HalfBakery is a site for half-baked ideas, and it has a large section with game variants for dozens of traditional and modern games, role playing, party games, as well as accessories for games.

Sorry about those three hours you’re about to waste.

• 0 Comments

Chess grandmaster slaps someone in the face, and then takes the mobile phone of the journalist who filmed it and throws it into her face. She (the grandmaster) is 75 years old. (source)

A Bryant woman is producing a children’s musical “Chess Song” with the players as dancing Chess pieces. Sample lyrics (sung to Aretha Franklin’s “Respect”):

The pawn moves first.
Baby, you got it.
One square straight forward.
You know, you got it.
It captures by moving
Diagonally.
Just protect the King
Just protect the King.

She wants to film and release it on DVD. It might be this site? (source)

Obligatory nifty Chess set: Chess blocks. The piece’s shapes describe their movement. The site includes instructions on how to make your own.

• 0 Comments

Matt Etherington, a player for Stoke City, admitted to £1.5 million in card game losses with other players. (source) He’s now attending Gambler’s Anonymous (though hardly anonymous, at this point).

Los Angeles, CA: Man playing poker on his porch is shot for unknown reasons. (source)

Fort Collins, CO: Friend of the family sexually assaults a nine year old girl while playing board games. (source)

Alton, VA: One man slashes another at a card game. (source)

Göpfritz, Austria: One pensioner whacks another to death with a chair at a card game, and then hangs himself in shame the next day. (source)

Kaohsiung, Taiwan: 52 year old man with a history of heart disease plays Mahjong, drinks, eats candy, and smokes for 10 hours straight and then drops dead. (source)

Nanchez, MI: Man shot in neck during a dice game. (source)

Dubai, UAE: An arrest warrant is issued for a man currently promoting the Chess industry in Russia. He’s wanted for a large unpaid debt. (source)

Rotorua, New Zealand: Two tour drivers fight and spill blood at a card game. (source)

Salt lake City, UT: Boy killed playing card game crossed with Russian Roulette. (source)

Front Royal, VA: Man charged with robbery and abduction after robbing a card game using a gun. (source)

• 0 Comments

On its way from Playroom Entertainment is a dice version of Ligretto. Instead of slamming down cards in numbered order, Ligretto Dice has players rolling dice and placing them gently slamming them. Basically the same concept, but I like the dice a little better. There’s a little extra risk of cheating but dice are just fun.

• 0 Comments

Bingo Link is Gamewright’s interesting twist on a classic. Every hexagon-shaped board has the same set of symbols, just in different positions. On their turn, players call out symbols so that they can cover them up, but so can everyone else. The goal is to link two sides of the board. So as you’re linking two sides on your own board, you’re also helping out the other players.

• 3 Comments

Patch Products is launching a new game line this year. The Take ‘N’ Play Anywhere products will be mostly traditional games like Hangman, Tic-Tac-Toe, and Checkers but using chunky magnetic pieces and fold-closed tins that double as game boards. Meant for kids as young as 3, these games are designed as convenient fun on the go, with parts that can be put away quickly and won’t get lost.

• 0 Comments

Shanghai, China: Middle-aged residents reportedly using drugs to stay up longer playing Mahjong. (source)

• 0 Comments

Label Interactive is the first out of the gate with a suite of board games designed for the iPad. Product information at GameTable.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the product is that it contains no game rules; only board and pieces that you can manipulate at will. Which means that you can play any game you like using the manipulable components.

They began working on it well before Apple’s product announcement. It will cost 99 cents and be available in late March.

• 0 Comments

Rina Fujisawa has become the youngest ever professional Go player at age 11.

The previous record was also held by an 11 year old, but three months older. Rina’s father and grandfather were professional Go players, natch.

(source)

• 0 Comments

Well, we can’t cover all the toy and game expos but I will be at New York Toy Fair coming up in about a week. Feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you’d like to see from the show. According to a survey by TDmonthly Magazine, games are the most anticipated category by retailers this year, so I’m expecting a pretty exciting show.

• 1 Comment