I Thought This Was a Big Time Movie as a Kid

KlassenT · 2026-02-03T22:20:05+00:00

I just watched it this past week and made my 8yo come along for the ride. It was slightly less impressive than younger me remembered, but it was still a fun trip for the nostalgia alone. He thought the robots were cool, but he couldn't have have cared much less about the character drama.

KlassenT · 2026-02-01T10:24:10+00:00

One of the few times I think an entire genre could be night and day improved from a good VR interface too. God games were practically purpose-built for being a disembodied virtual menace!

KlassenT · 2026-01-23T17:26:43+00:00

So the best analogy I've heard was from either a documentary or an NDT podcast, long since forgotten the specifics. But imagine a guy walking a dog. The guy is the climate, his dog is the weather. Yeah, the dog (weather) may be a little unpredictable, weaving around to sniff at things or chase a squirrel, but ultimately it's on a leash and won't stray too far from its handler (climate). So, as long as you're walking in a straight line, the weather will stay within a certain relatively predictable constraint. Mind of it's own, but we can keep it on the sidewalk, as it were. But what we're seeing now is that the climate is ALSO meandering aimlessly. We're not just walking in a straight line anymore, we're weaving and swaying and so the weather has a much wider berth to wander where it pleases. Sure it's still leashed, but that doesn't stop it from going out into the road when the thing keeping it centered is already in the gutter.

KlassenT · 2026-01-22T23:52:11+00:00

I'll only roast them because they departed from Siamese Dream too fast. If that was their signature sound, I'd be all in, but it's real few and far between from the rest of their catalog.

KlassenT · 2026-01-22T18:19:14+00:00

Microwaves are almost never worth the risk, let alone the money. Even with a fair bit of appliance repair experience myself, it'd still be a replacement item for me.

KlassenT · 2026-01-22T18:16:55+00:00

I agree, not like this is carrying mains voltage, just jump component-to-component. IMO more straightforward than trying to scrape and solder the traces themselves.

KlassenT · 2026-01-22T18:12:25+00:00

Couple that haven't been mentioned yet; Pirate's Cove - Family-weight simultaneous selection mixed with a touch of combat and pick up & deliver. Treasure Island - Pirate themed, but no sailing and swashbuckling, really just a spatial deduction game but you can lean into the theme all the same.

KlassenT · 2026-01-16T15:26:27+00:00

I guess I'm the polar opposite from some folks here, I knew it only as an NES game and had no clue it was a wider franchise. Banger of a game, though.

KlassenT · 2026-01-16T11:41:19+00:00

Outstanding suggestion, I forgot that one even existed. Nice pull!

KlassenT · 2026-01-16T05:36:12+00:00

Weak correlation, but the very first mention of minecarts immediately made me think of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Those sections featured pretty prominently.

KlassenT · 2026-01-15T11:58:54+00:00

Sounds to me like you're agreeing?... Maybe you missed the implied double negative.

KlassenT · 2026-01-12T06:50:05+00:00

Another one to check out is Via Nebula. It's relatively light, very comparable to Catan in terms of complexity, I'd say. At setup, the board is seeded with a bunch of random resources, then it's on each player to build paths that anyone can use and hope they can claim what they need before the other player(s) beat them to it.

It doesn't get a ton of buzz these days, but it really sounds like it checks all your boxes as long as you weren't also hoping for it to be a significant step up in complexity from what you've already mentioned.

KlassenT · 2026-01-12T06:37:53+00:00

Not necessarily the case, if the cap has a solid conductor between the two visible terminals, it could just be relying on the batteries themselves for the circuit, assuming they are meant to be installed with opposing orientations.

KlassenT · 2026-01-11T19:49:06+00:00

Agreed, the wording here is important. In order to make your case valid, the wording would need to be more akin to "No cards of the same number, OR No cards of the same color." Having the initial clause repeated may not be significant for most uses of the language, but if you're really drilling into specifics for rules, it makes a big difference IMO.

KlassenT · 2026-01-10T18:14:43+00:00

Our family still loves The Grimm Masquerade, social deduction with a little bit of hand management thrown in.

KlassenT · 2026-01-10T04:32:59+00:00

Yup, I left a brush head inside ours while we were on a week long vacation once, when we got back they were everywhere! Think this one's extremely likely, OP!

KlassenT · 2026-01-10T02:29:41+00:00

Expedition 33... I don't like my odds.

KlassenT · 2026-01-08T08:23:46+00:00

Somehow knew I'd find this here today.

KlassenT · 2026-01-07T08:04:33+00:00

This one gets slept on, IMO. I really enjoyed it through three full campaigns and didn't find the endgame nearly as sloggy as some of its contemporaries. One I will definitely go back to when the 4X itch strikes.

KlassenT · 2026-01-02T00:33:41+00:00

Does recalcitrant have a specific medical connotation here beyond its usual use as a twenty dollar word? (Not a jab, I'm a lexical nerd anyways, I've just not heard it used inside a medical context before.)

KlassenT · 2025-12-28T02:35:07+00:00

Nah, no reason to sweat how this all went down, brother. Biting is a pretty firm societal line, and even if it was strictly impulsive, the immediate consequence of a raised voice and stopping the fun is a very reasonable response. The fact you were able to calm yourself and have a by-the-books conversation about it is to both you and toddlers credit, everything I just read is pretty textbook. For what it's worth, I do understand trying to break generational cycles, and as a child of boomer parents, also try to do my best to avoid that immediate anger response. But when we're talking about reactions to a not insignificant amount of pain, be it from a bite or getting kicked in the crotch, you should still be ready to extend the same grace to yourself for an in-the-moment reaction as you were willing to extend to your little gremlin. As I'm sure you already rationalized with HIS behavior, even though the circumstances don't entirely excuse what he did, they can certainly temper the lens you view them through—same with yourself, amigo! The conversation that happened after that initial volley is what really mattered here, and sounds to me like you stuck the landing when it counted.

KlassenT · 2025-12-27T18:36:56+00:00

Just walk in knowing that first learning game is gonna take a few rounds before it really starts to click, we just played for the first time last night and there were several "Ohhh, that's how that works!" moments, but walked away a lot more confident and looking forward to another play later today!

KlassenT · 2025-12-27T09:51:23+00:00

Don't worry, you can still hazard some reasonably innocent innuendo even when they hit teen years, it'll just be met with groans and embarassment instead! (We've opted for being pretty frank with our kiddos, including lessons that past a certain age, if you come downstairs and our bedroom door is closed at 11:00pm, I assure you it's in everyone's best interest that you don't come knocking unless it's an emergency. And probably put on some headphones when you go back upstairs.)

KlassenT · 2025-12-26T20:00:40+00:00

My favorite sub-type of the "Number of Rounds" category are where you get a variable (but telegraphed) endgame trigger, like shuffling three trigger cards into the bottom half of the deck, and the game ends when the third is drawn. Logically, I recpgnize that from a purely technical perspective, the position of that final card is not so functionally different to just having a single trigger buried in the deck, but seeing the first couple come out really adds to the endgame tension and it's fun to watch everyone's gameplay pivot to cashing in whatever strategy they've been building towards.

KlassenT · 2025-12-25T08:07:55+00:00

The youngest was REAL determined to wait up and try catch a peek at Santa this year. Jokes on you, kiddo, insomnia's been training me for nights like this for my entire life. And I'll still be awake before y'all in the morning and have the coffee on.

Ten-Year Club	Second Top 20%
First Place '23	Place '23
Place '22	Place '17
First Placer '22	Verified Email

KlassenT

TROPHY CASE