This past weekend in Gaithersburg, Maryland, my daughter and I attended the Bakugan Ultimate Battle Tour. Neither of us had played Bakugan before, but we still had a lot of fun. If you go, be prepared for a bit of a wait. When we arrived on Sunday there were a few hundred people in line, and I heard Saturday was even busier! On the other hand, the staff did a good job of keeping the kids entertained with a Bakugan trivia contest and handing out prizes. And, of course, this was the perfect time for an impromptu game. I even caught a glimpse of some fans with the powerful 7-in-1 Maxus Dragonoid.

The event area was divided into three sections, with the first dedicated to training. There, Bakugan Master Ray taught new players (and parents) the basics of the game, while also providing experienced players a refresher on Bakugan tournament rules. You can see some highlights of his lesson in this video:

Next up was the practice zone. Here, the kids could play each other with Bakugan and cards provided by Spin Master. Experts were on-hand to provide advice and review the rules. There were even special Bakugan tables and chairs to enhance the experience. After that was the advanced play area for those who brought there own Bakugan. Participants who visited all three sections were given a poster and custom certificate.

I was a little surprised that there were no Bakugan for sale at the event, though I’m sure many of the parents appreciated that. I also learned from the event staff that the tour, now only two stops from the end, has been tremendously well received by the fans. The company is working on another tour for next year and is also preparing for the first Bakugan tournament program.

Bafore we left, I had a chance to interview the designer of the Bakugan game, Luke Peterschmidt:

You might also be interested to know that Luke’s favorite Bakugan is El Condor.

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First I talked about iPhone Hive, then iPhone Settlers of Catan, and I figured why not talk about Bananagrams?

“The Award Winning Anagram game that will drive you Bananas!” is available from the iTunes app store for $4.99.

The interface looks pretty slick, and supports  good amount of multi-touch features for moving the screen, zooming, and placing your tiles.  What’s really cool about this is that you can play multiplayer with other iPhone users, or users that play the sister app on Facebook. Certain game play goals will also earn you in-game currancy to buy new tiles/backgrounds/etc…

If you’re a fan of Bananagrams, I would seriously consider looking into this.  A sharp interface, and the ability to play against Facebook users provide a lot of value in a small package.

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Decipher Games is back with a new look, new site, and new product: Fight Klub, a CCG.

Decipher Games was a venerable RPG and game company with some top licenses, all of which crashed to the ground after nine years of inside embezzlement by a former friend of Warren Holland, the owner. How they arose from this mess, and what of the former company’s employees and assets remain, will (hopefully) be the subject of some future post.

So what’s Fight Klub?

Fight Klub, designed by Warren and Tim Ellington, is a CCG where each player fields a famous hero or villain in a fight. Examples include Hannibal Lechter, The Daleks, and Al Capone. How they can possibly afford the licensing fees for all these characters is apparently a trade secret.

The most unusual aspect of the game is a few changes to the usual CCG marketing approach:

• The game is marketed as a filler game, to be played between sessions of your other favorite CCG.
• Game boxes are sold by the kilo, and numbered One, Two, Three, …
• Boxes are sold online and directly to consumers only; there is no distributor or store presence. Tim says that it is hard to gain market share with the traditional method of distribution. This is an experiment, and a rewarding one in that it gives them direct contact with the players.
• You have to be sponsored by an existing member to log in to the site. [Update: Tim says that this is no longer the case.]

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The Seguin Gazette-Enterprise pimps German high school students who are learning to play Skat. (source)

Apparently the cast of the Twilight movies play board games between takes. (source)

A man in Majorca who was out playing Parcheesi with his friends didn’t die like the rest of his family did when his apartment complex collapsed. (source)

brainz.org pimps Say Anything, Last Night on Earth The Zombie Game, Time’s Up, Dominion, Who What Where, Go, Pandemic, Apples to Apples, Steam, Rails to Riches, The Settlers of Catan, Agricola, Wits And Wagers, Cash n Guns, Puerto Rico, and Ticket to Ride, in that order. (source)

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Catalyst Games regresses to infancy with their new game Poo, The Card Game. Sounds like it plays something like Bang. Please don’t leave any comments on this post.

Ergo sounds more my style. Players play variables and logic symbol cards to prove that they exist and their opponents don’t.

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