Online Music Game Review: Chord Drops

The following is a guest post by my student M of Chord Drops, an online music game available at Theta Music Trainer:

Chord Drops: A Student Review

Chord Drops is about recognizing chords. It has you choose what chord you think it sounds like. It mainly practices your ear. It had different levels of difficulty and you could choose if you were a beginner . Or pick a different mode.

It was really interesting, and it is a fun way to practice your ear. I liked the icons and how easy it was to play.

I think that it is a fun game for ear training and that it is fun yet very useful

I would have liked a bit more to it because after a while it can get a bit boring. The icon is a coconut.

Chord Drops: Teacher First Impressions

Chord Drops has 20 levels of difficulty, from Beginner to Expert. There is also a Practice Mode and Play Mode.

In Play Mode, You have five lives and are being scored. If you set up an account through Theta Trainer, your high scores could make it onto the High Score page.

It’s a neat, simple, flash game that gets students to develop their chord recognition in the context of harmonic function.

Check out my gameplay walkthrough livestream of Chord Drops:

Our Favourite Tabletop Games (2021 Edition)

A few months ago, my students and I were surprised to learn that some of my colleagues have been waiting for a game-related blog post with recommendations - both video games and tabletop games. You see, over the years, I have attracted music students who share some of my geeky interests: gaming, anime, manga, sci-fi and fantasy stories.

Our piano parties include gaming after everyone’s performances. Plans are in the works for joint-studio Minecraft parties with my brother’s studio. We all love our games.

Since our combined list is long, I’ll split this into two posts, sharing some of our favourites. First up: tabletop games.

Some of My Favourite Tabletop Games 

I have played countless games through the years with family, friends, and students. The Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo, G33kmoot, FallCon, and Wil Wheaton’s Tabletop series have introduced me to some really neat games.

It’s very difficult to narrow this list down. These are just some of my favourites. They are games that I like to come back to, time and time again:

Clank! Series (2 - 4 Players, Ages 12+): Both Clank! and Clank! in Space are deck-building games. In the original, players raid a dungeon’s lair to steal some of its loot. At some point, the dragon becomes enraged and it becomes a race back up to the surface. In the sequel, players are sneaking around the evil Lord Eradikus’ spaceship, Eradikus Prime. Players hack into the ship’s system to find the evil lord’s artifacts and try to make it out in an escape pod with some loot.

Clank! In Space. Credit: R-M. Arca.

Seven Card Samurai (2 - 8 Players, Ages 9+): Seven Card Samurai is a favourite among members of Ka Muso Kai Calgary and the Edmonton Iaido Club. You know all samurai virtues that are represented by each of our hakama pleats? Those get thrown out the window as we steal rice and fight each other in this exciting card game.

Using Bandits and Ninjas to steal each other’s rice in Seven Card Samurai. Credit: R-M Arca.

Forbidden Series: In Forbidden Desert (2 - 5 Players, Ages 10+), players are members of an archaeological team, tasked with finding the parts to an ancient flying machine. It soon becomes a race against the clock as our sole mode of transportation crashes. Players must work together to find the parts and escape before the desert swallows them up. 

Searching for an ancient flying machine before the desert buries us alive! Credit: R-M Arca

Forbidden Island (2 - 4 Players, Ages 10+) is also a co-operative game. Players work together to collect treasures before the island completely sinks, taking them with it! 

Seeking treasure from the Forbidden Island. Credit: R-M Arca.

Castle Panic (1 - 6 Players, Ages 10+): Castle Panic is a cooperative tower defense game. Players work together to defend the castle from an onslaught of monsters that are trying to storm the castle. Expansions are available.

The monsters are coming! Credit: R-M Arca

Dominion Series (2 - 4 Players, Ages 13+). Since Dominion first came out in 2008, there have been multiple expansions. In this deck-building game, you are the monarch of a kingdom, seeking to build your realm up to a dominion. Standing in your way are the neighbouring kingdoms, seeking to build up dominions of their own.

One of my classmates from Japanese class had a turn that took around 20 cards to complete. Credit: R-M Arca

Defenders of the Realm (1 - 4 Players, Ages 13+): Defenders of the Realm is an adventure/fantasy game with lots of moving pieces. You and your fellow heroes defend the kingdom from dragons, demons, orcs and the undead who threaten to take over the land. Build your team of magicians, the tank, swords people, healers, archers...you know, the typical role-playing (RPG) team.

Defending Monarch City from Orcs, the Undead, Dragons, and Demons. Credit: R-M Arca

7 Wonders (2 - 7 Players, Ages 10+): This is a game I would not recommend to new gamers, just because the game mechanics are a little more complicated than the games I’ve mentioned so far. However, once you get into it, 7 Wonders is a very exciting game.

As the leader of one of the great cities of the Ancient World, you are building your city to last the ages - develop trade routes, build your army, build universities, invade your neighbours, etc. Choose your strategy and build your empire.

Honourable Mentions

The following games have been fun to play at games nights:

Machi Koro (2 - 4 players, Ages 10+): With the roll of a die and your growing deck of cards, build your city to become the biggest in the region. Multiple expansions are available.

Tales & Games: The Hare & the Tortoise (2 - 5 players, Ages 7+ ): Based on Aesop’s Fable of the tortoise and the hare, you bet on who will win the race in this cute card game.

Ticket to Ride (2 - 5 Players, Ages 8+): Collect cards and build your train routes. Winner earns the most points. Multiple expansions are available. Online versions are available.

Biblios (2 - 4 Players, Ages 10+): As the abbot of a medieval monastery, one of your responsibilities is to build the best library of sacred books. You are competing against abbots of other monasteries.

Just One (3 - 7 Players, Ages 8+): This is a short cooperative card game. Players try to uncover as many mystery words as possible. Strive to give your teammates unique one word clues to guess from.

Some of My Students’ Favourite Tabletop Games 

These are some of the games that my students enjoy playing:

Tsuro (2 - 8 Players, Ages 8+): Play your tiles and follow the path. Try to stay on the board and not run into any of your opponents. Last one standing wins. First of a series.

Follow the path and try to be the last dragon standing. Credit: R-Marca

Dutch Blitz (2 - 4 Players, Ages 8+): A fast paced solitaire-type game. First one to play all their cards wins.

Labyrinth (2 - 4 Players, Ages 8+): Explore the labyrinth in search of treasures. Be careful, though! As the game tiles move, so does your path to the loot. First of a series.

The shifting labyrinth. Credit: R-M Arca

Cat Tower (2 - 6 Players, Ages 6+): Stack the cats as high as you can. The first player to get rid of all the cats in their hand wins.

How high can you go? Credit: R-M Arca

Pandemic (2 - 4 Players, Ages 8+): A cooperative board game in which you and your teammates are part of a team of experts, tasked with saving the world from a viral pandemic. First of a series.

King of Tokyo (2 - 6 Players, Ages 8+): It’s an epic dice-rolling slugfest among monsters to become the King of Tokyo. Win either by being the first monster to earn 20 Victory Points or by being the last monster standing.

Last monster standing. Credit: R-M Arca

Trouble (2 - 4 Players, Ages 4+): Players race to the finish line but a simple dice roll with the Pop-O-Matic can send anyone back to Home Base.

Sorry (2 - 4 Players, Ages 6+): Players race Home but a simple card draw can send you back to the starting line.

Where to Buy Tabletop Games

Support local business! We have several, wonderful game specialty stores in Calgary. Each offers an extensive collection and excellent customer service: Imaginary Wars, Metal Galaxy Social Games & Bistro, Sentry Box, and Games People Play. You can also check out Chapters, Mastermind Toys and The Discovery Hut.

Online, check out these Canadian board game suppliers: Boardgame Bliss, Boardgames N More, and Boardgames.ca.

What are some of your favourite tabletop games? Where do you like to buy your games? Share them in the comments.

Stay tuned for Part 2 - Our 2021 Video Game Playlist.

Researching the Best Office and Gaming Chair for Petite People

My quest for the perfect me-sized office chair began at the end of November. After nine months of teaching music lessons online, sitting at my piano bench, my back muscles said that enough is enough. It was time to look for an office chair with proper back support.

I was in the market for something a little different - a work and play chair. A gaming chair. I began as many do in this age, with a shout out on Facebook for chair recommendations. A few friends chimed in but very quickly, I realized that they were recommending chairs that worked for them, not for a petite person who stands under 5 feet tall. Their favourite chairs would land me in the same boat that I was in when I worked in the non-profit and corporate sectors. More on that later.

One friend suggested I take a look at the Omega by Secret Labs. A quick visit to their website brought me to their handy size calculator. After inputting my height and weight, the Omega did indeed come up as a good fit for me.

The Omega model is recommended for short and petite people.

Clicking on the detailed chair specifications for the Omega and the other models, I began to understand what I needed to look for in a “short person chair.” My list of search criteria began to form.

The Chair Search Begins

I then conducted the following searches:

• “Best office chairs for short people”

• “Best gaming chairs for short people”

• “Best chairs for online teaching”

• “Best gaming chairs for people under 5 feet”

There were several articles and lists. I zoomed in on two: “Small Gaming Chairs for Short People and Kids” on Chairsfx.com and “Best Gaming Chairs for Short People” on Ergonomic Trends.com.

After reading both articles, I reflected upon the chairs used in my previous careers. Back and shoulder aches and tension were constant, since I was unable to touch the floor without sitting on the edge of the seat. The armrests had to be removed to prevent repetitive strain injuries caused by them boxing my arms in. At the office furniture manufacturing company I used to work at, they installed a height adjustable keyboard table and I typed standing up. I honestly can’t recall if we raised my computer monitor to reduce neck strain. That was nearly 20 years ago, after all.

What I was Looking for in an Office/Gaming Chair

It became clear that I needed to zoom in on seat height (from chair base to floor), width, and depth for my size. The armrests needed to be close enough to my body to be effective, rather than pin my arms in, causing injury. The backrest couldn’t be too long, or else the lumbar and neck support would not be in the correct position for my height. Thus, my search criteria for a gaming chair became:

• Height range from seat base to floor: as close to 15.6” or 39.62 cm as possible

• Seat width: 15 - 17”

• Seat depth: 20” or less

• Backrest height: 30” or shorter

• Movable lumbar support

• Movable neck support

• Reclining

• Adjustable armrests

• Multi-function tilt

• Swivel

• Good warranty: 2 years or more

• Available in or ships to Canada

• Under $500 CAD (but ideally around $400)

I measured my kitchen chairs to help ascertain my ideal chair dimensions and created a spreadsheet for easy comparisons. I began by studying the chairs listed on Ergonomic Trends and Chairs FX before exploring other gaming chairs.

Initially, I was looking at gaming chairs with flip up armrests, to get them out of the way for piano playing. However, the ones I found looked cheaply made or didn’t fit into my ideal chair range. It was around that time I realized that I needed to look at gaming chairs $400 CAD and above to get a really good one.

Coming up with a Short List

After pouring over chair specifications and reviews for over six hours, I came up with my short list:

A look at my side-by-side comparison spreadsheet

I was really curious about the Hbada Gaming Chair, with its footrest. However, the warranty was significantly less than the competition. As well, they didn’t ship to Canada at the time of ordering. That left me with my Top 3: the AKRacing California, Secret Labs Omega and Maxnomic Casual Sport:

My Top 3 Picks for Short and Petite People. Source: Chairfx.com

When you see the Top 3 side-by-side and look at the ideal chair height for my stature, there really was only one choice: the AKRacing California.

Unfortunately, the chair wasn’t available locally at the time of ordering. I did find it listed on Amazon, Newegg, Wal-mart and AKRacing. I ordered the last chair available on Newegg at the time. Free shipping - what a deal!

I wasn’t expecting my chair to arrive for two weeks but a mere 10 days later, it was sitting on my doorstep. Check out my unboxing and assembly video below. It also includes some of my first impressions:

Chair Review Forthcoming

Suffice it to say that my back, neck and shoulders have been quite happy with the AKRacing California. My students think my “grape chair” is pretty cool. I will do a formal review in another month. I think two or three months should be sufficient for a break in period. Hopefully, the tilt mechanism will have loosened a bit by then as well. Stay tuned!

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