This is a Hawaiian game made, in this case, by native Hawaiians. The rules are etched on the back, which solves the problem of rules on a piece or two of paper. I'm not sure how traditional the laser etching is. The site shows a couple of other photographs. The board is a taller than it looks here, a good slab of wood, with a tapered shape. Those are good white stones.

I don't talk much about konane, but I have a lot of respect for it. It's not a war game.

You would think photographing games is a matter of plunking down a board, tossing some pieces on it and snapping a picture. But it's more than that. In the beginning I had no idea about photography, particularly lighting, and, alas, there was nobody there to help me. It is tricky to get the bottom and top of the board to appear horizontal. Looking at the board at an angle solves that problem. You want to get a picture of a game in action. That requires actually playing a game, which is time-consuming work of a sort. After a picture is taken one often spots some annoying thing that went wrong, like an out-of-line piece or a dirty board. These guys messed up alternating black and white stones.

The konane look is so simple, and yet for many years I couldn't determine a crafty board design. I like having the same type of pieces for both players. That makes it easier to set up the game. I've been poking at a board that is all uniform ocean blue, with white pieces. Positions would be identifiable because the board is corrugated, like a checkerboard with alternating directions rather than colour. A less innovative approach is to have blue cells alternating with striped blue and white. No pits.

Early in the history of Oak Games I made a konane with a wood board like this, but the holes had straight walls, not curved. The black and white glass pieces were put in upside down. Functionally this was not too bad. But it had a slick look, with the flat bottoms of the 64 glass pieces up.

I wonder if konane is not sold commercially because it can be done with a checkerboard. Well, with extra pieces.

Do they teach this in Hawaiian schools? Probably, but I don't know. I wouldn't mind that class.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The chocolate bar boxes from Safeway including Coffee Crisp, Kit Kat, Aero and Smarties are Canadian. Others too, including Crispy Crunch (1930). I've never seen Big Turk for Halloween, something different. Kerr's Halloween Kisses is not easy to like (or chew), even for me, and I like molasses. On the other hand it has a classic Halloween look, colours, there is nostalgia, it is Canadian and it is different.

Packs with M&M's, Twix, Snickers, Mars are U.S.A. Also Resse's Peanut Butter Cups, Butterfinger.
 
 
 
 

It's time for the dilemma of whether to stick with the usual Halloween candies or offer more exotic things. Offering more exotic delights is easy to say, but problems pop up. Things have to be chosen, chased down, purchased in a certain quantity. These are more expensive than the bulk boxes of halloween candy. It can be tricky and time consuming to sort out what to give to people on the fly. When giving candy I really want people to see what they are getting from me, which is awkward. Maple/ice wine candies (no alcohol) and a little plastic spider led to awkward situations.

And yet I always come back to the multiple kids coming back with sacks of candy after trick or treating. Do they want all the candy to be same old same old? After trick or treating, they can dump out the contents of their bags, see what they got, and do some trading.

In the past I offered things like bits of ginger candies, coffee candies, Haw Haws from the Phillipines. Why don't people give out popcorn? I would, if they came in the right size, like little transparent plastic bags. Caramels would be fine by me. An expensive licorice pipe, which kids probably wouldn't want anyway. I will use Bananko chocolate bar from Croatia. Only 99 cents, it's a weird one, nice aftertaste. What about sealed sweets from the Middle East?