2011 MESSAGE BOARD

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2011 MESSAGE BOARD

Tämä viestiketju on "uinuva" —viimeisin viesti on vanhempi kuin 90 päivää. Ryhmä "virkoaa", kun lähetät vastauksen.

1avaland
joulukuu 29, 2010, 7:26 am

Does anyone know if there is a UK version of Trivial Pursuit or some similar kind of game. My son-in-law was severely handicapped playing the latest US version. He seemed to always get the questions about US presidents. We thought it might be fun next year to turn the handicap around.

2cbl_tn
joulukuu 29, 2010, 8:13 am

I played the UK version of Trivial Pursuit when I lived in England. Having grown up in the U.S., I felt most handicapped in the entertainment category. I only knew the celebrities who were currently popular, not the ones that were popular in previous decades.

3andyl
joulukuu 29, 2010, 8:51 am

We played one of the new versions of Trivial Pursuit at Christmas. It was much shorter than the original edition and it had very British focused questions for the most part.

A better option might be a game such as Wits And Wagers (US based questions) or the closely related Gambit 7 (British/Commonwealth based questions). It is IMO a much better game - especially if you have a mix of knowledge (due either to age or geography). The idea is that all the questions have a quantitative answer. Everyone except the person asking the question answers and the answers are then ranked. The players then wager points on the answers given. The 'winning' answer is the one that is closest to the right answer without going over. So it is possible to score points even when you don't know the answer yourself.

From what some people say Gambit 7 has the more obscure questions.

4lauralkeet
joulukuu 29, 2010, 10:00 am

>2 cbl_tn:: I had a similar experience, cbl_tn. If memory serves, we bought a "junior" UK version to play with the kids and we all failed miserably. So I can relate to the situation in message #1 !

>1 avaland:: have you played Apples to Apples? Good fun and less culturally focused, imo.

5avaland
tammikuu 2, 2011, 8:42 pm

>4 lauralkeet: oh, yes, Apples to Apples has been a fave for a couple of years now.

>3 andyl: So, sort of a "The Price is Right" sort of thing (US game show). Hmmm. Thanks for the tip, that could be a good gift, too. Obscure questions - is that good or bad do you think?

btw, the new "master edition" of Trivial Pursuit is more like the original version with less emphasis on pop culture. However, I all but one of the questions in "literature" were about books which had movie adaptations (whether classic or contemporary books), except one related to Catcher in the Rye.

6andyl
tammikuu 3, 2011, 7:08 am

#5

Yep - a Price Is Right with betting is a good way of thinking about it.

Well some of them are obscure, some of them you can work out, some of them people should be able to have a very good guess at (first publication date of Moby Dick for example).

7avaland
tammikuu 9, 2011, 7:59 am

>6 andyl: ha! my kids, who all have science or engineering degrees, wouldn't have a clue over the date of publication for Moby Dick:-)

8avaland
elokuu 25, 2011, 12:16 pm

Has anyone bought British Rail tickets via the internet and, if so, what does it give you, a print out that serves as a ticket or what (on Amtrak here we would get a print-out with a UPC code that we could swipe under a kiosk at the station and get a boarding pass.

I'm trying to get tickets for my brother and his family to go from King's Cross to Edinburgh. Just nervous a bit having not used the British Rail and because I'm ordering overseas, and for someone else.

9ponsonby
elokuu 26, 2011, 5:50 am

Normally you would get a reference code, which would look something like HX3A63GYR, which you feed into a machine at the station when you arrive to get the train, and the machine issues the ticket. However, it checks that it is the right person by having to have a credit/debit card being inserted, not to charge but the card must be in the name of the person the ticket is for. If you are buying for someone else this is a point you need to try and check while buying

10avaland
syyskuu 11, 2011, 8:40 am

>9 ponsonby: thanks. I'm using their charge card but since I'm buying for an entire family, I'll not take the risk. They are staying very near King's Cross station, so I'll have them run over to the station and get tickets a few days before (which I hope will work). They are travel novices, which is why I'm setting the big stuff up for them.

11andyl
syyskuu 11, 2011, 8:54 am

#10

Absolutely, just tell them to make sure they make it clear what day they want to travel, and to ask for seat reservations if they know which train they want.

To be honest they could just turn up at the station and buy tickets when they travel, however they will not be guaranteed a seat if it is a very busy train. Although the same is true if you don't get the seat reservations in the advance booking case.

12ponsonby
syyskuu 12, 2011, 3:44 pm

Buying on the day of travel, for a longish journey, will nearly always mean paying a higher fare. They should buy the tickets as far in advance as possible

13avaland
syyskuu 18, 2011, 2:39 pm

Thanks. I did get an email back from ScotsRail who told me Britrail is defunct. They gave me a phone number to call to make reservations, then they could just pick up their tickets at the station. However, they mentioned Euston station, which seems silly if they are next to King's Cross. I will need to look into a little further as I want to avoid transfers. Like I said, they are not seasoned travelers so I'm trying to make it as simple as possible for them.

I just have some tours out of Edinburgh to book, the car to and from Heathrow, a few other odds and ends and they will then be on their own.

14andyl
Muokkaaja: syyskuu 19, 2011, 4:41 am

#13

Euston is a short walk (5 minutes or so) up the road from King's Cross. The British Library sits between them. If they can get to King's Cross they can get to Euston just as easily.

However if they are going to Edinburgh then King's Cross is the station and I would have thought that they would be able to pick up the tickets from there.

15avaland
Muokkaaja: syyskuu 22, 2011, 7:25 am

>14 andyl: Thanks for the advice, Andy. Since they are staying next to King's Cross station, I may just have them go over on the day they arrive and buy their own tickets for the trip a few days later. They will be wanting to go find track 19 1/2 or whatever # track is related to Harry Potter anyway. Interestingly, I mentioned that there was a black cab tour of HP sites in London and Oxford—rather pricey—didn't think they'd go for it for that reason alone, but they want me to book it. They consider this a once in a lifetime family trip (the kids are 16 an 18, so won't be hanging around home much longer...). The books are something the entire family has in common...

16joannay
syyskuu 23, 2011, 11:25 pm

You can buy the train tickets online for the advance purchase discounts then pick them up in the King's Cross ticket office, using the code you'll be given described above, from a real person rather than the machine. It's what I do. If the credit card doesn't work for the online purchase you may have to call the issuing bank to tell them what you're doing so the fraud safeguards don't kick in to block the purchase. But try first, depends on the card. You might also look at the National Rail website to see if the discounts are worth buying in advance rather than when they get there. They often are. http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

17Nickelini
syyskuu 24, 2011, 3:43 pm

#15 - It's 9 & 3/4, and it's very easy to find. Just ask anyone working at the station if they don't see it right away.

18Grammath
syyskuu 25, 2011, 12:31 pm

Beware that the platform 9 3/4 exhibit at Kings Cross has been temporarily relocated as the station is about to undergo major renovation work. At the moment it is actually nowhere near platform 9 but right over the other side of the station.

19avaland
lokakuu 2, 2011, 9:06 am

Thanks all. I have not picked up the train tickets yet but will attempt to do them in advance. I'm traveled enough to know to call the credit card people and tell them what I'm doing, after having once several years ago had a card refused because the CC suspected fraud (a frantic phone call home fixed that).

20avaland
lokakuu 18, 2011, 4:02 pm

Just to update: I have bought their train tickets via ScotsRail on the internet. They will pick up the physical tickets the day of the journey. I did actually call them first but they weren't going to let me buy the tickets with my sister-in-law's card. Understandable, I suppose, so we did it online.

I've also booked them a black cab Harry Potter tour to parts of London, Oxford and Lycock. Kind of pricey but they wanted to do it. We'll see how that goes:-)

21Nickelini
lokakuu 18, 2011, 4:34 pm

I've also booked them a black cab Harry Potter tour to parts of London, Oxford and Lycock.

Oh oh. Don't tell Nina about that. Maybe she wouldn't care--she's distracted with Lord of the Rings right now and wants to tour the film location sites in NZ. Sounds even more expensive.

22avaland
marraskuu 1, 2011, 9:53 pm

>21 Nickelini: ha ha. Might not be that bad departing from your location...

23avaland
marraskuu 7, 2011, 8:02 am

>21 Nickelini: I've just had word that the black cab Harry Potter tour was not only fun but educational also - it has been declared the best part of the trip thus far (so much for the British Museum and the Tower of London, eh?). That coming from an 18 year old who I thought would be totally bored (although the woman I booked it with assured me that they would not be bored).