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Firefly: The Game, Damage Report offer space adventures
Firefly Game
Firefly: The Game, from Gale Force Nine, is based upon the popular sci-fi/Western TV show. - photo by Gale Force Nine

Two new games promise their share of spaceship adventure and science-fiction fun: Firefly: The Game, from Gale Force Nine, and Damage Report, from Break From Reality Games. How do they play? Let's take a look.

Firefly: The Game

Based on the popular Joss Whedon sci-fi/Western TV series, Firefly: The Game lets players captain a Firefly-class spaceship around the ’verse. A sandbox, open-world board game, players must take on a crew, find contracts and jobs in order to get paid and must avoid the long arm of Alliance law and the ever-present Reaver threat.

Two to four players select a Firefly spaceship to captain, as well as the character from the TV show who will captain it. One player can choose to fly the Serenity with Malcolm Reynolds as its captain. On his turn, a player can take two actions. A player can move his ship from one sector of space to another in a mosey, or he can spend fuel to initiate full burn. Full burn allows players to move several sectors but must also draw nav cards for each sector they enter. These nav cards can mean nasty surprises in the form of an Alliance cruiser or a Reaver cutter appearing suddenly.

Players can buy goods or recruit crews from some star systems that will give them certain advantages. They can also make contacts and get jobs in the hopes of making money. Once jobs are accepted, players can work those jobs, attempting to fulfill the conditions of the contract.

Some jobs may require you to do something illegal, such as smuggle contraband or fugitives across the universe. If the Alliance cruiser finds you doing something illegal, there will be penalties. Also, you may sometimes have the opportunity to make a large payday by doing something immoral, such as stealing supplies from settlers or robbing a train. Moral members of your crew will become disgruntled, however, and may leave your ship.

Many jobs will require you to “misbehave,” drawing special cards that require skill checks. If you successfully pass all of these skill checks, you can collect your payday.

At the beginning of a game, a unique story is selected with its own victory conditions, and the first to achieve all of the story's goals wins the game. Many of these conditions will require you to complete special jobs and pay a lot of money, making fulfilling contracts very important.

First of all, Gale Force Nine knocked it out of the park as far as production goes. This is just a beautiful game from beginning to end. The spaceship models, the great game board and the photography from the TV series on the cards are all first-rate. Though most modern games have moved away from paper money, the paper money in this game is durable and beautiful as well. Everything about this production invokes the theme of the TV show.

Game play is generally fun, though there are some problems. This is not a structured game — essentially players are allowed to do what they want throughout. This means that if players are not focused, they will fly around the board having adventures but not getting any nearer to their goals. Additionally, there is not a lot of player interaction, though Gale Force Nine has already produced expansions that promise to address this issue. In many respects, this game is very similar to Z-Man Games' Merchants and Marauders and Flying Frog Productions' Fortune & Glory.

Fans of the TV show will love this game as it absolutely draws players into the Firefly universe. Experienced gamers will appreciate this as a storytelling game rather than a highly competitive one.
Playing time for Firefly: The Game varies with scenarios, though four-hour games are not uncommon. It is recommended for ages 13 and up.

Damage Report

Imagine you are a member of a spaceship crew in the deepest regions of space. Now, imagine that something goes horribly wrong with your engines at the worst possible time. If you don't fix the engines quickly, you'll be torn apart by a star's gravity or destroyed by an alien vessel. Your crew's only hope is in working together.

This idea is at the heart of Damage Report. In this cooperative game, two to six players represent members of the ship's crew, taking on roles like medic, robot, soldier, scientist and more. The ship itself is made up of tiles representing rooms for ship's systems like shields, hyperdrive engines, lasers and more. Each scenario offers a unique setup diagram for the ship.

The game is played in real time — players don't take turns. Rather, each player's player board has four different colored spots for a 15-second sand timer. Where you place the sand timer depends upon the ship's life-support systems. When your sand timer is turned over on the green spot, you may take an action like inspect a ship's system by drawing a card, moving and carrying tools and items, or repairing the system.

A digital timer is also used, as most scenarios take exactly 45 minutes to play. Every three minutes, however, the timer beeps and you must draw a damage report card. The damage report cards indicate which ship's systems are affected and if any of the corridors suffered a hull breach. If you can repair your engines or fulfill the other victory conditions before the 45 minutes are up or your ship is destroyed, you all win the game.

Damage Report is undoubtedly an intense game. The real-time aspect heightens the tension and ensures that players are always on their toes. Players will be shouting at their friends to bring needed items one minute, then racing to help other players repair systems the next. All the while, everyone will be dreading the next beep of the timer and dreaded call of “damage report!”
The artwork and components of this game are nothing spectacular, though they are functional and serve game play well enough. The game is similar in many respects to Rio Grande Games' Space Alert, another real-time space simulator board game. In the long run, however, with its engaging timing mechanic and frenzied game play, Damage Report may prove to be the superior game.

Damage Report is recommended for ages 10 and up.

Cody K. Carlson blogs at thediscriminatinggamer.com. Email: ckcarlson76@gmail.com

Its toxic: New study says blue light from tech devices can speed up blindness
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A new study from the University of Toledo found that blue light from digital devices can transform molecules in your eyes retina into cell killers. - photo by Herb Scribner
It turns out checking Twitter or Facebook before bed is bad for your health.

A new study from the University of Toledo found that blue light from digital devices can transform molecules in your eyes retina into cell killers.

That process can lead to age-related macular degeneration, which is a leading cause of blindness in the United States, according to the researchs extract.

Blue light is a common issue for many modern Americans. Blue light is emitted from screens, most notably at night, causing sleep loss, eye strain and a number of other issues.

Dr. Ajith Karunarathne, assistant professor in the UT Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, said our constant exposure to blue light cant be blocked by the lens or cornea.

"It's no secret that blue light harms our vision by damaging the eye's retina. Our experiments explain how this happens, and we hope this leads to therapies that slow macular degeneration, such as a new kind of eye drop, he said.

Macular degeneration is an incurable eye disease that often affects those in their 50s or 60s. It occurs after the death of photoreceptor cells in the retina. Those cells need retinal to sense light and help signal the brain.

The research team found blue light exposure created poisonous chemical molecules that killed photoreceptor cells

"It's toxic. If you shine blue light on retinal, the retinal kills photoreceptor cells as the signaling molecule on the membrane dissolves," said Kasun Ratnayake, a Ph.D. student researcher working in Karunarathne's cellular photo chemistry group. "Photoreceptor cells do not regenerate in the eye. When they're dead, they're dead for good."

However, the researchers found a molecule called alpha-tocopherol, which comes from Vitamin E, can help prevent cell death, according to Futurism.

The researchers plan to review how light from TVs, cellphones and tablet screens affect the eyes as well.

"If you look at the amount of light coming out of your cellphone, it's not great but it seems tolerable," said Dr. John Payton, visiting assistant professor in the UT Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. "Some cellphone companies are adding blue-light filters to the screens, and I think that is a good idea."

Indeed, Apple released a Night Shift mode two years ago to help quell blue lights strain on the eyes, according to The Verge. The screen will dim into a warmer, orange light that will cause less stress on the eyes.