Latest news with #Gnomes
Hypebeast
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Hypebeast
走進陶瓷器工作室 ZI YONE CRAFT STUDIO 展覽《In use, In pause》
由陶藝家與插畫創作者梁若茜創立的 ZI YONE CRAFT STUDIO，自 2020 年以來專注於陶瓷工藝與圖像創作的融合實踐，從陶器、燈具到織品與插畫，ZI YONE 的作品總展現著詩意、敘事與觸感並存的設計語彙。近期，ZI YONE 則於台北人氣早午餐店 NOOK TAIPEI 旗下的咖啡廳 SOIL 發起展覽《In use, In pause》，透過器物探索藝術與生活的交界。《In use, In pause》象徵「使用之間」的含義，這次展覽將聚焦於物件在「使用」與「靜止」兩種狀態下的轉換與存在。展出作品包含 Ougen 燈具系列、Gnomes 地精角色系列、盆器系列，以及「點點系列」、「噴槍系列」與「塗鴉系列」等杯款 —— 值得一提的是，展場中部分杯具實際作為內用器皿，讓觀者能夠親自拿起、觸摸甚至使用，體會陶器的重量與溫度。 最後，梁若茜對於自己的創作則提到：「我覺得做陶就像鍊金術，我要先有好的狀態，才能把能量灌注進作品裡。」所以在這場展覽中，物件不只是藝術品，也是一種關於生活節奏與感官記憶的邀請。你可以走近它、握住它、使用它，因為這些器物的目的從來不是「被展示」，而是成為你生活的一部分。 ZI YONE CRAFT STUDIO《In use, In pause》展覽即日起 – 2025.07.1312:00–19:00（週一公休）SOIL （台北市松山區八德路三段74巷94號）
Scottish Sun
03-07-2025
- Scottish Sun
The UK island where wallabies roam free with plans for new holiday lodge to open
Plans for a holiday home also include a new boathouse and jetty JUMP AROUND The UK island where wallabies roam free with plans for new holiday lodge to open Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) DID you know there's an island in Scotland where wallabies roam free? Inchconnachan Island is surrounded by the fresh waters of Loch Lomon and it's unofficial name is Wallaby Island thanks to the animals that live there. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 4 A colony have been living on the island for 85 years 4 It's possible to visit the island by boat, kayak and canoe Credit: Adobe Stock/Dominic Walter A colony of red-necked wallabies were first introduced to the island in the 1940s by the Countess of Arran. It was said that Lady Arran transported the animals from her home in Hertfordshire where she also kept pot-bellied pigs, llamas and alpacas. The wallabies, which are native to Australia, have survived on the island by eating oak, holly and birch trees. The number of wallabies on the island is not confirmed, some reports say there are as many as 60 with others as few as 7. Over the years, in their 85 years on the island, wallabies have adapted to the Scottish climate. They've even been seen hopping across the frozen loch at certain times of the year. Visitors can visit Wallaby Island for free, but to get there comes at a cost. There are no public ferries that head over to the island, so anyone wanting to see the wallabies has to make their own way over. It's possible to get to the island via private boats, kayaks, paddleboards or canoes from the nearby village of Luss. Wild camping is permitted on Wallaby Island, as long as campers leave everything the way they found it. Bizarre Scottish Island mysteriously covered in Gnomes 4 There could soon be a holiday home on Wallaby Island Credit: Flickr/ FionaG999 However, in years to come, there could be a holiday home on the island. In 2020, Scottish TV and radio presenter Kirsty Young and her husband bought Wallaby Island. And in January 2025, the pair were granted permission to build a holiday lodge on Wallaby Island. The plans were met with controversy from the public, with an online petition against the building work gaining over 100,000 signatures. A spokesperson for the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority said the planning permission "will have no implications for the wallabies on the island." The plans are to build a holiday lodge which will be for short-stay rentals as well as a new boathouse and a jetty so that guests can get onto the island. The old timber bungalow once owned by Lady Arran will be demolished. There will be a new natural wet woodland created during the works, which is to improve the biodiversity of the island. One man has been island hopping around Scotland, and here are the top five islands that rival Skye. And the group of islands in Scotland have been named one of the happiest places to live in the UK.
The Irish Sun
03-07-2025
- The Irish Sun
The UK island where wallabies roam free with plans for new holiday lodge to open
DID you know there's an island in Scotland where wallabies roam free? Inchconnachan Island is surrounded by the fresh waters of Loch Lomon and it's unofficial name is Wallaby Island thanks to the animals that live there. 4 A colony have been living on the island for 85 years 4 It's possible to visit the island by boat, kayak and canoe Credit: Adobe Stock/Dominic Walter A colony of red-necked It was said that Lady Arran transported the animals from her home in Hertfordshire where she also kept pot-bellied pigs, llamas and alpacas. The wallabies, which are native to Australia, have survived on the island by eating oak, holly and birch trees. The number of wallabies on the island is not confirmed, some reports say there are as many as 60 with others as few as 7. Read More on Scottish Islands Over the years, in their 85 years on the island, wallabies have adapted to the Scottish climate. They've even been seen hopping across the frozen loch at certain times of the year. Visitors can visit Wallaby Island for free, but to get there comes at a cost. There are no public ferries that head over to the island, so anyone wanting to see the wallabies has to make their own way over. Most read in News Travel It's possible to get to the island via private boats, kayaks, paddleboards or canoes from the nearby village of Luss. Wild camping is permitted on Wallaby Island, as long as campers leave everything the way they found it. Bizarre Scottish Island mysteriously covered in Gnomes 4 There could soon be a holiday home on Wallaby Island Credit: Flickr/ FionaG999 However, in years to come, there could be a holiday home on the island. In 2020, Scottish TV and radio presenter And in January 2025, the pair were granted permission to build a holiday lodge on Wallaby Island. The plans were met with controversy from the public, with an online petition against the building work gaining over 100,000 signatures. A spokesperson for the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority said the planning permission "will have no implications for the wallabies on the island." The plans are to build a holiday lodge which will be for short-stay rentals as well as a new boathouse and a jetty so that guests can get onto the island. The old timber bungalow once owned by Lady Arran will be demolished. There will be a new natural wet woodland created during the works, which is to improve the biodiversity of the island. One man has been island hopping around Scotland, and And the group of 4 Inchconnachan Island is nicknamed Wallaby Island Credit: Getty
Geek Dad
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Dad
‘Garden Variety' Provides Interesting Twist on Trick-Taking
There have been a lot of cool twists on the classic trick-taking mechanic over the last several years, from somehow making it cooperative in The Crew to the Schrödinger's cat spin in Cat in the Box , and many more. Now, Garden Variety joins the club with ever-changing rules and a simple but interesting format for deciding who wins the trick. What Is Garden Variety ? Garden Variety is a game for 2-5 players, ages 7 and up, and takes about 15 minutes to play. Garden Variety Components The components of the game are pretty straightforward: a rules pamphlet, a deck of 54 cards, and a custom wooden dice. The deck of cards. Image by Rob Huddleston. The deck of cards is composed of 48 basic cards, each showing a number value, a color, and some whimsical artwork. The four types of gnomes. Image by Rob Huddleston The 12 remaining cards show a one of four varieties of gnomes, which have special powers. The 6-sided dice is wood, and contains six unique values that determines the win condition for a particular round. How to Play Garden Variety The Goal The goal of the game is end up with the most total cards, both from your hand and from the tricks you collect. Unlike normal trick-taking games, the number of cards you can take in a trick can vary, so the total number of cards taken is what matters, not the number of tricks won. Setup The game is as easy to set up as you'd expect from so few components: shuffle the deck, deal 5 cards to each player, and put the dice where everyone the reach it. Gameplay The youngest player goes first. They roll the dice, which determines the win condition for that round. Five of the faces of the dice show a number: 0, 3, 5, 7, and 10. If one of these is rolled, then the goal of that round is simply to play the card that is closest to that number. The sixth side, an exclamation mark, is the 'chaos' side, meaning that the dice is re-rolled after the round to determine the win condition. A simple hand. Image by Rob Huddleston Once the dice is rolled, the first player plays a card from their hand. Each other player follows. Unlike most other trick-taking games, there's no requirement to follow suit, so subsequent players do not need to play a card of the same color as the first one played. There's also no super suit that automatically wins each trick. In the image above, the red 7 is obviously closest to 7, so it wins. A tie, to be determined by the colors. Image by Rob Huddleston Should two or more players tie–for instance, if the round rule is to be closest to 7, and two players play a 5 while another plays a 9, then the game has an interesting mechanic to settle ties: blue beats red, red beats green, green beats yellow, and yellow beats blue. In the image above, the player with the red five wins, because their red five is the same distance from 7 as the yellow 9, but red beats yellow, and yellow beats the green 5. Playing a wild flower card. Image by Rob Huddleston There are also flower cards, which are wild in regards to color (but not number,) so if a flower card ties with any other number card, it wins, as in the image above. Technically, the round is evaluated by comparing the first card played to the second, then the winner of that match-up to the third, and so on until one card remains. It's rarely necessary to do this, but there are some scenarios where it will be used. In the image above, there are two flower cards, each the same distance from the target. Assuming the red 4 was played first, it's compared to the 2 flower, which beats it. Then, the 2 flower is compared to the 4 flower. This is an absolute tie, so the card that was played first–the 2–wins. That card is then compared to the 0-10 card (when this card is played, the player has to declare whether it is a 0 or a 10, but in this case that doesn't matter,) and so the 2 wins the hand. The real twist in the game comes when the gnomes are played. There are four types of gnome (shown in the image in the 'Components' section above,) and each one changes the round in an important way. Two of them change the win condition for the round: one lets you re-roll the dice, while the other simply lets you pick the win condition most advantageous to you. The other two let you mess with your opponents: one lets you simply take the card played by an opponent for this round and make it your play (in which case, the opponent simply doesn't have a card in that round) while the other lets you flip an opponent's card over, so it doesn't count in the round. In all of those cases except the one where you take an opponent's card, you then play a card out of your hand. After each round, the winner draws enough cards from the deck to bring their hand back to 5, followed by the rest of the players in turn order. The winner also rolls the dice for the next round. Once the deck runs out, play continues until a player has no cards left to play. Game End The game ends when a player does not have a card to play from their hand. The game ends immediately at that point. All players count the total number of cards they collected in the tricks they won, and the player with the most cards wins. If there's a tie, the tied player who collected the most gnomes wins. Garden Variety is GeekDad Approved! Why You Should Play Garden Variety Sometimes, nice things come in small packages. Before my first play, I expected that I would enjoy Garden Variety (mostly because I love trick-taking games) but I was surprised by just how much everyone in the group enjoyed it. It's fast and light, and the artwork of silly animals perfectly fits the theme. And yet there's just enough of a twist to truly keep things interesting. Unlike other trick-taking games that can often get stressful–do I try to take this hand? Is this a good time to dump this card?– Garden Variety is so fast you don't really worry too much about it. Don't have a card that will come close to winning this round? Just dump something. You'll be drawing a new card in a moment anyway, and besides, it's impossible to know what you should and shouldn't keep since the win condition for the next round is absolutely random. And then the gnomes get added to the mix. Suddenly, that certain win you had by playing a card that exactly matches the target is gone as the dice gets re-rolled, or another player simply takes your card. And while in other situations that kind of 'gotcha' moment could raise anxiety, it's almost impossible to take this game seriously enough to do anything but laugh. While the game of course won't appeal to everyone–there are folks out there who think that games that don't require 90 minutes and setup and 2 hours of rules explanations to be worth even looking at– Garden Variety is a perfect filler game to start your game night or unwind between stressful heavier games. It's also small enough to be easy to toss into your carry-on and take with you to pull out at the restaurant while you wait for your food. All in all, I'm glad to have it in my collection, and I know it'll be making it to the table frequently. You can get Garden Variety from online or brick-and-mortal retailers. Click here to see all our tabletop game reviews. To subscribe to GeekDad's tabletop gaming coverage, please copy this link and add it to your RSS reader. Disclosure: GeekDad received a copy of this game for review purposes. Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon!
