May 2011
Starting with Mecir's hilarious April Fool's joke in which GoldToken was forced to change the name of our beloved Backgammon games to Long Sticks, due to copyright issues (thanks to a "Mr. Donald Sleazy" who trademarked the name), April was a wonderfully busy month. Here is a brief run down: to the creative genius of marcmandy and Mecir, Chinese Checkers has finally arrived on GoldToken along with these fun variants:
While we don't always get everything perfect right off, it has always been GoldToken's aim to use the correct rules for all games. Thus, the passing rules for GoldToken's Hearts game have been corrected to next, previous and across, depending on the round. Three exciting and educational classrooms have been added for all GoldToken players enjoyment:
Subscribing to GoldToken discussion boards is now easier than ever since Mecir added the ability for players to subscribe inside or outside each forum! You can now Invite Friends To GoldToken and earn four Golderos for each one in the process. To be credited, you must use the Site Invitation link in your Options box, invitees must be entirely new to GoldToken and must be active on GoldToken for at least 30 days for you to recieve Golderos. Please note: GoldToken's newsletter is extra full this month, so we have moved the longest part, Olympic News to the bottom of the newsletter for easier reading. Have a wonderful May and play like you mean it! --Badger In this month's newsletter, we have:
Birthday Wishes: -- Happy Birthday to MsLady on May 2nd! - From { Club }, { Club } & The Backgammon Tournament Club -- Happy Birthday to supermann8 on May 2nd! -- Happy Birthday to Nina on May 3rd! -- Happy Birthday to Goonerg on May 3rd! -- Happy Birthday to MBAfriend on May 4th! -- Happy Birthday to * on May 4th! -- Happy Birthday to carouselhorse on May 6th! -- Happy Birthday to cissy on May 7th! - From laura lee and clare -- Happy Birthday to tweets on May 8th! -- Happy Birthday to Mary on May 9th! - From { Club }, { Club }, { Club } & { Club } -- Happy Birthday to rabbitoid on May 10th! - From The Chess & Variants Club -- Happy Birthday to El Lobo Loco on May 12th! -- Happy Birthday to foxdancing on May 13th! - From { Club } -- Happy Birthday to WebbyDebi on May 15th! - From { Club } -- Happy Birthday to Tony Rome on May 16th! -- Happy Birthday to marlisam on May 16th! - From { Club } & { Club } -- Happy Birthday to maintenance man on May 17th! - From { Club } and The MasterClass Club -- Happy Birthday to stanley7 on May 18th! -- Happy Birthday to ZOEgirl on May 19th! - From { Club } -- Happy Birthday to the loneranger on May 19th! -- Happy Birthday to GeorgeF on May 20th! -- Happy Birthday to Merikay111 on May 20th! -- Happy Birthday to porkpie1 on May 21st! -- Happy Birthday to EagleAnney on May 22nd! - From { Club } -- Happy Birthday to Lil Red on May 23rd! - From { Club } -- Happy Birthday to unicorn on May 25th! - From { Club } & { Club } -- Happy Birthday to Misfit Lenrad6672 on May 25th! - From The Backgammon Tournament Club and your husband Dbledee -- Happy Birthday to blue eyes on May 27th! - From { Club } & { Club } -- Happy Birthday to Arctic Warrior on May 27th! -- Happy Birthday to USS Ben on May 28th! - From your daughter The_TopCat -- Happy Birthday to nw2425 on May 29th! - From { Club } and { Club } -- Happy Birthday to Nj on May 30th! Anniversary: -- Happy Wedding Anniversary to Capricorn and her husband on May 4th! - From The Renegades Gaming Club -- A sad anniversary wish to Jerry on May 10th. You will be forever loved and greatly missed. From anonymous -- Happy 27th Wedding Anniversary to Man of Steel and B*Elanna on May 26th! Other Wishes: --Congratulations to rabbitoid for his FOUR new grand daughters all born this year! From alexlee and the Olympic presidents! * If you would like to announce any birthdays, anniversaries or other special events coming up for next month, please send GoldToken Support a message before the 25th of this month, so we can give them a shout out in next month's newsletter! (Please keep all announcements upcoming and not belated. Announcements submitted after the newsletter is published, can not be put in after the fact, we're sorry!)
Find a glitch with a game or with another site related feature? Please post your findings directly on our Bug Reports discussion board so that our programmer can review it and look into the problem. Before posting, please be sure to give the following information in your post:
After you have posted your report, please be patient as our programmer, Mecir will check into the problem as soon as possible.
May's game of the month is Xiphias! Join us in a fun Double Elimination Tournament by signing up today for The May 2011 Game of the Month - Xiphias! Tournament! GoldToken's first hex type game, Xiphias is the invention of Mecir, firefly and Badger, though the original idea for the game is entirely firefly's. This is a true war game. Capture all the planets, defeating your opponent's alien armies to win. In the process, you can purchase bombs, force fields, more drones, or combine them to make soldiers and captains, to better your odds and army strength. Each planet can only hold one alien, but a player can own as many aliens as he/she can afford. Aliens exist in three sizes, with the bigger ones being more powerful than the smaller ones. At the beginning of each turn, each planet you occupy is worth so many Golderos, which are used to pay for upkeep of your alien army in that area and to purchase new aliens and objects. If the Golderos within an area drop below 0, that area goes bankrupt. Beware! Planets can develop virus, or super virus, that if left unchecked, quickly contaminate your unprotected planets. If contaminated, your planets will cost you Golderos at the beginning of each turn and can quickly bankrupt you. Strategy, intrigue and many options will keep you on your toes playing Xiphias! We hope you enjoy it!
April's winner is: Shrimp, Angle Hair and Feta cheese
3 tablespoons butter 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined 5 cloves garlic, minced 1 tablespoon white wine 1 pound angle hair pasta uncooked 2 tomatoes, chopped 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1/2 teaspoon dried basil 1 (6 ounce) package crumbled feta cheese 1 tablespoon olive oil Directions In a medium skillet over medium heat, heat 3 tablespoons butter. Cook shrimp, garlic and white wine for 5 minutes, or until shrimp is pink. Remove shrimp with slotted spoon and set aside. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until tender drain. While pasta is cooking, cook tomatoes with remaining 1 tablespoon oil, oregano and basil over medium heat in wine mixture until tender, 10 minutes. Toss hot pasta with shrimp, tomato sauce and feta cheese. Feta will melt slightly. You can garnish with chopped green onion or chives. Serve 5. GoldToken's Chef Dale will receive a "one time" access to the entire list of site icons, and can select any one that is not currently being used by another player, regardless of membership level (Silver and Wood members can keep the icon for 1 year!). Please send a big to Chef Dale! May's recipe contest is: "Fast, Easy, & Fresh". The winner will be given a "one time" access to the entire list of site icons, and can select any one that is not currently being used by another player, regardless of membership level (Guests, Wood and Silver members can keep the icon for 1 year!). Rules:
This month we interviewed GrannyPatty of West Virginia **~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~** 1. What brought you to Goldtoken? My daughter directed me here in 2001 How'd you choose your name for GT? I took the name of GrannyPatty because that's what I was and it was easy to remember! (I will have a great-granddaughter named Brinlyn Paislee on the first of May). on 2. What interest you most on GT? I enjoy conversing with the many friends I have met since I joined 3. Do you belong to any of the clubs? How about the chat only clubs (birds, kitties, garden)? I belong to a number of clubs including a couple of chat only clubs. 4. What State or Country do you reside in? I live in the Southern Coal Fields of West Virginia, but was born and raised in Ohio What in your State or Country do you think tourist should definity see? West Virginia is a beautiful state for tourists to visit especially in the fall when the trees are all colors 5. What hobbies to you have? I love to read and sew. I have made many pairs of Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls in all sizes What other interest do you have? I also make quilts 6. Children? * I have 3 children, 4 step children* Grandchildren? 13 grandchildren Do any of them play on GT. My daughter kittyrambo plays here. So far, she is the only one. 7. Do you work? The government officially retired me a few years ago If so what kind of work do you do? I worked over 25 years at a variety of jobs including driving a school bus, working in the Prosecuting Attorney's office, a personnel manager and mainly as a secretary 8. Any pets? We have one inside cat and 3 outside cats. We live in an area where people like to abandon cats so we end up feeding them and trying to find them good homes. May God bless you and yours! **~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~** We would like to say to GrannyPatty for letting us step into her personal life for a bit. If there are any questions you would like to see asked in future interviews, please let us know. Laura laura lee
I started playing turn-based games in the spring of last year. I don't exactly recall how I reached GoldToken for the first time. I probably followed a link given by another player, played as as guest for a few weeks, and then I was given a free six-month silver membership. That membership allowed me to explore all the various games here at GT and I have now upgraded to gold. What I like the most about GT is the great variety of games offered. My favorite kind are probably the ones that combine luck with skills such as Dominoes, Salvo, and Rummikub. Since I don't want to be a one or two-game player, I try to play at least a variant of each game offered at all times (just check my game sheet). That includes games I really don't understand such as Dipole or the X-games with aliens, planets, and bombs. The only game I don't play anymore is Go as the rules elude me completely. One of the other features I very much like here at GoldToken are the tournaments. I try to play a variety of them (round-robin, double elimination, Swiss pairings, etc.) and keep track of my wins. I'm also looking forward the Olympics that start in December. The great majority of people here at GT are very nice and friendly and that makes my experience here very enjoyable. The last couple of years has not been very kind to me and the time I spend here is relaxing and well spent. My favorite game - by far - is Reversi (or Othello, as we call it in the on-the-board world). I'm no expert but I started playing in 2006 and I'm slowly (very slowly) improving my skills. I participated in four on-the-board tournaments in California and New York and I hope to be in the Big Apple for the 2011 World Championships (as a spectator, of course). The United States Othello Association helped me organize a club teaching Othello in an elementary school for almost three years. Here at GoldToken I have created the The Reversi League Club. Our goal is to get more people play this wonderful game. We have three leagues (Novices, Intermediate, and Advanced), ladders, and teams. We also have a section dedicated to study finished games and improve everyone's skills. See you in the next tournament! 1926 My introduction to GoldToken was through a good friend of mine HannahSamBen,back in 2008. We were talking about a social networking site, when she asked me if I had come across GoldToken. Knowing my love of all games she suggested I gave it a go. I initially found the site a little difficult to adjust to, having been used, up to that point, to playing backgammon etc in real time. With encouragement I began to send open invites, and found this a good way to try different game types. I next ventured on to joining a few tournaments and ladders. Gradually I began to meet people and soon had to upgrade my membership level. It was when I joined a club belonging to sallyp that I felt thoroughly accepted into the GoldToken community. For me, playing games is a really good way to relax - it keeps my brain ticking over without dwelling on work too much! I really like the way people can express themselves, through their personal page, but without faith/politics being a divisive issue. It is a unique experience. I like the variety of games on offer, and the fact that it is not a static site. It is always being added to and improved. I joined for the games, and stay for those, but also for the friendships and support I never expected in an online group. cekj
I am not a greatly experienced gamer when it comes to turn-based online gaming in its entirety. For the first year or so after getting plugged in to the internet, the majority of my game play consisted of Facebook games (and I don't think I need to tell you how lame most of them are!). From there I made my way to some of the larger well-known game sites such as the one hosted by Yahoo and other major portals, as well as independent ones, where I began to gravitate towards board games and those games that could be played “in real life” such as Mah Jong. As much as I enjoyed playing Go, Chess and Reversi live online, I did find it frustrating that my moves had to be made within an immediate time limit, which seemed (to me) to be rushing the game and didn't allow me time to think and consider each move carefully prior to executing it. None-the-less I realized that it was necessary in a live format to have moves prompted within a reasonable time, so I put up with it and tried to play as fast as I could. Enter turn-based games. I don't know how I stumbled across my first game site, but I was taken by the idea immediately. It made so much sense! Players did not need to be online at the same time; one could play whenever it was convenient to squeeze in a few moves without having to delay work for extended periods of time, and most importantly there was plenty of time to think about each move, as long as was required. I learned quite a few games I hadn't heard of before and was pleased. While playing a game on one of the two sites I knew of at the time, my opponent in the game asked me if I was interested in checking out the main site she played on, and if so did I mind giving her my email address so that she could get points for introducing me. I said of course! That's how I found GoldToken. Let me tell you, when I first looked at the “new game” page with its huge list of games and variants; my jaw almost dropped to the floor. Not only were there more variants for the games I loved like chess and Reversi than I'd ever seen before, but the sheer variety of different games to discover and learn was extremely exciting! It didn't take long for me to be impressed by GoldToken.com in ways I hadn't been with the other sites. The community atmosphere here is unparalleled – I actually feel like I'm a part of a larger family, several different ones in fact when I count the clubs I'm in! The friendliness of the staff here is amazing – I never received such prompt or helpful replies elsewhere. I certainly was never given a free trial membership before – it is with this gift of a Silver Membership that I've been able to get a realer sense of what this site is all about. I liked GoldToken the minute I first set eyes on it. My affection for this site is growing all the time and there is no question that I'm here to stay! Thanks GoldToken for providing an all-in-one turn-based gaming site that not only fulfills its mission but excels at it. Don't worry, I've already thanked the member who introduced me – she knows I'm grateful! Serene Selene
Due to the enormous number of poetry entries for April's Poetry Contest , we decided it was best we wait and hold the poll open for the month of May to give everyone a chance to fully read all the poems before voting. The poll is now open for voting on the , and the winner will be announced in next month's newsletter. The winner will receive 10 Golderos, so be sure to vote! May's contest is Club of the Year! Clubs must meet these requirements to be nominated or entered:
Players can visit the clubs listed throughout May, after which, a poll will be listed and open for voting during the month of June. Winner will be posted in July's newsletter. to all!
This months club interview is with The Wolf Pack Club 1. Please Tell us a little about your club.... The Wolf Pack Club is a friendly club that loves to play games, joke around and have a good time. How long has this club been on GT?... The Wolf Pack Club was established in 2001. Which makes us among one of the first clubs on GoldToken. About how many members do you have? We currently have 92 members. We started with just 5 and have been growing stronger & stronger every year. 2. Are you the original owner? When The Wolf Pack Club started, we didn't have "owners" back then. But, myself & another player who isn't on GT anymore started the club together... So I've always considered myself Co-Founder of the club. But since the inception of the "owner" title... I have always been the club owner. If so, what prompted you to start this club? Chad was looking to get members interested in the starting up of clubs. Clubs were a new feature back then. 3. What kind of games does your club play? Gosh, we play so many it's hard to name them all. Although we don't play all the game types. When new games come out we try them in the club, but if they are not too popular with our club members then we drop them. I guess that you could say that we stick with the most popular games that GT has to offer. We also play prize tournaments and postcard tournaments. Or are you a "chat" only club? We have some chat, but we are mostly a group of people that like to play games. What kind of discussions does your club get into? Oh boy... you had to ask this didn't you ?!?! If you visit The Wolf Den discussion board you had better watch out! You could be hit in the face with a blueberry pie, or have honey poured all over you. You might have your tail pulled... or you might get some fleas! There are always some shenanigans going on in there! 4. Does your club do alot of club vs. club ? Yes, as long as it's through the automated club vs club tournaments. 5. What do you think of the tourny ones. Or do you enjoy doing the wiki's? The Wolf Pack Club has one club automated tournament per month, which is the current limit on GT. We also play all Club vs Club Tournaments automatically. Then every week we also start a wiki tournament. This way we can please all players...those that only play automated, those that only play wiki-based, and those that do both. 6. Do you have alot of 'helpers' ? I have one "right-hand woman" that helps me with the wiki tournaments and that is Gerry O of the Wolf Pack . 7. What are your future plans for your club? I just want to keep our club fun to be a part of. The Wolf Pack is like a second home to many of it's members, and I really enjoy that. Of course we are always looking for new members too. So anyone that would like to join us, please come check us out! Thanks for doing a story on The Wolf Pack! RW RW for letting us have a look at your club...... Laura
To Your Health Club To Your Health Club has just finished their Charity game, everyone that plays chooses a charity, the winner of the tournament gets a $20.00 dollar donation sent to their charity of choice, this game ended in a tie and a tie breaker was played, that ended in a tie so the club sent to both named charities. Those where the Alzheimers Association and Florida Doggie Paws Resuce. The Castaways Club Castaways is actively looking for a few good people who enjoy working with wikis. We will give them a bunch of praise, but there is no monetary reward. We'd like to have some experience. We're still chasing our tails after losing our most prolific game player and beloved nisqually. Prime Time TV Club Prime Time TV spotlights a different member of the club every week, everyone enjoys meeting the members up close and personal. We have learned some fantastic and interesting things about our wonderful mix of members from all over. Prime Time has a cooking corner as well, in May they will be having their BBQ party, all members are invited and recipes are exchanged, a BBQ cookbook will be given to one of the lucky entries. Banquet of Blessings Club A new club, mayonnaise said they are working on membership right now. Rummikub Only Club They have a new game called "Merry Go Round" the horses move up and down on the grid. They are taking sign ups now and look forward to the new design being a hit. Fairy Tales Club They have a game called Limerick game, the winners of each round add a line to the limerick, when the game is finished you have a finished limerick. The game that just ended produced this limerick.
Fairy Tales is also having a picture caption contest which will be running for some time, lots of fun and imagination hard at work here. Club Nascar Sprint Cup has started and so has the games in Club Nascar, we have a winner for Daytona and Phoenix and looking forward to the rest of the races. Along with that, they also have a picture caption contest going, a new picture goes up every two weeks and then they vote via the poll on the best caption. All the picture have to do with Nascar of course. Sallyp and Friends Club They are running a set of tournements called Special days for club members during 2011. In May they have 4 players that have chosen a special game. wgh Let all Party Together to celebrate her Wedding Anniversary smokey164 Large Dice Pipe to celebrate his 27th Wedding Anniversary MsLady MsLady`s Birthday Swiss card mix up Diddly Diddly's "Football" Tournie_Cribbage to celebrate his Granddaughters 1st Birthday They are also runnning a Gammon Extravaganza a set of gammon based tournaments, with about 27 tournaments running so far this year,the games are all gammon based but vary in how they are set up and we start several each month. Zwischenzug - You've Got Mate The Zwischenzug - You've Got Mate Club is setting up plans to battle it out against The Fighting Pawns Club in a massive chess match involving all the clubs members. It's going to be down and dirty! HEX PLAYERS CLUB They were formed on 23 February and in the first five days enrolled no less than 17 members. They now have 30 and are the largest HEX Club on GT. They have a popular Discussion Board called HINTS & TIPS which is very helpful to new players. One to One Tuition is also available by arrangement. They also put out a newsletter with help and advice on the the game. Friendship Club Is now running at capacity after a merge and a membership drive. They are now doing regular monthly games, sign up once and get a new challenge every month. and Happy Birthday with a twist.... You sign up your birthday with the game you like to play, when your birthday comes around, all the members can challenge you to a game, lots of fun and you can see how well you have done against other members with a running tally of wins.
I've created The Chip and a Chair Club which is open to anyone to join. We'll focus purely Caveman/Cromagnon Holdum Feel free to join and we'll see what we can develop. Sir Face of the GoldTable Some of our newest members said they never knew there was such a club on GT. Well, Here We Are!If you'd like to come by, we're more than glad to have you.All are welcome...It doesn't matter if you have a disability, or you're supporting those of us who do. Click on the link below, and come join us! Hope to see you there! The Disability Cove Club KaTtdAnCe
April 2010 Olympic Winners! A big congratulations to these players & their clubs!
Competitions are published when gold, silver & bronze winners have been determined.
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