Snowman

Just in case you were tired of board game stuff... we made a snowman.

World Championship of Balloon Art

This was an unexpected highlight of the gaming expo... I did not even know that there was such a thing as competitive balloon art. Had I known about this, my career may have followed a really different path. I have always had a deep and almost disturbing love of balloon animals.
Around the balloon area were some very impressive looking "heads" on the post. Clearly political correctness and racial sensitivity was not too high on the the priority list, but other than that I think these look pretty amazing.
I also liked these very very large monkey in a tree and buzzard on a cactus ones. They were about as tall as I was.
Still not impressed? Well how about the cast of the Looney Toons cartoons?
Or the six foot tall Dinosaur skeleton?
For me the ultimate in AWESOME was the life sized BBQ, complete with a full range of cooking food. Everything from roast chickens to corn on the cob was on there, and on the side were BBQ tools as well. Even the grill was on there with little balloon coals underneath. wow. I have never wanted to be a balloon artist more than when I saw this very display.
They were also running some workshops where they showed the crowd how to do some simple animals. This group was doing a dog. Not to brag, but I already mastered the balloon dog years ago and felt I could sit this one out.Like I said, this was an unexpected treasure and real highlight of the show for me. I am not sure if I have ever seen so much awesome in one place before. As years go by and people tell me about great world destinations and events they have seen... Taj Mahal, Grand Canyon, or the Eiffel Tower, I think they will all pale in the memory of these balloon world championships. Indeed, I would rather see balloon forms of most of the worlds great landmarks.

Southern German Board Game Expo - part 4

I wanted to look for games for the little people. I love board games, and I hope that one day Liam will play with me, but at the moment he needs something a little more simple. Claudia had bought him a couple of little people games that he really likes, and I wanted to see what else was on the horizon.

I saw a few things that I think Liam could already enjoy or at least would be able to partake of fairly soon.

First up I saw this booth selling "Balloon Balls." Think of them as a sort of pillow case shaped for an ordinary balloon. When filled up, they make a pretty great indoor ball. The case adds enough weight and toughness that you can really whack it around, yet it is light enough that it will not break any indoor things too easily. On top of all that, it was only 3 Euro. I bought the green and white one for Liam and he has enjoyed it lots already. Yesterday he and hit little friend were playing football in the living room with Claudia and the giggles I heard indicated success.
Next there was a booth for specialized wooden blocks. What made these blocks special is that they have channels and tunnels carved into them so that you can make a sort of track, then drop a marble in the top and watch it roll through your sculpture to the bottom. This is not a new toy and I have seen it in the shops here for years. Like many wooden toys, they are a little pricey and I thought out of Liam's current skill range. It was neat to see an enormous dump of them here though and little kids were free to stop and dig right into the mess for a good play.
One more game suitable for the younger people was called "Weykick." I would describe this as sort of upside-down magnetic air hockey.... if that makes sense. This game came in 3 flavours, soccer, hockey and tennis. Naturally I tried out the hockey version.
Each player takes control of 1 or 2 players by moving magnets below the wooden playing table. The players themselves are magnetic and move in response. The players try to shoot a small puck (or ball in soccer game) into their opponents goal. The first player to score ten goals wins
I destroyed the guy running the booth. My table hockey skills are legendary. It was a fun game, but as with most hand made wooden things, pretty darn expensive. The cheapest model was about 120 Euro which I felt was too much. I think I would rather wait a little longer and buy a more traditional "rod-hockey" when Liam is a bit older. Everyone in Canada would know what I mean...Still plenty more expo action to come...

Southern German Board Game Expo - part 3

The next thing I saw was the Württemburg Chess Club. I quite like chess although have not played much in the last (many) years. I recall my good friend Rob Savelle teaching me to play when we were both young lads in Grade 2. I also recall that Rob could pretty consistently beat me, probably still can.
The interesting thing they had here was an Chess puzzle up on a big 1.5 metre board. I am very proud to say I was the first person in the expo to solve it. Here is the puzzle... White to mate in 1 move, take your guess in the comments and I will post the answer in a bit. I got my name entered in whatever contest they were running by solving it, so who knows, after the expo I may have a prize on the way.
Right next to the Chess club was the Go club, where they were playing/teaching on some really beautiful sets. I would love to have one for decoration. I think chess/go sets are one of the few games that you can leave out on display as an object of art.
Stay tuned, I have plenty more to come. The awesome is just getting started.

Southern German Board Game Expo - part 2

Upon entering Hall 6, It was a lot like I was expecting. I have been to quite a few trade shows over the years and the set up is pretty standard. Booths of various sizes, either from game publishers promoting their own products, or game resellers selling a wider range.

The first booth I visited was Asmodee games, a French company, but I linked to the US site in case anyone is interested. They were mainly featuring two new games; Formula D, a car racing game, and Ghost Stories, a ghost hunting game.

Formula D is a remake of the older Formula de, a game I was always interested in checking out. It is a roll and move game on a big racetrack, but with really beautiful parts. I say roll and move, but the mechanic is made interesting by using different dice to represent different gears.
The board has two sides, one for Formula 1 type racing and one for street racing. They are two huge fold out boards that join together into an enormous track. It looks awesome. here is the setup on the Formula 1 side, it is the real life Monaco track. I am sure they will release expansion boards of other famous tracks (the old Formula de did anyway...)
Here is an extreme close up of a (street racing) car and one of the special dice.
Each player also gets a little gear box which shows what gear you are in, and consequently which movement dice you should roll on your turn. It also shows "points" which represent damage to your car. If you have collisions or do some risky moves, it damages the car and hurts your ability to win.
I played a round of this in the "beginner" flavour and it was really fun. It was 35 euro though and I could not really justify spending that much money on a game I just tried the one time. It was also my first game of the show and I just logged it in my head as one to think about later. Here are some of my opponents in the demo.
The other game Asmodee was promoting was called Ghost Stories.
This one took the cake for most impressive display. They had a 3D super fancy version set up to show off some awsomeness. As much as I like displays like this, they kind of generate a misleading impression of the game. Compare the next two photos, the AWSOME next to what the game actually looks like.
The Game itself is a Co-operative one (you all work together against the game) in which the players try to banish evil spirits haunting a town in some eastern mythological land. Being a co-op game, you all win together or lose together.

I did not play this one, there were no groups starting up and it looked like it would take a little longer than I wanted to spend on that booth. I do say it had one of the most impressive displays around though.

That is it for my first booth. If you are interested in the game, go check out the publisher's site or boardgamegeek, both give good coverage.

SÜDDEUTSCHE SPIELEMESSE!

So, this past Thursday I took the afternoon off work to go to a board game show. I know it is nerdy, but I know what I like right?

This is advertised as Southern Germany's biggest games convention. Of course this is because the biggest one in Germany (and I think the world) is in Essen and just finished. This was my first visit and I have to say I was blown away with how great it was. I am even thinking about going back on the weekend...

So, as it was the first day, it was a special offer of only FIVE EURO to get in and see all the exhibitions, you can click for links to the pages, but I think they are only in German:

Southern Germany Board Game Exposition
Hobby and Electronic Exposition - Computers and Video Games
Southern Model Builders and Trains - Trains, cars, planes, boats, rockets
Crafts World - arts and crafts
Home and Family - well, stuff for the home and family I imagine...

The Stuttgart Convention centre is brand new and I was looking for a reason to go and check it out. I cannot believe I have lived here so long and missed the chance to go and see this before now. I can promise I will be an annual guest for sure!

I arrived for the initial door opening at 14:00, the place looked a little deserted from the outside... Architecturally not all that interesting, but I think most convention halls could fit that category.
I strolled in the majestic front doors, expecting a big empty room, maybe a geek or two waiting to get in.
However it just seemed like I was the last guy from the parking lot to get in. The queues inside for tickets and entry were pretty substantial.
My ticket gave me entry to all the expos, but I was there for games and headed down the big hall for a long walk to building #6.
Take a deep breath and prepare yourselves, the next few days posts will be my coverage of the shows. If you don't like boardgames or other awesomeness, why not take a break from my web page and come back in a week or so.

Otherwise, get ready for some good good stuff.

A milestone in life

Well, last weekend I decided it was time for the next step in Liam's development.

ICE SKATING.

Any good boy with a scrap of Canadian in him needs to get out on the ice at some point and last weekend seemed like a good moment. I had a good feeling about it since Liam helped me pack my hockey equipment pretty often and he always likes to hold my "special shoes"

We drove over to the arena where I play for one of the public skating sessions. I actually had visions of epic failure as Liam is not the sort of kid who sticks with things when they are too difficult and skating is certainly a bit intimidating in the beginning.

First step was to go and rent some tiny tiny skates. They closed with buckles like those on ski boots, not laces like grown up ones.
Then we headed over and got all our gear on, you can see Claudia next to him tightening up her skates. She has a nice pair of figure skates that she bought while living in Canada. I of course have my goalie skates.
Then it was out on the ice. I held his hands to keep him on his feet the whole time. His feet were shooting out from under him in every direction and he was not too sure what was going on. a few times I would let him get down onto the ice and then he would sit there, laugh and yell at me "I'M SITTING ON THE ICE NOW."

It was a total hit, he liked the crazy legs, he liked the ice and he liked to go "so fast" when I helped him. After 30 min or so, he could stand reasonably well with support. Here are a couple of proud daddy with the ice boy. Look Dave, I am in TWO photos.

There is also some tiny skater support devices there that you can borrow. A 1 meter tall penguin with handles you can hold on to and push, and a chair with metal runners. We opted for the chair, so Liam could alternately skate pushing behind it, or sit on it and get a ride. This was also a big hit and he is still talking about how he "drove the chair so fast."

When it was time to go home, he held on to the rented skates and told us we needed to bring them home with us, and in the car he kept telling us that we had to go skating again tomorrow. I am sure we will go again quite soon, it is still a popular topic of chatter at breakfast.

Saint Martin's day

Well, Sept 11 is St Martin's day, something that has some fun elements for kids over here. As I bwrote about last year, little kids go out at night with lanterns on a stick and sing songs. Liam's kindergarten did this the other night and I went along and tried to take some fun photos.

I changed the sync on my flash to rear curtain, so I could try to get some neat effects of the light trailing behind the lanterns. I don't know if they would count as good photos or not, but I think the effect is pretty cool.

Here is Liam and our neighbour Annika, she is in the "red" group in kindergarten with him.
Liam and his pal Emil, the only boy his age on our street. They have many adventures.
Claudia was there with her lantern too. I think this one turned out quite well, you can see the movement blur and Claudia is still visible. Sometimes people end up looking pretty ghostly when I try this effect.
And finally one of the procession walking along the road.