Cindy's post about Rancho Gordo in Steve's eat beans thread got me to thinking about those websites that maybe aren't mainstream. Well, at least not mainstream for me, but that I'd love to explore. Like Rancho Gordo, which I'll definitely be trying out.

Here's one of mine.

I order from these guys when I have a hankering for something British, usually tea or preserves.

https://britishbrands.com/

How about you? Any category will do. Shopping. Literature. History. Science. Whatever.

Some of you who follow me on Facebook may know that I’m a hobby board gamer. My first stop for figuring out if I should buy a new game, or if I’m looking for a game to fill a particular need, is Boardgame Geek. I also keep track of my board game collection there (and yes, I go by dolmansaxlil there as well). I can’t imagine that anyone here would find value in it, but just in case…

https://boardgamegeek.com/

I never would have found that one! I can't believe how many games/game genres there are.

quote:

Originally posted by wtg:
I never would have found that one! I can't believe how many games/game genres there are.

I have 178 games in my collection currently and my collection is small (amongst collectors). If you can think of a theme, there is likely a game for it! But what I find interesting is the mechanics. When I draw reviews for board games one of the things I do is show the main mechanics of a game and sometimes I have to decide which ones to share because it uses so many in combination. You can have a game about foraging mushrooms (a very quick count on BGG shows there are at least 7) but it can be completely different game play from another mushroom foraging game because it uses different mechanics.

Monopoly, for example, has the main mechanics of:
Set collection (getting all the red properties, for example), Roll and Move, Auction/Bidding, Income (the $200 you get when you pass Go), and Player Elimination. But it also has a few others that are minor mechanics. So if you play Monopoly and like gathering all the properties and get a thrill when you get all the red ones, you probably would enjoy other Set Collection games. If you hate the Auction/Bidding part, there are games that focus on that mechanic and you likely wouldn’t enjoy them.

Like music, there are some core qualities that can me combined in unlimited ways to create something new. And so you can use those qualities to sort games into categories and subcategories, just like you can with music genres.

Edited to add: as demonstrated above, the site is called Board game GEEK for a reason

Board game GEEK is right. I visited the site and was astounded at the number of games in a couple of categories I looked at. I searched for a relatively obscure game I own from 1958 and it showed right up with quite a few details and two copies offered for sale. Wow!

Big Al

Craigslist. It’s like the biggest garage sale ever. I peruse stuff I’ll never buy and just wander around looking at everyone else’s jetsam. Like that roadside store Steve posted pictures of … the one that got shut down.

I always look through the Wanted section. I have stuff someone else wants… we just haven’t connected yet.

Smitten Kitchen. I cook a lot of her recipes.

She has a new podcast with J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, The Recipe podcast. So far they’ve discussed mac and cheese, meatloaf, and pancakes. Entertaining!

Reddit. Seems like every day there is something I want to learn about and I seek out the Reddit.

It requires some filtering but the collected knowledge of the entire internet is on Reddit in one form or another.

www.birdforum.net
Discussion on birding and equipment such as binoculars

www.cloudynights.com
Astronomy...

Dol, interesting.

Thanks for sharing such an immersive experience with us.