The plaintiff fees for the class action suit against Mattel for its lead tainted products appears to exceed the amount that Mattel was asked to pay. (source)

Fruitland Park, FL: One man attacks other players, including a woman and a six year old, at a card game using a chainsaw; luckily, he couldn’t get the chainsaw started. (source)

Miami Gardens, FL: Loser shoots dead 17 year old winner at a dice game in a park. (source)

Daytona Beach, FL: Police break up a three-card monte game on the beach. (source)

Fairbanks, AK: Man charged for leaving ill son alone at a hotel so he could play cards. (source)

Not really criminal: Elyria, OH: A newspaper apologizes to the Jewish community after a photograph of the winning board of a Scrabble player includes the word “Jewed”. (source) Meh.

East Point, GA: High school Chess champion shot and killed outside a subway. (source)

Jakarta, Indonesia: Man caught trying to smuggle crystal meth inside a Chess board. (source)

Taipei, Taiwan: 34 people arrested for Mahjong gambling on a street. (source)

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Three months until the 2010 World Cup, and we have yet another South African soccer/football game, Sokhazania, designed by graphic designer Carel de Beer.

The game is straight roll-and-move, with no decisions or knowledge of soccer required, which the ad trumpets this as selling points.

For other recent games trying to cash in on the World Cup, see Supersport, Starplayer, and a game by ODMasia. RTL Games also planned a South African World Cup Destination game before it went into receivership.

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Foiled is an upcoming graphic novel from Jane Yolen, illustrated by Mike Cavallaro.

For its release, Macmillan is also publishing a board game (not a CCG!) themed on the book and based on the game … CandyLand. Actually, the game appears to play – and I say this without exaggeration – even less interestingly than does CandyLand. You can download the complete game from the publisher.

I’m more hopeful about the book.

(source)

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Here is the TED talk. Although her research is primarily with WoW and MMORPGs, applicability is general to all games. Epic win.

Jane. World Without Oil. Evoke.

Bonus: A TED video on the importance of play from 2008/9, in case you missed it:

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Kachina, from Bucephalus Games, is a deceptively simple game with a lot more to it than an initial reading of the rules would indicate. Placing numbered tiles one-at-a-time in crossword-like arrangements, players score points (one for each tile in the row or column) when the tile they place is the highest numbered in that column or row. Of the tiles (numbered 1 through 8), though, those with numbers 1 to 6 also have special powers. For example, when placed on the board, the value of the Wolf (number 4) is equal to the sum of all the Wolf tiles in the row or column. The Eagle (number 5) can be played on top of another tile already on the board, even covering one of a higher number. And the Hummingbird (number 2) dominates any row or column when in position at both ends.

This combination, while pretty straightforward, can yield a very engaging experience. I started my first game expecting something quick and easy but ended up spending the next 45 minutes in a fair degree of concentration. It’s one of those games where you can get so involved in setting up your own moves, that you neglect to notice killer moves set up by your opponents. I’m ready to play some more!

I do have one small complaint, and that is with one part of the game’s components. On the one hand, the tiles are solid, with nice artwork, and the game comes with thick cardboard reference cards to remind players of each tile’s special powers. On the other hand, the pieces used for keeping score are a little difficult to track visually. The colors on the scoring markers don’t stand out very well, and the score board has a number-track lined-up in such a way that it’s difficult to read. Still, I wouldn’t consider this a major issue and it’s easy to work around. Also, Bucephalus has told me that they recognize the problem and already have plans to correct it in the next printing.

While Kachina is clearly an abstract strategy game, I also very much appreciated Bucephalus’ choice for the little theme that is there. The company could easily have gone with something standard, like medieval knights. Instead, the game is about Hopi spirits and the power struggles among them. I doubt you’ll find that subject matter already covered by another game on your shelf.

A copy of Kachina was provided to me for free by Bucephalus Games.

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There’s a lot of rumor and speculation floating on the interwebs tonight that Catalyst Game Labs, makers of the Shadowrun, Battletech and Cthulhutech game lines, is in quite a bit of trouble. We’re not going to speculate on what is actually going on, but here’s what we’ve been able to put together from various freelancers and others associated with Catalyst:

• Adam Jury (confirmed on his blog and Twitter) and Jennifer Harding (confirmed on Dumpshock) have left Catalyst
• Jennifer has stated publicly: “However, I will state that on Monday, March 15th, I resigned from working as CGL’s bookkeeper and office manager, due to a conflict involving my personal ethics. The Operations Manager resigned the week before that, for similar personal reasons.” (we assume that the operations manager referenced is David Stansel-Garner, though this is unconfirmed)
• Some freelancers have indicated that payments are running behind, though others have current accounts (this could be nothing – inconsistency in the timeliness of payments is not uncommon for small businesses that rely on freelancers)
• Conversation on the ClassicBattletech forum seems to be non-existent (some threads on the topic have been removed), but a few of the Catalyst folks are talking on the Dumpshock forums
• As a reminder, ShadowRun and Battletech are both actually owned by Topps, Cthulhutech is owned by Wildfire and Eclipse Phase is owned by Posthuman Studios
• Jason Hardy (line developer for Shadowrun) has indicated that a release from management should be forthcoming shortly and has asked people to avoid speculation

To be clear, there was a fair bit of debate on our internal discussion list as to whether we should even post this item. That said, there’s so much speculation going on and we’re such big fans of the work the company has done (I mean, seriously, have you seen the Shadowrun 20th Anniversary Edition? It’s gorgeous!) that we wanted to be up front and only print what we’ve got from first hand, reliable sources and hopefully bring a bit of calm to the situation (we have also sent a request for comment directly to Catalyst). I for one am hopeful that things are being blown out of proportion and that Catalyst will continue putting out more of the high quality products we’ve seen over the last few years.

Update: Franklin in the comments was the first to post a link to the official CLG response.

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Sign on San Diego pimps a card game group. (source)

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)

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Not to be outdone by his former co-host, and afraid that if Joe makes it too easy everyone will stop playing Eurogames and switch to ASL*, Tom Vasel of The Dice Tower podcast has launched his own series of instructional videos. Tom’s videos cover his favorite miniatures combat game, Heroscape. Watch them for me, will you. These I’m having some difficulty following.**

* Again, I kid because I’m a fan.

** Kidding, kidding.

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GMT Games is shipping Washington’s War. I just received my preordered copy, so the game should be at retailers in about a week.

Washington’s War is Mark Herman’s redesign of his 1994 game We the People. The previous version was published by the original Avalon Hill Game Company. Both are card-driven war games about the American Revolutionary War, and both focus on spreading influence across the colonies as a means to victory. Washington’s War replaces the earlier version’s combat mechanic with die-rolls, and also refines the use of cards to emphasize the strengths and weaknesses of each side involved in the conflict.

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Advanced Squad Leader is considered by many to be the ultimate tactical war game, and by others as something to be feared for the bulk of its rules. Still, there are some who would like to learn the game, yet are having trouble figuring it out on their own, or just haven’t had the time. Joe Steadman, a die-hard war gamer—you can tell because he clips his counters and uses tweezers*—thinks that’s a shame and is doing his part to help. He’s posting on his WARGAMECOP YouTube channel a series of instructional videos to Multiman Publishing’s ASL Starter Kits. At under 10 minutes each, the videos break Advanced Squad Leader down in to manageable segments. So far, I’m through Primer #3 and I’m already feeling much more comfortable with the game.

* I kid because I’m a fan.

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