Two weeks in a ROW? C'est incroyable!
Yes my dears, I am back to provide you with a little providential pandemic pantomime, just a simple spoonful of sunshiney joy to help you get through another week of Covid-19 isolation.
Here’s a few things I hope might help:
Bored Games
I am a bit of a board game aficionado, which I wasn’t always. The fate of a youngest sibling with many elder rivals is to spend childhood being humiliated at Monopoly, Go Fish, Jenga, Candyland, and my particular nemesis, Slap Jack (small hands and undeveloped reflexes are a curse.)
But these days, I greatly enjoy cracking out some adventurous board games, and am a frequent haunter of GameHaus, a fantastic board game cafe in Glendale that I sincerely hope survives the pandemic, for their root beer float cake alone. This has allowed me to discover a lot of random games that are great, played in less than an hour, and do not involve 17000 armies or a billion samurai miniatures (if that’s your thing, cool, but it’s terrifying for the casual board gamer.) Here’s a few of my favorite, easily-accessible board games that are well worth your while during the quarantine. Bear in mind that while many of these are available via amazon/target/big stores, now is a GREAT time to check in with your local game and toy stores and see if they are open for online or mail orders. Support local, y’all.
Lost Cities
I’m giving you an ebay link to this one because the original game has been reissued with different artwork, and it SUCKS. Find the original card game, it’s not difficult, and be swept away by the simply gorgeous card artwork. You play an explorer, undertaking five different journeys to uncover spectacular hidden treasures - desert, underwater, volcanic, arctic, and jungle. At its heart its simply a draw-and-lay-down card game, as you try to rack up the most steps toward each treasure, but the stunning art and the simple strategy make this a fantastic two-player time-sucker.
Forbidden Island
Looking for a cooperative game with your kids? This team game allows you to work together to recover four artifacts and get off a mystical and tropical island before it sinks! Each player gets a role with a different special ability, and the game allows constant communication throughout (allowing you to guide newer or younger players in their actions.) You do die a lot, but this one has great replay value and can be increased or decreased in difficulty to match player confidence.
Lanterns: The Harvest Festival
Sometimes you just need a game that’s pretty and soothing, and Lanterns is a lovely meditative game. Playable by up to 4, you are tasked with laying out the lanterns in a beautiful pattern for the Harvest Festival - essentially, you’re matching card colors, and it’s a simple and fun game. This is great for just about anyone, and it’s even better with a cup of tea and some atmospheric music. A trip to the spa in a game box.
Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective
My writing partner and I discovered this reissued classic on a Gamehaus trip, and one case quickly led me to buy my own copy. We’ve roped my husband in and have made our Sherlock nights a regular event; this is a fantastic game for roommates who want the boxed equivalent of an escape room. You play as proteges of Sherlock Holmes, following up on a crime the Maestro is too busy to investigate. With a casebook, a map, and an address directory, you wind your way through Victorian London to solve a mystery and all its associated smaller mysteries. While some of the game is a little dated (there’s some language in there that will definitely make you cringe,) the mysteries are genuinely hard and often have all three of us shouting at Sherlock Holmes to get off his ass and help. It’s a completely engrossing game that can take anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours, depending on the complexity of the case. A TON of fun for anyone who enjoys challenging puzzles.
High School Snackpocalypse
Last night on twitter, I asked folks if their high schools had a particular cafeteria food that in retrospect was extremely strange. I was remembering fondly many many hours of leaning on the wall outside the music building with my white paper bag of bread and cup of ranch, but well, that turns out to have been a very pedestrian food oddity.
It turns out other schools did, in fact, have their own beloved and bizarre foods. MANY of them. Like these obscene pork tenderloin sandwiches. Fed to CHILDREN:
BRB, building a time machine:
The legendarily famous Cheese Zombies:
There were several votes for the Kansas classic (I guess??) of Chili and Cinnamon rolls. As in, you dip the rolls into beef chili. I kinda get this.
Many MANY people brought up octagonal “Mexican” tortilla-chip pizzas, also called Fiestadas. Yuck.
But the most fondly remembered weird high school snack across the board? Almost completely raw chocolate chip cookies. We had these, too!
Ahh, Youth.
New Podcast!!
Would you like to know how our animal friends are surviving coronavirus? This week, I talked to carnivore keeper Annemarie Bartholomew of the Topeka Zoo and Conservation Center. In addition to expressing our mutual love of chocolate milk, Annemarie gave me pretty fascinating insights into how zoos care for their animals during a pandemic, and what you can learn from animals that might help you survive your time in captivity as well. Plus, a tiger fact that literally blew my mind. Please give a listen and a share!
Take care and stay safe. Keep being voices in the wildnerness for each other!