Porter says “Christmas is kind of a knockoff Easter,” and he’s absolutely right.  Christ, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny all tumbling together, coated in so much sugar and glitter that it’s hard to tell which foot is sticking out of the meringue; is that a sandal, a boot or just a really long ear?  Who cares, let’s worship whoever gives us the most stuff.

China is the land of knockoffs.  Knockoff ipods, knockoff dvds and knockoff handbags.  Abby had a Gucci purse that cost her five bucks and lasted a whole week before rivets started popping and the main zipper quit working.  She let Chase throw up in it while we were in the back of a moving car in Hong Kong, so I guess it was good for something.  When we tell people we produce board games, most Chinese scratch their heads and ask what that is.  “It’s a game you play on a board, like Chess or Go.”–“Oh, I see.”  But we can tell they don’t really get it.  They admire western ideas though, and enough enterprising souls have knocked-off American and European games that this spring will mark the first Shanghai game convention.  The market is slowly opening, even if the games are adulterated and off the back of a truck.

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