Friday, September 21, 2012

Open Mic Night At The Royal

The Royal Tavern in downtown Kingston has a history. Sure, there are lots of old 19th Century buildings in the city. But the Royal is significant historically for a couple of reasons. First, it's supposedly the oldest continuously operated bar in the city. Second, the building was once owned by Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada's first prime minister.


Note that there's no bronze plaque outside the bar noting the fact that Sir John A. drank here. Someone said that if there were a bar in the States once owned and frequented by George Washington, there'd be a line of tour buses waiting outside today. But here in Canada, we tend not to confer mythical hero status to our founding fathers. There are plenty of sites in Kingston related to Sir John A., such as his law office, grave site, and home. But apart from the latter, we don't make too big a deal of them.

But getting back to the Royal, in addition to its historical significance, it has a bit of a reputation as a rough bar. The owner is trying to reverse that reputation, with success. And now, the bar is establishing itself as a good place for live music. Take Thursday nights for example, when there's an open mic or open jam. Between songs by the great house band, usually blues or jazz inspired, others can take the stage. And yesterday, I was one of those, banjo-ukulele in hand.

What's it like going up on stage at the Royal? The place is noisy. Although it's a few block from the university, most people here are middle-aged. It's a place to drink, talk, and generally have a good time. Few people actually pay direct attention to the musicians, but still show their appreciation of the music at the end of each song. I'm usually nervous on stage, however I found the environment pretty comfortable, probably due to the fact that there weren't forty pairs of eyeballs staring at me. And afterwards, a number of people asked me questions about my banjo-uke, something few if any had actually seen or heard close up.

To borrow a 1960's cliche, on Thursday nights, this is a "happening place". And it seems to have gotten this way without much in the way of publicity. Or much in the way of choice in beer. There's one beer on tap, Canadian, plus a modest selection of bottled brew. But considering the ambiance and the music, I don't mind the limited choice. If anything, that's part of the character of the place.

Cheers! Hans

Monday, September 10, 2012

Online Alternatives to EA Scrabble

I've blogged before (several times) about my experiences with the new EA Scrabble game on Facebook. I gave the new Scrabble game an honest try. I eagerly looked forward to a newer version of the game due in August since EA seemed to promise a choice of skins, including the look and feel of the old game. However, when that new version came, I was greatly disappointed. The new version simply offered a bland choice of board styles, as well as the option to disable some visual features. The Scrabble developers just completely missed the point of the criticisms and complaints.

And so, I gave up on the EA Scrabble game on Facebook. Instead, I'm playing a couple of alternatives, Lexulous and Words With Friends. Here are my observations of these games, either one of which is a good alternative to the new Scrabble.

Words With Friends


After playing with Words With Friends, I can see where EA got its inspiration for its new Scrabble game. For example, the design of the column at the left has been borrowed almost completely for the new Scrabble, even down to the contents of the boxes. In my previous review of new Scrabble, I complained about the fact that the "Their Move" box contains your last move. Even that came from WWF.

So if new Scrabble is a virtual clone of WWF, why do I play WWF? First, WWF works. Whenever I visit the Scrabble page on Facebook, I continue to read complaints about new Scrabble not working properly. On the other hand, so far, I've had no problems with WWF. Second, while new Scrabble has a hot color scheme, WWF uses cool blues and greens. This is much easier on the eyes.

WWF isn't perfect, though. First, there's no dictionary you can use to check words. Second, you can really only play with Facebook friends. Third, you must put up with an ad after every move. I always block insecure content so I never actually see the ads, but I still have to wait a few seconds before I can continue. Still, in my opinion, it's an acceptable alternative to EA's new Scrabble (if only because it's not as bad as new Scrabble).

Lexulous


Another alternative is Lexulous. This game started life as Scrabulous. However, legal action forced them to change the name of the game as well as make it less like the real Scrabble game. Visually, Lexulous has a simpler appearance than new Scrabble or WWF. But for true word game fans, this really isn't important. What matters is the play.

Lexulous has a number of advantages over the others. For example, for Scrabble purists, there's a "challenge" mode that better follows the official rules of Scrabble. That is, moves are not automatically spell-checked by the game. You can make any move, and it's up to your opponent to make a challenge if he thinks the word is not in the dictionary. Also, unlike WWF, there's a ratings system. And you can better choose opponents who match your own rating.

On the minus side, finding your way around the application can be a bit tricky. For example, it's not obvious how to see how many tiles are left in a game. (Move the mouse cursor over "Last Move".) And I've had trouble using the "force forfeit" feature on players who haven't made a move in weeks.

Conclusion

The bottom line is that there are alternatives to EA's new Facebook Scrabble game. For casual play, WWF is a good (but not great) choice. More serious word game players will probably enjoy Lexulous better. I regularly play both.

Cheers! Hans