>be nintendo
Rainbow Car
While I'm out driving with my kids we play a game called "Rainbow Car" where we try to spot a car of every color. The game/round ends when we collectively spot different cars that are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple (we treat Pink as a WILDCARD).
Game Variations
- Strict mode find the cars in the order Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple.
- Omit parked cars so the only valid cars are ones that are driving.
- Competition mode: each person tries to get their own rainbow car set and if they find a car no one else can "claim" it.
A cool side effect is it's made the kids understand the concept of "rarity" like we've omitted black, white & grey/silver cars since they are so common and "Purple" seems to consistently be the hardest car to find (unless you live in a weird neighborhood).
Extremely hard mode: find a BMW driver that uses turn signals.
📸 Photo by Nathan Rupert
Editable Gradient Text in Illustrator
I don't know why Illustrator does this but if you try to apply a gradient to text it just work. You end up having to use clipping layers or outline your text to shapes but those approaches don't scale well. Have hope there is a work around using layer styles if you read onward...
Games I finished in 2023
Nine years ago I had a bigass retro game collection but I barely played them so it felt more like hoarding than "collecting" so I sold them all. A few years ago I got back into gaming with the renewed focus to actually finish games I play.
This year's list is smaller than the previous years (2020, 2021, 2022) so go back and read those if you want.
These are teh games I beat in 2023...
The Perler Bead Flat Melt "No Poke" Tape Method
I like the "flat melt" look of Perler beads it makes them look more like videogame sprites. The problem with the flat melt is it really heats up the peg board which warps and wrecks it for future creations. You can avoid heating your peg boards by using "The Tape Method" but you can end end up with trapped air "blow outs" that wreck the final piece unless you poke holes. Poking holes is tedious and disaster prone so I've been experiencing with this pokeless method...
Games I finished in 2021
I guess I'm making this a yearly thing.
I used to buy games and then just sorta collected them and let them collect dust so I sold them all and when I got back into console gaming I made a promise to myself to actually enjoy/finish the games I get.
These are the games I beat in 2021:
Play old videogames
Don’t get me wrong I want to play every single new game that comes out the instant it’s released but waiting a couple years allows me to save:
- Money: older games are usually cheaper and include DLC.
- Time: time is a great filter that has allowed me to avoid overhyped “Fortnite Killer” type bullshit.
- Effort: older games are more likely to be patched up and play smoother.
The biggest problem with an older game is trying to play online and getting destroyed by people who have been playing the game for a few years but I play for fun and probably wouldn’t put the time in required to be competitive anyway.
Just to be clear I think Dr. Mario is a shit game and I’m sad that Puyo Puyo & Panel De Pon haven’t become mainstream.
How I try to play a videogame series now
If I “fall behind” in a videogame series I used to try and start with playing the first one and think I would make my way sequentially until I played the latest installment. This rarely happened because it makes a fun activity like playing videogames feel like a gargantuan task or almost like work.
Now, unless the story requires it, I’ll just start with the latest installment. The latest installment of a game series likely has the best graphics, gameplay fixes and numerous quality of life updates that will make the best impression to me. If I like the game a lot or wanted more of the lore then I’ll go back and play the previous ones and will likely be more forgiving to derpy parts.
Or if I’m lucky they’ll remake the previous installments in HD or whatever.