Day 1: Embarkation on the Carnival Magic

With a good night's sleep, Cindy and I awoke with minimal difficulty to start what would probably be a long day. By the time we got downstairs to the breakfast area, it was already hopping. Thankfully we were able to get us a big cup of coffee without delay and start waking up properly. We opted not to eat any breakfast, as we'd soon be on an 8-day feeding frenzy. Guy's Burgers, Blue Iguana tacos, chocolate melting cake, ice cream on Lido....well, I'm sure you get the point.

Magic in the Morning

photo by Stephanie Schneider

Right at 10 am, our shuttle, or bus actually, pulled up and we climbed aboard for the short drive to the cruise terminal. Having never cruised out of Port Everglades before, I was curious about what to expect. We drove through an industrial area which reminded me a little of the old Port of Houston terminal. Apparently, there's a lot of expansion and renovation going on. I couldn't immediately discern exactly where to go after we dropped our bags off, but a helpful employee pointed us in the right direction. Whoaaa! Look at that long line! I'm glad we are at that stage where we could bypass the general boarding and go straight to priority boarding. Once through security, we were escorted to the "Priority Lounge" to await actually boarding the ship.

Obligatory pre-boarding selfie

Time for a little Facebooking, ummm, "social media,"  before we board the ship, right? No college games have started yet, so I didn't need to open my ESPN app for any scores. Meh,  no worries. Just about 20 minutes or so of waiting and we were moving towards the gangway. Let the good times roll!

What's special about our cabin number?

I wrote about this very thing in a previous cruise blog, so for those that read it (thank you, by the way), please let some new readers take a guess first. Yes, the color is red, which means we are on the port side of the ship. That's not what I'm referring to, though. What is special about our cabin number? There were some pretty good, albeit wrong guesses the last time. Do you think you know? Please write your guess in the comments section below. 

Since we had immediate access to our cabin, we dropped off our carryon bags and headed up to Lido for some lunch. One of the best advantages of boarding early is there are no lines in the most popular dining venues. Our choices were wide open so where did we go? We followed our noses to the Mongolian Wok. 

Embarkation lunch

If only these photos could convey just how wonderful our lunch smelled! I made mine much spicier than Cindy's and enjoyed every last bite. Did I want a second bowl? Of course! Did I get a second bowl? No way! Remember, my faithful readers, pacing is everything on a cruise. Even though dinner was still a good six hours away, we wanted to be hungry so we could enjoy it. 

With lunch now complete, we decided to enjoy a cold beverage on aft Lido, and enjoy the scenery. The weather was almost perfect, with blue skies, and a mild breeze. It was...magical. See what I did there? Maybe it was just the Funship Specials we were drinking. 

Post-lunch libations

This trip would make cruise #5 for us on the Magic, so we didn't need to do much exploring. By this time, several of the college games had started, so I was happy looking up scores from some of the games and sending out a few "see y'all later" messages on social media. And taking a few photos of the Port Everglades terminal, since we haven't cruised out of here before. 

Three other cruise lines

You'll have to click on the photo above to see all three ships.  Go ahead and try it. I'll wait. See? You didn't lose your place here, did you? Can you identify all three cruise lines? Two should be easy, but the ship on the right is mostly hidden by the crane. The answer will be in the next blog.

Why is it that time flies by sooooo quickly when we are cruising? In what seemed like just a few minutes, we had to start heading down to deck 4, where our muster station is, for the mandatory safety briefing. During the safety briefing, all bar and food service is closed. Fair enough. We seasoned cruisers, at least some of us, know that timing is everything. We'll drop by the Red Frog Pub to refresh our drinks before they close. Before anyone gets the wrong idea, I'm not advocating going into the safety briefing drunk, blitzed, buzzed, schnockered or whatever term you wish to call it. This briefing is important, especially for new cruisers. I am simply pointing out a way to make it a little more enjoyable. 

Thankfully everyone showed up to their assigned muster stations on time and the briefing went smoothly and quickly. We were released in relatively short order and it was off to Lido for the sailaway activities. Ahh, sailaway....perhaps one of my most favorite cruise activities. The embarkation sailaway is generally a big party on deck, with the CD and entertainment staff putting on dance moves with the crowd. Sailaway from the ports of call aren't big events, but I still enjoy standing at the rail as we get underway.

All of us "Big Sexy Flashers" (my term, by the way) had our custom shirts on and what a large contingent we made on Lido. The more, the merrier as the saying goes, and merry we were. I can tell already that there will be no shortage of fun on this cruise. Like there was ever any doubt to begin with...

Todd getting his groove on

We hung out on Lido for most all of the activities, then headed down to the cabin to freshen up for dinner. Our muster station just happens to be in the upper main dining room (MDR) where our table is. Cindy and I hoped we'd be seated at a large table with fun tablemates. We've never really had bad tablemates, and fortunately, we've usually had really fun people to dine with. Oh, wait, before heading to our cabin, I need to get a sunset photo. 

See ya next week, Ft. Lauderdale!

Not only had our bags already been delivered, but Rowena, our cabin steward, placed them inside the cabin for us. Wow, thanks, Rowena! That was really cool of you. Some people live out of their suitcase on a cruise, and others, like me, unpack everything and put it away. Personally, I'd rather unpack everything, but for those that live out of the suitcase, well, fine by me. It's your cruise, and you should do what works best for you.

D'oh! We were so busy unpacking that we let the time get away from us. We hurriedly changed into our dinner clothes and hustled down to deck 4 aft, to our dining room. For this cruise, we were assigned to table 769, which is all the way aft. Had it not already been dark, I'm sure the view would've been fantastic. We found our table, a rectangular 8-top, already occupied by two couples. All of us were Big Sexy Flashers, so I knew we'd have a blast. Our tablemates were Jeff Denise from Ohio and Randy and Diane from Pennsylvania. 

I'm always hesitant to heap praise on specific Carnival employees because I don't want to imply that others I didn't name aren't deserving of the same praise. That being said, I would like to say that our waitstaff on this cruise was the best we've had in the past several cruises, bar none. We were fortunate to have Kumara as our Headwaiter and Setiawan and Jose rounding out the team. These three rockstars were attentive to every detail and we never had to wait for any courses or anything special we asked for. 

Setiawan, Kumara, and Jose

As is our custom, we asked for a cheese plate from the dessert menu as a "standing appetizer" each night. This is in addition to whatever appetizer is also on the menu, as the cheese wedges add a nice little touch. We enjoy sharing this with the rest of the table for those who want to partake.

Cheese plate appetizer

Those who have read my other cruise blog series, this will be familiar to you. For my new readers, I'll include the exact menu name and description of each dish I had during the cruise. I'm sure some of y'all will even notice familiar dishes. Yes, once I find a dish I particularly like, I'll order it again....and again.

Appetizer: Smoked Poblano and Corn Soup

Charred roma, crema fresca, cumin, lime

I don't recall ever having this appetizer before, and I'm glad I tried it out. The soup had a rich, smoky flavor with a nice mouthfeel. This is a keeper!

One of the few things I wish Carnival would change is their menu. Several dishes have gotten to be a bit, well, boring for me and a change would be nice. Other dishes, though, are really enjoyable and I'm happy to order them each time. Overall, I guess these balance each other out. 

Main: Pork Chop

Caramelized onions, stewed apple, mash

Nothing on the regular menu caught my eye, so I ordered off the "From the Grill" menu, which is available every night. The combination of apple and pork chop worked well and adding some of the caramelized onion to the mashed potato finished it to my satisfaction.

Dessert: Caramelized Phyllo with Caramel Cream

Caramel sponge, almond crumble

Now that I think about it, I'm not sure I've had this dessert before, either. As light as it was, this dessert packed a good punch of flavor. Both Cindy and I learned long ago to pace ourselves (sound familiar?) when it comes to dinner, so I was pleasantly full without being miserable. Good thing, too, as we still had plenty to do tonight. One thing was abundantly clear after our first dinner with our tablemates. We were going to get along fabulously! Even after this limited time, I could tell that all of us thought along the same lines on pretty much everything.

The timing worked out perfectly for us to attend the first "Clue: The Murder Mystery" show. This is a cruise-long event that plays out much like the classic board game Clue. This first show would introduce all of the suspects and their potential motives for the murder. While all of the names and weapons were identical to the original board game, the locations were adapted to the ship. Clues would be given throughout the week, and on the final sea day, the case would be revealed. Each participant would have until then to find all the clues and make their guess. One lucky person who had all the correct answers would be drawn from those who took part. Our first experience with this was on the Liberty, back in 2013. Josh definitely had fun with this. I know.......I know!

Once we finished with Clue, we headed all the way aft to the comedy club to catch comedian Graig Murphy's show. Cindy and I have never attended one of his shows, and I'm glad we were able to see him perform. He does a great show, and both of us had lots of laughs. I guess that's the whole point, right? If you ever get a chance to check out one of his shows, I encourage you to do so. I'm sure you'll have as good a time as we did.

By now it was close to 11 pm and our first "Cigars Under the Stars" (I'm lazy, so I'll just refer to this in the future as "CUtS") on the Lanai, deck 5 port.  With the exception of only a couple of nights, this would become a nightly event for us Big Sexy Flashers. What? You don't smoke? No worries, I don't, either. All were welcome to just hang out and enjoy the fellowship of the rest of the group. And enjoy an adult beverage or two (or more) should that strike your fancy. Many of the Big Sexy Flashers were longtime friends, or at least have sailed together on the previous two Big Sexy Flashback Voyages. Cindy and I were relative strangers to this august group, but we definitely departed as family at the end of the cruise. We were warmly welcomed (try saying that phrase three times really fast) that first night and made to feel part of the family right then and right there.

Cigars Under the Stars

Time definitely flew by and before we knew it, it was late! We broke up the fun and as we were heading back to our cabin, I made a detour to Lido. Some of y'all know what's coming, right? Yes, in true form, I decided to grab either a slice of pizza or a grilled ham and cheese sandwich? Why? Because I could! We started this "tradition," if you will, back in 2015 when our scuba club took a group cruise on the Magic. One late night, a few of us wanted a snack so we went up to Lido to grab something. I've done this off and on since then, and look forward to this nightly bite.

Snacks in hand, Cindy and I were walking to the drink dispenser when I heard "Hey Patrick, over here!" I looked around and had to laugh as I saw Josh and Frank sitting at a table, enjoying their own late-night snack. Well, I guess we just transitioned from "Cigars Under the Stars" to "Late Night Snacks on Lido." We enjoyed our food and called it a day. Our first port was tomorrow. We didn't have anything scheduled at Half Moon Cay, so we could sleep in before going ashore. It's been a long day, and our bed is definitely calling our name.

Do any of you have cruise "traditions" like late-night snacks or something unusual? I'd love to hear about it in the comments section below.

Coming up next, our day in Half Moon Cay.

The first blog in this series can be found here.

Until next time.....

carpe cerevisi

Advent Ghosts flash fiction 2019

If it's December, it must be time for another round of Advent ghosts flash fiction. Thanks to Loren for hosting this again on his website. I always look forward to the latter part of the year when Loren hosts this annual event much like our mutual friend Eric Douglas hosts a Halloween fiction event on his website. I will resume my blog series on our recent Carnival Magic cruise after posting this blog, so all you "Big Sexy Flashers" have no fear. 

image from Google search

For my new readers, any links you see in blue will open in a new window, so you won't have to leave this page. Also, clicking on any photo will open a larger format version of it without leaving this page.

What's this "flash fiction" thing, you may ask? In my very humble opinion,  think it's the most challenging type of fiction to write. Flash fiction, as it relates to this event, is a story of exactly 100 words, no more, no less (excluding title). Like last time, I prepared two short stories for your reading pleasure. So, stretch out on the couch in front of a roaring fireplace, grab your favorite holiday libation and enjoy my take on Advent Ghosts 2019.

Silver Belles

Pearl couldn’t wait for Christmas this year. She was finally eligible to join the Silver Belles, a bell choir she’d heard of from the other residents. Membership to this all-female group was very exclusive, and only a few were invited each year.

Pearl’s neighbors spoke of those who got to attend the Christmas concerts but finding those who actually went were hard to find. Why was that? “Be patient,” she chided herself, “you’ll find out soon enough.”

“Mommy, Gramma Pearl looks like she’s smiling. And do you hear the bells?”

Sara looked into the coffin. “Yes, I hear them, too.”

Silent Knight

“This is the best I can do. Take it or leave it.”

Caleb looked at the angel, and sighed. “I can see my kids during Christmas, right?”

“Yes, you can watch, but that’s all.”

“And after Christmas, can I still see them?”

“That depends on what they do. Who knows, you might get lucky.”

“OK, let’s do it, then.”

A flash of green light. Caleb found himself peering out of a helmet’s visor. He could see other gifts in his limited periphery.

“Oh, cool!” CJ exclaimed, “A Sir Galahad knight! I wish daddy was here. I miss him so much.”

What did you think? I sincerely hope you enjoyed reading them. As much of a challenge as it is to write these flash fiction stories, I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment when I'm done. I'd love to know your thoughts. Please leave me a comment in the section below and tell me what your thoughts.

I made it extra tough on myself this year, for a specific reason. I came up with the titles first, and developed the story to fit the title. Loren, I'm sure you'll figure out why.

Please be sure to check out the rest of the entries on Loren's website at the link I made at the start of this blog.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

carpe cerevisi

"Big Sexy" Returns to the Carnival Magic

No, I'm not "Big Sexy," but I'll introduce you to him shortly. I'm hoping the title at least got you curious enough to look, though. Well, obviously if you're reading this, then you did decide to take a peek. Yay! I'm glad you are here. Sit back, relax and let me regale you with tales of high seas adventures and carousing that tend to happen when Cindy and I cruise. As I've done in the past, this is the first of a day-to-day series I'll write about our most recent cruise on the Carnival Magic. Each day will have its own blog, so you can pick and choose what you want to read about. I hope you'll want to read about everything so you can take a virtual cruise with me.

Carnival Magic

photo by Cindy Newman

Before I go any further, I'd like to remind my faithful readers, and inform my new readers that any links you click (these will be in blue) will open in a new window. You won't lose your place here. The same holds true with photos you'll see. If you'd like to see a larger version of the photo, just click on it. 

The last time Cindy and I cruised on the Magic, she was still homeported in Galveston. Our scuba club, Bay Area Divers, took a group cruise to celebrate the club's 40th anniversary. Seven days and three ports of diving made for a wonderful time. On this cruise, we would be part of a much larger group, like 151 members! We would be part of "Big Sexy Flashback Voyage III." Since we had already booked other cruises the past two years, we didn't take part in BSFV I or BSFV II. After hearing so much about these from Josh "Big Sexy" Waitzman, we decided to book BSFV III way back in February of this year to take advantage of Carnival's early saver rates. 

So who exactly is this "Big Sexy" person I've been referring to? It is none other than Josh Waitzman, a former cruise director (CD), and now PVP with Carnival. Cindy and I first met Josh when he was the CD on the Carnival Liberty in 2013. He was one of the very few CDs who was so approachable and gave off what I call a "college frat boy" vibe. And that's a good thing, at least in my book. After his daughter was born, he decided to take a shore position with Carnival as a PVP so he could be home with his family. Great idea, Josh! I'll let him, if he chooses, explain how he got the moniker "Big Sexy" in the comments section below. Whaddaya think, Josh, care to explain the origins of "Big Sexy?" I'm sure we'd all love to know that story.

CD Josh "Big Sexy" Waitzman

Once we made the decision to book, we contacted our Personal Vacation Planner, or PVP to set everything up for us. Our PVP is William Luke, and we've used him long before Josh joined the PVP ranks. For those that aren't familiar with a PVP, think of them as your Carnival cruise expert, who will find you the best deals on the best cruises. They do all the leg work, at no charge to you, and will set everything up for you. 

William Luke, PVP

photo courtesy of William Luke

Another benefit of having your own PVP is that they will look out for specific cruises to become available and will let you know when bookings are available for them. I'm amazed at the long hours both of these guys work, and they are easy to contact. How easy? I've got that covered, too. With their permission, I'm posting contact information for both of them below. The Facebook links are clickable, although they don't look like normal links. Both of these groups are closed, but once approved by their respective admin teams, you'll be able to access them.

William Luke

1-800-819-3902, ext. 85159

wluke@carnival.com

Facebook: Carnival Cruising with William

Josh Waitzman

1-800-819-3902, ext. 82990

jwaitzman@carnival.com

Facebook: Big Sexy's Funship Family

Notice that both of them have Facebook groups, and both are quite active on them as well. Make sure to greet Will with a hearty "Willy Willy!" if you contact him, and I know he'll appreciate it. (Ok, fine, click here for the reference if you must.) And Josh? Check his Facebook page and you might find him doing a live show once in a while. I guess you can take him out of the CD position, but you can't take the CD out of him. And that's a good thing. Hey Will, here's an idea: Find a good photo of Josh and do one of those "what is different" things you do. Brilliant!

This trip would mark our third cruise out of Florida, but this time from Port Everglades instead of Miami. Carnival called it an "Eight-Day Exotic Southern Caribbean" cruise. We just called it fun.

Saturday: Embarkation in Port Everglades (Ft. Lauderdale)

Sunday: Half Moon Cay, Bahamas

Monday: Grand Turk

Tuesday: Fun day at sea

Wednesday: Aruba

Thursday: Curacao

Friday: Fun day at sea

Saturday: Fun day at sea

Sunday: Disembarkation in Port Everglades

Those who have read my other blog series on our cruises will note that we always fly into a port at least one day prior to the cruise. We prefer not to fly into the port city on embarkation day due to too many things that could go wrong. As it worked out, we flew from Houston Hobby (HOU) into Ft. Lauderdale (FLL) on Thursday night so we would have time for a few extra activities on Friday.

Our ride Thursday night was on Southwest Airlines, flight 484. We boarded N8560Z, a 737-800. I definitely prefer the 800 series over the 700 series for the extra room (and the cool lighting). Even though we were wayyy down the B boarding group, we still got good seats. I was able to pick a good view of the wings for this leg of the trip. Aren't those scimitar winglets the coolest?

Boarded and ready to go

As is typical for most of the flights I've been on departing HOU, we used RWY 13R. Our departure was right on time, and soon we were climbing out of HOU bound for FLL.

Departing HOU

Once we were airborne, our flight crew informed us that due to favorable tailwinds, we'd arrive into FLL early. Excellent! It would be late enough by the time we got to the hotel that saving even a few minutes would be nice.

Nice tailwinds!

Wow, they weren't kidding on the flight deck. Check out our ground speed above.  Cindy and I had a light dinner in the terminal but I'm always up for a snack. Southwest was generous to both Cindy and me by sending each of us some drink coupons. Thank you, Southwest! We made great use of them.

Puttin' on the Ritz

My cocktail for the evening was a "Ruby Red and Cran Apple." Just one sip and I think I just found my new favorite drink on SWA. It was quite tasty and well balanced. Mix some cran apple juice with Deep Eddy Ruby Red Grapefruit vodka and you'll have a sweet, smooth drink to wash down those Ritz bits and pretzels. Neither of us is driving for the next 10 days so why not? Actually, I just had the pretzels and saved the Ritz bits for another time.

Our flight was nice and smooth, with just a few bumps here and there to remind us we were still in the air. We made a looping approach into FLL and landed on RWY 28L. Upon collecting our bags, we called the hotel for their shuttle to pick us up and waited. And waited. And waited some more. After a little more waiting, about 45 minutes total, the van finally appeared and we took the short ride to the hotel. Checkin was efficient, and soon we were in our room, ready to call it a long day. 


Friday, 12/6/19

We set the alarm to get us up in time for their complimentary breakfast. Well, at least the last half hour of it. Our top priority was coffee, and lots of it. We had a full day ahead of us, and a bit of breakfast and coffee would go a long way towards that end. While our official meet and greet wasn't until later that evening, we met several of the "Big Sexy cruisers" at breakfast. 

Big Sexy's Breakfast Club

photo courtesy of Josh Waitzman

I wonder how many can relate to this? For the most part, I've met pretty much everyone on my Facebook friends list in real life. Not all, mind you, but the vast majority. Today I'd get to add another name to a Facebook friend I've (finally) met in real life. Cindy and I set up a lunch meeting with Loren Eaton, who I met through another author, Eric Douglas. Ironically, I have yet to meet Eric in real life. Such is the way of social media. Both Eric and Loren host flash fiction events on their website, and for the past few years I've participated in both. In fact, either the next blog or the one after that will be this year's contribution to the Advent Ghosts flash fiction 2019 event. I'll post that link once it's active. If you are curious what to expect, you can find last year's submission here.

As soon we knew when we'd be in Ft. Lauderdale, I messaged Loren about meeting him for lunch and he enthusiastically agreed. We decided on The Royal Pig Pub & Kitchen as recommended by Loren. And what a great recommendation it was! The food was fantastic, and their beer selection was quite impressive. 

I'm truly glad to have finally met Loren, who was both gracious and entertaining. It's just a shame we live so far apart. Even in the relatively short time we had to visit, due to his job's time constraints, every minute of it was truly well spent. Thanks again for lunch, my friend. The next time it's on us.

Yours truly (L) and Loren (R)

photo by Cindy Newman

With lunch finished, we parted ways and Cindy and I knocked out a few more errands before returning to the hotel and the official Big Sexy Meet and Greet. As it turned out, Cindy and I had, maybe, twenty minutes at the most to freshen up in the room before heading downstairs to meet all the other Big Sexy Flashers. Wait, that's probably not the name I should be calling our group. Some people may get the wrong idea. Then again, maybe not.

Josh very generously brought in a bunch of pizzas and sodas for our meet and greet. If the amount of fun we had at that event, before even getting on the ship tomorrow is any indication of things to come, then watch out. It's gonna be a wild ride.

Our fun-loving group

photo courtesy of Josh Waitzman

By the time Cindy and I ate our fill (which didn't take much after our lunch), and made the rounds, we decided to call it a day. Both of us knew we probably wouldn't get a lot of sleep on the cruise and we wanted to be as fresh and recharged as possible the next morning. 

The next blog in this series will cover embarkation day. For my fellow cruisers, if I've miscredited a photo, please let me know so I can correct it. 

I'd love to see your opinion on what I've written thus far. Please share your thoughts in the comments section below. 

Until next time.....

carpe cerevisi

Ka-BOOM! (But that's a good thing)

Many of us have experienced this at some point in our lives, or something very similar. Studying for that major exam, hoping you are prepared enough to do well and survive that brutally hard class. It's an open-book test, so you have that going for you. Maybe.

"I've got this," you think to yourself, as you start to read the test instructions. Except they're written in what looks like Greek. Or maybe Aramaic. Whatever it is, it sure doesn't look like anything you've prepared for. You glance around nervously at your classmates, and they all seem to be having no trouble at all as they measure out ingredients and add them to their flasks. Puffs of smoke and flashes of light accompany the reactions as your fellow students create their potions with apparent ease. 

What was that recipe again?

image from Google search

"OK, here goes," you say to yourself as you open your supply chest and take a smidgeon of fairy dandruff. As you start collecting some unicorn tears from your supply the magic begins and before you know it, your first potion is complete! One down, but how many more to go?

Nope, this wasn't a scene from Harry Potter, but you would be correct in guessing that I was talking about an exam in a potions class. I'm referring to the game Potion Explosion, originally published in 2015 by Horrible Games. I discovered this game from a friend of mine, who posted about playing it during one of their game sessions. When Cindy and I got the chance to visit them, we played it and both of us were immediately hooked. Thanks, Steve and Amy! I'll be referring to many of the potions and other aspects of this game throughout this blog, and if you want a more detailed description of what each potion does, just click here for a PDF of the rules from the Horrible Games website.

Potion Explosion (2nd edition)

Thematically, the game pits you against up to three other "students" taking a final exam in a potions class. Not only must you carefully select your ingredients (in turn), to make as many potions as you can, but you must also have the skill to use the completed potions to your advantage to score as many points as possible before time runs out. There is no specific time limit for this game, as the end game is triggered by the players themselves when a certain condition is met. 

A quick note to my new readers, and a reminder to my established readers. Any word or phrase in blue is a link that will open in a new window. You won't lose your place here. Also, clicking on any photo will open a larger version of the photo in a new window. This page will always stay open. 

So, welcome to the Horribilorum Sorcery Academy for Witty Witches and Wizards. Albedus Humblescore, the Headmaster, will be in charge today and will grade your potions. Not to worry, though, as he will even give you a little help if you need it. It will cost you some points off your final grade, though, so use his help wisely.

There are eight potions that are subject to be on your exam, but only six of the eight will be tested. Each set of potions have slightly different recipes, and some are worth more points than others. Each type of potion has a special effect, too, that will help you complete more potions. Thankfully, you'll only have to manage four ingredients: fairy dandruff, dragon smoke, unicorn tears, and ogre mucus. These four ingredients, mixed in different proportions, will create the potions.

The eight potions

Now I'm sure some of y'all are thinking: "Wait, I have to handle mucus? From an ogre?? No wayyy!"

Relax, take a deep breath and realize that the ingredients are represented by marbles. You won't have to get close to a dragon to collect some of its smoke, or grab a spatula and find the nearest congested ogre. A plastic dispenser with five columns will have a random assortment of yellow, red, blue or black marbles to represent the fairy dandruff, dragon smoke, unicorn tears, and ogre mucus respectively. 

Your ingredients await

The player that most recently prepared a drink is designated as the "first player," and places the first player token by their desk board. Play proceeds clockwise from the first player. This token is just a reminder, as the order won't change throughout the rest of the game. 

Once the marbles are loaded into the dispenser, six of the eight potions are chosen by the group and shuffled into five equal stacks. Two starter potions (marked with a star) per player are placed in the center of the table and the first player selects his or her first potion. Proceeding clockwise, each player will then select their first potion. Once all players have selected one starter potion, the last player will get the second pick, and then going counterclockwise, the rest of the players will select their second potion. Place your potions on your desk board and we are almost ready to go.

Are you ready?

Depending on the number of players, a number of skill tokens are placed into a countdown stack. Once these skill tokens have been awarded, the end game is triggered. The skill tokens are worth four points each and are awarded any time a player completes three potions of the same kind or five different potions. 

Example of a player's starting potions

You'll always have two potions to work on at a time, with a small storage vessel to hold any extra ingredients, up to three, that you may have. As you can see from the photo above, I picked two different types of potion, indicated by the different stoppers. One is worth four points when completed, and the other is worth five points. Right off the bat, I'm going to need several red and yellow marbles as well as a single black marble to complete these.

Your turn consists of picking a marble of your choice from the dispenser. If two or more ingredients of the same color then slide together or collide, they'll explode and you will get to take those marbles as well. This is where skill and luck combine to give you the most marbles at a time. Note: only your pick will cause explosions. Using a help token or a potion to remove an ingredient marble will not trigger an explosion. The order, then, in which you do things is important. Generally, it's best to use a help token or potion before making your official pick. 

Let's think this through...

I need to get as many yellow and red marbles as possible on my turn. Click on the photo above, and take a good look at your choices and see what you come up with. Go ahead; I'll wait. 

What did you decide? The only viable option I see is to take a help token (-2 points already!) and use that to remove one of the black marbles in the second slide track from the top. That will then allow me to take the other black marble as my actual pick and trigger two different explosions.

Do you see it?

By using the help token, and removing the black marble (indicated by the white arrow above), my "official" pick of the other black marble to the right will then cause the two red marbles to slide together, creating an explosion. I can take these red marbles, which will cause the yellow marble to collide, and I'll get those as well. So, by taking a small hit of -2 points for help, I'll end up with two black, two red, and four yellow marbles at the end of my pick. That will allow me to finish the potion on the right and be just one red marble short of finishing the other potion on my next turn. The extra black marble will go into the storage vessel on the right. That ends my first turn and I'll then return the marbles from the finished potion to the dispenser, flip the potion to the completed side and pick another potion to work on.

"Recipe" (L) & "Completed" (R) sides

Help tokens and skill tokens

That wasn't so hard, was it? 

I briefly mentioned that each potion had certain powers you can use to help complete other potions. Remember, the more potions you complete, the more points you score. Since only your pick can trigger an explosion (thereby releasing more ingredient marbles), some of these potions allow you to select more than one marble. Another potion will allow you to steal another player's marbles that are in their reserve pool. 

But how do you activate these potions once they are prepared?

Funny you should ask. Perhaps you recall I mentioned how the first player is designated. The person who most recently prepared a......drink. Yes, that's right, you have to drink your potion to activate it. No worries, nothing will taste too vile. You simply announce that you are "drinking" your potion and then you invert the flask. We have a house rule that you must make this as realistic as possible, but that's just us.

Glug glug glug!

In the photo above, one potion, Elixir of Blind Love, has been consumed by a player, so it's inverted. That potion allows the player to steal all of an opponent's marbles from their storage pool (the small, three-holed flask on the right). The potion to the right of the Elixir of Blind Love is one of my favorites. It's called the Potion of Prismatic Joy, and when activated will allow you to place any color marble from your storage pool into any potion you are working on, regardless of what color is required. "Taste the rainbow," indeed!

Oh, those skill tokens I mentioned earlier? Below is an example of a player having a skill token for making at least five different potions. 

Potion master in the making?

Notice in the photo above that all but two potions have been activated (the inverted flasks). Again, a little wisdom is called for. While you may drink (activate) a potion as soon as it's completed, it's not always wise to do so. These potions are single use only, and once activated and used, their effect is gone. You still keep the points, though. One potion, however, called the Sands of Time, will allow you to reactivate a previously used potion. In the photo above, those are the sand colored flasks, second from the right. When I play this game, I always try to have at least one of these available. 

Three of a kind!

Take a look at the photo above. Notice how there's a skill token for having completed three of the same type of potion. While a player can only receive one skill token for completing five different potions, he or she can receive multiple skill tokens for completing different sets of three potions. Did you happen to see that with three of the Sands of Time potions, the other three potions to the right can be used twice? Pretty cool, huh?

And that, dear readers, is pretty much how the game goes until that stack of skill tokens is depleted. This triggers the end game, although play will continue until the player to the right of the first player finishes their turn. That allows everyone to have an equal number of turns. Note that even though the "countdown stack" might be depleted, if someone else earns a skill token, they are awarded one from the supply.

Once everyone has had their final turn, any incomplete potions and spare ingredient marbles are left where they are. Sorry, no points for effort here. Only results count. Add up all of the points from your completed potions, plus any skill tokens and subtract any help tokens. The player with the highest score wins.

Before I describe one of the expansions to Potion Explosion that we have, I want to point out that the following photos will have different marbles. I purchased some custom marbles to replace what came with the game. They are the same basic color as the original set, but  have a little more "personality." The original marbles are perfectly suitable for play, but I like the look of the more customized (and a bit higher quality) marbles that we now play with. These marbles are not part of the expansion set (except for the white ones) but obtained through another vendor. 

Custom marbles

Those who have read some of my other blogs about games know of my penchant for expansions. I love expansions for games and generally try to obtain at least one if not more expansions for any given base game. 

In 2017 Horrible Games released an expansion called "The Fifth Ingredient." It includes more than just another ingredient to throw into the mix (see what I did there?). This expansion also includes four new potions, additional professor tiles and tokens to either reward (add points) or scold (subtract points) to deserving students. This expansion even includes a "ghastly cauldron" to manage the newest ingredient (Ghost Ectoplasm). 

The Fifth Ingredient

The ghost ectoplasm acts as a "wild card" ingredient and can be played as any other color needed to complete any potion. Once the potion is completed, these marbles are returned to the dispenser instead of the cauldron. 

The Ghastly Cauldron with Ghost Ectoplasm

Four new potions with different effects make a fun game that much better. Just like the base game, it is totally up to you how to incorporate these with the others. In our group, we usually pick out six that look like the most fun, but we have used blind picks for some, too. 

New potions

Another fun addition in this expansion is the addition of new professor tiles that will affect gameplay. The rule book states these can be picked randomly or by choice. The rule book recommends using only one of these tiles for the first few times you play them but states a second may be added when you feel comfortable with the new changes. 

Much like the potions, each professor will add another layer of complexity. One professor likes everything neat and tidy. Don't allow one of your marbles to touch the table or you'll get a scolding token! Are you a player often affected by "analysis paralysis?" I'm not mentioning any names (cough*Cindy), but another professor's tile will cause the tardy player to receive a scolding token if their turn isn't completed in 90 seconds. Still not done after another 90 seconds? D'oh! Another scolding token awaits. 

Meet the faculty

Reward tokens are obtained each time a professor's tile instructs you to exchange a marble in your hand for one of the ghost ectoplasm marbles. A potion's effect can also allow this so those reward tokens can add up once you start exchanging marbles in the cauldron.

Scolding (top) and Reward (bottom) tokens

As the game (exam) progresses, the Ghastly Cauldron will start accumulating other marbles as the ghost ectoplasm marbles are returned to the dispenser. Yes, someone else may have had to brew a potion to allow them to exchange a marble, but once it gets returned to the dispenser, it's fair game for anyone to collect.

Ghastly Cauldron in use

Even though there are twelve ghost ectoplasm marbles, the rules allow for the Ghastly Cauldron to impart its magic ability to transform any marble into a ghost ectoplasm marble once it is in there. So, if all of the white marbles have been exchanged for other colors, completing a potion that allows you to exchange one from your hand with one in the cauldron will still give you that "wild" ingredient. Simply take one of the other colors and use it like you would a white marble.

Lots of potential here!

Yes, it's "luck of the draw" as the dispenser gets refilled from a completed potion. As these random combinations then have some wild ingredients thrown in, a wise potions master will be able to create some interesting explosions. Take a look at the photo above. If you need lots of red and yellow, a wise pick will result in a ton of ingredients for you. 

Following are a couple of photos I took to illustrate how a typical turn would go. Let's imagine your potions look like this at the start of your turn. Use the photo above as your supply. Here's the way I would play it. I'm sure there are plenty of other options, but I see a way to complete both potions during my turn. I need two blue and one yellow marble, or some white marbles, to complete what I have brewing.

What should I do?

In the second slide track from the left, I'll pick that bottom white marble, and call it "yellow." That will cause the two blue marbles to slide together and "explode." That will give me all I need to complete these two potions and select two new ones. At this point, I don't want to activate any of my completed potions just yet.

By completing the two potions above, I'll receive a skill token for having five different potions. Seeing what's available, I'll pick two more Brew of Feather Touch potions (the leftmost completed potion) from the stack so I can try for three of a kind.

The hard part for me is waiting for my next turn, knowing it's futile to try to figure out what marble to pick since it will change with each person's turn. It never fails. When I figure out the optimal combination, someone will mess it up just before my turn. Every.time!

Yep, that's what I thought. My plans got totally hosed but I was able to salvage at least a little something for my efforts.

Should I or shouldn't I?

I decided to take my chances on the next turn to see if I could complete both potions. Yes, I could use the "Potion of Prismatic Joy" to change the three yellow marbles to either red or black to complete one of the potions. In that case, I'd choose the one on the left, as that has a higher point value. I decided to just hang loose for now, and see what the next turn would do.

And of course, it didn't work out like I wanted. Imagine that. By my next turn, there wasn't much available, so after my pick I "drank" the Potion of Prismatic Joy to change the three yellow marbles in my reserve pool into red marbles. 

That's 10 points!

Even with the remaining potions, I couldn't complete the other Brew of Feather Touch, but I'm sure on the next turn I can. And yes, I'll get another skill token out of it. 

Hopefully, this has helped you visualize how much fun this game can be. Speaking of expansions, there's another expansion available that will allow up to 6 players, as well as a new ingredient and new potions. Can you say "wishlist?" 

I have a few other games that I'll write about in the future. Of course, I still need to actually play a couple of them...for the first time...before I can write about the experience. In the meantime, please feel free to check out some of the other games I've written about

For your convenience, I created links below to take you directly to them. Yes, most of them include expansions, if applicable. Just click on the title, and you'll be magically whisked away to that blog. And you won't even have to create (or drink) a potion to do so.

Pandemic  A cooperative game where you try to save the world from deadly diseases.

Flash Point  Another cooperative game in which you get to play firefighter.

Dead of Winter  Do you like The Walking Dead? You'll love this game, then.

Lord of the Fries  Zombies, in a diner, cooking your food. What could go wrong?

Tsuro of the Seas  You're a ship's captain, hauling goods. Try to avoid the dragons.

What are your favorite board games or tabletop games? Please tell me about them in the comments section below. What type of games do you like? Tile placement (like Tsuro of the Seas), Cooperative (Pandemic)? Something else? Do tell!

Coming up in my next few blogs, I'll have another Living History feature among other topics. 


Until next time...


carpe cerevisi