Road Trip: New England
Day 6: Friday, April 29, 2022 - Portland, ME
Day's statistics:
Weather: Light rain
Steps: Steve 7,990; Linda 7,547
Drove: 0 miles
Breakfast was continental and provided with MG - I had a toasted bagel with cream cheese, juice, and coffee.
Linda coincidentally did too.
This is the first day of Mind Games (MG) for Steve. So there isn't
too much going on.
If you are NOT interested in a little more information about MG, skip to the next paragraph.
MG is a gathering of Mensans that play games - board, card, dice, whatever - and rate them. The top five games are awarded
the Mensa Select seal.
The Mensans playing the games are called judges. The judges commit to playing 30 games. Over a weekend.
Judges have to rate each game on the aesthetics, instructions, originality, play appeal, and play value.
In the past, MG ran from a Friday afternoon to about noon on Sunday, with game playing ending by 5:00 AM Sunday so
vote tallying can be completed.
This year's event started on Thursday afternoon - an entire day earlier. So while a judge may finish playing games
late on Saturday night, this year allowed for games to be completed on Friday night.
Judges are free to play any of the other games available. This year there were another 37 games available to play.
I had enough time to play sixteen additional games. I was glad I did because two of those additional games wound up
being my favorite three - though my vote on any of the additional games does not count for anything.
So between about 3:00 PM Thursday, and 10:00 PM Saturday, including meal breaks, and sleep, I played a total of 46 games.
This year's Mensa Select winners, in alphabetical order, were:
- Atheneum: Mystical Library
- Genotype: A Mendalian Genetics Game
- Life of a Chamelion
- Miyagi
- Shifting Stones
At some point during the competition, a photographer for the Bangor Daily News took some photos, and the paper carried
an on-line story (which is probably behind a pay-wall now) about the event which can be found
here.
This is a little important because your author was featured in the first photo in the article.
The Associated Press (AP) also picked up
the story!
Yay for Mensa!
We planned to meet for lunch.
We walked to Chipotle, which was in the same complex as the MG hotel.
Linda had the chicken bowl, with greens, avocado, cheese, guacamole, black beans, and salsa.
I had the stuffed burrito with most of the ingredients Linda had (except the guacamole) - but you can't really
tell from this pic. So you'll just have to take my word for it.
Steve returned to MG, and Linda went to the mall to walk around. When she returned to the room, she called her
sister and a friend for an hour and a half. Each.
We met for dinner.
Steve had an Italian buffet provided by MG. Linda had a "big lunch" so we was content with a snack of a rather large slice
of lemon frosted cake from Starbuck - that was also in the same complex as the hotel.
There are no pics of this "meal".
Steve returned to MG, and Linda returned to the room for some screen time, and some TV viewing.
Since Steve is committed to playing no less than 30 games, the intent is to play as many as possible before Saturday.
That way, the committment to game playing can be completed as early as possible on Saturday, and we can maybe do some
exploring around the city on Saturday night.
Fun fact: Maine is the only state that shares its border with one other state (and if geographically challenged, that other state is New Hampshire).