Johnny Zuagar said he tried to hide his worries about a potential government shutdown from his three boys as he weighed how much to spend on Christmas presents.Ive got to keep a poker face, Zuagar, a statistician at the U.S. Census Bureau, said when thinking about his boys, ages 14, 12 and 6. Youre just trying to take that worry off of your family.Like thousands of federal workers, Zuagar had been navigating the holidays with the spirit of the season overtaken by an air of gloom and uncertainty.The efforts in Congress to reach an agreement on keeping the government open had cast a cloud over the holidays for many federal workers facing the prospect of furloughs in the days before Christmas. But Congress passed a three-month spending bill early Saturday, just after the midnight deadline, and President Joe Biden signed it into law hours later. There was no shutdown.Many federal workers were already anxious about the possibility of future workforce reductions under the incoming Trump administration.Zuagar, who is president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 2782, which represents federal workers at the census, has lived through shutdowns before.This time, the uncertainty came as Trump and his allies have promised sweeping cuts in the federal workforce.We really dont know anymore, Zuagar said during a telephone interview Friday. Again, the rhetoric out there is that federal employees are the problem.The contentiousness of the current debate has left him wondering: Are we the scapegoat for every ill and grievance in America?He said federal workers are also worried about what will happen after Trump takes office.Theyre fearful of whats to come, like this is the beginning of something, or they dont care about us, Zuagar said.Jesus Soriano, president of the AFGE Local 3403 representing workers at the National Science Foundation and several other agencies, also said the budget clash felt different this time around.Americans need to decide what type of services the government should provide, whether we are talking about national security, the safety of our borders, the safety of our food, Social Security or others, Soriano said in an interview in Chevy Chase, Maryland.Brian Witte, Associated Press

Amazon delivery drivers and Starbucks baristas are on strike in a handful of U.S. cities as they seek to exert pressure on the two major companies to recognize them as unionized employees or to meet demands for an inaugural labor contract.The strikes that started Thursday and Friday followed other recent standoffs between corporate America and organized labor. Large and established labor unions secured meaningful employer concessions this year following strikes by Boeing factory workers, dockworkers at East and Gulf coast ports, video game performers, and hotel and casino workers on the Las Vegas Strip.But workers at Starbucks, Amazon and some other prominent consumer brands still are fighting for their first contracts. Amazon refuses to acknowledge the organizing efforts of drivers and warehouse workersmany of whom have voted to unionizeeven though the powerful Teamsters union says it represents them. Starbucks long resisted the unionization of its stores, but had agreed to negotiate a contract by the end of the year.Why are the strikes happening now?Strikesparticularly ones that happen during the holidays, a time of high economic activitycan help unions exercise leverage during negotiations or flex their muscles by garnering support from workers and sympathetic consumers.Both Amazon and Starbucks sawa wave of organizing effortsfollowing the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic focused attention on front-line workers and the impact of economic inequality on the lives of wage-earning Americans.Employees organized at bookstores, where unions are rare, and were successful with campaigns at some stores run by Apple,Trader Joesand theoutdoor equipment company REI.But turning those wins into contracts can be a challenge. At Amazon and Starbucks, which were not unionized before the pandemic, workers have yet to secure an agreement with the e-commerce and coffee giants, which both have their headquarters in Seattle.John Logan, director of labor and employment studies at San Francisco State University, said he thinks the Amazon and Starbucks workers are desperate to make progress beforePresident-elect Donald Trumpgets to appoint a Republican majority to theNational Labor Relations Board, which is expected to be less friendly to unions during his administration.The unions want to make these disputes public and bring political pressures on the companies, Logan said in a written statement. If these disputes drag on until next year, and if they are fought largely through the labor board and the courts, the unions and workers will almost certainly lose. This might be their last, best chance to pressure the companies in public before Trump comes into office.However, Trump has also given some signs that he might be friendlier to labor during his second term compared to his first term. Last month, he picked Oregon Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer to lead the Department of Labor in his new administration, elevating a Republican congresswoman who has strong support from unions, including the Teamsters. Teamsters President Sean OBrien also spoke at the Republican National Convention this past summer.Teamster-led strikes at AmazonThe Teamsterssay workers at Amazon are striking at seven delivery stations in Southern California, San Francisco, New York City, Atlanta and Skokie, Illinois, because the company ignored a Sunday deadline the union had set for contract negotiations. At midnight on Saturday, the Teamsters say workers will also strike at a prominent warehouse in New York, which voted to join the fledglingAmazon Labor Unionin 2022 and have since elected toaffiliate with the Teamsters.The prominent labor group says its fighting for higher wages, better benefits and safer working conditions for Amazon employees, many of whom experience economic insecurity while working for a company worth $2.3 trillion. It has not said how many Amazon warehouse workers or drivers are joining the striking.The union has mainly focused onorganizing delivery drivers, which the company says are not its workers because they are directly employed bycontractors Amazon recruitedto handle package deliveries.That type of setup gives the Amazon more cover from unionization attempts in an industrytransportation and truckingthats dominated by the Teamsters. However, the union has argued before the National Labor Relations Board that the drivers, who wear Amazons ubiquitous gray-blue vests and drive similarly colored vans, should be classified as company employees.Meanwhile, the online retailer has accused the union of pushing a false narrative about the thousands of workers it claims to represent. Amazon has also touted its pay, saying it provides warehouse and transportation employees a base wage of $22 per hour plus benefits. It also recently boosted hourly pay for the subcontracted delivery drivers.In September, the NLRB, which has taken a more pro-labor stance under President Joe Biden, filed a complaint that found the drivers to be joint employees of Amazon. The agency also accused Amazon of unlawfully failing to bargain with the Teamsters on a contract for drivers at a California delivery hub.The Teamsters union says it also represents Amazon warehouse workers, including thousands of employees at the major New York City fulfillment center who voted to be represented by the Amazon Labor Union.Amazon objected to the 2022 warehouse election results, alleging the Amazon Labor Union and the federal labor board had tainted the vote. A regional NLRB director issued a complaint last year that accused Amazon of violating the law by refusing to bargain with the union.Amazon, in turn, is challenging the constitutionality of the NLRB in federal court along with Elon Musks SpaceX. In June, the Supreme Court made it harder for the agency to win court orders in labor disputes, siding with Starbucks in a case brought by the company.Contract negotiations at StarbucksUnlike Amazon, contract negotiation have been underway at Starbucks.But Starbucks Workers United, the union that has organized workers at 535 company-owned U.S. stores since 2021, said the company has failed to honor a commitment made in February to reach a labor agreement this year.The union also wants Starbucks to resolve outstanding legal issues, including hundreds of unfair labor practice charges that workers have filed with the National Labor Relations Board. The agency also has opened or settled hundreds of charges against Amazon.In launching the strikes that started Friday in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Seattle, Workers United said Starbucks proposed an economic package with no new wage increases for unionized baristas now and a 1.5% increase in future years.Union leaders said the strikes expanded on Saturday to include stores in Denver, Pittsburgh and Columbus, Ohio. In a post Sunday on X, the union said that picket lines had expanded to Brooklyn and Long Island in New York, St. Louis and Pittsburgh.Without providing a specific number, labor leaders said dozens of Starbucks stores are now affected by the strike.We were ready to bring the foundational framework home this year, but Starbucks wasnt, Lynne Fox, president of Workers United said in a statement. After all Starbucks has said about how they value partners throughout the system, we refuse to accept zero immediate investment in baristas wages and no resolution of the hundreds of outstanding unfair labor practices.Starbucks said Workers United prematurely ended a bargaining session this week. The company also says it already offers pay and benefits worth $30 per hour for baristas who work at least 20 hours per week.Starbucks workers walked off the job on two occasions last year. Workers United has said the latest strikes could spread to hundreds of stores across the country by Christmas Eve.Patricia Campos-Medina, who recently ran for the U.S. Senate as a Democrat in New Jersey and leads Cornell Universitys Worker Institute at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, said she expects there to be more union activity before Trump takes office.Trumps reactions will give the public a chance to see what his commitments are to the working class, Campos-Medina said.Haleluya Hadero, Associated Press business writerDee-Ann Durbin in Detroit contributed to this story.

Architect Alexis Sanal has created an urban planning card game where users are given a set of prompts and urban elements to turn "the challenge of urban design into a lively, creative adventure".City Making 101 is a role-playing and debate-focused game created by Alexis Sanal of Istanbul-based studio Open Urban Practice and ANALarcwhere players imagine design guidelines for a city or public space.Alexis anal has created a card game for designing cities"City Making 101 turns the challenge of urban design into a lively, creative adventure," said the team. "Through role-playing and spirited debates, players dream up ideal environments, tackle real-world design problems, and craft creative yet practical solutions."The game is played through role-play, similar to the fantasy tabletop game Dungeons and Dragons. Each player selects and builds a character such as a "resident", an "expert" or "local government", while a facilitator presides over gameplay and lays out a picture of the environment.The game is debate focused, with players prioritizing elements of a city during discussionIndividual players are then given a series of cards that detail urban elements or policies, such as "interstitial spaces", "car parking", or "universal accessibility" and sort the cards by priority. The game then transitions into debate, with the aim of convincing others to select priority cards.The selected cards are gradually placed at the centre of the group to build the city or public area.Read: "Interactive architecture game" encourages players to get creative with waste materialsDesigned for professional designers and the general public, the intent is that players learn more about the urban planning experience and take away ideas "to spark real-world change"."Whether you're gathering with colleagues, friends, or fellow city enthusiasts, City Making 101 offers a chance to bring bold ideas to life and spark real-world change one card at a time," said the team.It is designed to be used by professionals and the general publicWith degrees from SCI-Arc and MIT, Sanal was inspired to make the game from her own work experience as an urban planner."It's a creative and accessible way for anyone whether a professional or a curious citizen to explore, debate, and shape the future of our shared spaces," said the team.Other design-focused card games include a merge of Uno and I Spy designed by children and an Ikea tarot deck set informed by the company's manual instructions.The photography is courtesy of GriyerProject credits:Project founder: OPEN URBAN PRACTICE / openurbanpractice.comProject founder, chief editor: Alexis SanalResearcher: Semra HoruzProject coordinators: Dilsad Aladag, Muhammad Abdullatif, Ulufer Celik, Ahmet F. YeniceInterns: Julie Brun, Keimpke ZigtermanGraphic design: Okay KaradaylarVisual curators using Midjourney and ChatGPT: Metehan Ozcan, Selva Gurdogan, Esra Kahveci, Alexis SanalIllustrations: Mrine GodancaEditor: Erica OlsenProject manager: Jake AndersonPhotos / Production: GRIYER (Eslem Serra zen, Mehmet Akif Sar, rem Mert)ORO Editions Publishers of Architecture, Art, and DesignPublisher: Gordon GoffThe post Alexis anal creates City Makign 101 card game for urban planning role play appeared first on Dezeen.

Bone conduction headphones available on the market will offer you the finest audio quality, whether in the gym, walking on the street, or running in the park, without compromising your safety, since your ears are always open to whats happening in the surroundings. The Vision Bone Conduction Headset is starkly different from the possible applications for which the technology is being used. It is designed not for music but for the autonomy of the visually impaired.The interesting new concept headphones are designed to help the visually impaired lead a slightly more independent life. This device steps up as a companion that interacts with the wearer and serves as a guardian, providing the psychological comfort necessary for independent movement. Vision is not just an assistive device, but a companion that supports visually impaired individuals in becoming independent and maintaining their self-esteem, the designers note.Designers: Kyungsung University Industrial Design Department KSIDOf course, with the evolution of technology, numerous types of assistive devices have been developed for the convenience of the visually challenged. The designers believe many of these devices are cumbersome and inconvenient to use. That along with inadequate safety infrastructure makes independent navigation difficult, which maybe a pair of bone conduction headsets can provide a slight improvement towards.The minimalist pair of headphones is designed with the high reliance of the visually impaired on their sense of touch in mind. It integrates object recognition cameras with conversational AI technology to facilitate the open-ear bone conduction headset to identify objects and obstacles simultaneously conveying audible information for the users convenience.By leveraging conversational AI technology to provide real-time feedback of the things picked by the mounted cameras on the way, and talking to the user about it all along the distance may actually help the users just like a human assistant would guide them through a busy street maybe. So the Vision is not just a navigation assistant, it is an interactive companion to have close to the ear, guiding all along the way.Bone conduction technology allows the headset to sit close, but outside the ears, leaving the ears open to acquire ambient noises. On the design front, it features a dial and earcups with controls written in Braille. The former allows the user to adjust the size or rotate the headphones in the desired direction. The push of a tiny grove in its center resets the Vision to its original position. Excitingly the device comes draped in high-visibility colors, making them easy for anyone with partial blindness to locate. To further user convenience, its integrated with a magnetic charging slot, so that the person doesnt have to struggle with precise alignment for insertion as is the case with charging ports available in our devices.The post This bone conduction headset is not just an assistive device, it facilitates the visually impaired first appeared on Yanko Design.

These discounted tablets, headphones, and kitchen goods can still make it under the treeif you hurry.

2024 may stand out as a mixed year for Sony between the mandatory PSN linking for its PC titles, the failure of Concord, and PlayStation VR2 trending downwards. However, its successes are far higher and nowhere is that more apparent than with the PS5s game library. First-party titles were few and far between, but we still witnessed some of the best third-party offerings (many exclusive) and more than a few incredible indie titles. Check out the 20 best PS5 games from 2024 and why you should play them.Horizon Zero Dawn RemasteredSonys Remastered trend hasnt received the warmest reception over the years, but Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered more than earns its flowers. It revamps and improves its environments with more foliage, better lighting and shadows, and over 10 hours of new motion capture animation. Character models are pretty much carried over from Forbidden West and look fantastic. For just $50 ($10 if you own the original), its a pretty good deal.

We all look for different things in a video game, whether its an engaging story, unique mechanics, well-developed characters, or a relaxing atmosphere. Then again, some also want to test themselves, taking on the most challenging endeavors and dying repeatedly. It may seem like torture to those on the outside looking in, but overcoming these is the real reward. The question is: Which titles from 2024 provided that feeling of unrelenting difficulty? As it turns out, quite a few. Check out 15 brutally difficult games from this year.S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of ChornobylGSC Game Worlds sequel isnt a particularly challenging survival experience when managing hunger and radiation. However, patience and endurance are key, whether deducing and defusing anomalies, surviving encounters with Mutants or managing your inventory and dealing with the encumbrance. Doing all this without any fast travel is just the cherry on top. The lethality of firearms also goes both ways, ensuring each gunfight could be fatal with proper preparation.

A standalone multiplayer Elden Ringexperience may have come out of nowhere for the vast majority of us, but even so, thanks to FromSoftwares track record, when the studio announces something new, you pretty muchhaveto pay attention.Elden Ring: Nighreignis promising a unique roguelike multiplayer action RPG experience that takes the bones of Froms beloved 2022 open world masterpiece and remixes and recontextualizes them in a way thats completely new to the developer- and were quite excited about that. Here, we go over the key details that you, too, should know aboutElden Ring: Nightreign.PREMISEElden RingmeetsMonster Huntersort of begins to capture the idea, but theres much more toNightreignthan that. Directed by FromSoftware veteran Junya Ishizaki,Nightreignis a run-based PvE co-op action RPG that reuses and remixesElden Ringsworld, enemies, weapons, mechanics, and other elements, all repurposed to deliver a new and different multiplayer experience. Movement is faster and nimbler, the structure has been entirely changed, and the focus, of course, is now on multiplayer.LIMVELDElden Ring: Nightreignis set in Limveld, which, FromSoftware has stressed, is not the same asElden Ringssetting, and more of a remixed and parallel version of Limgrave. Players will find plenty of familiar elements in the settings environments, but FromSoftware says the game is a spinoff that is set parallel to the world and events of Elden Ring, which means the two dont intersect or affect each other in any way. And yes, that also meansA Song of Ice and Fireauthor George R.R. Martin the loremaster behind the world and setting ofElden Ring had no involvement inNightreignor its world, as confirmed by game director Junya Ishizaki in an interview with IGN.THREE-DAY STRUCTUREEach run inElden Ring: Nightreignis built around a three-day structure, which, interestingly enough, also makes use of battle royale elements. Making use of a day/night system, the game tasks players with surviving three days while exploring and facing the dangers of Limveld. Each night brings a different boss fight (and yes, you can expect plenty of familiarElden Ringbosses, with a total of eight included in the game), and at the beginning of the following day, a large circle will have shrunk inward, battle royale-style. If you make it to the end of the third-day, you will be faced with the runs final boss, dubbed the Nightlord.PLAYABLE HEROESElden Ring: Nightreignis also taking minor cues from class-based multiplayer experiences, in that it doesnt necessarily have classes, but does allow players to play as one of eight different characters, each equipped with unique abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. FromSoftware has yet to reveal finer details on these playable heroes, but in the aforementioned IGN interview, Ishizaki revealed that one of the eight characters uses a Spirit Ash sort of spiritual buddy as a gameplay mechanic.PROGRESSION AND CUSTOMIZATIONBeing a run-based roguelike,Elden Ring: Nightreign will draw a distinction between run-based and overarching progression, and as far as the former is concerned, you can expect it to deviate fromElden Ringsformula in several ways. Players will spend runs looking for stronger weapons to use against enemies, while at Sites of Graces, youll also be able to level up your character. Leveling up will also bring different stat buffs and advantages based on which of the eight characters youre playing as. The beginning of each run will reset all of this back to zilch, though the game will still allow players to make permanent upgrades. Speaking of whichRELICSThe biggest rewards that players are going to want to keep an eye on during their runs inNightreignare Relics. Relics can be earned in a run regardless of how far you make it, and these provide a variety of unique upgrades that are permanent across all runs. You can upgrade your attack stats, your total HP, or apply a variety of unique buffs that will make future runs easier for both you and your allies.CO-OP OR SOLOElden Ring: Nightreignis designed as a primarily multiplayer experience, being a first for FromSoftware in that regard (even though the studio has, of course, included strong multiplayer elements in plenty of its titles over the years). The intended way to play the game is as a three-player co-op experience, though it has been confirmed that you can also play it solo. Playing in a party of two wont be possible, and as you might imagine, the game and its difficulty will scale based on whether youre playing alone or in a party of three.NOT FULL PRICEDFromSoftware has explicitly dubbedElden Ring: Nightreignis spinoff, and sure enough, the multiplayer title is going to be priced accordingly. Specific detials have yet to be revealed by FromSoftware or publisher Bandai Namco, but Ishizaki has confirmed to PC Gamer that the game wont be full-priced, with pricing instead being comparable toShadow of the Erdtree.The expansion, for reference is sold at a price of $39.99, so presumably, thats what we can expect forNightreign, too.NOT LIVE SERVICEElden Ring: Nightreignis clearly a multiplayer-first title, and while its easy to assume that any multiplayer title coming out now is going to be a live service game, FromSoftware says thats not quite the case withNightreign. Speaking with PC Gamer, Ishizaki made it clear the studio doesnt consider the game a live service experience. With Nightreign, we wanted to have a game that felt like a complete package out of the box on the day of purchase, so everything is unlockable, everything is contained with that purchase. Its not what wed consider a live service game, he said.The director added that though patches and balance updates will obviously be released following launch as and when needed, further plans about post-launch content havent yet been decided. Were concentrating on the release of Nightreign, first and foremost, but we will make considerations after the games release Ishizaki said. Especially in the form of post-release updatesbalance updates, things like this that weve done with previous gamesthis will definitely be a priority going forward. For anything else, were still in the process of thinking about the possibilities.NETWORK TESTNightreignis due out sometime in 2025, and though a specific release date is currently unknown, we do know when players will get their first chance to go hands on with the multiplayer action RPG. A closed network test is scheduled for February. It will feature a portion of the game, and will allow you to play as four of the eight characters. Registrations for the network test are set to open on January 10, FromSoftware has announced.

Illustration by Emily LankiewiczIts been another bonanza year for board gaming, and this was an even harder list to put together than usual; dozens of list-worthy games were released this year. We remain in a golden age of both innovation and material quality. Components are higher-quality than ever, with beautiful wooden pieces and firm boards replacing the flimsy plastic of the 1980sbut theyre also highly dependent on supply chains from China. With the prospect of tariffs hanging over the entire industry, many designers websites now note prices may rise. If youre dawdling over buying something, it may be wise to get it now.Here are ten games you should buy for the game lover you know, or for yourself, while the getting is good (and affordable!).Arcs: Conflict & Collapse in the ReachGood for: Star Wars fansKind of like: Twilight ImperiumAge: 14+Players: 2-4Almost every single person I talked to this year recommended Arcs, a new science fiction-themed game from Cole Wehrle, one of the most admired board game designers currently working. Arcs takes the sweep of grand space-opera-themed games like Twilight Imperium or Star Wars: Rebellion, but it lets players finish a round in an hour or two instead of 12, using a mixture of cards and dice to rapidly resolve starship clashes. Without the ridiculous length and complexity that usually accompanies the genre, youre actually able to play it with people who arent huge board game nerds, says Rowan Evans, a Canadian gamer.Arcs also has beautifully designed components and an immediately accessible and clear rulebookas well as a consistent art style by Kyle Ferrin that evokes classic science fiction while still having its own feel. Its the game that really got me to understand board games as an art form, says Jay Dragon, who runs Philadelphia-based gaming studio Possum Creek Games.Yet fun as Arcs is by itself, its also an introduction for its first expansion, The Blighted Reach, which at $100 unusually costs more than the main game. The expansion turns Arcs into a campaign game, where you play out a grand story across multiple sessions of play. But while most campaign games, such as Frosthaven or Pandemic Legacy, infamously take hundreds of hours to complete, Arcs campaign mode wraps up in three sessionsor about six hours of playand is designed for replayability.Things in RingsGood for: pedantic children, quiz show nerdsFeels like: Apples to ApplesAge: 6+Players: 2-6A nifty party game, Things in Rings draws inspiration from the U.K. quiz show Only ConnectNew York Times Connections. Players have to try to work out where different cards in their hand fit into a Venn diagrambut only one player, the knower, effectively a referee, knows what the rules of each circle are.A flamingo card, for instance, might fall into Birds or Pink thingsor both might be in play, meaning the card has to go into the intersection of the two. As their guesses are accepted or rejected, players can deduce what the rules are. The game says its suitable for players 6 and up, but I suspect small children might find this more frustrating than fun; older ones, however, love the ability to categorize the world.At just 20 minutes of playtime, this is an easy game to try out, and very popular. It also seems like one of those games you play at a party and then want a copy of yourself.FromageGood for: Francophiles and foodiesFeels like: Stone Age, TzolkinAge: 14+Players: 1-4Sociability is a clear advantage board games offer over video games, but tactility is a big one, too; theres something deeply appealing in moving actual pieces around on a table. In a private posting on Patreon, Dragon recently coined the term using every part of the meeple (the small, human-shaped figures common to many board games) to describe games whose physical components feed back into the play experience, such as Everdells berries and logs or Wingspans dice-rolling bird feeder.Fromage is a wonderfully physical game of competing small-town French cheesemakersplayed out, of course, on a rotating cheese board. One of the worst days of my life was when my local French store in China, which used to fly fresh cheese in overnight, closed, so Im a sucker for this theme. Its full of little extras like cheese pairing that really make it fun says Melissa Campbell, a salesperson at Washington, D.C. board game storeLabyrinth.But even if youre more interested in the rules than the rind, its a gouda and fun design. It takes the classic Euro-style worker placement game, where players decide where to commit their tiny Frenchmen, but speeds it up: Every turn a different quadrant of the board faces players, with different decisions on how to make, age and sell your cheese, so each competitor can make their moves at the same time before the board spins again. That makes playtime comfortably under an hourstill enough time to make all the cheesy puns you want. Fromage Board Game Perfect for board game nights with family and friends, featuring strategic depth and engaging competition. With diverse strategies and evolving game states, no two games of Fromage are the same.Lets Go! to JapanGood for: global travelers, JapanophilesKind of like: Ticket to RideAge: 10+Players: 1-4A rash of travel-themed games such as Wanderlust and Parks have popped up in recent yearsperhaps driven by the pent-up frustrations of the pandemic years. Japan-themed games have also been popular, perhaps because the aesthetics of traditional Japanese culture fit well with the high-quality design of modern games.Lets Go! to Japan Let's Go! to Japan In Lets Go! To Japan, players are travelers competing to plan and experience the most personally fulfilling dream vacation in Tokyo and Kyoto.NekojimaGood for: cat fans, urban plannersKind of like: JengaAge: 7+Players: 1-4Everyone, especially kids, loves stacking games, where players try to pile up pieces without collapse. JengaNekojimacat islands where local felines run the show.Players must stack wooden telegraph poles on top of each other, simulating dense Japanese towns, with placement in different zones of the board determined by a dice throw. What makes it tricky is that the poles wires cant touch, so the board becomes a tangled mess of stretched wire and underhanging connections. But what makes it extra tricky is that every so often they also must hang off a wire a comically heavy cat that can topple the entire setup if theyre not careful.You can play Nekojima Nekojima A thrilling dexterity board game that combines the excitement of a stacking game with strategy, making it one of the best family board games for kids ages 8 & up and adults looking for fun family-friendly competition.Yazebas Bed & BreakfastGood for: teenagers, Hayao Miyazaki loversSort of like: summer camp activitiesAge: 10+Players: 1-12Yazeba is a massive hardback book that is also a gameor many games, really. Inspired in part by the movies of Studio Ghibli, such as Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro, it asks the players to take on the roles of the staff and guests at a magical bed and breakfast somewhere between worlds. A lot of it came from my and friends experiences working at Wayfinder summer camps, says game co-creator Dragon, a reference to live-action roleplaying camps popular among gaming families.The joy of it is the combination of whimsical activities like ice skating, catching fireflies and cooking breakfasteach of which has their own mini-gamewith the games cast of characters, which includes a literal devil child, bunnies in the garden, an incompetently evil skeleton, a heartless witch and an accountant.At the same time, an overarching story framework can give players hundreds of hours of engagement. The range of stories and prompts are varied enough to include playing with 8-year-olds and 50-year-olds. Dragon is nonbinary, and matters of inclusion and found family are at the heart of the larger story; the question, as Dragon told me, of: If I become someone new, will this person still love me?My favorite thing about Yazeba, however, is the way the rulebook is a part of the game itself, full of secrets and clues and treasure huntsand designed to be scribbled in or filled with stickers.Kelp: Shark vs. OctopusGood for: nature lovers, asymmetrical board game fansKind of like: Unmatched, StrategoPlayers: 2Age: 10+Kelp is a cleverly themed two-player game where each role is very different. One player takes on the role of the octopus, and the other the shark, and each is effectively playing by their own rules. It uses such unique asymmetrical mechanics, with a unique hunt-and-chase theme, says Ian Curtiss, a strategy consultant and board game designer.The octopus position on the board is concealed, playing cards to bluff about their location, and sneaking around the board trying to grab its food. The shark, meanwhile, uses deduction, dice-based abilities and persistence to try to track the octopus down. The board is a beautiful depiction of an underwater landscape, with two finely crafted miniatures for each of the players, though the theme might be a bit bloody for sensitive children.Rock Hard: 1977Good for: music loversKind of like: DropmixPlayers: 2-5Age: 16+Rock Hardthe Runaways (and a four-time Jeopardy! champion who clearly knows her board games). Its a charming game, full of quirks and in-jokes, about the highs and lows of the creative process. You might be too tired from your day job as a waiter or massage therapist to have the energy to make it to that gigor you might be struck by inspiration in the middle of a shift.As a game, its random, and a lot of the fun comes from the sense of making a story out of your musicians erratic progress. Rock Hard allows some room for strategy, but this is more for goofing around than hardcore tactics. I admired the way the game gently danced around more adult themes, such as the mechanic for candy, which musicians take in order to get that extra burst of energy from the sugar rush.SkyriseGood for: family gaming, Lego fansKind of like: Cathedral, MetropolysPlayers: 2-4Age: 14+Skyrise is a building game set in a fictitious Art Deco city in the sky. It feels very like Francis Ford Coppolas 2024 Megalopolis, but unlike the Coppola film, this isnt a giant mess. Its a tightly designed Euro-style game that mixes auction mechanics and board control; players seek to outbid each other for key areas without exhausting their long-term resources.This one falls into that sweet spot of being simple enough to play with family, but having enough depth to keep board game obsessives happy, too. The key rules are straightforward, but it takes a few games to realize how twisty the implications can get and how to frustrate your opponents plans. Skyrise Skyrise presents an interactive and evolving narrative of a growing cityscape, requiring players to make hard decisions, manage scarce resources, and navigate ever-rising stakes.Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle-EarthGood for: Tolkien superfansKind of like: 7 WondersPlayers: 2Age: 10+Lord of the Rings-themed games are quite common, but this one ranks among the best. As fond as I am of War of the Ring, its a giant box and takes a full day to play; this one is a nicely compact box, and players can easily knock out a game in less than an hour.Duel for Middle-Earth is a quick two-player game where the players are either trying to get Saurons Ring into Mount Doom or the fearsome Nazgul to the Ringbearerwith effectively identical rules for either side, but beautiful art and board design. It might not be obvious from the box, but this is a spinoff of mega-hit 7 Wonders. If youre familiar with that game, and especially with 7 Wonders: Duel, its blockbuster two-player version, this is a cunningly designed variant with enough difference to be worth getting while building on well-known mechanics. The Lord of The Rings: Duel for Middle-Earth Choose your side in the ultimate battle for Middle-earth, playing either as the Fellowship to destroy the One Ring or as Sauron to conquer the land.Get the latest Travel & Culture stories in your inbox.A Note to our Readers Smithsonian magazine participates in affiliate link advertising programs. If you purchase an item through these links, we receive a commission.

An illustration of the Parker Solar Probe approaching the sun NASA / Johns Hopkins APL / Steve GribbenThe holiday season is a busy time for humankinds sun-surfing spacecraft. This Christmas Eve, the Parker Solar Probe will be going where no probe has gone before: a mere 3.8 million miles from the suns surface.Around 6:53 a.m. Eastern time on December 24, it will pass the closest that any spacecraft has ever been to our roaring sun. And it will do so in another record-breaking fashion: traveling 430,000 miles per hourthe speed equivalent of traversing from Washington, D.C., to Tokyo in under a minutemaking it the fastest human-made object to ever zip across the universe.Itll be inside the upper atmosphere of the sun, literally touching the star, Nicki Rayl, NASAs deputy director of heliophysics, tells Julia Jacobo and Mary Kekatos of ABC News.Temperatures at that distance from the sun will reach 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit. But the Parker Solar Probe is well equipped to handle its latest trial by fire. To avoid the fate of the mythological Greek figure Icarus, the spacecraft comes with a heat shield that will keep its sensitive instruments just above room temperature, at roughly 85 degrees Fahrenheit.This 4.5-inch-thick protective layer was a decade of research in the making. A water cooling system, layers of insulating carbon foam and a bright white ceramic paint coating to reflect the worst of the heat allgive the probe its equanimity in the face of the suns glare. During field tests in the lab, the heat shield was designed to withstand temperatures up to 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit.Blowtorch vs Heat ShieldWatch on Launched in 2018, the Parker Solar Probe was designed to study our temperamental sun, specifically its solar wind activity thats known to disrupt satellites and jam up telecommunications on Earth. Scientists hoped it could answer some key questions about our nearest star, per CNNs Ashley Strickland, including why the suns outer corona is hundreds of times hotter than its surface and how particles of the solar wind are generated.Close approaches, known as perihelions of the probes run around the sun, are valuable opportunities to view the suns ethereal corona up close. The corona is the cauldron where coronal mass ejections lick into existence, but it cant be seen from Earth except for during a total solar eclipse. Flying through this outer layer will allow the probe to collect data needed for understanding the suns pulse and predicting space weather.No human-made object has ever passed this close to a star, Nick Pinkine, Parker Solar Probe mission operations manager at the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University, says in a statement. So, Parker will truly be returning data from uncharted territory.Slightly larger than a golf cart, the solar probe is too puny to ferry enough fuel for its entire seven-year journey. Instead, it got a speed boost from Venus in a maneuver known as a gravity assist. Slingshotting around the second planetseven times in all and most recently in Novemberallowed Parker to bend its trajectory toward an orbital flight around the sun. As the probe swung around Venus, it also collected data on the planets own scorching atmosphere. The Parker Solar Probe snapped this image of Venus as it flew past the planet in July 2020. The spacecraft has had seven gravity assists from Venus. NASA / Johns Hopkins APL / Naval Research Laboratory / Guillermo Stenborg and Brendan GallagherThe timing of the probes solar arrival will be fortuitous. Currently, the sun is undergoing a solar maximum phase, an explosive peak in an 11-year cycle of activity that will extend into 2025. During this frenzied period, the suns magnetic poles will flip, sunspots will bloom across the face of the star and it will increase its firepower, hurling ionizing radiation toward the far reaches of the solar system. These flare-ups can stir up powerful geomagnetic storms on Earth. In mid-May and October, the sun threw such fits that the northern lights were visible all across the continental U.S. and as far south as Florida.Since its launch, Parker has made 21 close approaches to the sun, the first being in 2021. This upcoming, 22nd rendezvous will be its closest yet. Before this spacecraft, the last record holder was the Helios 2 spacecraft, which in 1976 came within 27 million miles of the sun. Parker outdid that number on its first flyby; now, the newer probe will be seven times closer than Helios 2 came. It will make only two more close approaches on March 22 and June 19 next year at a similar distance to this skim, before calling it quits for its seven-year primary run.What the Parker probe has gathered about the sun so far has already revolutionized astronomers understanding of our planets celestial host. It has discovered streamers of material that wrinkle the suns corona and observed magnetic funnels emerging from giant bubbles on the suns surface.As thrilling as Parkers newest encounter will be, Earthlings will not get to follow its action live. Scientists will not be able to contact the spacecraft as it flies through perihelion, so theyll be in the dark until Parker beams back its status on December 27. That signal will only be a check-in about its general healthresearchers will have to wait until the new year for Parker to transmit back its first data on this latest exploit.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Engineering, Heat, Innovations, NASA, Outer Space, Solar System, Sun, Technology, World Records