Here is the news:
Protospiel design convention comes to Milwaukee [Link] A convention for game designers, and an extension of the annual Protospiel convention, will be held in Milwaukee in March. It seems like a great time to get seasoned feedback for your game. Check out more here.
Playing games may improve health in aging brains [Link] So does reading and writing, but this is a gaming blog, so you know the angle I’ll promote. I know this was true in my grandma: she called for Pinochle to the very end.
Bellwether Games interviews Paul Owen (Trains, Planes, and Automobiles) [Link] I’ve been following Paul Owen’s blog for a while, and he has very interesting and insightful things to say about game design. This interview does a fantastic job of distilling that insight into a shorter form. I highly recommend this.
MeepleTown interviews Hisashi Hayashi (String Railways, Trains) [Link] Some interesting comments on Japanese board game culture.
The Dice Tower presents its video Christmas buying guide [Strategy games, Advanced strategy games, Thematic games, Party games, Family games, Children’s games, Two-player games, Stocking stuffers] These are some great lists. Also, is that Ryan Metzler in full Santa regalia? (Tom just went with the hat–not quite as thematic.) You can see our own Christmas buying guide here. Stay tuned for our stocking stuffer guide (coming later this week).
Where are the new game mechanisms? [Link] Each month Tom Gurganus of Go Forth and Game asks a new question and posts the answers he receives to that question at the end of the month. This month’s answers are posted at the link.
Reviews in review [The Manhattan Project, Trains, Guildhall, Bang!, FlowerFall] The first three reviews are from The Dice Tower’s Miami Dice series (perhaps my favorite series of video reviews), the last two are from this blog. I was very interested in the first three games before the review, and I’m much more interested after.
Kickstarters of Note
Honestly, there’s not a lot on Kickstarter that excites me right now. Do you see any projects that excite you? Leave them in the comments!
Unrelated Awesomeness of the Week
BGG user HamsterofFury posted a worried geeklist about his experiences trying to teach games to his “below-average” ten-week-old daughter. The list (and the responses from the community) are hilarious, and definitely worth reading.