Top 100 Board Games 2016 (100-91)

#100: Ewoks Save the Trees

It was a four-way fight to get on the tail end of this list and in the end, this game won out. Barely.

This is an old game from the 80's that has a pop-up 3D board so it's ready to play with no set up required. You move two dials and move to the nearest matching color to get around on the board. But what set this apart from the other 3 games vying for this spot was the incredible looking Ewok pawns that go with the game. Super sturdy and well built, that tied with the fact I love me some Ewoks, put it on my list!

2017 Prediction: It's hard to say whether this will stay on my list next year. I'm hopeful and can hang in there but my nephews are getting older and this game was made for kids. So if it doesn't get to my table in enough time, I may have to give it the boot!

#99 Battleship

While writing down my top 100, I knew I was going to have classics and when it comes to classics from my childhood, Battleship was definitely on my list!

I played this game a million times as a kid and still enjoy playing an exact copy of that vintage gam today! Though two player games don't get played as much in my house, it's still a fun game I love to pull out from time to time.

2017 Prediction: If I add more games next year (which I believe I will) then this game may sadly be the first to go.

#98 Crash Canyon

Combine Micro Machines with a beautiful 3D board and you've got a super cool game that I would've LOVED playing as a kid. However, I got this game late in life and though it's fun, it only makes it this high on my list.

The game says you can add any of your micro machines to race in the game since any of the 80's toys are able to use the track and it makes me sad I don't have mine anymore!

2017 Prediction: Like Battleship, this game is hanging on a wing and prayer depending on how many games I add to my collection next year. 

#97 Memory

I found an exact copy of the game I had as a kid from the 70's. I was SO HAPPY to find it at an antique store and we played it that night in the hotel. STILL a fun classic game no matter what your age. I usually play this only with my little nephews but it's always an even playing field no matter what your age.

If you haven't played it in a while, you're missing out!

2017 Prediction: Such a fun game but not enough to keep it on the list next year. So if the fate of any game this low on the list I guess. 

 
 #96 Pit

Played this all the time as a kid with my family. We had so much fun! I recently bought a copy of the old 80's version we had only to discover Mom had 2 copies of the game she could've given me if I would've asked first!

This game has been around for over 100 years and if you've ever played, it's easy to guess why.

2017 Prediction: I feel with a few good plays on a game night, this one may be able to not only stay on the list but go up on the list. However, if it doesn't get played it'll be removed from my list completely. 

#95 Life

One of the first classic games I re-bought from my childhood when I started building my collection a year ago. I still love this game, it's so much fun. Though I haven't played it much this year I've been hankering to play it again, if I find the right group it's definitely hitting the table!

2017 Prediction: I'm hopeful once I get another play of this game that it'll be enough to keep it on my list for next year...though probably around the same ranking. 

#94 Monopoly

Talk about your classics. THE most popular board game ever is making my list. I loved this so much as a kid I had my own "renegade" copy of it made up of miscellaneous pawns, a deck of old property cards and a paper copy of the board I got from when McDonald's was doing their Monopoly specials.

My wife and I still play it from time to time and no matter what "hate" I get from other board gamers for putting this on my list, I don't care. There's a reason it's the #1 mos popular game out there and I know why!

2017 Prediction: This will be a hard sell to have me bump this off my list next year. The Mrs loves the game and still plays it with me so I don't see it leaving the list....however I don't see it moving up either. 

 
 #93 Stargate

When I made my first draft of this list, Stargate didn't make the cut. But in the past month I was able to give it a second try and found out the reason I didn't like it. You really need 6 players to enjoy this game. The pieces are quality and I love the TV show, so I'm glad I gave it another try before discarding it completely.

2017 Prediction: Being this low on the list isn't doing this game any favors. No one else I know has seen the show and it's not that good of a game to hold its own. Here's to hoping it stays on the list another year!

#92 Dead Stop!

I discovered this vintage game this summer, where 2 players try to guess the colored rings hiding underneath their opponents pawns. Guess correctly and that pawn comes to a...dead stop. I love this game. It doesn't look like much fun by the looks of the box but believe me, it's a game worth trying out!

2017 Prediction: Again, 2 player games don't get much love in this house, so though it may slip a few spots I think it's good enough to hang in the list next year. 

#91 Mille Bornes

Classic card game from my childhood. Found the exact copy from my childhood during my travels, played it, still love it. Glad to have it in my collection. Super fun French game that I hope hits the table for years to come.

2017 Prediction: Out of all the games on the list so far, this has the best potential to move up a little, depending I get it to the table enough.
 
   

Xmas Lights

Last night, Megan and I went to look at lights. Wanted to share a few pics with you today.

You're Welcome.

Survivor Game Changers

So let's start with the new season as a whole. What do I think of the idea.

I like it. It's interesting in a lot of ways but confusing in others because I don't know exactly what they were thinking with some of the cast.

Let's examine each one and see:

Andrea Boehlke

Awesome. Words can not express how I long to see what stupid mistake she makes this time to get voted off. Besides good looks did this woman do anything better than the others to deserve yet ANOTHER shot.  Poor choice for come back.

Brad Culppeper

Another choice that makes ZERO sense. This man had NO plan, NO allies and did nothing to change the game.....but he was in the NFL. Which CBS is hoping will change in to higher viewers, so he's in.

Aubry Bracco

I laughed out loud at this pick too. She's a tool. Used by others to get to the end with absolutely NO power over anyone in the game. I hope she gets voted out early but with her skill of hiding away until the end, I'm afraid it won't happen.

Caleb Reynolds

Man, seeing this guy go too soon was a tough break. I'm glad they're giving him another shot, but the only thing he did to change the game was remove himself from it so I'm torn on whether he's deserving to come back THIS season.

Ciera Eastin

I'm completely clueless on why Survivor keeps bringing her back. I mean, stunned. Single young mother, blah, blah blah...gets constantly outsmarted in tribal and acts like she was cheated. #2 on my most hated list for this season.

JT Thomas

Wow. Again, I love this player. He was a mastermind his first season and has only been duped by the best player never to win Russell Hanz. Super interested to see how he'll do this time around. Will he become the goat or the guru? This season will define him for sure.

Cirie Fields

Nothing would make me happier than to see this idiot be the first voted off. The reason CBS gave us as to why she's on this season is because she "tricked" a total moron (Erik) to give up his idol at tribal and get voted off. But here's the rub. It wasn't just HER! It was the entire team of ladies who tricked him and for some reason CBS wants you to forget about that little fact. But if you have CBS All Access, check out the season and you'll see what I mean. This woman is the biggest idiot to continually be given a golden ticket to this show. Let's just hope that after this, we'll never see her again.

Jeff Varner

Man I love this guy. And there's no doubt in my mind that he loves Survivor. I was SO happy to see him get his second chance....and then I realized he's a wannabe strategist who's entirely out of his league. Maybe his ineptness, will keep him away from being marked as a threat, but he has zero chance of winning this game.

Debbie Wanner

I have a feeling they could have called this season "Survivor: Dumbass" and I would have agreed with every pick so far.

Malcolm Freberg

The Phoenix. This man isn't a game changer but an absolute wrecking ball to the game of Survivor. He has is all, brains, strength and social gaming. The triple threat. I'm cheering hard for this man to not only win, but dominate the game.

Hali Ford

How nice. They're throwing chum in the water for all the sharks to devour first off if they wish. I think that's wonderful of them. I bet she's just as clueless when they snuff her torch a 2nd time....and then the 3 survivor fans who remember her will never have to think of her again.

Ozzy Lusth

Who CAN'T cheer for this guy! He'll be seen as a huge threat up front but if he can team of with a strong alliance, he has a chance.... to make the jury. Sorry buddy! I love ya but you have a snowballs chance of going all the way!

Michaela Bradshaw

There's no doubt she was a strong player this past season but wasn't she victim of the biggest blindside in Survivor history? She didn't even make it to the jury?! Another confusing pick for this season.

Tai Trang

Survivor: Dumbass, is sounding better all the time.

Sandra Diaz

Hail to the Queen! They could've named this season after her. One of the best choices. I'm so happy to see her come back and put her winning streak on the line AGAIN! I picked her last time, I'm tempted to do it again. She's one of THE smartest players ever to play the game. LOVE to see if she schools them all again here and comes back up on top once again.

Tony Vlachos

The gladiator of Survivor. NO ONE plays harder in the game. (with exception to Russell Hanz) He was made for a season like this. Another great choice who I can't wait to see next year!

Sarah Lacina

And what would Tony be without his incompetent counterpart?! Glad to see this moron back on Survivor: Dumbass (yep, that's what I'm calling it this year)

Troyzan Robertson

They say he has a big heart for Survivor. I say he's a welcome addition to the rest of the dumbasses on this show.

Sierra Thomas

Here's a picture of her doing what she does best....watch the game pass her by.

Zeke Smith

Similar to Varner, Zeke has the heart but not the skill to survive. Guess Survivor's still to pissed at Russell Hanz to give him a second shot.

Oh well. I'll still be watching it. My favorites are Malcolm, Sandra and Tony. Ozzy, Jeff and JT would be nice to see win. Cirie, Ciera and Debbie need to go first...in that order.

What about you? Any thoughts on the upcoming season? Do tell!

Top 100 Board Games 2016 (Prelude)

Coming up next week, I thought I'd give me Top 100 board games of all time! I've always wanted to do one and now that I have over 100 board games (wild I know) I finally have the chance!

So coming up Monday, get ready for some super nerdiness!!

Schools of Dune Book review

Finally finished the Schools of Dune trilogy. Earlier on my blog I spoke about how it was one of my most anticipated books to read for 2016. Now that I've finally finished it (and this is turning into "review month") I thought I'd give my final thoughts on it today.

Let me first start off by saying I love Kevin J Anderson. Most of his books I find excellent...and this trilogy is no exception!

Taking place 80 years after the "Jihad" trilogy, this book picks back up the pace and further developes the world of Dune to the more familiar terms we see in Frank Herbert's first classic tale. The action is there and so are the twists. I enjoyed each book in the series and was sad to see it end.

I have no idea when of if Kevin J Anderson and Brian Herbert plan to write more but I sure hope they do. This entire series has been a pure delight to read and I love this universe!

Have a good weekend folks!

Jericho Review

So after many years I finally decided to give this show a chance. Rivaled only by Firefly as one of the biggest fan favorite shows to get canceled, I've spoken to several people who told me how good it is.

It was on Netflix so I gave it a try last month. Only being 2 seasons (the 2nd only lasting 7 episodes) it was easy to finish. Now that I'm done, I thought I'd give a review of it as well.

The series is....over rated. Hate to say it, but it's true. And I don't think it's because TV has "gotten better" I think it wasn't that good to begin with. I know why people got turned off. of the show and stopped watching.

Here's the story. A small town in Kansas survives a nuclear strike set out against the US. Now in this apocalyptic world the town must fend off various threats to their own survival.

Sounds like an awesome idea for a TV show right? Well imagine that....on the CW. Where we have campy, teen angst R&B music from today, mixed in with scenes of family's coming together, and people falling in (and out) of love with each other. BLECH!

The show really ticked me off because it could have been so much more. I like the star Skeet Ulrich, but he was wasted by poor writing and a plot line that dragged as bad as Agents of Shield.

If you saw this back in the day and loved it....I'm sorry. You were fooled. If you haven't seen it before. I saved you the time to watch it. You're welcome. 

Survivor Season 33: Final Thoughts

Another season, another final thoughts. So Adam wins. Ok. Ken played the best of the three, yet I didn't want to see him win so I'm ok with this even though I thought all three were unworthy. 

As a whole this season was great. They drew rocks (something that rarely happens in the game) and had one the BIGGEST blind sides in all of history with Jay voting out Michaela. 

This has got to be one of the best moments in Survivor history. Off the top of my head I can think of only two more.

 Season 5: Vanautu - Ami (the Queen Bee of the Women's tribe) gets her head unexpectedly chopped off by her own team to save the only man left in the game. That same man, would go on to win the entire season.

Season 4: Thailand - The fake merge tricked one team member to reveal her true colors, Shii Ann. telling her old team she was flipping to the other tribe only to discover such was not the case...seeing the mortified expression on her face still puts a smile on my face.

But what Jay did to Michaela....let me just say, it's up there.

All in all. Great season. Really looking forward to the next one. I'll talk about that this weekend.

Heathers Review

After guest starring on a friends podcast the topic of this forgotten 80's gem was brought up and perked my interest in seeing it again.

Heathers is the story of 3 awful high school girls named Heather and a couple (played by Wyonna Rider and Christian Slater) who seek out revenge.

The movie has everything you'd expect in an 80's movies. The consistent use of the word "fag", a kid bringing a gun to school and shooting it off (only to serve a brief suspension), date rape, high school bullying, getting revenge off the bullies by shooting them after school, their favorite song "Teenage Suicide" being played over the radio, a father who casually admits to planting a bomb at his wife's work just to get rid of her (right in front of his son and the Dad isn't joking!), stalking and the word "corn nuts" being someone's dying words.

But this movie is smarter than you think. Instead of becoming another brain dead movie from the 80's it actually has a smart message. Gen X telling the older generation that we don't need to be coddled into becoming self-centered babies. And they were right. Gen X wanted to grow up on their own terms. It's the Millennials who would be the coddled group of individuals only a generation later. I know the movie wasn't trying to be that profound but through fate it can be received that way. 

Besides all that, I loved it. Better than I remember. Christian Slater was one of my favorite actors back then and now I remember why. He always played the cool, hip, scheming scumbag. I don't know why, but I loved it every time.

Spartacus review

Another TV Show I watched last month in my spare time was Spartacus from Starz.

To be honest, way too much unnecessary nudity but besides that the story, the action, the acting, EVERYTHING about this show is fantastic.

Loosely based off the historical character Spartacus and his allies, this TV show feels like 300 on the small screen.

Loved the show so much I even went out and bought the board game for it from Gale Force Nine! Love it as well!

Ok, more reviews coming up tomorrow!

The Count of Monte Cristo Review

Another fun movie I got to watch again last month. I wasn't sure how good it was since I didn't remember much of it. I knew I liked it when it'd come out but since then wasn't sure how good or bad the movie had aged.

After seeing it for the first time since 2002 I can safely say...it's STILL good!

Guy Pierce and Jim Caviezel are at their best in this movie. Makes me want to read the book all over again!

Keeping the tradition alive

For 17 years now I've been keeping my "tradition" of watching the Grinch every Xmas. For the first 10 years it wasn't on purpose. Just happened to be the movie people wanted to watch. When I finally decided to stop it, my sister pushed me on another 5 years. Last year we watched it Xmas Day and this year I watched it last week.

I have to admit, not only is it still my favorite Xmas movie but still enjoyable today!

See it lately? You should!

End of an Era

16 year ago I re-started the Santa Bowl. I tradition from the mid-80's that went 4 years before coming to a halt.

In 2000, while cleaning out my mom's cabinets I found the trophy. Since Xmas was the next week, I didn't hold a Bowl game but the very next year I put one together.

It's always been adults vs youth but back then (due to ages) 18-13 was considered the age for the youth and 19 and up was adults.

The next year the youth age jumped to 22-14 and would continue to go up (by minimum and maximum) until it finally settled to 26-17. In those years the Adults would dominate the series. Winning all by three contest. The Youth really fought hard and came close on several occasions and the 2014 Santa Bowl was super close.

Last year I was on a business trip to Phoenix for most of December and didn't have time to plan so I left it up to the others....they didn't do a thing.

And for the first time in 14 years, there was no Santa Bowl. Everyone thought it was a fluke that wouldn't happen this year since I was in but I knew that it was the end. Once you stop a tradition its incredibly hard to start back up.

We had little interest in re-starting it this year. There simply isn't enough youth to form a team. I'm not saying it'll never come back but I know it won't be back for a while.

Sad end to such a legendary era.

Kung Fury

Another movie I got to see last month was Kung Fury. A hilarious spoof on everything 80's and "awesome" rolled in to one! If you've seen (and liked) Turbo Kid, this 30 minute, Kickstarted movie available on Netflix is SO worth your time.

One word to get you to watch it? Triceri-cop!

Wolf Hall Review

Another show I got to see was Wolf Hall from PBS. I'd heard good things about the 16th century masterpiece and have to admit, it lived up to the hype.

The focus of the story is on Thomas Cromwell and his relationship with King Henry. It's amazingly captivating with strong characters and an excellent story line. Though it doesn't tell of Cromwell unfortunate end, the story does focus on how he helps the King through a failed marriage.

It's only 6 episodes and it's worth your time if you have Prime and a few nights available. I recommend it!

The Pacific (Review)

Over the last couple of months I've had the chance to catch up on a lot of TV shows and movies, so I thought I'd start reviewing them now!

One of the shows I watched was "The Pacific" Now I've seen Band of Brothers several times and have enjoyed it so much that I was looking forward to seeing this one.

And though it falls a little short from its predecessor this series is still pretty good. I enjoyed a lot of the characters in it. Though I couldn't keep track of them all (unlike Band of Brothers) the over arching stories didn't lose me.

The action and cinematography is superb and it you're looking for something worth your while to watch on Amazon Prime, this is the one for you!  

The Witch

I kept hearing talk about this movie on Amazon Prime so I thought I'd check it out for myself.

The Witch is a story, set in old folklore, back during the Salem Trials where people were accused of being a witch. But this story breaks away from tradition and follows a family as they move away from their settlement to find a new place to live, away from it all. Only to discover they've moved next to a residential witch.

The story has the feel of Sam Rami's The Village but with less "scare" and more ominous settings. That being said, this movie had me captivated with it's amazing cinematography, yet it suffered a weak ending in my opinion.

Overall, the movie is worth your time but only if you're prepared not to see much of an actual witch in the flick and more of a beautifully shot film, with interesting characters and a decent plot.

Chucky Review

This past Halloween, Megan wanted to watch thru the Chucky series so I watched them with her.

It's been a while since I'd last seen them and I remember thinking they were just "Ok" but after another review I have to say they're pretty decent. Not the best in movie series (Halloween still hold that title) but oddly enough, I liked the later ones in the series even better than the first three!

That and the continuity between movies holds up better than a lot of the rest. I'd forgotten just how well in fact! So if you're someone who loves Halloween in December or you're looking for something next year, I'd recommend you giving these another try!

Have a good weekend folks!

Disneyland Overview

Well, it's been 2 months of videos and pics and I'm finally ready to give me overview of Disneyland.

First off I want to say that Disney World IS a better place but if you love the mouse, I think you should make at least one trip to California in your lifetime.

Pros about Disneyland:

1) Easy access

Unlike Disney World, which requires you to go thru security checks at every park, Disneyland only checks you thru once and you have instant access to both parks.

2) Exclusive rides

Indiana Jones, Nemo, Pinnochio, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Alice in Wonderland, Roger Rabbit, The Mattahorn, Storybook Canals, Snow White and the list goes on. Exclusive rides is always a good reason to go.

3) Conveince

Our hotel was right across the road. It took us a total of 20 minutes to walk to the hotel, grab some things and walk back into the park. NOTHING comes close to that same experience in Florida.

4) Better attractions

Pirates of the Caribbean, Main Street and Sleeping Beauty's castle, outrank that of its counterpart.

5) The park is OG

The original park where you know Walt once walked around is always a nice feeling to have. Looking at the 2nd story of the Firehouse and knowing Mr. Disney himself stayed there is a powerful attraction to have.

The Cons:

1) Worse rides

Peter Pan and Splash Mountain pale in comparison to the ones at Disney World. 

2) Less rides

I know there's a statistic out there that states Disneyland has more "attractions" than World but it simply isn't the truth. So many attractions at Disneyland fall short of the myriad things you can do in Florida.

3) Downtown Disney

Sucks compared to Disney World, in a big way too. This was a huge disappointment during our trip.

As you can see however, the good outweighs the bad and even though I have no desire to return any time soon I'm glad we went!