ScottVee Gaming

On a trip to Mission Valley and Mission Beach, we randomly stopped at the Fashion Valley Mall for some food options, and came across a colorful toy/game shop called Geppetto's.  It had a big selection of games, toys, activity books and overall fun, playful things.  The games were mostly casual classics and party games, no really heavy boxes or Wingspan, just quick basic games and puzzles, from Bananagram to Monopoly. Comically, two days later we would be in Old Town San Diego, where there was another Geppetto's to visit.  It turns out this was the original shop, and the woman who worked there said they now had 9 locations. Here is their website. I'm sure I have run into them before, after all, the website says they've been "San Diego's Toy Tradition for Over 40 Years!"  Although, none of their locations are in places we visit regularly. The nearest store is in Carlsbad, so I am making a mental note to go check them out (again) soon.  Probably next payday .

Anne showed me a new card game this weekend.  It was called "Tick", and was something she played with her usual canasta group when less than four players showed up.  The basic idea was: use two decks of cards, then play hands or 3 cards with 3s wild, 4 cards with 4s wild, up to 13 cards with Kings wild, then back down from K to 3 again.  Cards count as face value (2 to 13) with Aces being 21.  If you manage to go out, you score -25, otherwise, lay off what you can and score the rest as positive points.  Lowest score wins. To go out, you need to play straight flushes or X-of-a-kind, with the wildcards and jokers.  It's a long, drawn-out kind of rummy, but it's interesting how some card counts are harder to get rid of.  Getting rid of the hands of 5 and 8 are tough, since you need runs of 4 or 5, with one card left to discard.  With 13 cards, you usually have 2 or 3 wilds.  When one player goes out, the other players have one more turn to clear out as much as they can.