{"id":326,"date":"2010-08-20T15:43:37","date_gmt":"2010-08-20T15:43:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/2010\/08\/20\/geeky-fun-with-the-nephews-part-i\/"},"modified":"2012-08-17T05:18:38","modified_gmt":"2012-08-17T05:18:38","slug":"geeky-fun-with-the-nephews-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/2010\/08\/20\/geeky-fun-with-the-nephews-part-i\/","title":{"rendered":"Geeky Fun With the Nephews Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"

I spent a good portion of the past week with my uber-geek-in-training nephews. As with Alex<\/a>‘s (13) and Stanley<\/a>‘s (11) previous summer visits, a good time was had by all.<\/p>\n

It started on Saturday when I went to my mother’s place. Sadly, Stanley, who suffers from severe cat allergies, can’t stay at my place with my 20 lb Tortoise-Shell hellion Kali. When he’s in town, I often spend the night with him at his grandmother’s.<\/p>\n

After greeting the nephews, my first goal was to extricate the Wesnoth<\/span>-junkie Stanley from the computer. I unknowingly introduced him to the addictive Battle for Wesnoth<\/span><\/a>, a turn-based tactical strategy game, when I refurbished an old pc with Xubuntu<\/a> for him and his siblings.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\nBattle for Wesnoth image (click on image to enlarge)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Luckily for me, the boys trust my geek sensibilities, after all I introduced them to Godzilla, Dr. Who, Monty Python, Munchkin<\/span><\/a>, and Sling Shot<\/span><\/a>, so they eagerly followed my suggestion of Dominion<\/span><\/a>. The very popular card game, currently 7th on Board Game Geek<\/a>, challenges 2-4 players to build the best deck but unlike collectible card games, players all start with identical hands and the chance to attain cards from a communal set. The winner isn’t predetermined by who has previously spent the most (real) money on acquiring the best deck before the games begin but on actual skill DURING the game. At the end of the game, the cards return to the communal set and the original hands are re-dealt for a new match. Highly addictive, the fast paced game is simple to learn and entertaining.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nNot surprisingly, the boys were quickly hooked and we played four games that night and then another five or so the next day. Brandy, who loves Dominion<\/span> joined in the fun on Sunday afternoon. In between all that, I also showed them the classic investing game Acquire<\/span><\/a>. Stanley won a vast majority of the games. That kid is an impressive game player. He has an innate ability to assess the whole game and make moves accordingly. Course, I doubt he could explain it that way. From his perspective, he’s just good at games.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

On Sunday evening, Alex came home with me and Brandy, spending the next 2.5 days with us. More on that in Part II<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I spent a good portion of the past week with my uber-geek-in-training nephews. As with Alex‘s (13) and Stanley‘s (11) previous summer visits, a good time was had by all. It started on Saturday when I went to my mother’s … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n