Month: September 2017

10 Days in the USA

We had a test in Social Studies on the 50 states earlier this week, so, to help me study, Mom pulled out a game called 10 Days in the USA.10 Days in the USA

In 10 Days in the USA, you are trying to draw cards for your trip that can be arranged in an actual trip format. You can walk across the border, drive through a state, or hop a plane to a state of the same color. Both the cars and the planes take up a day of travel each.

I appreciate the education that comes from this game. This education is greatly enhanced by the little blurb about one of the given state’s most notable attractions.

Ironically, the day after I played this with my mother, we did something similar in Social Studies. It was quite amusing.

Make sure to read up on the rules for Alaska and Hawaii, as I found those both a little confusing first time around.

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Eyes of the Jungle

Eyes of the Jungle is a cooperative game where there are 8 artifacts that all have to get back to their spaces, but they’re blocked by obstacles. This little difficulty is especially amplified by the way the board is set up: the obstacles, remedies and artifacts are all mixed together and then placed face-down, so you don’t know whether you’re going to pick up an obstacle, which then has to be placed in its numbered space, a remedy, which is saved until you decide to use it in order to remove an obstacle, or an artifact, which stays in place and must move one space at a time towards its destination.Eyes of the Jungle

I enjoy the mechanics of this game, particularly the remedies. We did end up adding a couple obstacles to some of the remedies so that they made sense, and so that each obstacle had at least 1 way to clear it. That said, even with the additions, it’s still pretty hard.

The reason it is so challenging is because there are way more obstacles than remedies. I appreciate that, even as a game meant for young(ish) children, it’s actually pretty easy to lose.

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Harry Potter Trivia!

For all of the Potterheads like me out there, it turns out there is now a Harry Potter Trivia game! I found it at Hot Topic when I was spending some gift cards I got for my birthday.Harry Potter Trivial Pursuit

The questions were in six categories, each assigned to a different color: The Dark Arts: Purple; Hogwarts: Blue; Magical Spells & Potions: Pink; Magical Objects: Orange; Magical People: Yellow; and Animals & Magical Creatures: Green. Questions in a category could range from “What creature did Hagrid introduce to the class during his first lesson?” to “What type of dragon does Cedric Diggory face in the first task of the Triwizard Tournament?”.

For my first game, I played with Mom, but then she had to go make dinner. Luckily, one of the perks of this game is that you can play it by yourself, too. Be forewarned: some of the questions are very hard.

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N-Day

I realize I already did a post on NationStates, but I feel the need to mention N-Day.

N-Day is an event that just happened in NationStates, where for 24 hours the users are given production, specialties and the ability to nuke each other. To do this, you have to be in a faction, which is usually formed by the region you are in.

Z-DayOnce you are in a faction, you can start using your production points to make nukes or shields. Which of these you make may strategically depend on what your specialty is: military, economic, or strategic (defense). You can always choose to make whichever one isn’t your specialty, though.

The picture above is of another event, called Z-Day, where instead of a nuclear apocalypse, there are zombies. You have three initial options: find a cure, kill them, or let them become a part of your population. I personally opted for the first option.

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