05 Dec
Posted by David Miller as Classic Board Games, Electronic Games, Miniatures, Modern Board Games, Other, RPGs, War Games
Police responding to reports of anguished screams coming from an apartment in Oslo found only a man upset at losing games of Chess to his computer.
Police responding to a domestic disturbance in New Hampshire arrested a woman for slapping her boyfriend in an argument over a game of Monopoly.
A more serious argument took place in Utah, where a father accusing his daughter at cheating on a game of Battleship did so at the point of a rifle.
A board member of the Icelandic Scrabble Society resigned in disagreement with the other board members over the rules for compound words.
When a Brooklyn Nets fan tweeted that he’d miss part of their game because of Scrabble Club, the team tweeted back, calling him a nerd. Oops!
Political unrest in Yemen forced the last-minute relocation of the Asian Junior Chess Championship.
Political unrest in Hong Kong has been turned in to a board game—the Umbrella Revolution in to a version of Snakes & Ladders.
Unrest and civil war is the subject of a board game being developed in Ukraine. This one’s more of a miniatures combat game.
In Spain, it’s government corruption they’re turning in to a board game, appropriately called Corruptopolis.
In Cook County they’re using games in the service of politics. To break a tie in the election for the Cook County Board, two candidates were going to draw Scrabble tiles, with the first to pull the “Z” declared the winner. However, election judges were afraid that the candidates would be able to feel the letters on the tiles. So instead, they rolled dice.
The Neptune Beach City Council election tie was broken by the draw of numbered Ping Pong balls.
Poland’s National Remembrance Institute is using a board game, Regulation: The Coupons Game, to educate younger audiences about communist-era rationing.
After allegedly playing Mahjong when he should have been participating in a police drug raid, a government official in Talisay City, Cebu province, Philippines is himself under arrest.
A European Union court has upheld a trademark for the shape of a Rubik’s Cube. A competing toymaker had argued that the puzzle’s mechanical features made a patent more appropriate.
Police in Dublin were called to a store where customers were fighting over a Frozen Elsa doll. In Nottinghamshire, Frozen dolls, umbrellas, watches, backpacks, and blankets determined to be counterfeit were seized by the County Council.
A website that published 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons material shut down after being sent a cease and desist letter from Wizards of the Coast.
A Hasbro complaint against Imperial Toy has been rejected by the California court. Hasbro claimed that Imperial failed to follow a contract-mandated out-0f-court conflict resolution process when the latter sued it for unpaid NERF royalties.
The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority has cleared Hasbro of extorting children for money via in-app purchases that are part of the Littlest Pet Shop mobile game.
A 7 year-old in the UK made a board game about his heroes, the police. Then he got to meet them.
Police in Livermore, California are warning parents about the dangers posed by teenagers playing Assassin. The principal of the local high school has threatened to suspend any student caught with a toy gun on school grounds.
A student in the Czech Republic designed a roll-and-move trivia game, Konečně Doma (Finally Home), to teach seniors how to avoid falling victim to scams. The charitable organization, Krása Pomoci (Beauty of Help), is publishing the game.
When someone in a car started shooting at a group of people playing dice on the street in Miami, the dice players shot back. Still, one of them died later at the hospital.
In Thailand, a man who felt mistreated by the operator of a home-based high-low dice game went back to his own home, dug up a buried assault-rifle, returned to the site of the game, and shot it up, killing two and wounding 10.
A New Jersey man accused of driving the getaway car in a 2012 dice game murder will face trial after rejecting a plea deal. Meanwhile, a Mississippi man pleaded no-contest to manslaughter charges for killing someone in Lincoln, Nebraska over a $20 dice game.
Two people inside a Louisiana home were shot by someone outside because of a mid-afternoon “unresolved dice game“.
A shooting death after a game of Dominoes in Belton, Texas was declared self-defense.
04 Nov
Posted by David Miller as Classic Board Games, Modern Board Games
The Supreme Court of India is set to consider the question of what differentiates a game from a puzzle or toy. That issue is the subject of a petition filed by toy company, Funskool India, in appeal of a finding by the Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT).
In India, games are subject to a 16 percent import duty, while toys and puzzles may be imported duty-free.
The decision by assessing officers that Snakes & Ladders, Monopoly, and Upwords are games has been conceded by Funskool. The company, however, contests the status of 18 other products, including Travel Ludo, Travel Chess & Draughts, Travel Snakes & Ladders, and Junior Monopoly. These, Funskool says, are designed to be played with by children.
[via The Economic Times]
03 Nov
Posted by David Miller as Card Games, Classic Board Games, Miniatures, Other, RPGs, War Games
Wizards of the Coast has revoked Jared Boettcher’s Magic: The Gathering Rookie of the Year title after an investigation found that on multiple occasions he manipulated opponents’ decks while shuffling. Jared was also banned from official tournaments for 46 months.
MGA is suing Hasbro for stealing employees. MGA claims that Hasbro’s unfair business practices gave it an advantage in the competition for the license to produce dolls based on Disney’s Frozen movie.
At the behest of Games Workshop, the court has frozen the assets of Chapter House Studios, which was selling miniatures and parts compatible with the larger company’s Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000.
In a case that could have far-reaching implications for gambling in India (both in-person and online), the Supreme Court of the that country is considering an appeal by the Mahalakshmi Cultural Association over whether Rummy is a game of skill or chance, and whether wagering on the game is an appropriate factor in making that determination.
Police in Imphal, India are allegedly allowing gambling in street games of Lagao dice during Diwali in exchange for protection payments. One game under the watchful eye of police turned violent. When the organizers of the game refused to refund a man’s losses, the man’s friend pulled a gun and began shooting.
Burokratopoly, a protest board game that mocked political corruption in the former East Germany, is being republished as an educational tool.
At the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour Khans of Tarkir event in Honolulu, a participant from Hong Kong named his deck “Umbrella Revolution” after the political protests he was involved with at home. Official tournament coverage, however, refused to recognize that name.
Back in Hong Kong, Triad members (local organized crime) attempted to disrupt the protests. Police suspect that the Triads were concerned about business at their Mahjong parlors in the area.
Amid a growing scandal in Japan over the improper use of political funds, stories have come to light of lawmakers spending large sums of money in Mahjong parlors and offering large prizes in Mahjong tournaments.
A multilingual board game, Make a Move/Toma el Paso, is being used to educate unaccompanied immigrant minors in Miami about the legal options available to them. One of the professionals that uses the game explains that it is intentionally ambiguous and complicated, so as to simulate the experience of living in a shelter.
The Washington Way With Steve Southerland is a board game developed by the Florida Democratic Party to challenge the performance and policies of the incumbent Republican congressman. In reply, Southerland’s spokesman accused his opponent of being “more interested in playing games than finding solutions.”
In Lancashire, UK, a convicted pedophile is back in jail after being caught with a homemade child-abuse themed board game.
Despite the many great and honorable projects, Kickstarter remains a good source for stories of questionable game businesses. Ice Age Miniatures funded just this past June with an estimated fulfillment date of September. Not surprisingly, the project is behind schedule. Many backers question the honesty and intentions of the project owners. In fact, they’re questioning the identity of the project owners. The owner of Dragonwars of Trayth didn’t respond well at all to negative opinions posted by a blogger. He threatened legal action for slander and alleged copyright violation.
A man in Saskatchewan who operates an online card game and claims a trademark over the game’s name, Kaiser, is suing the developer of a card game mobile app, also called Kaiser. Card players in Saskatchewan find this strange, as they claim to have been playing the physical card game, Kaiser, for 60 years or more.
A Syracuse, New York man who was hosting a dice game in his driveway was arrested by police and charged with gambling, as well as possession and intent to sell cocaine.
In Newark, New Jersey, when police approached a street dice game, the players fled. One was seen tossing a handgun over a fence as he ran. So the police arrested him.
As a community-relations program, the New York City police department invited inner-city public school students to a Chess tournament.
Two men in Little Rock, Arkansas shot each other over a dice game.
When a group of men in Birmingham, Alabama mixed games of Dominoes and dice an argument erupted and one ended up dead. Another Dominoes player was killed in Selma.
Tuesday, the Communist Party of China called on government officials to stop playing Mahjong. A statement made in the People’s Daily condemned the game as an “extravagance” and referred to the practice of wagering on games in order to “add a little stimulation.”
This move follows a ban instituted on Mahjong this past May for officials in Guangzhou and Leishan.
[via: South China Morning Post]
02 Oct
Posted by David Miller as Card Games, CCGs, Classic Board Games, Miniatures, Modern Board Games, RPGs, War Games
Under pressure for failing to stop one of his 18 year-old team members from playing against an Israeli at the World Youth Chess Championships, the president of the Sudanese Chess Association resigned and issued an apology to the Palestinian and Sudanese people.
Eight people were fined for playing the game of Parcheesi after midnight in the town square of Malaga, Spain. Neighbors complained about noise made by the rolling dice. Responding police also told the players that they weren’t allowed to drink in the area. It wasn’t alcoholic drink, mind you, that was the problem. The players only had water and cola. Way to go, Malaga! Keep those ruffians off the streets!
Hasbro is claiming copyright on a list of words used in Scrabble tournaments. (To be clear, that’s just an electronically-stored list, not a printed book, nor a set of definitions.) Many believe the claim to be on shaky legal ground. However, the North American Scrabble Players Association and small enterprises that produce game-playing software aids are intimidated by Hasbro’s size and resources.
The Prime Minister of Norway has refused an invitation to attend and make the first move at the upcoming World Chess Championship (where the defending champion is Norway’s own Magnus Carlsen). The tournament is being held in Sochi, Russia and the Prime Minister has cited “international circumstances” as her reason for not attending.
In Detroit, a young girl, age 7, was caught in the crossfire between two cars speeding up the street with the occupants shooting at each other. What was the gunfire all about? What else? A dice game.
Someone in China is making a paper version of Blizzard’s Hearthstone CCG.
The Department of Labor investigated employment practices at the Game Manufacturer’s Association and found that the Association had misclassified several positions as exempt when they should have been hourly. GAMA is now distributing back pay for overtime.
According to Mexican authorities, Hasbro owes $250 million in back taxes because it allegedly improperly accounted for cross-border transactions.
Yet again, Outlaw Press stands accused of illegally copying roleplaying material and the artwork of others to sell it.
A New York City man who has sold flowers and taught children Chess on a Harlem street corner for more than 10 years has been put out of business by the Parks Department for lack of a vending permit. Of course, he could have moved down the street but he preferred the space available in Abraham Lincoln Playground.
A South Florida school district has been unable to launch its system-wide Chess program a month after the start of classes. The Chess sets it’s importing from China have been held up by customs. That may seem unreasonable but maybe it’s not. Chess sets have been convenient smuggling devices before.
An American Ebola patient in isolation was given a Chess set and NERF basketball hoop for entertainment.
Employees of the Aviation Club de France, a Poker club in Paris, were arrested on charges of money laundering for organized crime.
Project Sunshine is an outreach program of the Cebu Executives and Professionals Chess Association. Members organize a Chess tournament for inmates at the Cebu City Rehabilitation Center.
In Belize City, two men were playing Dominoes mid-afternoon, when another man drove up and shot at them eight times. One of the players was killed, the other injured.
In Scotch Plains, New Jersey, an 11 year-old highly ranked (candidate master) Chess player was shot and killed by his father, who also took his own life.
Wizards of the Coast isn’t the only company that has a problem with Cryptozoic’s Hex: Shards of Fate digital CCG. Cryptozoic’s trademark application for “Hex” is being held up by a potential opposition from Innovation First, makers of Hexbug robotic toys.
Cryptozoic is seeking a trademark covering computer game software, as well as “comic books, strategy guides,… trading cards, coloring books, adhesive stickers, rub-on transfers, notebooks and stationery-type portfolios, posters, greeting cards, calendars, pictures,… photographs, and prints.”
Innovation First holds trademarks covering “Hex” for toys and playsets and “Hexbug” for “downloadable computer and mobile game software”.
Innovation First has been given until November 19th by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board to file its formal opposition. The company may be using that time to work out an arrangement with Cryptozoic.
[via The Cardboard Connection]
Cryptozoic has filed with the federal district court in Washington its answer to WOTC’s suit over Hex: Shards of Fate. Not surprisingly, the answer by Cryptozoic paints a very different picture than the complaint by Wizards.
Recall that WOTC alleges infringement of copyright, trade dress, and patents related to Magic: The Gathering. Cryptozoic’s reply [PDF], however, leads off with the bold statement:
Fearing competition in the trading card game industry, and frantic about the loss of its monopoly position due to the expiration of its patent two months ago, Wizards seeks to eliminate Hex: Shards of Fate through litigation rather than fair marketplace competition. Wizards is understandably concerned about the success and significant support Hex: Shards of Fate enjoys in a community yearning for innovation. Wizards’ Amended Complaint relies, in substantial part, on the hearsay allegations of unknown bloggers. The confused, vague, and egregious allegations in that Amended Complaint constitute a blatant attempt to use the legal process to achieve market dominance and eliminate a competitor which is creating truly competitive and innovative products.
Cryptozoic contends that Wizards of the Coast has improperly disguised a patent argument as a copyright claim, explaining that the issues raised are ones of function, not expression.
On the subject of trade dress, Cryptozoic argues that the question is whether the design of Hex cards creates confusion in the marketplace. Cryptozoic further points out that even the bloggers that WOTC quotes as comparing the two games clearly know the difference.
Finally, with respect to WOTC’s patent infringement allegation, Cryptozoic notes that the patent expired in June. At best, the company argues, any infringement was brief and represents minimal value.
03 Sep
Posted by David Miller as Card Games, CCGs, Classic Board Games, Modern Board Games, Other, RPGs
After all the hype and controversy, the election for FIDE president wasn’t even a close one. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov defeated Garry Kasparov by a vote of 110 to 61.
A member of Guyana’s Chess team was denied a visa to attend the World Chess Olympiad in Tromso, Norway because his name and birth date were on an international terrorist watch list. The Russian women’s Chess team was allowed to register for the Olympiad even though it had missed the deadline. The team may have intentionally delayed registering in order to allow one prominent player to transfer from Ukraine. Two players who made it to the tournament did not make it home. One, from Uzbekistan, was found dead in his hotel room. The other, a member of the Seychelles team, collapsed during a game and was pronounced dead at the hospital. A Zambian Chess official believes that his team’s improved performance at the World Chess Olympiad is partially due to the higher price of beer in Norway.
After an unsuccessful challenge by a competitor, Choon’s Design’s patent for Rainbow Loom has been upheld.
Certain boxes of unlicensed charms for Loom bands have been removed from store shelves after testing positive for phthalates.
So far, Magnus Carlsen has refused to sign a contract for the Chess World Championship (re)match against Viswanathan Anand. The series is scheduled to take place in November in Sochi, Russia but Carlsen’s manager wants to have the event pushed back to 2015. Anand, however, did sign the contract. Not that we expect this situation to persist. Nevertheless, if Carlsen continues to refuse, eventually Sergey Karjakin would take his place.
[I love this headline…] “Athens Cop Encounters Suspected Dice Game“—Though the people the police officer thought were playing dice gathered up all the evidence before he was able to confirm his suspicions, he was able to arrest one of them on trespassing charges.
The National Chess Federation of the Philippines has refused to release GM Wesley So, who would prefer to transfer his FIDE registration to the United States. So is currently a student at Webster University in Missouri and ranked 14th in world by FIDE. Without the transfer of registration, So will be excluded from FIDE tournaments for 2 years.
Some time ago, DaVinci Editrice sued Ziko Games, claiming that the latter’s Legends of the Three Kingdoms game copies DaVinci’s Bang. In a recent ruling on the case, a federal District Court judge has refused to grant DaVinci’s request for a preliminary injunction and has also dismissed the company’s claim of unfair competition and unjust enrichment under Texas state law. The judge, for now however, did uphold DaVinci’s claim of copyright infringement, finding that though game mechanics can not be copyrighted, there were enough similarities between the characters in both games for the case to go to trial.
A pair of teachers idled by a labor dispute in Vancouver, Canada launched a board game project on Kickstarter as a political statement. In Christy’s World, players move their pawns around a map of British Columbia collecting unpopularity points for closing schools and privatizing industry.
A day after a man and a woman in Las Vegas argued over a dice game, the woman allegedly returned to the man’s apartment and killed him. The woman was later arrested in Utah and is awaiting extradition.
Two men in Buffalo were on their way to seek revenge for a dice game argument earlier in the evening when they were attacked in their car and killed first.
A man in Erie, Pennsylvania told police that he was gambling on dice at 4:00 AM on a Sunday morning, when another player, who the original article describes as a “disgruntled opponent“, hit him on the head with a gun.
The CEO of Hasbro, Brian Goldner, was diagnosed with prostate cancer but plans to stay on in the position. Sylvia Hassenfeld, the matriarch of the family that founded Hasbro, a philanthropist, and a leader of international social aide organizations, died August 16th at the age of 93.
In Rockford, Illinois, a man pled guilty and was sentenced to 13 years in prison for shooting his opponent in a game of Dominoes. The two had gotten in to a fist-fight but the other man was getting in to his car to leave when the first man shot him.
Scientific Games’s new Yahtzee slot machine is the first online casino game based on a Hasbro-licensed game property.
Police in Detroit say that the shooting of a teen and two men (one of whom was killed) was the outcome of an argument during a dice game.
A man in Plainfield, New Jersey is being held on $1 million bail after being arrested for allegedly killing someone that he was playing dice with.
A man in Malaysia collapsed and died watching a game of Mahjong.
06 Aug
Posted by David Miller as Card Games, Classic Board Games, Modern Board Games
The Protocol Gift Unit of the U.S. Department of State tracks gifts received by executive branch employees from foreign sources. Looking at the data for 2009-2012, The Washington Post published its ranking of the best and worst gifts received by President Barack Obama, and wouldn’t you know it, a few games showed up on the list.
But of course, I couldn’t leave it there. So, below for your inspection is a full list of all game related gifts received by all employees 2002-2012.
A study of the list reveals that Jalal Talbani, current President of Iraq, and the Sultan of Brunei are particularly fond of giving games. The most commonly gifted game object by anyone is a Chess set, though the Sultan has also gifted Shut-the-Box by Front Porch Classics, Forgotten English: Knowledge Cards, and Horse Race Derby: An Action Marble Game.
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At a Chessboxing match in Exeter, UK, one referee attacked and knocked-out another with a single blow. The attacker was a former policeman and cage-fighter, who was trying to help his friend in the ring by cutting short the Chess portion of the contest. The Chess referee, however, wouldn’t have it and kept the game going for its allotted 3 minutes.
Seville, Spain has banned Dominoes and dice games from the outdoor terraces of restaurants and bars because the activities make too much noise.
In Middletown, Connecticut, a Chess table and chairs were set up on Main Street to encourage community. But now local businesses are complaining about loitering and trash.
Spin Master sent thousands of toys to children in Israel and Gaza.
A woman in California is trying to sue Hasbro because she couldn’t make the model shown on the label of the Tinkertoy set she purchased. The judge in the case, however, said that consumers don’t rely on labeling.
Four men in Sydney, Australia were arrested for smuggling $2 million of cocaine in to the country by mailing it from California, concealed in a Chess set. Apparently, Chess sets are convenient for this sort of thing.
One of the inventors of Cards Against Humanity has been accused of raping a woman a number of years ago. And as if the allegation itself wasn’t horrifying enough, the response and discussion surrounding it have been truly disturbing. But what else should I expect from a game built around being crude?
The Sierra Leone Chess team was denied a visa for the World Chess Olympiad in Tromso, Norway because of concern over the Ebola virus.
The producer of a documentary film about Dungeons & Dragons is suing his former partners who are now pursuing a competing project on the same topic. Both were funded through Kickstarter. [Disclosure: I pledged to one of them and now kind-of wish I could get my money back.]
A female Chess player was caught on video urinating in an elevator on the way out of a tournament in China’s Sichuan province. The player claims that the nearby women’s restroom was out-of-order and she just couldn’t hold it any longer. The security guard who posted online the image of her in mid-relief disputes her claim regarding the restroom.
After complaints by villagers were ignored by local police, it fell upon the Thailand army to arrest a government official for running a dice gambling operation out of a tent.
An innocent bystander playing Dominoes was shot and killed in Belize.
Police in Arvada, Colorado are trying to reunite a stolen Mahjong set with its rightful owner. If you know who it might be, please call.
A man in Lumberton, North Carolina was charged with second-degree murder after attacking his friend and neighbor with a knife during a game of cards.
The national Chess champion of Guyana has been cleared of robbery charges but claims he was beaten by police attempting to force him to confess.
In Lake Charles, Louisiana, a man was sentenced to three consecutive life terms plus 150 years for killing three people while trying to rob a dice game.
Police are looking for the person who shot up a dice game in Detroit.
Three in Germantown, Pennsylvania have been convicted for killing a man that allegedly stole $1,000 from one of them during a dice game.
In Cincinnati, a high school student is facing charges and a $500,000 bond for allegedly shooting someone during a dice game.