Subulata

This is a new abstract game from Cwali. Despite it's nominal theme, it is really a very pure abstract. It's fun. It feels like there could be a lot of depth and strategy, but it may take more play than this will get to see it. Certainly a good one for fans of abstracts.

Die Fugger

Last weekend I got to play a couple of games of "Die Fugger", a new game from AdlungSpiele. It's a very nice little market game that plays quickly and requires some interesting decisions. The basic idea is players play cards in sequence, and when the 5th of a particular commodity is played, the round ends. At this point, the top three commodities are raised in price and the remaining two are lowered. The price wheel is circular, and when a commodity becomes too highly priced, it crashes back to the low values. There are naturally other details, but that's the basic idea.

It's fun. It also suceeds at something that is fairly rare: it is a quick game that doesn't feel really light. There are a ton of games out there that play in under half an hour, but most of them feel very light. I'm not saying that Die Fugger is as meaty as something like PrincesOfFlorence or PuertoRico, but it packs a good amount into a short game. There's not a huge amount of strategy, but some strong tactical decisions and overall good tension.

New log system?

I don't like this blog system anymore. I'm trying out a new one.
This one will stick around until I decide I'm happier with the new one
than I am with this one. The new one is both href=http://server.boardgamestuff.com:8000/mysite/index.php/HomePage>game
stuff and other stuff. It even has an RSS feed.

Spam Filtering

I get a fair amount of spam. On some of my email addresses, over 100 spam messages per day. I use PopFile for my filtering and have been extremely pleased with its performance, and highly recommend it to anyone with a spam problem. It's straightforward to use and very accurate in my experience.

Additionally, at work, I have installed SpamAssassin on our servers, which does a very good job as well, though not quite as reliable as ~PopFile. They work well together though and the result is an entirely manageable level of spam getting through.

Cuchi Cuchi

Yesterday, we ate at "Cuchi Cuchi", an oddly named restaurant in Cambridge with a interesting approach towards their dishes. Basically, they are a Tapas restaurant, but not exclusively (or even primarily) Spanish food. They have a variety of dishes ranging from $8 to $11. We had 6 dishes for the two of us, but 5 would have been plenty.

Overall, the food was very good. The ambiance was nice as well, with a rather funky decorating style. For food, we had Hot Crab Timbale, Brie en Crout, Chicken Kiev, Beef Stroganoff, a fried tomato dish and a delicious Eggplant with roasted peppers and goat cheese. I especially enjoyed the Eggplant and the Brie en Crout. I very much like the idea of having a number of "appetizers" rather than a single main course, and I hope it's an idea some other restaurants take up.

The quality and environment match the price, but it is a little pricy. On a weekday, they were busy, but we did not have to wait without a reservation.

Cuchi Cuchi

95 Main St.

Cambridge, MA

617-864-2929