All the latest NEWS, announcements,
reports, events, calendar listings
and such
sent to us from players, collectors,
puzzle people, authors,
editors and associations.

For new game releases from game companies and distributors, and new puzzles from the mass-marketers, click here.

For new releases, news and information from individual and independent game inventors, click here.

For new hand-cut jigsaw puzzles from the puzzle cutters, click here.

For new mechanical puzzles from the puzzle designers, click here.

Conférence à Orléans : “Les Jeux de société dans l’Antiquité”

Vendredi 25 mai 2012, à 20h30
par Catherine Breyer

La conférence sur les « Jeux de société dans l’Antiquité » explique la démarche qui a rendu possible la compréhension et la connaissance de jeux de société appréciés à l’époque égyptienne, grecque et romaine. L’analyse détaillée des différentes sources relatives aux jeux anciens : sources écrites (inscriptions, textes anciens),  archéologiques (boîtiers de jeux, pions, …), iconographiques (bas-reliefs, peintures, …) a ainsi permis de reconstituer les boîtiers de jeux et surtout de proposer des règles pour ces jeux vieux de quelques milliers d’années !

Mais comment peut-on connaître un jeu sinon en y jouant ? C’est ce que nous vous proposerons après la conférence. A l’aide de ces règles des jeux reconstituées, il vous sera possible de jouer au senet, aux « 58 trous », aux « latroncules », ou encore aux duodecim scripta (12 caractères)… L’occasion de découvrir des jeux qui ont disparus de nos civilisations et des pratiques de jeux qui vous procureront un sacré moment de plaisir !

- Organisé par :
La Fédération archéologique du Loiret

- Lieu de la conférence :
Museum des Sciences naturelles
6, rue Marcel Proust
45000 Orléans
Tél : 02 38 54 61 05
www.musees.regioncentre.fr

- Conférencière :
Catherine Breyer est la principale conseiller scientifique de Jocari. Elle est archéologue et travaille pour l’association de loisirs actifs Archeolo-J, reconnue par les Ministères de la Région Wallonne et de la Communauté française, qui a pour objectif la sensibilisation des jeunes à l’existence et à la sauvegarde du patrimoine archéologique, architectural, etc.

Voir les autres annonces publiées sur Jocari :
http://www.jocari.be/agenda/products.php?cat=495

Puzzle designer creates complex desk

For a glimpse at an amazing array of beautifully designed mechanical puzzles, go to Kagen Schaefer puzzles.

Game Exhibition in Dresden, Germany
March 2012

Bruce Whitehill’s “Talat” wins
Nuremberg (Nürnberg) Toy Fair 2012 ToyAward!

Winners of the ToyAward 2012

An independent jury has selected the ToyAwards for the International Toy Fair in Nürnberg for the ninth time. 227 companies had entered a total of 371 new products.

Category Teenager & Family (over 11 years)

Talat, Huch! & Friends Hutter Trade GmbH

Golden ornaments against a noble black background, a mysterious name – Talat stands for the magic figure of three – and the minimalist, well designed tokens will thrill young and old strategists. The players move three different sizes of towers with three, four and six corners on a three-part board. Both the number of corners and the size of the towers determine whether an opponent’s tower can be beat and therefore Talat does not only promote strategic, but also geometric thinking. The board’s multi-dimensional set-up – each player moves on two fields – means that he must always watch two opponents at a time.

French games magazine,
Jeux Sur un Plateau,
goes out of print

Here is the story, as reported on Tric Trac, the French website on games (Tout sur les jeux, tout de suite):

Chess Conference in Poland

Poland - Sandomierz, May 25-26, 2012

District Museum in Sandomierz

Poznan Archaeological Museum

Polish Chess Federation

Interdisciplinary Conference on

The cultural role of the game of chess over centuries

The honorary patronage of the conference:
prof. Andrzej Buko, Director, Institute of  Archaeology  and Ethnology Polish Academy of Sciences
Jerzy Borowski, The Mayor of Sandomierz

The jubilee of the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the Sandomierz chess

In 2012 half a century will have passed since the discovery in Sandomierz, Poland, of a mediaeval chess set. It has been housed in  District Museum in Sandomierz since 1980 and is one of its most valuable archaeological exhibits. Various chess pieces and even complete sets dating several centuries back are known from museum exhibitions and private collections all over the world. However, most often they lack the context or even reliable information about the place of their finding and so belong to the group of beautiful, spectacular artefacts that more often than not offer no full cognitive possibilities as a source of scientific study. The Sandomierz find is thus one of the few stunning discoveries, not just because it comprises two almost complete sets (with only four pieces  missing) but also because it was made during regular excavation work and is fully documented.

The jubilee makes one reflect on the impact of the find on the scholars’ awareness of the subject, the state of research of games and chess in particular, and the use of the possibilities of scientific analysis in the study of the subject. District Museum in Sandomierz in cooperation with  Poznan Archaeological Museum and Polish Chess Federation, wishing to highlight the importance of the find invites you to participate in Interdisciplinary Conference. We will be happy to welcome representatives of all disciplines of science who would like to present their own studies into the role played by chess in the history of European culture from the Middle Ages until present.

The sessions will be open and will take place over two days: the 25^th-26^th of May, 2012.  Please note that the conference materials will be published  separately. The conference fee is 20 €.

Together with the conference a chess tournament is planned by Polish Chess Federation and displays of “living chess”. Poznan Archaeological Museum has prepared an exhibition entitled  Chess in the Middle Ages – the Middle Ages in chess which will be presented in District Museum in Sandomierz from May to June 2012. Along with the exhibition there will be a chance to admire the original Sandomierz chess pieces which are otherwise closely guarded in the Muzeum’s treasury.

 Call for Papers

Declarations of papers with a short abstract (up to 1000 characters) must be sent in by the 30^th of January 2012, by post or e-mail to the address:

Agnieszka Stempin
Poznan Archaeological Museum
Ul. Wodna 27
61-781 Poznań
Tel. 61 8528251 ext. 238
Mail: agnieszka.stempin@muzarp.poznan.pl

What could be the world’s premiere collection of vintage baseball games is up for auction!

I’ve personally seen the collection and it’s magnificent. Any baseball fan — collector or not — should take a look at this.

For Immediate Release:  Dec. 21, 2011

For more information:
Noah Fleisher, Public Relations Director
214-409-1143; NoahF@HA.com

For the love of the game:

The Dr. Mark W. Cooper Collection of baseball board games is for sale at Heritage Auctions

Famed grouping of rare and early baseball board games available via Private Treaty

Dallas, TX – The finest collection of vintage baseball-themed board and arcade games ever assembled, The Dr. Mark W. Cooper Collection, is currently being offered in its entirety via Private Treaty sale from Heritage Auctions.

“The best-known documentation of baseball’s rich history comes in the form of the rare early cardboard that bears the faces of great players,” said Chris Ivy, Director of Vintage Sports Memorabilia at Heritage. “The purest expression of diamond worship, however, may well be the board and arcade games that have echoed all the eras and great players, and nowhere is this made more evident than in Dr. Cooper’s amazing collection.”

Besides being the finest collection of its kind, the Cooper Collection has the added distinction of having been one of just 21 collections featured in Stephen Wong’s celebrated hardcover Smithsonian Baseball: Inside the World’s Finest Private Collections.

“The Dr. Mark W. Cooper Collection represents one of the most significant offerings of sports collectibles ever made available for private sale,” said Ivy. “For one of the thousands of collectors who have dreamed of owning memorabilia on display at Cooperstown, that dream can now be a reality.”

Born of a childhood love of the National Pastime, and the rainy days of his youth, Cooper’s collection swelled with sterling examples over several decades. It includes the finest – and in some cases the only – known examples of effectively every home version of the sport of baseball, beginning with the New Parlor Game of Base Ball, issued by N.B. Sumner in 1869 and recognized as the oldest baseball board game known to exist.

The stunning graphics of the game boxes and playing boards track the evolution of the game, with several 19th century examples picturing gloveless fielders and underhanded pitchers. Various card games feature examples far more scarce than their tobacco and candy counterparts, picturing legends from Cap Anson and Buck Ewing to Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth.

As the game developed, so did technology, and through the decades the complexity of the collection expands to include various mechanical coin operated versions from the penny arcades of yesteryear.

“While the vast majority of our sales utilize the auction process, we certainly understand and respect Dr. Cooper’s wish that the collection remain intact,” said Ivy. “To that end we are offering it as a group and looking for that collector who understands the importance of keeping it together.”

Highlights can be viewed at Heritage Auction of Cooper baseball collection.

Heritage Auctions, headed by Steve Ivy, Jim Halperin and Greg Rohan, is the world’s third largest auction house, with annual sales more than $800 million, and 600,000+ online bidder members. For more information about Heritage Auctions, please visit Heritage Auctions 

Noah Fleisher, Public Relations Director
Tel. 214-409-1143; NoahF@HA.com

Dec. 2011

Exhibit of historic games in Meissen, Germany

“verspielt …”

100 historische Spiele und ein lustiger schwarzer Geselle im Stadtmuseum

Aktiv dabei sein: Großspiele und Modelleisenbahn zum Selbstspielen, Basteln von Pflaumentoffeln als Glücksbringer
Führungsangebot: Führungen durch die Weihnachtsausstellung, auch speziell für Seniorengruppen mit “Mensch ärgere Dich nicht” oder für Kinder mit Nutzung der Großspiele bzw. Pflaumentoffelbasteln.

Wer spielt mit?
Das Stadtmuseum hat für die Weihnachtsausstellung eine Vielfalt historischer und moderner Gesellschaftsspiele zusammengestellt. Gezeigt werden mehr als 100 Spiele aus fast 250 Jahren – Unikate aus Künstlerhand, selbstgefertigte, nachgeahmte oder improvisierte Spiele und einstige Massenware. Gezeigt wird auch, was “in” ist – die Gäste können sich selbst probieren an neusten Spielkonsolen. Leihgaben aus dem Stadtmuseum Dresden, der Porzellan-Manufaktur Meissen, dem DDR-Museum Zeitreise Radebeul, dem Deutschen SPIELEmuseum e. V. Chemnitz, dem Museum Schloss Hinterglauchau und privaten Leihgebern ergänzen die Exponate. Mit im Spiel ist in diesem Jahr auch der Museum unterwegs Meißen e. V. mit eigenen Spielentwürfen.

Pflaumentoffel zu Gast
Genau genommen sogar mehrere und noch genauer: sogar unendlich viele! Im Pflaumentoffel-Teil der Weihnachtsausstellung können Sie einen oder mehrere dieser schwarzen Gesellen herstellen und so ein ganz besonderes Glücksgeschenk für sich selbst oder Ihre Lieben anfertigen.
Wussten Sie, dass es sich bei den Pflaumentoffeln, auch Feuerrüpel oder Pflaumenkerle genannt, um einen alten sächsischen Volksbrauch handelt, der bis in das Jahr 1801 zurückzuverfolgen ist? Pflaumentoffel durften auf keinem Weihnachtstisch fehlen, versüßten sie doch die Winterzeit und sollten Glück bringen. Was es mit dem Brauch um die Pflaumentoffel auf sich hat und warum die süßen, schwarzen Kerle Glück bringen sollen – erfahren die Besucher im Stadtmuseum.

Öffnungszeiten:
21.11.2011 – 29.01.2012
Di-So 10-18 Uhr
25./26.12. u. 01.01.2012 14-18 Uhr
24./31.12. geschlossen

Spielen SIE mit!

Essen 2011 Round-up

Dagmar und Ferdinand de Cassan’s games magazine from Austria, WIN, has an impressive, extensive roundup of the games at Essen. There is a free download: 107 pages, 95 of which list about 1137 games by 689 designers published by 372 companies; there are 725 pictures! (The other 12 pages list the games by the name of the inventors.) German and English editions.

Click on WIN.

Nun steht endlich unsere Sondernummer zur Spielemesse SPIEL 11 in Essen zum Download bereit: als PDF oder eBook (auch Kindle), sowohl in Deutsch und Englisch, der eBook-File mit so vielen Bildern ist noch in Produktion, wahrscheinlich wird er ohne Bilder erstellt werden müssen, spätestens am 15.12.2011 verfügbar!

WIN Das Spiele Journal berichtet diesmal auf 108 Seiten, mit 1137 Spielen von 689 Autoren aus 372 Verlagen mit 725 Spielebildern. So eine Ausgabe hatten wir noch nicht! Und soviel Arbeit mit einer Ausgabe hatten wir auch noch nie!

Daher: so ein Essen hat es auch noch nie gegeben! Es gab eine Verdopplung des Angebotes zum letzten Jahr. Das Publikum, wir die Spieler, wir als Käufer, werden vom florierenden Markt verwöhnt!

Wir haben uns alles angeschaut, und sind die einzige Quelle, wo diese Informationen geordnet zusammengefügt zu finden sind. Darin sehen wir unsere Aufgabe.

Diese Sondernummer ist wieder eine kostenlose Download-Ausgabe, bitte empfehlen Sie daher unser Spielejournal weiter.

So erfahren alle Interessierten, was es wirklich in Essen an neuen Spielen präsentiert wurde und auf uns wartet! Und nur wenn diese vielen Spiele aus den vielen Verlagen auch einen Käufer finden, wird es nächstes Jahr wieder ein so tollen Angebot an Neuheiten auf uns warten.

Wir freuen uns, bald unser nächstes Spielejournal präsentieren zu können, bis zum neuen Jahr werden noch zwei weitere Ausgaben (430 + 431) erscheinen.

Aber jetzt seien Sie neugierig und holen Sie sich das neue WIN! Kommen Sie auf http://www.spielejournal.at

Gambling on traditional games

Ulrich Schädler, games historian and director of the Swiss Museum of Games (Musée Suisse du Jeu),  has published an article (in German) on betting on board games such as chess, backgammon and Nine Men’s Morris in medieval times. It appears in Spiel Kunst Glück, a volume edited by Johann Konrad Eberlein. The article contains a list of medieval 9-men’s morris problems and transcriptions of their descriptions in French manuscripts.

“Die Wette als Leitlinie der Entscheidung“, LIT Verlag Wien 2011, ISBN 978-3-643-50339-8.

Games exhibit in Oceanside, CA

A new exhibit of 105 games at the library at MiraCosta College in Oceanside, California. For information, watch this space….

Ancient cultures

Cards and Mah Jong

Dice, dreidels, and dominoes

Early American games and Canadian checkers

Shogi (traditional Japanese)

Modern American and European games

Mancala

Civil War games

Vintage American and European games

Play in the Eighteenth Century

Call for Papers

The Eighteenth Century in Play
The Center for Eighteenth-Century Studies at Indiana University
is pleased to announce the eleventh Bloomington Eighteenth-Century
Workshop, to be held on May 9-11, 2012. The workshop is part of a series
of annual interdisciplinary events that has been running since 2002,
with a dozen or so scholars presenting and discussing papers on a broad
topic in a congenial setting.
Our subject for 2012 is “Play.” From the aesthetics of Schiller
to the card tables of socialites; from Pascal’s wager to Emile’s
childhood (“which is or ought to be only games and frolicsome play”)-the
long eighteenth century was a century of play. Dismayed at all this
non-utilitarian behavior, Jeremy Bentham coined the phrase “deep play”
to describe entirely irrational gambling, the making of bets that could
reduce players “to indigence” in an instant. Writing in the twentieth
century, Johan Huizinga still saw a “play-quality” penetrating all
aspects of the era: “statecraft had never been so avowedly a game as in
that age of secret cabals and intrigues.” Play, in other words, can look
like pretty serious stuff in an eighteenth-century context.
What can eighteenth-century developments tell us about the
objects, forms, and occasions of play? Clifford Geertz applied Bentham’s
words to the cock fights of Bali; Robert Darnton transposed that
analysis to cat killing in eighteenth-century Paris: in both cases, the
authors argued that grappling with such “opaque” activities allowed one
to “grasp a foreign system of meaning in order to unravel it” (Darnton).
But must all analyses of play culminate with the discovery of cultural
work? What happens when we juxtapose different forms of play and
different sets of players? Would we want to say that narrative or poetic
fictions constitute kinds of play, or forms of absorption homologous to
playing? Do the revolutionary dramas in the American colonies, France,
or Haiti represent the fulfillment or the destruction of the notion that
politics is a performance?
We invite papers that range across aesthetic, anthropological,
historical, and philosophical registers, and that offer new ways to see
the relation between these fields and disciplines. Possible topics
include: games, toys, puppets, contests, riddles, and puzzles; play and
the theory of fictions; making and breaking rules; theatricalization and
mimesis as aesthetic, behavioral, and political tactic; the
psychologization of play; the policing of the border between action and
enactment, the “real” and the “make-believe,” play and non-play;
transcultural impacts on conceptions of culture as a kind of play, game,
or performance.
The workshop format will consist of focused discussion of four
to six papers a day, amid socializing and refreshment. It draws both on
the wide community of eighteenth-century scholars and on those working
in this field at Indiana University-Bloomington. The workshop will cover
most expenses for those scholars chosen to present their work:
accommodations, travel (up to a certain limit), and most meals.
We are asking for applications to be sent to us by Friday, January 13,
2012. The application should consist of a description of the proposed
paper (1-2 pages) as well as a current brief CV (no more than 3 pages).
Papers will be selected by an interdisciplinary committee. Please e-mail
or send your application to Dr. Barbara Truesdell, Weatherly Hall North,
room 122, Bloomington, IN 47405; 812-855-2856, voltaire@indiana.edu. All
submissions will be acknowledged by e-mail within a fortnight: if you
have not received an acknowledgment by Jan. 27, 2012, please contact
Barbara Truesdell or Rebecca L. Spang (rlspang@indiana.edu).
For further information please refer to our website,
http://www.indiana.edu/~voltaire/index.html and our facebook page, or
contact the Acting Director of the Center, Rebecca L. Spang, Dept. of
History, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, email
rlspang@indiana.edu.

Rebecca L. Spang
Acting Director, Center for Eighteenth-Century Studies
Associate Professor, History Department
Indiana University
1020 E. Kirkwood Avenue
Bloomington, IN 47405-7103

Ballantine Hall 711
tel.: 812-855-2437

www.indiana.edu/~histweb/faculty/spang.shtml
http://mypage.iu.edu/~rlspang

Competition and Games in the Ancient World

Call for Papers

4th Annual Center for Ancient Studies Graduate Conference
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Friday, March 2 to Saturday, March 3, 2012
Submission Deadline: January 7, 2012

Crowned Victor: Competition and Games in the Ancient World

The graduate students of the University of Pennsylvania seek abstracts for the fourth annual Center for Ancient Studies graduate student conference. This conference aims to explore the theme of competition in the ancient world. Competition was a key component of many aspects of life in the ancient world and was found in areas people in the 21st century might not expect. We plan to focus on the role of competition and its associations with society at large, be it in the form of games or sports, interactions between members of a community, rivalries between communities, or the way culture and literature channeled competition. Our goal in presenting this conference will be to compare how competition manifested itself in the disparate societies of the ancient world and highlight similarities across cultures.

The conference invites papers on topics involving competition such as (but, of course, not limited to):
Conspicuous consumption and status competition
Games as education
Competition as a structural force in society
Political competition
Ancient theories of competition
Competition and literature
Ideologies of competition
Sports and diplomacy
Place of athletes in the community

Submissions are welcome from graduate students working on ancient topics in such fields as: African Studies, Ancient History, Anthropology, Archaeology, Art History, East Asian Studies, Classics, Egyptology, Linguistics, Middle Eastern Studies, Near Eastern Studies, Pre-Columbian Studies, Religious Studies, and South Asian Studies.

If you are interested in presenting a paper, please submit a 250-word abstract for a 15 minute talk by January 7, 2012 including your contact information (including name, institution, and e-mail) to Arthur T. Jones at ancient@sas.upenn.edu. Speakers will be notified of the status of their submissions by January 15, 2012.

GO Symposium

THE 2012 INTERNATIONAL GO SYMPOSIUM

Call for papers and participants

An International Go Symposium will take place August 3^rd and 4^th, 2012 at the beginning of the U.S. Go Congress in Black Mountain, North Carolina. Presentations can include educational, cultural, historical, literary, artistic and scientific aspects of the game. Depending on the number and nature of the talks, suggested timing is a half-hour presentation with a 15 minute question and answer period.  Additional opportunities for questions and answers afterwards will be available. Translators can be provided.

We are exploring the idea of expanding the usual opportunities to present papers at go conferences to include talks via Skype with a large screen and audience participation along with oral or texting possibilities for extended questions and answers via the Internet. And to alleviate problems with the differences in times, we are also thinking about including talks on DVDs or with other pre-recorded means. Much of this will depend on the number and quality of papers and the amount of sponsorship, so please indicate whether you could attend with or without partial travel expenses or if you would be interested in giving a talk via Skype or pre-recordings.

For those who wish to publish, papers can be included in an e-publication connected with the American Go Association web site and e-Journal. Another change from the usual proceedings of a conference is that (again for those who wish to) papers will be put up before the Symposium which will enable better audience participation and the ability to write more than is possible to include in the talk.

Please contact: Peter Shotwell at pshotwell-at-gmail-dot-com

For reference, go to the beta website for the Symposium. Click on the records of a similar ICOB Conference in 2003 or the 2008 Symposium in Sweden.

Austellung / Exhibition

Ab 30. Oktober 2011 zeigt das Schwäbische Bauernhofmuseum Illerbeuren die Ausstellung Mit Glück und Strategie Spiele aus zwei Jahrhunderten. (Über 300 Spiele aus der Sammlung von Rudolf Rühle werden dort gezeigt). Die Eröffnung ist am 30. Oktober um 11.00 Uhr, alle sind herzlich eingeladen.
Hier die Internet-Adresse: bauernhofmuseum

Starting on the 30. Oktober 2011, the Schwäbisches Bauernhofmueum shows an exhibition with more then 300 of the games of Rudolf Rühle, “Mit Glück und Strategie Spiele aus zwei Jahrhunderten.”

For the address, click on Bauernhofmuseum.

Toy and Game Inventor Summit

THE 1ST ANNUAL TOY AND GAME PROFESSIONAL INVENTOR SUMMIT
at CHICAGO’S NAVY PIER IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE TAGIE AWARDS & CHICAGO TOY AND GAME FAIR
NOVEMBER 18 – 20, 2011
The Summit is only for professional inventors. The cost is only $500, $250 of which covers your ticket to the Toy and Game Inventor of the Year Awards, the TAGIEs, on the 18th.
To date, we have inventors are coming from all over the US, but also the U.K., Belgium and Israel – be a part of the global inventing community’s gathering to hear wish lists, participate in professional development workshops, celebrate your own at the Toy and Game Inventor of the Year Awards, the TAGIEs, and enjoy private meetings with domestic and overseas companies all in one convenient place.

Some inventors have inquired as to how it will work with the private meetings on Saturday and Sunday following Friday’s day long presentations. The first week of November we will send out a list of inventors and their contact information to the inventor relations people in the companies listed below and then we will send you a list of the inventor relations people and their contact information. Then it is up to both parties to set up meetings on Saturday and Sunday in the offices we have set aside for this purpose. Only inventors signed up for the Inventor Summit can take meetings in these rooms.

“Board Games Summer” in Elblag, Poland

Dates: 26 June, 03 July and 10 July.

Location: Old Town elblag, street between City Hall and Cathedral – in case of bad weather, meetings will be moved to the City Hall. Time: 16:00-20:00.

Play a lot of historical games (Latrunculi, ALquerque, 9 Men morris from Arhus, Hnefatafl, Tablut, Alea Evangelii, Mancala/Wari, Senet, Royal Game of Ur and more) and  modern games.

Companies which have already sent games to play include: GRANNA, TREFL and EGMONT

For more information, contact:

Piotr Adamczyk
The Museum of Archaeology and History in Elblag, Poland
Department of Education and Promotion
www.muzeum.elblag.pl/edukacja
tel. + 48 055 232 72 73

Email him at piotr.adamczyk at muzeum.elblag dot pl (@ and .)

Antique City, Atlantic City, NJ, April 9-10

Philadelphia’s LARGEST Antiques & Collectibles Show returns
this weekend to the Philadelphia Expo Center!
Shop and browse at more than 500 booths PACKED with antiques and collectibles at Antique City – a City’s Worth of Antiques in One Place!

Look what hundreds dealers have in store for YOU:

Fine Toys, Trains, Dolls & Bears · Folk Art · Americana · Country & Formal Furnishings · Holidays · Jewelry & Watches · Petroliana · Coin-Op · Sports · Advertising · Fine Art · Ladies Items · Porcelain · Slot Machines · Clocks · Circus & Carnival · Banks · Pottery · Glass · Country Store · Doorstops · Postcards · Decoys ·Ephemera Textiles · Railroadiana · Barbershop · Disneyana · Coke & Pepsi · Posters · Erotica · Arcade · Political · Bronzes · Radio & Television · Paperweights · Lighting · Comics & Original Comic Art · Figural Napkin Rings Militaria · Kitchenware · Mechanical Music · Black Memorabilia · Celebrity & Sport Autographs · Hollywood Jukeboxes · Rock ‘n Roll · Pop Culture · Uniquities · Decoratives · Fantastiques · Wonders Galore [AND GAMES!]

DATE: Saturday & Sunday, April 9-10
TIME: 10 am-6 pm Sat., April 9
10am-5pm Sun., April 10

GET IN EARLY: Print your Advance Tickets today and enter at 9:00 am Saturday, April 9 – One hour before the box office opens!

LOCATION: Greater Philadelphia Expo Center, 100 Station Ave., Phoenixville, PA 19460
GPS:1601 Egypt Road, Phoenixville, 19460

Come to the ‘Antique City’ Fun Fair
April 9-10 at the Philadelphia Expo Center
and “let yourself be dazzled!”

Get your Special Early Entry Tickets today!

Hundreds of dealers offering
FUN antiques and fine collectibles!

Mechanical Puzzle Auction — One Week Only!
April 1-8 — from John Devost

I want to invite all of you to a very special ‘timed event’ in ‘Paradise’, featuring many special puzzles for sale! It will begin today at noon (atlantic time zone) ending April 8th at noon.
I’m sure many of you, will be pleased with the puzzles offered, including some rare ‘Stickman’ & ‘Pelikan’ puzzles, as well there will be new puzzleboxes from ‘Snake’…please follow this link:
Puzzle Paradise
If you have any questions or comments, send me an email at: puzzleparadise@gmail.com

Yours truly, John Devost

http://www.puzzleparadise.ca

Swiss Designers’ Meeting, May 7-8, 2011
La Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland

Bonjour à tous, ce mail en guise d’annonce pour la 7e rencontre suisse des créateurs de jeux. Comme chaque année, elle se tiendra en mai, mais, pour une fois, lors du 2e week-end donc les 7 et 8 mai 2001, toujours au Musée Suisse du Jeu (www.museedujeu.com).

WIN Games magazine from Austria

March 22, 2011

WIN Das Spiele Journal vorzustellen!

Diesmal ist das WIN ganze 52 Seiten dick, bringen wir doch den Bericht über das “Festival des Jeux” aus Cannes. Wir präsentieren Ihnen diesmal die aktuellen Spiele aus 97 Verlagen, die in Cannes den 150.000 Besuchern vorgestellt wurden. Nach “Dixit” werden Spiele aus Frankreich international immer erfolgreicher, bilden Sie sich Ihre Meinung!

WIN Das Spiele Journal informiert zusätzlich mit Rezensionen zu 55 aktuellen Spielen.

Die deutsche Ausgabe finden Sie auf http://www.spielejournal.at, das Passwort für WIN 421: “Modena”, (WIN 420: “Cannes”). Falls Sie das erste Mal von uns eine Email bekommen, lernen Sie uns kennen und lesen Sie unser Journal! Auch weitere Ausgaben stehen zum Download bereit.

WIN erscheint seit August 2010 auch in einer englischen Ausgabe. Die englische PDF-Ausgabe ist auch im März 2011 ein kostenloser Download. Ab April 2011 ist auch die aktuelle englische Ausgabe nur mehr mit Passwort verfügbar.

Neu ab März 2011: WIN XXL – jede Ausgabe kann auch mit einem Goodie bestellt werden, im März 2011 mit dem Ö-Deck für Agricola.

Mit besten Grüßen
Dagmar und Ferdinand de Cassan

Tavern Puzzles

Save $10 on a purchase of $50.
Enter coupon code MARCH2011 at checkout.

Place your order online, and enter the coupon code above at check out to receive your discount. Offer is good on everything on our website except gift certificates, shipping charges, and prior purchases.

Offer ends March 31, 2011

www.TavernPuzzle.com
Tucker-Jones House, Inc.
1 Enterprise Dr, East Setauket, NY 11733
Tel. 631-642-9092

Erik Arneson about.com Games Announces
The Readers’ Choice Awards 2011

Best Strategy Game of 2010: 7 Wonders (Antoine Bauza; published by Asmodée Editions and Repos Productions); also Erik’s pick as the #2 card game of 2010. Other finalists: Hansa Teutonica, Fresco, Dominant Species and Stomple.

Best Party Game of 2010: Morphology (Kate Ryan Reiling; published by Morphology Games). Other finalists: Wits & Wagers Family, Word on the Street, Dixit 2, and Telestrations.

Best Family Game of 2010: Railways of the World: The Card Game; based on the board game of the same name. Other finalists: Forbidden Island, Sounds Like a Plan, Fresco, and Square Shooters.

Best Children’s Game of 2010: Dweebies

For lots more information and photos, go to about.com.

Catan Tournament of Masters at GenCon Indy 2011!

Monopoly Story (The True One!) Online

A short segment of part two of a three-part BBC program (or, I should say, programme) is online at a film site called exposureroom.com (click for the clip). The four-and-a-half-minute segment of the “Games Britannia” series (each show was one hour) covers the link between Monopoly, a British game called Bref Fox ‘n Brer Rabbit that preceded Monopoly by 25 years, and the American game, The Landlord’s Game, invented by Elizabeth Magie in 1904 to help teach the Georgian principles of the single tax system–this was the true origin of Monopoly.
Featured in the short clip are host and narrator Benjamin Woolley; Victor Watson, the CEO of the former Waddingtons game company and the one who brought Monopoly from the U.S. to England; Bruce Whitehill, American games historian; and Irving Finkel, historian and curator at the British Museum, who unfortunately is cut off in the middle of his talk about the game.

For more on the history of Monopoly, click on the game title.

Book Author Seeks Backers

March 11, 2011

Tim Moodie has over twenty-five years of toy and game concept development and design experience as an independent developer, designer, and inventor. He has worked with all of the major toy manufacturers in the U.S. and several in Europe. He has designed, developed, or licensed hundreds of concepts. His latest game, Dueling Dice, was introduced at the 2011 New York Toy Fair by Endless Games. In addition he is a freelance writer, you can view one of his articles on toys at cnn.com and boardgamegeek.com where you can see his games Zack Zack and The Magnetic Poetry Game below.

He’s working on a new book, seeking funding through kickstarter.com. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will go to the charity, Feed My Starving Children. Here are the book details:

Book Summary

Playing Around is a book that celebrates the joy we have when playing with toys.  This book will share the stories of famous actors/actresses, artists, musicians, politicians, authors, inventors, captains of industry and ordinary people.

It will illustrate the stories of what they played with as kids and why.  It will examine how what we played with as children shaped who we have become as adults.

Aren’t you a little bit curious about what Donald Trump played with when he was young, or Oprah, or Bruce Springsteen, or Bill Gates, or Tom Clancy, or even President Barack Obama.

The book will also examine the psychology of play and the importance of imaginative play as well as why what boys and girls play with is different.  Mostly the book will be just plain fun, because everyone enjoys sharing stories about what they played with as children.

Playing Around will contain stories of the classic toys we grew up with like Slinky, the Yo-Yo, the Easy Bake Oven, Barbie, G.I. Joe, Etch-A-Sketch, Silly Putty and later on Transformers, Power Rangers, Pong, Cabbage Patch Kids, My Little Pony, Care Bears, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Funds: The money raised from kickstarter will be used to reach out to famous actors/actresses, artists, musicians, politicians, authors, inventors, captains of industry and ordinary people.  It will fund travel and related expenses to get the interviews that will be contained in the book.  It will also provide the finances necessary to acquire photos and/or illustrations for the book and find a publisher.  In addition, it will give the author the capability to focus solely on this project and get it done and published in a timely manner.

EBook: At certain levels backers will also have access to Playing Around in a variety of ebook formats.  When published, the book will be available for purchase in printed and ebook formats.

Blog: http://playingaroundbook.blogspot.com/

To learn how to support this project, go to Tim Moodie’s project at kickstarter.

Tim  can be reached at trmoodie@aol.com

Mayfair Ends Relationship with Calliope

March 7, 2011

Mayfair Games is committed to building a brand within Mayfair for those games which will help broaden the market.

We will continue to develop games for Funfair which will accomplish the mission.

Our arrangement with Calliope Games was not feasible, as our philosophies of business, operations and our goals were simply too divergent.  That being said, Ray Wehrs has left Mayfair Games and  is back in his own employ.

Mayfair Games will not be publishing Tsuro, Got’Em, Double Double Dominos, Ugh!,or any of the titles from the Calliope group.

Mayfair Games expects to publish White Water, Rocket Jockey, and Badger Badger this year.

Bob Carty
VP Sales& Marketing
Mayfair Games
PO Box 3815
Plant City, FL 33566

DR. TOY’S BEST CLASSIC TOYS FOR 2011

Selected by Stevanne Auerbach, Ph.D. (Dr. Toy)

Showing just the games in the list
For the complete list, go to www.drtoy.com

March 7, 2011

FULL DISCLOSURE

In 2000, I asked, “What will it take to get American game manufacturers to adopt the European style of clearly listing on the game box the age range, number of players, complexity, average duration of play, and inventor’s name?” Where does it stand today?

Bradley-Parker Update

March 4, 2011

In June 2000, I reported  (under WHAT’S IN A NAME?):

“In its 119-year history, the family-owned company Selchow & Righter produced phenomenal successes from Parcheesi to Scrabble to Trivial Pursuit.  In 1986, Coleco purchased the company and was then bought out by Hasbro.  Sel-what?  Within a short time, the century-old Selchow & Righter name disappeared.

“According to one of the higher-ups at Hasbro Interactive, “the Parker and Milton Bradley names will eventually be dropped in favor of ‘Hasbro Games.’”  Well, it’s nice to know someone’s reading my column.  The announcement spurred a lot of activity.  Though what I disclosed came from a reliable authority at a meeting during which many others heard the same words, Hasbro has informed me that the Parker and Bradley names will NOT be retired.  Good!  The Milton Bradley name has been around for 140 years, and the Parker Brothers name for 112 years (plus five years of “Geo. S. Parker”).  So many classics, from Bradley’s Battleship to Parker’s Monopoly, are associated with the Bradley and Parker names that one wonders, would a game by any other name smell as sweet?  Maybe not.”

It is now 2011. Do you see the “Parker Brothers” name anywhere? A search on the Hasbro website turns up only Guesstures, Clue–Discover the Secret and Jenga (plus a Crew Parker Talking Keychain). What about “Milton Bradley”? There, a search shows Battleship, Boggle, Operation and Elefun, and I don’t see the Bradley name. The “MB” initials, the logo for Milton Bradley in Europe, where many consumers don’t even know what the MB stands for, appears to have replaced the Milton Bradley name on the US games as well.

Puzzle Auction for Australian Flood Relief
Feb. 24, 2011

From John Devost, Puzzle Paradise

Dear Puzzle Friends,
I want to take this opporunity to inform everyone of a special puzzle auction set to take place from the 5th until the 12th of March for the purpose of providing disaster relief in Australia.

Anyone who watches the news knows that Australia’s Great Barrier Reef was recently hit by brutal flooding that wiped out many low laying communities. Those who survived were again hit with extensive damage from Cyclone Yasi the following week. The entire region is in a very desperate state, with very little in the form of relief from the government or even insurance because the majority of damage is due to flooding.

Those who know our own Dave Cooper, also know that he was caught in the thick of it and has received substantial damage to his home and community. His job as a police officer puts him in the perfect position to help out those who are in the most desperate of needs, and any spare time off duty has also been spent out with a chainsaw helping to clean up debris.

Unfortunately, Dave has been hindered in the amount of aid he can provide due to his own home and family being affected by this crisis. All proceeds from this auction will be going primarily to Dave Cooper to provide him with the bare essentials necessary for him to focus on a community that desperately needs his service without him having to continually address the concerns of his own family’s needs. Excess funds would also be delegated to his community in whatever way that Dave feels would best provide the most relief.

If you have any puzzles to spare in this effort, their contribution would be greatly appreciated.Pictures and descriptions of such puzzles can be e-mailed to John Devost at: johnandbarb@eastlink.caTo make things easier to process, those willing and generous enough to part with any of their puzzles for this cause should also consider absorbing the shipping costs to the highest bidder, or at least make arrangements in their description to receive a separate payment for shipping costs. Credit will be aknowledged for each item donated, unless directed otherwise.

Those unable to participate in providing donations can do their part by bidding on all puzzles contributed, while considering that all funding will go to the relief cause. Although this auction will not officially start until March 5th, please feel free to begin bidding on any items that have already been added…

Auction can be accessed at: www.puzzleparadise.ca
Thanks in advance for your support.

Please note: Only items donated in support of this relief effort will be posted, all others will be put in ‘suspended status’ until the close of this auction event!

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Win Games Magazine, from Austria – Link in German and English

Feb. 19, 2011

Click “English” for the link in English.

Nur 10 Tage nach der Spielwarenmesse in Nürnberg steht der PDF mit dem umfassendste Bericht zu den neuen Spielen zum kostenlosen Download bereit.
Unsere Sonderausgabe enthält auf 48 Seiten 653 neue Spiele von 241 Autoren aus 145 Verlagen,  ebenso stellen wir unsere 39 Blitzlichter vor, unsere Highlight von der Messe, die Ihr Interesse verdienen.

Bitte kommen Sie auf Spielejournal und holden Sie sich das neueste WIN.

Wir freuen uns, wenn Ihnen unsere Detektivarbeit gefällt

–Dagmar und Ferdinand de Cassan

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Marble Game Breaks Guinness World Record

Quartett Exhibit on Swiss Lake

Feb. 8, 2011
Guten Tag, in Oberrieden, eine kleine Gemeinde am Zürich See, wird vom 19. Februar bis 30. April, jeden Samstag Nachmittag eine Ausstellung von Quartetten unseres Mitglieds Mariann König gezeigt. Es werden 8 Themen vorgestellt, jeweils ältere Spiele bis hin in die Neuzeit, d.h. man sieht einen Lauf durch ein Jahrhundert. Sicher sehenswert!

In Oberrieden, a little village at the Zurich lake, every Saturday afternoon from the 19. February until the 30. April you can see an exhibition of quartett card games from ESG member Mariann König. Arranged in eight themes from old to new, you see a trip through a century. I´m sure it´s worth a visit.

http://www.oberrieden.ch/index.php?1=1&id=235687

–Rudolf Ruehle, ESG (European Game Collectors Association)

Jigsaw Puzzle on Exhibit in Brooklyn

Feb. 6, 2011
Susan Kaprov is pleased to announce that her painted jigsaw puzzle, Mandala for the 21st Century, will be featured in the exhibition, “Measure for Measure”, at Central Booking Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. This theme-based show explores the visual relationship between art and mathematics. Go to www.kaprov.com.

Measure_for_Measure by Susan Kaprov

2011 AGPC Annual Convention
Lancaster PA ♦ 29 April to 1 May

Jan. 27, 2011

The AGPC Mid-Atlantic Chapter is hosting the 27th Annual Convention of the Association of Game and Puzzle Collectors (AGPC) in Lancaster, Pennsylvania from 29 April to 1 May.

The theme for the 2011 AGPC Annual Convention will be American History, and this area has a lot of it.
Lancaster is in the heart of Amish country with a great deal of historical attractions and many opportunies for pre- and post-convention activities.
The Adamstown area, a short drive from Lancaster, is the antiquing center of Eastern Pennsylvania and the famous Extravaganza will be held in Kutztown and Adamstown that weekend.

Scroll down for more information.

AGPC Convention 2008 Charleston, S.C.

The Association of Game & Puzzle Collectors (AGPC), founded in 1985 by Bruce Whitehill, is the world’s foremost organization dedicated to the collection and preservation of games and puzzles. As an international, nonprofit association, the AGPC is chartered to conduct research and explore the history of games and puzzles from ancient times up to the present, and to disseminate information about games and puzzles to the broadest audience possible, including the general public, the media, libraries, museums, scholars, and others. Games and puzzles offer a remarkable view of our cultural past and future!
AGPC members’ interests encompass all types of games, jigsaw puzzles, and mechanical puzzles, from all eras and from all around the world. Some of our members specialize in other pastimes and collect related playthings, from toys to tops, and from marbles to architectural blocks. Our membership includes a broad spectrum of individuals and expertise, from interested enthusiasts to novice collectors to some of the world’s most renowned historians, authors, and designers of game & puzzles. Many companies and institutions hold membership in the organization.

Originally known as the American Game Collectors Association (AGCA), the organization’s name was changed to the Association of Game & Puzzle Collectors in 1999 to reflect the broadened scope of its mission and its international nature.

Hotel Reservations

A block of rooms has been set aside at the Marriott Hotel in the heart of downtown Lancaster at the special rate of $139.00 which will be honored from 27 April through 1 May. Reservations must be made by April 6 to get this special rate. A discounted rate of $8.00 per day is also offered in the adjacent parking lot

To make reservations online, go to www.lancastermarriott.com, click on Special Rates & Awards and type “agpagpa” under Group code.
To make reservations by phone, please call+1- 888-236-2427 or +1- 717-239-1600 and ask for the AGPC block of rooms.
Conference Registration and Fees

Register now and save! The registration fee is $185 per person until February 15th. After that date the fee will be $200. The fee includes attendance at all functions, dinners on Friday and Saturday evenings, Saturday breakfast, a Sunday brunch, prizes and table favors. There is no charge for table selling or the silent auction and a nominal charge for items on the live auction.

There is a $30.00 fee for the Thursday tour of the Cornwall Iron Furnace, Wheatland, and lunch at the Victorian restaurant, Inn422. The fee for the Friday tour of the Sturgis Pretzel Factory and the candy factory in Lititz is $5.00; lunch will be on your own.

Go to www.agpc.org to register.
For more information, call Sy or Marge at 301-593-2157 or email sygames@aol.com.