Editor’s Note
Hey all, @futurewolfie here for a brief moment. Thanks for your patience in regards to the disappearance of the weekly Village Square. All of us here are volunteers and do this in addition to living the rest of our lives; and sometimes, those lives get in the way. So, for personal reasons, our good man Andrew had to back down from writing regularly. You’ll still see him pop up here from time to time, but that’s why the Village Square temporarily went on hiatus. None of the rest of us had the time to keep it up.
But, we took the opportunity to look at ourselves and see where we were as a site and where we wanted to go, and we decided that once again we needed to expand our roster to keep up with the rapidly-growing world of hobby gaming.
So it’s my pleasure to introduce to you our new Village Square guy, Ruel, who will be joining our team as a loyal knight, and treating you to a weekly round-up of links relevant to the boardgaming world. (In case you weren’t aware the Village Square is a weekly roundup of links relevant to the boardgaming world.) Thanks to the addition of Ruel, who will be focusing on our news output, you’ll see this section of the site grow even further and become even more awesome. You might as well just cancel your BGG subscriptions now, slayers! Also, say hi to Ruel on twitter (@RuelGaviola)!
Anyway, enough from me. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming….
-futurewolfie
Spiel 2015
Spiel, the board game industry’s largest annual convention, is October 8-11. Hundreds of new games will be released and over 100,000 people are expected to attend. Read Eric Martin’s excellent Spiel 2015 Preview for more information or watch Tom Vassel and the Dice Tower gang discuss their 100 most anticipated games of Spiel.
Really Old School Board Gaming
Archaeologists recently unearthed remnants in a Roman settlement about 30 miles south of Frankfort, Germany. The researchers found a gaming piece and a die among the items, which are believed to have been belonged to inhabitants circa A.D. 120. No word on what game the pieces came from or whether or not the saving throw was successful.
Hungry Hungry Humans
The real-life version of Hungry Hungry Hippo has enjoyed increased popularity this year, thanks to Internet videos like this one. The latest event comes from a Minnesota high school, where students used the hilarious take on the classic kids game during the school’s homecoming festivities.
Sheep for Wood
There’s a terrific first-person account of the Catan National Championship on sports blog SB Nation. Could this lead to sports channels covering board game tournaments? Don’t laugh; it wasn’t that long ago that ESPN offered near round-the-clock coverage of the World Series of Poker.
Bankers On Board (Games)
I love stories like this: Two bank employees have channeled their passion for board games into reaching out and building their community. What began as a church group for adults eventually became an all-ages event at the library. Soon, the event was an all-day affair and it’s recently expanded to other libraries in the McFarland, Wisconsin area.
Now Open: Victory Points Cafe
After a successful Kickstarter campaign, the Victory Points Cafe in Berkeley, California, is now open. The cafe has a large games library and customers pay a $5 fee to play games all day. It offers food and drink and it looks similar to my favorite board game cafe, the Game Haus Cafe (another successfully Kickstarted business) in Glendale, California. While both locations are too far from me to make them my regular spots, it’s great to see these businesses opening up more frequently.
Gaming on a Budget
If you’re like me, then your Games Wish List grows faster than your gaming budget. Thankfully, Barnes & Noble’s semi-regular red-dot clearance sale is happening now. Select games are 50 percent off retail price with prices dropping as the weeks go by. Selection varies by location and there’s a great boardgamegeek.com thread with a lot of great advice for finding deals. I scored a copy of Munchkin Zombies Deluxe for less than $14 (retail $29.99), thanks to the sale and an email coupon. Happy hunting!
