ScottVee Gaming

The Ding Tea that we go to every few days had this strange new thing on one of the tables.   They also have two different Jenga boards to play with, so they try to make it a fun environment. This thing is clearly a game of some kind,  with scoring pegs at the top.  We asked two different people who work there what is called, and they both said, "the hook and ring game." I had a vague feeling that I had seen something like it before.   Online searches showed a surprising range of different game by that name.  There are versions for one, two or four people. Here is a large wall mounted one available on Etsy for bars or man caves. Here's a Tiki Toss game  on Amazon that comes in 12" and 5" versions I found a quick video showing two players going as fast as possible  moving the scoring leg toward their opponent each time they hook the ring. We tried about thirty times each and never scored.   The length of the string is just right to...

Three Christmases ago, I covered a session of Exploding Kittens that happened after our annual gift exchange.  Here we are again, leaping forward to 2025. Back then, I said I looked forward to trying the game again.  For some reason, once I was at the table and looked at my cards I realized that I just can't stand this game.  The ugly, obnoxious artwork, and the inevitable arguments that were about to begin ... We had ten players this time.  Again, the game was led by a couple who are great masters of ceremonies and game guides.  So we were in good hands.  But it went like this: My first turn, I was just going to Skip.  But another player said to save that for later.  And that's where these games fail for me: every time a player tries to play their move their way, someone else is going to jump in and coach them or tell them what they should have done.  That's not a game to me, that's just constant intimidation. Anyway, I picked a card. ...

We did a quick run through CVS to pick up some NyQuil and DayQuil a few weekends ago, and Anne always likes to go through the "fun aisle" on the way out.  That's the aisle with gifts and "As Seen on TV" stuff and weird random items.  This time there was one little card game on the shelf.  Just one.  It was Ninja Cat Cucumber Attack, by Moon Sprocket Games. It had cats, so we figured we should try it. When I flipped through the little rule sheet, I was disappointed to see yet another "slap the card" game.  But we had a chance to sit outside under the gazebo this afternoon and give it a shot. Yes, it's a slap-the-card game, like the basic game of War but with cats and more variety.  Start by dividing the deck equally, and whoever gets all the cards is the winner.  Take turns throwing down one card each.  If you see two of the same number or cat or weapon, you can slap the deck and take the whole pile.  Or a "sandwich" of two matching cards ...

Every holiday season, Anne's family gets together for a "white elephant" gift exchange, although as I wrote here four years ago , people don't know what "white elephant" means anymore.  The basic gathering is fun, and full of good spirit.  The game itself gets more out of hand each year. This year someone bought an "official" white elephant game box, which as far as I can tell was just a cloth bag and chips from 1 to 40 or so, with some kind of tiny rule booklet which got lost almost immediately.  Or it got lost last year.  Who knows? One reason I don't like group/social games is that they often boil down to lectures about the rules, or people shouting their versions of the rules at each other.  So, while the was a fun and energetic party game, there were moments of rule shouting, and people getting mad about not being heard over the other people shouting rules.  I'm pretty sure that etiquette was not covered in the tiny rulebook.   On the ...

Anne & I have been playing Nonogram puzzles before bed a lot lately.  I described them in a past blog post and we forgot about them for awhile.  Wow, that was five full years ago.   Nonogram.Com has a good range of daily challenges but the puzzles don't have much variety -- just 5x5, 10x10 and 15x15 puzzles, some with spaces filled in or clues blocked at first.  There's a funny bit of confusion with having stars showing on some spaces, to gain extra points when you clear that block, but in fact the stars mess with our visual processing of the games and sometimes make us make mistakes.  "Stupid stars," is heard often. But it turns out that Nonogram Katana has a whole Village you can build, with buildings to craft all those power ups I never noticed before.  Then more materials to open up more buildings.  I don't know when they added this, surely in the five years since I last wrote about the app or I would have noticed it by now ... now it has...

I ran into a crazy coincidence this morning.  I was looking for a basic nonogram app I could run on my phone without the graphics being too small to play. I had tested Meow Tower about a year ago and remembered it had the cute cat theme and no puzzles over 15x15, so it should be playable on a small screen. The funny thing is, I solved a few puzzles and unlocked a new cat ... an orange cat called Mango, just like my own orange cat Mango.  The in-game Mango liked to collect manga, so you had to buy him a shelf for his books.  My Mango is my real-life purr buddy. This coincidence could have had an different emotional impact if they had randomly chosen to name their orange cat Ginger, because our little orange girl Ginger died about three weeks back... Our last photo of Ginger looking like everything's fine. Meow Tower is a cute game.  Nothing too deep, but a few layers of cats and gags and decorations to uncover.  I'm not sure why I have not mentioned it here befor...