watching expired appliances align

Party Announcement!

I'm going to send an email out about this, but I figure the blog is better for conveying more info.
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Slowly burn off your New Year's Eve hangover by joining friends and engaging in a little mental dexterity.

I'm hosting a NEW YEAR'S DAY PARTY!

It's a board game party! Boggle! Trivial Pursuit! Puerto Rico! And More!

Imagine three rooms of non-stop board game action!

With snacks and drinks!

Invite your friends!

The plan is to have three or four different games happening at the same time. There will be something for everyone! It will also be an all day affair - drop by whenever you're in the mood. The party will start at noon. Because I'm optimistic and love board games, I don't see it ending until thirty-six hours later.

The party will be a mixture of fun, strategic contemplation and casual hanging out. Definitely bring your own games (like Jenga (2-8 players, 20 minutes) because it's fun to laugh at people who don't have steady hands due to the consumption of too much champagne the night before).

Here's a partial list of the games I'll have on hand:

TRIVIAL PURSUIT - Pop Culture DVD Edition - A few of us played this two or three years ago. It's an odd mix of easiness and obscure challenge. (2-? players, team play, 60 minutes)

PUERTO RICO - I'm sure you've heard me talk about this game before. It's considered the best board game ever by the folks at boardgamegeek.com. The object is to build a thriving Puerto Rico by developing plantations, creating buildings, populating the island and shipping goods. I recently purchased the "expansion set" which includes forest tiles and additional violet buildings. (3-5 players, 90 minutes)

SAN JUAN - An offshoot of Puerto Rico, I've played this game three times and can't wait to play again. It's a card-based game with a much quicker set-up than Puerto Rico. (2-4 players, 45 minutes)

POKER - Perhaps you're familiar with this game? Apparently something called Texas Hold 'Em is sweeping the nation. Conveniently, I own a few decks of cards and some poker chips. (3-10 players, time N/A)

BOGGLE - Not Boggle Deluxe or Super Boggle or Expansion Boggle or anything like that. This is the classic – the box features the same color scheme as that Little Professor calculator thing you had as a kid. Bring your own pen and paper. (2-6 players, 10 minutes)

INGENIOUS - I just picked this one up and I'm excited about it. Matthew Baldwin of The Morning News writes a wrap-up of good gift games every year. Here's a bit of what he had to say about Ingenious:

Have you played dominos recently? I have, and I’ll let you in on a secret: BORE-ing! It might be fun if you were actually in Jamaica, playing it at a cafÈ against both an 80-year-old man and your own tolerance for rum and coke, but under any other circumstances it’s pretty dull.

Luckily, he found Ingenious addictive and great for two players. If you've got some time, listen to an interview with Matthew Baldwin from KOUW's The Beat. (1-4 players, 20 minutes)

THE SETTLERS OF CATAN (Travel edition) - This is another game I just purchased and haven't played. Boardgamegeek.com gives it a Bayesian Average Rating of 7.24. I have no idea what that means, but it sure sounds good, doesn't it? (3-4 players, 90 minutes)

GOLD DIGGER - Three New Year's Eve's ago Jamie, Kaci and I found a quiet table at Buttermilk and played this for hours. Pick a claim and try to outwit the other prospectors! (2-5 players, 20 minutes) (game to be provided by Jamie and Kaci)

MUNCHKIN - According to boardgamegeek.com, "MUNCHKIN is a stand-alone card game designed by Steve Jackson that "simulates" (well, sorta') a fantasy-themed RPG (oh, ok, D&D) in a simple, card-based game that's chock full o' silliness." No triantakohedron dice needed! (2-8 players, 45 minutes) (game to be provided by Jamie and Kaci)

EURORAILS - This is the first game that helped me realize there's more to board games than Sorry! (2-4 players, 30 minutes) and Museum Caper Clue (2-4 players, 30 minutes and not really that bad). Did you know there's a whole genre of railroad games? Eurorails may be one of the best. Players build railroads and deliver goods from one European city to another. It comes with crayons! You can draw on the board! What's not to like? (2-6 players, 180 minutes)

PLAYSTATION 2 - I own SSX Tricky, Madden 2005, and an EA sports baseball game but I'll probably rent one of those classic Namco / Activision type packs. I'll have the videogame machine set up for those who are more comfortable interacting with the cathode ray tube. If there's a game you think everyone would have fun playing, bring it along! (1-2 players)

BALDERDASH (3-6 players, 60 minutes) and a few other classics will be stacked on a shelf somewhere. But get out of your comfort zone and try something new.

Drink and carouse as much as you can on New Year's Eve and then wake up Sunday and stumble over to my apartment in Ft. Greene. Not only will there be more drinking and snacking, I promise lots and lots of cursing. When I play board games I cuss and trash talk in the most vicious fashion imaginable! Could there be a better way to start 2006?!?!!

The party is pretty much open to anyone I've ever met before, so email me if you want the address.

NEW GAMES JUST ADDED!!!

SET (1+ players, 15 minutes?) - An impulse buy this past weekend, Set proved to be confounding and addictive. It's a pattern recognition card game that's probably easy for some yet terribly difficult for me.

CLUZZLE (3-6 players, 45 minutes) - Clay + Puzzle! It's a sculpting game in which you don't want to be too talented. There's the sculpting round and then the guessing round. It looks like a totally silly time. The box is really cute! Who wants to give it a try?