to the dream world of American snacks.

What were they like?
Truthfully they were like little meltly cookies. The dough was not unlike girl guide biscuits and the chocolate filling was like the syrup from a McDonald's chocolate Sunday.
And it some chocolate icing that sort of retained its crunch in places, which gave little pockets of crumbly resistance in the tasty gooey mix.

Not pictured: the ooey gooey-ness

And they were yummy!

But did they live up to the dream?
Well, maybe not, but in a way that actually made them delicious... I think the dream version of them that formed at the first mention of there name spoken in some long forgotten cartoon, probably was more akin to a cup of sugar baked into a pie crust.

These didn't feel more indulgent than a really big cookie, and on a cold night they were a great post dinner treat.

Sometime less is more, and these were less of the dream and more than I though I was going to get.

Rotorua

Well folks, I chose to have a lazy day in Auckland instead of doing my tasks, so I had my work cut out for me today, trying to complete two lots. Luckily I had Karen to aid in my adventures, and we were quite successful.

1. Play a round of mini golf

2. Steam your glasses in a steam vent

3. Photo enough words on signs to spell a song lyric




4. Eat something steaming hot in a place that is freezing cold, or eat something freezing cold in a place that is steaming hot.

5. Win a game

6. Find a painted mural









7. Use a public swing set and/or slide

Adventures In Unreadable Labels: More English, MORE FUEGO!

 I think this is going to be a short one today.

As the mystery supply box gives up it's latest treats we seem to be entering into a vein of things that are not just in English, but seem like they are going to be pretty pleasant to eat.
There is a final gate keeper to pass though, and he is well aware that I'm not a fan of spice:

Of HANOVER... not HANGOVER

Description:

Looking at the picture it looks like I'm going to be opening up the foil pouch and find large pretzel chunks LACQUERED in a Buffalo wing + cayenne pepper sauce glaze.

Now, I've had pretzels before, but not in this format. Still pretzel is pretzel and I see no problem there.

Hot sauce on the other hand is a tricky thing.
I've said before I'm not really a fan of overly spicy things, but a little heat can be novel.
The question is always how much heat is a sauce going to bring, and does it intend to set up a little campsite in my mouth spit roast taste buds over a roaring fire.

Time to find out.

First Contact:

always pays to open flammable things on a metal surface

Woah! these things are bright!
They are sort of the color of butter chicken, and I'm hoping that that suggests the mildness you often get with that dish.
on the other hand they have that dry powdery texture of a spicy crumb or meat rub, and that, in my limited experience, often brings the dry heat of the Nevada desert.

I put my nose in the bag and took a wiff and my eyes watered,
While it was, (oddly) sort of a salt and vinegar chip scent, there was clearly a wack of pepper in there.
I had a stuffy nose... now I do not.
I also noticed some looked like they had been grilled, and I wondered if that was selling the idea fiery cooking or just a process to make pretzels?

I'm still optimistic that this one is going to be good... so lets find out!

turning some over reveals a scorch... top marks for theme!

Taste Time:

Fest few munches: Mmmm saucey! They have a tart and sour flavor and remind me of the crispy skin of bbq chicken. While there is an initial tingle, there isn't a lot of heat at all!

Next few munches: Okay, the heat builds up a little over time, but it's still pretty mild, even for my delicate sensibilities. It's a little more impactful than the slightly detrimental effect of eating a full bag of salt and vinegar chips, but not overly.
For science (of course) I'm going to eat a few clusters together to see if it gets more painful.

A good fist full of munches: A good background heat has settled in but I feel it's leveled out... onward!

At the end of the bag: I need a glass of water as my mouth is pretty hot and dry, but I declare this a victory for the "I didn't get burned to a crisp" side of the war on snacks!

Summary:

A really tasty snack that was no threat to my being what so ever... More satisfying than a bag of chips as well with a good solid crunch in every bite.
More please!