In The Secret Door, a cooperative children's board game, all of the players work together to stop a gang of thieves from stealing various items. It plays quickly (about 15 minutes per game), it works for children as young as four years old, and Mark Jackson says in his review of The Secret Door that it "creates a playing experience that my kids ask for over and over again."

More Children's Game Reviews:

• Duck Duck Bruce
• Pop Belly
• Children's Game Reviews - Index

^{Image courtesy of Family Pastimes}

Pakorn Nemitrmansuk of Bangkok, Thailand, is the new Scrabble World Champion. Nemitrmansuk defeated reigning champion Nigel Richards of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in the best-of-five finals today, three games to one (425-419, 670-303, 394-443 and 499-480). For his victory at the 2009 World Scrabble Championship, Nemitrmansuk won $15,000; Richards took $6,000 as the runner-up.

The final game was a back-and-forth affair which started with two consecutive bingos, as Nemitrmansuk played ADVENES and Richards followed with GRIFTERS (which was also a triple word score). At that point, Richards led 98 to 80. Just a few players later, Nemitrmansuk used the "g" in grifters to build GENETRIX, earning a bingo and a triple word score. That put him in the lead, 197 to 124.

Richards came back and led 382 to 329 after playing the bingos FrEEHOLD and BOHEMIAN, but Nemitrmansuk played BOWATs as a triple word score to claim the lead for good. (Bowat is a 19th-century word meaning lantern.)

A new expansion for BattleLore (my pick as the best board game of 2006) is now available from publisher Fantasy Flight Games. BattleLore Heroes adds 10 unique hero figures, five hero banners, seven new adventures, two landmark tiles, 40 tokens, and more than 100 cards. Fantasy Flight says this expansion "take(s) the game to a new level of strategy, as you must balance your desire to have a powerful war council with the necessity of having mighty figures lead your forces."

Fantasy Flight is also selling sets of Battle Dice for serious players who need extra components, and the company has announced two additional upcoming expansions: Dragons and Creatures.

^{Image courtesy of Fantasy Flight Games}

The finals of the 2009 World Scrabble Championship are set. Reigning world champion Nigel Richards of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, will face Pakorn Nemitrmansuk of Bangkok, Thailand, in the best-of-five final round. Both players finished the three-day, 24-round preliminaries with identical 18-6 records. With a spread of +1854, Richards is ranked first. Nemitrmansuk's spread is +1388.

Rounding out the top five finishers were Dave Wiegand of Portland, Oregon; Marut Siriwangso of Samutprakarn, Thailand; and Komol Panyasophonlert of Bangkok, Thailand. Other countries represented in the top 10 of the 2009 World Scrabble Championship include Australia, Canada, England, and Scotland.

Wellington Jighere of Benin, Edo, Nigeria, who led at the end of the first day, finished in 11th place (15-9). Nemitrmansuk led at the end of day two. Richards went 7-1 on day three to earn his spot in the finals.