Game Blotter

A Michigan man charged in a series of two murders and a kidnapping is reported by police to have been in a Magic: The Gathering tournament next door to where the first victim was working, just before she went missing.

Shogi computer programs are catching up with software for Chess and that means more cheating. The Japan Shogi Association has instituted a ban on bringing smartphones in to tournament venues and will restrict players from leaving the playing hall during matches. The group also banned 9th-dan-ranked Hiroyuki Miura through the end of the year for possible cheating. It was noted that he left his seat an unusual number of times during a recent tournament. He denies, though, the allegation and says he will consult a lawyer.

An insurgent group in eastern India, the KCP (Kangleipak Communist Party), has declared a ban on all forms of dice games and gambling and warned of serious consequences for any violations. The group is concerned that a dice game trend is negatively affecting the reputation of women.

In Ahmedabad, the Indian Poker Association has asked the Gujarat High Court to declare Poker a game of skill and therefore not subject to the state’s gambling restrictions.

The Florida Department of Business Services has ruled designated player card games (where someone sits at the table to represent the bank) illegal in the state. This is likely to complicate the ongoing case between Seminole tribes and the state over similar issues.

Recently declassified documents reveal that a Kurdish man killed while playing Backgammon in London back in 1994 was the victim of a plot orchestrated by the spy agency of Turkey.

Someone broke in over night to The Comic Hunter in Moncton, New Brunswick and stole Magic: The Gathering cards, including a Black Lotus and other rare Unlimited and Alpha cards.

The cash boxes of R&R Games and Ludi Creations were stolen from the exhibit hall during Spiel Essen.

Dan Yarrington filed a response to Zev Shlasinger and Paul Gerardi’s lawsuit over their failed Staten Island game store. Yarrington asserts [PDF] that Zap’d Games was only an investment vehicle with no role in management of the store, that the store’s lease was approved by Shlasinger, and that the store failed from the combined effects of hurricane Sandy and Gerardi’s failure to build shelves in time for the store’s planned opening. Pretrial conferences in the case are scheduled for later this month.

An assistant manager of a Hong Kong Mahjong parlor is facing criminal bribery charges for taking payments from his boss to help people cheat at games. He allegedly received HK$75,000 over a period of 4 months to mark tiles with fluorescent ink that’s only visible with special lenses.

The people who were told that their card game rules weren’t patentable (because they used a standard deck of cards) are appealing to the Supreme Court.

Upper Deck has applied to trademark the word “LOOT” with regard to trading cards, card games, and playing cards.

Hasbro was named the 2016 “Most Responsible Company in the Consumer Items Industry Sector” by Corporate Responsibility Magazine.

A man was stabbed during an argument over a game of Dominoes at a park in East Chicago, Indiana.

Dice game shootings in Birmingham, Alabama; Springfield, Illinois; Pontiac, Michigan; and Capitol Heights, Maryland.