Tired of MySpace? Roll Your Own!

I've never been interested in joining sites like MySpace or Facebook, partly because they are too general. I looked around MySpace and didn't see anything to do. Half the people don't update their blogs so there isn't anything to read, and I am not into randomly befriending people. Even my teenage daughter M found MySpace dull. So when Ravelry, a social network for knitters and crocheters, I was ecstatic. It gave me a place to discuss patterns and yarns as well as seeing what else other people are knitting. There aren't many social networks that are devoted to specific groups, though. That's where sites like SocialGO come in.

SocialGO is a social network builder. It is owned by Bright Things, a company created by former executives of the video game company Eidos. It is similar to Ning, although I like the look of SocialGO better. My eldest daughter M's high school has a website that is rarely updated. I could see her starting a private page for herself and her band geek friends. It would also be great if you were running a game group and wanted to have an online spot where members could keep up with events. SocialGO seems to have all the functions that either group would want: instant messaging, profiles, forums, photo and video sharing, and communal blogging.

SocialGO has free or premium options. The big difference between the two is advertising. If you don't mind SocialGO running ads on your network, then go for the free option. If you want your site to be ad-free or if you want to make a little change by putting your own ads on the site, then you can sign up for a premium account. A paid account will also get a few bonus features like live video and audio chat.

Currently, SocialGO is in a closed beta testing phase. If you would like to sign up for the beta, leave a message in the comments and I will email you the code. If you start an account now, you get to use all the premium features for free until 01 January 2009.

Brought to you by your friends at www.socialgo.com

Board Game Night with Sis

I'm in GA visiting my sister and her family. Usually when we visit, it is for a special occasion and there is a strict timetable; in fact, we were here a few weeks' ago for my niece's Sweet 16 weekend. However, I wanted us to have a visit where we could just sit around, eat, and play games. So here we are!

My sister K and her husband AJ are big on Scrabble, but they don't play much else. They don't even keep a deck of cards in the house! When we showed up this weekend, I was surprised to find that they bought another game -- Catchphrase. The quickest way to describe Catchphrase is that it is similar to Taboo but with fewer restrictions on what you can say or do to get your team to guess the word. The game goes so quickly that we were able to play three times in a row. I have to admit that I was getting a little bored by the third game, though. Party games are fun to me as a warm-up, but I find that most people like to play them way more than I do. Still, I was glad to see my sister branching out.

ABM's choice of game for the evening was Landlord!. Gameplay took an hour, which was longer than I expected. The first game we played with our neighbors only took half that time. The extended gameplay in this case probably had something to do with K and AJ's playing style. My sister and her husband are rather analytical players, so they had extensive questions every time ABM and I laid down a card. They've never played a hobby game, either, so some of the game mechanics were unusual to them. K kept shaking her head and saying, "Who comes up with a game like this?" Overall, though, I believe they enjoyed Landlord!. They certainly got into the theme, being property owners themselves.

We still have one more game night, and I think we will either play Pounce or Word Thief. That is, unless AJ wants to play Landlord! again. I won last night, but he came in a close second. He would have beaten me if he had listened to DJ, who was coaching him. I think that AJ may want a rematch :-).

Landlord

Landlord! is a card game designed by Friedmann Friese for 2-6 players. It was published in 1992 and distributed here in the US by Rio Grande Games. For my friends who are new to hobby gaming, this is a game you would most likely have to order online if you don't have a specialty gaming shop in your area. I bought mine from Amazon for $12. Board Game Geek has a more in-depth explanation of the gameplay; below you will find my impression of the game.

As the name suggests, the basic idea of this game is being a land owner. Each person builds apartments and tries to fill them with wealthy tenants, while putting the deadbeats in their neighbors' apartments. You can also blow up other landlords' buildings, but don't get caught without an alibi!



There are two unusual game mechanics in this game. One is that each card does double-duty. You can turn the card on one side to use it as one of the apartments in your building, but that means you can't take advantage of whatever is on the other side. It could be a tenant, an alibi, or a chance to cheat another player out of his rent. So with every turn, you have to decide how each card would benefit you most. The other twist is that you have to pay money to draw cards. This causes more decision-making because you win by having the most money at the end of the game. You don't want to buy more cards than necessary and deplete your bankroll.

The card art is in a slightly grungy, black-and-white cartoon style. It is my understanding that earlier versions were a bit vulgar, and you may read that in reviews. However, the Rio Grande set that I got is perfectly child-safe -- other than the fact that you can blow up a building or murder a tenant, of course. At least the alibi cards don't picture an orgy like the ones in the German set! The cards themselves are not flimsy, which is a good thing because my kids also like playing this game. As for other components, I would recommend the use of poker chips or paper money. My copy of Landlord didn't come with anything to use for money, and I don't like keeping score on paper. I have two incomplete copies of Monopoly, so I borrowed the money from that. If you want something that matches the art style of the game, you can download this file and print your own money.

Landlord! is less complicated than Bang!, but it is still more complicated than any other game I've attempted with my adult gaming partners. The information on all the cards is in English (at least in the Rio Grande version) and there are no strange symbols to interpret. I think the theme elements of building apartments and collecting rent are more intuitive than pretending to be cowboys, so the game flowed more easily even when we flubbed the rules.

ABM, my husband, likes Monopoly and I wanted to find a game with a similar theme that could be played in less time. Also, I wanted something that had a board game feel but with a card game price :-). I think this fit the bill. It takes us about 35 minutes to play, but that might decrease once everyone is a bit more familiar with the rules.

Puzzle Hero

Puzzle Hero is a casual game published by Genimo Interactive. You play a warrior girl looking for her brother Tristan who has been kidnapped. You battle monsters along the way by playing a match-3 game. Different actions play out on the top half of the screen depending on what type of item you match. Sound familiar?

It is difficult not to call Puzzle Hero a simplified version of Puzzle Quest because that is what it feels like. Some areas benefit from being pared down. For instance, I understand my powers and my opponent's powers more easily in Puzzle Hero. There is only one kind of mana in this game, instead of the four different types in Puzzle Quest. Collect enough mana and cast a spell -- easy as pie. I also like actually seeing my character attack the opponent instead of having a static headshot in the corner.

There are downsides to a simple game, as well. There isn't much of a story. I played for an hour and after about 15 minutes I forgot that I was supposed to be searching for my brother. I just felt like I was battling monsters. There is a salon and shop in Puzzle Hero, but the salon doesn't have that many choices and isn't really worth visiting. The shop has some items that increase your defenses but I didn't feel like my character was much stronger after I bought them.

I would say that if you have never played Puzzle Quest, you might enjoy Puzzle Hero. Unlike me when I was her age, C2 actually finishes video games and she does it rather quickly. She likes playing variations on a theme, as well. I can see her running through Puzzle Hero and then wanting to try more of the same, so then I can hand her Puzzle Quest. As for me, Puzzle Hero started feeling like Diner Dash or some of those other casual games. I will drop in when I have a craving for Bejeweled-style action, but I don't feel compelled to finish it.

Thank Goodness for Board Game Geek!

ABM had to do some last-minute shopping for a birthday party the twins are going to tomorrow. Rather than guess which Hannah Montana/High School Musical/Jonas Brothers item the birthday girl didn't have, ABM decided to pick up a couple card games. As usual, he shopped without me and then expected me to give him info about his choices over the phone. That's where having Board Game Geek available really helped out. It took me no time at all to steer ABM away from a bad choice and over to a better one. I wish that all my research online could be this easy.

Kingdom Of Loathing

Disco Bandits, Seal Clubbers, Turtle Tamers, Pastamancers, Accordion Thieves, and Saucerors. What do all of these things have in common? Well, aside from being some rather odd titles, they are classes in the free online game Kingdom of Loathing. KOL is an turn-based RPG where you can go on odd quests in very strange places such as the Misspelled Cemetery in the Plains and the Sleazy Back Alley on the Wrong Side Of The Tracks. All of the art in this role-playing game was hand drawn by the creators. Some of the pieces might seem crappy while others are downright hilarious.


Once you register and pick your class (I'm a Disco Bandit), then you go find you very first quest at -- get this -- Mt. Noob. Yes, you will be insulted by a mountain. After you finish the quests you are given by The Toot Oriole, you go to the city council for most of the rest of your quests. The game screen for KOL consists of three separate sections. There is one for your stats, one for game play, and one for chat. The stats section shows your screen name, level and the title that goes with that level depending on your class. It shows your Muscle level, your Mysticality level, and your Moxie level. It also shows your HP (health points), MP (for Seal Clubbers and and Turtle Tamers that is Muscularity points, for Pastamancers and Saucerors it's Mana points, and for Disco Bandits and Accordion Thieves it's Mojo points), meat, and adventures. There are a couple of ways to get more HP, eating and sleeping at your campsite. MP is based directly on how much Mysticality a character has. Now, you might be wondering why you would need to know how much meat you have. Well, let me tell you, it's not for cooking! Meat is the currency in KOL represented by a little, and might I say well-drawn, steak.


Since KOL is such an addictive game, the creators needed a way to stop people from playing constantly and getting too far into the game at once. They use two methods to do this. One of them is the amount of adventures they give you each day. Adventures are your turns, and there are certain things you can only do if you have adventures. However, as I'm sure you've already guessed, there must be a way to get more adventures each day, and there are multiple ways. The ones most commonly known are eating and . . . drinking booze. But don't drink too much because, just like in the real world, if you drink too much you get too drunk to do anything.


To enter the chat you first have to pass a simply literacy test. From then on all you have to do once you log on is click "Enter Chat" in the chat screen and everything should be fine. If you have a funky system, then you can revert back to the old chat system. Now, I'd like to warn you that the ages of the people in the chat go over 35. If you're thinking about letting your kids play this game, I would suggest that they be at least 13-15 years old and that they keep the profanity filter on for the chat.


I would recommend this game to kids in high school and maybe middle school if they're pretty mature. It's a pretty fun game and I've been playing it almost every day since I signed up for it. I think my mom might regret recommending it, because I'm addicted and I admit it!

Welcoming another contributor

My 15-year-old daughter, who is referred to as Mimipink or M, will begin writing for Average Girl Plays. She loves to write, so I thought this would give her a place to hone her skills. I tend to give all my kids supplemental work during the summer, but M has outgrown the workbooks I give the younger kids.

I must admit that I have a selfish reason for recruiting M, as well. I want this blog to continue, but at the moment M has more time to play games and write about them than I do. She fits into the "average girl" theme of the blog because she isn't a hardcore gamer. I still want this blog to be about how people who aren't boardgame hobbyists or hardcore gamers view the new stuff that's out there. We are family gamers; we play within the family or with other families on the block. It makes sense to me to get the kids' perspective, and M can help with that.

Anyway, this blog needs new life and M is definitely lively. My hope is that you will enjoy M's work. Her first post should be this week, so watch for it!