We live in South Africa. Load shedding is now a way of life and being a community of gamers, we need entertainment for when we can switch the on the equipment we usually use to entertain or feed ourselves.

This thread is dedicated to all your recommendations for easy food to make, books to read, board games to play, mobile games to play while the battery lasts and other hobbies that you can do when the power is off. (and please keep it clean )

Personally, I'm looking for book recommendations - If you guys are reading anything good - please let me know

My 2DS is constantly charged and I have tons of books to read.

Seriously, get books. I enjoy the Dresden Files, myself.

@Tempest - Thanks will check it out - I do have my VIta on charge as a back up, Playing Muramasa rebirth

My Vita broke years ago and I can't find a replacement anywhere

If I've remembered to charge the PS Vita, load shedding/power outage = PS1 Classics marathon. Just recently I've tackled Resident Evil 1 through 3 and Tomb Raider 1 + 2. Jamming Tomb Raider 3 during our recent bout of load-shedding.

Otherwise lots of reading using the Kindle app, slowly working my way through The Warhammer 40K Horus Heresy novels that are all overlong and keep fluctuating wildly in quality.

@Magius - I'm about halfway (book 22 I think) and there's been some great books - the first three that set up Horus' betrayal are essential for fans - but most drag on for 400+ pages and literally contribute nothing that couldn;t be covered in half that length. Gonna go onto the forums and start refining my reading list.

Dresden Files FTW. Utterly amazing series. And obviously Pratchet, though his last 2-3 books were disappointing

As for playing... dunno it's a good time to get to know your SO. One candle for illumination and doing 20 questions is fun
And seriously guys... Try to enjoy the downtime. We are waaay to connected these days. Enjoy the silnce and give your brain a break.
Cards against humanity is good for a group if you add some booze

Have only had load shedding once, my area usually gets skipped so not much experience with it. The one time we did have it we just went out for dinner, most decent restaurants have generators, the Spur down the road has one so it's a good option to take my son there.

Would also just watch a movie or something on the laptop. I can't schedule a time to play games, either I feel like playing a game or I don't, load shedding wouldn't necessarily get me to play a game on Switch unless there was something I wanted to play.

Our power at work has just gone off. I came prepared with a carry-bag which holds an iPad Air 2 for Netflix, two physical comics/graphic novels to read outside, phone with 8 hours' worth of downloaded podcasts, and a fully charged portable power bank.

As other have already mentioned a decent powerbank is a must. (20000mah) plus fill a camp flask (1.7l) with hot water. It goes without saying emergency lighting.

I am currently watching Netflix on my tablet, keep in mind you can download netflix and watch offline on Android, iOS and Windows 10 if you don't have a mobile router.

Have a braai and some drinking games

On the eating side, I am extremely partial to snack platters. Salty biscuits, cheese, toppings mmmmmmmmm

Only been load shed once but I like reading anyway The Silent Patient is what I'm reading right now and I really recommend it if you're into psychology and mystery.

Frasier re-runs on my laptop are also fun

I got an email from Vumatel stating that a 1000VA UPS is strong enough to power your Fibre box, WiFi router, and a single cell phone charger. Apparently by doing this, you will still have internet, as the fibre line itself does not use power.

I'm seriously considering doing this, but would like to know if anybody has tried this?

Sudoku, 3DS and PS Vita

But we get it so often that we have decided to just go off the grid, solar power here we come.

I just hope they don't steal our solar panels, yes they even steal solar panels in South Africa

They steal everything in SA.

TIL that you can Download Netfilx shows onto your Phone - With Dragon prince 2 and Umbrella academy now out - I'm just saving that as back up viewing should this load shedding thing start up this weekend