DiXit:The Cure for the Common Party (Game)

Excerpt from The Everygeek’s Guide to Happy Gaming*: Party game (n) expletive: 1) Board/card game dug out from the depths of the game closet and dusted off when there is a congregation of 6 or more people consisting of over 50% females and/or close family members; 2) game of any sort within easy reach and easily understandable by the masses while intoxicated that would not ordinarily be tolerated by dedicated, hardcore gamers. See: Apples to Apples; Uno; Win, Lose or Draw;... Read More

The Stars Are Right: Hold Onto Your Sanity

One of the main themes in H.P. Lovecraft’s horrific tales was man’s tenuous grasp on his fragile sanity. It’s pretty safe to say that this theme is carried out splendidly in The Stars Are Right. You will lose sanity points. Resistance is futile. This brain-twisting diversion from Steve Jackson Games is a bit of a conundrum. It’s billed as a card game, but the cards are the simplest component. The real heart of the game lies in the 5×5 grid of tiles... Read More

High Noon: Lunchtime!

In my office we’re lucky enough to be able to sneak in a quick game of some sort just about every day around lunchtime. Recently, my coworkers and I have been slinging bullets at each other in the wild west card game Bang! For those unfamiliar with this charming and addictive card game, you should read more about it, and I would highly recommend picking up a copy. Unfortunately, until you play a couple of times, the rest of this article isn’t going to make much sense. One... Read More

You’ve Got the Whole Board in your Hands

There’s truly no replacement for the sensations of a good board game: The ‘klik-klak’ of the smooth-sided dice as they roll in your hand, surveying a battlefield that’s small enough to fit the dinner table, listening to friends laugh with triumph and cry out with defeat. But there are times and places – the bus, a plane, your dentist’s chair – when you just don’t want to lose a key component to that $40 game in the cracks of a chair.... Read More

Pub Play: Cathedral

In 1962, Royal New Zealand Air force pilot Bob Moore flew several training maneuvers around Christchurch Cathedral and became fascinated by the architecture and the interlocking structure of the streets and buildings below. Several years later, Bob spun this early fascination into the prototype for Cathedral, a game in which the pieces evoke a medieval city surrounded by a wall. Cathedral is played on a grid with interlocking, building-like pieces. The object is simple: capture... Read More