(Note: I'm crossposting this on SpasmsOfAccommodation and Beachton.com)
WatUR is now for sale on my Etsy store. I've listed one because I've only finished one. I have 11 more ready to sew up. As soon as they're done I'll edit the listing and release some coupons and do some promotions.
This is the best game I've ever played. It's easy to learn and instantly engaging. Whenever I get new people to play it so I can watch I have a good time watching them enjoy the give and take of offense and defense that seems like the decision to be made with every roll of the dice. And then in the end it always comes down to such an exciting, close finish everybody feels evenly matched and as though it's all fair in the end.
Most of my play testing and rules development has been with my nieces, Kate, Brenna, and Kara. After I developed the expansion pack and the final case design I went down to my brother's house to play a few rounds with Brenna and Kara. I woke Kara up early on Saturday morning and made her model for me in the pool before the sun got too high. Kara is 14 and it is not in her nature to get up early on a Saturday. She was a very good sport and an excellent model. I used my brother's cell phone to take these underwater photos and videos. I still can't believe how great it turned out. Later that night Brenna and I sat on the side of the pool on a towel and played two games in a row with our feet dangling in the water. It was exactly as fun as I hoped it would be.
Playing WatUR on the side of the pool
This deluxe version of WatUR comes in a floating case called a presURver. It is good for travel. It fits in a tote bag or backpack. It is 100% nylon though so it's best not to leave it in the sun too long or the UV will make it brittle. I've shown the board, dice and stones going into a dishwasher because it is theoretically dishwasher safe. At low heat and without detergent I would absolutely do it. But high heat and strong chlorine based detergents would likely degrade the dice or leave unsightly watermarks on the board. I don't actually recommend putting WatUR in the dishwasher. I'd just hand wash it. (I don't even own a dishwasher though. I understand some people just don't hand wash things.) If it's so contaminated it's either that or throw it away, go ahead and stick it in the dishwasher. Let me know how it comes out. If the black dice and stones get chalky try rubbing them with some car polish to bring the color back. While all of the parts are fine in the water and sun for a little while they can't stay in the water continuously. Don't set up a game of WatUR as an aquarium decoration. And don't try to wash the case with laundry. Just rinse it off and wipe it down. Dry it out of direct sun if possible. Every time I've gotten one wet it was dry again in under an hour.
The PresURver floats with the game inside
The board is fiberglass with etched copper lines. I would love to see what it looks like on an airport security x-ray monitor. All the lines should show up at high contrast because they are copper. Be sure to pack it so it is flat on to the x-rays and not on edge. That would be boring.
I read the full white paper Finkel wrote on his translation of the cuneiform tablet referenced in the video linked above. The main point of it was that stars are lucky. He deduced that players would have a pile of tokens that they would use as sort of gambling and to reinforce that lucky aspect of the squares with the stars. I find it interesting that the board the British Museum found is actually decorated with rosettes, not stars. Mine has stars. And now with the expansion pack it also has 30 tokens for rewarding you for landing on a star and penalizing you for passing over one. I call this ElabURation.
ElabURation and FloURishes
I made up another expansion called FloURishes. This is entirely my invention. The first time Kate played with it against her boyfriend Matt she made him run out of tokens entirely. We made up the rules for that instance on the spot. Running out of tokens is bursting. You lose.
Inside the presURver there are three pURses that hold the dice and stones as well as ElabURation and FloURishes.
Black dice and stones
White dice and stones
I'm really glad I matched the dice and stones because if I play one game as white then the next time I play as black I might forget and try to move the wrong stone. Anything that reduces my cognitive load leaves more energy for coping with the fact I'm in a social situation with another person.
In 2012 I did a Small Year. My intention was to spend as little money as possible and stay home all the time. In January 2012 I bought two Spartan Aircraft aluminum caravans, 31 feet long, 8 feet wide, manufactured in 1949 and 1951.
In the spring of 2013 I completed the conversion of the 1951 Spartan into a permanent lab and laundry room. It is now my knitting and sewing lab.
2016 was my smallest year yet.
2017 was on the medium size of small. I started working on 20 versions of the Royal Game of UR in 2017.
2018 was not as small as 2016 but smaller than 2017. I kept working on Royal Game of UR.
2019 was been slightly less small than 2018 so far. I went to the coast so that expanded my range by two counties. I've got 20 versions of the game of 20 squares ready for 2020. They're all 20% off on my Etsy shop all year.
In 2020 I am launching a video series for the Buck Rivet Report and restarting that blog.
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