There is little as incongruous as video game characters used as Chess sets. It is the epitome of niche marketing. The acme of far-fetched licensing.

A few dozen gamers will look at it and say “cool”. Who is really going to buy it?

Super Mario Chess / source

Sonic the Hedgehog Chess / source

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Boardgames Australia is having a meetup in May especially for people with game prototypes to test, and for people who want to help test game prototypes. Noon, May 16, at the Concordia German Club.

Submissions are also open for the Boardgames Australia Awards.

More information on the Boardgames Australia web site.

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Mensa, the organization for people who score highly on certain versions of IQ tests and have a bit of spare cash and time, is holding its 20th annual Mind Games weekend on April 24-26 in Ft. Mitchell, Ky.

Members and non-members will test this year’s crop of games submitted by publishers with enough cash and interest to do so, and then members’ opinions will be collated and the Mensa Select Game awards awarded. The Mensa award is not taken too seriously by gamers, as they tend to award games that are fast to play and have one single abstract hook, but in some cases, a Mensa Select choice will enhance a game’s distributions and sales.

(source)

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Clue 24 is an upcoming release from USAopoly and 20th Century Fox.

The game of Clue is rethemed to include the settings and characters from the TV show 24. However, there’s an added time clock: if no one finishes the game before the 8th card is drawn, evryone loses.

(source)

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Mattel originally distributed the card game Kuuduk through Starbucks chain stores. It’s now available via all the usual distribution channels.

Each card has one of three letters (k, u, or d), one of three colors, and one of three numbers of dots. You have to play cards in front of you spelling out kuuduk, and each adjacent card must have the same color or number of dots. Otherwise, the game is a little like UNO, and you can swipe or swap cards with other players when you draw certain cards.

Apparently the original Starbuck version of the game had slightly different rules, card distribution, and other features which made the game more interesting and more intelligent. So hunt down the original, if you can.

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James Bills played RPGs as a child and now creates sculptures of huge polyhedral dice. And that will happen to you, too, unless you stop playing RPGs this instant, young man.

From his artist statement:

Sometimes I reference their forms directly, as in my sculptures; other times I actually use them to create random patterns and systematic structures, as in my drawings. The dice’s similarity to precious gems seems too coincidental, as if the desire to win/get lucky takes form in their alluring shapes. I remember that these dice became somewhat collectible, coming in various sizes and materials.

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26 year old Richard Marinaccio from NY won the US Monopoly Nationals and is now headed to Las Vegas in October for the World Championships.

The final game lasted an hour and fifteen minutes. The quickness of the game was due to using the Monopoly speed die. The speed die adds a third die that forces more property sales and lets you move around the board more quickly.

(source)

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