Game Blotter - A roundup of crimes, legal cases, and when "the law" gets involved with gamesAt a Chessboxing match in Exeter, UK, one referee attacked and knocked-out another with a single blow. The attacker was a former policeman and cage-fighter, who was trying to help his friend in the ring by cutting short the Chess portion of the contest. The Chess referee, however, wouldn’t have it and kept the game going for its allotted 3 minutes.

Seville, Spain has banned Dominoes and dice games from the outdoor terraces of restaurants and bars because the activities make too much noise.

In Middletown, Connecticut, a Chess table and chairs were set up on Main Street to encourage community. But now local businesses are complaining about loitering and trash.

Spin Master sent thousands of toys to children in Israel and Gaza.

A woman in California is trying to sue Hasbro because she couldn’t make the model shown on the label of the Tinkertoy set she purchased. The judge in the case, however, said that consumers don’t rely on labeling.

Four men in Sydney, Australia were arrested for smuggling $2 million of cocaine in to the country by mailing it from California, concealed in a Chess set. Apparently, Chess sets are convenient for this sort of thing.

One of the inventors of Cards Against Humanity has been accused of raping a woman a number of years ago. And as if the allegation itself wasn’t horrifying enough, the response and discussion surrounding it have been truly disturbing. But what else should I expect from a game built around being crude?

The Sierra Leone Chess team was denied a visa for the World Chess Olympiad in Tromso, Norway because of concern over the Ebola virus.

The producer of a documentary film about Dungeons & Dragons is suing his former partners who are now pursuing a competing project on the same topic. Both were funded through Kickstarter. [Disclosure: I pledged to one of them and now kind-of wish I could get my money back.]

A female Chess player was caught on video urinating in an elevator on the way out of a tournament in China’s Sichuan province. The player claims that the nearby women’s restroom was out-of-order and she just couldn’t hold it any longer. The security guard who posted online the image of her in mid-relief disputes her claim regarding the restroom.

After complaints by villagers were ignored by local police, it fell upon the Thailand army to arrest a government official for running a dice gambling operation out of a tent.

An innocent bystander playing Dominoes was shot and killed in Belize.

Police in Arvada, Colorado are trying to reunite a stolen Mahjong set with its rightful owner. If you know who it might be, please call.

A man in Lumberton, North Carolina was charged with second-degree murder after attacking his friend and neighbor with a knife during a game of cards.

The national Chess champion of Guyana has been cleared of robbery charges but claims he was beaten by police attempting to force him to confess.

In Lake Charles, Louisiana, a man was sentenced to three consecutive life terms plus 150 years for killing three people while trying to rob a dice game.

Police are looking for the person who shot up a dice game in Detroit.

Three in Germantown, Pennsylvania have been convicted for killing a man that allegedly stole $1,000 from one of them during a dice game.

In Cincinnati, a high school student is facing charges and a $500,000 bond for allegedly shooting someone during a dice game.