Game on! with Stefanie London

I most definitely grew up as part of the video game generation. I was born in the 80’s, grew up in the 90’s with a computer in the house and had my first video game console at age 12 (it was a Super Nintendo and my first game was Mario World. I’ve had a slight obsession with the Super Mario Bros ever since.)

But I’ve always loved board games and card games. I played them a lot with my younger sister when we were growing up—snakes and ladders, checkers, monopoly, sorry (which I can now only say with a terrible Canadian accent) and so many more.

When my husband and I moved to Canada we went to an awesome board game café called Snakes & Lattes. I love the concept of a board game café – you get to try out new games and see if you like them before you buy all while having a coffee (or an incredible Nutella latte).

Snakes & Lattes totally renewed my love for this fun activity and since then our collection has grown. Here are a few that frequently get played in our house which you may not have heard about:

Sushi Go! (card game)

This is a fast-paced card game that involved passing hands of cards around a circle and trying get as many points as possible. It’s played in rounds and takes about 20 minutes to play. It’s great if you don’t want to invest several hours that are required for some other games (*cough Monopoly cough*)

Pandemic (board game)

This is a co-operative board game, which wasn’t something I’d ever tried before. All players work together to beat the game, essentially. In this game you have to stop the spread of diseases around the world and each player has a special ability that helps you do that.

Lords of Waterdeep (board game)

This game is more involved, has a longer play time and takes a little while to learn. But it’s a lot of fun – you spend the game trying to complete quests to gain points all the while trying to block attacks from your opponents. It has a fantasy theme (I believe it’s from the Dungeons and Dragon’s world) and the artwork is amazing.

Agricola (board game)

This is an agriculture-themed (hence the name) game where you have a farm that requires crops, livestock and food. You’re in competition with the other players but it’s less about attacking and more about personal strategy. Bonus points for the adorable little wooden animal pieces that come with it.

Exploding Kittens (card game)

Illustrated by the same guy who does The Oatmeal (aka my favourite comics) this game is the most backed Kickstarter project in history. We have the NSFW version (of course) so it’s definitely not everyone’s cup of tea. But it’s so much fun, is very quick to play and the artwork is hilarious. It’s a game of attrition/survival.

There are so many more games I could list here! Honourable mentions go to Settlers of Catan, 5 Crowns, and Forbidden Desert.

Are you a board game fan? What’s your favourite game to play?

Bring on the Show!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock these last few weeks, you’ll be aware the Olympic Games start this weekend in London. There are ads and signs and references everywhere and even though we’re on the other side of the world from the action (in New Zealand), the excitement is beginning to mount. People are stocking up on caffeine and vitamins so they can watch the events all night and stagger through work during the day.

But we actually don’t have a telly in our house. Well, we do have a telly but it’s not plugged in to any kind of aerial or anything. We only use it to watch DVDs. There are a number of reasons for this—mainly, we don’t have time to get hooked into series TV. Also I can’t stand ads. Embarrassingly as well, I’ve been known to get stupidly addicted to soaps. I’d rather the kids spent their screen-time in a more interactive way (all hail the mighty computer) – or, even better, read a book or played some crazy imaginative game round the house (‘Magic Unicorns’ is the new fave for the twins. ‘War’ is the choice of the older two).

"Television" by Salvatore Vuono
http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

Now I know there are so amazing shows out there that I don’t see. Occasionally we do go through an entire series of something by renting it from the DVD store (if I’ve heard really good things about it). It means we can watch without ads and without having to wait a whole week for the next episode. But mostly we watch movies. We’re the most regular customers at our local Blockbuster I think—hubs and I watch a few a week at least. I love movies—like to have the whole story told in a couple of hours. And the kids don’t miss out completely so aren’t socially ostracised ;), they watch DVDs too. All those fave shows are available and yay—no ads! But basically we’re really happy living in our TV-free zone

But of course, it’s the Olympics now and these really are pretty special. All my children are at primary school and they’re all doing projects on it. And given we do swimming and running and soccer etc, I think it’s great for the kids to see the elite in these sports. And they’re fun. So I said to the hubs, “we really need to be able to watch some of the Games” – and lovely hubs replied, “I’ll happily watch any of it but PLEASE don’t make me watch the (mumble mumble) Opening Ceremony!”

Now here is one of the few points on which Hubs and I are not aligned in perfect harmony ;)

"Clown in Parade" by Debspoons
http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

I am a parades girl. If there’s a Santa Parade, a Spring Parade, any kind of Carnival, I’m there. Marching bands, clowns, pomp, circumstance, I want it all.

Hubster? Not so keen. Really not. Gets bored. Wants to move. Wants to do Something Else.

Can you believe that?! And it’s in London this year—we all know how well the Brits do Pomp and Ceremony!!! They’re the home of pageantry!!!! I so totally can’t wait to watch every minute of that opening ceremony!

And so it is that we’re off round the road to my mum-in-laws at some early hour on Saturday so we can see it on her ‘bells and whistles’ pay-TV scheme. That’s the kids and me. Think Hubs might go for a run.

I can’t wait to see what kinds of special effect things they do, how they get us through the loooooong parade of athletes, how they’re going to make the whole place come alive. And how will the Olympic Flame bowl-thing light up? Will there be some fab trick to it?! It’s all such great, traditional stuff!!! A must see, in my book!

As for the sports themselves, some of those are must see too. Personally I’m really looking forward to the men’s diving. And the men’s gym. And the rowing. There’s some very good inspiration to be found at the Games! ;)

So tell me, are you going to be watching the opening ceremony on Friday/Saturday?! Are you going to be glued 24/7 for the next few weeks??!!