Professor Puzzle of the UK, known mostly for wood and metal brain teasers, also has a line of giant garden games. Several should be available in the United States next month.

Giant Chess ($50 retail) features a weatherproof mat and light plastic pieces with a 5½ inch king.

The Jenga-like Toppling Tower game ($50) starts out at 2 feet tall and is made of light beechwood, so it shouldn’t hurt when it does topple.

Also made of beechwood are the Giant Dominoes—set of 28 double-sixes for $30.

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In Singapore, 605 people broke the world record for the most people playing Monopoly at the same time in a single venue. They were, though, allowed to stop playing after 30 minutes.

At 10 years and 9 months old, R. Praggnanandhaa of India is the youngest ever to qualify for the International Master title in Chess.

Li Chao of China postponed his wedding to accept a late invitation to the Norway Chess tournament. He was asked to fill in for Sergey Karjakin, who withdrew to begin preparing for the World Chess Championship.

These guys played Jenga Giant while the blocks were on fire!

Already the top professional Go player in Europe, Fan Hui has improved his game by 300 points since he began practicing against Google Alpha Go computer program.

Webster University’s fourth consecutive win of the President’s Cup (also known as the Final Four of College Chess) ties the previous record set by the University of Maryland Baltimore County 2003-2006. It’s also the sixth consecutive win for the team’s coach, Susan Polgar, who before Webster worked with Texas Tech University.

The Wall Street Journal reported on the tremendous successes of Nigerian Scrabble players, attributing it in large part to a “surprising strategy of playing short words.” Slate, responding directly to that article, pointed out that the importance of short words has been recognized by avid Scrabble players for many years.

Taking three straight games in the best-of-five final round gave Adam Logan his fifth win of the Canadian National Scrabble Championship.

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Some game moves are so incredible they deserve their own post…

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An ad from Caterpillar ups the ante on giant Jenga:

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On Monday, Hasbro reported its 3rd quarter financial results, revealing continued growth in the games category. The company’s Q3 net revenues were $1.37 billion, an increase of 2 percent compared to last year. These overall positive results were buoyed by a +11 percent performance in international markets.

In terms of product categories, boys continued to slide, while games and girls were up. Within the boys category, though, Beyblade sales grew in the third quarter.

Rising 6 percent, Hasbro’s games business (includes both tabletop and electronic games) posted its fourth straight quarter of revenue growth. The category was again led by Magic: The Gathering, which was up over 30 percent. Also performing well, however, were Jenga, Elefun & Friends, and Telepods. Monopoly and Monopoly Empire revenues were flat in the quarter, though the company considers the news positive as year-to-date numbers were still up.

Regarding Magic: The Gathering, Hasbro revealed in its earnings conference call that 80 percent of sales take place in hobby shops. Also, Magic Online has been receiving significant investment by the company, most going toward expanding capacity for simultaneous games. CEO, Brian Goldner, explained that MtG, with its strong brand and cross-platform gaming options, has been the leading example of how Hasbro now approaches developing immersive experiences in its company-wide brand blueprint strategy.

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