Hi Susan. Arkham horror has always interested me. I know nothing about the books or the story behind the books. But the setting really appeals. How long does a game take generally? Is it similar to say, Lord of the Rings with players working together? Do you also have the expansions? and if so are they recommended? I really look forward to when my 2 sons are old enough to play games with me :)
--Mark Coomey

What the heck is that thing? The way the shot is composed, it looks like it could a manifestation of something from the dark recesses of Kevin's psyche.

But it could just be paper mache.

Although Jason and Christian actually did consider using the historical election of 1860 for their game, it's actually based on the one that occured a century *later*. Kennedy, not Lincoln. The modern candidates had fewer hats, but the older guys had better beards (at least according to Nixon).

:-)

Mark: It was a wonderful thing when my kids were finally mature enough to play our games without having us be in "parent" mode. For both of them this seemed to occur around age 10. Arkham Horror is a really good fit for us right now because my sons both like the roleplaying aspects of the game with its unique characters, loads of special items, health points, etc- a lot of the same characteristics of the computer and video games that they also like. However, this makes the game very fiddly and it can take the entire afternoon to play. I'm not sure how long our game was as we took a few breaks, but I'm sure it was over 3 hours. So, it is a lot more complicated and longer than the LotR cooperative game (which my kids also like and were able to handle at a younger age). We have all the expansions but haven't played a single one. The Dunwich Horror is supposed to make the game more challenging which I don't think we need right now! However, I used to be a big fan of the stories, so collecting them all is a must for me.

Jay: That thing and the other one in the cage is what happens when you let my warped family loose in a Halloween store! The heads are some sort of hard rubber.

Larry: Good catch! I've fixed it. I actually would be even more interested in the earlier election. Maybe with the success of 1960 they'll make it into a series of games.

Look up! Ewww!
(referring to the picture).
We've been watching five seasons of Buffy the Vampire slayer in one week so one of us is always saying, "Watch out, Buffy!"

I found Tantrix to be pretty hard. Is is just me?

Betty - no, it's not just you. Those Tantrix puzzles are e-v-i-l. I'm stuck on 9 tiles but Ed and Shea are up to something like 14. It's sitting out in the living room making it impossible to pass by and not work on them.