Goodbye / Old Puzzler Answer

Goodbye

Well, this is it. The last post for me. I’ve had fun posting on Gone Gaming for however long I’ve been at it. Thanks, Coldfoot, for the initial invitation and everyone else for being so welcoming and helpful.

After managing World Games of Montana for a year (now under the management of Jonathan Crummett; also known as Ksensei on BGG) and writing game reviews for the local paper the Missoulian for two years, I can’t help but see a bright future for board gaming. Dozens of people came into the game store who had never been in before, and a good percentage found themselves liking what they found. Of course, our best sellers never really strayed too far from anywhere else (Settlers, Ticket to Ride, Blokus), though I did my best to push Aquarius with fairly nice results. The board gaming hobby is getting a greater voice as more and more people find out about easy-to-play and fun new games.

As a reader of Gone Gaming, I have been so impressed with the other contributors and their public demonstrations of board games. This isn’t a hobby like stamp collecting or coin collecting. In our hobby, games are meant to be shared and played. The difference is fundamental. Our hobby is contagious in this regard, and it seems to me only a matter of time before our hobby becomes more mainstream. I really appreciate hearing about successful Game Days, conventions, and family game parties. We need more of them in more places, in my opinion. This pastime goes back thousands of years, and I see no reason why the masses would hesitate to adopt it in its current manifestation if they were familiar with its charms.

As Annie and I prepare for our West Africa trip, I want everyone to know that I intend to play games, games, games with everyone I meet. I want to become more proficient at 10x10 Canadian Checkers (or International Checkers) because that’s what they play a ton of in Guinea and any other games we encounter. And of course, we’re taking a handful of Euros and classic games, from Jambo (of course!) to Cathedral, as well as games like cribbage and chess. And don’t forget to look for a feature in Knucklebones about West African games about 10 months in the future!

So thanks again for allowing me to participate in this hobby from the inside out. Good luck to everyone, and may the dice and cards fall in your favor.

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Old Puzzler Q & A

Q: I took a common four-word phrase which is 25 letters long and deleted 10 letters from it. Without rearranging or reorganizing the letters, I simply changed the word breaks to form the new phrase: NED ATE STALE RICE. What was the original four-word phrase?

A: It was a government organization: UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE.