Top 100 Board Games #10-1 (2024)

 

Survivor 47: All Out of Steam

Wow. 

What a dud of a season. It's official. Australian Survivor IS the best version of the show. (and has been ever since season 41)

 From here on out, I'll consider this show 2nd tier to the one from down under. 

This season had no one likeable....anywhere in the cast. No one of note either. I will completely forget about all of these players come next year. 

This season was a bag of idiots contending in an extremely watered down version of the show. 

What a shame. 

Top 100 Board Games #20-11 (2024)

 

Top 100 Board Games #30-21 (2024)

 

Santa Bowl Regrets

Man. 

During the game someone on my team made an excellent point, that really made me regret a change I didn't make to last year's Santa Bowl. 

Instead of dividing teams by age, it should have been by marital status. 

Every re-iteration of the Santa Bowl, the requirements changed. Originally it was seminary students, versus pastors. When I brought it back, I decided to divide by age. 

THIS is a new era for the Santa Bowl and because so, the way teams are divided should have been different. I regret not realizing that until it was too late. 

I doubt they'll allow me to alter it now. I think that ship sailed. But I'm going to ask and see. If not, I'll keep with what we have, but what a mistake and it's all my fault.
 

Top 100 Board Games #40-31 (2024)

 

Top 100 Board Games #50-41 (2024)

 

Santa Bowl 2024: No Joy in Mudville

A new era in the Santa Bowl continues!

After complaining about the "lack of recruiting" from the Youth, they were once again able to assemble 21 people to play. 

And like last year, the younger kids got in only for a few plays even when the game became a no contest. 

The adults were able to duct tape together a team of 13 which allowed us to rotate in and out a bit. It helped for a little while, but in the first half someone started cramping up and in the 2nd half Shelby and Patrick took big hits in the game, which shook them up for the rest of the game. 

I myself suffered an injury and was out for a few possessions. (my heel is killing me at the moment)

1st Quarter

Once again, the Youth are composed of people I've never seen before but a kid called Ethan makes the first catch of the game and runs it in all the way for the first touchdown. 

Youth 6-0

Adults struggle to complete passes. 

A throw to Ethan once again and the Youth are now up 12-0. 

2nd Quarter

Arther Ritchy makes an incredible catch for the Youth, bobs and weaves around the entire defense, goes all the way down to score, making it one of the most incredible plays of the game. 18-0

The Adults continue to throw without success. When the Youth intercept yet again, they turn it into another TD as someone names Graham makes the next score. 24-0

Halftime

Once again, the Adults regroup. The run is decided upon and a new defense is drawn up. I switch out and become the center (something I'll probably be doing from now on) 

3rd Quarter 

The Youth start off with the ball and are stopped for the first time in the game on a possession. But when we throw again, it's intercepted by Graham and run back into the endzone for another score. 

30-0

But the run game is established and (as predicted) its successful. The Youth can't stop it. Julian pushes me in to the endzone (with him right behind) for the Adults first touchdown in the new era!

30-6

4th Quarter

For some reason we continue to throw and after another interception with 30 seconds left. The Youth decide it's not a time to be classy, throw a pass to Graham who scores again ending the game 36-6

At least we scored. There's some improvement there. 

I remember the days when the Adults took a knee and ran out the clock. Guess those days are over. The Youth love to run up the score. Something that will not be forgotten in the future. Now the Adults are determined to do better next time. 

But what will that require?

1) More men. Playing shorthanded where the Youth have enough to stack 2 teams in killing us. Our rotating subs turned into an injury list, where by the end of the game we had 2 hurt on the sidelines and 2 hurt in the game. We need more people in order to keep our team fresh on the field. 

2) A game plan. With our QB showing up 15 prior to kickoff, we couldn't prepare in enough time. So we had to wing it once again in the first half. It's my fault. I should've called for practices in November. Something I will be more diligent in doing next year. 

One big surprise for this year was the return of my Dad as a referee. My mom had told me he was DONE reffing. But it turns out Dad had other ideas. LOL

And I'm happy for it. Yes, Dad still has a soft spot for the Youth. He allowed flag guarding from them the entire game without a whistle or warning. But after so many years, I guess it's just par for the course. It was good to have him continue to be a part of it. 

We did a good job keeping pressure on the QB. But the Youth were too quick and were able to get down the field, making a catch with amazing speed! We need to play zone defense next year to prevent it from happening. 

I don't think we're getting anyone from the Youth next year either. Making recruiting a lot harder for 2025. But I'm going to strive hard to bring as many people on the team as I can. 

Here's to another year! See you in 2025!!

 

Top 100 Board Games #60-51 (2024)

 

Top Board Games #70-61 (2024)

 

Top 100 Board Games #80-71 (2024)

 

Top 100 Board Games #90-81 (2024)

 

Top 100 Board Games #100-91 (2025)

 

7UP Shirley Temple

 Oh wow.

This is excellent. 

Found it at Family Dollar. Hunt it down in a store near you. Buy it. REALLY good stuff! My favorite version of the flavor!

Top 100 Board Games #110-101 (2024)

 

Top 100 Board Games #120-111 (2024)

 

Top 100 Board Games #130-121 (2024)

 

Top 100 Board Games #135-131 (2024)

 

Mini-Expansion Review: Castles of Burgundy New Hex Tiles

 

I enjoy playing this game, so I decided to get a mini-expansion for it!

Goats: Count for 2VP whenever another animal token is place next to them. 

Sequential Order: This player will always break ties on who goes first in a round (if tied)

Worker Tiles: Pay $1 for 2 workers

Park: Can function as any building. 

Overall, nothing too big to talk about but I do enjoy the extra selections it makes in the game. Worth the $5 I spent getting it. 

Helloboy: The Crooked Man

 Decided to give this movie a try. I like Hellboy and I loved the 2 original movies. 

Sadly....this one didn't hold up. 

If they cut on hour out of it and turned it into a TV series, I would say its worth watching. But this was a "movie" that looked like a straight-to-DVD release with a limited budget. 

It DID follow the comic to a tee. Hellboy looked good and the actor was perfect for the roll. The Crooked Man even looked good but the movie is SLOW and lacks a lot of action. Of course....based off the comic, I suppose it had the right amount. 

Either way. Not good enough for me to recommend unless you were a fan of the comic....and even then it's passable. 

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

 The day I feel at peace and happy. It's been another blessed year and there's so much to celebrate. May you and your family share the same joy ours does on this day!

Week of giving thanks (3)

 Of course #1 this year is Dad. 

He fought cancer and won. And this year recovered from a quadruple bypass surgery. 

He's the strongest man I know. 

I'm thankful to the Lord for preserving his life over the past few years. And I'm very thankful to be sharing another Thanksgiving Day with him this year. 

Week of giving thanks (2)

 I'm super thankful for my job. Chase has treated me very well these 15 years and counting and I couldn't be happier with my job, boss and teammates. There's no other place nor other job I'd rather be at. Not many people can say that. I'm very thankful for all this job has provided me with.  

Week of giving thanks (1)

 This week is the countdown to my favorite day of the year, Thanksgiving!

So this week I want to countdown the things I'm most thankful for, starting (of course) with my kids. 

They all have different personalities and I love them all. Now that I have a new camera, I can start recording some of those great moments while they're young. They love each other and even though they're not the sweetest at times, I'm thankful for them so much!

Speak No Evil (Review)

 This is a movie in which the trailer gives (almost) everything away. I thought it'd be boring and predictable because of that, but Megan really wanted to watch it when it came out streaming so we did. 

I was shocked at how good this one. 

The plot is believable and made sense. And in this day and age, that's a rare thing for movies. Good performances all around and worth your time if you're thinking about watching it. 

Mainly a "thriller" but nothing too scary in it. 

Have a good weekend folks!

Santa Bowl Update V

The NEW trophy is getting it's finishing touches now! Just like the Stanley Cup, we're adding another "green" layer to it and painting last year's score on it to signify a new era!

The excitement is counting down. Only 4 weeks remain before the annual classic comes back!

Stay tuned...

 

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

 Last month I finally got a new phone. Because of a special deal at the time it didn't cost me a thing. After years of hanging with Motorola, I finally went back to Samsung and got the nicest thing they could offer....and it sucks. 

It takes twice as long to charge to full power, it runs out of batteries mid-day and all the "special features" on it, I'll never use. 

I'd like to say I wasted money, but it didn't cost me anything. But I do with I would've forked over the $250 and bought the latest Moto G Power instead. This one was a waste. 

Oddity (review)

 This was said to have been the "scariest movie of 2024" At least that's what all the articles I read told me. 

It turned out to be one of the most boring movies I've ever seen, with hardly anything to be "scared" of. It was so lame, that even my wife stayed for the entire movie (and she hates scary movies) But boring ones like these she was fine with. 

Horrible waste of time. I'm really striking out on trying newer movies this year. 

Romancing the Stone (review)

 On a podcast last month I spoke about my favorite Michael Douglas movies and I wondered if this was as good as I remembered, so I decided to watch it again. 

It wasn't. 

The story is about a romance author who is caught up in a scheme that threatens her sister in Columbia. So she goes on an adventure similar to her character in the books and meets Douglas, who isn't what she expects at first but later turns into the romance she's always dreamed about in her novels. 

It came out with a sequel but I'm not bothering to watch it. This movie was slow and lacked any adventure and was rare and dated on its humor. Sadly, not worth watching ever again, but at least now I know.  

The Office UK (Review)

 As I'm making my way through the US version of the show I decided to start off with the original one first. 

I'm glad I did. Good cast of characters and stories that made me laugh. The US version does copy jokes from the first episode, but it appears (so far) the US version does there own thing after that. Though the characters share similarities too. 

The UK version is a fun glimpse into the past at the turn of the century, what life was like in an office. I know Australia is gearing up for their own version of the show, but I can't imagine it even touching the levels of the previous two shows that came before it. 

I'm still watching the US version, but will give my review of it when I'm done.  

Bonus Purge (5)

 

Another game that featured a rondel which I enjoyed. But the game is way too tedious to play. I felt I never got that much done each time it was over. Plus the color scheme made it hard to tell the difference between the dark brown and dark blue tiles. 

I traded the entire collection. It rarely came out and overall I hated there wasn't enough "heart" cards to live long enough to see the last round (much less the 2nd to last round) Plus, some of the expansions began to make the game cumbersome. 

My gaming group bought the game. Therefore it won't be played again at game night. This was a heavy Euro I was shocked even stayed in my collection this long but kudos to it. Now it's gone, making room for other games to come to the table. The was a 6 hour game and time like that time is usually reserved for Twilight Imperium only. Now it'll be that case again. 

Bonus Purge (4)

 

This is another shock to me how flat this game was after several plays. Putting the books together (with the help of all the tiles) was way too easy. Making no challenge to play. When I noticed that, I knew this game had to leave.

Ah... hello Feld! Goodbye! This is what turned me off of Queen Games. Sure I still have many in my collection and even have a new game I LOVE that I recently purchased, but this one just doesn't offer the "umph" I wanted. 

Poor Uwe Rosenberg. It looks like the only game of his I'll ever keep in my collection is Merkator. 

I hate I had to let this game go but after the last time we played it, my entire group hated it and asked we never play it again. That was a bullet to the head for this game. If no one will play it with me, it's can't stay in the collection. 

Bonus Purge (3)

 The game was getting repetitive. Everytime I found myself going for the same exact strategy each time. It mainly became a chore relying soley on the luck of the dice. Not enough for me to keep it in my collection. 

Bye bye Feld! Even he is fallible when it comes to the purge! It's a nice game but was getting old playing. Feld is good, but I'm finding more and more that not everything he makes is "gold". 

Giant rondel. What can you not love about that? But in the end I found EVERYONE playing the same exact style game. No variety between plays. Very disappointing. I thought this game had more to offer. It didn't. 

I wanted to love this game. But the awful artwork and sloppy ahlf hazard was the put the game togther made me dump it. Age of Empires is the way more superior game!

Bonus Purge (2)

 Now that I have X-Men United, I discovered I'd never play these ever again. 

I have better painting game with just as good artwork as featured in this one. Fun game, but I've grown out of playing it now. 

Fun game but really not getting to the table at all these days. Even on my 'Vintage" list, I could feel it slipping down so I parted ways with it. 

Ooh.. this was a hard one. I loved this game. But NO ONE will play with me anymore. My gaming group either has it, hates it, and my nephews have even gotten bored playing it so I knew it was only going to gather dust on my shelves. Sad, but hard cuts like these had to be made for future incoming games! 

Bonus Purge (1)

 Yep... I did it again. Needing more room from my last Marvel United Kickstarter so a few more games had to exit the collection! 

Here are my thoughts!

Fun family COOP game. But when the kids get older, I got other ones I'd rather play with them. Plus, my girls love playing Flashpoint Fire Rescue with me. They're old enough to take my instructions on what to do, so I won't be playing this one anymore. 

I have the new version now. This is a fun game but I know I'll never play this one again. 

Too long to set up ice trays to play and the kids mainly cried when their ice cube melted. We the water mess all over the table, I decided this game just wasn't worth it anymore and its trade value was through the roof. So no brainer.

Ugh! I love the 3D board but it's at its core a role and move game. Super trade value which also led to its exit from my collection. I got pretty big numbers trading this one in. 

Ok, I'll be back with more tomorrow!

Ranking MORE Carcassone!

 Continuing my series from this past September, I've aquired 3 more "expansions" for the game, I'd like to talk about today!

Spring Promo

Grab a tile and get 1vp. Set it next to other spring tiles and recieve 3VP for each one it's next to. 

The promo is a Meh. 

I get the "puzzle" is keeping as many together as you can. The issue is, you're just giving someone more points the next time around so why put them together in the first place? Not really an expansion you should track down. 

Great big starting tile, where is you don't place a meeple on the tile you pulled, you can put it on the wheel and (maybe) recieve 3VP plus more if your fortune allows you to score extra points with meeples on the board. Not many though and I'm unser is this is reall worth it. The thing I hate the most is the one option which has you discard a meeple permanently from the game. Too harsh a penalty in my opinion. 

This is more of a starter box than an expansion, since it comes with everything you need to play the game. But it's a hard pass. 

I'll play with it every so often but it is my least fsavorite starting tile so far. 

The 20th edition looks beautiful and comes with an extrsa River tile plus bonus tiles that grant you one time abilities in the game. If you don't want the Big Box, this is one I think you should get to start with. Really lovely version!

Have a good weekend folks!

 

The Well (review)

 This past Halloween season was a stinker for discovering more horror movies to enjoy. 

This is about a painting restorer how is hired to do a rush job that will pay high if she gets done in time or cost her everything if she doesn't. 

The painting is cursed and she starts having vivid horrible nightmares. Oh and what is seemingly an entirely different storyline from the main plot, 3 campers on the other side of town are kidnapped and suffering horrble deaths in a prison from a fat shirtless guy with clown paint on. (not joking) 

They do eventually tie the two stories together but by the time the "big reveal" is given about why the painting is "cursed" our hero saves the day only to....continue the curse herself on her terms???

Sucked. 

Blink Twice (review)

 Thought this would be an interesting film. I was wrong. 

Main character doesn't make sense and changes her her persona completely in the 3rd act without reason. The overall story drags and doesn't offer much of a payoff. 

Such a waste of time. Why do they even make movies like this? 

Oh right, for idoits like me to be tricked into watching it. 

CLASSIC Comedy

Tales of the Neverending Story

 I never knew about this lost HBO show from the early 2000s until a few months ago. It's a re-telling of the movie with new adventures in it. 

It's better than the last two movies yet still isn't perfect. I wish in a reboot, they'd explain all of these poor attempts at sequels to be Sebastion getting older while rereading his story and losing his imagination more each time. Which in turn leads him to hand the book down to the next kid in line to enjoy. 

This series had some good ideas but instead of being a reboot I wish instead they could've made it something it. 

Worth checking out if you enjoyed the first film though. Most of the episodes are easily located on YouTube. 

All Saint's Day

 MUCH better holiday than yesterday!

We always hold a party at my church. Which I sadly can't stay long for because of my dinner theater tonight. But I do enjoy this holiday. We've always celebrated it since I was a kid. Probably why I have more fond memories of it than when I was a kid. 

Have a good one folks!

Happy Halloween

 Happy "stay out all evening getting candy for kids who are crying and fighting the whole time, while you're praying for it all to end....including your life" Day. 

WORST holiday ever. It's Megan's 2nd favorite but I'm the one who's miserable the entire time. The only good thing is I'll be helping out at the haunted car wash this evening, which will be the only fun I'll have tonight. 

The "X" Trilogy Review

 I was bored and starving for a good movie to kick off the "halloween" season earlier this month.

Unfortunantly, I found these movies instead. 

A trilogy of films I've heard a few good things about and decided to give a try. Here's my short review on each one. 

X

The year is 1976 and a group of young adults go off to a farm to film a porno. Little do they know the elderly lady who owns the land (with her husband) is a pycho killer.

Yep.... that's it. VERY slow, boring and overall DUD to kick off the trilogy with. 

The second installment is the best of the 3 (which isn't saying much) but it takes place in 1918 and focuses on the old lady when she was younger and how she became who she was in the first movie. I enjoyed it being a "day time" horror movie. The setting and costumes were nice. The story doesn't play like a horror until the very end, with the best scene going on while the credits rolled. 

If you haven't noticed already, it's the same girl in all 3 films for some reason. 

Maxxine

The last (I hope) and latest movie to come out takes place in 1985 and circles back to the girl from the first movie. She's now a porn star (good for you) and is trying to break into movies. But must avoid a serial killer who is somehow connected to her. 

The ending is ridiculous and makes for a terrible ending to a dismal trilogy. 

Waste of time. Megan and I are going to start re-watching old movies from now on. Nothing new is good anymore. 

River's Edge (review)

 

1986. Keanu Reeves and Crispin Glover starred in a movie together about finding a dead body of one of their classmates who had been killed by their best friend and don't know what to do. 

Dennis Hopper's also in the cast as well. Playing a crazy weed-selling man with a mysterious past. By all accounts, this movie should be remembered by someone you would think??

But after watching, the slow pace and odd story line, I can see why the public has forgotten it ever existed.

I guess the point of the movie was to show how uncaring Gen X is to death. At least I think that's what the ending was trying to say. But who knows. I won't be coming back to this movie ever again.  

One Crazy Summer (review)

 Old John Cusack movie from 1986 that I've never seen before? Sign me up!

Ah! A story of how these teenagers had one crazy summer trying to save someone's house (whom they just met) by getting everyone to attend her rock concert, only to then be foiled and have to win a boat race from uppity rich people in order to trade the trophy for the house.....yep, that was the plot. 

Boy this movie missed completely what made 80s movies fun. Its "wild moments" included the same guy from their group getting somehow caught underneath a fat man eating chili 3 times in the film. 

I'm assuming he farts a lot on him? I guess that's the gag but the only thing we see afterwards is the ambulance people arguing over who has to give him mouth-to-mouth. (just like in real life?)

I wanted to like this movie. But all I saw was a failure. No wonder its never mentioned in the Hall of Fame for 80s movies. I gave it a try because "Lucas" (also from the 80s) is an excellent movie that no one ever talks about. 

But this was a far cry from being an unsung classic that's for sure. Too bad they couldn't  figure out how to use Cusack for something better.