- Squirrel Appreciation Day - New Contest!
You've Been Squirreled! 
In honor of Squirrel Appreciation Day, which falls on the 21st of January of every year, we have a new contest to reveal…You’ve Been Squirreled!
On January 21, 2021, the token above will be placed on the random profile page of a GoldToken member. You will then have a year to find it and claim it! You can claim it by messaging
GoldToken Support and telling them whose profile it is currently on, and if you are correct it will be moved to your profile. Whoever’s profile the token is on every January 21st (starting 2022) will win a prize! Once the prize is awarded, the token will be moved to another random player’s profile!
- 2019 Winter Olympics Results
Perfect timing! GoldToken's 2019 Winter Olympics games have ended just as 2020's Winter Olympics is starting! We'd like to thank everyone who participated in the games, and especially our dedicated volunteers who spent time making these games happen.
Congrats to the following players and teams:
Region with most points: The
2019 Winter Olympic Team Zeus Club
Player with most points: TrueIndian
129 tournaments out of 129 are finished.
Team Scores
- New Year, New Discussion Board Tokens
Here's a sample of the new discussion board Tokens for 2021! You'll be able to find these and more on the discussion boards very soon.
-
-
- 20th Anniversary Token Competition
There were 17 players who earned all 40 of the
20th Anniversary Tokens!
HeartOnFire,
Lil Red,
monkeytyper,
pepperbeach,
RabidWolff of the Wolf Pack,
Silkwood,
hoof hearted,
JanuarySnowAngel,
BettyAnn,
Jools,
Eggy,
csain1,
MM David littlefair XI,
Otto the octopus,
rabbitoid,
fatdaddy and
**Lover of Darkness** will all be entered in an automated tournament to see who wins the grand prize!
Happy New Year, everyone!
I hope it's off to a good start for you.
Wishing you much luck and tons of fun!
--
heyred72
In this month's newsletter, we have:
Birthdays & Special Announcements
Photozone Competition
Discussion Boards in the Spotlight
Australia's Amazing Attributes
Photo Album of the Month
Game Of The Month
Best Recipe Contest
Pony Up!
Up Front & Personal
Contest of the Month
Caption Contest
Testimonial of the Month
Icon Mania!
Breaking Club News
Shout Out!
Olympic News
 | Birthdays & Special Announcements |  |
-- Happy Birthday to
MrLarry47 on January 1st! - From
The Wolf Pack Club -
-- Happy Birthday to
SIRI on January 2nd! - From The
Backgammon Tournament Club and The
Friendship Club -
-- Happy Birthday to
Big Giant Head on January 3rd! - From The
Scoop's Castle Club , The
Classic TV & Music Club, The
Prime Time TV Club and The
Friendship Club -
-- Happy Birthday to
skzoey on January 3rd! - From The
Prime Time TV Club -
-- Happy Birthday to
GUINESS14 on January 4th! - From The
Backgammon Tournament Club, The
Word O'Rama Club,
The Wolf Pack Club and
The Pork Chop Club -
-- Happy Birthday to
BrnIdGirl on January 5th! - From The
Daily Laugh Club, The
Prime Time TV Club,
The Pork Chop Club, The
Monkeytyper's Gaming Paradise Club and The
Innocent Instigators Club -
-- Happy Birthday to
China_Blue on January 5th! -
-- Happy Birthday to
Toodles on January 6th! - From
The Pork Chop Club, The
Friendship Club , The
Scoop's Castle Club, The
Diamonds Are Forever Club and The
Deborah's Cove Family Club -
-- Happy Birthday to
singer on January 7th! -
-- Happy Birthday to
Callie on January 8th! - From The
Daily Laugh Club, The
He's Alive Club,
The Pork Chop Club, The
Scoop's Castle Club, The
Word O'Rama Club and The
Monkeytyper's Gaming Paradise Club -
-- Happy Birthday to
vlf on January 13th! - From The
Scoop's Castle Club, The
Friendship Club, The
Word O'Rama Club, The
Prime Time TV Club. The
Diamonds Are Forever Club and The
Deborah's Cove Family Club-
-- Happy Birthday to
sarahjan on January 13th! -
-- Happy Birthday to
adopt 3 on January 17th! - From The
He's Alive Club, The
Prime Time TV Club, The
Friendship Club , The
Backgammon Tournament Club,
The Pork Chop Club, The
Monkeytyper's Gaming Paradise Club, The
Deborah's Cove Family Club and { Club } -
-- Happy Birthday to
gravyrun on January 17th! -
-- Happy Birthday to
MT on January 19th! - From The
Daily Laugh Club-
-- Happy Birthday to
Kinoko zoku on January 19th! -
-- Happy Birthday to
monkeytyper on January 20th! -
The Pork Chop Club, The
Monkeytyper's Gaming Paradise Club, The
Word O'Rama Club and { Club } -
-- Happy Birthday to
ET124 on January 24th! -
-- Happy Birthday to
squirrel on January 25th! - From The
Word O'Rama Club, and The
Monkeytyper's Gaming Paradise Club -
-- Happy Birthday to
JanuarySnowAngel on January 25th! -
-- Happy Birthday to
kittyrambo on January 26th! - From { Club } and The
Classic TV & Music Club -
-- Happy Birthday to
mutt on January 29th! - From The
Monkeytyper's Gaming Paradise Club and The
Scoop's Castle Club -
* If you would like to announce any birthdays, anniversaries or other special events coming up for next month, please send GoldToken's Newshound a message before the 25th of this month, so we can give them a shout out in next month's newsletter! (Please keep all announcements upcoming and not belated. Announcements submitted after the newsletter is published, cannot be put in after the fact, we're sorry!)
Macro Photography Contest
Come join GoldToken's Macro Photography Contest by posting your related image with a title on the Photozone board. A new image will be revealed every 2 weeks. You will have 2 weeks to post your image before it's closed to reveal the next image. A poll will be posted for voting after the image is closed.
Win the most entries at the end of a year and collect a set of LIGHTBOX Macro Photography Cards!
To post your image you can visit the Photozone discussion board. To see each image that is open, visit Photozone Zepher's Album titled Macro Photography Contest.
This is our open image until Jan. 13th, titled "Under the Sea" 
Everyone that enters an image will receive a 21st Anniversary token and the winners will receive one of our new board tokens!
 Discussion Boards in the Spotlight  |
| Brought to you by: LittleTree |
Profile Image Requests
Want a new profile picture (seasonal, personal or other) on your profile page? Maybe a different/new background for your page or a change for the new year! Hosted by
eliphont551 and
hoot, this board is the place to go to have your wishes granted. The board provides many links to show you what is offered. Click on the links to see what you would like to have and then post a new comment to tell the hosts what you would like. These images can sure brighten up your profile page! I love looking at all the different themes GoldToken has provided for her players!
Im-paw-ssibly Cute Pet Photos
This is a fun board, created for your entertainment! Jump right in and post a sequence of letters in the subject line. Others reply to the post with words that have that sequence of letters in them. Examples given on the board: Subject: UNCH
Some possible replies: Lunch, crunch, uncharted. There are practically unlimited possibilities players can come up with. So
by this board and see how many you can come up with!
Other boards for your enjoyment and a chance to win tokens:
Caption Humor
Crafters' Fair
Cutting Board
General Chat
Jest for Puns
Jokes Board
Paraprosdokian Sentences
Photozone
Photo Album Contest
Polls
Pony Up!
Word Of The Week
| Australia's Amazing Attributes |
| Brought to you by: restivo46 |
For nearly 8000 years, the Gunditjmara people of western Victoria farmed eels. They modified more than 100 square kilometres of the landscape, constructing artificial ponds across the grassy wetlands and digging channels to interconnect them. They exported their produce and became an important part of the local economy. And then white settlers arrived and all they left of the Gunditjmara's thriving industry were several hundred piles of stones that had formed the foundations to the people's huts.
Since the 1970s, archaeologists have suspected that the stone remains in the Lake Condah region were evidence that the local Aborigines had lived in villages. But it was not until an eight-year research project was carried out by a Flinders University archaeologist, Heather Builth, that the real importance of the remains became clear.
The area was naturally a wetland, but Builth discovered that the Gunditjmara had modified it with weirs, channels and dams to make the landscape eel-friendly. But her research revealed something even more remarkable. The output from these eel farms would have been enormous - she estimates it could have fed up to 10,000 people. Her hunch was that this was more like an ancient fishing industry than a subsistence farm, and she set out to prove it.
She had noticed the landscape was scattered with burnt, hollowed-out trees, often right next to the eel traps. Could the structures have been ancient smokehouses? Builth took soil samples from the base of four trees. When the results came back it was her eureka moment: the samples did contain traces of eel fat. Suddenly the whole picture changed. "The Gunditjmara weren't just catching eels," she says. "Their whole society was based around eels."
Archaeologists know a society undergoes a quantum leap in sophistication when it can produce surplus food, because the community has more time for pursuits other than basic survival. "This puts the people here in a different category than we've generally put Aboriginal groups," says Builth. We usually think of Aboriginal people as living in small communal bands, where power and wealth are shared relatively equally. But Builth believes the Lake Condah farmers' society was much more complex: "I think what we had here was a hierarchical, structured society."
Perhaps the biggest surprise about the Gunditjmara prehistoric fishing society came when Builth asked a Monash University geologist, Professor Peter Kershaw, to try to put a date on it. He drilled into some of the ponds that still have water (much of the area was drained in the 19th century) to take cores of soil. To geologists, these long, five-centimetre-wide tubes of sludge are like time machines, because the sludge is laid down gradually over millennia. Kershaw was able to drill down 13 metres before hitting the bedrock, which produced a core that stretched down to soil made 18,000 years ago.
Like a forensic scientist, Kershaw hoped to date the eel farm from indirect evidence. He sliced the core into thin sections (one centimetre corresponds to about 20 years) and meticulously identified the various pollens in each. Eventually he found the region of the core where the plant species abruptly changed. The vegetation had gone from being dominated by plants that preferred a drier environment to water-loving aquatic species. "This doesn't occur naturally," says Kershaw. "It had to have some help. People have been here - that is the most likely explanation."
But the most dramatic finding was when Kershaw radiocarbon-dated the part of the core showing the abrupt change. It was 8000 years old, making the fish farming industry at Lake Condah one of the most ancient. "This is a very early time and puts the indigenous people here up there with the best of them anywhere in the world," says Builth.
The only comparable group at this early time were the indigenous people on America's north-west coast, who caught salmon as they naturally migrated up the rivers. But the Gunditjmara's farming practices were far more developed. They brought the young eels in from the ocean and trapped them in their artificial waterways for up to 20 years.
Builth was attracted to Lake Condah because of the boulders scattered all over the ground. Many of them seemed to be clumped into circular patterns. Since the '70s people had argued these were the remains of the village huts, but the claims had always been controversial - and the fact that the lost Aboriginal village attracted many amateur archaeologists each year didn't help give the site credibility.
In 1990 the Lake Condah stone circles were officially surveyed and the conclusion - after just a 40-day study - was that most of the circles were not hut foundations at all. They were more the product of overly active and untrained imaginations misinterpreting natural formations.
Builth was especially surprised by this because the surveying archaeologist was sent out by the Victorian Archaeological Survey (now Aboriginal Affairs Victoria), a body meant to look after Aboriginal heritage.
To prove that the circles of stones were not natural formations, Builth painstakingly measured and weighed each of the rocks in them. She then performed a statistical analysis and showed that the chance of these hundreds of circles coming together naturally was almost zero. The only likely remaining explanation was that the circles were the stone foundations of huts.
Builth also suspects the Gunditjmara traded the smoked the eels they produced across Victoria and South Australia. The famous escaped convict William Buckley, who lived with Aborigines for many years, mentioned eels from western Victoria in his diaries, as did Victoria's first protector of Aborigines, George Augustus Robinson.
Ken Saunders, a Gunditjmara elder living in Victoria, says: "We weren't nomads. We didn't wander all over the bloody place and go walkabout. We had an existence here. We used to trap eels ourselves and use the eel traps. And some of the young fellas today still use the traps. So the eels were part of our diet. I still eat the bloody things today."
Using a combination of archaeology and ethnographic-historical eyewitness evidence, archaeologist Heather Builth has built up a detailed picture of a sophisticated society run by the Gunditjmara.
The people spent much less time acquiring food than nomadic people. Not only could they fish eels whenever they wanted, many other foods were also readily available all year round. By building the artificial ponding system they had also unintentionally created an artificial wetland rich in roots and tubers. These could be harvested during all seasons, as could eggs and the many waterbirds attracted to the wetlands. The Gunditjmara's relatively sedentary life freed up their time, allowing them to develop a more complex society.
The Gunditjmara also had significant influence in the regional economy, which stretched from South Australia to Victoria and probably well into NSW. They traded their eels for important materials they didn't have, such as quartz and flint, to make knives and other stone artefacts. They also imported complete stone axes and exported possum-skin coats, which the women wore when they came of age. Showing just how far Gunditjmara society had moved beyond basic survival needs, they even imported wooden implements that were of no use. Purely for status, the spear-like objects were made from wood that grew only in Victoria's Cape Otway ranges.
| Photo Album of the Month |
| Brought to you by: ladyvic |
Take a look at the beautiful Christmas Art/Scenes! Everyone has such wonderful albums this time! Hard to pick just one.
The winning album is: **YANKEE ROSE*JR FRANK PAB's Album 
There was a tie for 2nd place
JanuarySnowAngel's Album 
HeartOnFire's Album 
Our first 2021 theme is: New and Shiny!
Participants will receive a 21st Anniversary token and winners will receive one of our brand new board tokens!
So come join us with your albums at Photo Album Contest
I look forward to a fun year with you guys.
ladyvic
January's game of the month is
Outbreak! Join us in a fun Double Elimination Tournament by signing up today for
The Game of the Month - Jan 2021 - Outbreak Tournament!
Sometimes, viruses are fun!
The object of this game is to replicate your own virus cells and mutate those of your opponent(s) so that you end up with the most virus cells left at the end of the game. Visit
Rules of Outbreak for more information.
We hope you enjoy it!
| Club ~VS~ Club Tournament Of The Month |
January 2021's game of the month is
Caveman! Join us in a fun League Style Tournament by signing your club up today. You can send
PattyMac your list of 1-5 members in your club that would like to play Caveman or post in the The
Site Wide Club vs Club Tournament Club
Please PM
PattyMac to join the club or if you have any questions
!
The Cutting Board finished out 2020 with a record sixteen entries and a 3-way tie, and the winners are:
English Toffee Cookies
INGREDIENTS:
1 Package + a few more Graham crackers cut on all the perforations (from a box of Nabisco Honey Grahams..it doesn't work the same with other brands)
1/2 lb Butter (real)
1/2 C Sugar
1 1/2 C Chopped and roasted pecans
1 lb Milk chocolate melting wafers (sometimes I mix milk & dark chocolate)
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat over to 350
1. Butter a 10 X 15 cookie sheet (with sides)
2, Boil sugar & butter for 2 minutes stirring
3. Pour over crackers & bake at 350 for 10 minutes, stirring.
4. Meanwhile chop the nuts and melt the chocolate in the microwave...melt for 1 minute, stir a little, then another min.
5. Spread melted chocolate over the crackers soon as they come out of the oven.
6. Sprinkle the whole top with the roasted pecans.
7. Refrigerate for an hour or longer. Break into pieces and keep in an airtight container.
Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 egg
1 cup creamy or crunchy peanut butter, mix well
Directions
Mix together sugar and soda.
Add egg and mix; and add peanut butter and mix well.
Roll into balls. Place in 2 ungreased muffin tins.
Bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool in pans. Makes 2 dozen.
Banana Nut Bread
1/2 cup Butter
1 1/4cup sugar
1 Teaspoon vanilla
2 Eggs beaten
2-3 RIPE Bananas
1/4cup milk
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup pecans or walnuts
In a large bowl, beat butter and eggs til smooth. Add eggs, vanilla , and bananas and mix well.
In a separate bowl, add dry ingredients, one at a time and blend together.
Slowly add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well.
Pour into greased bread pan. and bake at 350 for 50-60 min. (until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean)
GoldToken's
karynsong,
Watson and
**YANKEE ROSE*JR FRANK PAB will receive a "one time" access to the entire list of site icons, and can select any one that is not currently being used by another player, regardless of membership level (Silver and Wood members can keep the icon for 1 year!). Please send a big
to
karynsong,
Watson and
**YANKEE ROSE*JR FRANK PAB !
January's recipe contest is: "Super Bowl Snacks". The winner will be given a "one time" access to the entire list of site icons, and can select any one that is not currently being used by another player, regardless of membership level (Guests, Wood and Silver members can keep the icon for 1 year!). Rules:
- Entries must be posted by the recipe guardian/creator on the Cutting Board DB.
- Recipe must be original and have never been posted on the Cutting Board DB before.
Participants will receive one of our new, 21st Anniversary tokens and Winners will receive one of our new board tokens!
Christmas has come and gone and now a new year is upon us.
Pony Up! wants to wish everyone a
with wishes of a new beginning and safety for everyone!
Christmas was busy in December with, of course, Christmas themes throughout. Many holiday tokens were given out to winners and their profile pages are now alight
with many cheerful tokens.
to all who entered and made it such fun!
Now is a good time to check us out as the
Pony Up! board (and many of the other boards) have received new tokens to be given to winners of the contests.
Maybe you will win the bonus tokens
or
on the
board or any of the other ones offered!
by all the boards and check out the new tokens. You'll be glad you did!!
December Winners:
Susie -
Christmas Movie Trivia
z71cat -
The Catnip Made Me Do It Caption
**Lover of Darkness** -
Christmas Fun
PattyMac -
Write a Letter to Santa
Judy monkeytyper laura lee -
Christmas Jokes
laura leeJoolscsain1**Lover of Darkness**fatdaddy Mary Buddha eliphont551 monkeytyper JanuarySnowAngel HeartOnFire Otto the octopus Dragon Jr Christmas Carol Riddle
cindy1970 pepperbeach -
Light Up the Board
csain1 -
Christmas Movie Trivia
cindy1970 RabidWolff of the Wolf Pack Christmas Movie Trivia
RabidWolff of the Wolf Pack -
Christmas Greetings Contest
MM David littlefair XI squirrel -
Christmas Trivia
laura lee Silkwood -
More Christmas Trivia
May this new year bring you a fresh start with renewed energy and confidence throughout the New Year. 
(unknown photo)(unknown photo)(unknown photo)
**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**
We would like to say
to
loudpedal for letting us step into their personal life for a bit.
1. What brought you to GoldToken, and how'd you choose your name for GT?
- I was introduced to GoldToken by an old friend
who I met on Brainking. The friend no longer plays here. 
Loudpedal is an old nickname going back many years
2. What interests you most on GT? Do you have a favorite game?
- Fav game is maybe backgammon.
However I enjoy whist, and a new friend on here taught me to play cribbage which I enjoy a lot.
3. What state or country do you reside in? What do you think tourists should definitely see?
- I live in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Tourists must visit the giants causeway, a world heritage site, and the Titanic experience. But just driving
around some of our scenic roads in the glens of Antrim is a great experience.
4. What hobbies do you have?
- I love to travel. By motorcycle
, car 
, motorhome 
. Have covered a lot of Europe by vehicle. Not a fan 
of flying 
. Enjoy cooking 
and drinking wine 
Smiling 
5. Children? Grandchildren?
- I have three daughters
and two lovely grandchildren - a boy and a girl. 
6. Do you work? What kind of work do/did you do?
- I work as a driver trainer for a government agency. Cars,
vans, trucke (unknown photo). Even an odd bus 
when required.
7. Any pets?
- My dog Floyd
features on a few of my album pics.
8. Are you under 30?___ 30 to 50? ___ or over 50? Male or Female?
- Over 50 and male.
9. What's the farthest you've been from home?
- From Belfast to New Zealand. Can you get any further?
10. If you could be anywhere right now, where would that be?
- On a summer's day on an alpine pass on a motorcycle with friends.
11. Favorite season?
- Summer.
12. Favorite movie? Favorite TV show?
- Best movie could be "Kelly's Hereos" but there are so many.
13. If you could meet anyone (living or dead) in the world, who would it be?
- Love to have seen Jim Morrison in his prime.
If there are any questions you would like to see asked in future interviews, please let us know.
Laura
laura lee
Best Original Poem
January's contest of the month is for the
Best Original Poem posted on GoldToken's DB. The winner will be chosen by poll on the discussion board and will receive 5 Golderos.
Entries must be the original work of the player posting and should include a title. Poems must be posted on the discussion board no later than Wednesday, January 27, 2021, in order to be included in the contest. Have fun writing!
The Caption Contest winner for the December, 2020, newsletter is
quietman with:
Je ne parle pas Anglais - Clearly this groundhog doesn’t speak English!
quietman!
To enter January's Caption Contest, click on the link and post your best caption:
photo titled January 2021 Caption Contest.
The winner will be chosen by our news team, given 5
Golderos and announced in next month's newsletter.
| Testimonial of the Month |
| Brought to you by: *GoldToken_Players* |
How long have you been on GoldToken?
I've been playing here since 2006, I don't have so much time now so try to keep my games below 50 otherwise I tend to time-out
How did you hear about our site?
I had recently learnt to play backgammon and was looking for a site to play. I loved all the other games so stayed.
Games you like to play:
My favourite are all the xiphias variants. I also like pipes, gold dots, salvo, and 5&3s amongst others.
Clubs you like to join or run:
I used to own The
Xiphias Invasion Club that I inherited from Pam,
samoy2e. When I dropped my membership to silver a couple of years ago I passed the club on, but am still an active member.
I used to also help out as an officer in The
Castaways Club.
I was also
Photozone Zepher for a few years. I really loved my time on
Photozone, but lack of time meant I had to quit.
I also helped create the graphics for some of the games here, Polar Poultry is my favourite work.
I'm still active in The
Sallyp and Friends Club where I play most of my games.
Jools
A new year is on us. Welcome 2021!
Valentine's Day will be here soon, and I will have those icons out for you about mid-month.
AND it's also that time of the year when I go over all the saved icons to see if they were used, so if you catch one in your in-mail I'd appreciate you giving it top priority.
Be sure to check out the
Icon Of The Day!
Shout Out! to
Diddly from North Carolina, member since 2007 and a proficient player of Acey Deucy. A gold prospector, by choice since retirement, along with his wife
Susie 
he actually finds some precious metals!
What an exciting way to retire
Diddly! Thank you for being such a faithful member and we're so glad you're part of our GoldToken family!
Shout Out! to
Blue Moon from Missouri City, member since 2005 and a formidable opponent of Los Ochos and Tourne-Case. So glad you were able to meet up with other GoldToken players and share them with us.
Love the pictures of your grandchildren; thank you for sharing them with us and thank you for being such a dedicated member
Blue Moon! We're so glad you're part of our GoldToken family!
Shout Out! to
curlywolf member since 2009 and his Reversi games reflect his talent. An avid collector of pottery, a self taught chess player in two days' time,
and a lover of animals! We love how you picked your GoldToken name; thank you for sharing that with us; it is so interesting! Thank you for being such a faithful member of GoldToken and we're so glad you're part of our GoldToken family,
curlywolf!
Players randomly chosen for the Shout Out! section will receive one of the following tokens from GoldToken.
 |
| Brought to you by: GoldToken's Olympic Presidents |
W
s
Competitions are published when gold, silver & bronze winners have been determined 
- Do you have a special story, poem or testimonial you would like to share? How about some club news, announcements or any other special events? Then don't delay, send GoldToken's Newshound your submissions today! We look forward to hearing from you!
** (Please note: All submissions are added on a first come first serve basis.) **
Did you find the hidden coin in the newsletter ? Our winner last month was HeartOnFire. to her for spotting it and being the first to send a message to GoldToken's Newshound. We would like to give everyone a chance to play this fun game and win 5 Golderos,so you will only be eligible to win the Coin Hunt once every six months.
[
Main: GoldToken's Monthly Newsletter - Past Issues ]
