Remember that scene in Good Will Hunting when the professor said that the faculty had answered the janitor's intellectual challenge and...
(oh, never mind)
The gamers have spoken, thanks to Bruce Whitehill, David Seidner and others who have reached out to the hobby game community and told them about my next book project and website, 101 Great Games. As a result we have a new No. 1 game in The Settlers of Catan, 325 members and we're approaching 200 games ranked. This is turning into a really fun project!
If you haven't stopped by in a while, please do and tell your friends. It's THE BATTLE OF THE BOARD GAMES!
Doris Day, eat your heart out. As I was packing away our Christmas stuff earlier this year, I came across an old CD featuring Toyland by Doris Day from the movie Babes in Toyland. Looking through the liner notes, two words stood out. Public Domain. When you need music for a film on toy designers and your budget is spent, and then the perfect song appears with no royalties (strings) attached, you should pay attention. Lyrically the tune worked, but musically it was so S-L-O-W. Our film had much more energy than the song. What to do? I'm blessed to run in a circle of very creative and very talented friends. My buddy Steve Sipes is a professional musician. He called in favors for me and the next thing I know, he has reinterpreted the song into a surfer/punk rocker and we're recording it with an awesome band called The Human Condition! We wanted to pay homage to the Doris Day version and yet another friend stepped up. Sam Robertson is a talented singer/songwriter. She's only 17, but she's got an old soul and a soulful sound. She provided what became known as "The Doris Day Intro."
We had a great time recording it at Zen Recording up in Tampa. She nailed it. The boys in the band nailed it. Steve put his signature on it and it's going to play great in the film.
We're editing now and the song is playing nicely with the images we've captured. This fall the film will be done but in the meantime, enjoy TOYLAND.
My father used to tell a story about my mom. It's why he fell in love with her. She was 14 years old and walking home from church wearing a long white dress. She was asked by some boys to play baseball because they were one short. She said no at first because it was her favorite dress. The pull of play won her over and she went 2 for 3 with a double.
Happy Mother's Day, Helen Horan Walsh. What a woman.
My daughters and I have a game we play in the pool which is essentially a game of keep away, but one which we have named Crabby Ball. Its name derives from the pinching that we do to each other underwater, thus distracting each other from the target. The target is a deflated Disney princess basketball. When new and full of air it was the size of a large grapefruit. Now all the princesses have faded off its surface and it no longer bounces. It does skip across the surface of the pool quite nicely. The game is as old as ball, close to 5 years and counting.
The trouble with Crabby Ball is that the players keep changing. My girls were 5 and 8 when we invented the game and they are now 10 and 13. 10 and 13 means they are considerable stronger and have considerably longer nails. It's the nails that get me. I refuse to stop playing, because who knows when they won't want to any longer? That will be a sad day for me. So I type this with scrapes and cuts all over my arms and a smile on my face.
I haven't played Set in a while, but I must admit that all these votes has me interested in pulling out my deck. My daughter and I played What's It To Ya? last night. Interesting as a conversation starter. We're going to try it with four later this week and we'll keep you posted.
You want to get to know your kids better? Can't beat a board game.
Here I write about toys, play and the essential skill of squeezing more fun from life. I've written two books on the toy trade including Timeless Toys (Andrews-McMeel) and the WHAM-O Super-Book. (Chronicle Books). Games that I've designed or co-developed include TriBond, Blurt!, Mad Gab, and Crazy Chins. I am featured in TOYLAND, a new documentary film on which I also served as Creative Consultant. Join the fun, seize the play!
