Happy Birthday to Mom

We celebrated Mom's birthday today. (The photo to the right is from our trip to Washington, DC last August.) Her birthday is February 29th, so she doesn't have an actual birthday this year. We all met at her house for dinner and games. Part of Mom's present was that we didn't force her to play games.

First we played a game of Killer Bunnies REMIX. This is the second time we've played the starter deck with six players. It seems too easy for someone to go half of the game without a bunny. I'm hoping that adding in the additional decks (from the REMIX set) will add more bunnies. Otherwise we may need to limit the game to five people. I wasn't dealt a bunny today, and it took me about five draws to get one in play. He was quickly killed by Teresa, and I then went about five more rounds without one. Andrew had two bunnies at one point, but lost them both; he then spent the second half of the game without a bunny. Gillian lost her only bunny in the third round (on an attack by Patrick) and never had another one for the rest of the game. I ended up buying two carrots at the end of the game, and one of them (the martial arts carrot) ended up the magic carrot. Dennis played and didn't like the game.

Patrick beat me in two games of Hive this morning on the iPod Touch. We brought the board version over to Mom's, and Patrick beat me while we explained the rules to the rest of the group. Patrick also beat Dennis, but then Andrew beat Patrick. Patrick is the best in the group at the game, but he's also played it the most. I would definitely recommend Hive anyone who likes abstract strategy games, especially anyone who would like something faster and easier than chess. The simplicity and portability would also make it attractive to anyone looking for a light filler game. Anyone curious about the game can try a free online version (solitaire, against the AI) at the Hive website.