A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

hobbies

Solo board gaming: Finding ways to play when other people aren’t around

Over the past few months, I’ve really started discovering solo board gaming.

The group I play games with usually meets once a week on Saturdays. Though I’d love to be there every week, the reality is I sometimes have other plans. That means it could be a few weeks before I get to sit down and play a few games with others.

I enjoy the hobby of board games, so sometimes I just want to play a game or two and there might not always be people around to do so.

Shephy is quickly becoming my best solo gaming experience.

Shephy is quickly becoming my best solo gaming experience.

That has led me to look more into solo gaming, so I can get my fix at different points when I’d like to play a few games. I have some multi-player games (such as Nations and Le Havre) that have solo variants. I’ve only tried the Nations one once (it’s solid), but I’m not always in the mood to set up a game like that.

I own Friday, which is a high-rated solo game, but it consistently whips me.

So I needed to look around a bit more. In fact, it’s become something that I look at when buying games – is there a solo variant and does it interest me?

Solo gaming is a definitely not for everybody. There are some games I don’t think I’d enjoy with the solo variant. Some don’t have a “winner” per say, rather you are looking to achieve a certain level etc.

I have several games I need to learn the solo variants, though, such as Imperial Settlers. I haven’t played that game since last year’s ConnCon, and this might be a way to get it to the table, if even my own.

It’s a good way to get a gaming fix.

There’s something about the bigger games that scares me off, though. I’m not too sure what it is, but part of it is definitely the setup and cleanup. I’m hoping to eventually have a bit more time for gaming in the next few months, so maybe it needs to be a more proactive approach, such as setting up a game the night before, then having it available when I come home from work.

Until then, I’ve picked up a few card-based games that are fun in the solo world. I picked up all three games in the “Oniverse,” and so far I like what I’ve seen. I’m trying to tackle them one at a time so I can truly understand them and I’ve only brought one to the table so far – Onirim.

Dice City is a good multi-player game that plays well solo.

Dice City is a good multi-player game that plays well solo.

I’ve had the chance to play that one four times (and beaten it just once), but it’s challenging and fun. The idea is to get the keys to unlock the eight doors. It’s not easy to do so, but it’s doable. There are also seven expansions with the game and I need to start figuring them out, though I’m having fun with the base game.

The other two in the Oniverse – Sylvion and Castellion – both look amazing. The artwork in all three games is really awesome. I’ve yet to tackle either of those games yet, but I’m looking things over and plan on playing them soon. Sylvion looks really interesting and I like that Castellion is a solo tile-laying game.

I’ve also played a few multi-player games that have been decent solo, specifically Flip City and Dice City, with the latter being pretty cool and one that took long enough that it felt like a pretty cool gaming experience.

Recently, I also added Hostage Negotiator to my collection. A strictly solo game, the game has you as a negotiator and working to free hostages. I haven’t played it yet as I’m still going through the rules, but I’m excited to get going with it. There are expansions, too, so if I really enjoy the game I plan on ordering those.

But the one game that I’ve really enjoyed lately was Shephy. It’s a small and fun card game where you are trying to put a big enough herd of sheep together before the bad sheep get too big of a herd. It’s challenging (I haven’t won yet), and it’s made as a solo game. I had seen photos of the game on Instagram and then went searching for it.

Turns out it’s not the easiest of games to find.

After searching the Board Game Geek forums, I found somebody who had been selling some and had them. I ordered one and had it a week or two later (came from Europe) and I was off and running with it. It’s a fun little game, easy to travel with and doesn’t take too long. At some point, hopefully I’ll even beat the game!

Solo gaming has been a lot of fun. Would I rather play in a group and such? Sure. But it’s also nice to know there are great solo games out there for those who want that aspect of playing board games.

How about you? Do you solo game? If so, what are some of your go-to picks?

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

It’s time to start up again

It’s been a while since I’ve brewed any beers.

I miss doing it, too. The process is fun. The outcome is usually fun. I enjoy seeing people try my beer and finding out if they like it or not.

But I’ve gotten away from it. And I need to get back into it.

I have several kits to work on getting done. And then I have to find some recipes of grain that I have bought in the past.

I need to get back into brewing again!

I need to get back into brewing again!

Here’s my hope – said grain hasn’t gone bad. I can always pick up some new hops if I need to. We’ll see how it goes, right?

But I also want to mess around. For example, I picked up – at some point – three kits for a wheat beer. I got them at a cheap price and such, but I don’t want to brew three of the same one. So what should I do?

I was thinking of making one of them a blueberry/honey wheat … how’s that sound?

Maybe I can put some maple syrup in the other one. A maple wheat? Hmmm. Or, the fall is coming. Maybe some apples and cinnamon?

I also have a few stout mixes. I need to work on those. I’ve long wanted to do a blueberry stout. God that sounds good.

So it’s time for me to start peeking around and getting back into it. Getting some brews going. I think, eventually, it would be fun to graduate to a 5-gallon brew. The only issue there is I really need to make a beer that I’d like. I have some ideas, so we’ll see how that goes. I might get into a point where I do both 5-gallon and 1-gallon … and save the 5-gallon for times when I know a larger quantity would be good.

So if any of you are brewers … have any tips for adding fruit? I’ve done it once or twice and it was OK, but I want to make sure you get the hint of it. Any other tips as I get back into the brewing world?

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Next up in the brew list…

I have two more beers bottled. Now it’s time to wait it out.

One of them — the White House Honey Porter — is one I’ve really been waiting to try. That will reach the two-week mark tomorrow and I plan on getting one in the fridge quickly. That one is named ObamaBrew and has an ABV of 6%.

The newest — Blueberry Red Ale — fermenting.

Then there’s the Chocolate Maple Porter (named Giddy Up — ABV 5.6%), which will reach the one-week mark this weekend. I let that one go a little longer in the fermenter, so hopefully it comes out well.

This past Sunday, I brewed another beer. This one is interesting and I’m truly excited about it.

The recipe was from the Brooklyn Brew Shop’s book (which is set for one-gallon batches, something I fully appreciate!) and it’s a blackberry red ale (not yet named). Alas, I decided to substitute blueberries for blackberries.

Yum.

Well, in theory.

I’m a fan of blueberry beers and when I started brewing, one of my goals was to brew a good blueberry ale. So I’m looking forward to seeing how this comes out.

But I’ll be waiting at least another three weeks!

This one was also my second all-grain recipe and first where I didn’t use a kit. I thought it went well, but I truly decided I need to learn more about brewing in a bag. Though I’m happy I’ve done things in the progression I have, I’ve also realized when doing a one-gallon batch, going through every step is tedious.

So if I can make it a little easier, I’d like to do that.

Brewing in a bag seems to be that way. Basically, it helps you skip a little bit of time with the sparging and all, if I am reading it all right. In the end, the real reason I’d like to do this is to make it a little more easy with the grain.

I’ve also been reading recently about using the spent grains in recipes. I’m definitely going to go that route to see what I can come up with.

Mashing away.

With this last set, I decided to make some spent grains dog treats. Now, I don’t have a pooch. But each of my brothers do. So I have some for them. It was quite easy to do.

The ingredients were the grain, flour, two eggs and peanut butter. Then, using the oven, dry them out completely. Simple, right? The recipe I looked at said it would take about 7 1/2 hours in the oven (on 200 or so) to get them set, though some ovens are quicker, especially if making them thinner. The treats I made were done in about 3 1/2 hours. The first part of it is when you do the initial cooking, with the oven up around 325. After like 30 minutes or so, you pull them out, cut them up and then back into the oven at the lower temp for another 3-7 hours.

I couldn’t figure out what I’d like to do with the rest of the grain at this point and didn’t want to double the batches of dog treats until I found out if their dogs liked them, so I pitched the rest of it. There will be plenty more batches of beer and I’ll be trying other recipes out.

In the end, it’s a lot of fun figuring out what to do with these beers and with the ingredients after. I’ve also ready one can re-use the yeast, but I’m not that far along yet. So I’ll keep going with how I am doing it.

I have several more beers in the wings and waiting to be brewed.

Next up (maybe today if I get up the energy to brew) is the Caribou Slobber brown ale. After that, I have all-grain recipes for two Dry Black Stouts (think somewhat of a Guinness), a Smoked Cherry (requires six months in the bottles!), my own concoction (2.5 gallons) and a peanut butter porter.

This has been a fun journey so far and I look forward to continued learning to hopefully keep making my beers taste better!

Though I won’t be likely making labels for each beer (tough to get the labels back off. I plan on doing small ones to identify each beer), I will still make them for use on Untappd and Facebook. I wanted to share the most recent ones here, too.

ObamaBrew

Giddy Up

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A good start with brewing will hopefully keep getting better

I figured I was about due for a homebrewing update.

At this moment, I don’t have anything fermenting. However, I have some things ready and am hoping to start one or two brews this week. I have the ingredients and such for a bunch. Some are easier than others and some are so I can take the next step in brewing.

That being said, I’m sticking with the one-gallon batches. Though it yields just 10 beers, I truly do like the smaller batches. It gives a bit , more freedom, I think, when doing the brews. And I’ve also found a semi-local (about 1:15 away) brew shop that will give me all the ingredients to the correct measurement and everything, so that’s nice. That way I don’t have to worry about screwing that up myself.

The Irish Red.

There is another, closer, place that has ingredients, too, in case I need something quicker.

For the record, I’ve finished four brews. I’m going to list them here with my quick thoughts. Several people have tried each and there’s been different reactions. I don’t think any of them have been bad, so I’m happy about that. They do seem to be getting slightly better as I go along though, which is good.

Please note the names below are what I give the beers. I think it’s fun to try and be clever with them. I also attempt to make labels for the bottles, though I’m probably going to stop that and just use small labels for the name as the bigger ones are a pain.

1. Pee Light (Mr. Beer kit, American Classic Light)

Not too bad, especially for my first one. I enjoyed it. I got pretty solid reviews from friends, but I think we all realized it was just the fact that it was homemade beer that really gave it a good taste!

2. Kiss Me Arse Irish Stout (Mr. Beer kit)

I really liked this one. I still have some left, so that’s nice. We found that drinking it while eating tootsie rolls worked wonders, too. It made it interesting, so say the least. Pretty good overall reviews. I’d make it again. I’d probably switch things up and add a chocolate malt, though.

3. Sláinte! (Northern Brewer Irish Red kit)

Not bad, but wasn’t my favorite. My brother loved it. Others enjoyed. It was my first one-gallon kit. I have two left and they are aging a bit and I hope to see if the taste changes a bit more to my liking. I think I had higher hopes for this one and they didn’t match my original hope.

4. TFTB – Thanks for the Beer (Mr. Beer kit – West Coast Pale Ale)

Named after my love of geocaching (TFTC!), this is a really solid beer. I tweaked the kit a bit and used some Amber malt with it. Has a bit of a fruity taste to it and it’s quite smooth. Probably a perfect summer beer, to be honest. It’s likely my favorite so far of the ones I’ve made.

Those are what I’ve done and I’ve liked the process so far.

The Irish Stout.

I always worry when I start a new hobby how far I’ll go with it. I’m really enjoying this so far and have liked the steady progress. I’m not sure, to be honest, if I’ll jump to the five-gallon kits because that’s a lot of beer. I kind of dig the smaller batches as if there’s a crap batch, there’s not as many to get rid of. Plus, having 50 or so bottles ready to go would be a pain!

Anyway, the future is looking good and I have a bunch in the pipeline.

These are probably in the order I will be making these brews. I have two one-gallon jugs now, so I can basically have two fermenting at a time. I like that because it’s pretty cool to see it all work. I also think I can use my Mr. Beer jugs for this, so I might be able to do more than two at a time if I am really up for it. But, for now, I think having two going at a time is enough!

1. White House Honey Porter (Northern Brewer kit)

The story goes that a few years ago, President Obama bought a homebrew kit for his chef. They came up with a few beers, including a Honey Ale and a Honey Porter. The honey is from bees Michelle Obama has on the premises, too. Anyway, some homebrewers filed a freedom of information act for the recipes, the White House listened, had some fun with it and released it. I’ve wanted to try it and Northern Brewer had one-gallon kits, so I got the porter to start.

2. Chocolate Maple Porter (Brooklyn Brew Shop kit)

I’m excited for this one. Not just for what it is, but because I’ll be using local maple syrup for the beer. One of my friends, Gid, makes maple syrup each year. He traded off a pint of his good stuff for some beer. Fair trade to me. Hopefully the beer lives up to how excellent his syrup is.

3. Peanut Butter Porter (BBS recipe, I got all the ingredients from brew shops)

Yeah, you read right. This has an ABV of like 7%, so I’m really looking forward to it. Plus, peanut butter? Um, yes please.

4. Caribou Slobber (Northern Brewer kit)

One of the originals I bought, too. So it’s time to give this one a go and see what it’s all about.

A future beer…

5. Black Dry Stout (BBS kit)

There’s never anything wrong with a good Irish stout! These were on sale for St. Patrick’s Day, so I purchased two of them. One I’ll brew as the recipe says. The second… I’ll have to see if I’m feeling crazy.

6. Smoked Cherry (BBS recipe, I got the ingredients from brew shops)

This one intrigues me. They say you should age it for six months. It might be tough, but I’m going to see what I can do. I might have to crack one or two along the way. For research purposes, of course. I’m debating getting a second set of ingredients and do two batches when I do this.

7. Blackberry Red Ale (BBS recipe, I got the ingredients from brew shops)

OK, first, this will be blueberry. I’m going to switch the fruit. But it sounds really food and I’m excited to give it a go.

Beyond this, I’m not sure. I’d like to mess around and come up with my own recipe. I don’t know what to do there, but I’m reading about it. So maybe something will come to me.

When I got the ingredients for one of the beers at a local place, I got some “replacement” items. In other words, ones that would work to fill in what they didn’t have. But I went to another place and they had what I needed, so now I have some “leftover.”

That includes:

  • A 1 oz. package of Nugget hops
  • A 1-pound bag of Munton’s Chocolate malt
  • A 1-pound bag of Weyerman Carabell malt

For those of you who brew, any ideas on what to do with these? Maybe the start of some wacky recipe? I’m doing 1-gallon brews, so keep that in mind if you have any ideas. I’d love to mess around and find something out there, so if you have ideas, please let me know! I want this to be my first recipe I’ve just concocted for no reason other than to try and see what I come with.

This has been a fun journey so far and I hope it continues.

I’ve also taken my beer to social media some. Check it out:

If you have Untappd (smartphone app — way cool if you are a beer person. I plan on reviewing it on this blog soon), I made a “brewery” on there where you can see all the beers and such. And for those of you who get to test the beer, I hope you’ll sign up and rate the beer!

I also made a page on Facebook, so feel free to like it. I update it with photos and updates and such.

Fundraiser: I am, again, trying to raise money for the Relay For Life. If you donate to me — a minimum of $5– you will be entered to win a super-sweet quilted lap quilt or pillow. Click here for all the information!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Adventures in card collecting: Finding the fun again

When I was a kid, I remember walking into the local gas station. And when I say gas station, I mean old-school. We’re talking something straight out of the 1950s here.

The old pumps, people who actually pumped your gas and all that good stuff.

In my town, it was Maxwell’s. This place was heaven for kids, especially those who walked to school. You could get penny candy and things like that. But for a bunch of us, it was the best place in the world for baseball cards.

Ramon Nivar sending a message?

Maxwell’s always had baseball cards.

This is in the 80s though, back when baseball cards were wax packs with 15 or so cards, a piece of stale gum and a pack cost about 25 cents. That’s way different than today, when packs cost several dollars, even the cheap ones.

We’d buy several packs and open them on the way to school, or scamper somewhere on a Saturday afternoon and go open, trade, flip or whatever.

Opening those wax packs were a ton of fun. So much fun, in fact, that it sometimes didn’t matter what was in the pack. We’d get crappy cards or maybe we’d get a bunch from our favorite team. And then there was that awful gum. Back then, though, we seemed to like it.

Ahhh, the memories.

After a while, I grew away from baseball cards. It wasn’t any special reason other than I didn’t find as much fun in it anymore. I still have boxes of those older cards, too. They aren’t worth much, that’s for sure.

The hobby, however, has come a long way since those days.

Besides the cost going way up, cards have changed. No longer is it Topps, Fleer and Donruss. Now there are more companies, some of whom can’t produce cards with team logos and such. Why? Because there are massive contracts for companies to secure, enabling them to have the rights to do the cards.

Other companies get around this by signing athletes and just can’t show them with team logos and such.

Collecting cards is no longer a kids activity. It’s a serious business for some. Autographed cards. Game-used memorabilia on the cards. Whatever else. Some prized rookies go for insane amounts of money in online auctions.

A few years ago, when I was still on the beat with a local minor league team, I heard some of the players talking about being signed to companies. They had authentic autographs and such. So I looked things up and was amazed at the things I found. These players — who I was covering — had baseball cards. Autographs. Game-used stuff. It was absolutely insane. I’ll touch on that in another installment of this series.

That piqued my interest in the hobby again.

If there were cards of these guys, what about all my other favorites? Phillies and such? I started looking and was amazed at what I was finding. I became a big fan of e-Bay. So I started getting some cards and such. I’d buy some individuals and some Phillies and, at times, I’d buy a pack or three. It wasn’t the same as ripping open those wax packs all those years ago, but it was still fun.

Getting this Doug Glanville autographed card for $2 was a no-brainer for me!

Then, a few years ago, a few of us starting hitting up this massive card show in White Plains. It’s there every three months or so and features hundreds of tables and usually several big names signing autographs (and they charge big-name money, too). When we go, I usually don’t have one thing in mind I want to get. I’m usually completely the opposite.  I go looking for something fun to grab and add to my collection.

My collection is quite a variety. It’s mostly filled with autographs and game-used stuff. And, it’s also mainly players I’ve covered, those on the Phillies or some of my other favorites.

I also have what I like to refer to as “gems.”

These are cards I stumbled upon for a good price, whether it’s a player I’m seeking or just something that really screamed out to me to buy it.

In January, two of us ventured to White Plains. I was on a limited budget, of course. But I wanted to see what I could find and maybe find a few things worth blogging about.

This trip looked like it was going to be normal in that it was going to get one or two cards and split a box to open with a friend. But before leaving, we came across a place that had auto and game-used cards for $2 each.

After going through things, I had a good 8-10 cards, but only wanted to spend $6 or so. That made me trim away some of the ones I didn’t need.

My favorite, though, was the Ramon Nivar card. Nivar, who saw time in the major leagues from 2003-05, had some crazy inscriptions on his card. We were trying to figure it out when we finally agreed that it said “John 3:16; I love Jesus; Ramon Nivar.” Now, his chicken-scratch writing could say something different. But that’s what we thought it said.

Lenny’s boy, Cutter Dykstra.

So we went with it.

I also bought a card of Cutter Dykstra, a son of former Phillie Lenny Dykstra (of whom I also have an autographed card or two in my collection) and one of Doug Glanville.

The Cutter card is a really sweet one. I like the photo and the autograph. The one of Glanville I debated, only because I wondered if I had it already. But I decided it was too good of a card not to grab, especially at $2, and especially for a Phillies fan.

I walked away with a few other cards, but one of them — a Pete Rose one — I’ll tackle in a future edition of this series. Pete’s one of my favorites, so it’s always nice to find a cool card of his at a pretty decent price.

I look forward to visiting this show again because I always seem to uncover some fun stuff. This is what collecting is all about for me. It’s not quite the same as ripping open a few wax packs, but when you can leaf through boxes and boxes of autographed and game-used cards, looking for those “gems,” the fun factor is definitely still there.

Adventures in card collecting is a series of stories about collecting sports cards. These stories will run on this blog periodically and will cover a variety of topics about the hobby. 

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!