Will, Simon and Flopsy visited Dundee and Leeds (21st Oct-27th Oct 2024)

[Flopsy]

So Will and Simon had originally planned to do this visit to Dundee, I happened to catch wind of this arrangement early in September by chance when talking to Simon on the IRC, I asked if I could accompany them as soon as I heard. It would be great to visit the Lemmings statues again and this time with other Lemmings forumers. We planned this 4 night stay in Dundee staying in a Premier Inn, all our rooms were relatively close together luckily so it was easy to socialise in the evenings. I brought my Switch, Will brought his PS4 and Simon brought Zendo!

This is my diary of how the week unfolded, I wrote each entry at the end of each day so it might read a little different as opposed to if I wrote all this at the end of the week like I am now. There are pictures posted in the places they occurred.

Monday 21st October (drive to Dundee)

I drove from Nottingham to Stockport early in the morning about 9am, arrived about 11-12 and set off for Dundee.

We co-ordinated stops along the way, especially stopping at the beautiful Tebay service area on the M6 in the Lake District.

Spent the entire trip to Dundee having a laugh with Simon as we had to drive there in my own car. We were wondering about english words and why "mouse" has the plural "mice", we then applied it to other words like why is "nouse" not the singular to "nice" (I know nice is not a plural), or why is "douse" not the singular to "dice"....

We arrived at the hotel rather late between 7-8pm, it's a very long drive to Dundee if you want to stop regularly!

We ordered pizza to the hotel and we spent a few hours playing some games.
Simon brought over a Zendo set which we tried, I didn't quite get it for now but we're going to try again tomorrow. Will was really into it.

We also played a game which Will brought where we had a knotted piece of rope in a loop (called Kluster) and a set of 14 magnets, the idea is to place magnets within the loop and not have any stick together otherwise you have to pick those back up. You can move the rope perimeter as long as all the magnets remain within the loop. It's pretty interesting.

Then we played some Sonic Mania as Tails only, Carrie did Green Hill Zone, Will did Chemical Act 1 handed it to me to finish Chemical Act 2. Then Simon had a turn on Studiopolis, first time ever playing Sonic, he finished all of Studiopolis and Flying Battery Act 1 and got game over on Act 2, he seemed to really enjoy playing, he didn't really understand the point of the game though until I explained that there are Emeralds to collect as well.

I suggested since I brought my Switch, we could play some Sonic Mania 4 player at some point. We could also play some Mario Party.

Will also investigated something I found on SuperLemmix with SEB Lems, turns out there is a bug with the skill panel displaying correctly. It says I have 2307 of each skill or something on Paradise 5. Will found out it was because I have a custom skill panel on SEB Lems which isn't supported by SuperLemmix.

We went to bed rather early and I'm having breakfast with Simon in the morning at 9. I played the SuperLemmix Welcome Pack until bedtime at about 1am.

Tuesday 22nd Oct (Dundee sightseeing)

I started the day with giving Simon a gift from Lucia to him. One of the Totaku Lemmings figurines which were all over the UK a few years back!



Had a very productive day today, we spent a lot of time in Dundee today, way more time than I got to do 8 years ago on my previous visit.

We started out at the Lemmings statues which were covered in cobwebs. I had to give a lot of TLC to them because they were covered with dirt and cobwebs poor things.
Myself, Simon and Will all had our pictures taken at the statues, I have a few photos but I'll have to wait until Will posts them because most ended up on his phone.

Lemmings statues


Map nearest the statues actually has the Lemmings marked on them, maps elsewhere in Dundee do not mark this sadly


We then briefly visited a Cathedral on the way to the old DMA offices. We then stopped to look at the old DMA offices and the placard was in the window like when NieSch visited them.
https://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=3095.msg96611#msg96611
Topic of my 2016 visit, notice how the building has changed colours?
https://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=3045.msg61580#msg61580

We then visited the Desperate Dan statue and Minnie the Minx statues in Dundee City Centre which are the statues which get way more publicity than the poor Lemming statues! Managed to buy postcards and fridge magnets with those statues on but nothing with the Lemming ones on

Left - Desperate Dan statue from the Dandy comic
Middle - Minnie the Minx statue from the Beano comic
Right - Flopsy with Minnie the Minx


We then found a museum with Lemmings memorabilia in, something which I overlooked in 2016 so we ended up discovering more on this visit.
Left - Computer with Lemmings pins and badge (Have you saved a Lemming today?)
Middle - Close up of pins (Sport and Highland tribes?)
Right - We couldn't get Simon away from this!


Left and Middle - some Lemmings cutouts in the case
Right - some info about DMA design


When we were walking back past the DMA offices, Will took a chance and asked the restaurant owner if we could look upstairs. THEY ACTUALLY LET US!
https://youtu.be/kGW-KhWAsMw

First - The Wee Mexico restaurant which has been in residence at the old DMA offices building for years.
Second - The plaque in the window commemorating the Lemmings significance to this building. It is property of Gary Timmons according to the back of it!


No one knew I was recording at the time of the video. I didn't get to see the back rooms in the offices because I was the last one in the building, but the video showed the main office at the front of the building, in the top window of the picture. It truly was remarkable for the owner to let us briefly look around. Simon bought us a round of drinks afterwards as a way of saying thanks to the restaurant.
Lemmings history was made today though, probably the first proper fans to be let into the upstairs of the building in a long while!
We were even allowed to take a look at the placard and it actually says on the back that the placard is property of Gary Timmons! Apparently he gave it to the restaurant to display, and he comes to the restaurant every Saturday...so much back story here...

Anyway afterwards we were ecstatic, and Simon found a copy of Mega Drive Lemmings in the 2nd hand shop we visited (CeX). He wanted to purchase it because it was from Dundee and it was probably the only Lemmings memorabilia for sale in the city! It's sad that the city doesn't sell any Lemmings stuff

Anyway we then returned to the hotel earlier than expected because I think we accomplished a lot today.

Simon tried Black Pudding and Irn Bru for the first time today too, he liked both.

Later on we played some Tetris on Will's PS4, it was mainly Will vs Simon because I wasn't great at Tetris. It was funny watching them play because Simon would be making noises like he is playing Lix and it felt nostalgic.
We also watched Simon play Sonic 3 for the first time ever, he seems to be very interested in the game. He has never played Sonic, he has just watched Sonic 3 speedruns. He found Hydrocity quite straightforward for his first run and he STRUGGLED with Marble Garden. Carnival Night went smoothly because he knew about the barrel but then Ice Cap Act 2, he ran out of lives because he lost 2 by falling in the water and falling into the abyss. The boss claimed his last lives. So he made it to Ice Cap Act 2.

We played Sonic Mania 4P for about an hour too, Will's girlfriend Carrie joined us for that and she is unbelievably good at the game. We had problems connecting my WIRED Switch controllers for a long time though, I couldn't believe that of all things I was having problems with CONNECTED by wire controllers! Simon did get Game Over a lot in the 4P games, surprisingly he hated the Green Hill levels but managed to beat Chemical Plant Act 2, he also beat Mirage Saloon Act 2. We let him play as Sonic or Tails and I was mostly left with Ray or Knuckles so I was at a severe disadvantage.
We had random items on and NO LIE, I must have gotten Eggman in my item boxes almost everytime otherwise it was extra lives or teleporters for some reason....
It was very fun anyway, the 4 player was amazing in that game.

Then Will had a eureka moment on SuperLemmix about the freezers ascending on being freed rather than falling. Simon helped him debug that and apparently Simon couldn't go to bed until we solved that conundrum LOL.

Wednesday 23rd Oct (Flopsy and Simon go to Glamis Castle, Cheeky Nandos and a cheeky night visit to the statues)

Was a bit of a quieter day today, Will and Carrie wanted to have a rest today so Simon and I went off to Glamis Castle for a few hours and took a guided tour. I came to Glamis Castle 8 years ago also so it was a trip down memory lane.

When we got back, I had an errand to run. Something I took a picture of in Dundee in a gift shop caught Lucia's interest so I went back into Dundee to purchase it for her. It was a rare print of the comic book character Minnie the Minx from the Beano comics which Lucia adores.
In the meantime, I left Simon playing Tetris with Will.

When I returned, we played some more Zendo and I actually had a go this time. I still struggled with it though despite that.

After that, we went out into Dundee City centre to one of my favourite restaurants (Nando's), I bought everyone dinner there. It's a Piri Piri Chicken restaurant where you can order Chicken of a particular spiciness and you can even try all of the different sauces because they have bottles of them available for you to bring to your table. Simon really liked the restaurant.
We also parked near the Lemmings statues while visiting the restaurant, we made a night visit to the statues. The statues are perfectly positioned in relation to a street lamp so it catches the light quite well. Simon was also giving the statues a clean also, especially the Lemming on the top!

First - The statues look great at night
Second - Simon admiring the statues late at night!


First - Flopsy with the statues at night
Second - Groundskeeper Simon making them look clean


When we returned, we played a card game called "Set" for a while which Simon was ridiculously good at. We also played a few games of Boggle Slam.

Thursday 24th Oct (Forth Road Bridge and Edinburgh Day Trip)

We went to Edinburgh today, it took us a while to get there initially because Will wanted to stop and look at the Forth Road Bridges beforehand.

First - Simon and Will under the Forth Road Bridge Train Crossing
Second - the other two Forth Road Bridges: A9000 nearest for buses only and the M90 one in the distance


When we got to Edinburgh, we walked into the City and walked through the park nearest the castle before we stopped to get souvenirs.

Left - Will and Simon at the Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh
Middle - the Ross fountain nearby
Right - Princes Street in Edinburgh, probably very familiar to Forza Horizon 4 players!


We eventually stopped to get lunch at a Greek restaurant which Simon paid for. Myself, Simon and Will all bought a meal for the entire group at some point this week. (I did Nandos, Will bought us Pizza on the first night, and Simon's turn today)

We found a bar which had Arcade machines in, Simon bought us some tokens to play the machines. We mostly played Guitar Hero Arcade and Dance Dance Revolution. And OMG Simon is a god at that game practically, I got a video of him playing but I was asked not to upload it
Also Simon thrashed us all at Smash Bros 64 when we played that on an emulator in the bar, this guy is a dark horse of many talents!

Simon playing DDR


We returned quite late, about 9pm but we saved the remaining time for a Mario Party on the latest release Jamboree which released last week. Simon is dangerous on this game, he had the items sussed very fast. He used a Golden Pipe and stole a star on the same turn and then activated Chance time which lost another star for the person he stole from!
Carrie ended up winning despite Simon stealing from her.
We then went to the minigame mode to play games which we hadn't played and revisit ones we enjoyed. Simon and Will got ultra competitive on a Cookie Cutter minigame which Simon eventually scored 71 in which was an incredible score to be fair.
Everyone seemed to enjoy the game which was great though. It's very nice to see Simon enjoying himself.

Friday 25th Oct (Drive back from Dundee)

Not really much to this day, we spent the day travelling back to Stockport. Simon took the time to post some postcards to forum members and friends from Dundee before we left. He even wrote a postcard for Lucia since she wasn't able to come which was sweet. He drew pictures of the Lemmings statues on all of the postcards. geoo, IchoTolot and namida all got a postcard which were signed by myself, Will and Simon.
It took 7 hours again to travel like on Monday, we left about 12:30 and arrived back in Stockport at 19:30. Simon presented his Zendo set to Will as a gift to him for being such a great host to Simon.

Shortly after, I left Simon and Will to head to Bradford/Leeds. Simon would stay here with Will for the remainder of his visit until Monday.

Will told us at one of the stops on the journey that he would be later to the Leeds meetup.

So it's going to be up to me to meet Kingshadow, Proxima, tanxdx, stewozere and Pooty at the Train station tomorrow at 11am while we wait for the star of the show (Simon) to arrive. If everyone shows then we will beat the record and there will be NINE of us.

Saturday Oct 26th (Leeds meetup day)

Day got off to a bad start for me, the train station I was meant to travel from was closed and I had to walk 10-15 mins to the other train station in Bradford. Got to Leeds early so I could visit some shops before meeting everyone, I managed to pick up some more gifts for Lucia which I'll give her for her birthday in December.
Kingshadow, Pooty, Stewozere, tanxdx and Proxima all arrived on time. Will, Carrie and Simon arrived in Leeds about 45 mins after everyone else and we met them elsewhere in the city. We went for something to eat, we split into 2 groups. Simon, Carrie, Will and Ste went to a Japanese bowl style place, sorry couldn't remember the name. Myself, Pooty, tanxdx, Kingshadow and Proxima went to the Street food court.
We went to Waterstones book shop for a few hours where we took group photos.

Left to Right [Kingshadow, Pooty, Flopsy (lower down holding Lemmy), Stewozere (behind Flopsy), tanxdx, Proxima, Simon, Will]


Then Simon introduced the group to Set and then Zendo. Sadly Proxima had to go home at this point after about 3 hours after meeting us. Zendo was very popular with everyone so Simon introduced a good game to everyone this week!

Left - tanxdx, Simon, Pooty and Kingshadow playing Zendo
Middle - tanxdx, Pooty, Kingshadow and Will playing Zendo
Right - Simon's "christmas tree" as it was referred to!


First - tandx (just out of shot), Simon, Stewozere, Pooty, Kingshadow and Will playing Zendo.
Second - tanxdx, Simon and Flopsy posing for the selfie!


We then went to the arcade bar which was the same name as the one in Edinburgh (NQ64), sadly because it was Saturday the music was ridiculously loud in there but not before trying the "Lemming aid". Yes there is a drink in this chain of bars called "Lemming aid" and it is actually based on the game Lemmings too! I forgot to mention it in the Edinburgh day summary because we merely saw it and did not try it. Today we did try it - well me and Will did anyway! It's a very alcoholic drink, I'll be sure to post a picture of the recipe at some point.

First - the recipe for Lemmingade (adjust for Diet Lemmingade as appropriate!)
Second - Will ordered the Lemmingade, how it looked when completed.


We then went to the other bar which was gaming themed, and Will kindly paid for us to get a booth which fit the 8 of us and 4 controllers connected to a Switch. We then played some Mario Kart 8, Smash Bros and Mario Party Superstars/Jamboree. It was great fun!
We then got some more food at the Street food court because it was about 18:30 by then, Ste had to get his train prior to this though and he had to go, credit to him though he made a huge effort to be here today, he was up ALL NIGHT last night at a laser quest event and he lasted until 18:30! Then it was time for Pooty and Kingshadow to get their trains, I got my train at the same time back to Bradford and left tanxdx, Simon, Will and Carrie at the train station. This would be where I part ways with Will and Simon ending the week for me.

I'm back at my hotel in Bradford now and it's not even 10pm so I'm just chilling. I hope to have a nice lie in tomorrow to make up for all the early mornings this week. I'm going to pop to Sheffield Meadowhall on the way home tomorrow and then I'll be home for the first time in the entire week!

Sunday 27th Oct (Rest Day, Flopsy returns home)

I drove back to Nottingham very early this morning and popped to Meadowhall on the way as planned to visit the Lego store and check out the Pick A Brick wall like I did in Leeds and Edinburgh, I did manage to fit visits to all 3 stores in this week!

Will and Simon were planning on having a day of rest and they would be working on SuperLemmix/Lix coding stuff together which would be something I wouldn't be interested in anyway.

There was originally a plan to meetup on this day and tanxdx was also interested in coming with us. We might have visited the NQ64 in Bury I believe. Sadly we were all too tired for this and it was probably for the best.

Simon flies back to Germany tomorrow on the 28th Oct, hope he has a safe flight!

Of course Will and Simon are free to add to all this with their own accounts and photos but I thought I'd get the ball rolling with a detailed itinerary.

[Mindless]

Simon was also giving the statues a clean also, especially the Lemming on the top!

Take good care of my Lemmings 

[IchoTolot]

Some really nice pictures! Hopefully Simon did not go too hard on you with his Zendo rules - in our game sessions we also regularly play it and they can really get out of control! 

[Silken Healer]

We then went to the arcade bar which was the same name as the one in Edinburgh (NQ64), sadly because it was Saturday the music was ridiculously loud in there but not before trying the "Lemming aid". Yes there is a drink in this chain of bars called "Lemming aid" and it is actually based on the game Lemmings too! I forgot to mention it in the Edinburgh day summary because we merely saw it and did not try it. Today we did try it - well me and Will did anyway! It's a very alcoholic drink, I'll be sure to post a picture of the recipe at some point.

First - the recipe for Lemmingade (adjust for Diet Lemmingade as appropriate!)
Second - Will ordered the Lemmingade, how it looked when completed.

That is so interesting. I was hoping that Lemmingaid would be a drink and a play on the words "lemonade" because I think there is a level named something along the lines of "diet lemmingaid." Now they only need to make a lemming tomato ketchup too ! Though I wouldn't even drink Lemmingaid because I don't agree with drinking alcholoic drinks.

[LemFan]

I am planning to visit the Lemmings statues in Dundee sometime next year.

Maybe ∫tan x dx could be there when we get there

[Simon]

I've landed safely in Germany and I'm back home.

Flopsy, thank you for your elaborate summary here, and for the safe rides throughout!

Will's family accomodated me for 4 nights: 1 night before and 3 nights after the Dundee trip. I felt very welcomed throughout. Thanks for your excellent hosting!

Take good care of my Lemmings 

Indeed! After my first sighting of the statues, I left them as-is, but already during this day, I felt compelled to revisit and clean them. After all, a forum moderator/admin is a groundskeeper first, and an engineer second.

The other night, after dining in Dundee downtown, we returned to the statues. I've cleaned the white and blue spots away with a paper towel. The spots came off easily enough, they felt like chalk smears, not bird poo nor graffiti. Flopsy removed more cowebs.

The statues' main color is dark bronze, with a faded red for the builder bricks. I thought that the darkness came from the 15 years in the open, but Flopsy's photos from his 2016 visit show them in the same dark bronze already.

When we were walking back past the DMA offices, Will took a chance and asked the restaurant owner if we could look upstairs. THEY ACTUALLY LET US!
https://youtu.be/kGW-KhWAsMw

Yes, being allowed upstairs was the biggest surprise of the day.

I would have spent longer outside the Wee Mexico to think of a diplomatic way to put it. But it really helped that Will simply gave it a shot, entered the place, and directly stated our point with the restaurant staff. I followed him in, and added how I travelled to Dundee from Germany, he from England, just for Lemmings.

More to come!

-- Simon

[Silken Healer]

Indeed! After my first sighting of the statues, I left them as-is, but already during this day, I felt compelled to revisit and clean them. After all, a forum moderator/admin is a groundskeeper first, and an engineer second.

The other night, after dining in Dundee downtown, we returned to the statues. I've cleaned the white and blue spots away with a paper towel. The spots came off easily enough, they felt like chalk smears, not bird poo nor graffiti. Flopsy removed more cowebs.

The statues' main color is dark bronze, with a faded red for the builder bricks. I thought that the darkness came from the 15 years in the open, but Flopsy's photos from his 2016 visit show them in the same dark bronze already.

You cleaned the statues on a whim? That's a good deed of the day

When we were walking back past the DMA offices, Will took a chance and asked the restaurant owner if we could look upstairs. THEY ACTUALLY LET US!
https://youtu.be/kGW-KhWAsMw

Yes, being allowed upstairs was the biggest surprise of the day.

I didn't see this as I just skimmed the post, that is so amazing

[WillLem]

Hi all,

First of all thanks to Flopsy for his wonderfully detailed account of our adventures, he's done a great job of journalling everything throughout the week 

Here's a selection of the best photos taken on my camera during the visit. Captions below.


Myself, Flopsy and Simon by the Lemmings Statues in Dundee. Note Flopsy getting involved with the climbing!


Flopsy and Simon at the statues, complete with Lemmings plushie and figurine


The Lemming plushie atop the Climber's noggin


Another one of the three of us with the statues. Simon laughing at the lemming's butt cheeks! 


Flopsy giving the Climber a well-earned drink of legendary Scottish Irn Bru. Myself also partaking in a swig!


Getting a last photo in with the statues before we headed off into Dundee city centre


One of the few photos that Carrie allowed! The statues are to our right here (not pictured)


The three of us with the statues again at night, after a Nando's


The looker, during the day (left) and again at night (right)


Later that day, we visited the original DMA offices, now a takeaway restaurant called Wee Mexico. The patron was kind enough to let us upstairs into the iconic office spaces, now a storage room, kitchen and bathroom:


Outside the DMA offices


The office where Lemmings was first created, now a storage room. There was still a strong sense of history about the place...


Then later, a visit to the Museum, where there was a small but significant display of DMA-related memorabilia:










I've gotta get one of these badges! 


From our day & night in Edinburgh (I didn't take many photos that day, unfortunately - there are plenty in Flopsy's post, though):


A view of the historic Forth Rail & Road bridges over a Scottish October skyline


Flopsy flexing his Guitar Hero skills!


Playing Zendo at Waterstones in Leeds:


The gang's all here: Flopsy, Tan, Simon, Steve, Pooty, Kingshadow, and myself


Deep in the Zendo flow


Another pre-approved one of Carrie and I We were in Leeds city centre at the time


I'll leave off with this anecdote regarding NQ64's Lemming-ade drink. This is a blend of many different alcoholic beverages, flavoured with lemon and lime for a citrus kick. After polishing most of it off in under a minute (with Flopsy's help), Simon asked me how it was. I believe my exact words were that it was "a blast!", to which Simon replied "an instant blast or one with a 5 second timer?" As the effects of the drink ramped up, I concluded "definitely a 5 second timer!"


Lemming-ade at NQ64, the stuff of legends! Tastes as sweet as it looks, packs a Basher's punch and a citrus-twisted Bomber's blast, complete with 5 second delay of course.....!

[WillLem]

P.S. Some of those statue photos have come out a bit lower-res than I would have liked, I'll sort that out soonish (probably tomorrow).

[Flopsy]

Thanks for adding your photos Will and filling a lot of the gaps in my journal, especially the first visit to the statues and most importantly the DMA office photo which my Youtube video shows being taken.

Also thanks for the Guitar Hero photo

[Silken Healer]

P.S. Some of those statue photos have come out a bit lower-res than I would have liked, I'll sort that out soonish (probably tomorrow).

I've noticed the pictures, not even only the ones from you, in this thread seem a little low quality. Normally images from a camera are very large. Obviously, just because I've noticed when I take pictures they are quite large doesn't mean they all are, you (plural) could've turned down the settings on your camera to make them take up less bytes, or resized them to make the thread more convenient to read, or whatever and that's fine too.

[Simon]

The office where Lemmings was first created, now a storage room. There was still a strong sense of history about the place...

Right, this is our group photo in the first floor, in the room indeed, the room with the large front window. The space is confined! Sure, it's full of shelves now, but even without them, the room would be small. What a cozy programmer cave it must have been.

Thanks for your pictures! They're wonderful memories.


Playing games! Yes, we all brought games. I brought Set and Zendo. The Zendo sessions will be worth a post on its own, that's for later.



Set is real-time pattern recognition. Among the 12 cards on the table, find 3 cards that make a "set", i.e., 3 cards that are -- separately each in number, color, shape, and filling -- either all-identical or all-different. For a thorough introduction and rules, see, e.g., this page on Set rules.

Will and Carrie enjoyed Set and will get their own deck in time for Christmas 2024. Happy holiday gaming!

I'm reasonably skilled at Set. When I introduce two or more new players at the same time, I'll only deal (and not participate) in their first game and let them play through the deck on their own pace. Still, I consistently lose against higher-skilled players. E.g., during my university years in Göttingen, there was one girl who played Set regularly on the phone, and I had no chance against her in two-player.

Several times, we had the following dialogue when I was only a dealer:
Flopsy: "Simon, is there a set?"
Simon: "There are two sets here."
Flopsy: "Now you're showing off!"

Some search heuristics

• When there is only a single red card (i.e., the other 11 are green and purple), the single red card will likely be in a set of all-different colors.
  
• When there are many green cards (e.g., 7 of the 12 cards are green), there will likely be an all-green set.
  
• When extra cards are dealt because nobody has found a set among 12 cards, the extra cards will be the most important cards on the table.
  
• On particularly dry-looking boards, look for sets that are all-different in each of the 4 features.
  

The Set Daily Puzzle is a single-player variant that you can play in the browser. You'll get a fixed layout of 12 cards. These cards form exactly 6 different sets, and the goal is to find all 6 sets. Unlike in regular play, when you correctly find a set in the daily puzzle (click the 3 cards one by one), the 3 cards remain in play and you can reuse them for different sets. Time starts on page load. Time ends when you've found the 6th set.



Boggle Slam is also a real-time game. There is a central 4-letter word consisting of 4 cards. Each player must get rid of his hand of cards by playing them one by one to the 4 central piles, forming a valid 4-letter word with every play.

This works particularly well with English (compared to, e.g., German) because English has many different short words. You'll hardly get stuck. I haven't seen this kind of game in German.

On the first night, after landing in England, I played two-player with WillLem. Our games were practically even, the winner was usually who received more of the 2 joker cards from the deck. But I have to apologize to WillLem: FAZE is a valid English verb after all. We both weren't sure about FAZE on the fly, we ruled against it, you took back 1 card -- and it may have been the match that I barely won when you had exactly 1 card left!

In Dundee, after I had beaten everybody at Set, Flopsy found a devious strategy to take revenge and beat me at Boggle Slam: Play only funny words. I spent more time laughing than playing my cards, and I had 5 cards left when everybody else had already finished. I threw the 5 cards down and grumbled: "Nyääh." Flopsy grinned, pointed at me, and said: "That's what I like to see!"

(I don't want to make Flopsy sound mean here; he wasn't at all, and it's all in good spirit. The game nights were fantastic. Our Dundee group of 4 meshed well with each other.)

-- Simon

[Silken Healer]

Thanks for the detailed post. I will try out Set some time. It seems quite fun.

[IchoTolot]

The literal "Postcard from Lemmingland" arrived in my mailbox today! 

Thank you very much for the nice card @ Simon, Flopsy and WillLem! 

[Simon]

You're welcome! Happy to know that the card arrived.

-- Simon