Twelve O'Clock Links

Jesse Walker | January 26, 2009

* How Gitmo got worse.

* Julian Sanchez imagines virtual picket lines.

* Steven Johnson prefers modern video games to Sorry, Battleship, and Candy Land.

* Bill Kauffman finds the regionalist in Kurt Vonnegut.

* George W. Bush's farewell song.

Comments

robc|1.26.09 @ 12:04PM|#

I prefer modern board games to Sorry, Battleship and Candy Land too.

Puerto Rico
Power Grid
Wiz-War (okay, not really modern, in that I had to make my own copy because Chessex was too imcompentent to put out a remake that people were begging for)
etc, etc.

</|1.26.09 @ 12:07PM|#

Cosmotarians prefer Mystery Date.

robc|1.26.09 @ 12:08PM|#

Okay, after skimming the SJ link:

1. CandyLand is aimed at 2 year olds. There arent strategic choices for a reason.

2. Mostly correct on Battleship, although there are some search patterns strategies to it. Hence, my reference above to modern boardgames with actual strategic elements to it (although PR and PG might be too deep for a 7 year old). So, replace Battleship with Ticket to Ride instead.

|1.26.09 @ 12:30PM|#

5 Million Green Jobs in the US - pretty cool. Does anyone believe that this will work. I submitted my resume on this site and can't believe there are jobs available. Go Green Go USA and please pray for Obama and our country.

Taktix®|1.26.09 @ 12:37PM|#

Computer Nazi's won't let me get to many of those links, so let me know if anything's worth reading.

Fanks!

Taktix®|1.26.09 @ 12:40PM|#

You want a kick-ass board game, Google "Settlers of Katan"

(Can't provide link for the above stated reason...)

robc|1.26.09 @ 12:49PM|#

Taktix,

Settlers is so 1990s. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Settlers kicked off the modern game board resurgence, and while good, it isnt "kick-ass" anymore.

robc|1.26.09 @ 12:50PM|#

boardgamegeek.com Top 50

Ska|1.26.09 @ 1:39PM|#

Tactics II and Squad Leader (as well as the expansions) were my first truly awesome tabletop game experiences. I couldn't have been older than 10 when I started with SL. I also played Civilization, Gunslinger, and Gladiator from Avalon Hill's games. A lot of Warhammer, Warhammer 40K, and D&D to round out the dorkiness - when I wasn't playing Zork, any of the strategic control the populace games, or just plain old Pitfall.

Uh....I don't think I have a point other than I played (and still play) a lot of games. I was also surprised to see go get a mention. I only started playing go 5 years ago. I like it more than chess - it's so much more abstract in the territory control and fighting.

How does the author feel about getting pwnd in CoD?

|1.26.09 @ 2:00PM|#

The total lack of control and the wild swings in fortune make Candyland THE best children's game to have money on while playing. The rest of the old-school games he mentioned suck.

If, like me, you're looking for something you can play with your spouse while watching TV, you could do a lot worse than Lost Cities.

Also, the Gitmo article was very interesting.

JD|1.26.09 @ 2:42PM|#

robc,

Your boardgames are so 2000s. I prefer backgammon. It's so 2000 BC.

Taktix®|1.26.09 @ 4:40PM|#

Wasn't there an entry on StuffWhitePeopleLike.com about playing childhood games like Candyland?

I'd find the link, but, as I stated...

lunchstealer|1.27.09 @ 5:00PM|#

Your boardgames are so 2000s. I prefer backgammon. It's so 2000 BC.

I split the difference, with my '60s style board games. At BGG Con this year, my wife picked up a good-condition copy of Afrika Corps for $5 at the swap meet. Ah the smell of cardboard and the small-print full-page combat results table - good times.

john bower|1.31.09 @ 9:18AM|#

Found another site that might help as well What are Green Jobs. Not much reading and well organized videos. Heck I felt like an expert after being on this site for 20 minutes. http://www.whataregreen.org