Dusty's Frugal Fortnights Return!

dustydigger

Here's December's Boardgame challenge

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Beguiling Board Game Countdown: Dashing Through December with Pictionary!!

The next entry in our Board Game Countdown is the 9th most popular board game, Pictionary!



Pictionary is a charades-inspired word-guessing game invented by Robert Angel with graphic design by Gary Everson and first published in 1985 by Angel Games Inc. Since then, the rights have changed hands several times, and it is now the property of Mattel. The game is played in teams with players trying to identify specific words from their teammates.

The concept of Pictionary was first created by Robert Angel and his friends in 1981. Angel and his roommates came up with the concept of the game, which proved to be very popular between them. While originally hesitant to pitch the idea, Angel was inspired by the success of Trivial Pursuit to produce and market the game.

A week before Pictionary was first launched in 1985, Angel Games' printing company called to inform them that they could not sort through the 500,000 cards they had printed out. Angel and his partners, Gary Everson and Terry Langston, had to sort through the cards themselves over the course of six days. They managed to sell 6,000 copies in one year at $35 each. In 1986, it was licensed to Western Games, which was later taken over by Hasbro. In 2001, Pictionary was sold to Mattel. At that time they were in 60 countries and 45 languages, with 11 versions just in the US and a total of 32,000,000 games sold worldwide.

The gameplay: Each team moves a piece on a game board formed by a sequence of squares. Each square has a letter or shape identifying the type of picture to be drawn on it. The objective is to be the first team to reach the last space on the board. To do this, a player must guess the word or phrase being drawn by their partner, or if the player lands on an "all play" square, one player from each team attempts to illustrate the same concept simultaneously, with the two teams racing to guess first. The first player to land and guess correctly at the finish wins.

The team chooses one person to begin drawing; this position rotates with each word. The drawer chooses a card out of a deck of special Pictionary cards and tries to draw pictures which suggest the word printed on the card. The pictures cannot contain any numbers or letters, nor can the drawers use spoken clues about the subjects they are drawing. The teammates try to guess the word based on the drawing.

There are five types of squares on the board: Person/Place/Animal, Object, Action, Difficult, and All Play. Each Pictionary card has a list of five words printed on it corresponding to the categories. Players must then draw the word which corresponds to the square on the board on which they have landed. A one-minute timer, is used to compel players to rapidly complete their drawing and guessing.

Fun facts:
• Angel and co-developer Gary Evanson were Seattle waiters who dreamed up the game as way to liven up boring parties. Angel would randomly find words in a dictionary and try to get partygoers to guess them based on his drawings.


• Their “angel” was Robert’s uncle, who lent them $35,000 to fund the development of the game for the market.


• Business took off when the Nordstrom department store decided to place an order. By the late 1980s, stores could barely keep the game in stock. In 1987, Pictionary moved 3 million copies, becoming the second biggest-selling “toy” in December of that year behind the Nintendo.


• Demand for Pictionary peaked in 1988, when stores were low on inventory. Shortages prompted a fistfight over the last copy of the game in a California store, while another copy was plucked from a shopping cart at a Target in Minneapolis.


• In 2019, Mattel introduced Pictionary Air, which allows players to use a stylus to draw in the air and have their illustrations appear on a television or other monitor via a Chromecast streaming device. Because people can’t actually see what they’re drawing, it adds a different dimension to the game.


The Challenge:

1. Read a book with a character who is an artist OR read a book set at least partially in a restaurant or bar OR read a book that has a writing or drawing instrument (pen, pencil, paintbrush, etc.) on the cover.

2. Read a book that has a character who is an angel OR read a book with an angel on the cover OR read a book with an author whose last initial can be found in ANGEL.

3. Read a book that is the sixth book in a series OR read a book that features a brawl of some kind OR Read a book where a character works in a department store.  

dustydigger

And here is my challenge reads for the month

Dusty's Going to Play Pictionary in December!
1. Read a book with drawing instrument (pen, pencil, paintbrush, etc.) on the cover.: Joan Smith - A Brush With Death

2. Read a book that has a character who is an angel : Nalini Singh - Archangel's Legion

3. Read a book that is the sixth book in a series : Casey Hill - Pretty Guilty Secrets 

I also have the final book for my childrens classics challenge to read;

Shannon Messenger - [The Keeper of Lost Cities]

Now that I finished my 80 book challenge for my science fiction site,I am just going to read light fluff stuff in December,while browsing and choosing my reads for next year.

I di very badly with my original list for 2022 which I posted December 2021. I have been so ill so often this year I couldnt cope with long or hard books. In fact I only read around 18 off .my original list. I read short stories or kindle limited stuff instead,fun and not very taxing.

One annoying thing about my SF website is that they dont allow selfpublished books to be counted for challenges. I am 17 books short of my 100 books challenge goal,but actually from my reading records I also read 32 novels and27 short stories that couldnt be added to the challenge.Most annoying. But reading those light fun books or stories has helped keep me sane in this difficult year. I will continue reading them next year,will perhaps doing shorter versions of the official challenges,eg only reading 50 titles on the SF site,and will just read for pleasure lots of fluffy stuff to keep up my spirits.

Katiehound

With regards your Asda delivery & bottle of Baileys I would be advising them that it has caused a huge amount of distress and worry because one of their employees did not remove the security tag, because it now could look as if you cheated the store when in fact it was their inefficiency.
I am sure you can build the case!

My thought would be that a decent goodwill gesture ( at least that the bottle?) should be made by them for all the stress it has caused..........

Take care

dustydigger

Katiehound said:

With regards your Asda delivery & bottle of Baileys I would be advising them that it has caused a huge amount of distress and worry because one of their employees did not remove the security tag, because it now could look as if you cheated the store when in fact it was their inefficiency.
I am sure you can build the case!

My thought would be that a decent goodwill gesture ( at least that the bottle?) should be made by them for all the stress it has caused..........

  Are you in an alternate universe? No hope of such benficence. The Asd@ delivery man today took off the tag in 2 seconds. No offers of free bottles.......

dustydigger

I seem to have been the elusive Pimpernel this week. My lungs have really played up in the cold and damp. I went for covid and flu jabs Monday,both arms very sore and tender even 2 days later,shows what rubbish my body is.

Wall to wall football,but they have started putting two matches on at the same time,so we are only having two matches a day,instead of four:)

Off to make dinner. Slow cooking the lamb,and have just put the potatoes on half an hour late,because we have been getting news from Africa. My stepdaughter had her mastectomy late yesterday,she has come through well. Its been a hard time for everyone,so its a relief it gone well. I will be so glad to see the back of this rotten year!

As I said above,I am running very late on doing dinner,but Mr D is so relieved about his daughter he is in a cheerful mood and is willing to have it at 1 pm..Now off to chop onions,mushrooms and carrots.

I hope to get around to doing this Frugal Fortnight budget in the afternoon sometime.only two days late....no surprise there

tooldle

I thought a sore arm after a vaccine is a good sign. The inflammation being a sign the body's immune response is working. 

Katiehound

dustydigger said:

Katiehound said:

With regards your Asda delivery & bottle of Baileys I would be advising them that it has caused a huge amount of distress and worry because one of their employees did not remove the security tag, because it now could look as if you cheated the store when in fact it was their inefficiency.
I am sure you can build the case!

My thought would be that a decent goodwill gesture ( at least that the bottle?) should be made by them for all the stress it has caused..........

  Are you in an alternate universe? No hope of such benficence. The Asd@ delivery man today took off the tag in 2 seconds. No offers of free bottles.......

Pity

I would have thought a bit of seasonal goodwill might have come from Asda!

Mind a couple of weeks ago when I phoned Tesco about missing points I was told that they would investigate & phone me back. They didn't, however the points appeared, but in the past customer services might have offered 50 extra points for the inconvenience.

makes you weep for poor supermarkets who are going through tough times! (sorry, that's the cynic in me...)

Glad to see that you are back posting. 

take care

dustydigger

Morning all,FINALLY my budget. I get there in the end! .

Two weeks with zero achieved. I expected to have finished doing the livingroom cleaning and decorating,putting up tree etc by now,but the doc at the hospital did my back in on 20th,couldnt do anything. Tentatively able to move around now,will attempt some housework today,do my budget,write out Xmas cards,search out xmas bags to divide up the bottles and sweets by households.Maybe tomorrow put up tree? Knowing me,I will be seized up after overdoing it today!

Anyhoo,here's the budget

Dusty's Frugal Fortnight #15 : 28th Nov - 11th Dec

part is online,part cash;

online income for fortnight : £79  pension ,£250 sent to bank from our Pension Credit,total £329.

Then £73 cash to HBB (Home Budget Box) .

Total fortnight income -£402.

All bills paid online as follows(rounded up)

Charity DDs - £11

Gas /electric - £218

broadband and phone £38

Asd@ monthly delivery pass -  £6

Asd@ food deliveries  - £200(estimate)

total - £473.Ouch. Good old bank buffer will have to supply the £144 deficit.. That's what its there for!

Its a good job I transferred my £500 xmas savings from my savings binder to bank last budget period. My bank has closed ,doing some renovations,and dont seem to know when they will reopen,in days or weeks.Charming. Nearest branch is 15 miles away in Newcastle,so they better get it sorted soon.For now,the rest of the fortnight I have plenty of funds,but in next fortnight I will have lots of bills and xmas buys coming out of my CA,that will deplete the funds. Loads of cash at home,but not much use when its online payments. Probably the bank will reopen in a few days,but there is no notice outside,so its annoying being in the dark..

Anyhoo,thats the budget. Last fortnight I had £40 left in the HBB,which seems to be my savings level now.Lot less than the past,but its good to be in the position of any surplus,knowing the terrible time so many people are facing.

Mr D is going to send £200 to Africa for xmas,then we will gently have to tell them we will have to rein in on sending money for a while. We've sent large chunks because of my stepdaughter's issues repeatedly this year,but it will have to be emergency only for a while to build up Mr Dusty's funds again.

OK,so much for getting an early start on housework,. I've been doing this post for over an hour,but Mr Dusty has been trying to do his football on his phone all morning,and he asks for help and advice every few minutes,or has me putting right his mistakes,or removing texts etc,I'll be lucky if this post makes sense,but I cant be bothered to go back and check.

Right,off to kitchen to prep carrots,mushrooms and onions,then peel potatoes. Only then will I get round to tidying kitchen. Benches are a mess,and need good scrub. The hob is a right mess,the milk boiled over when I was boiling the milk for porridge. It needs a good cleaning,with the scraper,but will have to do just a quick once over because I need to start cooking soon. A job for later.

Time just gets away from me,so many distractions. (Mr D in particular! ) I feel nostalgia for the days when I had breakfast done,washing up done and would start out on chores at 9 am. Its already 10.50 and the breakfast dishes are still in the sink,I've done nothing except share my budget with you kind people. Off I go!

tooldle

Do you have a Post Office nearby Dusty?
Here is a handy list of bank transactions that can be made at the PO, listed by bank. 
 Everyday Banking | Personal & Business Accounts | Post Office®

dustydigger

tooldle said:

Do you have a Post Office nearby Dusty?
Here is a handy list of bank transactions that can be made at the PO, listed by bank. 
 Everyday Banking | Personal & Business Accounts | Post Office®

Thanks tooldle for the info. I'm not sure if I could pay in to my bank debit card through the Post Office,what I would probably do is get Mr D to take cash back to his own bank and tell them to make a transfer to my bank - a different one of course.

I know,I know,you will be asking why dont you do it all online. Unfortunately Mr D is set in his ways,he likes to get the cash in his hand then put mine in my bank,his in his savings account,and bring home the remaining cash for daily expenses. Anything extra gets him confused and anxios. For example we never did find out what he did with the first govt support £326. He was very anxious when the second payment came,I had a hard time explaining it all to him. Its getting difficult each fortnight patiently sorting out what goes to bank,savings and daily expenses. Very sad for a man who was a chief accountant,overseeing staff pays,buying and selling millions worth of commodities,and preparing monthly and yearly accounts for head office and 8 factories, now puzzling over allocating £400 a fortnight. Probably things will have to be sorted next year,but for Mr Dusty's pride and mental  wellbeing,I want to help him by keeping to routine as long as possible.