I've been waiting too long to try some of these games as they keep getting removed and even the last two games (SplitterCritters+ and Disney Mania) are no longer in Apple Arcade.

Thirteen games got + reviews but I'll just choose my three favorite.

Good Sudoku+ - There are I think three Sudoku apps released in 2021 on Apple Arcade and this is by far the best mostly because they really thought about quality of life improvements to make solving a sudoku puzzle easier without making it an auto solver. This is the game I've played the most.

Easy Come Easy Golf - Actually a fairly nice golf game though you do have golfer characters with various abilities so not just your pure skill. I like that the courses are varied; elevation, terrain, and weather matter; you can spin, hook and slice shots.

The Oregon Trail - I've never played the original though I think I've played similar games. This is a fairly well production where you balance a crew of four characters with various attributes and likes/dislikes along with the supplies you carry. I did play this a lot though, even with variations on different treks, it does get a bit same-old same-old.

MLS on Apple TV+ made changes to their schedule view. There is only one row for scheduled games instead of one for MLS+ subscribers and one showing free Apple TV+ subscriber games. In the row each game has an MLS or Apple TV+ icon on the bottom right so you know which ones are free to Apple TV+ subscribers.

For old games unfortunately they don’t show an icon. You have to go into the episode page and for non MLS+ subscribers if it says Watch Game then it’s a free game otherwise it’ll say Watch Recap for the 3-minute highlights. Below that are the regular Watch Game in English and Spanish and they’re always there but if you don’t have MLS+ clicking on it will show a subscribe to MLS+ prompt.

Also for Sunday Night Soccer it’s only the live broadcast that has pre-game, game, and post-game coverage. Once it’s over you watch the game like any other regular MLS game without the extra content.

Overall it's more efficient use of space. A bit annoying when you're looking for old games to watch since you have to keep clicking in to see if it's watchable for Apple TV+ subscribers.

Sat Feb 15 2025

Sleep 0345 to 1045, 30m nap (7-1/2 hours)

• In my hotel room the toilet water tank wasn’t filling so I took a look and saw they have a Flushmate 500 which is designed to fit in the water tank, use less water, but release with pressure assist. Interesting since my master bath toilet has a leisurely flush so pressure assist would be nice.
• Csr and I walked to Pedro’s Restaurant and Cantina for lunch. A bit pricey but I had the Enchilada del Mar and it was delicious.
• When we got back Corina and Cjr were here. We played Wiz War and got two turns done (it took a while to setup and recollect the rules) when W3 arrived and Teddy ran over the game board scattering all the pieces.
• Dinner at the hotel restaurant. Jonathan was yelling and one the other patrons yelled sort of at him then complained to his “parent” (actually Csr). He did have a point in that Jonathan was louder than a normal loud kid.
• Rainbow was good. Pick, DS, DW, Csr, Corina, mjm, Tom H, Eric R. For once mostly the Erzo gamers so it was a good conversation. I had two drinks and had napped beforehand so able to stay awake.

Sun Feb 16 2025

Sleep 0345 to 1045 (7 hours)

• Cjr was sick this morning and threw up. Corina took him home.
• Csr and I ate lunch at The Roasted Crab. Catfish Basket is so good.
• Relaxing a bit. Played some DDO with Csr.
• We got into one DDC game, #740 Alien - Fate of the Nostromo. It’s a simpler board game based on the first Alien movie. Five players, two who knew the game and three beginners. Took us an hour and we did manage to win.
• Dinner with W3 at Pho Hot & Jazen Tea. Had Beef Stew Pho and it was good. Hot Milk Tea not so good.
• Played Gloomhaven with DS, DW, Csr. We finished a scenario and did another one.

Mon Feb 17 2025

Sleep 0330 to 1115 (7-3/4 hours)

• For Monday sessions two were sort of empty. #851 Boney Goes to Sea (2 of 5 seats filled) is using the miniatures game Sails of Glory. Looks cool but starts at 0900 and runs 6 hours.
• #841 Overtake: Race Manager (0 of 5 seats filled) is run by the designer Jay Leone. It’s an F1 racing team manager game. Still in prototype I think but really don’t like how much AI art he’s using even though it’ll eventually be real art.
• I was mostly VPNed into my network while at DDC. iPad, MBP, iPhone. OpenVPN was good about reconnecting when waking up from sleep. Performance seemed just fine and could watch videos fine. Also played DDO and Gloomhaven without problems (Gloomhaven had issues but not with the VPN I think).
• Csr and I went to lunch with W3 at Banh Mi & Bowl. Had a garlic shrimp banh mi ($13) which was quite ok.
• That’s it for DunDraCon this year. Mostly eating this time.

Tue Feb 18 2025

Sleep 0200 to 1200 (10 hours)

• Was coughing and probably a bit feverish last night so I tried to sleep a long time.

Wed Feb 19 2025

Sleep 0015 to 1100 (10-3/4 hours)

• Feeling better today.
• iPhone 16E announced. This replaces the SE as the lowest cost iPhone, though it’s $600 for 128 GB storage.

Thu Feb 20 2025

Sleep 0215 to 1030 (8-1/4 hours)

• Bundle of Holding has a Mutant Crawl Classics resurrected bundle. If you can I’d wait for a similar Humble Bundle. They’ve done MCC stuff before with more adventures at a cheaper price.
• Still slightly sick.

Fri Feb 22 2025

Sleep 0215 to 1030 (8-1/4 hours)

• Today I feel fine. Probably not if I exert myself too much.
• DDO: Dave S, Dave W and I did the three Lordsmarch 12 quests at R1.

Leagues of Adventure from Bundle of Holding is for "the Ubiquity-based Victorian steampunk RPG from Triple Ace Games". I have Space: 1889 Ubiquity version. Ubiquity is Attribute + Skill level is number of dice you roll. Every even die roll is one success and you need X number of successes to accomplish your action.

Leagues of Adventure seems to overlap with Space: 1889 although the former is more Earth-based and the latter is mostly on Mars and sometimes other places in the Solar System.

The $27 bundle includes:

Leagues of Adventure ($20, 262 pages)
Weird Science Compendium ($7, 56 pages)
Dramatis Personae ($10, 132 pages) - generic NPCs and henchmen
Globetrotter's Guide to London ($13, 78 pages)
Great Campaign, Black Edition ($20, 170 pages, removed AI art) - 4-part campaign
Tides of War, Black Edition ($10, $38 pages) - adventure on the Moon
Letters from the Leagues 1-4 ($28, 160 pages) - random articles

Globetrotters' Guides ($29, 228 pages) - small supplements
- Globetrotters' Guide to Expeditions
- Unusual Places
- The Ancient World
- The Old World
- The New World
- Cads & Cultists
- Cads & Cultists Appendix
- Dramatic Developments
- Miscellanea

Five adventures is not that much and as I mentioned this setting sort of overlaps with Space: 1889 so I think I'll skip.

When I'm gaming with my friends we use Discord for audio. I like doing:

• AirPods Pro to listen to audio and my friends
• wired AirPods connected to my MBP audio-in for my voice
• Talk only when Left Caps-Lock key is pressed

AirPods Pro mic is ok but the wired AirPods mic is better.

This allows to me to walk around and still hear if my friends need me. I don't like auto mic since I make random noises. I suppose I could use AirPods Pro mute gesture but I wouldn't want to keep moving my hand from my keyboard to the AirPod.

Using L Caps Lock to activate mic pretty much doesn't conflict with any game we play, though sometimes annoying when I type text with L Caps enabled.

Sat Feb 08 2025

Sleep 0430 to 1230 (8 hours)

• More DDO with all four of us. Chains of Flame one of my favorite quests because the map goes up and up and it’s one area so you can jump from high up all the way back to the beginning.

Sun Feb 09 2025

Sleep 0545 to 1300 (7-1/4 hours)

• Watched Super Bowl LIX on Tubi which I guess is a Fox owned streaming service. Eagles dominated the game going up 7-0 after the first quarter, 24-0 at the half, 34-0 before the Chiefs scored a TD at the end of the third quarter, and finally winning 40-22.

Mon Feb 10 2025

Sleep 0630 to 1230 (6 hours)

• Bought Flare v4: Adventures in Olympus ($3.50, 50% off). Slowly buying Heroic Publishing TPBs as they go on sale even though I have most of the individual issues but not in PDF format so it’s worthwhile

Tue Feb 11 2025

Sleep 0115 to 0945 (8-1/2 hours)

• I didn’t realize that DunDraCon program books have been omitting RPG game descriptions. In DDC 46 each game has two to three lines of description. DDC 47 and 48 just omit them and have QR codes to get the online site where you can browse and search for game sessions.

Wed Feb 12 2025

Sleep 0200 to 0500, 0630 to 1330 (10 hours)

• Woke up last night. Stomach or intestines hurting a bit. Pooped. While pooping felt worse and started getting clammy (perspiration on my forehead) and maybe on the way to throwing up. But it subsided after a few minutes.
• Dinner with C3 and Steph. Delivery from Joy Sushi.

Thu Feb 13 2025

Sleep 0400 to 1145 (7-3/4 hours)

• Felt a small tremor from a 3.7 earthquake that originated next to Hayward across the Bay. The whole building shook once.

Fri Feb 14 2025

Sleep 0300 to 1100, 30m nap (7-1/2 hours)

• First day of DunDraCon 48. Christopher Sr, Jr and I went there at 1400. Got our rooms and played Tiny Epic Dinosaurs though Cjr was rather hyper and we only played a couple of turns. Corina arrived and we all went to the dealer room where they bought dice. Then Corina and Cjr went home since he has activities tomorrow morning.
• Dinner at Hunan Mifen (Chinese Rice Noodles) with Dave, Sophia and Jonathan. Sophia drove and she’s not a calm driver.
• Csr and I walked to the AMC theater and watched Captain America: Brave New World. I thought it was pretty good. Csr less impressed. Dave S also saw it with kids and was not impressed.

Every year I make plans and every year only do one or two DDC things. Friday noon is early but would be nice. Sunday night Troika guess I'll use my priority for it though I doubt I'll get in. Monday if we have breakfast early maybe a shorter game.

Friday Day

P07 Mothership: The Haunting of Ypsilon 14
Friday Noon in 140 for 6 Hours
GM: Travis Murphy
Type: RPG
System: Mothership

P09 Lancer: Succor or Suckers
Friday Noon in 144 for 6 Hours
GM: Reese Clawson
Type: RPG
System: Lancer

Friday Night: Dinner, Gaming?
Saturday Day: D&D Gaming
Saturday Night: Dinner, Rainbow
Sunday Day: D&D Gaming

Sunday Night:

713 Troika: Slate and Chalcedony
Sunday 8 PM in 147 for 4 Hours
GM: Markus De Shon
Type: RPG
System: Troika!

Monday Day:

Breakfast

841 Overtake: Race Manager
Monday 10 AM on Sedona Table 02 for 4 Hours
GM: Jay Leone
Type: Board
System: Overtake: Race Manager

843 Steampunk Rally
Monday 10 AM on Sedona Table 28 for 2 Hours
GM: Andrew Valbuena
Type: Board
System: Steampunk Rally

I'm reading through the DDC 48 events looking at what's interesting.

War College (Monterey Room)

Sat 1400 to 1600 Meet Columbia Games
Sun 1100 to 1200 Update on the Continuing War in Ukraine


Seminars (Sequoia Room)

Sat 1600 to 1700 What’s New & Cool in RPGs - Panel


Games Auction (Grand Ballroom Salon A)

Sat 1800 to 200 Intake in Room 131
Sun 0800 Intake in Salon A
Sun 1000 Auction Begins


Not sure I have time to pick games to sell at the auction.


P07 Mothership: The Haunting of Ypsilon 14
Friday Noon in 140 for 6 Hours
GM: Travis Murphy
Type: RPG
System: Mothership

P09 Lancer: Succor or Suckers
Friday Noon in 144 for 6 Hours
GM: Reese Clawson
Type: RPG
System: Lancer

P52 WWII Air Combat: Defending the Kamikaze
Friday Noon on Hall of Cities Table 12 for 6 Hours
GM: Chuck Staedler
Type: Historical Miniatures
System: Sky's the Limit!

150 Ironclads off Egypt
Friday 6 PM on Hall of Cities Table 18 for 6 Hours
GM: Ix Nichols
Type: Historical Miniatures
System: Fleet of Samples

252 Revenge Duly Ordained: Gaslands Cthulhu
Saturday 10 AM on Hall of Cities Table 7 for 6 Hours
GM: Sam Slaughter
Type: Mixed-Genre Miniatures
System: Gasland Refueled

259 Rally to the Yamato:2207
Saturday 10 AM on Hall of Cities Table 15 for 8 Hours
GM: Keith Holmes
Type: Sci-Fi Miniatures
System: Star Blazers

314 So You've Long Dreamed About Somehow Getting Off-Planet
Saturday 2 PM in 243 for 6 Hours
GM: Michael Cochran
Type: RPG
System: Stars Without Number

352 The Star Ablaze
Saturday 4 PM on Hall of Cities Table 18 for 4 Hours
GM: Jeff Yin
Type: Sci-Fi Miniatures
System: Battlefleet Gothic

355 Wings over Flanders
Saturday 5 PM on Hall of Cities Table 17 for 6 Hours
GM: Craig Robertson
Type: Historical Miniatures
System: Wings of Glory

450 The Battle of Tukayyid
Saturday 6 PM on Hall of Cities Table 6 for 4 Hours
GM: Chad Martens
Type: Sci-Fi Miniatures
System: Alpha Strike

505 A Question of Patronage
Sunday 8 AM in 237 for 8 Hours
GM: Pól Stafford
Type: RPG
System: Rolemaster

546 Here I Stand
Sunday 10 AM on Sedona Tables 22 & 23 for 10 Hours
GM: Shannon Macnamara
Type: RPG
System: Here We Stand
- From description this is the board game.

640 Thunder Road Vendetta Maximum Chrome
Sunday Noon on Sedona Table 06 for 3 Hours
GM: Andrew Valbuena
Type: Board
System: Thunder Road Vendetta Maximum Chrome

643 The Succession Wars
Sunday 3 PM on Sedona Table 24 for 8 Hours
GM: Ken Davis
Type: Board
System: Battletech board game (not minis)
- This is Succession Wars board game.

740 Alien - Fate of the Nostromo
Sunday 6 PM on Sedona Table 04 for 2 Hours
GM: Thomas Crawford
Type: Board
System: Alien - Fate of the Nostromo

742 The Napoleonic Wars
Sunday 6 PM on Sedona Table 14 for 6 Hours
GM: Kevin Yin
Type: Board
System: The Napoleonic Wars

750 Wasteland Race
Sunday 6 PM on Hall of Cities Table 6 for 4 Hours
GM: Chad Martens
Type: Sci-Fi Miniatures
System: Car Wars

713 Troika: Slate and Chalcedony
Sunday 8 PM in 147 for 4 Hours
GM: Markus De Shon
Type: RPG
System: Troika!

851 Boney Goes to Sea
Monday 9 AM on Hall of Cities Table 17 for 6 Hours
GM: Craig Robertson
Type: Historical Miniatures
System: Sails of Glory

841 Overtake: Race Manager
Monday 10 AM on Sedona Table 02 for 4 Hours
GM: Jay Leone
Type: Board
System: Overtake: Race Manager

843 Steampunk Rally
Monday 10 AM on Sedona Table 28 for 2 Hours
GM: Andrew Valbuena
Type: Board
System: Steampunk Rally

Sat Feb 01 2025

Sleep 0230 to 1100 (8-1/2 hours)

• Tonight we played Gloomhaven to 0230.

Sun Feb 02 2025

Sleep 0500 to 1200 (7 hours)

• San Mateo County special election next month. Measure A to amend County charter to “…grant the Board of Supervisors authority until December 31, 2028 to remove an elected Sheriff from office for cause…by a four-fifths vote of the Board of Supervisors…” A lot of people for the measure including US Rep Kevin Mullin and State Assemblywoman Diane Papan.
• This conflict has been in the local paper. Alleged improprieties by current County Sheriff but she won’t step down and I guess County doesn’t quite have the authority to remove her.
• I guess I’ll vote yes since it would still require 4/5ths of the Board to remove a Sheriff.

Mon Feb 03 2025

Sleep 0300 to 1130 (8-1/2 hours)

• Bought CBR+PNK bundle. About what you’d except or pamphlet-sized game and supplements.

Tue Feb 04 2025

Sleep 0530 to 0730, 1100 to 1500 (6 hours)

• Let’s Encrypt will discontinue sending a reminder email before your cert expires. You get two (a month before and a week before). I have one cert and I put the expiration date on Calendar app so I found the emails superfluous.
• Gym Precision tech came by and did some preventive maintenance, which is why I was up early even though went to sleep quite late.

Wed Feb 05 2025

Sleep 0400 to 1215 (8-1/4 hours)

• F’ing PalPal used my balance to pay for Mint Mobile yearly when it’s supposed to use my Apple Card. It messes up my record keeping because PayPal balance is only for payments for Nemo’s prizes.

Thu Feb 06 2025

Sleep 0730 to 1330 (6 hours)

• Locked my credit reports in TransUnion, Equifax and Experian. It’s easier since you can create an account and lock/unlock from there. Experian has the option to “lock” your credit report for $5 a month or you can scroll down a few pages and see there is a freeze option which is free because it’s Federal law.

Fri Feb 07 2025

Sleep 0445 to 1045 (6 hours)

• Christopher and I got Cormyr Threnal West done. I accidentally restarted that chain but it didn’t prevent me from talking to Sal Danek and getting the South chain started.
• Woo logged on so we did all of Cormyr Borderlands. Dave S logged on midway and Christopher and I streamed our POVs so he could watch. Then we played DDO Thelanis Chamber of Raiyum and did all three towers.

I received The Forgotten Battles (MMP-OCS) last week. I have them all but still haven't played any OCS games (DAK is the closest where I set up an intro scenario but didn't start it). If I were to play three of these games I think they would be:

DAK2: The Campaign in North Africa - Dean Essig created the series in order to create the original DAK so this is the campaign that OCS was made for.

Case Blue - OCS #2 Enemy at the Gates (Stalingrad) is also a classic. Case Blue expands and replaces it. This game can be combined with Guderian's Blitzkrieg II for a pretty massive East Front campaign.

Korea: The Forgotten War - OCS is almost all WW2 (and moreover mostly East Front). This game covers the first year of the war before the front line became static.

Hero 4E Campaigns Bundle is the third Hero 4E bundle from Bundle of Holding. I've bought the previous two. Not sure that completes Hero 4E but if not must be close since this is a small $15 set price bundle.

Cyber Hero
Fantasy Hero
Fantasy Hero Companion - no cover, I'd guess copyright issue
Fantasy Hero Companion II
Horror Hero
Kazei 5 - Hero Plus (i.e. PDF-only) sourcebook set in a cyberpunk anime world, no cover but probably never had one
Ninja Hero
Western Hero - no cover, I'd guess copyright issue

Sat Jan 25 2025

Sleep 0245 to 0845 (6 hours)

• Today gaming at Dave S’s place since he has stuff in the morning and afternoon for a couple of hours each. Otherwise he wouldn’t be able to drive to our side of the Bay.
• Gaming at Dave S’s house. CSr and I went there and arrived about 1300 but Dave S was still at DVC doing Boy Scouts stuff so we went to Tugboat Fish and Chips and got a 9-piece family meal plus lumpia. Dave S was home by then. But he had to leave for another Boy Scout thing then Corina and CJr arrived and finally W3 arrived. Then an hour later Dave S was back and we finally gamed for a couple of hours. Rather loud since the kids were playing video games and using the piano.
• We finished and left by 2100 and then later that night got some Gloomhaven and I played a bit of DDO with DW on Cormyr server.

Sun Jan 26 2025

Sleep 0500 to 1300 (8 hours)

• Oracle stock is up so I should sell some.

Mon Jan 27 2025

Sleep 0615 to 0945 , 1445 to 1715 (6 hours)

• Did get to sleep late but woke up early to wait for gym equipment maintenance tech but they never showed up or at least didn’t call me.
• Oops, Oracle stock took a nosedive and missed my chance to sell.

Tue Jan 28 2025

Sleep 0115 to 0845 (7-1/2 hours)

• Sent in my HOA Board statement of candidacy.
• Contacted Gym Precision because they didn’t show up yesterday. Turns out they had my phone number wrong even though when I wrote it down in my emails it was correct but I guess since it was only one digit wrong they didn’t notice I was trying to correct them without explicitly saying so.

Wed Jan 29 2025

Sleep 0130 to 0830, 1 hour nap (8 hours)

• C3 Dinner. We got delivery from Totoro Ramen but they forgot the ramen soup for Christopher and I (Christopher got a $10 rebate). I tried substituting with chicken broth but that didn’t work.

Thu Jan 30 2025

Sleep 0100 to 0930 (8-1/2 hours)

• Water bill was high in Nov and really high in Dec. Gachina did an audit and found that the main irrigation line had a break. They gave us a proposal to fix and I got two other board members to approve.

Fri Jan 31 2025

Sleep 0345 to 1115, 45m nap (8-1/4 hours)

• A bit of DDO with the guys. Christopher was late because he was hanging out with college friends.