G_dub52

I agree 100%.  

@Stretch616 , great thread and definitely looking forward to seeing more of them!
 
I'm gonna look into Rhino Hero and Ghost Blitz for sure. We love Dobble in the house as we've already got 2 versions of it, so I think this one will be a firm favourite!

Got Mario Jenga for xmas too and I feel Jenga has come a long way now. Its not just stack a tower its beat Bowzer and collect coins etc and the brick have different bonuses too. Really enjoying a few games of that 🙂 
 
I look forward to you bringing some of these when we can camp again dude.

Game ordered 🤪

Great write up @Greboth! I can't wait to join you all on the track soon!

Great write up @Greboth! I can't wait to join you all on the track soon!

I believe it should now and forever be referred to as The NOT MATT! NOT MATT! incident 😆
 
My thoughts on the races;
 
Race 1 - Blue Moon Bay oval GR3
This was always going to be a tricky one to hold the lead on due the slipstreaming and there basically being no corners to ever pull a large enough lead on.  Qualifying was as expected close with it seemingly coming down to a bit of luck of who was getting a tow at the rights parts of the lap without being hindered at others.  In the middle of qualifying I managed to time it perfectly, getting a tow from Mike out of turn 1 down to turn 3 then, taking a different line through the final corner, a tow all the way to the finish line too.  On the race, as said, this was going to be tricky but Kiwi, Mike and I broke away then proceeded to battle amongst ourselves swapping positions a number of times each lap.  It was obvious after a few laps it was going to come down to position on the final lap and through the final corner.  Going on the final lap, I deliberately held back across the start/finish line so I could be behind both Mike and Kiwi coming out of Turn 1.  Unfortunately Lee caught us up at the point too so I had to slot in behind him but no worries, plenty of time to draft passed.  Going in to the last corner, it was a copy of my pole lap, I took a different line so I didn't catch Lee up mid corner but could get a good run out of it and a tow to the line.  A mix of not quite being close enough and Lee moving break the tow to Mike and to block me ... bloody blocking cheater mumble mumble mumble not salty 😠😆... I ended up bump drafting Lee across the finish line.  I'm not a fan of ovals but it was a fun race and great to see Lee get a win.
 

 
Race 2 - Interlagos Gr4
A tricky race for me, I'd done a few laps practice to decide which was the fastest car but hadn't managed to do any testing for fuel or tyres.  I took a gamble on the fastest car, the Peugeot RCZ and thanks to an off hand comment from Phil about tyres not necessarily making it through the race, I switched to softs, rather than super softs, and managed to get the fastest time in practice.  So the decision was made, I was going to qualify and race softs.  Qualifying came and went and I managed to stick on pole.  The race begin and held the lead without a real challenge from Kiwi though had a worrying moment when I saw I wouldn't have enough fuel but thankfully it was just the game being rubbish at calculating remaining fuel at the beginning of a race.  I kept it clean and put in some fast laps to open up the gap over Kiwi then just managed it.  The last lap was tricky though due to tyre wear as the softs were ruined and going by comments of others the super softs were even worse.
 

 
Race 3 - Goodwood Minis
What a laugh, Phil set it up to use racing tyres and without tyre wear we all went with Racing Super softs.  As it turns out, the means cornering hard will cause the mini to roll over on to 2 wheels which was further exacerbated by the high kerbs round Goodwood.  I set the early pace in qualifying then Kiwi got a faster lap but I knew I could go faster if I could keep the Mini on 4 wheels.  Then on the penultimate lap, with some tiny steering inputs, I got the pole back.  In to the race, similar to race 2, I got away reasonably well but down the long 'straight' Kiwi caught me up but due to sticking a wheel on the grass and almost spinning / spinning it gave me the chance to break away.  After that it was just a case of taking it easy and keeping far away from kerbs.
 

 
Race 4 - Brands Hatch Gr3
As this was a random race at the end with no practice it was always going to play to my strengths of having one of the top amount of experience with this game, tracks and cars.  Though it was going to be frustrating for most as Brands Hatch is a tricky circuit especially the rookies going in to it blind.  Qualifying went well and though I could have gone faster, the last few laps of qualifying were all ruined by getting penalties but I still managed to get pole so can't complain.  On to the race, I think it was Lee who lined up second and got a good start and clearly was going to overtake me round the outside of T1.  Not a problem, I'm fast enough to get the lead back over the rest of the race and at the point I got nicely punted by, I think, Kiwi costing me a few more places.  I fought back and caught back up to Lee just in time to see him throw it all away at T1 😞 Another bump from Kiwi saw me lose a little more time and me take a BTCC approach to get back passed (well it is Brands Hatch after all).  I picked up a 1 second penalty at some point too but after all of this I was right behind Mike going on to the final lap.  Knowing I couldn't slow down to get rid of the penalty and keep up with Mike, I decided to go for it and try to open up the gap.  Due to a messy Turn 4 for both of us with a bit of contact, I got my penalty time down to 0.003 seconds and managed to take the lead in to turn 5.  After that, I nailed all the fast right turns meaning I could easily lift out the last corner to get rid of the last little but of my penalty.
 

My package arrived today also. Thank you very much Lee and everyone from FG. The wife was unsure and surprised I had won something. She was chuffed for me and proud. Maybe it will result in extra game time over the year. I can say if I want to have a chance of winning anything else in the future I need another few games. 😂

Game ordered 🤪

Not sure we can get away with @Macca89 's 'dammit' one 🤣 but 'Shoot it' in his strongest, high pitched Scottish voice would do the trick!
 
@TonyAE86 's clearly can be a mix of 'Arrgghh, yeah....I should have....I pressed L1 didnt I'
 
@Lurch  James could literally say anything in ASMR and it'd work. 'Get in there' is quite apt when said whispering 😁
 

Got to do James "Got no options" 
Tom's "Scccrrriiipppttt", Jordies "Top bins only" and my "Shoot it" 😂🤣

Game ordered 🤪

🤣🤣and what amazeballs passes they were mate! It was like Christmas 2021 had come really early 😍 and thank you mate, I think the more visuals we can create the better it shows off the night we had.

Loving the info-graphic @GazzaGarratt👍 You're welcome for the 2 assists btw 😉

I've not done some updates for a while but suffice to say we've had a roller-coaster of a ride with us now bouncing around Division 3, sometimes Division 4 and hitting the dizzy heights of Division 2 a few times already. Pretty amazing achievement I think really, considering that vast difference in skill level between us all and we're pretty much having a laugh and putting the world to right as we're playing!
 
Having said that, Monday Night Football this week started off to a flyer after having one game left in Division 3 which we needed to win to get promoted. Usually the first game of the night is a 'warm-up' game where we get spanked but hilariously we managed to take a 2-1 lead through the Rodman & Kanye combination @Lurch  @jordie1892 . Somehow we made 2 perfectly timed tackles for both to be given as Penalties (Script you yell?). Well, the FIFA gods were on our side as not one, but two pens were neatly saved (second hit the bar but it was clearly us clicking buttons) and we ended up winning the game 3-2 to secure promotion.
 
After that, the night went downhill rapidly and didn't come back up. Kind of like my se...no, I won't go there. Tom @LordBaguette  will lose it if I go all negative again 😄
 
The results below however could've been a different story entirely, as our first game in, we started off to a flyer. James aka Rodders, hit 2 early strikes when it looked like he lost the ball both times only for him to turn like an 8-foot Olympic ice skater and bulleted home two goals. 27 minutes in, 2-0 up and we felt great. Then everything froze. For everyone. We all thought we'd get the win because we'd played enough to secure a result, but no. Nothing.
 
After that devastating blow though, we struggled to keep the goals down, although still dominating possession up top. Goals were going in the way they had on previous occasions and it was like we had to take so much energy to build up for a goal, we'd end up losing possession, one ball through and they'd be one-on-one again. Goal. A few batterings in between those performances and a cheeky odd win too, we all probably wanted to go down as quickly as we could. We tried to end the night on a high back in Division 3 but after leading 5-3 with 20 minutes to go, and then finish with a 6-5 loss.
 
I think the whole night was typified when we were playing well, @Macca89   managed to slide in and intercept a keeper throw out on the edge of the box, and with the ball trundling towards the net the whistle blows for Half Time. I did score a couple of good goals too though which i was happy with...until @jordie1892  showed me how I looked like a half-decent John Flanagan 🙈🤣
 
Unlucky lads, sometimes nights won't always go our way but still a good laugh! @Lurch  @jordie1892  @Macca89  @LordBaguette  @Dan94  @TonyAE86  @G_dub52  @Findmartin  GGFG!
 

Please tell me @GazzaGarratt you didn't get a pod one??? Gotta grind those beans big boy!

No Thanks
 

 
This is a card game based around numbers and the idea being to have the smallest total once the deck is exhausted.
The numbers in play are numbered 3-35. Everybody starts the game with no cards and between 7-11 "pass counters".
The first card is then revealed from the deck and then it will be down to the first person to decide whether to take the card or to play a pass counter (No Thanks!)
Obviously there is slightly more complexity and tactics to the game which is down to 2 factors.
When you elect to take the card, you also collect all of the pass counters that have been placed previously. This will then give you an advantage in being able to pass in further rounds. Any cards that you have in a sequence only count to the lowest value. So collecting the 35, 34, 33, 32, 31 & 30 cards would only actually count as 30 points. This is a great dynamic to the game as you then start to think about not only what cards you need to lower your deck value but what cards you could take that would act as "blockers" for your opponents.
 
 
We've found this one a bit more tactical in the thinking and given this it was difficult to get the psychology of the game through to the younger members of the family. Another issue is that the game is best played with a minimum of 3 players and it really is noticeable in the enjoyment when you play as a duo.
I think i'd love to have a bash of this game with a group of adults as i think it'd be a great game, but maybe not as much a game to have an experience of a laugh with.
 
Stretch's board game rating - At the moment, no thanks 4 out of 10 stretches

As part of looking for something to entertain whilst stuck in the house this year, i've really started to get into my board games as part of having something different to do whilst stuck in the house.
The general feel for these have been to either be single player games or decent group games that aren't too difficult to get to grips with so the kids could join in easily.
We've really enjoyed these so far and i thought it'd be good to share the experiences of these games with you all
 
I'll continue to add to the thread as the collection grows as i have no doubt it will!
So here goes!!! @GazzaGarratt - Told you i'd make the thread eventually!! 🤣
 
Edit: To be clear on the Stretch rating, i'm using a proper scale of 1-10 where 5 is an average game not poor

I believe I asked for a "Tom positivity" board. We definitely need a "Not again Tony" and the good old Jordie classic "I've just been talking for like 5 minutes on mute"

I believe I asked for a "Tom positivity" board. We definitely need a "Not again Tony" and the good old Jordie classic "I've just been talking for like 5 minutes on mute"

If I remember correctly, the suggestion was: "Lets make a Tom depression / disappointment quote soundboard" 😅😂😂

It's a fantastic machine.
 
I had to do a double take on the brand, then looked it up that Sage is the same as Breville here in the US.
 
We have the same machine but an older model. I think it's about 10 years old now, come to think of it! Looks like they improved the grinder too on your model. Enjoy it! Don't be afraid of it. I sure was initially lol. But, it's so awesome to be able to have properly brewed espresso at home. I haven't gotten the milk foaming and steaming down perfectly, but just because I can't draw a swan in my drink, doesn't mean it isn't good!

@Middle Class Caveman has advised me to post this here and its a bloody good idea too!
 
Here is our new coffee machine and Im not going to lie I bloody love it! I am still learning how to use it properly but getting there for sure!
 
Any other coffee heads out there? Hints, tips and stories welcome 🙂

Event Title: Monday Night Football - FIFA 21 Pro Clubs - FGFC
Event Author: GazzaGarratt
Calendar: Community Calendar
Event Date: 12/28/2020 08:00 PM

We've dipped down into Division 4 but our skills at managing different positions are definitely coming along.  Let's see where the FG train can take us tomorrow!
 
 
Monday Night Football - FIFA 21 Pro Clubs - FGFC
 
 
N.B. If viewing this via the FG App, please visit the Calendar event via browser to RSVP. Thanks.
 

Lucky win Dan! It is the dankest prize imo. Personalised and looks comfy AF, definitely jealous. If George won the hoodie as well it's definitely a rigged system!
 
I wonder what kind of system Lee has in place for the winners. I would love to think it was a bit of toast strapped to a cat's back butterside up and dropped from a height.