My Holiday Gaming To-Do List

Sniffle. Snort. That's the sound of me snorkling and wheezing through my third cold in four weeks, dear readers. I'd like to thank all the preschool children who made this month of misery possible. (You're all lucky I don't own a taser.) What? Who said that?  Well anyway, we can't let a little phlegm get us down, since this is the time of year to remember the true meaning of Christmas: Extra vacation days that can be spent playing board games! The Best Husband in the World can't escape my germs anyway, and there's something wonderful about being wrapped head-to-toe in blankets playing games through a Nyquil haze. So without further ado (or disgusting references to phlegm), here's my...

Christmas Break Board Game To-Do List:

 1. Play The Da Vinci Code Board Game while watching The Da Vinci Code on Blu-Ray.
Yes, that's really the full unimaginative title of the game. And yes, I know there are many unnecessary parts of this plan, including watching The Da Vinci Code, doing so in Blu-Ray format, owning a game about said movie, and actually opening it up. But, you see, we got this game new in shrink at a live auction at Origins last year for one dollar. One dollar. It was sort of a joke that I even bid, and now I have to see it through. Maybe it won't be so bad? (Don't laugh!)

2. Give Small World another try.
I started out loving this game, once upon a time. In fact, it was one of my first real board games I ever got into. And now going back to it is kind of like having lunch with an old boyfriend who you made out with in school for the first time. Awkward, but maybe worthwhile. I "broke up" with this game last year after deciding that some of the races were just too unbalanced--mainly those damn reproducing skeletons (which I briefly banned from the game). But I think I may have been to hasty. (Notice I haven't traded it in yet.) Hey com'on Small World, baby, I think we can make it work.

3. Learn how to play Alien Frontiers.
This game came to us from Kickstarter.com, since we were one of the (many) original investors in getting this board game produced. It was a fun adventure to see it go from just a dream to a shiny, pretty reality, but so far all it's done is sit on our shelf. Not cool. You can bet your buns a review is coming on down the line pretty soon.

4. Continue the Clue marathon holiday tradition with my brother-in-law.
Every year he flies up to Michigan from Florida, and for the past couple years we (The Best Husband in the World, The Coolest Brother-in-Law in the World, and I) stay up multiple nights in a row into the wee hours playing game after game of Clue. What started as a Hey, wouldn't it be wild if we tried that game? idea turned into an amazingly good time filled with lots of meta-gaming, diagram drawing, and suspicion. We've also begun throwing Puerto Rico into the mix as well.

5. Print off the "Through the Seasons" expansion for Agricola.
If you don't know yet, YES! There's a downloadable expansion available for Agricola called "Through the Seasons." It's being hosted over at boardgamegeek, and I absolutely need to get my Christmas-cookie-padded ass over there and print it! If you are interested, here's a link to the expansion:
Agricola: Through the Seasons

If I forget to say it later this week, I want to wish all of the gamers out there a very...

Merry Christmas!