Game Blotter - A roundup of crimes, legal cases, and when "the law" gets involved with gamesA Cambridge University student member of the Churchill Backgammon and Scrabble Society (CBSS) was arrested for streaking. He told a student newspaper, “I do not claim responsibility for my actions but instead pass on all liability to the institution of CBSS who were seriously out of control.” That’s some game club!

A year after prevailing in a patent infringement suit against MGA Entertainment, Innovention Toys has won another $2 million to cover its legal fees. A judge in the case found the additional award appropriate because of MGA’s “particularly aggressive tactics.”

For young Chess players in India who wish to participate in age-restricted tournaments but can not produce birth certificates, medical evaluations are being provided for a limited time in Chennai.

Bureaucracy destroyed a valuable antique Backgammon set. The set, which was purchased for $7,000 by an American visiting Europe, was inlaid with ivory. When the purchaser attempted to bring the set home, U.S. Customs confiscated it under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. However, more than 100 years old, the set should have been exempt. The problem was, when contacted, European Union officials wouldn’t issue an exemption certificate until seeing the box in person. U.S. officials, though, refused to return it without a certificate. So of course, their solution to the impasse was to destroy it.

The Oklahoma state House is considering a bill that would declare Dominoes the official state game.

Thieves stole £40,000 of Lego Legends of Chima off a truck in West Yorkshire, UK.

One of the twins accused of killing a man for his Magic: The Gathering cards (the collection was valued at $100,000) has been convicted.

Garry Kasparov, former World Chess Champion and political opponent of Vladimir Putin in Russia and current candidate for the presidency of FIDE, applied for and was granted citizenship in Croatia where he owns a home and often spends time between his frequent international travels.

Kasparov’s run for the FIDE presidency is having fallout in the English Chess Federation. Nigel Short, a supporter of Kasparov, called for a vote to have Andrew Paulson removed as the organization’s president. Because Paulson is the owner of AGON, which has the current contract to promote the World Chess Championship cycle, some assume that he supports Ilyumzhinov. Paulson however, has stated publicly that he does not. On the other hand, he doesn’t support Kasparov either. In fact, he’s also stated that he’s considering running for the position himself.

Under the leadership of Ilyumzhinov, FIDE is now posting attacks against the reporting of events by journalists.

A Pacific Union College student was arrested for allegedly punching his roommate in the face and breaking his nose during a board game.

In Holly Hill, Florida, a man attacked his father with a sledgehammer—while the father was in bed—over board games played the night before.

In Brooklyn, a man was charged with the murder of his cousin’s wife and four children, which he says he did because the place they took him to live was too noisy from nearby Mahjong games.

A store tried to sell the championship of an X-Wing Miniatures Games tournament.

The World Draughts Federation adopted new rules against match fixing.

In Ukraine, Chess tournaments were held in support of political demonstrations.

The New York Police Department Demographics Unit labeled a Brooklyn park a “location of concern” because Albanian men gathered there to play “chess, backgammon, or just to have a conversation.”

Blizzard Entertainment filed suit in Shanghai, China against Unico Interactive Limited for copying its Hearthstone online card game.

A Kensington councillor spent a council meeting playing Backgammon on his iPad instead of discussing budget cuts.

The former head of the Backgammon Federation of America is suspected by some of strangling his wife. The death was ruled a homicide but the husband was never arrested. His parents have taken custody of the couple’s children and are now seeking access to their wealthy daughter-in-law’s retirement account.

A Wilmington, Deleware man admitted to killing his friend over a dice game as did a man in Dayton, Ohio. In the Bronx, a teenager was arrested for fatally shooting a man over a dice game. And in Tennessee, a man was indicted on first-degree murder charges for a dice-game murder last August. The victims of dice-game shootings in Annapolis, Maryland and Helena, Arkansas survived. A person accused of a dice-game murder in New Jersey lost his bid for reduced bail.

Four men were arrested for gambling on dice behind the York Recreational Center in South Carolina.

Two men in China were jailed for gambling and running cricket fights in a facility meant for Mahjong and Chess.

The owner of a Tokyo Mahjong parlor was arrested for arranging a fake marriage between one of his employees and an erotic masseuse who works in the same building.