Trying to prove that Hawijah, Iraq is now safe and free of insurgents, Lt. Col. Christopher Vanek, commander, 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry and Sons of Iraq leader Khalaf Ibrahim Ali sat down together to play a game of Checkers in a local market, once a hotbed of insurgent activity.

The game was deliberately planned and photographers were present in order to convince residents that it was now safe to get on with their lives.

(source, image from staff member on active US military duty)

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The United States Playing Card Company, makers of Bee and Bicycle playing cards among other playing cards and games, is picking up and moving after 107 years in the same location.

They have been located in Norwood, OH since 1901, and are now moving to a 570,000 square foot facility in Boone County, KY. It’s only 17 miles from Norwood, so the company hopes to keep most of its employees, and will leave some operations and its museum of historical playing cards in the former location.

(source)

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Update: Oops. How could I have read that wrong? As a commenter points, out, it was Jason, not Jesse, who made the board game. Jason was the other finalist, who she also nearly loved, Sorry for my mistake.

On the fourth season of The Bachelorette, Deanna Pappas accepted Jesse Csincsak’s marriage porposal after he created a home-made board game for her.

“The game really just helped me say a few things that I wanted to say,” he said before using it to open up to her.

(source)

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Dr. Mark Cooper of Wynnewood, Pennsylvania is making it to the Hall of Fame in his own way. His collection of baseball board games will be on display this summer in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Games from as far back as 1869 will be featured in the exhibit titled, “Home Games: A Century of Baseball Games from the Collection of Dr. Mark Cooper.” The Dr. has had a passion for baseball since he was young, and started collecting baseball-themed board games in the early 1980’s.

(source)

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Merlin’s Company, the second expansion for Shadows Over Camelot, is now available for preorder. The base game is one of a very few strategically challenging, yet supremely entertaining, cooperative board games. That is, players must join forces as knights of the Round Table to defeat the forces of evil represented by the game mechanics. Days of Wonder will begin shipping this expansion in July. Introducing seven new knights and Merlin, as well as new Black cards, new White cards, and completely new Travel cards, Merlin’s Company supports up to eight players, including two traitors.

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Days of Wonder has announced that it will release Ticket to Ride Nordic Countries in English for a limited time this Fall. This sequel to the highly successful Ticket to Ride board game was previously only available in Scandinavia, in Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, and Danish languages. Ticket to Ride Nordic Countries is designed for two to three players, has a vertically oriented map board, and features a winter graphic theme with snow, reindeer, and holly. The original Ticket to Ride game is often touted as the best game for introducing new players to the modern crop of strategy board games.

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