Current games-to-play-on-Thursday list

• Man, we are never going to get Order of The Stick done in a reasonable amount of time, so that's out.
• Merchant of Venus - Tim ought to play it, Chris, Lee, and I love it, Larry and R.J. are okay with it.
• game prototypes - hopefully, Tim and Chris will both bring in more designs to test. I have given up on producing anything useful or playable in 2007, with the possible exception of a Power Grid variant.
  
• Power Grid (Eastern Europe) - last of the maps to try, with variant fuel costs as well. Looking forward to this.
• Funny Friends - hopefully I can get Marty Hoff back over.
• Beowulf - R.J. traded for a copy; I've played this once at the Houston Gamers and liked it.
• Pizarro & Co. - I like it more than anyone else so far. I dunno. It's a pure auction game, and we have so many of those around that are excellent; a tough sell.
• RoboRally - I got a copy and want to crack into it. I played it back in the dorms in college - it was good then, and it's good now.
• Wildlife - unplayed, by a decent designer, highly rated. About evolution, so Lee's not interested.
• Industria - unplayed. An auction game, in German, that only plays 3 or 4 players. Oh, and it's supposed to take 90 minutes even when you know what you're doing. Huh, wonder why it hasn't hit the table already with all that going for it!
• Blue Moon expansion decks - I bought more of these, then I saw some shiny pebbles and got distracted. I'm never going to be a great Blue Moon player, but it's fun.
  
• Filthy Rich - got in a trade, haven't played yet.
• Ursuppe - been a long time since this favorite of mine hit the table. With the winding-down of the Cheapass Games demo program, I'm considering picking up another company or two to help out. Z-Man Games has a lot of great games, and I've been surprised over and over at how great a job Zev's done on his past releases.

Beyond that, I'm playing a lot of the Puzzle Quest PC demo. Suffice it to say, I have earned over 10,000 experience. The last two times I played a game's demo this much were Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, and the original Majesty demo, both of which rewarded me with a complex and rewarding game experience that made me happy.

Today is the first day I've spent in the house, alone, on a weekday, not sick, in a long, long time. Lee will choose a contractor soon, and then our bathrooms will be destroyelated with intense prejudice. Our credit union got us a decent rate on the home equity loan, so I'm not feeling the intense waves of hatred for it that I felt for our original mortgage.

Ultimately, I like my job, but if something better came along, I'd have to go for it. Yes, the bills are getting paid, but my free/busy ratio is out of whack.