I’ve decided to take my love for math and build a new website which will help people of all ages learn math skills. The site already has some good content and a lot of worksheet generators. If you have need some math worksheets go and check it out. It is still very much under construction, but very usable. Let us know if you have any suggestions.
Last night was the end to another softball season. It was a pretty dismal season overall. We started off ok, but hit a stretch of 4-5 games where we just couldn’t hit the ball and our defense was very hot and cold. We had a stretch of games where we were missing some key players due to various family obligations and were forced to play with a lot of subs. While our subs were good players, it’s always hard to play with a team that doesn’t know each other well. For the last game we had most of our people back and we really had a decent game overall to end the season
Our last game was against the first place team. We were near the bottom in standings so we were playing for pride. The game was back and forth with no team ever going up by more than a couple runs. Personally, I had a good offensive game getting three hits, however I was playing right field and pretty much could have taken a nap out there and the game wouldn’t have changed. I didn’t get one ball hit to me. Sometimes there are tons of hits out there; other days nothing; it just depends on the opponent. We had a couple good plays as our left-center fielder threw out a guy at third base with a rocket throw that was right on target. Our left fielder Donnie had a game that would have got him in Sportcenter’s Top 10 plays at least three times. He made a great over the shoulder basket catch and some great diving catches.
We were the visiting team so we were in the field last. The score was tied going in to the bottom of the last inning. After a couple of hits and an out, they had runners on 1st and 2nd when their batter hit a lazy line drive to left field that was about to fall in for a base hit to end the game. The runner on second was running with all he had to score and end the game, except that Donnie, continuing his amazing night, ran in on the ball and layed out flat to catch the ball with a spectacular dive. The runner that was on second base was already crossing home plate and had no chance as Donnie threw the ball to second, ending the game in a hard fought tie.
Even though we tied, it was a great game that we should have won. We had a nice rally going in the top of the 7th which was cut short by a bad call from the umpire. I still felt good as our team showed some signs of life. We start our next season in two weeks on July 16th. I hope that this next season will produce some better results in the win-loss column. I have a feeling we may lose a couple players, but I already know we are gaining a couple of good players as well. With any luck we can get our consistancy in check and make a successful playoff run.
Welcome to our new website. We have decided to convert our website into more of a blog format to make it easier to read and use. We will hopefully be posting to our blogs a lot more and bring a much more personal touch to our site. Look for updates on events that are happening with our family, more great pictures of the kids, stories and opinions. Feel free to leave comments and interact as much as you want. Enjoy!
A couple of weekends ago we got together with some friends for game night. Kristen is part of a program that sends us free products to try out, one of them being Trivial Pursuit: Bet You Know It. Typically we play in groups for these types of games, but after reading the directions it was decided that it would probably be more fun to play as individuals.
The game rules are similar to regular Trivial Pursuit, however with some minor changes. Lets start off with the game board:
The game board differs from the traditional game in that, there are no spokes or center hub, just a circle. Instead of starting at the center hub each player starts on the color of their pie. Every space is also a wedge space with the exception of some “Buy or Roll” spaces which will be explained later. There are also two sets of circles, each set of circles contains one circle for each color pie (or one for each player/team).
There are still six categories (geography, entertainment, history, science, literature, sports). The catch for this game is that each card also has kind of a topic or super category. For example the topic might be Star Wars in which the geography question might be “In what country did the filming of the planet Tatooine take place?” Answer:”Tunisa”. At any time 4 of these cards are in play. When it is your turn, you choose your card from the 4 in play and then you get the question from the category that is indicated by the space you are on.
Each player is given 15 chips at the beginning of the game. The chips look like poker chips. These chips can be used for a couple different things. First if you land on a buy or roll space, you can buy a wedge for 15 chips. This allows for an easier way to get that tough category out of the way. Chips can also be used to make the final question to win the game easier. It cost 15 to choose the category and 15 to choose the card it comes of off. Given that each card has a theme, this allows you to narrow your question considerably.
To earn chips you can choose to collect 5 chips from answering a question in lieu of a wedge. You may also earn chips by betting.
Each time a player is to answer a question, all of the other players must bet on whether the player will get the question right or wrong. You can bet from 1 to 10 chips. Once you have decided you place your chips on your color circle in the middle of the game board on either the wrong side or the right side. If the player answers the question right, all of those who bet that he or she would get it right receives their chips back plus an equal amount from the “bank”. The person who answered the question right gets the chips of all those who bet against him or her. If the player gets the question wrong, all chips that were bet on getting it right are forfeited to the bank and those who bet on the player getting the question wrong get double their chips back.
Strategy can come into play in the fact that you could throw a question in order to cause people to lose chips. This addition really adds a lot of fun to the game.
Once you have all of your wedges, the other players decide which card and category for your final question. You may buy the right to choose either of these for 15 chips, or 30 to choose both. Once you answer the final question correctly, you win!
Overall I really enjoyed the game. Trivial Pursuit is a great game to play if you are super smart and playing with a lot of super smart people, otherwise the game can drag on as some of the questions are tough. With Bet You Know It, the betting allows all players to be a part of every turn and adds a new dimension to the game. The ability to choose the topic of your question and buy wedges helps to speed up the game and make it accessible to everyone. I would definitly recommed this for family game night if you have older children, or for a party with your adult friends.
