Who Is Humphrey?

Dear Friends,

The Hard Taco song for June, "Humphrey," is the theme song for Field Cut, a new neurology-themed board game that I am about to release. For a preview, visit the Neurdgames website. 

In this game, there's a little guy in a yellow hat named Humphrey, and players take turns moving him around a map of the brain and trying to outsmart each other.

We gave him that name in reference to the Humphrey Visual Field test, an automated diagnostic tool used by eye doctors to assess a patient's visual fields. 

I tried to learn more about the namesake of the test, Robert H.S. Humphrey, but he doesn't have much of an internet presence. All I could find was this weirdly cropped picture of a man that very well could be him. 

Since uploading that picture, I learned that the Humphrey Visual Field device was invented in the 1980s. So I guess this picture is not accurate... he should be wearing shoulder pads and a Hypercolor T-Shirt. 

According to the few public records of his life, Robert H.S. Humphrey was not the inventor of the device that bears his name; he merely popularized it. This would not be the first or last time we named something after an influencer. Oprah Winfrey did not invent the book club, and Gabriel Fahrenheit merely popularized things having a temperature. 

But there isn't enough known about Humphrey to write a song about him, so I'm giving him an origin story that will tie the whole concept together. In this song, Humphrey is a grizzled, saddle-weary Old West sheriff with homonymous hemianopsia, a neurologic problem that prevents him from seeing anything in the right half of either eye.  Humphrey is a rugged quick draw who brings his brand of frontier justice to any outlaw, as long as they are committing their crooked deeds in the left half of his vision. 

With warmest regards,

Zach

All Things Rude

Dear Friends,

This month's Hard Taco song, "Rooticle," is a portmanteau of Rude Cuticle.

Actually, the song is about the spinal nerve roots and symptoms they cause when they are pinched, rubbed, twisted, tickled, or teased.

Do I need a reason to write a song about nerves? No. 

But do I have one? Sort of!

This will be the theme song for the upcoming card game by the same title, scheduled to drop sometime in the next few weeks. It is the first cooperative game and first trick-taking game I've been involved in making. Here's the cover art to get you pumped. 

In the meantime, I've been consolidating all of the games I've designed, medical or otherwise, under the umbrella of NeurdGames, which is a great place to do ironic holiday shopping!

Finally, for those of you who come here to be entertained, not hoodwinked into buying things, I hear you! Here are some other portmanteaus of things being rude. 

With warmest regards,

Zach

(Answers: Roodle, Ruddha, ImpoLighthouse, Snarkansas, Brashtray, InconsideRitz.)

Cranial Vault

Dear Friends,

I am hysterically eager to announce the release of the next great tabletop game aimed for neurology lovers, "Cranial Vault." and its theme song, "What's In the Vault?" 

Technically, Cranial Vault is not one game, but NINE games stuffed into one box! With nearly 600 cards, it's as heavy as sandwich maker, but more fun during power outages.  

Disclaimer: This is an exceptionally small banana.

If you're a connoisseur of popular word-based party contests, some of the Cranial Vault games will already feel familiar. Some involve drawing, charades, fast-talking, or sound effects. Some involve structured clue-giving, holding cards up to your forehead, or coming up with puns. But they all have one thing in common... they are guaranteed to galvanize friendships. So if you don't want your casual acquaintances to become ride-or-die bosom buddies who talk over each other during your eulogy, stay away from Cranial Vault.

Check out the Cranial Vault website for pictures, demonstration videos, and so much more! 

Actually, I take that back. Other than pictures and demonstration videos, there actually isn't anything more. Still, we're very proud of this project, and hope it convinces you to put down that triangular sandwich and go to med school. 

With warmest regards, 
Zach

Battle Thunder Worm is a Thing

Dear Friends,

  

It gives me unnatural pleasure to introduce two things today, both of which are called, "Battle Thunder Worm."

First, and 1/3 less importantly, this month's Hard Taco song is called, "Battle Thunder Worm." It's the theme song to the London family's new card game by the same name!

Also first, and more importantly by a factor of 1.5, today is the official public release of BTW: Battle Thunder Worm, the Family Card Game After Which the Battle Thunder Worm Theme Song is Named! 

As many of you already know, we printed copies of this game and mailed them out as swag gifts for Malcolm's Bar Mitzvah a few months ago. As such, the game isn't technically new, but the Battle Thunder Worm website is, and it's full of gorgeous photography by Leisa Thompson, Malcolm's instructional video, and a link to purchase the game. That's right: as of today, anyone who owns money can choose to own this game instead of owning some of that money! 

But please DO NOT buy Battle Thunder Worm. More on that in a minute.

www.battlethunderworm.com

The original rules for BTW were developed by my son Malcolm (pardon the parental bragging) and my nephew Micah (pardon the avuncular bragging) a few years ago. They called their prototype "Totally Kid Friendly," and it was just some doodles on scrap paper. It was brilliant. Playing was so much fun, I couldn't help but take on the roll of cigar-smoking record exec. "You kids have something special," I told them, "You're going to be huge! The Queen of England will want your autographs! What you've got here is special and I love everything about it! Absolutely everything! All we have to do is...  lose the name, change the rules, redo all the art, and cut both of you out of the process as much as possible."

Three years later, here we are.  The biggest bottleneck was that the game needed lots of art, and we didn't have the talent or bandwidth to pull that off. So when we sent out invitations to Malcolm's Bar Mitzvah, we asked guests to contribute drawings, and our family and friends came through in a major way. Battle Thunder Worm has some of the best (and least best) card game art since the invention of The Spade.

So should you buy this game? Almost definitely not. 

Battle Thunder Worm is dreadfully fun, especially when combined with the expansion deck, Battle Thunder Words. But buying both of them is inordinately expensive. We're selling them through The Game Crafter, a print-on-demand board game company. Even with no markup, buying both games and shipping them to your fanny pack will cost about $40 (assuming your fanny pack has its own address and it is within the continental United States.) As much as we all love both Malcolm and fun, it's cheaper to fill your fanny pack with real worms. 

With warmest regards,

Zach

The Play At Home Order

Dear Friends,

   The Hard Taco song for May is called, "The Thing Will Not Come to Pass." It was a collaboration with beloved family and friends, cobbled together piecemeal over many months and many miles.
   In the middle of March, the Londons committed to playing a new board game or card game every night, with the goal of banging out 30 games in 30 days. Of course, when we passed that milestone a couple weeks ago, we had no choice but to keep going.
   Instead of a digest this month, I invite you to explore the fruits of that undertaking, a website called The Play At Home Order.

   As of last night, we are up to 42 games, and each of the four of us developed our own rank list.  For each game, we provide our overall family rank, as well as averaged ranks and short reviews from the kids and the adults.
  So let the Londons help you elevate your Family Game Game (FGG). Why not make your tabletop the envy of all the furniture in your subdivision?
   Our plan is to keep this going until we run out of games and can't afford new ones or the stay-at-home order ends. Keep an eye out for updates!

With warmest regards,
Zach, Lauren, Scarlett, and Malcolm