Cthulhu Dice: A Battle for Sanity

This guest review brought to you by the letter C, the number 10 (tentacles), copious parenthetical asides, and a gaggle of exclamation points (!). When rival Cultists of Cthulhu get together for a party, it is likely a battle for sanity will ensue. (Cultists beware! A battle for sanity could possibly end with the entire world going mad!) The Game Cthulhu Dice by Steve Jackson (illustrated by Alex Fernandez) is a fun way to pass the time at your local pub or as a warm up game... Read More

Kingsport Horror: Further Delving Into Madness

Something strange is afoot behind the swirling mists of the seaside town of Kingsport. Just inside the haunted harbor, small cracks in the walls between worlds have begun to form. If left unchecked, these cracks may deepen, eventually crumbling into a swirling rift – an open gateway through which the evils of beyond may spill forth, bringing terror and doom down upon Arkham and quickening the arrival of the Ancient One. The Kingsport Horror expansion for the Arkham Horror... Read More

Launch Pad: In Space, No One Can Hear You Whimper

From 1957 until the early 70s, the national super powers of the United States and the Soviet Union were pitted together in a heated head-to-head race for space. In their quest to reach the cosmos, each nation recruited top technicians and harvested vast resources, all while trying their best to protect their budding rockets from spies and saboteurs. Launch Pad is a lot like that, except this time imagine that JFK strapped on a rocket pack, flew over to Kruschev’s pad and... Read More

An Even Bigger Bang!

If you’ve followed the site for awhile or keep up with the Dice Hate Me Twitter feed, you know by now that my coworkers and I play a lot of Bang! More than any other game that’s been introduced at lunchtime, Bang! seems to bring about the most mischievous glee as we ignore common courtesy and mercilessly gun each other down. Bang! also elevates our creativity, as we are continuously concocting and introducing various house rules to make things more interesting or to... Read More

Monopoly Deal – Like Landing on Free Parking

Say the word “Monopoly” to most die-hard gamers and they are likely to run screaming from the room as if their face is engulfed in flames. To some gamers, that very flaming fate would be preferable to the tedious, near-death experience of another game of Monopoly. To those of you who cringe at the thought of Passing Go; to those who abhor little metal Scotties; to the dear few who pray you Go to Jail so you don’t have to sweat bullets trying to get past your... Read More

Chrononauts – Fourth-Dimensional Fun

What would you do if you had access to a time machine? Would you use it for the (supposed) betterment of mankind, preventing the assassination of a national hero, or guaranteeing the demise of a horrible dictator? Or would you travel to the future, steal a sports almanac, and return to the past to put a bet down on the Red Sox in the World Series? You can do all those things and more in Chrononauts – provided other time-travelling mischief-makers mucking about the timeline... Read More

Aquarius – The Rainbow Connection

Andrew Looney – the founder of Looney Labs and creator of Aquarius – makes no qualms about being a card-carrying hippie; I know because it says so right on the company website. Even if the website didn’t state as such, one look at the far-out kaleidoscope of colors and images on the Aquarius box would convince anyone that the sensibilities of the 60s were alive and well. What then makes Aquarius such a quirky conundrum is that the actual gameplay – as light... Read More

The Game Crafter – Personal Boardgame Production Made Possible

Gather around, youngsters, as I craft you a tale of days of legend. Many, many eons ago – about 30 years, give or take – if an adventurer wandered into a hobby establishment, they might find strange and wondrous treasures locked inside small, plastic bags or unmarked cardboard receptacles. As it turns out, these treasures were board and card games from small, independent publishers, often printed on inexpensive stock, heavy in theme and playability, and low on cost.... Read More

Playing in Public: Winning Friends with a Fireball to the Face

PiP campaign Facebook page. Click to view and "like" “When you want to watch your favorite sport, or go out to a bar/restaurant, do you have trouble finding friends that want to go with you?  Probably not.  So why is it so hard to find people to play our favorite board games with us?  Wouldn’t it be better if we could find someone to game with whenever we wanted instead of having to game on the limited schedule of our game group or local board game store? ... Read More

Seven Habits of Highly Dysfunctional Boardgamers

For the most part, we boardgamers are a gregarious lot; we have to be since most boardgames require the participation of others.  Many of us enjoy the social aspect of gaming, and form strong bonds while beating the crap out of each other across the dinner table. I’ve been lucky to be a part of many gaming groups over the years, and from that experience I can tell you one thing, definitively: every group includes at least one of the following seven gamers. It’s these... Read More