Games that we are giving or getting this Christmas...

The games that we are giving for this Christmas can be broken into a number of categories. A significant number of them come from Amazon.de because they have, or had, a deal where shipping from Germany to Australia was a flat 14.00 Euro regardless of the order. Amazon.de don't stock all German games, but they do stock a significant number of games compared to their counterparts in other countries.

Games for, or to play with, Daughter the Younger and Daughter the Elder (that have already arrived)
Daughter the Younger is 4 3/4 and Daughter the Elder is heading towards 9 1/2.

Beppo der Bock Looks good for the Daughter the Younger age group and we would probably have fun playing it as a family. The winner of the 2007 Kinderspiel des Jahres.

Trötofant A game that is played with party tooters! Melissa has been itching for an excuse to get this for ages, and the 14 Euro shipping was the reason! This will probably remain the only game we have that has components that need to be put through the dishwasher after each game.

Chicken Cha Cha Cha Obscenely cheap when ordering it direct from Germany. This was the winner of the 1998 Kinderspiel des Jahres. The girls will be familiar with the artwork from Pick Picnic.

Games for the family, or games that have already arrived and been broken out
As Melissa and I do not seem to be specifically giving each other games this Christmas these will have to count as "our games".

Wizard We have already played this with Daughter the Elder and a friend of ours. It will be a good training ground for her in the art of trick taking games with suits. Something that comes as second nature to experienced players - before playing the card you want to play, answer the question do I have any cards of the suit that was lead? The fools and wizards make this variation much more interesting to play than standard Oh Hell!

PitchCar, PitchCar Extension and Pitchcar Extension 2. Actually PitchCar was ordered ages ago and finally arrived. These two expansions arrived too and so now we have them. We will probably play it in the next few days.

Other things that haven't arrived yet or are still to be sent but still only cost 14 Euro shipping

Pecunia non olet and Los Mampfos combine with our copy of Drunter und Drüber to complete Melissa's holy grail of the trilogy of poo games. If you are fan of "The Two Ronnies" and have seen Melissa collapse in tears of laughter at the line "and the Richard the Third flew away" you would have some understanding as to how important it is for her to complete the set.

Hart an der Grenze This is a game I played a while ago at Dockers one night and enjoyed. It's not the sort of game I would play every week, it would probably only come out every couple of months, but with the right group of players will be a real hoot.

Make 'n' Break Extreme We have Make 'n' Break and love it. It is pretty much a hit with everyone that sees it, so given that this may not be available in Australia for years, this is pretty much a no brainer.

Die Steven Segal it was only a few euros and we have played other people's copies quite often. Side note, I know Die Steven Segal is not its real name, but I can never remember the real name - to the extent that in BGG I have a page 2 QuickBar entry under the name Die Steve Segal to link to the game's page just so I can find it. I have submitted a game correction to have "Die Steven Segal" listed as an alternate name, but it would seem that my suggestion was declined.

Äpfel zu Äpfeln - Erweiterung - 1, the German expansion to Apples to Apples. Melissa is fluent in German and Daughter the Elder is going to a German Saturday school next year to learn German. Need I say more?

Halli Galli This game is expensive and quite difficult to obtain in Australia. It is an excellent game for children who have just started school. Daughter the Younger is starting school at the end of January, so we have ordered two copies of this to be given as birthday presents for her friends. Note when playing this very competitively protective gloves should be worn.

Destined for Secret Santa recipients
To protect the innocent not many details will be provided, suffice to say that the list of games was Die Säulen der Erde - Die Erweiterung (the German edition of the Pillars of the Earth 5 & 6 Player Expansion (by request), Medici vs Strozzi, Ziegen Kriegen, Notre Dame and All-Zeit. This last game was the most difficult to arrange, but through a complex chain of people and favours, we managed to track down a copy that could be sent to [placename deleted], even though none of the online stores seemed to list it at that time.

... and now the end is near...

We joined Gone Gaming about six months or so after it started, so are not foundation members, but are honoured to have been in such company. I wouldn't call myself a writer, and I imagine most of the readers agree, but it has been fun to be a contributor here. See you over at Boardgamenews in 2008 (or very late 2007 depending on what timezone you are in!)