On Sunday game days at the Briggs Carriage Bookstore in Brandon, Vermont, the mornings are for chess and the afternoons for D&D. The chess club attracts as many as 10 people of varying ages, while the D&D gathering gets up to 12 high schoolers and adults. But both groups are run by the same 17 year old Ben Chamberlain of Goshen.

I guess chess is more logical, D&D is more creative.

Good job, Ben! You deserve special Purple Pawn recognition for promoting tabletop games “across the board!”

(source)

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More information was revealed today about the purchase offer recently made by the Gen Con Acquisition Group (GCAG). Leading this previously unknown company is Anthony Gallela, former Executive Director of the Game Manufacturers Association and currently VP-Sales and Marketing of Bucephalus Games. Other participating investors are unnamed but said to be from outside the industry. In an interview with ICv2, Gallela states that, should their offer be approved by the bankruptcy court, GCAG would invest $1 million in Gen Con, keep the main event in Indianapolis, and work to expand the company’s offerings while maintaining the quality of the original show.

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Endless games debuts Quackgammon, a children’s take on the classic game of Backgammon. Source says “debuted”, but I can’t find it anywhere.

In Quackgammon, you move three pieces (ducks) around a lake, and their safety is guaranteed if they are next to each other.

(source)

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Sarah Hepola, Life editor of Salon magazine, writes a touching story about the first-year of a relationship against the backdrop of the board games played during the year.

It covers all the usual mainstream games, but doesn’t descend into obvious gameplay parallels. The games are simply played while the relationship unfolds.

The story is from 2003, but recently republished in The Morning News.

(source, hat tip)

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