Over the course of last year, Kickstarter really became a popular way to launch new board games. Both brand-new game designers and established companies used Kickstarter to raise funds for board games, some with incredible amounts of success. While I love checking out all sorts of projects on Kickstarter, the ...

For beginners, chess is a game that centers around preserving a decidedly female (and all-powerful) piece. Still, the world of chess has long been dominated by males. But, in case you had missed it, there is a movement afoot to increase the number of women in chess. A group called ...

One of the things that particularly delights my brain is the juxtaposition of unexpected elements in a creative and surprising way. And what could be more unexpected and ironic than combining the ultimate cerebral game with the ultimate mindless action flick? Clearly the result of such an audacious mash-up would ...

Overview: The Lion Clan’s castle is well-guarded, with two moats and sentries. Patrols walk a regular path around the compound, watching for anything amiss. Of course, the ninja from the Scorpion Clan isn’t easily seen or heard — and what’s more, he has a traitor accomplice on the inside. The ...

2011 was a tricky year: my family went through a major move, from our tiny rural town in western Kansas to a bustling metropolitan center in the Pacific Northwest. For me, it meant scaling back on game nights as I was preparing for moves and — gasp! — sealing up ...

Overview: The kingdom of Crystalia stretches across a remote island, from the heights of Dragonback Peaks to the shores of Clockwork Cove. From the farthest reaches of Crystalia … Ah, never mind. There’s a big dungeon full of monsters to kill and loot to collect. Super Dungeon Explore is a ...

2011 was a tricky year: my family went through a major move, from our tiny rural town in western Kansas to a bustling metropolitan center in the Pacific Northwest. For me, it meant scaling back on game nights as I was preparing for moves and — gasp! — sealing up ...

This is part three of my series exploring Dungeons and Dragons Fourth Edition by way of the D&D Red Box and from the perspective of a first time Dungeon Master. The series starts with my introduction post and continues with our first encounter and a piece about role-playing a dragon. The ...

Happy (Un)Boxing Day — by which I mean the day when you unbox your board games, punch out all the little cardboard tokens, rip the plastic off the decks of cards, and put everything into little baggies. Wait — you do that, right? One of the problems with games that ...

Since I first started using Kickstarter, I’ve backed about 40 projects, some at the minimum “I just want to help” level and a couple at a higher level with bigger rewards. For the most part, I’ve supported a lot of board games, for which there’s typically a minimum level for ...