Finally, some gaming going on!

I know, I know -- I haven't posted in ages. There hasn't been much to post about, at least on this blog. I've spent more time living and reading than playing games. However, the urge to game has been waking up slowly. Here's how I've been satisfying that urge:

--The online Scrabble playing is still going on. M and I have been playing a Flash game called Scrabble Sprint to see who can get the higher score. So far, my personal best is 336 points. M is beating me, but my Scrabble-champion sister is behind us both so I feel better :-).

--I've gone back to playing games at It's Your Turn. They have variations of classic games like checkers, chess, Go, and Reversi. Like many sites, you can play for free or you can pay a fee for more privileges. This site has never been overwhelmingly popular, but there used to be a lot more players. I think the player base has gone down because non-members are now limited 15 moves a day; it used to 50. I like the clean layout of the site a lot, but there isn't enough traffic these days for me to consider paying for it. I'll accept a game from anyone who wants to try it out. My username is daniinnc.

--We didn't BBQ on Labor Day, but ABM invited a few friends over to play games. I guess he has been jonesing for a little table time, too :-). We played Have You Herd? and Huggermugger. This game session made me feel old because M sat down to play with us and ABM didn't object. Usually, he only lets one of the kids join us if they are helping to teach the grownups a new game. This time, he let M stay as if she was one of the adults. It was the equivalent of moving up from the kids' table at Thanksgiving.

Have You Herd? is the American version of a World War II-era game called Super Farmer. It is pretty simple; you roll the dice and try to get one of each animal to win. To get the bigger animals, you have to trade your way up the line (five rabbits for one sheep, two sheep for one pig, etc.) and avoid rolling animals that will eat your herd. This is a great game for kids and fun for adults if everyone takes their turn really fast.

Huggermugger is a word trivia game that I bought back in the late 1980s. I'm pretty sure that it is out of print. M discovered it on the shelves and it is her current favorite. However, ABM and I figured out a long time ago that if I play this game against our friends, it results in a massacre. What I lack in skill when it comes to strategy games, I more than make up for it in word and trivia games. The questions in this particular game involve spelling words, unscrambling words, defining words, and identifying the proper word for a sentence. It isn't bragging for me to say that I am better at all these categories than the people we usually play with, so it isn't a fair fight. A word game that involves a bit of luck, strategy, or stealing levels the playing field.