If I had to bet...

I would say that whoever invented Rock/Paper/Scissors had a 1 1/2 year old.

I could have invented it today, except it would have been Rock/Acorn/Dandilion.

The B spent our walk today swapping one for the other for the other. But after a couple of minutes, I picked up on the pattern.

As we left the garage, she picked up her customary 2 rocks from our garden (one for each hand...they are the chalky white kind). She toddled along, occasionally throwing them down, but only for a physics experiment, because she picked them right back up each time...that is, until she came to the acorns. Now, I have noticed on past days that acorn beats rock, as she discards the rocks totally. She then walked along doing more physics experiments with the acorns (as I picked the white rocks out of the neighbor's lawn and stuffed them in my pocket).

But today there was a new evolution, as spring has sprung in these parts, and there were dandilions about. And so, when she came upon the dandys, she threw the acorns and sat there playing with the flowers...she wouldn't move! Clearly, Dandilion beats acorn.

By that point, I was about ready to get back home, but she didn't want to leave the dandilions...I'd take her hand to lead her away, and her legs would turn to jelly. Dandilions...baby crack...who knew?

But you know what beats dandilions? Rock baby! Good old rock. I pulled them out of my pocket, she squeaked, and chased me back towards our place, weeds completely forgotten.

All I'll say is that whoever invented Paper/Scissors/Rock isn't a very good parent. Whoever heard of letting your 1 1/2 year old play with scissors?

Gimme Your Top 5

TCG cards! Now, this list can be done from a ton of different points of view. I'm looking for "most fun/interesting"...cards that just kind of make you smile when they are played, no matter who played it.

My list:

5. The Cave Troll - LotR
That guy rocks...perfectly caught what that beast was in the movie.

4. Hunt Down and Destroy the Jedi - SWCCG
I just love the names, espeically the payoff of "Their Fire Has Gone Out of the Universe"...I still don't know how we made that fit on the title line.

3. Madness of the Bard - Vampire
Rhyming is fun
Now I have to run

2. Ass Wuppin' Lynch Mob - Rage
Best Card Title Ever.

1. Rain of Walrus - On the Edge
"A fortunately rare weather phenomenon."
Best Lore Ever.

Honorable mention goes to the card from On the Edge that made you draw a moustache on the Mona Lisa before you could legally play it, and to "Head Shot" from Highlander...the perfect implementation of an alternate victory condition.

Ride of the Sleepy B

I took the B out for a bike ride yesterday with her uncle and cousin. A good time was had by all once we figured out to tuck a sweatshirt behind her back in the trailor seat to keep her helmet from falling down over her eyes...she seemed to dig it, though she fell asleep about 2/3 of the way through (after about 30 minutes).

I look forward to doing that a lot, though being my first time back on the bike in...uh...forever, my saddle bits are feeling it today. I'll try to get some pictures next time.

Bride and Prejudice?!? WTF?

Bollywood-a-polloza
Originally uploaded by sethsdisciple.

I seem to be on some sort of Pride and Prejudice kick lately. Kathy had been watching the Keira Knightly version on cable for a while last year, even buying it (and the sound track!) eventually. I kind of paid half attention to it (enough to get the conclusion a few times, but none of the first two thirds really).

When Joe and Erika stayed a few days over Christmas, we watched with them (both versions!), but there was lots going on, so I somehow managed to duck most of the plot again. BUT, when we were out buying audio books for the trip to Denver, I found PandP for 20 bones (which is a great deal for a 10 disc audio book). We didn't listen on the trip, but I've been working through it on my way to and from work. I finally got caught up to the part where Darcy fixes everything that he broke, so on Thursday we watched the DVD again, this time I actually paid attention from the beginning. I thought this was kind of the end of the road for this kick.

Then, this morning during one of my "Saturdays with the B" sessions, I was tripping through the movie tier looking for something to throw on in the background, and saw "Bride and Prejudice." Huh? The description reads "Director Gurinder Chadha ("Bend It like Beckham") has her cast sing it like Britney and Usher in this breezy tunefest which updates Jane Austen's 1813 novel to 21st century India."

Really? Well, I like Bend It Like Beckham. The B likes music, so what the heck. Besides, I've never really seen a Bollywood musical, and I do like the music in BILB.

So far the B has danced, the dad has turned out to be the same dad from BILB (who I really like), the mom has turned out to be embarrasingly screwy, and Bingly has turned out to be Said from Lost (which was a nice surprise). But the music hasn't been all that fun...hoping it gets better.

Edit: Holy cripes, Rori from Gilmore Girls is Darcy's sister. The adaption of Collins is fun too.

I Miss...

...telling someone to wear the hat. Foo.

Rotation

Benny
Originally uploaded by sethsdisciple.

No, not that rotation. I want to talk a little bit about the concept of rotation in a TCG. I've enjoyed the discussions going on related to the insert cards, so I thought I'd see what people think about this issue.

So, here is my theory.

For a TCG to have sustained legs longer than, say, 2 years, regardless of the strength of the IP behind it, rotation is a must. And here is why.

TCGs are at their heart, a hobby. I think that most people, even those who are completely passionate about their hobby, burn out after a year or two (maybe three). Don't get me wrong, there are exceptions who go on and on (look at the people showing up over on CK's blog), but most move on.

So, a TCG, to have the afore mentioned legs, must have new players. As a generalization, new players are not willing to buy into a game with a thousand cards of backhistory (or more!). Both from a learning curve point of view, as well as a purchase level required point of view. Otherwise, a player may enjoy a free demo involving a limited card set, but when they realize the towering pile of history about to fall on them, they go in another direction.

What does this mean a company making TCGs? Well, here is what I think. They need to either annouce rotation from the beginning (and *cough cough* stick to it), or decide that they are doing a game that they want to last about 2 years, and plan a new game to pick up when that one (inevitably) runs out of steam and can't get new players.

What does this mean to games I worked on in the past?

Interesting question...I've been chatting a little with Jason about it and he raised some interesting points along with a little model. I'll let him present it here if he wants. When pressed for an opinion, I would say that it could have added a couple of years of life to LotR, assuming are marketing department focused completely on getting new players...not something it seemed like they had a lot of sucess with (see earlier theory on lack of rotation foiling them). SWCCG? It would have had to have been instititued by 1997 to have a prayer, and our design team didn't have the understanding back then to really make take advantage...to be clear, only WotC apparently did (when did they announce the policy?).

I guess the evergreen SWCCG community would argue that rotation would have done more damage than good. They still haven't rotated a card out, have they? I don't claim to have paid much attention to the structure that currently backs their play, though I hope they still get some joy from the game (but for gosh sakes, they should be nice). Anyways, I'd argue that is their fanatical "never going to burn out on the hobby" community doing rotation in their own way by redesigning stuff they don't like.

Anyways....curious what other poeple think.

Quick Thanks

I just wanted to thank everyone for the hospitality last week. It was great to see everyone (and thanks for dragging yourselves out on a weeknight). Things I learned: Bison...eh, about like ground beef; a pair of 6s does not beat AQ with a Q revealed on the flop (so REMEMBER what your cards are, not what you had a couple hands ago); an air matress can hold me.

Back in the midwest now, and happy to see my girls. I wish I could get to the zoo with Kathy and the B this week, but maybe we can get to the magic house to splash around on Friday.