all the world's a board, and all the men and women merely pieces

[livingdeadgirl]

WHO: anybody!
WHERE: Total Recall Games and Hobbies
WHEN: Saturday, May 6, 12-9 pm
WHAT: Free board game day! Despite some of the game pieces being bigger than we are.
WARNINGS: Shenanigans and an adorable puppy

Total Recall is a mid-sized game and hobby shop situated in a strip mall in Tisse, between Wag the Dog (a puppy obedience school) and Road House Pizza (which is also a bar in the evenings. the bar does not deliver). I can neither confirm nor deny that all the other stores in this shopping center are also named after movies.

Anyway, about half of Total Recall's floor space is devoted to retail, selling board games, card games, figurines, role-playing books, and (for some reason) hand-crocheted hats. The other half is an open space with tables and chairs, perfect for playing the stuff from the retail half. And for today's event, somebody actually built a little motorized elevator out of K'nex that they can roll from table to table as needed! It feels rickety as hell, sure, but it'll easily hold something as light as you.

There's a wide variety of games set up to play, and they rotate new ones in every few hours. There's Settlers of Catan, Betrayal at House on the Hill, Clue, Sorry, the Game of Life, Apples to Apples (to be swapped out for Cards Against Humanity after 5:00), and lots more. If you can think of a game, they probably have it (so feel free to insert your own).

One notable exhibit is Crossbows and Catapults, which is a game where you shoot actual projectiles across the table trying to knock down your opponent's wall. It goes without saying that this is probably super dangerous for tiny people to play, as they've got quite a bit of force to them, but hey, hashtag YOLO amirite?

Before you go, there's a couple of specific points where gameplay gets interrupted:

1. Food time! Somebody ordered a large pizza from next door, and fortunately they're sharing, since it's easily big enough to feed everyone in the store. Since actually getting to the pizza is a production and a half, they call rotating time outs table by table, serving the pizza from a picnic blanket in the center of the room.

2. Down, boy, down! Remember the obedience school next door? That didn't stop being a thing or anything. Anyway, a large, rambunctious puppy has escaped from class (can't imagine how) and decided to come in here and see what all the hubbub is. Fortunately, he's adorable and friendly and wouldn't dream of hurting a hooman, even if they are chew toy sized! Less fortunately, he really likes pizza, doesn't understand that the game pieces are where they are for a reason, has a lot of slobber to distribute, and might not be fully house trained yet (hence the obedience school). He's just excited!! and wants to play!!!!! but it gets very disruptive very quickly, especially since he can absolutely jump up onto the chairs and tables. His owners will be by shortly to try and get him back, but they're not gonna be able to wrangle him on their own...

Other than that, though, it's a fun, laid-back day of board games. Go forth and enjoy!

Comments

[livingdeadgirl]

[For the record, Ami definitely was not giggling at Emil's awkward attempts to board the elevator, and anyone who says she was is a liar. She scampers over to the top of the structure, where conveniently there is a "bring it up" button. It's not exactly a smooth ride; the motion of the elevator cage is stuttery and includes quite a bit more side-to-side movement than its full-scale counterpart. But hey, it does its job.

She'll try to help him carry the stack of cards back to their spot, but because she is a twig, results are... sub-optimal. Like they get it halfway before she has to set her end down.]

Ha! ... I had no idea the germ apocalypse would be so physically taxing. [She looks to Tuuri.] You said Atlanta? How many infection tofus do we have there?

[skald]

[Listen Emil is a trooper here, not the least because two girls were watching him try and fail to carry a bunch of playing cards into a toy elevator. At least Tuuri looks a little sympathetic as the elevator wobbles back and forth on the way up...]

I know, right? The apocalypse is hard work! [she says, as if she was doing anything more strenuous than carrying an armful of little blue cubes from the quickly dwindling supply to the board.] Buuut, surprisingly, we are totally okay in Atlanta! I mean, there are three cubes there now, but at least it wasn't another outbreak... [Well, not yet, anyway. They still need to pull a few of the newly shuffled city cards to see who's getting sicker.] I think we can do this, you guys! We'll have the yellow disease cured by Ami's next turn, and then we just need to... cure the rest!

[frisyr]

[ This sounds bad. Like Emil doesn't even have enough cards to cure anything, he thinks, though obviously he can just build a research station whenever he collects enough blue cards-- the last two he drew were one yellow and one red though; he's not a betting man because he's not a particularly lucky one.

But he's back up the elevator and happily following Tuuri's instruction, and then-- ]

Okay, where are we headed?

[ He surveys the board from his spot; it's difficult being so small trying to have an overhead view, so he uses the cubes as a stepping stool to take a look. ]

it would probably be easier to keep track of the rules if i'd ever played this, sob

[livingdeadgirl]

[Ami returns to Madrid and takes a seat on the cubes.]

Whose turn is it?

HAHAHA I'M SORRY yell at me on plurk I'll do a cheatsheet

[skald]

Mine, I think! [Tuuri eyes the three red cards that she has spread out in front of her, then scans the board for the different clusters of diseases.] Um, let's see... Madrid is going to be okay for now, and Paris should be alright since you're both right there... I guess I could try to clean up the Black Death? I've always wanted to take a trip to Cairo!

[and, not to be outdone, Tuuri also makes the plane noises as she hops two cities over to Cairo, though since she's still the closest to the player deck, she has to turn right around again after she shoves two black cubes out of the way.]

Could one of you pull the infection cards for me?

Re: HAHAHA I'M SORRY yell at me on plurk I'll do a cheatsheet

[frisyr]

Sure thing!

[ He goes over to pull infection cards and goes to pick up the tofus and-- breathes a sigh of relief. Looks like there's nothing too bad this time. Now they just have to decide what they're going to do next, come up with a game plan. ]

How are we on collecting cards?