Day Six – Ticket To Ride

It was another game learning experience tonight. I joined my fellow Steampunks of Orange County for a yummy potluck and game night, dressed in appropriate themed attire. A couple had played before but most of us were new to the railway-themed board game called Ticket To Ride – Europe version.

The object of the game was to earn the most points to win. Players did this by building tracks in their color. Each player received different cards at the beginning that were train cards, long route and short route destination cards. With each turn, we drew two more or chose from a face-up stock pile. Players also received small plastic train cars and stations resembling houses and hotels from Monopoly, for placement on the tracks claimed. You continue to connect routes for points or to block other players. We even had prizes at the end. My teammate generously let me take home our prize, a Disney R2D2 collector pin!

Day Five – Lord of the Rings Online

I learned about something new today, at least to me. My friend gave me a tour of the online game, The Lord of the Rings And according to my original rule, this meets the criteria for a post. Plus I created a little graphic using a few iPhone apps including Pixlr and Tangled FX from screenshots so I'm covered.

There is actually a lot of creativity with this RPG. Not only are the 3D graphics and animation pretty good but you really get to customize your attire, house interior and horse accessories to create the personas of your liking. Without upgrading for real money, you can have up to three characters. The game is free to download and play, but you'll need to have a fast computer and enough hard disk space, about 20 gigs. As with most digital games, there are "opportunities" to purchase better stuff. This is historically known as the "razor and blades" business model or now as the "freebie marketing" scheme. You give or sell the product real cheap as your customers will be required to buy additional supplies to continue using it. Inkjet printers are another good example of this principle. The first time you need to replace all six or eight ink cartridges in your photo printer, you could have bought a new printer! The manufacturer knows they will make up the difference and profit with the ink cartridge sales. Anyway, this game is a lot more fun than razors and ink. It is extremely detailed and true to the universe created in Tolkien's books. You can travel all over Middle Earth experiencing the lore firsthand while completing quests to earn loot and interacting with other players.