Why does one generate so much hate
That a person across the vast ocean
Will throw a vicious tirade on the state
Of the world h made on a personal whim?
Does he believe in the mass destruction
Of mankind is something we can sustain?
Does he think economic production
Is better than what relationships gain?
He will sit on top of his mighty throne,
Pissing off an Irish man in a bar,
Thinking his popularity has grown
Since he has not seen the inflicted scar.
We will have to listen to his loud blare
As long as money is our only care.
The West End, London
There are a couple of places in the world where theatre is one of the main attractions. Of course, many Americans know of the appeal of Broadway in New York, but even before that became the gold standard, there was the West End in London. It has been producing some of the highest quality English speaking plays, and musicals dating all the way back to 1806. Many of the productions bring in the best of the stage and screen, and people travel from all over the world to see a production here. It is a big part of what makes London the city it is.
You know you are in London when you travel on the tube, and every time you get off a train, you see poster after poster promoting a production that is now showing in the West End. This includes classic stories from Shakespeare, some of the bigger musical productions that have toured around the world such as Wicked and Les Miserables, and some movies that have been turned into new musical productions such as Clueless and Mean Girls. There is always something to see there, and some of the biggest productions happen in the neighborhood known as the West End.
The West End is a quaint little neighborhood filled with great restaurant, interesting stores, and of course theaters. It is nestled right next to London’s Chinatown, and there is so much to see just wandering up and down the streets. I enjoyed seeing what Chinatown had to offer, and it also boasts one of the biggest bookstores I have ever been in, Foyles.
The streets also hold their own charm. You can take a quick turn, and can easily find a street that would only be comfortable in the confines of London. If you can find it, Craven Street has been the inspiration for many locations in great British writers’ works. Supposedly down the street is where Charles Dickens came across a knocker that inspired him to impose the face of Marley on it for his Christmas Carol. It is also the street that inspired J.K. Rowling to come up with Knockturn Alley from her Hairy Potter series. It is a little hidden, and not many people find it, so if you can, it will be like you are on the street on your own.
But if Craven Street is not enough Harry Potter for you, there is always the London production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the eighth story in the series, and a two part play. It is only in London where they perform the complete play. Everywhere else, it is a condensed version of the story. You can watch this play in two different ways, either break it up in two nights, or watch the first part in a matinee, and the second part three hours later. I would recommend seeing the play in one day. It is a long day, but the time just flies by and there is enough to do in the neighborhood during the break to make the day one that you will never forget.
Whether you go to see one of the big plays playing out in London, or just wandering the neighborhood, the West End is a great place to visit when traveling to this city. It is also a place that will be different every time you visit because there will always be something new to see. I enjoyed my time out here, and I can’t wait until I can come back and see the next performance on one of their stages.
It Belongs in a Museum?
There’s never been a better collection
That showcases the world’s history.
We will keep it under our protection
In a place that’s easy for us to see.
Any culture will never disappear
Because they have lost their relics of yore;
From this point on, they can find it here
Though the voyage might be a little chore.
We will catalogue every gotten piece
With the story of its discovery;
Its original import lost its lease
When the colonists set its people free.
Don’t call us a group of thieves on the lamb
Because we brought your stuff to our museum.
London Calling
The first big trip that I took out of the United States was almost twenty years ago. Christine and I flew over to Europe with backpacks and spent fifty days traveling through ten different countries. It was when I first really caught the traveling bug, and I have recently reached my fiftieth country in the last year. But there was always something about the first place that I landed in. It was the first time that I had to navigate a completely different culture while I marveled at the new places that I was seeing. I was spoiled a little bit because the first of the big cities that I traveled to was London, and the place is so packed with so many different things to see that I instantly got that cultural experience that I was looking for. I was able to see the Tower of London, attend a Shakespeare show in the Globe Theatre, wander through the London Library, and do the tours at St. Paul’s Cathedral. I have kept those early memories of the start of this trip with me ever since, and it was because of these memories that when I was looking for a place to travel to over a long weekend, and saw affordable tickets to London that I had to make the effort to get back to this city that I have enjoyed so many years ago.
I did answer London’s call, but I did not rush to repeat the same things that I enjoyed the previous time around. First of all, we came out in the middle of the Winter when clouds and rainy cold grip the city, so I would not be spending as much time outside checking out all of the sights. Secondly, I now know people who call London their home, so there was time spent catching up with people I have not seen for so many years. This meant that we were not going to go to the big tourist spots all of the time, but instead, we would go to those hidden gems that the locals go to all of the time. One of these was the Beer Mile. This is a series of micro-breweries that are set up in old warehouses underneath one of the train lines. It is a great place to enjoy one craft beer after another as you walk from one small brewpub to another. It also holds the charm of the train rumbling overhead every few minutes because of its location underneath the tracks.
Of course, there were other things that we needed to check out that we missed the first time around. One of these was visiting the British Museum. The nicest thing about visiting London is that all of the museums are free to enter, and there is a big collection of amazing things to be found at these places. The Brits have has a long history of taking the treasures from many places around the world and putting them on display in their museum. Now, I know that there is a pretty bog controversy surrounding this idea, but it is still pretty cool to see what is collected in this big building. We spent a couple of hours there and were only able to really view the collection Assyria, and Ancient Egypt. There was still so much to see in the place, and I might have to hear London’s call again someday to see what else I have missed in this building.
A place that attracted more tourists then the British Museum was the Borough Market. This is an outdoor food market that gives visitors numerous options of food and drink. You can find the typical British options such as meat pies and fish and chips, but there are many other choices out there as well. Dishes varied from paella, risotto, and bao, with drink options including beer, wine, and cider. We were able to enjoy a hot cider while there, but they were serving up mulled wine as well to warm up the people as they strolled through the market. I was amazed at how packed it was on a cold February day. I could not imagine what the place would be like during the Summer months, so I was glad that I got to experience it when I did. I think if it was any more crowded I wouldn’t have wanted to visited it in the first place.
Overall, it has ben nice to come back to this place I have visited so many years ago. I have enjoyed looking for different corners that I wasn’t able to explore the last time I was out here. I don’t know when I will be able to come back again, or if I ever will, but in the meantime, I will just collect more memories of this place, so I can answer the call when it comes again someday.
Another Rainy Day
Sometimes the land turns into a puddle
That we must stomp our thick rubber boots through.
A whisper from our rain-slicker’s cuddle
Keeps us dry from the water the clouds drew
From the wintry coast right down the street.
I can watch the drips coming from my hood,
Making a waterfall down to my feet
That is the start of the path through the wood.
At this downpour, the trees don’t give shelter,
And we will eventually get soaked.
We will live according to the letter
As to what God considered having joked.
They predict the sun will break through the cloud,
But for now, it is the rain that is proud.
Why We Game
Some may only see plastic and cardboard
Bound by a thick, complicated rulebook.
They can’t comprehend why it’s so adored,
But then again they do not really look.
They do not see the shared story unfold,
Brought on by an agreed set of guidelines
As the colorful meeples fight for gold
While evading the engine’s greatest fines.
It brings our laughter from all who attend,
And they do not care if they lose or win
For the only care they have in the end
Was that the tale was able to begin.
So do not bring to us your hate and shame;
Instead, join us for our little board game.
Delayed
We have arrived at the land of the delayed
Where we have joined the herds found at the gate.
All of our travel plans have been frayed,
And I am sure we will arrive a day late.
Still, there is our priest with a microphone,
Preaching a sermon that may give us hope.
It helps to know that we are not alone;
A congregation allows us to cope.
You find us collected in airports
And terminals across this great nation.
Though we may seem, at times, all out of sorts,
We understand each’s indignation.
We ask for safe, timely arrival,
To never again go through this trial.
Fifty
As my brittle bones start to creak and moan,
And my joints pop with every movement,
I stare at the next morning with a groan,
And wonder where this half century went.
I have gained plenty more bathroom visits,
And they seem to take a little longer
Because not ev’rything wants to exit
Though my resolve to do so grows stronger.
The skin around my eyes begins to sag
Because I have to squint to see these words.
To recall my sharp wit takes a long lag
Where the replay comes so late, it’s absurd.
Nobody told me it would be nifty,
The day after I have become fifty.
Packing Up the Holidays
The holidays are always a great time to get back to the people that you love. There are millions of people that believe the same, and if you do not believe me, just visit an airport an see how packed they become as people travel back and forth to those spots where they can make the magic of the holidays happen. At times, it can be a pain in the butt to be one of those people who are trying to make their flights, and move across the world, but in the end it is worth the time that was spent making the effort.
Despite all of the rewards that come with travels, there comes a time when you have to pack things up and return to the life that you are living. The holidays cannot last forever, and we all need to pack up the packages and decorations. If we left them up all year long, then the moments that we create during this time of the year would be meaningless. We need to have the drudgery of a regular routine to make those moments matter.
I am in the process of moving back to that life. I am not sadden by the prospect of going back to my classroom, my alarm, and my responsibilities. Yes, they can bring us down some times, but at the same time, they give us the life that we wish to live. It is when we get those breaks from the routine that we can find those treasured moments in our lives.
I have just come from a three week respite from the daily routine. It was a great couple of weeks being able to spend time with family and catch up with their lives while sharing what was going on in mine. The meals, the laughter and the hugs will stay with me during the cold and dark beginning of the year, and it will take me through the time until I can come back to see these people again. It is probably the greatest gift that can be given over the holiday season.
I want to thank all of the people in the United States that I was able to spend time with over this break. You have made the beginning of my year great, probably without even knowing that you have done that. I hope that the start of 2025 has been just as memorable for you as well. It may be discouraging that it is time to pack up the season, but keep in mind that it is only a short time until those glittering lights and thoughts of family will return. Until then, have a great 2025, and I look forward to sharing with you the highlights I have along the way.
Top Twenty Game of 2024
It was another great year of traveling the world, and reading excellent pieces of literature. Combine this with a full time job, and you would think that I would not have enough time for another hobby, but I enjoy nothing more than sitting down with a group of friends to play a game. I have been extremely lucky in this capacity for I was able to play 72 different games over the course of the year. I have taken that list of games, ran them through the Pub Meeple engine in order to put together this list of what I consider the 20 best games I have played this year. Here is what I think those games to be, and how their position has changed from the list last year:
20. Scythe (Down 2)
This is an amazing area control, economic game set in a post-World War I landscape in Eastern Europe. The mechanics of this game are phenomenal, and it is one of the more complicated games to be found on this list. Because of its complication, it makes it hard to get to the table, and to find people who are willing to play it. It also takes at least a couple of hours to play a game. I enjoy the time that I get to play the game, but because of the limited times that I get to play it, it ranks lower on the list.
19. Smash Up (New)
This is a game that has been introduced to me a few time over the years. I usually play it once with the person that introduced it to me, and then I instantly forget about it. Well, I ended up purchasing the app this year, and I find myself drifting to it often. It can be frustrating at time with the powers that come with some of the factions that you can mash up together, but it also fun being that frustrating player that makes everybody’s life a nightmare during a game. I can see myself playing this more of the course of the next year.
18. Stone Age (New)
I don’t play many worker placement games, but this one has become one of my favorites. There are many ways that you can find those victory points to make it a fun puzzle to engage with. It also has just enough luck thrown in to make any game interesting enough to not now what will happen in the end. My favorite part is that you need to use two workers in the hut in order to make another worker. Thematically it works, and overall, it is just a fun game to play.
17. Unmatched (Down 13)
I know that this game markets itself that it can be played by up to four players, but it really sings when played by only two. The game has great asymmetric characters that are balanced well, and they keep on adding new characters are environments to bring new battles to life. It is my favorite chess match, and I am always excited to see what new characters they will bring out. I usually play it on the app, and I would love for them to add more characters through that medium, but I am still enjoying the twelve that can be found there.
16. Cascadia (New)
This was an impulse buy I picked up over the summer while hanging out in Oregon. Since I have gotten it, it has made it to the table on numerous occasions. It is relatively easy to teach, and it looks like it would be an easy game to master, but in fact, it has a great puzzle within its simple design. I also love the fact that it comes with different levels of the puzzle, so you can always challenge yourself with something a little more difficult. I can see this one moving up on the list in following years.
15. Pandemic (Down 1)
Easily one of the best cooperative games ever made, but it has one flaw with it. In order to play at the level that it is designed at, you need to have a group of people who understand the game enough and are willing to have those discussions that the game is designed to have. If you do not, what happens is that one person starts to quarterback, and it becomes just one person playing the game. I will admit it that I tend to become the quarterback, and my goal is to have fun not tell people what to do. Because of this, I usually play this game by myself, and it still brings me a lot of enjoyment as I try to save the world from various threats.
14. Dungeons and Dragons (Down 9)
Just like last year, I have to say that I know that this is not a board game, and some people will believe that it should not be on this list. To those people, I would say that any time I can get a group of friends together to laugh and enjoy the story that we unfold, it is considered a game. I am on the third year of this campaign, and it is starting to wind up. We have played together for so long together that we know each others’ characters and quirks so well that the role-playing aspect has taken over the general game play. It has been a fun group, and I will be sorry when we wrap up the story. I hope that I can find another group to play with next year that is as tight as this group. It is because of this that this game will always find a place on this list.
13. Raiders of the North Sea
I know that there are a lot of other Garphill Games out there that people are always talking about, and I start every new year vowing that I will try another one of them, but then the year passes and the only one I have played is Raiders of the North Sea. I have not even played any of the numerous expansions that can make this game a more complicated one. Despite this, I still love playing this game. I got the digital version of it to play while traveling through Iceland, and now every time I play it, I am reminded of that trip. It is a great worker placement game, and I can only see the playing of a different Garphill Game getting me to move it off of this list.
12. Castles of Burgundy (New)
I know many people have this game as their top spot on their favorite games of all time, so I made the effort to try it out this year. I can see why this gets that distinction from so many people; it is a great game with mechanics that I have never seen anywhere else. It is having a little bit of a revival at this time because of a new edition that has come out which makes the game look spectacular, but the original game is just as good. The long game play makes it hard to get to the table at times, but it is always a joy when it happens.
11. Arkham Horror: The Card Game (Up 4)
I had heard that it was a great game to play with people but most people liked to play it solo. There was going to be a lot of times when I would be by myself, and I wanted a good solo experience for those lonely nights, so I picked this game up. I am glad I did. It has many different scenarios that you can play through and each of them have their own little challenge with the same rule set. The scenarios are even fun to play through more than once as the outcomes change as you go through them. This is one that will always be on my shelf, and I can’t wait to play through more stories as they come out.
10. Long Shot (New)
I bought this game for a trip that I was going to take with a group of friends, and then we didn’t go on that trip. I had this game that was supposed to be great for bigger groups of people, and now I could only play it with my wife at my house, so I needed to find a bigger group of people to play it with. This is when I brought it to the pub, and I found that group quickly. This became the game that I would always bring to the pub, and it really started to shine when we played it with eight people. I love this game, and I love how the final race becomes a crazy race that nobody knows who is going to win. It is always a hit, and I have found very few people who have not enjoyed it.
9. The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine (Up 1)
I will lump both of the Crew games together because they work off of the same mechanic, and I am still surprised how collaborative a trick taking game can be. Last year I included the Deep Sea Nine edition of the game which I do believe is slightly better. This year I hopped back to the original, The Quest for Planet Nine, because I have been playing it more often with the groupI have played with for four years, and we are at the 43rd mission. We hope to finish it in the next couple of months, and I have no idea what type of feeling that will give me. This is a great game, and it is easy to bring to the table because once people get into its addictive nature, it ends up getting played all night long.
8. Everdell (Down 1)
Everdell will always hold a special place in my heart. It was 2020, and we were stuck in our house. We needed something to do or we were going to go crazy. I had done some research on modern board games, and I had discovered this one. It was a new way of thinking about games for me, so I picked up a copy of it. Instantly, it became the thing that we did during the long evenings to help us make it through the pandemic. We might have overplayed it, and it sat on the shelf more lately than it has in the past. Still, we bring it out, and I am quickly reminded of it brilliance, especially when you add an expansion or two. It is the game that got me back into the board game hobby, and I will always appreciate the way it helped me through a difficult time of my life.
7. Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile (Down 4)
This is not a game for everybody. The rules are expansive, and it is hard to teach people how to play the game because of it. There is also the problem of the game evolving after each play as the cards change, thereby, changing the way the game is played. But I have been lucky to find a group of people to play with that is enjoying the history that we are creating with the board. When the moment of that history is dramatic, and the group is adding to creating that history, this game really sings. It is hard to get the group together to play, but it is fun every time I am able to make it happen.
6. Clank! In! Space! (New)
I know that this list does not reflect the fact that I have been getting into deck-building lately, but one deck-building game stood head and shoulders above all the others that I played this year, Clank! In! Space! I loved the way the game combines this famous mechanic with a push your luck element. I was lucky enough to play this version of the game as well as the original Clank! Both are great games, but I do like the space version better. The deck of cards is more diverse, and allows for more fun combinations. Still, if you only have the opportunity to play the original, it will still be a lot of fun.
5. Eldritch Horror (Up 3)
This game is Pandemic on steroids with a better story it tells. It is a lot more complicated than Pandemic, and a game of Eldritch Horror is an epic adventure with twists and turns as you try to save the world from a Lovecraftian apocalypse. I have been able to move beyond the base game to play a couple of the expansions to this game, and it makes the game a lot tougher, but also a greater story. I do not mind if I lose against the game because it turns the story into this amazing tragedy that would be worthy of the big screen. It is not a game for everybody, but I will happy join in whenever it is being offered up to play.
4. Imperial Assault (Up 2)
I have always enjoyed this game, but I have always had a hard time finding people to complete the campaign with me. That changed this year. I now have a group, and we are halfway through the campaign. It is fun to see how the characters get more powerful as you move you way through it, and the scenarios are nicely balanced. It also creates a nice story in a light RPG setting that does not rely to heavily on the rules. I am excited to see how it will all end as a couple of the main baddies have already popped up, and there are a couple more exciting adventures planned. The goal is to finish on May the 4th, and I know that it will not disappoint.
3. Root (Up 6)
This is an amazing game and I am starting to feel comfortable playing two of the factions, the Eyrie, and the Marquis. I still struggle how to make the other two work in the base game, and I know that there are other factions out there just waiting to be learned. I love how well researched each faction is, and how well they balance each other out. Any game of Root is up for grabs just as long as the people playing know how to play. That is the biggest problem with this game. The learning curve is so high that getting it to the table with people who know how to play is almost impossible. But it is such a good game that when you find those people who know how to play, it becomes one of the best games you will ever play. As I learn more about this game, I can see it taking over the number one spot eventually, but for now, it will reside happily right here.
2. Isle of Sky
This is still one of my favorite games to get to the table. I always keep a bottle of scotch on hand so when it does get to the table we can play it the way that it is meant to play. I still have not gotten bored of the base game even though I have the big box version of it with all of the expansions available to me, but still the variance that happens with the base game makes me happy. It also moves at a nice pace, so there is always something to do as the game progresses. And if it ever slows down, there is always the scotch to take a sip off of.
1 Chinatown
I know that there are a lot of board game enthusiasts out there who will be surprised by this pick with all of the problems that come along with this game. It has been repackaged three times, and they still have not taken away the obvious prejudice on the board, and it would take a quick reskinning of the game to solve this problem. From my understanding, this has happened with the game, Waterfall Park, but I have not been able to play this version of the game. Until I do, I will still play this game. I never laugh so hard when playing this game, and I never end up winning. The rules are so simple, but the game play is so intense that it makes it easy to get to the table, and most people who love the act of negotiation love to play this game. I will have to hunt down that new version of the game to see if I can get over the problems that come with this game so I can continue to enjoy it guilt free. Otherwise, I still think it is too good of a game to ignore completely.
John Collings 