Game Review: Holiday Hijinks Master Detective Collection Part II

Holiday Hijinks Master Detective Collection published by Grand Gamers Guild and designed by Jonathan Chaffer

The Holiday Hijinks Collection gathers a dozen 18-card escape room games designed over the past several years by Jonathan Chaffer. Each game comes in a small tuck box and contains a mystery centered on a holiday theme. The games use a website to confirm correct solutions and provide hints if players find a puzzle too difficult. The website also provides some codes and other information that might be used in the puzzles (like Morse Code or ASCII, things like that). The designs are compact and meant to take an hour or so for one or more players to solve. I reviewed the first half of the box here, now for the second half of the collection!

The Turkey Trial (2023)

Life on the farm is getting a bit crazy. You notice because you are the turkey and the human family is eyeing you up. Sneaking a peek at their newspaper, you see the story of Thanksgiving and realize that you need to escape! Fortunately the other farm animals are ready to pitch in as long as you help them with their problems. 

The Thanksgiving theme works very well and is consistently appied. A lot of the puzzles involve food, which we enjoyed. We also worked through it very fast, finishing in under 25 minutes. We didn't use any hints, another gratifying point. Have we just gotten used to the style of puzzles or are we really that good? Either way, we had a good time and are glad not to be served for Thanksgiving dinner.

The Easter Escapade (2024)

You show up for your volunteer gig at the local community center to help with the Easter Egg hunt only to find nobody else there and none of the eggs hidden! Finding the eggs and hiding them in good spots while trying to figure out what happened to your co-workers takes up all your attention for the next hour or so.

The puzzles were not too hard in this one except for one or two. Typically, a set of four eggs needs hiding in a room of the community center, so figuring out which egg goes where is eighty percent of the work. The web site is critical for this, inputting where each egg is supposed to go. Thankfully, using the website is not the challenging part. We enjoyed these puzzles, which had a good variety, and the final resolution of the story was cute. 

The Marriage Mix-Up (2024)

You run the reception hall for a marriage that is happening soon. You get there and find the place is a wreck--table assignments are all over the place, confetti has been spread too early, mass hysteria! You work your way through puzzles to get things back in order and to find the culprit.

The new twist for this is the division of players (so no solo play for this one). Almost immediately, the group has to separate out into the Bride's group and the Groom's group, each with their own cards and puzzles. Each group can talk about the cards but not show the cards to the other group. The new and interesting challenge was fun, especially trying to describe images on the cards. The puzzles are not too hard, we used zero hints. The final resolution was humorous if unlikely. A lot of fun!

The Leprechaun Larceny (2025)

You are about the celebrate March's most popular holiday, Saint Patrick's Day, at the local festival when a short man enlists your aid in a "quest for lost treasure." Naturally, the guy is a leprechaun and he wants his treasure back. So a fantastical adventure begins as you solve puzzles to find and restore his pot of gold.

The game has the usual assortment of puzzles that we found mostly easy. One or two were very challenging, blending multiple codes available on the game's website. We used two hints, which lost us half a star in the final score. We had a good time playing this, but maybe the series is running out of steam?

The New Year Nightmare (2025)

Going back to the inventor's house from The Groundhog Gambit, players get stuck in another time-looping adventure, bouncing back between Father Time and Baby New Year (though not literally). 

This game has similar duplicating puzzles like The Groundhog Gambit, which can be a little frustrating or amazing. Here, things move faster, coming in under an hour of playtime. We enjoyed it but felt more like it was a lesser copy of The Groundhog Gambit rather than an awesome sequel. We certainly had fun, but not as much fun as before. 

The Krampus Caper (2025)

Santa Claus and the Missus have gone on a tropical vacation, leaving you and Krampus to fill in for the Christmas delivery run. Krampus, being the one who delivers bad things to the kids on the naughty list, has some ideas about what to do, but also many wrong ideas. You work with him to get the North Pole production on track, get the reindeer and sleigh in order, and head off on the world-wide journey of gift giving. If you can just avoid giving lumps of coal to everyone.

This has the usual variety of puzzles that are more or less challenging while being more and more fun. We didn't have any big problems, except when we hit the rows and columns puzzle. We kept getting small details wrong until we worked it out properly. This was a fun finish to the set of calendar conundrums.

As I write this (May 2026), there are two more in the series, so maybe they will keep designing these until they run out of holidays. We will definitely be shopping for these extras, even if they won't fit in the cute box seen above.

Book Review: Darwin and Doctrine: The Compatibility of Evolution and Catholicism by Daniel Kuebler

Darwin and Doctrine: The Compatibility of Evolution and Catholicism by Daniel Kuebler

The supposed conflict between science and religion is the basis for a lot of arguments from people at the far end of both camps. Rather than meet in the middle by finding out about each other's positions, they hunker down in their trenches and lob truth bombs at each other. After several hundred years of conflict, you'd think they'd adopt a different tactic. For such people, the "I'm right, you're wrong" victory is more important than reconciling differences by finding the complicated, integrated truth together.

Daniel Kuebler seeks just such a reconciliation. Operating from the Catholic assumption that there is no genuine conflict between faith and reason, a concept that dates back at least as far as Saint Augustine, he looks at historic understandings of the issues. On the Catholic side, he details the growing understanding of the first chapters of Genesis and how a literal historical interpretation is both unnecessary and unlikely. The origin of the universe is described from a theological perspective at a time when the best science was a nascent science. Sure, a fundamentalist mentality can be found throughout Christian history. But wiser heads can also be found who have taken science seriously and made strides to reconcile the claims of science and the claims of Christianity. On the science side, Kuebler delves into the understanding of evolution as found in Darwin's writings which is quite different from what is asserted by many of Darwin's followers. Evolution is more complicated and incorporates more influences than natural selection. Other natural processes are involved. Digging into the details of current scientific thinking about evolution yields a more complicated and nuanced understanding of how species like homo sapiens came into existence and developed into prominence.

One issue in the debate is a matter of demarcation. Science is great at discovering and explaining processes in the natural world, including the relationships between living organisms (and those that used to live but have been relegated to the fossil record). Theology is great at discovering and explaining relationships between the divine and the human and how that impacts the lives of rational beings. Science and theology look at relationships of things but in different ways and with different ends in mind. They do not have two separate fields of truth, they have two related fields that can inform one another. 

This book is fascinating reading. It is written for a general audience, eschewing highly technical details in science and in theology. But the explanations get into enough detail to make their points. Also, the book is as up-to-date as can be, using the most current advances in both fields to establish how they can be reconciled with each other and provide mutual support and insight.

Highly recommended.

SAMPLE QUOTE:

"Much of the perceived conflict between evolution and Catholicism stems from a failure to distinguish what can legitimately be read from the Book of Nature and what can legitimately be read from the Book of Scripture. While scientific discovery--the 'reading' of the Book of Nature--can uncover how the planets move or how species are related, it cannot fully explain the purpose of man or answer why a universe that is order to support life exists in the first place." [p. 248]

Purple Playground Replacement

One of our children's favorite playgrounds was at the North Laurel Community Center. It was dubbed "the purple playground" because most of the equipment was a pleasant shade of purple. I've blogged about it here and here. 

The community center opened fairly recently (a little over ten years ago) and the plan was to add on a pool at some point. That time has finally come, which meant the removal of the purple playground as they extended the building to add the pool. As they were finishing up, new playground equipment came to replace the previous structures. My kids' initial reactions were, "It's not as good," though that was before they even tried it. We finally went last month to check it out.

"Green and blue playground" doesn't have the same ring to it

The area is about the same size but has a lot of different equipment, including a slightly taller slide and a sleeping bear. The bear was the first thing we saw walking in. It's clearly designed for smaller children to crawl through the log, so my kids did not do that. They did sit on the bear.

Ride 'em, cowgirl!

Shouldn't they let sleeping bears lie?

I thought one panel on the playground looked like a distressed face, though maybe I am the only one who can see it. 

Don't judge me!

A new spinning web climber is fun but not as great as the much larger structures that can be found at other playgrounds. This playground is focused on the pre-teen crowd, so I suppose they don't want anything too dangerous.

Climbing to the top is easy

Trying to get more spin

Another climber looks to me like an Apollo space capsule, but that might just be me.

Top of a rocket?

Don't take our picture!

Overall, the kids were surprised and satisfied with the new playground. We won't be coming as often as we used to when they were smaller, but we probably will go back. Or maybe play before or after visiting the new pool!

Book Review: Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign Vols. 1 & 2

Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign Volume 1 story by Takaya Kagami and art by Yamato Yamamoto

In the not too distant future, humanity is decimated by a virus that they invented. The vampires come up from underground and kidnap children, hoping to get control of their food supply which has suddenly dwindled. The story starts with a group of orphans from Hyakuya Orphanage who are planning an escape. Mika is reluctant since he's been giving blood willingly to get favors, but that's a ruse to get access to maps and information to make the escape likely. His friend Yuichiro is a bit of a loner but goes along. The plan goes awry when the vampire Lord Ferid shows up just before they hit the exit. A battle ensues, leaving one of them to escape to the surface where all is not as it seems.

The story is an interesting and creative setup. The world is a lot more complicated than the initial premise that the orphans hear, which is a good thing. The story above ground builds a lot more structure to enable an interesting future for the series. I am hooked!

Recommended.

Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign Volume 2 story by Takaya Kagami and art by Yamato Yamamoto

Four years later, Yuichiro has joined the Japanese Imperial Demon Army. The army's purpose is to wipe out the vampires, something Yuichiro is ready and willing to do. To prove he's able, he has to go through academic classes and training, which is not what he wants. Worse, the teachers want him to learn teamwork, even setting him with Kimizuki, another kid who thinks he's ready and able to take out vampires. They have to pass a test to get Cursed Gear--weapons that will kill vampires. That training is a lot tougher than it seems. Meanwhile, Yuichiro's friend Mika, who supposedly died in their escape from the underground four years ago, is revealed to still be alive, though maybe not technically since he is now a vampire working against the humans.

I was a little disappointed with the story when it shifted into the typical manga school drama that's in so many other stories. By the end of this volume, it looks like they will pull out of that narrative and get back to more direct action. The developments around the Cursed Gear are interesting, since they are weapons that are possessed by demons, thus giving them enhanced power. I guess I am sticking around for more.

Mildly recommended.

 

Movie Review: Spare Parts (2015)

Spare Parts (2015) directed by Sean McNamara

Based on a true story, this movie tells the story of four Mexican teens living in America who form a robotics club at their high school. Oscar (Carlos PenaVega) wants to join the US Army but can't since he doesn't have a US birth certificate. He sees a poster for an underwater robotics competition and decides to try for that. His high school science teacher is on maternity leave and Fredi Cameron (George Lopez) is the recently-hired substitute. He's an engineer drifting from job to job and only hosts the robotics club because the principal (Jamie Lee Curtis) said no one would show up. Oscar has a lot of heart and determination so Fredi tells him to recruit some other members and then they will try. Oscar gets a math nerd and a mechanical genius since they have skills needed to make the robot work. They recruit a fourth guy who is strong enough to take the robot in and out of the water. With the crew assembled, they have to work their way through personal and project problems to make it to the competition in Santa Barbara, California.

This is a classic underdog sports story with the sport being robotics. Fredi is the inspirational coach who helps the boys make it to the competition and also help them with their personal lives and get focus for their futures. Lopez does a good job--the screenplay leans into his comedy background. The boys' undocumented immigrant status throws up lots of personal obstacles. They also face the challenge of building a functional robot with minimal resources. The story is entertaining and heartwarming if not surprising. It gets the blend of humor and drama right and has good performances all around.

Recommended.

TV Review: Secrets of the Silent Witch (2025)

Secrets of the Silent Witch (2025) created by Matsuri Isora

In Monica Everett's world, magic is created by chanting formulas and using mana. She is a horrible candidate for magecraft since she is extremely shy and withdrawn around other people, hardly ever speaking up. But she has a lot of mana and works hard, discovering how to craft magic without chanting. So she becomes the Silent Witch. Her abilities are great enough that she becomes one of the Seven Sages, the greatest magic-wielders. But she still would rather be surrounded by books than by people. She retreats to a mountain cabin where she studies and writes. This idyll is ruined when another of the Sages comes to her with an assignment. Second Prince Felix is attending school at a prestigious academy but threats have come against his life. The other Sages are too old to pass for students at the school (and thus protect the prince in secret). But Monica looks the right age because she is the right age. She reluctantly goes to the school where she needs to befriend others and surreptitiously defend the prince from any would-be assassins. 

Monica's character is very charming and sympathetic. Her awkwardness around others is a common problem, especially among teenagers. She loves books and numbers, often assessing others based on mathematical ratios or solving problems by calculating out things. She slowly gains friends, mostly people who want to help her fit in or excel at the school. Her intelligence lets her save the prince more than once while her style of interacting helps keep suspicion off of her. The show moves at a slow pace, working through various prestigious school challenges like tea parties, horseback riding, ballroom dancing, and chess. And assassination attempts. The situations provide humor as well as character and plot development. It's a very enjoyable watch.

Recommended.

Book Review: Peace Be With You! by Pope Leo XIV

Peace Be With You! My Words to the Church and the World by Pope Leo XIV

This book collects the speeches and sermons that Pope Leo XIV gave just after he was elected pope in 2025. In addition to addresses to Catholics and the world at large, many of his speeches are to various departments of the Vatican and to groups visiting the Pope. While this book superficially seems like a cash grab (publishing a lot of thematically unrelated works just to get a book out ASAP), it does provide some insights into Leo's style and influences.

He emphasizes the need for collaboration and support when he talks to the Vatican diplomatic corps, the College of Cardinals, or the media gathered in Rome. He has a real sense of the momentousness of his task and the humility to realize that he cannot do everything on his own (what pope has?). He talks about the importance of synodality, the initiative to incorporate input from all levels of the Catholic Church into the decision making and governing of the Church. The process is controversial because it does not have parameters appropriate to its purpose or even a clearly-defined goal.  

What is clear is the influence from and admiration for Saint Augustine and Pope Francis. Before he was pope, Leo was ordained an Augustinian, eventually serving as Prior General for that order. He references Augustine as much as anyone in his talks. He also cites preaching and writings of Pope Francis often. He isn't exclusive to those two sources but they clearly have a dominant influence on his thoughts. So Leo emphasizes the preferential option for the poor and the need for humble service.

The book gives some idea of the man elected pope last year (as I write). It's not a full picture, like a biography or autobiography. It's not a coherent whole on a specific topic, like an encyclical or an extended interview. But it's a start. I look forward to learning more about and from Leo XIV.

Mildly recommended.

SAMPLE TEXT:

On the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, preaching to some men about to be ordained as priests, "...the history of Peter and Paul shows us that the communion to which the Lord calls us is a unison of voices and personalities that does not eliminate anyone's freedom. Our patron saints followed different paths, had different ideas, and at times argued with one another with evangelical frankness. Yet this did not prevent them from living the concordia apostolorum, that is, a living communion in the Spirit, a fruitful harmony in diversity." [p. 233]