Secret Hitler board game DIY

Autumn colors and cold rain is perfect for arts and crafts, a DIY weekend project. Actually more like afternoon project.

I found an interesting board game named Secret Hitler. It is similar to Mafia, but in this, you get playing cards and a board.

The game is played with 5 up to 10 players. There are 2 teams, fascists, and liberals. The point of the game for the fascists is to get Hitler chancellor or promote 6 fascists laws. The liberals to win have to promote 5 liberal laws or kill Hitler.

So the first thing is to download the game from the kikstarter site. (download)

The pdf with the playing cards is b&w, and you do not get the full deck of cards design. All of the fascist cards are the same as well as the liberal cards. The real deal has beautiful artwork for every fascist and liberal card.

To make the game I decided to get a thick paper, 300 gram (color cardboard). To print it I used my 10-year-old inkjet Canon printer. It needed a very slight nudge to take the thick paper in but after that, it was smooth sealing. I used color cardboard instead of plain white to give the game a bit of the original feel.

The total cost of the supplies was about 4 $, plus a few hours for printing and carefully cutting.

The colors I used for the cards are: yellow for the chancellor and president cards, blue-gray for the laws, role cards and party member card, and red for the board.

Opinel No 8

For some time now I am looking for a hiking,  general purpose knife. Of course, first time I started searching for one my mind went directly to Crocodile Dundee -That is not a knife, this is a knife..

but using reason I managed to pick an Opinel no 8.
What I want from a hiking knife is to carry it safely (folding is a good starting point), to have a decent size blade (8 cm is good enough) for cutting food with not too much trouble, stainless steel blade because I will be using it to prepare food, a locking system so the blade doe not close on me.

I found in the Opinel all of the requirements above.
Of course, a folding knife is not as strong as a fixed blade, but I will not be alone with my knife in the jungle where I have to hunt to survive. So opting for a folding blade is more practical. A 30 cm blade would be great if I would hunt for bears or crocodiles. But for cutting the bread and buttering it, it makes more sense to use a smaller blade.
I found a lot of fans of the brand and a lot of reviews of the knife. A lot of them say you can not beat the knife at this price point. (I paid 10 dollars for a stainless steel 8 cm blade Opinel).
First, when I opened the package and got my hand on the knife I said, it's priced according to what it offers. The folding mechanism is encased in wood, and this is not a good thing in my opinion. The wood shrinks or expands and this affects the blade unfolding force needed. It can jump from hard to open it (going to break my nails and fingers) to if it's not locked the blade will just swing around.
It is an old design, farmers knife. In my opinion, the company should work a little on the design.

Opinel No 8

The knife didn't come very sharp. So the first thing was to sharpen the blade to an acceptable level. Second thing was putting mineral oil at in the pivoting mechanism several times and braking it in. Several days of opening and closing.

At this point, i consider the knife has not too much not too little friction during blade opening/closing.

Another thing that I do not like is the finish of the fishtail handle. It is too rough on the hand, so I might just sand it down and maybe reshape the back of the handle.
But after a week of having this knife, I started to like it. And I like it for its simplicity the same reason I didn't like it at first. The wood handle, the simple locking system, the classic and beautiful design that survived over all these years.

Bic matic grip in cinema

You do not need a high-end pencil to do some sketches, a comfortable one works just fine. It's all in the wrist finally.
In the movie American Ultra, Mike Howell played by Jesse Eisenberg likes doodling and sketching.
The results... Bic Matic will draw*


At some point in time, probably in the 3rd or 4th grade, I had a Bic Matic, the older version (classic by today's standards).
It had a white barrel with black clip and black front part, 0.7 mm. From my memories, it was my first (or second) mechanical pencil I ever owned. After seeing it in the movie American Ultra I am starting to get nostalgic, maybe I will get a new Bic Grip Matic.


It seems Thor is a fan of Bic as well. If you want to see Bic appearance in other movies view this post as well.

*  reference to "Forged in fire"

Penac Chubby and Faber Castell Grip Plus

Two different brands of stationary, same mechanical pencil.

Faber Castell Grip Plus:

The mechanical pencil comes in a plastic body with 4 available colors (green metallic, blue metallic, black metallic, red metallic). It has a triangular rubber grip and a twist eraser. The clip is plastic similar to that on the Grip Matic.

As the mechanical pencil is for general writing purpose you have the option of 0.7 mm lead. Also, there is a less common 1.4 mm lead size version. It has a slide back sleeve and spring lead protection, for when you push too hard on the pencil.

Penac Chubby 10:

Penac is a Japanese brand produced by the Kotobuki & Co Ltd. Chubby 10 is a large grip, "jumbo" by the producer standards. The pencil has a plastic body. You can choose between 0.7 and 0.5 lead. Available colors are blue for the 0.7 mm and black for the 0.5 mm.

It has a twist eraser, PVC free the same as the Faber Castell. It features cushioned lead and a sliding sleeve, the same as the Faber Castell.

The only thing that seems to differ is the clip. The grip is slightly different also, but not much.

The real difference comes in price though, where the Penac is half the price of the Faber Castell.