RDOXX makes accessories for wargames. The first were counter sleds for propping up those little cardboard squares and adding a fog-of-war element to an existing game. More recently, they’ve begun producing wooden hexagons sized to fit the spaces on Memoir ‘44 and BattleLore boards. At ½ inch thick, they can be used to add more dimension to the terrain, or can serve as components for your own game design efforts.

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In the category of RPGs that embrace violence, Slasher Flick is Spectrum Games’ effort at emulating formulaic horror movies. And in case you didn’t already know how these stories work out, the company has just released Horror Island, an adventure supplement where the serial killer picks off attractive youth one-by-one.

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Scott Nicholson, Associate Professor at Syracuse University and host of fun board game video reviews, will be teaching a course this summer on running games in libraries. Students will learn to draft proposals, select games based on preferred gaming experiences, identify staffing requirements, develop program assessment methodologies, and produce video reports. The cool thing for the rest of us non-students, though, is that Scott is inviting participation by both gamers and industry representatives. Each day during the month of June, he will post a 10 minute lecture on YouTube with the public able to join the discussion hosted by the American Library Association.

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Monte Cook ’s company, Malhavoc Press, is having an eighth birthday sale, discounting all purchases on DriveThruRPG and RPGNow by 30%.   So, what are the sorts of things you could get with such a discount?

• Ptolus, Monte’s epic city setting that usually retails for $120, down to $42
• The Experimental Bundle, which includes the Book of Experimental Might 1 and 2 as well as the Dark Tidings adventure arc for $12.60 (normally $46)
• The Arcana Evolved core book, a reworking of D&D 3rd edition for $16.80 (normally $50)

There are plenty of others, so go take a look and wish Monte a happy birthday!

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The nominees for this year’s Spiel des Jahres (the annual German game of the year award that can really make a board game in terms of sales) have been announced and we’ve got the full list for you. This year’s titles are pretty easy to get in the US and most are definitely worth your hard-earned dollar (or euro as the case may be…):

• Dominion is a great card game where players are attempting to buy victory points (cards) through the use of special cards (which must also be bought) which are added to their deck – essentially, its a deck construction game; it sounds simple and not that flavorful, but its really quite good (I’m at 72 plays so far this year…) and its one of two SdJ nominees from an American designer (a rarity)
• Fauna is a Friedemann Friese game where various animals appear (one per round) and players lodge guesses on the animal’s weight, height, tail length and origin (environment) in order to gain board position – wrong guesses result in fewer guessing opportunities in future rounds (this one isn’t in the US yet)
• Finca is a game where players are charged with managing and collecting various fruits from trees across a small island – the trick is to arrange your groves in such a way to allow the most efficient delivery of product to market (in order to score victory points); this one is brand new to the US market and is the type of game that the judges really like as a SdJ winner
• FITS (Fill In The Space) is a cute little game from the good doctor (Reiner Knizia) that essentially simulates Tetris in a board game – the twist being that scoring is determined by having pieces aligned with markings on the board rather than having perfect geometric structures – fast and fun, this one has become impossible to find in the US market (and believe me, I’ve tried…)
• Pandemic is the second game from a US designer and probably the best co-op game I’ve played next to Arkham Horror (caveat: I really don’t like cooperative games); in Pandemic, players attempt to cure four diseases while they continue to spread across the globe, occasionally having outbreaks that result in chain reactions across the board

All in all, this is one of the best batches of SdJ nominees I’ve seen in years – out of the five, there’s only one that leaves me scratching my head (Fauna just doesn’t seem to fit the mold, but I’ve not managed to play this one yet either…). We’ll let you know which title wins the prize when they’re announced on June 29th.

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Mind Flex from Mattel will be a brainwave controlled kinetic obstacle course game, or so goes the copy. Strap on the headgear and then think hard to up the blower power which then “levitates” the ball up into the air. Then, while still thinking hard, spin the dial to pass the ball through various obstacles.

Watch the video and judge for yourself.

You can already pre-order on Amazon.

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The last time I mentioned American game printer Delano Service was on January 8, after I had received a press release from Ben Clark at Delano saying that they are up to date on all the required regulations for lead levels. Ben also wrote a blog for Delano called Game Pieces.

That very night, Delano fired their entire night staff, and a week later, locked the doors on the company, summarily firing every employee. There was no indication given as to whether this was temporary or permanent. There was  bit of confusion as to how (and if) the employees would pick up their last paychecks, as well as what happened to insurance payments that were collected from the employees but never made their way to the bank.

Lots of discussion from ex-Delano employees as you get deep into the comments at Topix. Many blamed CEO Juan Mendez, who purchased the hundred year old company with $3.4M in yearly revenues in 2006; others blamed the bank.

It may be worth mentioning that Delano’s website is still up and appears to be inviting business, and has an up-to-date events page. Calling their offices yields no indication that they are closed. Nevertheless, no one is working there.

Delano’s closing affected a slew of game companies, from biggies like GMT and Avalanche Press, to sggc’s like the SAT Game for Dummies. In late February, Ben indicated in this BGG thread that Delano was not accepting new orders, but would still fill out existing print runs. And that he was going to work for Imagigrafx, a company not too far away from Delano.

Around April, Imagigrafx announced that it was going into the game printing business. Right after I posted that news tidbit, Ben, now Director of Game Development at Imagigrafx, wrote me with a slight change to their press release regarding the sizes of print runs they would undertake.

I’m still not sure what happened to Delano’s assets, but it now seems that not only Ben, but a few other key employees of Delano had also taken up positions at Imagigrfx. Imagigrafx promised to fill any orders that Delano didn’t, and that they have continuing strong relations with Mayfair Games and Decision Games, at least. And business is good: they’re looking to hire up to ten more workers by October.

And guess who writes the blog for Imagigrafx?

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Xtra Innings is a new baseball-themed card game that looks like it plays somewhat like a CCG: draw cards from your deck, play combos to get through your opponent’s defenses. It’s not collectible, though. The game is officially approved by Baseball Canada, whatever that means.

One of the creators claims to have been insipire to create the game after mourning the loss of his favorite team, the Expos.

(source)

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