The creators of the upcoming new game show based on Trivial Pursuit are out and about in LA this week looking for trivia questions from passerbys.

They’re also auditioning for possible contestants for the show. Click here for when and where.

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ID Gaming, a UK miniatures gaming shop, announced that it will be shutting down as of Friday, July 18.

The reasons for its closing are due to ill-health and the current economic climate.

(source)

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Wary of what happened to the tobacco industry, the gambling industry is gearing up to fight for its right to continue making obscene profits at the expense of mathematically challenged desperate men and women.

Lawsuits have been filed on behalf of those suffering from addiction, claiming that casinos deliberately tap into addition when planning their machines and casinos. The gambing industry is fighting back by acknowledging that gambling adiction is real, but that it affects only a small percent of the people who gamble.

To this end, the American Gaming Association, which represents the interests of casinos and related operations and businesses, has founded organizations such as National Center for Responsible Gaming and National Council on Problem Gambling, which aim to research gambling problems and help those with gambling addiction. This is akin to the national tobacco institute founding organizations to resarch tobacco addiction and help those addicted to cigarettes, rather than remove the addictive substances in cigarettes and work to prevent people from becoming addicted in the first place. In gambling’s case, this is instead of admitting that they purposely entrap and addict gamblers, and putting in place mechanisms that will prevent addictive behavior.

But hey, at  least they’re admitting that the addiction exists, which is a step in the right direction.

(source)

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The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote an article on (my colleague) Erik Arneson, head honcho of About.com’s board and card game section.

The article describes Erik’s weekly juggle between his political role as communications and policy director for Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi and Pennsylvania Senate Republicans, and his journalistic role in disseminating reports, news, and reviews about the world of board and card games on About.com .

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Over at Schaakkunst they show a series of paintings which have been inspired by Chess or use Chess as a theme.

The Schaakkunst collection (which is Dutch for chess and painting, or something like that) was the inspiration of Margreet Wevers and Geert van Tongeren, who got fifteen artists together to create these paintings.

They have touring around The Netherlands, and can be bought at Chess_Art.eu.

As for me, I remember a series of gorgeous Chess-related fantasy paintings that graced the covers of several issues of Dragon magazine in the 1980s, such as this one:

You can see many Dragon magazine covers at the Acaeum.

(hat tip)

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Over at Joystiq, Kevin Kelly wonders if Will Wright’s infamous, never-quite-released game Spore (in progress since 2000) was inspired by the 1980 board game Quirks.

Spore is a massive online game where players evolve a group of single celled animals through various phases until they end the game by taking over the universe. Quirks is an evolution game of adapting single cell animals so they can thrive in a hostile and ever-changing environment.

But Quirks isn’t the only game about evolution and adaptation. Evo, Primordial Soup, Trias, and dozens of other come readily to mind. And Spore is surely more reminiscent of civilization building or “god” games, such as Civilization or The Sims.

I’m guessing that Quirks was simply the first evolutionary / adaptation game that Kevin saw, and he put two and five together.

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Trade shows are different than consumer-focused gaming conventions. At a trade show for example, industry participants have an opportunity to view the latest product offerings, buyers can meet suppliers and manufacturers and discuss orders, and professionals may attend seminars on how to improve their business—all of this without the pressure of fans filling the booth. While fans might love to attend for access to inside information on upcoming releases, typically attendance requires proof of a business relationship to the industry, whether retailer, publisher, distributer, manufacturer, designer, or member of the press. Some of the trade shows either dedicated to the games business or frequented by game companies include:

• GAMA Trade Show, aka “GTS” (April, Las Vegas)—A show by the Game Manufacturers Association specifically for the hobby games industry. Incorporates both a seminar program and an exhibit hall. Seminars have covered such topics as copyright and trademark law, selling new game designs to publishers, and how to establish a unique identity for your retail store.
• Australian Toy Hobby and Nursery Fair (March, Melbourne)
• Licensing International Expo (June, New York City)—An annual marketplace for brands and intellectual property. Not exclusively a show for games, but noteworthy for the industry nevertheless. Licensing the right property can give a significant boost to a game company. This can also be a good venue for licensing game-based IP to other industries.
• Collocated TGIFcon and ASTRA Annual Marketplace & Academy (June, Mashantucket, Connecticut)—The former gives designers, developers, and inventors the opportunity to meet with publishers and large retail chains. The latter, run by the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association, includes seminars targeted to retailers and sales reps.
• TOY FAIR, aka “New York Toy Fair” (February, New York City)—The premier general toy show in North America, with more than 20,000 attendees and hundreds of exhibitors.
• Chicago Toy & Game Fair, aka “Chi-Tag” (November)—Before opening to the public for the last two days, Chi-Tag focuses on game inventors and the educational value of games.
• Protospiel (July, Okemos, Michigan)—A casual gathering of hobby game designers for cooperative playtesting. Also in attendance are a few publishers.
• Spielwarenmesse International Toy Fair, aka “Nuremberg Toy Fair” (February, Nuremberg)—The largest international toy and game trade show with more than 80,000 visitors and 2,700 exhibitors representing more than 120 countries. Of course, much of that isn’t games. And the games that are on display at Nuremberg are often pre-production versions.
• China Toy Expo (October, Shanghai)—An opportunity to meet with representatives of manufacturing plants.

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