Monopoly Deal

 

       Monopoly Deal is a card base game derived from the hit board game Monopoly. The game itself contains 106 cards, 4 simple rule cards, and an expanded rule sheet. The rules are easy to learn and the length of play can last as little as 5 to 15 minutes with 2 to 3 players or up to 45 minutes with 5 players.


     To start out the game you must first remove the 4 simple rule cards and hand them to each player. Then take the remaining cards and shuffle them. In my personal experience it's easier to split the deck in half and have 2 people shuffle the cards. Next each player is dealt 5 cards face down. Next you determine who will go first. The suggested first player is the youngest person, but you can decide however you want. The first player will start their turn by drawing 2 cards from the draw pile. Then they have to play up to 3 of their cards in their hand. The things that they can do are as follows:

• Play money or action cards. Money cards get put in to your bank
• Play action cards as money. Action cards played as money will stay as money until the end of the game.
• Play property cards

At the end of the turn the player cannot have more than 7 cards in their hand. If they do have more than 7 they will have to discard until they only have 7 cards. The next player takes their turn.
A winner is declared when a player can obtain 3 sets of properties.


     I use the word "obtain"  because there are various, and sometimes downright devious, ways a player can obtain properties. One of my favorite ways is to play the "Sly Deal" card which allows you steal 1 property from one of your opponents. Now you are not allowed to steal a property that is already part of a set those cards are considered "locked" and no longer playable unless you play the "Forced Deal" card. Forced Deal allows you steal an entire set of properties from one of your rivals. If played at the right time this card can change the outcome, or if it is played against you can be truly devastating. 


     What I really like Monopoly Deal is that it is a game that can be learned in a matter of minutes and play roughly 2 games (depending on the number of players) in under 30 minutes. Another thing I enjoy about this game is the fact that it adds a whole new twist on the Monopoly game, but still feeling like Monopoly with the iconic properties such as Park Place and Boardwalk.


     There is not much to this game that I don't enjoy so I will end with this. If you're looking a fun, fast, family  game and you like the Monopoly franchise then I suggest that you pick a deck and give it a go. I can guarantee that you, your friends, and family will not regret this purchase.

Microsoft Flight

     It was recently brought to my attention that Microsoft Game Studios released a new free to play flight simulator, Microsoft Flight. I was very intrigued by this since I have thoroughly enjoyed Flight Sim games. After dusting off my Saitek X-52 and downloading the game I was ready to go.

     My first impression of the game was that the graphics were just gorgeous. I like the amount of detail on the land itself and all of the sight seeing structures. This really plays in to a mechanic of the game where you can fly tours for NPC's.The Aerocache hunt is very interesting. When you first select this game mode you are presented with a list of Aerocache's that are available to you to find. For anyone who has done any geocaching this is very similar, you are presented with a with a couple of clues and then are to do some research on those clues. Part of the research is doing a web search on the location via the search Bing button in game. Then you get in your plane and your off trying to find the aerocahche. Another thing that I really enjoy about Flight is the objective based flying which provides you with tasks on how to fly your plane. This is something that I would have wanted in previous flight sim games. This approach helps you get familiar with the airplanes in short mission like bursts.

     The only problem with this is limited number of planes that you get to start with. You only start 3 with planes. You have the option to buy more, and at the time of this writing it is only 3 more planes. The problem with this is the amount that those planes cost. If you're feeling frisky and want to expand your hangar to 6 planes, then you are going to spend at least $30 for the other 3 planes. $10 per plane seems a bit steep. Another problem  that I have with this game is that you only have access to the main island. If you want to fly to the rest of the islands then you are going to shell out another $20. With that $20 you have more missions available, access to the rest of the islands and another plane is included, the Vans RV-6. While this may seem to be a little better in the way of downloadable content, there is major problem with this and it's you're limited to Hawaii. So if I wanted to fly to O'Hare I would not be able to because the only place you can go is Hawaii.

     The bottom line is that this is great game for people who want to try out a flight sim game without paying for a full retail game. It will teach you the basics about a flight sim and also introduce a limited amount of aircraft to you. If it turns out that you do in fact like this game and want to expand on your flight sim playing, then I would suggest that you pick Flight Simulator X instead of paying $50 for part of a game.

Chrome OS - Buy more data?

Since I did get this laptop I do try to use it it for most things that I do on the web, since that's the intended purpose. Otherwise the laptop is completely useless. To solve that Google, along with Verizon Wireless, have include 100mb of data per month for free.

Now I know this is not a whole of data, so they have included an option to buy extra data here ---> Buy more data - Chrome OS Help, but with those prices I don't think they are going to get a lot of business. What I would like to know is why can't we just have one payment for internet? Instead of having to pay for house service, phone service, and ( the possible future) Notebook service? Seriously when is enough? Until the prices come down you can count me out.

Cr48 - Pilot-Program - Chrome OS

Back in about December I stumbled across this website Cr48 - Pilot-Program - Chrome OS .

At the time I did not think too much of it, and since I was killing time I decided to fill out the application. A couple of months have past and I have completely have forgotten all about it. The other day I came home from work, while I was on my lunch break, I noticed a medium sized box placed near my door.

I picked it up and brought it inside.

Totally confused as to what it could be I grabbed my pocket knife and started cutting all of the tape off of the box. Inside the the fist box was another, smaller, box. I pulled it out and opened it. To my surprise it was the Google CR-48 laptop. So if any of you are like me and really likes doing things on the web; then I strongly urge you fill out the application and you might end up being just as surprised as I was.