The Berlin Brain-Computer Interface shows mind-controlled pinball. (source, via, via)

Harcos Laboratory hacks a MindFlex game to deliver electronic shocks whenever your brain activity rises too high (some bleeped out language in the video). (source, via, via)

Ravenous Games will be developing the app using the open-source Cocos2D engine for the iPhone.

PowerMage 54 is fairly light with some good strategy, and I can see it porting nicely over to the platform.

The more board/card games ported to iPhone/Android, the more exposure the hobby gets.  That’s can’t be a bad thing.

Boston.com pimps the designer of Anomia. (source)

Carleston City Paper pimps The Settlers of Catan and a local place to play it. (source)

A trade magazine for McDonald’s Canada pimps Monopoly, Werewolves of Millers Hollow, The Settlers of Catan, and other games. (source, via)

Chatham Daily News pimps family game night by instructing you to go through the games you already own and pick one, after which you try to get the kids on board. (source)

Destructoid pimps Brenda Brathwaite’s talk about her art game about the Holocaust, Train. (source)

Santa Ynez Valley News pimps Karen Palmer, designer of Let’s Save Our Earth. (source)

Tampa, FL: The Seminole tribe were not allowed to run banked (as opposed to non-banked) card games as of two years ago and continued to do so. They’re being sued by some people who lost money at these games. Although they are immune to lawsuits, there is special dispensation to sue anyone over gambling losses. Or something like that. (source has disappeared from site)

Berlin, Germany: Armed robbers stole $200,000 from a poker tournament, part of the European Poker Tour. (source)

Port Charlotte, FL: Police arrest management of All In.Magic Players Club for running illegal card games (the policeman sat in several games and won). (source)

Milville, NJ: Man threatens a woman at a card game with a lighter shaped like a gun. (source)

Chicago, IL: Man stabs a woman to death at an early morning card game. (source)

Cleveland, OH: Man shoots and robs another man at a dice game. (source)

LaFollette, TN: Police officer pistol-whips a man with his gun and points his gun at him when the man argues with him over money at a card game. (source)

Little Rock, AS: One man accused of shooting another over a game of Dominoes. (source)

Wichita, KS: Man buys crack cocaine using Monopoly money. (source) I don’t know who’s stupider: the seller for accepting Monopoly money, or the buyer for accepting an invitation to the seller’s house a few days later (the buyer was beat up after arriving at the house).

At first glance, my first thought was: “I want this game!”

Iconica is both designed and illustrated by Eric Torres, and is set in his World of Rynaga. The design is both minimalist, and breathtaking, and immediately caught my eye.

Eric hand makes each set, and sells them through Etsy for $16.  You can even purchase more cards for the game there at $3 a piece.

When you buy a 2 player starter set you get:

6 Iconica Character Cards (as depicted in the photos
1 Iconica Quick Reference card
2 standard 6-sided dice
36 game markers
2-player Iconica rules

The game is a 2 player tactical strategy game, and apparently he’s working on more cards and rules variations.

Dragonslayers is a card game for 1 – 2 players by Andreas Propst, and another interesting looking game that’s being distributed by The Game Crafter. The game comes with 8 card decks of various sizes, a d6, and a bunch of counters.  The object is to kill a ton of monsters without being killed.

The rules are fairly basic, and the game seems to be pretty light. I’m guessing once you start digging into the card decks that a bit more subtlety may emerge.

The game weighs in at almost $37, and to me that seems a bit too much for what it seems to be, but that’s the cost of dealing with a server like The Game Crafter. Still.  I can’t see many people plopping down that much cash when you can most definitely get a game you know is going to be good for that price.

Barnes & Noble brick-and-mortar stores are running significant sales on some of their remaining holiday stock of board games. Note that not all games are on sale, but if you look around you should find a table or two of games with red stickers. Last night, I purchased Masters of Venice, Travel Blokus, and Time After Time for 75 percent off! I understand that tomorrow prices might be lowered to $2 per game. Of course, stock will vary by store and is very limited. But if you hurry up, I left you several copies of Wits & Wagers, Red November, and a variety of Goliath Games in the Rockville, Maryland shop.

Besting even the Barnes & Noble discount, White Wolf is celebrating Read an E-Book Week (did you know that was this week?) by offering a PDF copy of the World of Darkness Rulebook (normally $25) for FREE!

The Prisoner was a popular TV show, and a card/board game based on the show and published by UK sggc Card-Board Games. You go around the board trying to find the items you need to escape.

Card-Board Games aims to reduce the cost of their game production by creation games whose boards are created by the cards as you play. I.e. tile laying games, using cards.

Brand New Games is a startup game publisher. Soon to be followed by two more, the company’s first game is Nay-Jay. It’s a fast-paced game of simultaneous card play, similar to other speed card games, but where players can build the central piles up or down, as well as change a pile’s color with a wild-card. Cycliste will be a strategic card game about bicycle racing and Bones of Ascension will be a fantasy-battle-themed strategic dice game.

Brand New Games was formed by a group of friends in Mapleton, Utah but its president, lead designer, and energetic spokeswoman is Naomi Tripi. In her own words:

I wanted to become a game publisher not only because I love games personally, but I love creating things. To have something in your head that is just a thought, an idea that you have is one thing, to actually see your idea take physical form and become an object that anyone can see and interact with is thrilling for me. So far, game publishing has worked out better than I had ever imagined.

On how it feels to present one’s design to the public at-large, Naomi says:

I get nervous sometimes, I hope people will enjoy the games, but I know that not everyone can like every game. Most of the time I’m just excited to share a new way to have fun with other people who share my appreciation for games. The first time I taught Bones of Ascension to a play-testing group my hands were shaking because I was so nervous, but after the first few minutes of game-play the nervousness was replaced by a kind of euphoria. It is just so rewarding to see people enjoying something that you created.

So far, accepting the public’s reaction to my games has been really easy because the feedback has been so positive. The harshest things anyone has said about Nay-Jay are “this game won’t appeal to serious gamers” and “It’s just like Nertz”. But this game isn’t targeting serious gamers, and I fully acknowledge Nay-Jay’s similarities to Nertz and Speed. It is a different game, but yes it is similar, so I took no offense to those comments.

Brand New Games is attacking the market with gusto. The company runs frequent in-store demos, crowned a 2010 Nay-Jay World Champion at the recent SaltCON in Salt Lake City, and is planning various additional events for Origins, Gen Con, and local shopping malls.