The stereotype suggests that sports and gamers don’t mix, but don’t tell blogger Zachary Houghton that. He imagines a world in which the St. Louis Rams turn to a 14 year-old RPG Game Master for coaching:

[Head Coach] Spagnuolo seemed excited about the possibilities Smythe’s tenure offered. “Clearly, we need some help winning games, and I think a proven Game Master is just the person to turn things around for us”.

The Rams players didn’t seem so sure.

“This kid comes in and tells me I’m a ‘tank’”, said 5th-year center Jason Brown. “I’m supposed to ‘take some hits for the rest of the party’. Why the hell are we having a party anyway with five straight losses?”

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Hi-Tec Art produces a generic maker kit with LEDs, and LED Chess and Checkers sets sort of like a proof-of-concept. Not the first LED chess set.

It seems to work something like a Lite Brite. The set comes in two variants: a larger Masterpiece version and a smaller Sketch version, and can also come in just the pieces and plastic board overlays if you already have the hardware.

(source)

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Mattel has reached a settlement for tens of millions of dollars over the 2007 lead paint fiasco. Various terms allow you to collect payment if you were, or were not, part of the class action suits against the company.

Mattel will also donate some money to children’s hospitals, and assure the court that it is complying with new lead safety regulations.

(source)

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Scrabble’s 60th has been pimped to death already. No more articles about Scrabble, world.

Candyland ’s 60th was also celebrated quite festively, but I’ll grudgingly allow a few more articles on the topic (here’s one). Candyland, sheesh.

Clue, aka Cluedo, is also apparently celebrating a 60th. And so is Cootie.

Who knew 1949 was such a banner year for board games?

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Otona Fami Pokemon is a special free 15 page magazine in Japan about Pokemon, listing business information about the franchise.

According to the mag, according to source:

• 14 billion Pokemon cards
• Selling in 40 countries

Also includes video game stats and overall revenue figures.

(source, hat tip)

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The title pretty much sums it up.  Some guy has it in the take the Guinness record away from Hasbro for the largest board game. Luanga Nuwame of Mississauga, ON, Canada created the 900 square foot game, In Search of Sauga, by himself.

Luanga is a toy and game designer who does odd jobs to keep his game company afloat. He also teaches board game design classes (at $300 per child), but it looks like he pretty much focuses on standard roll-and-move style games.

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