Gypsy Witch

* photograph from amazon.com

Gypsy Witch was the signature deck of Lola Gunday.  She had a certain knack for  divination and fortune-telling, much so that she correctly predicted the exact date of the Liberation of Manila and the facial features of the American soldier that would liberate the family from the Japanese soldiers at the Philippine General Hospital in 1945.

I don't know how the cards are played or how exactly the divination sequence works, but when I was a kid, I would see Lola entertain her friends with card readings, and some of her readings were said to be correct!  The cards are not exactly Romani in origin, and I read somewhere that the system was actually devised by a French lady.  It was introduced to wider audiences in the early 1900s and has become one of the most popular fortune-telling methods around.

I saw a deck being offered on the internet, and the more I read about the online offer, the more I realized that a there is renewed interest in cartomancy and tarot readings among the internet-savvy youth.  Nice touch there!

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp

* picture from google play

Love and Berry

Time flies by so quickly.  Monique, Angie and I walked past the Time Zone at the Robinson's Ermita Mall, and we spied a couple of Love and Berry machines.  Throwback!  This collectible card game was the craze a few years ago, and the girls just loved it!  If I remember correctly, it was Luisa who first got hooked on the fad, and shortly thereafter, Monique and Angie followed.  I remember the madness--swipe after swipe, in search for those precious cards.  Guess what, it was a game of dress-up and the girls just loved it!

DOTA

More on Monique's game addictions.  After she turned into a teenager, Harvest Moon was left behind, and she joined her cousins in the multi-player game of DOTA.  I don't have any idea what it's all about, but for two or three summers, all I could hear from them was how to conduct a concerted attack on their enemies!  The kids are all grown up now, but I still remember the days when they'd cross the street to play in the neighborhood internet cafe! Time flies so fast...

Harvest Moon

Spotify can take you so many years back in time. Sometimes, however, not in the context of the song's genre.  Harvest Moon of Neil Young somehow made it to my playlist, but the song didn't make me reminisce about the seventies.  My thoughts drifted to the Nintendo DS game that Monique was so addicted to around ten years ago.  It's a farmer simulation game that teaches the value of care and nurture; no one plays this nowadays, but I remember my daughter's screen concentration and glee whenever she'd win a prize.  Absolutely picture perfect in my mind!

Dumb Ways to Die

I haven't had such fun chuckling to myself in a long while.  Anita installed what I initially thought was a kiddie game called Dumb Ways to Die on Vicky's I-Pad and as a result thereof, I can't seem to stop myself from pressing the red button.  This game is so cute.  The concept started off as a information video from the Metro Trains in Melbourne, created to minimize the incidence of train accidents.  The video went viral, generating tons of hits within days, probably due to its catchy song and lovable humor.  The concept was conceived by the advertising agency McCann Erickson.  Take a look at the video on the website, and see for yourself--don't you just have the impulse to press that red button?