In the Iraqi city of Mosul, the Islamic State has banned Backgammon and Dominoes, common after-dark leisure activities during Ramadan. Another game prohibited by the group for the Muslim holy month is Al Mahibs, a traditional activity in which teams line up and try to guess which one of their opponents is holding a ring.

According to a report by Hamrin News, in lieu of games the Islamic State is organizing wrestling matches and races.

[via Radio Free Europe]

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Not available in stores…

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As a shopping premium, Woolworths in Australia is currently handing out collectible Disney Pixar dominoes. For every $20 spent in the store, shoppers get a single domino. The set includes 44 dominoes with different Pixar characters. There are also a variety of accessories, such as cases, tins, and stunt ramps, which can be purchased separately.

[via Mumbrella]

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Joes Bones hand crafts dominoes from aluminum and money. Yes, that’s “from money” not “for money”. One of his sets are made from shredded U.S. currency fixed in resin ($375).

The aluminum sets are real nice too.

[via Toyland]

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Magic: The Gathering

Shahar Shenhar won the World Championship and is the first person ever to do so twice. The championship trophy comes with a $50,000 prize. In the World Magic Cup team competition, held together with the Championship in Nice, France, it was Denmark that came out on top.

In order to accommodate players impacted by a transit strike, a special tournament structure was arranged for Grand Prix Milan. Still, 1,760 players made it. And the winner was Magnus Lantto of Sweden. Magnus is a regular Magic Online player but this was his first time winning a live title.

On the same weekend, Gerard Fabiano was the winner of Grand Prix Baltimore.

Chess

At the Russian Championship in Kazan, Tatarstan, 10-player round-robin tournaments were won by Igor Lysyj and Valentina Gunina, men’s and women’s sections, respectively.

Anquandah Francis Eric of Ghana was the winner in the general section of the Africa Zone 4.4 Chess Championship. His performance at the tournament also qualified him for the title of International Master. In the women’s section, the winner was Rabiu Olabisi of Nigeria.

A strong field at the Qatar Masters Open was dominated by Yu Yangyi of China, whose 7.5/9 score put him ½ point in front and $25,000 richer.

Demonstrating that he’s still a strong competitor, former World Champion Viswanathan Anand finished first at the London Chess Classic, beating out Vladimir Kramnik and Anish Giri on tiebreak.

Junior, Senior, and Amateur Championships were held recently under the auspices of the Asian Chess Federation. At the Junior event, Narayanan Srinath of India took the general section trophy for the third year in a row, while Mikee Charlene Suede earned the first such title for the Philippines in the women’s section. Among the Seniors, Baimurzin Aitkazy of Kazakhstan won with a score of 8.5/9, including no losses and only one tie. Though representatives of ten countries participated, it was local player Buddhika Amarasinghe of Sri Lanka that won the Amateur Championship.

Back in the Philippines, it was Levan Pantsulaia of Georgia who came in first place at the Philippine International Chess Championship.

Dev Shah of India won the under-7 category while qualifying as Candidate Master at the World Schools Chess Championships in Juiz de Fora, Brazil.

Two familiar names topped the leader-boards at the SportAccord World Mind Games blitz tournament, Alexander Grischuk of Russia for the men and Hou Yifan of China for the women. Grischuk also claimed gold in men’s rapid. Yifan, however, fell to Valentina Gunina of Russia in women’s rapid.

Shogi

Tetsuro Itodani, the 26 year-old winner of the 27th Ryuo Shogi title, is confident that his performance will continue to improve for another 10 years.

Bridge

The team competition has concluded at the SportAccord World Mind Games. Israel took gold in open teams and England gold in women’s.

Draughts

The gold medal at the SportAccord World Mind Games women’s rapid tournament went to Tamara Tansykkuzhina of Russia, while gold for men went to Roel Boomstra of The Netherlands. Blitz men’s gold was claimed by Alexander Shvartsman of Russia, while in the gold podium position for women was Darya Tkachenko of Ukraine.

The winner of the US Open was Miguel Almanzar of the Dominican Republic.

Go

The Chinese team has started strong at the SportAccord World Mind Games, taking gold in both the men’s team and women’s individual competitions. At the top of the podium for women’s individual was Yu Zhiying.

Backgammon

Jonah Seewald won the 2014 US Backgammon Federation Grand Championship.

Subbuteo

The Merlion Cup in Singapore was an international affair. Ouabi Rouis of France took home the trophy.

Similar international representation at the Yokohama Open also resulted in a French win, this time by Cédric Garnier.

At the FISTF Open of Milano, Portuguese player Vasco Guimaraes defeated World Champion Juan Noguera in the final game 2-1.

Rubik’s Cube

Marcin Kowalczyk set a new world record for single solve of the 3×3 blindfolded, finishing in 21.17 seconds.

A world record single Skewb solve was set by Jonatan Kłosko 1.81 seconds.

And in Niddrie, Australia, three world records were set, Feliks Zemdegs with the 5×5 at an average 54.20 seconds, Feliks agains with the 3×3 one-handed at an average 11.72 seconds, and Jayden McNeill with Skewb at an average 3.10 seconds.

Dominoes

A world record 50,000 domino circle bomb was pulled off in Germany:

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For the rock band’s 40th anniversary, KISS has announced the upcoming release of KISSTERIA: The Ultimate Vinyl Road Case. Included in the package will be 34 vinyl records, 11 interlocking posters, a turntable mat, and a set of KISS-branded dominoes.

[via Rolling Stone]

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From designer Anya Hindmarch, the Duke Backgammon Clutch (£995) and the Duchess Domino Clutch (£1,195):

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Preparing you for the gift-giving season…

Double-six dominoes set with Swarovski crystals and stored in a crocodile-leather box for $400:

Pairs of black and white dice with Swarovski crystals embedded for pips, priced at $200:

A $700 Ralph Lauren carbon fiber Dominoes set:

And a Ralph Lauren Hammond Chess set for $2,000:

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Chess

For the eighth time, Deep Junior has won the World Computer Chess Championship. Deep Junior is a Chess-playing computer program written by Israelis Amir Ban and Shay Bushinsky and running on a dual 12-core Intel Xenon I5 2.7 GHz computer. Its only loss during the recent tournament in Yokohama was to a German program called Jonny and running on a 2400-core system.

The Punjab State Under-25 Chess Championship was a success despite complaints of a lack of support from the state government. The winner was Pankaj Kumar of Bathinda.

Speaking of a lack of support, Chess is out for the 2014 Asian Games.

A well-run U.S. Masters tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina saw a number of upsets and the awarding of numerous titles (one Grandmaster, three International Masters, one Women’s Grandmaster, and one Women’s International Master). The tournament champion was Rauf Mamedov.

At the inaugural Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis, Magnus Carlsen came in first place, earning a prize of $70,000. It was also Carlsen’s first tournament in the United States.

Scott Varagona won the Alabama State Chess Championship for the fifth time.

Sri Lanka was a big winner at the 8th Asian Schools Chess Championship, with 16 medals, including one gold.

Dominoes

Eschewing the usual, Tom Holmes and Roland Trim of Bristol, UK, set a world record for standing up dominoes. They built a 5.275 meter freestanding dominoes tower, which is 20 cm taller than the previous record.

Scrabble

Wajid Iqbal was the winner of the 2nd Ranking Scrabble Tournament in Karachi.

At the British 42nd National Scrabble Championship semi-final match in Cardiff, Allan Simmons and Paul Allan advanced. The five game final will take place November 3rd in London.

Magic: The Gathering

Josh McClain was triumphant in the Modern format of Grand Prix Detroit.

Other Card Games

The 2013 North American Champion for Warhammer: Invasion only learned the game less than a month and a half before taking the title.

Tom Capor won the North American Championship for Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game for the fifth consecutive year.

The first North American Champion for Star Wars: The Card Game is Matt Kohls.

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Board Games

Matthew Pierce was the winner of the Catan North America Championship at Gen Con.

At Gen Con, Mayfair also organized a world record game of Settlers of Catan with 922 players.

Dominoes

Sixty divers of the British Sub-Aqua Club set a record for the largest underwater Dominoes game.

Backgammon

A team of Israeli seniors won the 38th Backgammon World Championship.

Magic: The Gathering

Grand Prix Warsaw’s Standard format was dominated by Red-Green and won by Wenzel Krautmann of Germany.

At Grand Prix Kitakyushu (also Standard), Raymond Tan of Malaysia earned the trophy after mulliganing down to four cards but still coming out ahead in game two of the final round.

Grand Prix Oakland was a Sealed/Booster Draft event and conquered by Hall of Fame player William Jensen.

Another Sealed/Booster Draft event, Grand Prix Prague was won by Anatoly Chuhwichov of Russia.

Other Card Games

After taking fist place in the Melee event (four-player games) and second in Joust (one-on-one games), Steve Simoni was declared North American Champion for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game at Gen Con.

The 2013 World Champion for the Legend of the Five Rings CCG was also at declared at Gen Con. His name, Tom Kirchgesner.

Bobby Drake won the first Kaijudo Summer Championship in Seattle. During the weekend event, the invited competitors also spent time with Wizards of the Coast’s Kaijudo R&D team to help develop future cards.

Chess

Vladimir Kramnik has taken the 2013 FIDE World Cup, though he won only one game in the final match with Dmitry Andreikin. The other three games were a draw.

At the always outdoors Moscow Blitz Championship contestants prepared for the cold and wet weather had an advantage. In the main competition, top-10 FIDE ranked player, Sergey Karjakin, was victorious. In the women’s division, Daria Charochkina bested her nearest competitor by 2.5 points. The veteran men’s division was led by Vladimir Voevodin and the veteran women’s division (first time at the tournament) by Galina Strutinskaya. junior championships were won by Stanislav Romanov won the boys’ junior division and Anna Vasenina won the girls’ junior division.

Alex Lenderman won the Atlantic Open.

Awonder Liang is the youngest Chess master in the United States. At 10 years old, his rating is 2,220.

Scrabble

The Guyana Association of Scrabble Player’s Open tournament was won by the organization’s president, Leon Belony.

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