Besides being a game collector and historian, Bruce Whitehill has been a game inventor for almost 30 years.

Winner of the Nürnberg 2012 Toy Award!

Talat

See Nürnberg Toy Award 2012.

Talat: The Power of Three

“Talat” is the Arabic word for the number 3. In keeping with its literal meaning, everything in this aptly named tactical game from HUCH! & friends revolves around this very number. Three players use their towers of three sizes and three colors on three gameboards to contend for victory. The special thing is that in order to succeed, you always need to keep an eye on your opponents on both sides.

Left or Right? In Talat, each player has two boards lying in front of him; on each of these boards, he takes on one of his two opponents. In the beginning of the game, players place their playing pieces in turn. If you cleverly distribute your pieces on the two boards and don’t neglect either side, you can establish a good starting position.

When all towers have been placed, they are moved – turn by turn – towards the opposing starting lines. On your turn, you may move only one tower, though; therefore, you need to decide whether you would rather keep your left or your right opponent in check. You may also capture another player’s pieces: Large towers capture medium-sized towers, towers with more sides are stronger than those with fewer sides. And, loosely based on the David vs. Goliath premise, the weakest tower in the game captures the strongest one.

Talat ends as soon as two of the three boards are “frozen”, i.e., no tower can be captured any more. You score for your own towers on another player’s starting line and for all opposing pieces that you were able to capture during the course of the game.

In a variant, Talat  can also be played with 2 players.

Strategisches Doppel: Bei Talat spielt jeder auf zwei Plänen gleichzeitig. Möglichst viele Türme des Gegners gefangen nehmen und dabei eine eigene Figur auf die Grundlinie bringen  – das klingt nicht so schwer. Wer aber rechts angreift, vergisst dabei leicht seine linke Flanke – und der Gegner schlägt zu. Wer nimmt die Herausforderung(en) an?

•   Taktischer Spielspaß mit einfachen Regeln
•   Hochwertige Ausstattung

(Click on “Huch” above)

HUCH! & friends, founded in Günzburg in 2004, has established itself as an integral part of the games world. With innovative educational and parlor games, communication games with a lifestyle character, and strategy games from international partner companies, HUCH! & friends has created its distinctive profile. Numerous awards, including “Toy Award 2008″, “Kinderspiel des Jahres 2007″ and “Deutscher Spielepreis 2006″, prove the company’s success. Out of the joy of playing, of creating and designing games, and the interest in new trends, HUCH! & friends provides game innovations that are long-term fun!

1984-2010

While working as a full-time game developer for Milton Bradley, Bruce Whitehill was responsible for:
Centipede, 1984  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Championship Baseball, 1984

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fraggle Rock, 1984

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ripley’s “Believe It or Not!” game, 1984

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As an independent, Bruce has had the following games published:

U.S. Trivia Trip, 1985
A “game mini-booklet” for the American Hotel and Motel Association, New York, NY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Psychedelic Cipher Caper, 1995, Sandpiper Creations  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stealth, 1996, Talicor  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Change Horses, 2008, Eggertspiele (Germany), Rio Grande (USA)  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drei (Three), 2008, Puzzlewood (Germany)  

His three-player abstract strategy game will be introduced by Huch! & Friends under the name Talat at the 2011 Essen Games Fair (October) in Germany.

 

 

 

 

 

Bruce Whitehill’s experience as a mystery writer (“The Hardy Boys ‘The Number File’” and a series of live-action mystery scenarios for his Rochester, NY-based company, The Mystery Game) led to his writing the mystery story of the BePuzzled/University Games mystery jigsaw puzzle, “A Recipe For Murder.”

Bruce Whitehill’s work on other people’s games includes:

Working for Pressman Toy, Bruce was responsible for the addition of the extended shaft in

Topple, 1985
which differentiated it from the precursor games in England and Germany
and led to its extended run in the USA.

In 1998, Bruce was in charge of the “Know It All” edition of Trivial Pursuit, published by Winning Moves; he wrote over half the questions and assigned; the remainder were written by others on his team of savvy researchers (including Helen Andrews, Alfonzo Smith and Mike Palatnik).

Other work included writing the historic text on the back of the boxes of a set of classic games by Pressman Co. sold in Cracker Barrel stores between 2001 and 2004. The games were Blockhead, Dominoes, Tiddledy Winks, Tic-Tac-Toe and Pin the Tail on the Donkey.

 

 

 

 

 

In 2003, Bruce wrote most of the categories and items for the Bionary Arts game, Oodles of Doodles.

A similar project involving writing categories and terms therein was taken on by Bruce in 2005 for Winning Moves. The game, issued in 2006, was “25 Words or Less: People Places, and Things Edition.”