Cyprus is one of the most beautiful countries I have visited in the European Union, but it is often ignored by travelers. I can sort of understand why, especially when it comes to Americans. It takes a bit of an effort to make it all the way over to Europe, and there are bigger name countries that they would like to visit before making it to this tiny island which in all actuality isn’t even a part of the continent of Europe. Still, there are plenty of reasons to consider this tiny island country to come and visit. It is home to amazing beaches, tall peaks that even offers skiing during three months of the year, ancient Greek ruins that have held up exceptionally well over the centuries, and most importantly, one of the oldest traditions for wine anywhere in the world.
Cyprus is a must for any wine enthusiast out there. There is only one place in the world that has spent more time creating wine and that is the country of Georgia. There are many varieties that can only be found on the island, but the most famous one is a dessert wine called Commandaria. It is considered the wine mentioned in Homer’s Odyssey that was made from dried grapes and was considered the best wine in the world. Though the recipe has not changed much over the centuries, there are still many variations of this nectar that it is worth traveling around the mountains of Cyprus to the various wineries to try what they have to offer on this selection of wine.
This has been the second time that I have voyaged to these various wineries. The first time I went on a tour which is a great way to do it. A person will come and pick you up in the morning and drive you around while you get to sip the various selections you come across. You never have to worry about drinking too much, and you will be introduced to some of the more popular wineries in the region. The second time I went, I traveled around on my own schedule, and visited some of the lesser known wineries. This does not mean that they do not produce great wine. It just means that they are a smaller operation, and you have to get off the beaten path in order to find their tasting rooms. It changed the way that I enjoyed the region and it came with a few unexpected surprises along the way.
My favorite surprise came when visiting the small village of Ayios Mamas. Up a steep hill indicated only by a hand painted sign is the tasting room for the Revecca winery. They only focus on the Commandaria wine that the region is famous for, and their production is only seven to eight barrels a year. The tasting room is a small room in what used to be the house of the grandmother who first inspired this winery. It has been converted, but it still holds the feel of walking into someone’s home with a welcoming smile. It was my last stop of the day, and the one that had me enjoy an adventure that I would not have gotten on a regular wine tour.
The owner of the winery first told us all about the operation as we got to taste two of the vintages they had. When our time there was ending, I asked where the vineyards were, and she explained to me that she was going out there after we were done there because it was harvest time, and if we wanted, we could go visit them with her. I have learned in all of travels that when out and somebody offers something like this, you always say, yes. It did not disappoint. We were able to go to the vineyard, taste some grapes straight from the vines, watch as the grapes slowly dried out in the sun, and watch as they brought in daily haul so get the process started with them. It was a side of wine production that not many people get to witness and it made the personalized tour much more memorable than the one I took last time. Now, I know that this is not something that will be offered to all guests who show up to taste the wine, but it would not have happened if we hadn’t planned our own day.
Both ways are great experiences, but I am grateful to the Revecca winery to give me an experience that I will never forget. Not only did I learn a lot about the process of how one of the oldest wines in the world was made, but I got to taste a couple that were the premiere example of these wines. If you do find yourself in Cyprus, make sure you take time to visit the wineries, but find those hidden gems that won’t bring in the crowds like the bigger establishments. Revecca winery would be the perfect one to start with.
Until next time, keep on getting out there and finding those experiences.
Can the world be held within a snapshot From that small moment when the shutter clicked To capture a time that we never sought Held in an album where pages are flicked? What makes this picture different than the rest, Glued in place by the four little brown tabs Where our vision is treated as a guest, Given glimpses of the past we can grab? Where have all of those smiling faces gone, Who once graced us by visiting our doors, But ever since the passing of the dawn, Can now be found on pieces of cardboard? Your smile is the one I miss the most, Though the album has been a gracious host.
This recipe is a long tradition That has been passed down to me by my mother. As I pass it to your generation, I hope you’ll pass it on to another. We will use the freshest ingredients As you blend them together in the pot. We adjust the taste by using the scents Whose unique detection my mother taught. It’s best brewed during a warm afternoon Where we enjoy each other’s company; We’ll wrap ourselves in the kitchen’s cocoon, Waiting to partake in the labor’s honey. We have to protect what could be a loss, So I will teach you how to make our sauce.
Open up another bottle of wine Because we have defeated this soldier. Fill up your glass first before you fill mine; We don’t need to see if this one’s bolder. It helps to fill the room up with laughter When we let this sweet nectar grease our brain. We’ll think about consequences after We have enjoyed our sleepy refrain. In the morning, we can see what we’ve done, Though our head will give us a reminder. The night before we had a lot of fun, Though we had no idea what we’d find there. It is the biggest drawback of the drink, Trying to ignore what we have to think.
Do not tell me of how someone has died; Instead, tell me of the way that they lived. I don’t want to know why the people cried, But what made memories of them vivid. They must have touched the lives of many folks As they made memories filled with laughter. Their friendships included ladies and blokes Pursuing a life worth going after. Let’s not remember the pain, but kindness That was spread around due to their presence. We have gathered, so we may bear witness Of how a life spent deserves reverence. Why would we focus on the suffering When talk of living is more enduring?
These things I do not want to do today: Carry a stuffed backpack upon my back In foreign airports as I make my way To a tiny upright seat where I lack The space needed to stretch out my long legs Next to another giant of a man Where we are in position to beg For a little real estate where we can Devour a barely edible meal That was heated up an hour before Or catch a smidge of sleep so we can feel Capable of flight through the storms in store.
Or to leave your home, so I can go fly, Having to hug out my final goodbye.
Batteries only hold so much power To keep individual clocks ticking. Eventually, there comes an hour When the hands on the face will stop kicking. How will a clock react when this day comes? Does it continue to live by design, Making sure the mechanism still hums, Ignoring inevitable decline? Or will it fight against the coming end? Will it play around with the way time moves, Speeding up or slowing down, which depends On the feel how the situation grooves. Can you tell me which behavior is right When a time piece puts up its final fight?
Ever since Denver International Airport was created, there has been controversy surrounding it. The designers had some bizarre ideas of how to give the place its decor, and it ended up with some really weird pieces of artwork. There used to be the murals depicting children presiding over the death of an animal on a World War II kind of battle field. There was the strange Native American music constantly playing on the bridge to Concourse A. And there were the strange gargoyle that could be found in the baggage claim area. The strange design of the landing strips along with all of this art created an environment ripe for the emergence of conspiracy theories. It did not help much that in order for Denver to be considered a city worthy of the international scene, they erected an anatomically correct giant blue horse rearing up on its hind legs and staring at you with its devil red eyes as the first thing travelers see as they leave the airport and head into the city.
Denver became a strange place in the mind’s of the people living outside of it all of because of its airport. Considering the airport recently turned twenty-five years old, the fine people of the city decided that it needed a remodeling. I have been to the airport a few times since and have not had time to notice the strange artwork anymore because everywhere I turned I ran into the signs of construction in process. Most of the time I came, I was in a rush to get out of the airport or rush to a plane that was getting ready to leave, so I did not have time to look for signs of the things that made this airport unique.
I got stuck in the main building recently, and had an opportunity to walk around and look for the strange sights that I had come to know over the years of living in Denver. I did not think that they would keep the bizarre artwork in the hopes of becoming more respected internationally, but I was surprised to see this was not the case. Despite having to navigate through the construction, they have done an amazing job of modernizing the building, giving it a sleek and user friendly kind of design. And though a couple of the pieces of art could have been hidden behind construction walls, many of the strange pieces that made DIA weird were still there. I could find the gargoyles, the Native American music playing, the horse, and a couple of these murals even though the oddest ones were still hidden. It made me relieved that DIA would embrace this weird aspect of itself, and I hope that it never loses it.
So the next time you travel through Denver try to find these weird aspects of the airport, and embrace the odd nature of DIA. And if you know of any weird things that I should find in other places in the world, let me know, so I can hunt them down for myself.
Summer Break is one of the greatest perks for teachers. It is a time for them to unwind from a busy school year, and recharge their batteries so they can be ready for their students in the fall. For some teachers, it is a time to take on some projects that they have forgotten about during the regular school year. For others, it is a time to travel around the world and create those memories that they can think back to when things get tough. For an international school teacher, it is a time to travel back to the places they left behind and catch up with loved ones, and friends.
This creates a strange dichotomy for those international teachers, and it gets weirder the longer that they stay abroad. There is a life that they return to for a couple of months every year, and though they will fall back into those routines that they used to live, they are still guests to a life they used to live. On the other hand, when they are back at their respective schools in various places around the world, they are leaving behind their home town and the identity that they built over the years of living there. It is almost like they are living two lives, and throughout the course of the year, they experience those two sides of themselves.
Some people would claim that this is true for anybody that moves away from their home town to a new location, and there is some truth to this. Those people have those moments where they head back to where they are from when they are trying to pick up what they left behind. But it is like holding on to the ocean as it laps against the shore. There is no way that they are going to be able to hold on to it because it keep drifting away from them. They can experience it for that short moment that they are back home, but as soon as they leave, it will be gone again.
Though international teachers have the same problem when they are back in their home towns, there is a little more permanence to their trips. A lot of that time is spent catching up with those people that are still there, but they have more time to settle in. It is not just a week or two of vacation, but a couple of months where they still have things they have to attend to in their other life. I have been back in the States on numerous occasions where I have had to work on professional development, or create plans for the upcoming school year. Any teacher will tell you that their work does not end during the summer vacation. They might not work as much, but they are still working. It takes away this notion of being on a two month vacation where you are visiting friends and family, and it turns into you living in that place where you came from for a period of time.
It is not like it is a bad voyage, returning to this life that you left behind, but it means that the life that you are living is the one that you left behind. I spent two months this summer living out of a suitcase, moving from place to place, trying to get little things done for the upcoming school year, and watching videos of my puppy that were sent by the boarding facility where she was staying. The life I have been living over the last nine years was placed on hold.
This is not to say that I did not enjoy my time in the United States. It is always a pleasure to go back and get to spend this time with my family. At the same time, there comes a moments where I want to get back to the place where I spend most of my life right now. I am looking forward to get home. When I feel this way, I know that the holiday has been a good one. It has gotten me to the place where I need to be, a place where I am excited to get back to work and refreshed after a long break with the ones I love. I also will not have to lead this duel existence again until the next trip out to the United States when I am ready to go back.
So, I would like to thank America for the great summer as I say great to see you again to Jordan. I can’t wait to get back to my original home, but it is also nice to be back home at the same time.
It is the classic Halloween story, a group of misfits find themselves outside of a haunted house, and for some odd reason they want to investigate. Like all great Halloween stories, there is a twist in this one. While they are investigating, one of them turns on all of the others, and it turns into a crazy attempt to escape from the clutches of the haunted house. Will this band of misfits make it to safety, or will the betrayer have his or her way with the group and bring them into the lonely confines of the house on the hill?
This is the premise that players will find themselves in when they pull Avalon Hill’s Betrayal at House on the Hill from the shelf and play a round of the game designed by Bruce Glassco with help in development by Rob Daviau, Bill McQuillan, Mike Selinker, and Teeuwynn Woodruff.
THEME
Betrayal at House on the Hill is the perfect game to play during the month of October. One session that lasts anywhere between one and two hours will tell a horror story that will make you one of the characters of that tale. It has a little bit of a Scooby Doo feel during the first part of the game where you explore the haunted house. Each tile flipped over adds more to the house, and creates more of a mystery. It also forces the players to make the biggest mistake that a group of explorers can make in any horror movie, go off on their own to discover what they can find. The game also comes with set of cards that have flavor text to them that when added to the various characters creates a great horror story full of all of the tropes that you would hope that a game like this would have. After a few game plays, the flavor text becomes predicable and it is hard to make a different story with it. On the other hand, if there is enough time between game sessions, the flavor text gets forgotten and you are able to create your own story.
The real adventure begins with the second part of the game when the betrayer is revealed. This is when the real horror story starts. There are fifty different scenarios that comes with the base game, and each one introduces different game play as the players try to solve the mystery of escape the house. It is also a mystery as to which scenario will be played as there is a great system in place to make sure that the mystery is unknown until a certain thing happens and unlocks the game play from that moment on. Some of the scenarios are more fun than other ones, but if you hit on one of the fun ones, the theme really shines and you feel like you are a part of a horror movie. All of the flavor text that you discovered before combined with the final events play out in a way that tells a complete story that will have you wrapping yourself in the moment of the game.
On the other hand, when it does not work, the story becomes a slog to work through, and you are trying to figure out a way to make it end. I have had this happen a couple of times, and I no longer cared about winning the game. I only cared about the way to make the story end as fast as I possibly could.
Rating – 7
GAMEPLAY
The game is broken up into two phases. The first phase is the exploration stage. During this phase, the characters start in the entry way of a haunted house. Each character is unique in their abilities. Some are faster and stronger; whereas, others are smarter and have a stronger resolve. Each of these abilities can grow stronger as the characters explore the house. On each of their turns, they flip over a tile to add to the map and then follow whatever is triggered by the room they enter. Sometimes this is a trap that will have them fall down to another level, or a mysterious room that will transport them to another part of the house. Most of the time involves finding an item, encountering an event, or experiencing an omen. The omen and event cards cause the character to try out their luck against the situation by looking at their abilities on their cards and rolling the amount of six sided dice that is indicated by their number. The dice only have zeroes, ones, and twos on them. After they roll, they add up the points, reference the card with the amount they rolled, and see what happens.
If an omen is revealed, the character has to roll again with six dice, and based on how many omens have been revealed, if they roll lower than that, the second part of the game is set in motion, the betrayal. They players look at which room and which omen triggered the betrayal. Then, they look in a book that came with the game, and based on the matrix, it will describe which scenario they will play, and who will be the betrayer. The betrayer takes control of the real threat of the haunted house, whether that is zombies, vampires, or deadly clown, and the two opposing sides have certain win conditions that they have to meet in order for the story to be complete.
The game is surprisingly easy to teach. There are intricacies to the game which can be brought up while the game is being played, but for the most part, I usually just go over the key rules, and hop into the game. When one of the rules needs to be discussed, I will bring it up, but that is a rare occurrence, and most of the time, I go right to having fun.
The game also works better with larger numbers as it fun to put all the individual stories together to create one overall narrative, but a lot hinges on the ability of the betrayer to guide everybody through the story. Considering that nobody knows who the betrayer is going to be at the start of the game, it means that anybody will have to be willing to take on this role and do it justice. Inevitably what happens is someone who is not great at running a game is the one who becomes the betrayer, and the second part of the game does not work the way that it is supposed to. This game works best with people who play role-playing games and are capable of taking on the Game Master role which means that this game is not for everybody. When everybody invests into the absurdity of the situation and helps tell the story, it becomes a blast to play. When more people who are not willing to help the story plays the game, the whole matrix falls apart and the game is not as fun. This makes it hard to get this game to the table. In other words, it is a hit or miss kind of game. When it is on, there is no game that is better. When it is off, it is painful trying to get through a whole game.
Rating – 6
ARTWORK
The artwork in essential to bringing to life any role-playing game. It helps to immerse players into the story. A real good game will consider not only the characters that are being used while playing, as well as the environment. The team of Justine Mara Anderson, Christopher Moeller, and Peter Whitley put all of this into consideration when putting together the feel of the third edition of the game.
The house that is created throughout the course of a game is created by tiles that give the perfect bird’s eye view of what each room would look like. It helps to feel like you are in a haunted house while you play the game.
The minis that are created are great if you are one of the characters. They look pretty good, but with the intricacies that are found with minis today, they are not as detailed compared with other games coming out today. They did a good job of giving them different solid colors so that can easily be found on the board and associated with character boards. Each character board is double sided with two different characters giving the game twelve different characters that you can play. Each character is given their own little quirks that helps players find a way to become a part of the role.
After the betrayal, there are a series of monsters than appear on the board. There are a lot of different creatures that can come into the story, and the designers understood that if they made a mini for each one, it would make the box massive, and the price of the game would have gone up. To combat this, they made little cardboard tokens. It does help with the space and what they can keep in the box, but the monsters are tiny pictures and do not help with the immersion of the game.
Some of the components do not work the way that they are intended. There are little tabs to keep track of the different stats of each character. They are hard to attach to the character boards, and they do not move once they are on there even though that is what they are designed to do. Considering this is an important part of the gameplay, it is annoying that they do not work well. They do sell other character cards that have dials for each of the stats that would work better, but why not put them in the game in the first place instead of supplying the game with a poor design. The game is not that expensive to begin with, and raising the price just a little bit to have better components would not take away from people buying the game.
Rating – 6
INTERACTIVITY
The first phase of the game has the potential for being a great moment for people to interact with each other, but once again, it depends on the people playing the game. It all comes down to how much the group wants to tell a story together. The flavor text that comes with each card that is flipped over, combined with the different characters, the rooms, and the imagination of all present, it can create an original story every time you play. The horror tropes might be the same, but the way that they are tweaked for each retelling will allow the story to unfold in fun ways. It requires the players to add those missing holes to make the story really come alive when you play the game.
On the other hand, if the players just flip over the cards, read the flavor text, and expect the story to be told through just that alone, the story will never come together. It requires that extra interactivity to make the game work on all cylinders, but it also takes players who feel comfortable with this kind of storytelling experience.
The second phase works better forcing people to interact with each other, and the story unfolds more naturally. Both the betrayer, and the party that is left behind are given clear goals to achieve. The party is actually given some time to discuss what they want to do with that goal, and can look over the map that they have created in order to make a plan of attack. The betrayer will not have an opportunity to interact with the group during this planning stage, but they will be the one in charge of the game and will have plenty of opportunity to interact as the game continues. However, the same problem occurs in the second phase of the game that exists in the first phase, the people playing the game have to feel comfortable playing this kind of game to really have it work the way it is supposed to. This becomes more important when the decision of who is the betrayer comes into play. If the person who is the betrayer is not comfortable in this role, then the whole game falls apart. They need to be that extrovert that will help the game come alive, allowing everybody else to find that extroverted side of themselves, and allow the story to play out with all of the little details that were collected in the first phase of the game.
Overall, the game allows for many opportunities for interactivity, and can create a memorable night for those willing to stretch themselves to make the game really come alive.
Rating – 6
EXPANSIONS
There are a couple of different versions of the game that are basically a re-skinning of the original version that is designed for different audiences. One, Betrayal at Baldur’s Gate, is designed for people who would like a Dungeons and Dragons experience with the same kind of mechanics. It would be the perfect edition for a group of role players that find a night of adventuring falling apart, but they still have enough of the group together to still play a game. The other is Betrayal at Mystery Mansion that plays the game with the Scooby Doo characters. This is the perfect setting for this game because even in the original version of the game, it feels as if you are a part of a Scooby Doo story.
There is also a legacy version of the game that takes place over decades. Players don’t just play one character, but they play families instead depending on whether a certain character survived or not. I have not played this legacy version of this game, but it appears to play with the same mechanics as the base game, and extend the story. I would consider it like your favorite horror franchise with each game being a new installment.
All of these are stand alone games, and there is really only one expansion out at this time, The Widow’s Walk. The base game is needed in order to add this expansion, and it adds another floor to the adventure, the roof. It also comes with fifty more encounters, new monsters, and new items. Though it does add more elements to an already full game, it is mainly for those that have played the game so many times that they are starting to repeat some of the scenarios. It helps to breathe life into a game that some love so much that they need that little extra.
Rating – 7
OVERALL
I will start this overview by saying that the best experience I have had playing board games over the last couple of years has come from playing this game. We were so immersed in the story and all the pieces fit together so well that I still talk about it with the people I played it with. On the other hand, one of the worst experiences I have had playing games has been playing this game. The people I was playing with were not into the story, and we even had to switch the betrayer because they were struggling with running the game. It through these experiences that I realized that this is not a game for everyone. If you like your Euro games, and puzzles that have a theme but that is not central to the game play, then this is not a game for you. If you like your storytelling games and love the opportunity to help guide the storytelling, then you will love this game. You will just need to make sure that the people you play it with feel the same way; otherwise, it will not play out the way that you would hope everytime.
John Collings 