Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Gobblin' games

Game the First: "Don't Tip the Waiter"
An exciting game of food balance challenge greets our gang for the Turkey month warm up. A cardboard waiter holds a teetering tray and discs with pics of various delectable treats are placed on the plate. Sounds simple but look out! When the waiter tips and the food hits the floor the last player who placed loses a buck. Final contestant with cash wins. At right we see Dr Kirby balance king non pareil and clear winner of this classic skill test. Ages four and up.

Second up: "Zathura! Adventure Awaits!"
Beauty graphics and interesting game pieces make this a visual treat. The gimmicky "control panel" that pops cards out adds to the thrill-a-second atmosphere. Unfortunately it's all wasted on a game of "communal effort" where everyone wins if no one loses. Hmm ... smacks of pinko-ism to me! Maybe the game should have been called "Communist Conquest of Space". At right we see the sole evil robot who ranked as barely a bother. A few more evil robots would have been nice or even some blaster ray gun action or photon torpedoes. Or even better some hot leggy Space Nymphs, I mean, we are talking about a game of team effort here where everybody wins, right? Well, here at left we see our sole winner, the first to reach the Planet Z. Could he be happier? I think so, with a few of the aforementioned additions to this half a snore bore.
Third and final: "The Mob"
In spite of the late Mr Hoover's insistance of it's non-existence we can clearly see that there is at least a game of "The Mob". It's your basic Monopoly rip off with gangsters subtituted for run of the mill capitalist climbers. Players try to corner "rackets" and are able to "muscle in" on certain territories. Flaw one: The Muscle-able properties change hands repeatedly while others never do. Flaw two is that like it's elder legitimate counterpart, the game tends to drag into infinity as there is no slow or fast way to eliminate opponents. After over an hour of play there where still several properties unpurchased simply because no one ever landed on them. At right we see our capo di tutti capo smugly contemplating his ill gotten gains. Below Dr Kirby tries with all his might to muster up some swag for the finale but ...too little too late. Youse all should try dis game. The gang agreed that the absence of any mention of prostitution and drugs made it suitable for all ages but unrealistic. Flaw three: The game could be improved in a major way if there were some mothod of "whacking" other players. Still a most successful game night. Can't wait until December!







Sunday, November 9, 2008

Things that go bump on Bad Movie Night

Stunned. Trying to forget. Bad Movie night before Halloween and still none of the game kings has mentioned or posted on it. Well, I'm ready. First we see the early arrivals taking in the new Bad Movie Night lounge. The Doctor can't believe the complete lack of window treatments.



Patience dear Doctor. Then we see Dennis and the Colonel can't believe the atrocity that is our first movie, "Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity".



Right boys, they don't call it Bad Movie Night for nothing.



This is the villain. You know he's evil because he's got a mystical miniature hula hoop. And he's got the evil greaser vibe. Turns out his hobby is hunting people who keep crashing their spaceships on his planet. His planet, his jollies I guess.



But our animal skin bikini clad slave girls have a surprise for him. Hey, haven't I seen this movie? Then there's this guy:



Your guess is as good as mine. Our next feature wasn't so much a bad movie as a very strange one: 1922 Swedish silent "Haxxan" aka "Witchcraft Through the Ages". You might expect the Spanish Inquisition and you would be correct. Along with nun insanity, crones galore, really cool 20's broomstick flying special fx, kissing of devil ass and much more that one would never expect from the silent era. Good score too.