Ludi is a piece of AI that takes as input the rules to classical abstract games and spits out dozens of new abstract games, many of which are, allegedly, as absorbing as the original games.

Sounds a little far-fetched, but the author of the program, which has just earned him a PhD from Queensland University of Technology, is Cameron Browne, author of a few excellent books on connection games such as Connection Games: Variations on a Theme and a definitive book on Hex Strategy.

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Many game companies use volunteers to demo games and administer tournaments and organized play. For the Blue Dragon CCG we told you about last month, Konami is holding auditions for volunteers Wednesday and Thursday at San Diego Comic-Con. Those selected will receive a Level One Volunteer t-shirt and will represent Konami at its booth through the rest of the show. The thing is, I’m not sure whether to appreciate the fact that Konami is making it easier for fans to get involved, or to be skeptical that Konami couldn’t arrange enough employee or volunteer support before the show began.

(source)

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Swedish Archaeologist Dr. Martin Rundkvist has posted a review of the Pandemic board game on his blog, Aardvarchaeology. Pandemic, from publisher Z-Man Games, is a cooperative board game in which the goal of the players is to stop four simultaneous outbreaks of disease from eliminating humanity. Rundkvist found the game easy to learn, exciting, and suspenseful. But he also found it difficult to accept the game’s theme. With a scientist’s skepticism, Rundkvist wondered why only four agents are available to fight the diseases, and why infectious agents tend not to travel between regions. For those of us, however, who look at it as a cool game with a unique theme, I suspect these won’t be a problem.

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