Japan through my eyes

My cat has been doing all sorts of funny things, like sleeping in my Dominion box insert, or sleeping on the printer and watching me type on my laptop.  I'm pretty sure that box insert is might uncomfortable, but I guess he wanted to get in on the action.  So with the magic of green screen my Android phone and PicSayPro, the Board Game Guardian was born.  Then while I was spending my first Christmas on BGG, I joined up with the wonderful Christmas card exchange , and also joined in on the 2011 BGG Supporter Badge Drive which was a lot of fun.  That inspired me to start up Secret Santa with my board gaming friends, and my cat, Android phone, and PicSay Pro decided to get in on the action. So until next time - as the Board Game Guardian says "Mewy Christmas!"

I received my brand new copy of Fresco...and when I opened it up...and to my horror... It looked like a 2nd hand game, that was well used.  More than 1 corner of the inside box were all torn up.  The corners of the board were all squashed He only has 1 leg and the corner of the box is torn. I guess receiving a game in this condition really disheartening.  It does make me think twice about where I buy games from.  I was really excited about this game, but the condition of the game does affect my feelings for it slightly.  I contacted the company but ......after 4 months I gave up.  I'll just write it off as being unlucky. Maybe next year I'll have more luck with my games.

Once upon a time, there were games that supposedly used your imagination and story telling skills...but they were...meh! Upon watching The Dice Tower's review of Dixit, I thought I should see what the hype was all about.  The hype was worth it! I brought out this game with my newly formed gaming group of non gamers & gamer friends and it was quite a hit.  I thought that I would be quite good at this game then found out it was the opposite.  I'm too obvious!  Too predictable!  Too easy to read!  May I never play in a professional poker tournament. Game Play in a Nutshell: The game takes up to 6 players.  You can play with 3 players, and that seemed to work quite well in my group.  Everyone chooses a color and get's their voting tokens and wooden rabbit scoring piece.  They get dealt 6 cards each.  The storyteller chooses 1 card and says a word/sentence/question/makes a gesture about that card.  The other players choose a card that fits that description as close as

After reading and watching reviews about this game, I was hyped up and wanted to own a copy of it.  I tracked down a copy on Amazon Japan, and clicked purchase.  But I wasn't able to bring it to the gaming table.  I wasn't sure how receptive my friends would be of this "tunnel laying" game.  The idea of just laying down tiles to form a path to the gold, gave me the impressions of Waterworks or a game of Dominos.  Didn't seem as fun as what the reviews made it out to be. Boy was I wrong. After about 4 months of this game sitting on my shelf, and almost getting it played a couple of times, I finally played it with the Northside Gamers.  We played with 4 players, and it was a lot of fun.  It did remind me of Werewolf with the hidden Saboteur role.  I was secretly hoping I would be a saboteur (I love playing the baddie) and luckily I was able to play one in one of the 3 rounds. Game Play in a Nutshell: The game plays quickly over 3 rounds.  Everyone gets dealt a

I found a new game to play! Who will play with me? This out of print game is a gem.  After randomly stumbling upon a review of this game on BGG, and discovering it was Out Of Print. I decided to track it down.   I liked the theme and the mechanics.  In the land of the Rising Sun - Japan, I thought it would be impossible but I was wrong.  My FLGS (I'm going to call it Foreign Local Gaming Store as it sells Foreign=English games) sold it. I haven't played Citadels, but the mechanics are quite unique, and this is a game I will keep in my collection, not because it's OOP - Out of Print, but because I really enjoy the guessing aspect.   The game plays in such a short time, 30-45 minutes, but it has quite a lot of strategy involved.  There is a lot of out-witting the other players, and trying to guess what cards they might play. Game Play in a Nutshell: The aim of the game win the most points / victory points by brewing potions.  The game ends when there are 4 raven card

I finally got a copy of Cosmic Encounter, thanks to H for bringing it back from America.  I had heard a lot of amazing reviews about this game, so had a lot of high expectations. Once I opened the box, I was in awe of the amazing components.  The alien space ships were great, everything was beautifully packaged.   The board pieces were so beautiful.  Bringing the game out on game night was so easy. We played one round Cosmic Encounter first, and it only took a few rounds to get into the game.  We didn't use any flares just as the instructions recommended for new players.  It was a lot of fun.  I was a Parasite!!! and it took me half the game to work out that I was the weird snail thing, on top of the Pacifist's head.  It was quite hilarious.  The parasite is awesome the cool looking alien on the cover of the box.  What a coincidence.  There was a lot of ganging up on the player who seemed to be winning, and it was great.  We all invited everyone to join our alliances, and

Panic!  Panic!  There's a Virus on my shelf in the form of a board game, and it's called Pandemic, and it's infected my brain with it's board gamey addictiveness.  Yes there is a game called Cranium, and one called Pandemic... I've started up my old hobby from Oz, rock climbing, and board games have taken up the other part of my brain.  Exercise for my brain and body.  Perfect!  Now to find people to play with... .1 minute later ... yah I found a handful :) plus 40 more. Last year (in Japan), I really didn't do much socialwise.  I came home and lesson planned, and on the weekend more planning, and cleaning house and the like.  But this year I've decided I need to make time to do things I enjoy, get out, make new friends, less facebooking, join the living, and start doing things that I would in Australia.  I guess I was treating Japan like limbo/still like I was a temporary visitor.  But I've lived here long enough.  I should really LIVE here, and act

About a month ago, my friends and I played a game called Bang! and it was a blast!  Hilarious, and lots of fun.  It reminded me of the Werewolf game, so I started to do some browsing about what other fun games were around. Then I stumbled upon  The Dice Tower 's podcast and The Dice Tower on Youtube .  It really opened my world up to Euro games, which are amazing!!!!!! Wow, I really have missed out on playing these cool board games that Tom Vassal reviews.  Remember the old monopoly? throw that away.  Remember how fun Risk was?  I do. I already have a few card games with me in Japan, which I bought for teaching at Eikaiwa.  - Clue, the card game - The worst case senario card game -  Pictureka card game Monopoly, the card game - and good ol Trumps, also in the non card game category, I brought over - Pictionary - Cranium - Operation I used Operation a few times, and monopoly the card game, but the others just sat in my collection.  I guess none of my friends are really

It was bitter sweet leaving Australia again, not sure what would be awaiting me back in Japan. I got to the airport at 3:30am and we waited outside til the airport opened at 4.  The flight times were changed so we all got food vouchers, and I used it to get a meat pie.  YUM!  sometimes I crave Aussie food. There were a lot of Japanese HS students, and the reps from Kanto's University women's lacross team.  The plane was pretty full, but I had a spare seat next to me, I was able to stretch out a bit.  The movies I watched were; Narnia - The Dawn Trader, HereAfter. I was quite surprised, Qantas was quite good this time.  The food was great, one air hostess was great, he was so friendly and cracked a lot of jokes.   Because of all the Japan Fukushima issues, our plane was diverted to Hong Kong, where some people got off, and the crew changed.  All my language studies paid off.  I was able to listen and understand 4 different languages.  You can call me Universal Translator

My friends and family have been taking me out to eat every day since I've been home.  It's a lot of eating. Yum. Here are some photos.

So many things are going on in the world today.  It's sad, and heartbreaking.   But here's something we can do to help the environment.  This is an initiative from my hometown Sydney, Australia that is now spanning the globe.  Please join in if you can, and for 1 hour, switch off your lights, or reduce your electricity.  Let's pray for all those in Japan and show our support. "At 8:30 PM on Saturday 26th March 2011, lights will switch off around the globe for Earth Hour and people will commit to actions that go beyond the hour. With Earth Hour almost upon us, our thoughts are with the people of Japan during this incredibly challenging and sad time for their country. 日本の皆さん、勇気を持って頑張って下さい"

Edited to provide more information:   This was right after the March 11th Earthquake in 2011.  A lot of people had similar experiences. I managed to catch the bus half way home.  When I got to the station there were thousands of people at the station.  All the nearby buildings were all evacuated.  Everyone was on the street.  Having no money & no idea of the extent of the damage etc, I decided to try find an ATM.  I walked from station to station trying to find a working one.  Still not knowing what had really happened I went to the ENT clinic.  They also didn't know the extent of what had happened, as they were still operating.  At that point I really wished I knew more Japanese so I could ask.  Still having no idea, I thought the trains should be up and running again, but it was starting to get dark.  It was freezing.  My phone was running out of battery, I was stuck and didn't know how to get home.  All I could do was ask people for directions to the next station, an