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Dale Yu: 2009 New Year’s Resolutions
Well, the end of the year (as usual) has completely snuck up on me – and it’s time to look back at 2008 as well as start looking forward at the year to come. Since it’s New Year’s Eve, let me start the round of New Year’s Resolutions here on BGN!
1) I resolve to show you pictures of my gaming Christmas Tree – I know that I’ve been promising this for about three weeks now, and I was fully intending on doing it this week… However, the site where I have been hosting my pictures has been down for “maintenance” all week, and as a result, the pictures will have to wait for another week as I can’t link to them right now!
2) I resolve to try to play more games for fun in 2009. 2008 was a very different year for me gaming-wise as there was a lot more “business” gaming than pleasure gaming. I was able to get a chance to work on a number of different gaming projects over the course of 2008 including Dominion (RGG), Steam (Mayfair), Agricola (Lookout). I was also able to get my first game design credit with the Agricola X-deck at Essen! While I am glad to have been involved in all of these games, it has certainly meant that the bulk of my gaming time in 2008 was spent working on these particular projects as opposed to playing just anything!
3) I resolve to get better at platform tennis this winter. For those of you who have never heard of this before, platform tennis is a fantastic winter sport, played on a half-size tennis court enclosed in chicken wire. Oh, and did I mention it’s only played outside (in the winter)? If you want more info, you can check this or this out.
4) I resolve to vary my gaming travel schedule. I’ve been in a rut in the past few years, and I’m hoping to shake things up a bit… So Erik (ABCGF), Aldie (BGG.con), Pitt/Massey (LobsterTrap), Doug/Shelley (WCMF) – watch out!
5) I resolve to not make lists longer than 8 items in my columns.
6) I resolve to try to learn more German in 2009. Throughout the past year, I’ve certainly worked a lot more with gaming colleagues in Germany, and I feel like I really should be doing a better job at learning the language other than the 100-odd gaming nouns and verbs that I have learned from slogging through rules translations in the past. To that end, I’ve found an old college textbook to try to learn from (after having found out that the Berlitz courses are far too expensive for me to consider) as well as trying out Livemocha. Anyone else have any good ideas on how to learn a new language?
7) I resolve to try to play the games I got for Christmas by the end of February. Those games include: Lost Cities – the Boardgame (RGG), Leader 1 (RGG/Ghenos), Royal Palace (RGG/HiG), Peeper (Joen), Uruk (DDD Verlag) and Mehr oder Weniger (Adlung).
8) I resolve to try to catch up on the backlog of games that I have for review. Keep your eyes posted for these throughout the rest of the winter!
Until your next appointment,
The Gaming Doctor
Posted by Dale Yu on Dec 31, 2008 at 01:00 AM in Columnists, Dale Yu / 1062
Comments:
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About 7) start with “Royal Palace”, I really enjoyed this! And I started to play online on http://www.jsp-mag.com/jeuxonline.php?LANG=en
Happy New Year!
Posted by Emanuele Ornella on Dec 31, 2008 at 05:05 AM | #
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The best “learn German” course that I have come across is that by Michel Thomas. Published by Hodder & Stoughton, it is a set of tapes/CDs that has you speaking in sentences right from the beginning. The format is that the teacher (Thomas) is teaching two beginners and you are the third member of the class. Posted by Stuart Dagger on Dec 31, 2008 at 07:32 AM | #
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I agree with “start with “Royal Palace” - truly a well themed and FUN abstract disguised as a euro. Top on my list of new games I got around the holidays! I would be curious to hear how good Leader 1 is - I had high hopes of getting this one at xmas, but got Formula D..which has been plenty of fun! Also, I recently got into tennis this past summer (not sure what the differences are between that and platform..though I will follow your links) and I must say: HOW COME NO ONE EVER TOLD ME TENNIS WAS AN AWESOME STRATEGY GAME???? (and great exercise!) I am looking forward to nice weather to get back out (and suck) on the court. Posted by tom moughan on Dec 31, 2008 at 09:20 AM | #
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Happy New Year, Dale! pk Posted by Patrick Korner on Dec 31, 2008 at 03:24 PM | #
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I HIGHLY recommend the Rosetta Stone software. I was never very good at learning natural languages in school (computer languages always seemed easy). But I’ve been impressed on the amount of German I have picked up. Try the Level 1 course with the Audio Companion as a starter. I believe Amazon is the cheapest I found it. P.S. You might be able to deduct it as a business expense but it would be a borderline case. Posted by Tom McCorry on Dec 31, 2008 at 10:27 PM | #
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Tom, I don’t know where you’re located—but if platform tennis is an option around you, I’d highly recommend it. Platform is all about strategy, placement and tactics. Power is really not a big factor in the game - so it sounds like it’ll be right up your alley dale Posted by Dale Yu on Jan 1, 2009 at 11:13 PM | #
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