There was an 8 player game of Space Cadets: Dice Duel. The game was incredibly hectic. We switched up 4 times and played 4 games, with most people getting the chance to be weapons, engineering, navigator, and captain. The captain role was hard, since you had to keep track of all the game states. I liked the weapons the most, as you could focus on building the things. Navigation was also fun as you could try to plan out what you were doing against what the other players were doing. The people there were Stephanie, Chris, Erik, Dan, Tina, Chris’ Friend, and Jeff.
Yesterday I went to Box for games night. We played ticket to ride with a redditor(Adam), Nick, Brian, and a Boxer(Kevin). Adam ended up winning with me in a close second. Brian played a brilliant blocking move, which made a 14 point difference. I was ready to play the turn before that, but had to choose between him going one way or the other; I chose poorly.
Nick, Brian, and I then played Railways of the World the Card Game. It was really good, but none of us quite got the strategy. There is a major component of city stealing in the game that we didn’t take into account. This only becomes apparent at end game scoring time. Most of us were just prepping our own areas where we could deliver goods without having to give many points to the others.
My parents got to try out the Beam+ and we played with the kitties and the Beam+. It was a lot of fun, and they really liked driving it around. There were a few minor kinks, but they were only really noticeable if you were looking for them. With my mom being as unfamiliar with technology as she is I was impressed that she was able to get it up and running. It speaks volumes for the process that they made for getting people into using the Beam+.
We got back to long games day half way through. I hung around a bit and Steph went upstairs to work. I came downstairs and caught people in the middle of a game of Formula D. I joined in and helped Chris win. We then broke out Dungeon Petz and played the expansion. I did well, but not nearly as well as expected. I really liked the expansion parts and used them judiciously. There were a few that allowed more units, and I used that spot as much as possible. Tina ended up winning with the exhibition as the main decider for her. I didn’t get much out of my last few pets and that led to me getting second. I don’t remember the order of Chris and Adam in the game. I really liked the expansion and would be up for playing it again. I won’t get in nearly as much analysis paralysis since I now know more about what each spot does.
Jeremy invited Steph, Andrew, and I to the lecture on the animatronics of the droids in Star Wars. There wasn’t nearly as much talk about the animatronics as it was just the one guy’s history in the movie business. I was also expecting a minor demonstration since this was the guy who used to go around giving demonstrations, but sadly he just talked and showed a few pictures/videos. The majority of the talk was focused on his recent career. The exhibit had most of the highlights and a lot of educational material that related to the specific thing being shown. This included city planning in the city exhibits, robots around the droids, health care around the medical bot. It was enjoyable, but somewhat smaller than what we expected. Before the lecture we ate at Sakoon, which was tasty, but not particularly memorable.
Steph and I went up to SF to have dinner with Nick at an Ethiopian place near where he lives called “Moya.” The place looked really nice, but was closed for the long weekend. I’m guessing it is family run, and when the family is away they just close up. We drove to a place a little bit away that served Eritrean food. The difference between Eritrean and Ethiopian is minimal, so we were satisfied with it. It was hard to tell if the differences were because of the slightly different origins, or from the differences between the two restaurants. We showed up at the right time, because when we left there was quite a line. After dinner we stopped by a place near Golden Gate Park called Purple Cow. It is a tiny boba shop, but some of the best Boba I’ve had. If I’m ever back close to it I’ll surely stop by for a boba tea. We then stopped by Nick’s place and played a round of Mario Kart. The computer won, but just barely. Nick seems to be liking the city when he takes advantage of it, but as expected he isn’t doing nearly as much there as he had previously expected.
Steph and I met up with Tina, Adan, Lee, Kerry, Andrew, Candice, and others at Rabbit’s Foot Meadery. I had a sip of one of the drinks and it was decent. I think I got Lee curious about the product we were making and hope to get his feedback on it. The atmosphere of the place was nice, although a little loud. Since we went in the middle of the day it wasn’t terribly crowded, but it wasn’t empty by any means. The place was rather nice, and even though I’m not drinking anymore, I wouldn’t mind going back to hang out there.
Steph decided that she wanted to do one of her Japanese candies. So we looked at the ones she had left and decided on a little bento box that she had done before. They were all very tasty.
We went to a burrito place for dinner with Brian and some of his friends. We knew a few of them, but didn’t know most. The place was on the same block as La Victoria, so we stopped by and got 6 things of orange sauce. The Iguana place had it’s own orange sauce which had a lot more flavor and spice, but wasn’t as creamy. We didn’t like it as much since it overpowered everything else, and we were happy that we got so much of the La Vic orange sauce.
It's an Exciting World 