The latest from GMT Games are The Kaiser’s Pirates and Dead of Winter. The Kaiser’s Pirates is a World War I card game where each player controls both British merchant ships and German commerce raiders. It’s said to work really well as a solitaire game, with an extra deck of cards used to imitate the actions of a phantom player. Dead of Winter is part of the Great Battles of the American Civil War series and recreates the Battle of Murfreesboro/Battle of Stone’s River. This one’s a hex-and-counter game with chit-pull play sequence and 10 scenarios.

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Press of Atlantic City pimps board game groups, The Game of Life, Winning Moves, and Lemon Tree Games. (source)

Winston Salem Jounal pimps The Camel City Gamers, Eurogames in general, and Stone Age in particular. (source)

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Orchard Toys will produce at least 500 copies of the board game Norfolk Fine Foods, designed by junior school kids (9-11) in Norfolk.

The game was created to show that Norfolk can produce everything needed to eat and drink for a healthy balanced diet.

Huh. Protectionism rears its ugly head.

(source)

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Brighton, UK: Eight men at illegal card game get robbed by two men with guns, and then call the police. (source)

Ho Che Min City, Vietnam: 50 police officers and two police dogs track down and arrest 19 people gambling in a forest. (source)

Iowa City, IO: Man shot and killed at a dice game. (source)

Bridgeport, PA: One man kills another over a beer pong game. Dead man’s last words: “Shoot me, shoot me, you guys ain’t got the (expletive)!” (source)

Dunn, NC: Robbers hit a private card game, kidnap a boy, and try to rob the boy’s grandparent’s house. (source)

Meihekou, China: Man burns down house because his wife wouldn’t give him money to play mahjong. (source)

Not criminal, but worth mentioning, both in China: A 40 year old woman foamed at the mouth, fainted, and fell off her chair from excitement at winning a game of mahjong. (source) And a 68 year old man slapped the table, fell off his chair, and broke his leg from excitement at winning a game of mahjong. (source)

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Tile pushers in The Philippines aim to break the world record for most points accumulated over a 24 hour period at a 24 Scrabble marathon in two weeks.

The event is being organized by the Baguio-Benguet Word Builders Club and aims to promote Scrabble in the country.

(source)

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Reaper is running a miniatures painting contest with entries accepted through the end of July. Suggested themes are Ain’t No Cure for the Summertime Blues or Born on the Fourth of July but any Reaper figure will do. Reaper staff will choose contest finalists, but the actual winners will be chosen by public vote. The top prize is a $50 gift certificate, and of course the adulation of the masses.

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What else would you have the daughter of sculptor Paul Matisse, granddaughter of art dealer Pierre Matisse, and great-granddaughter of  French painter Henri Matisse do? She’s an artist.

She will be exhibiting 5 chess sets in an exhibition called “The Art of the Game” at the Beyond the Border International Contemporary Art Fair in San Diego (September 2 – 4). You can buy them for $16,000 a pop.

(source)

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Wichita, KS has shut down a game of Kandu played for money at a local card-room, on the grounds that it is luck based gambling, which is illegal in KS. The owner of the room, and the inventor of the game, is petitioning for a reversal.

In Kandu, before dealing out cards, the entire deck is spread open before all players, and each can then decide whether or not to participate in that hand. The inventors argue that this turns the game into a game of skill; the county calls it a sham, since no one can memorize the deck in a few seconds perusal.

I think county is quite missing the point. You don’t have to memorize the entire deck of cards. If other states have ruled Texas Hold’em a game of skill, Kandu is surely at least, or more, skillful.

(source)

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WotC has a page up with information about the upcoming 2010 core set, including a 48 card visual spoiler.

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There’s a Moose in the House is a quick and fun card game that I’ve played many times with my children. Musician Jim Briggs captures its silly spirit with Moose in the House Blues. Check his web site for the video from Hillside Elementary School.

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