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Paper Money #31: Posthuman Studios’ Rob Boyle
1 hour 14 min agoBen and Rett sweat it out in the summer heat to cover this week’s news, preview important GenCon releases, discuss why brick and mortar retailers aren’t using the Internet well, and chat with Rob Boyle of Posthuman about the transition from design studio to stand alone business (and get a rundown of their upcoming releases).
Show Links:
Purple Pawn – http://www.purplepawn.com
Posthuman Studios - http://www.eclipsephase.com
Next Show: August 13th, GenCon wrapup.
Categories: Game News
Blockers (aka Uptown) from BriarPatch
3 hours 18 min ago
Blockers from BriarPatch is a reissued, theme-less version of the already essentially theme-less tile-laying game Uptown. Uptown was originally designed by Kory Heath and published by FRED Distribution.
Interestingly, Blockers was trademarked by FRED, and its used by permission by BriarPatch. Which leads me to believe that FRED did the un-theming and then pass it on to BriarPatch be published.
Categories: Game News
Weekly Game Criminal Roundup
7 hours 39 min agoClaredon, Jamaica: One man killed in an armed robbery of a Dominoes game. (source)
Memphis, TN: Shooting (no one hit) and a gun butt at a dice game. (source)
Shanghai, China: Couple try to break up neighboring Mahjong club by breaking hot water bottles (injuring themselves in the process, and then demanding that the club pay for their medical bills) and then pouring gas on themselves and – unsuccessfully – trying to set themselves and the house on fire. (source)
Edmonton, Canada: One man stabs another several times with scissors after a game of Mahjong. (source)
Queens, NY: One elderly man bites off the tip of the thumb of another elderly man in an argument over the game of Go. (source)
Lanarkshire, Scotland: Man stabs himself, stabs his father, and stabs his step-mother to death (not in that order) after his step-mother plays board games with his father. (source)
Salem. MA: Man assaults another with a knife after losing money he “jokingly” bet in a card game in his house. (source)
Los Angeles, CA: City police attempt to crack down on three-card monty dealers. (source)
Categories: Game News
Fancy Nancy Games
8 hours 40 min ago
Fancy Nancy is a children’s book series written by Jane O’Connor and illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser. Licensed games are by University Games (including its subsidiary Colorforms) and BriarPatch.
University Games’ offerings include:
- Fancy Nancy Big Easy Colorforms Game: Despite the over-sized floor mat game board, this game is not recommended due to the awkward components.
- Fancy Nancy Tea Party: Spin the spinner, collect items for a tea party.
- Fancy Nancy Dress-Up: Promoted as a “role play” game, actually you spin the spinner to collect clothes for your dolls
- Fancy Nancy’s Double Dress Up Game Tin: No idea.
BriarPatch’s offerings include:
- Fancy Nancy Acting Fancy: An acting game. One of BriarPatch’s new “Games to Go” series.
- Fancy Nancy Flip Five: A memory game with set collection.
- Fancy Nancy Going Places: Spin the spinner, move, and collect the items.
- Fancy Nancy Hide ‘n Peek: Another memory game. Pick a card and find the item in the 3D house.
- Fancy Nancy Posh Bedroom: Another set collection game with dice rolling, but also some “take that” mechanics.
- Fancy Nancy Positively Perfect Parfait: Spin the spinner, collect parts of your ice cream sundae.
- Fancy Nancy Card Game: This might be the same as, or similar to, the University card game tin. Pass cards until you collect an entire set of accessories.
Categories: Game News
Jerusalem
9 hours 52 min ago
Jerusalem, designed by Michele Mura and published by Abacus Spiele (and ElfinWerks), is a medium-length auction/area control Eurogame, though the box makes it look something like a wargame. I can also assure you that it is not the first game themed about Jerusalem.
Full rules available in several languages here.
Categories: Game News
Castle Winterhawk
10 hours 22 min agoEver since 9th level (in 1983), I’ve been wanting to build that keep. Now I can do it without spending a fortune in gold pieces.
Winterhawk Watchtower is the first in a series of component models for the paper miniature Castle Winterhawk. As we’ve come to expect from Fat Dragon Games, the electronic download includes more than just a basic pattern. There are options for different window styles, options for snow or ivy-covered walls, options for plain or grid-marked floors, options for walls that are 3D thick or 2D fast-build style, and options for adding floors.
Categories: Game News
Tweet My Magic
Fri, 07/30/2010 - 2:39am
Up for a little extra chaos in your multiplayer Magic game? This weekend Wizards of the Coast invites players to participate in a Twitter-based shared experience. From the first moment of July 31st at the International Date Line, until the last of August 1, Wizards will tweet a new rule or effect every few minutes. Get together any time with Planeswalkers decks, align with one of the five teams (Ajani, Jace, Liliana, Chandra, or Garruk), and follow @TweetMTG for the specifics. Some tweets will benefit or affect only specific teams, while others may throw a wrench in to everybody’s works.
No tournament, just some random fun.
Categories: Game News
Muppets Games
Thu, 07/29/2010 - 10:54pmA sneak peak from the publisher, USAopoly, at upcoming games with The Muppets themes:
I love the Muppets.
Categories: Game News
One Page Dungeons 2010
Thu, 07/29/2010 - 4:42pm
The other day a good friend of mine sent me a link to the One Page Dungeons contest. While the contest was already over, they had all the winners and entries available for download in 2 separate files. Doing a bit of digging in the Purple Pawn archives, I found that David had posted about the 2009 entries in April of last year.
The contest ended in April, but I figured I’d mention the fact that the files where up, and point you to them.
All of the 2010 entries can be found here.
Just the 2010 winners can be found here.
There’s some really awesome, and creative entries in there. I especially enjoyed “Time for Tea.”
Categories: Game News
Advanced Dunnies & Dragons
Thu, 07/29/2010 - 2:50amThese cute but fierce custom sculpted vinyl toys are from the brand new Advanced Dunnies & Dragons series by Weird Force One—orcs, beholders, and walking d20s.
[via BattleGrip]
Categories: Game News
WoW for the New and Old
Thu, 07/29/2010 - 2:06am
Class Starter Decks are a new World of Warcraft TCG product for hobby game stores. Each deck is comprised of 60 specific cards selected to reflect a particular class and faction in the online World of Warcraft game. The new format follows a trend we’ve seen with other CCGs—non-collectible sets meant to attract new players.
For the old hands, though, Cryptozoic has announced a new judge program to assist with organized events. Participants who pass the certification exam and maintain minimum levels of activity may achieve Journeyman, Expert, Artisan, Master, and Grand Master levels—which besides the ability to run World of Warcraft tournaments, may also earn them t-shirts and playmats.
Categories: Game News
Play in Public
Thu, 07/29/2010 - 12:50am
In March, we celebrated Read an RPG in Public Week to help generate positive exposure for the roleplaying hobby. And while I’m happy to see this week bring that celebration’s second incarnation of the year, another exciting effort it just launching to spread the word of board games. The Play in Public Campaign (PiP) is being organized to support and coordinate people playing games, not in game stores or in their living rooms (which are all well and good), but out in public. The idea being that there’s nothing better for recruiting new players than seeing other people enjoying themselves.
Categories: Game News
Get Ready for the LEGO MMOG TCG
Wed, 07/28/2010 - 2:39pm
Dire Wolf Digital game studio is a new effort in online and offline trading card games, founded by Scott Martins, previous founder of Worlds Apart Productions, and studio head of Sony Online Entertainment Denver.
Their first offline project will be a TCG in partnership with LEGO/Gazillion(NetDevil), based on their upcoming LEGO MMOG. The MMOG is scheduled for October, and the TCG for next year.
Categories: Game News
Catan Rails
Wed, 07/28/2010 - 1:44am
Settlers of America: Trails to Rails is part of the Catan Histories series and is kind of a cross between Settlers of Catan and a train game. The board is made of Catan-style hexes and the collecting and trading of resources is an essential part of the experience. However in this game, players start in the East and must expand their settlements West by building railroads, depots, and shipping goods.
Categories: Game News
Invest in Games on Kickstarter
Tue, 07/27/2010 - 5:57pm
Kickstarter is a site that lets people pledge money for an investment in someone’s business. You only pay if a minimum threshold is reached.
The amount of the threshold depends on how much the developers need, ranging from a few hundred to tens of thousands of dollars. If the amount pledged goes over the target, the extra money is used for additional design, marketing, etc. Your rewards are typically based on the amount you’ve invested, anything from a thanks to an exclusive meeting or session with the developers.
Purple Pawn has surveyed a few game projects on Kickstarter in the past. Here are some more (pledge amounts may change at any time):
Project Description Company $ Needed $ Pledged Days left Forsaken Lands II Poster Map RPG map Maps of Mastery 2000 1907 4 Perfect, Unrevised Story game Buried Without Ceremony 7000 1460 27 Early Dark RPG Anthropos Games 3200 2007 31 Trexlin & Xephyer RPG campaign setting and fantasy card game Platinum Lion 3850 670 34 Aruneus Fantasy zombie RPG Troll in the Corner 1500 1020 27 Kooba Weird magnetic dart game. 3000 1325 31 Obsidian Twilight H.P. Lovecraft material for Pathfinder Louis Porter Jr. 3000 160 30 Cyberslums 28mm fantasy skirmish game New Evolution Games 1500 98 56 Gaggle Trivia game Gaggle Game 15000 570 5 Socks, Inc ARG with web interaction Socks Inc 6000 7029 10 Cholent Jewish-themed blind bidding card game Epicure Games 5000 210 40 d10 Core RPG System Cross-genre RPG system rulebook Late Nite Books 3000 0 33 Lomby Zombie: Corporate Stiff Standalone/expansion to board game John Goewert 4000 25 3 Politics From Hell Card game s(ands)R(andom) 1500 15 23 hoursCategories: Game News
Indented Blank Dice at Gen Con
Tue, 07/27/2010 - 4:24pm
Remember back in January when I posted about those awesome, indented dice? Well APE Games will be handling the sale of these dice for Nicholas Vitek at this year’s Gen Con.
What’s even cooler about the dice being at Gen Con is that for every sale money will be donated to Geekdo in the amount of what the dice would normally cost to ship.
You’ll be able to get a bag of 25 assorted colors (5 dice in each of 5 colors) or 25 single color dice for $15. If you buy 2 bags you save $5 and only pay $25.
I wish I was going to Gen Con.
Categories: Game News
Mahjong Junior
Tue, 07/27/2010 - 8:54am
Sggc Factor Family (named after several members of a family whose last name is Factor) presents Mahjong Junior, the result of brainstorming an activity to keep their kids from zoning out in front of the television.
Other than the above picture, and that it can be played with 2 or 4 players, I can’t tell you much else about it. It is expected to be ready to ship this holiday season.
Categories: Game News
Duels of the Planeswalkers Comes to the PC
Mon, 07/26/2010 - 5:09pm
Remember Duels of the Planeswalkers for XBLA? Well now it’s coming to the PC via Steam through a seal Wizards of the Coast made with Valve.
It’s actually been out since June 15th, but it’s a game worth making sure it gets a mention here on Purple Pawn. For $9.99 you get the base game, and then there’s DLC available for another $9.99. You can both in one shot for the discounted price of $24.79.
This is probably one of the best and most polished versions of Magic I’ve played in video game format. You don’t have much of a deck building ability, but that really allows you to just dig in and play.
If you missed out on this because you don’t have an Xbox, now is the perfect time to give it a shot.
Categories: Game News
Inuktitut Scrabble
Sun, 07/25/2010 - 3:56am
There are Inuit games (here and here), games about Eskimoes, and even a company called Little Eskimo Games, but this may be the first game which promotes the Inuit language.
Janet McGrath of the Ikajuqtigiit Society in Cambridge Bay developed an Inuktitut version of Scrabble. She’s not yet producing it professionally, but copies have been sent around to Inuit centers across Canada.
(source, photo of, I think, the correct Janet McGrath (source))
Update: As a commenter notes, the word “Eskimo” is considered by some to be pejorative; it is not intended to be so in this post.
Categories: Game News