Ben 10 was a popular animated sci-fi series about a boy who finds a watch (Omnitrix) that lets him transform into various other life forms. Ben 10 was followed by Ben 10: Alien Force, and the scheduled Ben 10: Evolutions. A movie is scheduled for the fall.

What games has this license brought to us?

Total Transformation Game is a game where you transform into random aliens using a fake Omnitrix.

Omnitrix Duel for Power Card Game is a War-like card game where you have to play the lower or higher card each turn.

In the DVD Game you roll, move, and perform some un-challenging task while skipping around the DVD.

The Ben 10 Collectible Card Game does not appear to be collectible, as it comes in two starter decks, A and B. It’s mostly a slug-fest, with some trick cards thrown in to spice things up.

Aliens Vs. Villains Game contains flimsy pieces. Roll the die to see what card you land on, and roll another to see if you get to keep it.

For the new series, we have Alien Force WebCardz, which are cards and a figure you use to unlock an online play experience.

Alien Force Quick Shot Game lets you shoot marbles at your opponent’s pieces.

All in all, rather disappointing looking.

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Light Guns

Light guns in games go back to – are you ready for this – the 1930s. The Seeburg Ray-O-Lite, a duck hunting arcade game, used a light gun. The duck had a sensor that would react when the light hit it. Other followed, and you could find them at amusement parks and carnivals.

Typical gun-like console controls didn’t emit light at all; they actually sensed the light on the CRT. I don’t know much about Wii guns, but I doubt they work this way.

Laser Tag

“Laser guns” from the late 1970s used infrared beams. Laser Tag became a toy, a sport, and an entertainment industry starting in the 1980s. When lasers are present on the guns, they are not used for the actual shot, but only as an aiming device.

Laser Board Games

A patent from 1970 by Gerald Estrin presents a board game where the object is to direct a beam of something – light or electricity – from your side of the board to a target on the other side, using mirrored pieces placed at 45 degree angles in set locations on the board. Another patent from 1992, assigned to “Entercon Technologies”, claims essentially the same game, but with lasers; it’s claims for originality are that “Estrin does not contemplate laser technology”.

I have no indication that anything ever came of either of these patents.

Laser Chess was a video game from 1987. The idea is, once again, to arrange your pieces so that a laser reflects off the pieces on the board to hit a certain target. There is a site devoted to the topic, and an updated version from Tray Games.

Of course, DVD games all use lasers, in an indirect manner.

The first example I know of an actual working laser board game was in 2001: Laser Chess from Alexandre Van de Sande. You can read about the rules and construction on his site. Alexandre tells, “… my game never was meant to commercial production and can be considered almost a one time art project.”

So we come to Deflexion in 2005, now renamed Khet: The Laser Game. Khet is an Egyptian-themed game that uses the same idea as the previous games: move a piece and try to reflect the laser to hit your opponent’s piece. Khet has two expansions: Eye of Horus and Tower of Kadesh.

In 2006, MGA Entertainment released the similar Laser Battle.

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Ask Evelyn pimps the benefits of board games over video games. (source)

A couple married for 60 years (diamond) credit their long, happy marriage to daily card and dominoes games. (source)

The Southampton Press pimps young Canasta players getting it on at a local club. (source)

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Poker With Style sells retro-style art prints related to poker, game rooms, and classic board games (as well as smoking, drinking, and pin up girls).

Prices not bad.

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While the US Go Congress opens next week, the European Go Congress started this week and continues for another two weeks.

It’s held in a different country each year and attracts 1,000 players. It’s sponsored by Zhuyeqing Tea. And it’s being streamed live on EuroGo TV.

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Teen-Trepreneur is the usual Monopoly-like game with dice rolling, random events, buying assets, and dividends.

It’s from UK-born Nigerian Sabirul Islam. The Engrish rulebook reads as delightfully as one could hope to see in a parody of rules and language.

“Strike as the next tycoon!”

(source)

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