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).

* Again, I kid because I’m a fan.

** Kidding, kidding.

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.

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.

* I kid because I’m a fan.

The starter box will come with 30 minis, 4 mechs, and 2 heroes.  Split that in half and you’ve got your American and German forces.  Future releases include Soviets, Japanese, and even South Americans and Australians.

The minis are all base-coated out of the box, so you can tell armies apart without painting. The minis are pre-assembled, and apparently the base coat is perfect to paint on out-of-the-box, if you’re so inclined.

The setting sounds really interesting, and as you can see here, the minis look like they’ll be pretty awesome. I hope the rules will hold my interest, because I can see this as a minis came I might really be able to get into.

(photo by Jay Adan)

Uncle Chestnut’s Table Gype, designed by Christopher and Paul Nowak, published by Eternal Revolution and also available as a download, was inspired by a quote from G.K. Chesterson: “I myself cut out and coloured pieces of cardboard of mysterious and significant shapes, the instruments of Table Gype; a game for the little ones.” He is referring to a game that he claims that he and H.G. Wells invented. Nobody actually knows how this game was played, although Wells was a famed wargamer.

This game adds dice and chess-like movement to the game of Chinese Checkers. Every time you jump a piece, you roll the piece to see what its new movement abilities are; each of the six faces permits a different type of movement.

Another recent game that combines dice with a popular abstract game (Abalone) is Knockabout by Pair-of-Dice Games.

Doggone Grief from the Aultman Health Foundation is a tool to get children involved in grief therapy (not a substitute for actual therapy).

Copy says that “There are four grief emotions children can verbalize: sad, mad, scared and happy. A colorful deck of cards depicts these emotions by showing dogs in various activities.” I would have thought that grief couldn’t be boiled down that simplistically; what do I know? After picking a card, players must share when they felt one of these ways.

$35 plus shipping, ages 3 and up, recommended that an adult supervise the experience.

(source)

I haven’t played, but I don’t quite get it. In Boggle, there is a limited number of legal possible answers. Here, there would seem to be an infinite number of possible answers. While you may want to write down a few obvious ones to ensure others don’t score them, you have only one minute, and you have to defend your answers as being relevant to the topic, it doesn’t look like it would be that difficult to come up with weird answers. Or maybe I’m just weird that way.