Happy Friday! This week we’re unloading the boxes full of my husband Scott’s childhood memories for some gaming goodness! We were both just little munchkins when Atari first came out and it was love at first Asteroid! I fondly remember watching my older brothers show off their impressive Space Invader skills. And being taught by them how to find “The Dot” in Adventure where you could go beyond the ‘walls’ of the game and find the name of the game’s creator. To 5-year old me, it felt like I was solving the world’s coolest mystery at the time!
Puzzle: Springbok Gamer’s Trove 🧩
There’s no leisure activity my husband loves more than gaming, so obtaining this puzzle was a must for us! I grew up on Springbok puzzles, they were always my family’s favorite. With their funky, unique pieces, each puzzle is a fun, one-of-a-kind challenge.
Springbok has been around since 1963 and owned by the Hallmark company since 1967. They pride themselves on producing very high-quality puzzles with vibrant lithography, thick pieces, and unique piece shapes. Springbok uses special dies for cutting their puzzles so no two pieces are exactly alike.
Find it here:
Springbok Gamer’s Trove (at Springbok’s Amazon store)
Album: The Greatest Video Game Music Played by The London Philharmonic Orchestra 🎵
I just HAD to pick some cheesy gamer music to go along with tonight’s theme but to keep things somewhat classy around here, I chose this symphonic gem:
Our favorite track has to be Koji Kondo’s Legend of Zelda Suite. Forever Scott’s favorite gaming franchise, the music from Zelda is catchy and classic. The soundtrack also includes other classic themes from gamer favorites Tetris, Super Mario Galaxy, and Final Fantasy.
Scott has a couple of other favorite gaming playlists that I’ve also linked below.
Listen to it here:
The Greatest Video Game Music Played by The London Philharmonic Orchestra
Candle: Trvdon Ernesto 🕯️
So what kind of candle to match up with a bunch of geeky gaming things? I don’t currently have anything on hand with an exact on-the-nose gaming theme. But I do have a few with a very old-world, ‘our-princess-is-in-another-castle’ inclination.
I chose the ‘Ernesto’ fragrance from Trvdon’s lovely collection of bougie candles. Ernesto is a rich, smoky tobacco and leather scented candle. The fragrance transports me to a cozy, dimly-lit library in an olde-timey castle. I imagine dark wood-paneling and cozy leather reading chairs; a side table with a fancy cigar and a tulip-shaped glass of rum on top of it. The candle has a full olfactive pyramid similar to a luxury perfume:
- Top Notes: bergamot, grapefruit, rhum (rum)
- Middle Notes: clove, labdanum, oak wood, patchouli
- Base Notes: amber, leather, moss, tobacco
Trvdon is a distinguished Paris luxury candle house that has been around since 1643. The house has the distinction of being a ‘Royal Manufacture’ that once supplied candles to Louis XIV (aka the Sun King). Their candles are handmade from beeswax and they take bee conservation very seriously, to the point of being involved in their own conservancy program. In fact, the house’s motto from day one has been “Deo regique laborant,” or “They (the bees) work for God and the King.”
As I am well aware that Trvdon’s prices definitely make them a luxurious and pricey treat, I have also linked some fun candles below that are specifically gaming-related (and more affordable!)
Find it here:
Trvdon Ernesto candle 9.5oz (at Bergdorf Goodman)
Video game-themed candles (at Amazon)
Video game-themed candles (at Etsy)
Beer: Ruse Brewing Reverse World American-Style IPA 🍺
We had so much fun perusing one of our favorite local craft beer bottle shops for a fun gaming-related beer. At times, they’ve even carried brews that were specifically video-game themed, though we didn’t find anything exactly like that there tonight. BUT we did find this fun robot-themed one and figured close enough!
Tonight’s beer is Reverse World, an American-style IPA, by Ruse Brewing based out of Portland, OR. Ruse is an artisanal brewery that brews in small batches. Ruse works closely with their local community’s artists and musicians to design beers that match up with their art for concept events and beer releases. How cool is that??
This is a very easy-to-drink IPA. For those who are hop-wary, it’s not bitter and has a nice touch of malt. Overall, I find it very well-balanced and delicious.
Find it here:
Look for this beer in your local craft beer shop or if you’re in Portland or Vancouver, WA, visit them here (scroll down a little for the address).
What was your favorite video game to play when you were a kid? What about now? Let’s talk video games in the comments! 🎮🤖🕹
P.S. Catch my other Friday Night Puzzling posts here and here!
This post contains affiliate links, meaning when you click the shopping links and make a purchase, I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
I am SO bad at video games, don’t have the skill or the attention span for them. My mom wouldn’t allow us to have a console at home, and so I never got the practice in. I played Newspaper Boy, Super Mario Bros, Mario Kart, and Sonic the Hedgehog at friends’ houses. Was utter sh*t at all of them! 😀
Oh, but I did love Day of the Tentacles in the mid 90s. The only game I managed to ever finish. And You Don’t Know Jack, spent some happy days playing those with my brother.
Your candle inspired me to light up my mini Diptyque Feu de Bois. It sits of the shelf above my desk when not in use, semi-forgotten, so that when I got wafts of it I wondered where that amazing smell comes from.
Oh gosh, I can relate! My only conquests were Super Mario Bros 3 and SM World. I usually just watch Scott play and help him solve any puzzles. He SO much more coordinated than I am when it comes to those newer controllers with a million little buttons! 😄
I remember You Don’t Know Jack!! Scott & I loved that one, too. I’m such a nerd for anything trivia 🤓
Mmmm…. Feu de Bois is soooo cozy! I have a little tiny one I got in a 5-pack sampler pack a few years ago at a Nordstrom Half-Yearly Sale. I need to get a full size of that baby!