Are you reading any RPGs in public this week?  If so, make sure you get picture proof! Post the picture as a comment on the contest post, to our Facebook page, or on twitter with a mention to @purplepawn and you’ll be entered to win an awesome RPG prize pack!

As of right now we’re giving away:

We still may be adding more prizes.  Keep an eye on our sidebar to keep tabs on the current pot of loot!

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February 28th – March 6th

That’s Read an RPG in Public Week.

There’s also two more weeks later in the year where you should do the same.

So.  How many of you out there will be reading your RPG books in public?

Maybe you should, because there’s a good chance we’ll be announcing a contest to win some cool stuff if you can prove you did. *hint, hint*

I normally read RPGs at work sometimes during my lunch hour, so I’ll probably just keep on doing that.

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One of the most interesting products that I saw at Toy Fair was Flipoutz, a collectible/tradeable/wearable/traceable medallion/jewelry thing. Obviously, I’m having a little difficulty coming up with a succinct name, so let me explain.

Flipoutz are 1 inch metal coins that are worn five-at-at-time in special rubber bracelets. So far, there are about 70 different coin designs with cute pictures and positive slogans aimed at tweens. But here’s the really interesting part… The coins are easily removed and are meant to be traded. Each has a unique serial number on the back. With that serial number, kids can go to the Flipoutz web site, register the coin, and then follow it as its traded around. This adds elements of social networking and exploration, and potentially allows kids to experience relationships between people from different places and backgrounds as the coins travel around.

Of course, this social networking aspect depends a lot on wide distribution. That’s still being worked on. The Flipoutz team is currently running a community design-a-coin contest and developing a treasure hunt game to emphasize the combination of physical trading and virtual networking.

Disclosure: I was so excited by the concept that I registered a few related internet domain names. Maybe a special Flipoutz blog is in the works.

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A very cool series of articles just got underway over on the GeekDad blog called How to Make Your Own Horror Game. The series, currently just started, is written by Jacob Russell and will cover his adventures trying to create a horror board game/RPG with his 13 year old daughter.

He mentions Betrayal at House on the Hill, Talisman, and an old Judge Dredd game as some of the types of game he’s looking to emulate.

This first post basically just gives an overview of what’s to come, but is already an interesting read. I look forward to the rest!

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The DGT Cube is an electronic timer for up to six players. Simply turn the cube over to the next player’s face and the timer automatically starts.

Litko makes on-demand plastic parts in various shapes and colors for games that includes printing. Also bases, trays, and terrain.

Limardee Trays are stands that hold a central game board of varying size and pockets for each player’s money and other accessories. I’m pretty sure “varying” does not include monster war game.

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Card Party Singles follows Playdate, Nerds at Heart, Game Night Out, and others as a new dating service aimed at connecting over card games. I guess card games could be considered mildly less geeky than board games, but anyhoo.

I note that they mention Bridge, Euchre, Hearts, etc, but Poker is conspicuously absent.

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Gigantic Mechanic makes city-wide augmented reality games. Gigaputt, for instance, is an IPhone golf game that turns any location into a 3-hole mini-golf game. Swing your Iphone and watch your golf ball sail down the city streets.

They are one of the founders and producers of New York’s Come Out & Play Festival.

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A Halifax, UK man has sued the national lottery for printing three lottery scratch-card games that he claims resemble a dice game on which he failed to make money over twenty years ago. The game was called “Combinations: The Fun Family Travel Game” and I can’t find any trace of it, other than source.

“I had the inventive step of using dice on combinations nobody had thought of before,” says the man. And yet he’s suing for copyright infringement, which would not cover any kind of “inventive step”, as far as I know (IANAL).

Dice combinations means that rolling a 1 and a 3 was a possible good thing for the player, and it also is on one of the scratch cards. Naturally he believes he’s thus entitled to over 8 million GBP.

(source)

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Welcome to the second week of Purple Parlay!

This week I’d like to get your thoughts on print and play games.  How many of you actually take them time to create these print-at-home games? Are there any in particular that are you favorite? Would you like to see more coverage of print and play games on Purple Pawn?

I’ve got a few PNP games that I’ve put together, none of them any of the more complex ones. One of my favorites is Zombie in my Pocket.

So lets hear it.

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700 students at the University of Tennessee participated in VolWalk of Life, an orientation seminar loosely based on the journey through The Game of Life. Each student started with a card, and navigated through booths picking up requirements to end at a successful graduation.

(source, photos)

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