Would MY Favorite Board Games Make Good Movies?
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Posted on May 21st, 2012 by
So this past weekend I went to see the Battleship movie. Mainly out of morbid curiosity just to see how they could make a movie out of a board game! It’s a typical summer movie, meaning you have to turn off your intelligence to enjoy it. Since that’s easy for me to do, I thought it was entertaining, at least. But then I started thinking about my favorite board games, and if they would make good movies also. So basically, this is a cleverly disguised blog listing my favorite board games, really. But I’ll try to use my imagination to see if they’d be good movies, too! It might be fun, come on, give it a chance!
GenCon 2011 Report
Posted on August 10th, 2011 by
Since I’m nearly local, I make an annual journey down to Indianapolis once a year to visit GenCon, one of the largest gaming conventions in the U.S., and one of the most important for board game and role playing game fans. This year, my family conveniently scheduled a reunion for the same weekend but I still managed to attend for the first day of the convention. What follows is a small excerpt of some of the more interesting games I came across. For details on some more obscure titles, visit my photo-centric overview over at the blog Opinionated Gamers.
Donkey Kong Jenga
Posted on February 13th, 2011 by
Two classic games: the arcade favorite Donkey Kong and the tried and true challenge of Jenga. You wouldn’t think at first that they would go together, but they actually do if you think about it. Donkey Kong is all about maneuvering through a teetering construction tower, and Jenga requires you make your wobbly tower as high as you can. So now you can do both in Donkey Kong Jenga. How high can you get?
Unplugged: Holiday Guide 2010
Posted on December 19th, 2010 by
It’s the week before Christmas and you haven’t bought your family a boardgame yet? It’s time to pick up the pace! Boardgames are a great way for families and friends to get together and enjoy some face-to-face social time. One of my fondest memories of Christmas as a youth waking up on Christmas morning knowing that Santa (or his “associates”) had delivered a new boardgame next to the stocking of each child in our family. As the biggest boardgame fan in our group I would spend most of the rest of the day trying to con my siblings and parents into trying out all the new games. Here’s a short list of some of the newer titles I’ve encountered this year that I think are worth a look. If they don’t suit your fancy, I’ve written up a holiday boardgame guide for the past seven years (feel free to check out last year’s guide or jump to the bottom for links to the others.) more…
BlizzCon 2010 – Kid Report
Posted on November 15th, 2010 by
For the past few years, we’ve sent our very own Aiden (and his mom) out to cover BlizzCon, the gaming convention of all things Blizzard, for GamingWithChildren. BlizzCon 2010 was held just last month, and here’s what Aiden had to day about the event.
Review: Gamma World (paper RPG)
Posted on October 21st, 2010 by
After nearly 10 years, the post apocalyptic adventures of Gamma World have returned. This time around multiple dimensions of the Earth were squashed together in a great cataclysm when something in Europe’s Large Hadron Collider goes “bloop”. In an instant multiple Earths with different timelines collide with our own creating chaos and global devastation. Gamma World is a somewhat goofy role playing game set in this alternate future. Players take on the role of creatures like giant cockroaches, mind-bending teddy bears, or even a swarm of angry intelligent cats. Based off the popular, new 4th edition of the Dungeons and Dragons role playing game, Gamma World offers gamers a slightly simpler and zanier gaming experience in a single box set.
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GenCon 2010 Boardgames: Co-ops, Deck building, and Civs – Oh My!
Posted on September 6th, 2010 by
The GenCon gaming convention was once again held in the Indianapolis Convention Center this past August. I’ve already reported on some of the role playing news so I thought I’d give an update on the state of the boardgaming industry. As usual, most big name publishers and many smaller ones set up shop in the main dealer hall to show off their newest and upcoming games. Games of all sorts were on display, but many of the games that made the biggest splash at the convention fell into one of three categories: cooperative games, where players primarily cooperate to defeat the game; deck building games, where players expand and refine a deck of cards as they use that same deck in play; and civilization building games, where players attempt to build up a small civilization and all that includes.
GenCon 2010 – The RPG Report
Posted on August 16th, 2010 by
The annual GenCon gaming convention was held earlier this month in Indianapolis. As is my tradition, I attended for a couple days and thought I’d share my thoughts. The convention has its roots in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Gary Gygax held the first one in 1968 as a wargame convention. It quickly grew as Gygax’s Dungeons & Dragons role playing game became popular. GenCon attendance now approaches 30,000 attendees and will be the 4th largest convention in Indianapolis this year, behind both the NCAA tournament and the national FFA convention. While gaming conventions are common, Gencon is the place to be for fans of role playing games. Many companies use the convention to launch new titles and reveal upcoming plans and the only problem anyone interested in trying out a game will have is choosing from the large number of public games available.
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Unplugged: 2009 Holiday Boardgame Guide
Posted on November 27th, 2009 by
Since 2003, I’ve been taking a look at some of the best boardgames have to offer and serving up my recommendations to folks at this site. While video games have made great strides providing more social games, boardgames have always been an excellent way for friends or family to get together and enjoy a common experience. Boardgames also have an advantage over video games because they don’t go out of style due to changes in technology. Games from that first 2003 holiday guide are just as enjoyable today as they were six years ago. But to keep things “fresh” here are a few more recent titles that may be just the thing to get for your special people this holiday season.
Boardgames for the Video Gamer
Posted on November 24th, 2009 by
While any tried and true electronic gamer may have their holiday game lists already picked out, what if you wanted to try to expand their horizons with a gift that would move them out from in front of the screen and bring them a bit more face to face interactivity with other folks? As a big fan of games of all types, here’s a short list of candidate boardgames designed to fit within the gaming choices of any given type of electronic gamer.
