Nerf N-Force Stampede ECS-50

A Google-a-Day Puzzle for Feb. 22

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 08:10:13 +0000

Our good friends at Google run a daily puzzle challenge and asked us to help get them out to the geeky masses. Each day’s puzzle will task your googling skills a little more, leading you to Google mastery. Each morning at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time you’ll see a new puzzle, and the previous day’s answer (in invisitext) posted here.

SPOILER WARNING:
We leave the comments on so people can work together to find the answer. As such, if you want to figure it out all by yourself, DON’T READ THE COMMENTS!

Also, with the knowledge that because others may publish their answers before you do, if you want to be able to search for information without accidentally seeing the answer somewhere, you can use the Google-a-Day site’s search tool, which will automatically filter out published answers, to give you a spoiler-free experience.

And now, without further ado, we give you…

TODAY’S PUZZLE:

Over the Hooghly River stands an iconic cantilever truss bridge that uses a surprising number of nuts and bolts. How many?

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER (mouseover to see):

Search [paid off U.S. debt] to find that President Andrew Jackson paid off the entire national debt in 1835. Search [Jackson national debt term] to learn that it was just over $58 million when he began his term.

Homepage photo: vinay g/Wikimedia

A Google-a-Day Puzzle for Feb. 21

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 09:05:23 +0000

SPOILER WARNING:
We leave the comments on so people can work together to find the answer. As such, if you want to figure it out all by yourself, DON’T READ THE COMMENTS!

And now, without further ado, we give you…

TODAY’S PUZZLE:

I once paid off the U.S. national debt. How much was it when I began my term?

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER (mouseover to see):

Search [New Zealand cave starry effect] to learn that the Waitomo Glowworm Cave is often described as having the appearance of a starry sky. Search [glowworm nitric oxide] to confirm that nitric oxide triggers the glowworms’ bright glow.

Homepage art: jason.kuffer/Flickr

A Google-a-Day Puzzle for Feb. 20

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 10:02:51 +0000

SPOILER WARNING:
We leave the comments on so people can work together to find the answer. As such, if you want to figure it out all by yourself, DON’T READ THE COMMENTS!

And now, without further ado, we give you…

TODAY’S PUZZLE:

What creature uses nitric oxide to produce the starry effect you see in a New Zealand cave?

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER (mouseover to see):

Search [jentaculum] to find that this is “breakfast” in the Latin of Ancient Rome. Search [hat Romans wore during Saturnalia] and learn that people wore a hat called a “pileus” (or “pilleus”).

A Google-a-Day Puzzle for Feb. 19

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 10:11:55 +0000

SPOILER WARNING:
We leave the comments on so people can work together to find the answer. As such, if you want to figure it out all by yourself, DON’T READ THE COMMENTS!

And now, without further ado, we give you…

TODAY’S PUZZLE:

You’ve just finished your “jentaculum” and are headed out when you suddenly remember it’s “Saturnalia”! You rush back home to put what on your head?

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER (mouseover to see):

Search for [measurement twinkling of an eye] Find that an “atomus,” once the smallest unit of time, is 1/376 of a minute, which equals 160 milliseconds. Search [20 minutes in milliseconds] to learn that it’s 1,200,000 milliseconds. Divide [1,200,000 / 160] to find it will take you 7,500 twinkles to get to the festival.

A Google-a-Day Puzzle for Feb. 18

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 10:50:52 +0000

SPOILER WARNING:
We leave the comments on so people can work together to find the answer. As such, if you want to figure it out all by yourself, DON’T READ THE COMMENTS!

And now, without further ado, we give you…

TODAY’S PUZZLE:

If it takes you 20 minutes to drive to a Renaissance festival, how long will that be in the medieval measurement of “the twinkling of an eye”?

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER (mouseover to see):

Search [supernova energy enemy]. Scan through the results and notice the word “foe,” meaning enemy. If you then search [foe supernova] you will find that a foe is a unit used to denote the huge amount of energy produced by a supernova.

Homepage photo: Jeff Kubina/Flickr

A Google-a-Day Puzzle for Feb. 18

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 10:50:52 +0000

SPOILER WARNING:
We leave the comments on so people can work together to find the answer. As such, if you want to figure it out all by yourself, DON’T READ THE COMMENTS!

And now, without further ado, we give you…

TODAY’S PUZZLE:

If it takes you 20 minutes to drive to a Renaissance festival, how long will that be in the medieval measurement of “the twinkling of an eye”?

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER (mouseover to see):

Search [supernova energy enemy]. Scan through the results and notice the word “foe,” meaning enemy. If you then search [foe supernova] you will find that a foe is a unit used to denote the huge amount of energy produced by a supernova.

Homepage photo: Jeff Kubina/Flickr

A Google-a-Day Puzzle for Feb. 17

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:59:15 +0000

SPOILER WARNING:
We leave the comments on so people can work together to find the answer. As such, if you want to figure it out all by yourself, DON’T READ THE COMMENTS!

And now, without further ado, we give you…

TODAY’S PUZZLE:

A supernova doesn’t have enemies, but it does emit energy in units whose name is a synonym for enemy. What is that unit?

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER (mouseover to see):

Search [manok lechon baboy kinilaw] to find that these are all common foods of the Philippines. A really good guess would be that your spouse has flown you to the Philippines for your weekend adventure.

Are Fairy Tales Too Scary?

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 11:56:42 +0000

Scary Snow White and Her Dwarves (Image: Mandy Horetski)

I’ve been a big fan of books since I was a child partly because my parents would read to me before bedtime. I started this ritual with my daughter when she was very small. She loves her books and is already wanting to learn how to read on her own even though she is only three. She has books that where mine as a child as well as newer ones. I don’t really consider any of her books very scary at all. But there is a new study that shows that I might be in a parenting minority.

There was a study done that shows that one in five parents have decided to not read their children classic fairy tales because of the scary factor.

Read the rest of ChaosMandy’s post and talk about scary fairy tales at GeekMom.

Lessons Learned From Risk Legacy, Part 1

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:45:08 +0000

The seal on Risk Legacy. I didn't cut it open for a month. Photo: Jonathan Liu

A couple months ago, I was sent a copy of Risk Legacy, Hasbro’s new spin on the classic board game of global dominance. I was never a huge fan of Risk. I remember getting a copy, maybe for a birthday, and for a while never actually finished a single game because it went on for so long and we usually lost interest or ran out of time. Then on a rare afternoon at home with just my dad, I taught him how to play. He wiped me out in 45 minutes. Somehow I never played the game in college (though I knew friends who played it obsessively). It wasn’t until about five years ago that a friend of mine got the Star Wars: Clone Wars edition of the game and really wanted to play, so I gave it a shot. My brother (also a Risk newbie) and I were on a team against him, and he trounced us pretty handily well before we’d gotten very far into the timeline.

All that to say: I simply haven’t played a lot of Risk, and certainly don’t consider myself an expert on the subject.

However, this latest version, Risk Legacy, raised a host of interesting questions for me, even about larger issues pertaining to worldviews and how I raise my kids. Most of my thoughts were along these two lines: first, about the nature of game development, particularly in sequels and reboots; secondly, about how my personality is tied to what types of games I prefer. I’ll focus on the first line of thought in this post, and get to the second later on.

If you’re looking for a game review, this isn’t it. But if you’ll allow me a little philosophical blathering, it could be fun. I promise to include references to board games, sci-fi novels, and iPad apps.

A pristine Risk Legacy board, ready to be marked up. Photo: Jonathan Liu

On the Nature of Sequels

Ok, I’ll start with Risk Legacy. Here’s the gimmick: everyone’s copy of the game is the same at the start, but as you play the game you’ll affect your own version of the world. There are stickers to be placed on territories — cities add to your population for collecting troops, bunkers make territories easier to defend. Each faction gets to choose a special power on the first game, and there are additional powers which will be “unlocked” as you play. In fact, the first fifteen games played on the board will mold and shape both the battlefield and the troops, so that in time your copy of Risk Legacy will be unique, with its own characteristics. There are packets of cards and stickers which are to be opened only when certain conditions are met. You can tear up certain cards, never to be used again. You write on the board. “What’s done can never be undone.”

When I initially saw the game and read about how it worked, I had two conflicting emotional reactions. The part of me that loves to try a new game, thought it was a brilliant way to inject some much-needed variation into the game of Risk. A board that forces people to change their strategy from game to game? Fantastic. But another part of me, the one that tries to keep all of my board games in pristine condition and refuses to throw away all of those big boxes that I’ve replace with smaller versions, shuddered at the thought of making these permanent alterations to a game. Tearing up a card? Unthinkable!

Most of my gaming friends were pretty excited about this new version of Risk. They loved the idea of an evolving board and being able to manipulate the world within the game. So I tried to put my own doubts into perspective: why was I so uneasy about the concept? What was it about that sticker that made me pause each time I considered breaking the seal and opening the game? Maybe it’s just me being anal retentive about components, wanting to preserve things in as pristine condition as I can. Or perhaps it’s because I like the ability to replicate an experience: okay, so I lost this time; let’s play again and I’ll try a different strategy to see if I do better. On an ever-changing board, you can’t do that. If I do better or worse next time, is it because of my strategy or because the board has changed? Imaging trying to get better at chess if, every time you played it, the rules changed just a little. And then, when you played it at a friend’s house, their rules were different from yours.

On the other hand, variation is what gives a game replayability. I totally understand that. It’s the reason why there are so many expansions available for Dominion, or Thunderstone, or Carcassonne. It’s the reason for sequels to books and movies and videogames. After you’ve played a game (or watched a movie, or read a book) so many times, you want a fresh experience. Expansions and sequels shake up the status quo, force players to rethink their approach to a game, give you a change of scenery. But at the same time, they give us more of the same.

Here’s what I mean by that: when I add another set of tiles to Carcassonne, I’m not looking for a totally different game. If I were, I could switch to Settlers of Catan or Yomi or, heck, Candyland. I want something that’s like this game I’ve been enjoying, something that is somehow new but also the same. It’s a tricky balance for the creator of any type of sequel: how do you please your existing audience? Make a huge leap in a new direction, and you lose them. They complain that you’ve lost your path, that you’ve sold out, you’ve betrayed your faithful followers. But don’t change enough, and the audience gripes that it’s just an unoriginal rehash, the same old thing with shiny new packaging.

But we’re hooked on this, right? I get hooked on app after app on my iPad, games that require you to do repetitive tasks, time-management games that are very similar in mechanics but are just dressed up differently. Somebody tells me about a new app, and even though I know that it’s not really a different game, I go try it out, and I see that it’s similar to something I’ve played before, and I put several more hours into this new-but-not-really-new game.

In the sci-fi novel Constellation Games, there’s a scene in which an alien asks Ariel, the protagonist, to explain videogame sequels. Ariel is a programmer, and one of the games he worked on was Sparkle Ponies 5 (not a real game, bronies). Ariel tells the alien that Sparkle Ponies is a videogame designed for tweens. They release the game, and tweens buy it up. But then they get older, and a new crop of kids rises into the target demographic. Nobody wants to buy a year-old game, so they change a few things, add a feature here and there, maybe redo the graphics, and release a sequel. And so on. Ariel’s explanation is pretty similar to what I just said in the previous paragraphs: that we like things to be different but the same. Game companies are scared to make big, innovative leaps because they don’t want to alienate their core audience, so (for the most part) they settle for small iterations, tiny changes that don’t amount to much. The alien shakes his head: we’re doomed.

My dualistic reaction to Risk Legacy is a reflection of these conflicting desires. Here somebody has made a game which, in essence, contains its own sequels. Each time you play (well, at least for the first fifteen rounds), you’re getting a slightly different iteration of the one before. It’s the same game, but not quite. It is a game that manages to be new but not new. My brain has fits trying to figure out what to make of that.

In the end, I’m somebody who usually likes trying something new. I love variations and usually, given the choice, will try a brand-new game over playing something I’ve already experienced. It’s the shotgun approach — broad but not always deep — and knowing this about myself helps. I like to try new things, but I can remind myself that there’s value in the old as well.

Whether Risk Legacy ends up being a game I play much or enjoy at all, I appreciate it for this: it sparked a fascinating (to me, at least) thought experiment which has carried over into how I look at sequels and reboots in general.

Tune in next week for Part 2: how Risk Legacy and The Game of Life made me realize I’m a bleeding heart liberal.

Carcassonne Expansions Are Flawless, Offer Deeper Gameplay

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:36:53 +0000

I am unabashedly a huge fan of Carcassonne. As one of the gateways to our household’s resurgence into board games, Carcassonne offers varied, random gameplay with simple rules that are easy to learn yet take time master. As an app, Carcassonne offers the immediacy of a quick game against the computer or turn-based internet play against friends and strangers alike. It’s so perfect that it’s the number one used app on my iPhone. By far. And as a family who rocks the Carcassonne Big Box at home, I had eagerly anticipated the expansion packs when they were teased over a year ago. A few weeks ago, two of those expansions arrived.

The core gameplay of Carcassonne is quite simple. Players take turns drawing tiles and work to complete buildings, roads, surround cloisters or farm large swaths of grassland by placing your followers (or meeples if you’re so inclined) on a tile as you place it on the table. You can read more about the core game play in my earlier review of the app, both in its iPhone and iPad editions.

The physical expansions for Carcassonne are varied and introduce widely differing gameplay, from spawning a dragon that can boot your opponents’ followers from claiming spots on the board to various ways to change how features are scored and when. It’s this variety that helps establish one of the ways that Carcassonne is fun for all players throughout the game. Often, while you might know who currently leads in points, winning might lay in the risk of maneuvering onto another player’s roads, cities or fields at the last minute, or playing a tile from the expansions that can negate another player’s partially completed score. Routinely, all bets are off until the final points are totaled.

Of all the expansions available to the Coding Monkeys, the makers of the Carcassonne App, The River and Inns and Cathedrals were the ones chosen for the first round of expansions. Available as in-app purchases, they are as well executed as the core game was over a year ago.

The River ($0.99) is a simple expansion. Instead of using the basic start tile from the game, players take turns building a river to establish a much larger starting area for expanding. The river has specific rules for placing tiles that prevents the river from folding over onto itself or makes other river tiles impossible to place, which the app handles for you. The river tiles also sport core Carcassonne features including roads, cities and cloisters which integrate with the river, whether running alongside it or crossing over via a bridge. The river doesn’t complicate gameplay too much and allows you to start various elements sooner to be completed later in the game.

Inns and Cathedrals ($1.99) is one of my favorite expansions, mostly because the ways it adds to the gameplay are subtle. If you already know how to play the core game of Carcassonne, Inns and Cathedrals only changes how points are totaled. It’s a riskier game but one with much greater rewards. Inns are little houses that are depicted on road tiles. If you complete a road with an inn on it, you get two points per road segment instead of one. However if at the end of the game you have a partially-completed road with an inn on it, you receive zero points. Similarly, cathedrals are all city tiles that increase the score for cities, from two points per city tile to three on completed cities. And just like roads with inns, any uncompleted cities are worth zero points.

While the change in strategy might seem obvious — work to complete inns and cathedrals on your own features — the risk is often too great. Players will frequently try to steal these features from you by trying to maneuver their followers onto your roads and cities causing a chain reaction of each other trying to catch back up. If it goes on too long, often these features remain scoreless at the end of the game. You can also decide to play an inn or cathedral on someone else’s road or city towards the end of the game to try to negate any partial points they would have received. And Inns and Cathedrals offers many new tile configurations that aid in completing features, blocking players or working your way on to another player’s stuff.

And then there is the double-follower. In the board game, the double-follower is a slightly larger meeple that is worth two followers and the app represents them as two followers attached together. They are often used to lay claim on an important item, such as a recently started city with a cathedral, or a field that has the potential to be worth a lot of points at the end of the game. Or you can place them as you try to maneuver on to someone else’s features to try to steal it. Not only is there a lot of variety here, but having the extra follower to place often makes it easier to have multiple features going at once without running out of followers — especially when the game evolves into a war over valuable farmland.

While both of these expansions are somewhat simple in the rule changes, the amount of time and effort that the Coding Monkeys put in to them is incredible. The development time was quite extensive, with the first announcement in May of 2011 and the release at the end of December. I asked the team about this and it’s clear that they value quality, and decisions about interface design in the game are quite important. Martin Pittenauer from the Coding Monkeys said, “Even a small expansion needs thought in terms of user interface and experience. A small example of that work is the double meeple. In the board game it’s just a bigger meeple. But with a digital version and zoomable interface that could get confusing very fast, hence we draw it as a double meeple piece.” This attention to detail in how the game implements rules or changes to interface are evident throughout the app.

In-game chat has always been a nice addition

Additionally, multi-player considerations were also made. If you’re playing locally over WiFi or Bluetooth, only one player needs to have the expansion, similar to how things are done on Nintendo DS games. There are also additional visual cues for playing Game Center games against friends where everyone must own the expansion in order to play one, or to turn individual expansions on or off. You can also adjust game features such as being able to look at the remaining tiles or to turn off field scoring which can be great for younger players. We GeekDads frequently have a few games going on at the same time, and I have to say that you can’t overlook how well internet game play is implemented and how much fun it is to play board games with your friends regardless of how far away they are.

The only feature I and many of the GeekDad writers would like to see is the ability to preserve your color preference for followers during internet play. It can be jarring to switch from blue to red to yellow from game to game. While Johnathan Liu and I both prefer yellow, it would be nice for us to see our own colors locally and their color as something else. I’m hoping this might one day be a supported feature in the game.

As far as future expansions goes, the developers told me they’d be tackling these roughly in chronological order, but if there were specific requests from fans to let them know. The tile sets already include art for the Princess and the Dragon and I’d like to see that on the short list for future development. As it stands, the current expansions are a fantastic start. Not only are they extremely affordable, the increased depth of game play is welcome and breathe new life into an already great game.

Images: Screenshots from the Carcassonne app or from carcassonneapp.com.