Rejoice: German-style board-games now available in India

Posted on June 24, 2011 by navin

I have been a fan of German-style boardgames (aka Eurogames or Designer Games) for over 10 years now. My friends know that I have a big collection of these games, and this year, we’ve started the concept of ‘Games Night’ at our place where 10-20 people show up on a Saturday and play these games until Sunday morning.

I bought most of these games while we were staying in the US, and kept adding to the collection on every US trip. Unfortunately, my US trips have stopped, and my collection is now no longer fresh. That is why I was particularly happy to see this website which now makes these games available in India. Very cool. I haven’t ordered from them yet, so cannot comment upon their customer service etc., but hopefully soon.

Those who’re wondering what’s the big deal about these games is, here are the salient features:

These are board games, to be played with real people, face to face, not computer games
These are games that are not as stupid, and mindless as monopoly, but also not as brain-bending as chess
These games are designed to be played by families or groups of friends – lots of interaction, lots of fun, and get over in a couple of hours.
The games have beautiful components

For a more detailed explanation, see the wikipedia page

Random Quotes – 2

Posted on November 20, 2008 by navin

This is a bunch of interesting quotes I’ve collected over the past few months. Maybe they are connected to each other, and maybe they are not:

The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent
– John Maynard Keynes

Source: Wikipedia. See also this relevant article, about the US government bailout of financial institutions in September 2008.

Quotes of Kenneth Boundling, economist, which sound strangely more relevant after the global financial meltdown:

Mathematics brought rigor to Economics. Unfortunately, it also brought mortis

Nothing fails like success because we don’t learn from it. We learn only from failure.

Source: Wikipedia
Switching a little:

There you have it. Admiration for raw, undirected cleverness winning over a questioning of fundamental importance. I wish there’d been someone in the room like Fight Club’s Tyler Durden (played by Brad Pitt), who responds to a smart remark by Edward Norton’s narrator character with, “Clever. How’s that working out for you, being clever?”

Source: RibbonFarm.com

But let’s not worry so much about the crisis. Paul Graham points out that now is the best time to start a startup. However, many people think of doing startups, but not are not willing to quit their current job yet:

People wish to learn to swim and at the same time to keep one foot on the ground.
- Marcel Proust

Source: BrainyQuotes

But where do ideas for startups come from? Proust again:

The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.

Enough about money. Let’s focus on love and happiness. Here’s Proust again:

Let us leave pretty women to men devoid of imagination.

We only really think when distressed, we shouldn’t worry about striving for happiness so much as “pursuing ways to be properly and productively unhappy.”
- Publisher’s Review weekly paraphrasing Proust

Source: How Proust can Change your life

Random Quotes – 1

Posted on August 10, 2008 by navin

Some random quotes that I collected from the web:

Reflecting on the misinformation, half-truths, and weasel-words that form the bulk of political-campaign speecifying, I conclude that listening to politicians’ campaign speeches yields about as much information as listening to insects buzzing: in both cases you’re made aware that annoying, and possibly dangerous, pests are nearby.

Source: Cafe Hayek

“Faith is Hope given too much credit.”

– Matt Tuozzo

Source: Overcoming Bias

NBC Universal, which is trying to block a public bike path from traversing its property along the waterway…
One bike advocate said Universal executives told him they feared that people would use the path to lob unsolicited screenplays onto the studio’s nearby production lot — something that apparently happens at other spots when a Universal film scores big at the box office.

Source: boing-boing.