Sunday, March 27, 2016

Colorful Assortment

Easter traditions around the world - Poland make and eat a lamb made of solid butter - Norway read and watch murder mysteries - Corfu Greece smash big pots - Czech Republic whip your sweetheart sweetly - Denmark trick or treating - Bermuda make and fly a giant kite - Colombia eat iguana turtle and capybara - USA color and hide eggs supposedly laid by a giant rabbit.


70 comments:

  1. I'm from Poland and I've never seen a lamb made of butter :o We have ones made of sugar though!

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    1. Hm. Found the butter on a few different sites, but you're not the first to disagree with it. I guess I'll have to change it!

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    2. My aunt in Poznań had a butter lamb on her Easter table. It may be regional, but it is a real custom.

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    3. to Anonymous: im from the areas around Poznań too, and the lamb custom is common here. I think it's regional to that part of Poland, if not to other parts too.

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  2. To complete the traditions in Czech Republic (and definitely some other countries), it is common (not so common anymore) to spill buckets of water on people on Easter Monday. Besides whipping the hell out of your friend, she can spill a bucket of cold water on you.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9Amigus-dyngus

    Thank God I live in Prague where people don't do this crazy stuff anymore :)

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  3. Although I never commented before, I always read your comics and I always find them hilarious!!! :D
    To answer your questions:
    1. Poker
    2. Monopoly
    3. Four

    Happy Easter!!!

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  4. I love your comics!!! I show them to my family but they just don't get it... Maybe for your game a mix between Cards against Humanity and traveling with all the things that go wrong while on the road?
    1. Cards against humanity
    2. Risk
    3. 2-4 people

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    1. Glad you like 'em! Well, maybe someday your family will too. Here's hoping. Thanks for the input!

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  5. I'm super excited about your card game despite not knowing anything about it :)

    1. I really like Coup, which possibly isn't really a card game, because it's really simple to explain yet it's quite clever. It's also really quick so you can easily have a few practice games in order to explain it without getting bored. Also Bohnanza if you have more time and more people.

    2. I like Catan because it has a really nice balance between luck and strategy.

    3. I end up playing with just two quite a bit but obviously it's more fun if you can find more people.

    Have you heard of Backpacker? This might be a good source of inspiration for your game because it's already a cool card game about travelling. If you mix in some language bits in there it could be a really great game.

    http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/14953/backpacker

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    1. Nice! Great reply, thanks Neil. I had not heard of Backpacker, that sounds great to take a look at. Have you played it much?

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  6. 1. Canasta (a card game in the Rummy family)
    2. Betrayal at House on the Hill (even though it's not very well balanced, it has good replayability due to the multiple-ending element)
    3. 2 or 4 people (more often 4 than 2)

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    1. Nice! Thanks Iaurard. Never heard of Betrayal before. I'll look into it!

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  7. 1. Sleeping Queens with the kids - even my son loves it and he is 12. Gin Rummy.
    2. Catan.
    3. 2 to 4

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    1. Also, I am a French teacher and can't wait to see what you come up with!

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    2. Thanks! I also can't wait to see what we come up with! We've actually got a couple really cool ideas.

      Stay tuned!

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  8. 1. Cheat (or I Doubt it)
    2. Battlestar Gallactica
    3. 4 including me

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  9. Ptero the New ZealanderMarch 27, 2016 at 9:14 PM

    Greetings from New Zealand! Your comics always brighten up my Monday mornings (even the flatbread one lol) ツ
    1 Five hundred
    2 Chess
    3 2-4

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    1. Nice! I forget that Kiwis get my comics on Monday. Thanks for chipping in!

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  10. I'm looking forward to the game!

    1) Mille Bornes
    2) Cosmic Wimpout
    3) 2-4

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  11. I love your comics so I am happy to be able to help! I can't wait to see what the end result will be.
    1. Euchre is my favorite card game. I like Machi Koro for a newer card based game.
    2. I always really liked Payday as my favorite board game. But a more recent one that I like is Ticket to Ride - Europe.
    3. I usually play games with 2-6 people.

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  12. 1. Saboteur (while not a "pure" card game, the cards still do play a crucial role)
    2. Risk or Cranium
    3. 4-8 ppl. PARTYYYYY!!

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  13. Russia, Ukraine, Belarus: not selebrating at that date, it comes one or two weeks later!)) Generally, it is about making colourful eggs and a special bread with raisins. As an atheist, I would celebrate that, too, because Monday is always a holiday after the Easter Sunday, and you can buy the bred at local minimarket and arrange it on the same plate as colourful eggs, which is pretty. Not going to church, though most of "re-activated" Orthodoxes in region don't do that either, hopefully)

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    1. N.B. To all who did not know: communism was initially replacing church with its newly invented rituals, and celebrating Easter was not very good for one's career, so most of the people have broken their religious traditions during the USSR time, whatever they say. Since now government lost communism, they brought church back in place, and though people think now they were religious all that time for some reason, it is generally not true, one can see that with bare eye...

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    2. That's really interesting! I had no idea. Thanks for sharing!

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    3. And don't forget to make egg fights, when you try to smash other guy's coloured egg with yours while trying to keep yours intact =-)

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    4. Just a note - there is no holiday on Easter in Russia, although there is one in Ukraine. Have no idea about Belarus.

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  14. 1. Probably 500
    2. Settlers of Catan, with or without extensions
    3. 4 people

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  15. 1. Wizards. Best card game ever. 3 or more players but I wish it were a 2 player :(
    2. As a kid I loved Trouble. As an adult I like pictionary, cranium, trivial pursuit
    3. You usually need more players for these games so we usually have groups of 4 or more, but is love more games that could be played with 2 people and still be fun

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  16. 1. I like Bang! - it's an Italian Cowboy card game
    2. Shadow Hunters (シャドウハンターズ) - kinda like mafia/werewolf in board game form, great for making enemies
    3. Usually 4 - 6 people

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    1. Italian cowboy card game? Sounds super awesome! Thanks Anthony

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  17. 1. The Village (a.k.a. Werwolf in Germany and Switzerland)
    2. Mister X
    3. At least four people

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  18. I feel like I have so many to say, picking one is hard! So, I may have to give 2 or 3...

    1. Pinochle or Setback (I've also heard Setback called Pitch)
    2. Catan and Risk are classics, but I'm going to have to go with 7 Wonders for my favorite. Whoever said Betrayal is a great one too - much goofier, but still enough strategy and replayability.
    3. Anywhere from 2-6. I definitely appreciate ones that can be adapted to have a different numbers of players!

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  19. 1. Uno
    2. Monopoly, despite how evil it can get
    3. 4-6 people work best I think, although it is a lot of fun playing games with more than 10 people

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    1. I played Monopoly recently and was shocked at how quickly it got evil. It wasn't even normal Monopoly, it was Horseopoly, the like horse-themed version. At first we were laughing about how silly these horses were and then after about ten minutes we were taking it SUPER SERIOUSLY.

      Anyway thanks for the input!

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  20. 1.Big two/Monopoly deal
    2.Monopoly!
    3. Three other people :)

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  21. 1. snap
    2. Cluedo
    3. one other person, but it's more fun with more...I guess I just don't have enough game playing friends lol

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    1. Great! Thanks. Hopefully our game will help you find more game playing friends...!

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  22. 1. Solitaire (by amount I've actually played it) and Pokemon (by amount of actual enjoyment)
    2. Scrabble, Clue, and Risk (can't decide, gah XD )
    3. 2-4

    I haven't gotten to play the newer ames like Settlers Of Catan and Arkham Horror, which I do really want to try but currently lack a social circle outside online friends. So if I could get more exposure to what's out there now, my answers would probably be different. I did really like Magic The Gathering the one time I got to play it, but I've only played it once with a premade deck.

    Good luck developing your game! It sounds like something I'd be interested in, just not sure how well I can learn anything major now that chronic memory loss seems to be settling in (and I'm a bit young for that but I'm getting it as side-symptoms of several other major medical conditions, so blah). A game might just be able to cut it where traditional learning materials struggle, though. :3

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    1. Sorry to hear about your memory loss, that's no fun :(

      But thanks a bunch for your feedback - our goal is to make the game easy to learn, ideally so easy you can teach it to someone who doesn't speak your language. But...that's ideal, of course!

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  23. 1) spoons (or at least that is what it is called in California), President (aka scum), and Egyptian Rat screw (aka Egyptian rat slap)
    2) Cranium Games
    3) 4 (or even numbers in general)

    Good luck!

    Oh and as someone who has studied four languages with a variety of bilingual friends, I have to say that your comics are super funny. I share your comics with so many people and they all love your work!

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  24. 1. What is your all-time favorite card game?
    -Magic the gathering
    2. What is your all-time favorite board game?
    -Twilight Struggle
    3. How many people do you usually play card/board games with?
    -from 2 to 6

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  25. 1. Probably MTG
    2. Settlers of Catan
    3. usually 4


    And the Easter Bunny isn't American, it's German, and was brought to the US by German immigrants :P

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    1. Makes sense. Germans are way into freaky costumes after all

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  26. 1. Cards Against Humanity
    2. Pandemic
    3. 3 or 4

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  27. I love your comics! It’s one of those things where as son a I discovered it I immediately had to read everything in the archives.
    1. Either Mao or Apples to Apples
    2. Monopoly
    3. 5 people

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    1. Awesome! Glad you like them, and thanks for the feedback!

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  28. Heh. It could be worse. I found out last week that apparently here people go out at dusk looking for ghost fires to lead them to buried gold? #Mexico

    Of course, other people 'celebrate' by lighting fires and then laughing at all the digging people do.

    Games:
    1. Used to be Dominion, but Cards Against Humanity is winning out.
    2. Scrabble or Settlers
    3. 2-6

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  29. In Denmark we trick-or-treat at "fastelavn", which is seven weeks before Easter. During Easter we go egg-hunt like in USA.

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  30. I love your comics, but I must say Colombian one is pretty inaccurate, the celebrations are basically going to catholic parades (I'm not catholic, but they're the only ones that celebrate it here), and we don't eat turtles or iguanas, except maybe for the northern coast region where they probably do it all the year. Capivaras are completely out of any menu as far as I know, although in the southern region some people eats "Cui" (guinea pigs).

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    1. You're not the first to say so - I found multiple sources online that this was traditional, but I guess I was wrong! Maybe it's just a regional thing?

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    2. Capibaras are not out of all Colombian menus, but since we call them Chigüiros, this may lead to some confusion. They are mostly eaten in the eastern region of the country, the plains that we share with Venezuela.

      In most of the country, on Holy Thursday, i.e., right before Good Friday, we celebrate the Last Supper by having a big lunch which must include at least 7 different dishes, either sweet or salty. Iguana and turtle, as my compatriot has indicated, are eaten mostly in the Caribbean region, north of the country.

      In the city where I grew up, every neighbor would make a lot of sweet dishes with fruits (mango, coconut, blackberry) or with the most unbelievable things (potatoes, beans, peas, cassava) and would share with families in the neighborhood. This tradition led to the creation of the "Festival del Dulce". You can put on a few kilos just by walking around the exhibition :-D

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    3. It's ok Malachi, I know it was a mistake and not something done in bad will.

      At Von, I know Capybaras and Chigüiros are the same, although, now that you mentioned it, it kind of make sense that it's eaten at the venezuelan border towns, I'm not sure where are you from, but I feel envous of your celebrations, here in Medellin people just goes to the church activities and that.

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    4. Aha! So it's not wrong - just very exclusive to one particular region of Colombia. Is that right?

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    5. it seems so, at least we determined now in which region each dish is consumed, although I can't confirm or deny it's done for easter.

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  31. Don't you do "7 potajes" in Medellin?! Argg, what a disappointment. :( I am from Santander. I was born in Bucaramanga and grew up in Barrancabermeja. I know people from "la costa" who also do it. I was almost sure it was common throughout the country.

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  32. I've checked among some online friends. It is less common than I thought 😱

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  33. For what it's worth, in Egypt we eat rotten fish (feseekh) and onions :)

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