Today marks 10 years since Yehuda Berlinger posted the first article on Purple Pawn, a brief story about board games mentioned in the Sally Forth comic strip. I hope in that time that you’ve felt informed and entertained. We’ve tried our best to make a positive contribution. With 8,370 articles published so far!

Purple Pawn presents a unique voice in the game field, covering all types of tabletop games—board games, card games, collectibles, roleplaying games, war games, miniatures, and more. Games with modern movie tie-ins and traditional games played by generations. Games for the dedicated hobbyist, as well as the casual gamer.

Of course we report news of product releases but we also work hard to document the business side of the game industry, provide tips to the game consumer, and highlight the significant role that games play in culture and society.

Purple Pawn would not exist if not for the vision and guidance of its founder, Yehuda Berlinger. Thank you, Yehuda, for letting me keep it going when you decided to move on to other game-related endeavors!

Thank you also to our various contributors over the years: Ben Clark, Thomas Deeny, K.C. Lee, Lory Gilpatric, Phil Kilcrease, Randy Snyder, Richard Bliss, Josh Street, Rob Kalajian, Sam Mercer, and Tracy Tang! In the early days it was Yehuda as the snarky commentator, Josh as the fanboy, and me as the straight-man. Ben provided an amazing inside look at the business side of games with the Paper Money podcast. Sam gave us some cool graphics. Rob—who, other than Yehuda and I, was with Purple Pawn the longest—was of tremendous support to me personally, did a wonderful job of covering the independent publishers, and also solved many technical problems behind the scenes. Thomas, who is still with Purple Pawn, has an amazing knack for identifying the hot trends and controversies.

And of course, thank you to our readers!

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Mattel in Frankfurt, Germany has an opportunity for a Marketing Intern – Brand Activation Games to support the company at Essen Internationale Spieltage, test and proofread prototypes, plan advertising, manage social media, and conduct market research.

Wizards of the Coast is recruiting for a Senior Game Designer to join Magic: The Gathering’s R&D team. Requires 3+ years design experience, passion for MtG, ability to lead teams, and familiarity with other CCGs.

Spin Master is looking for someone crafty, outgoing, and comfortable with social media to fill the role of Sand Castle Maker. The position is a 1 year, $50,000 contract to build “imaginative creations” with Kinetic Compounds. Must make at least one video a week, with children.

CENTRA Technology, a consulting firm in Arlington, Virginia (just outside D.C.), has an opening for a Wargame Analyst. The job of the analyst is to organize and implement simulations and exercises involving such topics as space policy, military technology, cybersecurity, and regional affairs.

Goliath Games in Plano, Texas needs a Graphic Designer to design game packaging and layout instruction manuals and game boards. Five or more years of experience is required.

Andromeda Simulations International, which runs board game based training programs on business, finance, and strategy, needs a Marketing Director. The goal is to “focus on solution design and content development,” such as blogging, social media campaigns, email campaigns, and trade shows and conferences.

Cartamundi has a number of openings at its board game manufacturing plant in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts. Some are shift-based production positions. Others are for IT and logistics.

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New fellowships are available for research at the The Strong’s National Museum of Play. The idea is to support researchers accessing the museum’s library; collection of toy, doll, and game artifacts; and video and electronic game resources. The G. Rollie Adams Research Fellowships will provide academic professionals, independent scholars, museum scholars, and advanced graduate students at the masters or doctorate level with $500 per-week stipends. Applications are due April 20th.

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The political action committee of progressive MoveOn.org has launched a gamification platform, SwingVoter Go!, to mobilize voters for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. The game, designed by Jane McGonigal, is modeled on Pokemon Go, complete with Lures to engage undecided friends and family, Swingball arguments to sway their opinions, and a Voterdex of cards to record one’s successes and failures.

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The Diana Jones Award 2016 shortlist has been announced, as is as follows:

ConTessa
Organization

Eric M. Lang
Designer

Fall of Magic
Game by Ross Cowman
Published by Heart of the Deernicorn

Larpwriter Summer School
Course by Fantasiförbundet (Norway) and Post (Belarus)

Pandemic Legacy
Game by Rob Daviau and Matt Leacock
Published by Z-Man Games

Want to know more about the Diana Jones Award? Here’s a blurb from their website:

The Diana Jones Award is an annual award created to publicly acknowledge excellence in gaming. The award was first made for the year 2000, and the first award ceremony was on August 4, 2001.

[via BoardGameGeek]

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Today marks 8 years since Yehuda posted the first article on Purple Pawn! Since then, Purple Pawn has seen 7,573 additional articles published. Thank you to all the reporters who’ve contributed over the years. And thank all of you for reading!

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There are reports coming out of China of a new personal credit rating-like system, optional for now but mandatory as of 2020, designed to evaluate individuals’ allegiance and conformity. Developed by tech giants Tencent and Alibaba, Sesame Credit assigns participants a score between 350 and 950 based on purchases, as well as other activity. So for example, repeating online an official government announcement might raise one’s score, while posting about politics or mentioning a sensitive historical event would lower it. Ordering work uniforms or appliances might raise it, while importing foreign entertainment would lower it.

The gamification of social compliance, however, doesn’t end there. A person’s score is affected not only by their own activity but also by the activity of their friends and contacts. Find someone’s dragging you down with their independence? Perhaps its best to cut them off.

And the impact of one’s Sesame Credit score, too, may be no small matter. With a high-enough score, a person might qualify for a personal loan without collateral or for a foreign travel permit. Sanctions for a low score, on the other hand, might include limitations on internet use and exclusion from certain jobs.

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Lego Group is looking for an experienced professional to fill the position of Senior Gamification Design Manager in Denmark. The responsibilities of the job include developing incentive strategies for MyLego, overseeing incentive development, and managing the incentive platform. The goal is to “tie together all digital LEGO experiences in meaningful ways which creates deeper consumer engagement and improved consumer life time value.”

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Saturday, November 14th is Neighborhood Toy Store Day. Many local shops will be holding special events. Give them your support.

November 21-22 is the Chicago Toy & Game Fair. Here’s a coupon [PDF] for $2 off admission. Or get free admission when wearing ChiTAG officially licensed clothing.

Pathfinder accessories are 50% off direct from Paizo through December 6th.

Syrinscape’s Pathfinder Player Character SoundSet 4-Pack is also 50% off.

Enter Educational Insights’ Gobble Gobble Sweepstakes for a chance to win either of two game bundles (both with a retail value of about $130).

U.K. Online retailer Chaos Cards is giving away, via Facebook, the winner’s choice of either Fury of Dracula or Dead of Winter.

BoardGameGiveaway is giving away Mysterium from Asmodee.

Games with dragons are 15-60% off in Eagle & Gryphon Games’ Dragon Sale.

So Chic Life is giving away a $500 prize pack from Spin Master.

Sign on to the Toy Industry Association’s Pledge to Play and be entered in to a sweepstakes for a prize package of toys worth $250.

The prize in Patch Products’ sweepstakes is $200 worth of Patch games. Entering requires watching and commenting on a short YouTube video about the company’s Chrono Bomb game.

Like The Army Painter on Facebook for a chance to win the company’s Technique Bundle. It’s the company’s eighth anniversary, so it’s giving away eight.

EverythingBoardGames is giving away Snow Tails from Renegade Game Studios.

Get a 25% discount on registration for the Gamification World Congress with coupon code “dopamine”.

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A new game design competition challenges the public to take on nuclear proliferation, not to solve the problem all at once but at least to inspire…

creative solutions and novel approaches that foster greater understanding of nuclear proliferation and its related safety and security challenges.

Administered by Games for Change and sponsored by N Square (a collaboration between various foundations), the competition asks only for a game design concept. For final design and implementation, N Square will be hiring professionals. This makes the competition a great opportunity even for those without game design experience to get involved. Plus there’s a $10,000 prize for the winner!

The deadline for submissions in November 13th. Rights to the winning entry are granted under a non-exclusive license to N Square; all others remain with their inventors.

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