Having done the research on Guy Fawkes for this post, I'm bummed for you too - it looks like so much fun! But you'll be on your really long trip right? Having even more fun? :-)
Yup. Leaving tomorrow. My road already has the "no parking" signs up for the fireworks night (as we call it up here). There are fireworks at the beach every year (weather depending) and there is a small hill just next to it where we usually gather with sparklers and either a bag of chips or a flask of something warm. And watch the crowds and the fireworks. The fireworks are usually quite bad - last time they messed up the countdown - but slagging off the council's efforts is part of the fun.
You're going to Malaysia right? You might get lucky, and be there for some of their own celebrations and you could maybe do a sneaky substitute? And how long are you there for? Because I saw a mention for something called Big Bad Wolf book sale taking place somewhere in a mine, that frankly sounds incredibly interesting. But it's in December.
I'm only going for a couple of weeks. I have no idea, yet, what I'll be doing or have time for as I need to get the work part out of the way first...and presumably this weekend I will just want to sleep!
Very true, jet lag is a bitch, lol. I was just thinking fireworks are a popular entertainment in that part of the world so you might get lucky and see some. :-)
Only if you want to play the game to its fullest capacity. If you just want to concentrate on the squares themselves, the rules are pretty straightforward. We tried to make it as flexible as possible, so people could either play hard or play relaxed. :-)
7 years ago
Wow! This took a lot of research and working out. Kudos to you for all the hard work! Ok I'm in. I figure 2 tasks per week would cover all 16. I'm not going to try to compete for most points, I couldn't take the stress!
That's the best part - there's no competition for most points, the points will all be used at the end of the game to determine the amount of money we send to our charities. The more points the entire group accumulate, the more money we send to the charities in the group's name. We're hoping it will make it enough of a game without the stress competition. :-)
I think the best part of this one is the opportunity to learn about and participate (in a bookish way) in so many different celebrations that I either know very little about or not at all. Plus, I'm so looking forward to seeing everyone's posts. I love that you kept the theme of having both reading and non-reading activities in the game from last year, too.
Something I would love to see, would be for different booklikers to post some suggestions for books that would fit the different squares, especially as some of the squares are calling for features that might be a little uncommon.
Wow! You guys really went all out, especially with the research.
As with last year, I'm just going to participate casually and see what books I read will end up falling in which categories... Although there is a very big chance I'll end up making book lists at some point.
A special shout-out for Dongzhi! I may see what my parents have planned for that day, and maybe share some dinner pictures. Mom usually ends up making this big, mixed vegetable pot with tofu and napa cabbage, vermicelli rice noodles, carrots, etc... that is one of my favorite dishes. Also, sticky rice with Chinese sausage and dried shrimp. Man, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.
Thank you both so much for all the work put into this game!
Thank you! Oddly enough, that's exactly the reaction I was hoping for. :-)
I hope the rules don't overwhelm people too much, we really did try to design this to be as flexible as possible so that everybody would have a lot of fun doing it. We certainly had an incredibly great time creating it.
I can see that - Poor Themis got more than a few "wait, I think I'm confused about this bit" or "Just to be clear..." from me while we were ironing out the details. :D But it really is pretty simple once you view everything after the squares as optional. (Can you tell I'm a tad nervous? :P )
Thank you all! And please don't stress out -- that's the last thing we want!! Just look at the options for the various squares and pick one that inspires you or looks like fun ... that's really all it boils down to.
I can honestly say it's been a while since I learned so much in such a short amount of time *and* had such enormous fun at the same time, too. And I just have to give a shout-out to MbD's personal elf, who came up with some truly spectacular ideas and managed to just overall make himself near-indispensable -- even at long distance.
As MbD said, we'll be creating some threads in the Bingo group to keep track of such things as the rules, info on the various holidays, people reporting in points / completed tasks -- and excellent idea, PM, we'll also create a thread where people can make suggestions for individual tasks (book or non-book alike).
To start with, anybody at a loss for ideas for a Calan Gaeaf read, almost any of your unread Halloween books will do, but if you're looking for something specifically involving witches, there are plenty of this list that MbD and I compiled for the Halloween Bingo (originally for last year's, with a few additions this year): http://booklikes.com/apps/reading-lists/681/halloween-book-bingo-witches-square
No, unfortunately not. It’s been ages since I have made some of them. But I think I will go to the danish library. I bet there is a book with the more intricate patterns and maybe I can manage to make some of these. At least I can give it a try and post my failure ;)
Ha! I bet they'll turn out great. When I first tried it last year I thought it was going to be superhard just to do the basic one, but turned out to be pretty easy so now I'm curious to try something a little more complicated this year. Maybe. ;)
Haha! Sorry, I'm still reading my way through the tasks - I love the mention of Buss- und Bettag. For some odd reason that was one of my favourite holidays - simply because it was such a random day to get off from school.
Yes, exactly! And, of course, this one is payback time to the Powers That Be (or were at the time) for abolishing the national holiday for tax and insurance reasons ... (grrr).
WOW, just WOW! You guys put a heck of a lot of thought and effort into this! Reading through all the tasks and rules made my head spin with info overload. I doubt I'll officially play but look forward to seeing how others complete their Festive Season game tasks. Thanks for all your hard work, you guys (and MT).
We'd love to have you participating ... maybe watch for a while and decide to join later? It really, really boils down to
(1) no stress, no stress, no stress at all -- all the extra options are purely ... optional, and
(2) any old thing mentioned in the tasks will get you a completed square.
Yes! Definitely, please do! I think once the game play starts, it will become clear just how easy it really is to play. We just really wanted to create a lot of excuses for people to post a lot. :D But none of it is obligatory, beyond doing one task per square (and you don't have to do ALL the squares, either.) :)
Oh man, you guys know how to ratchet up the peer pressure. lol I noticed the Cadfael audiobook I just started would fit one of the squares, and I've got another book I was planning to finish for Halloween bingo that I think would qualify for Calan Gaeaf... we'll see. :)
St. Peter's Fair. I was wondering if I could stretch that one to fit All Saints Day and then noticed for Penance Day you could read a book featuring a monk as MC, so it works for the game. :)
I'm just a bit sad that I'll miss Guy Fawkes here this year. :( It is so much fun.
Something I would love to see, would be for different booklikers to post some suggestions for books that would fit the different squares, especially as some of the squares are calling for features that might be a little uncommon.
As with last year, I'm just going to participate casually and see what books I read will end up falling in which categories... Although there is a very big chance I'll end up making book lists at some point.
A special shout-out for Dongzhi! I may see what my parents have planned for that day, and maybe share some dinner pictures. Mom usually ends up making this big, mixed vegetable pot with tofu and napa cabbage, vermicelli rice noodles, carrots, etc... that is one of my favorite dishes. Also, sticky rice with Chinese sausage and dried shrimp. Man, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.
Thank you both so much for all the work put into this game!
Plus it all sounds soooo good and I'm not allowed to be up and around enough to cook yet (not that that's breaking my heart, mind you).
HOLY SHIT!
This is amazing, you guys! I love the way that you've incorporated so many traditions that I have never even heard of! So awesome!
I hope the rules don't overwhelm people too much, we really did try to design this to be as flexible as possible so that everybody would have a lot of fun doing it. We certainly had an incredibly great time creating it.
I can honestly say it's been a while since I learned so much in such a short amount of time *and* had such enormous fun at the same time, too. And I just have to give a shout-out to MbD's personal elf, who came up with some truly spectacular ideas and managed to just overall make himself near-indispensable -- even at long distance.
As MbD said, we'll be creating some threads in the Bingo group to keep track of such things as the rules, info on the various holidays, people reporting in points / completed tasks -- and excellent idea, PM, we'll also create a thread where people can make suggestions for individual tasks (book or non-book alike).
To start with, anybody at a loss for ideas for a Calan Gaeaf read, almost any of your unread Halloween books will do, but if you're looking for something specifically involving witches, there are plenty of this list that MbD and I compiled for the Halloween Bingo (originally for last year's, with a few additions this year): http://booklikes.com/apps/reading-lists/681/halloween-book-bingo-witches-square
I won‘t be able to take a proper look at the tasks before monday, but what I have read so far your tasks seem to be excellent.
@TA: Bavaria??? How?! What?! Since when?! So many ????????
And yes, Bavaria. I'd completely forgotten that after the furore had died down (and I had moved to the U.S.), but, yeah. Bavaria. There it is.
(1) no stress, no stress, no stress at all -- all the extra options are purely ... optional, and
(2) any old thing mentioned in the tasks will get you a completed square.
Then you did marvellously.