Chicago Toy and Game Fair - Nov. 21, 22
The annual Chicago Toy and Game Fair (CHITAG), scheduled to take place at the Navy Pier in downtown Chicago on Nov. 21 and 22 (which is an event I highly recommend if you can make it), will once again be preceded by the Toy and Game Inventors Expo (TAGIE).
TAGIE, which will take place on Nov. 19 and 20 at the Navy Pier, is designed to help toy and game inventors and entrepreneurs by providing networking and educational opportunities, along with a chance to meet face-to-face with some of the industry's top professionals. This year's speakers include Mike Hirtle and Michael Gray from Hasbro, Dave Okada from Mattel, Max Osterhaus from Out of the Box Publishing, Steve Toth from Fisher Price Toys, John Bell from Buffalo Games, and Ellen Heaney-Mizer, game buyer for Barnes & Noble.
TAGIE will culminate in the Toy and Game Inventor Awards the evening of Friday, Nov. 20. TAGIES will be awarded to the Toy Inventor of the Year, the Game Inventor of the Year, Rising Star Inventor of the Year, and Young Inventor of the Year. The awards will be presented by actresses Daryl Hannah and Hilary Shepard (who designed the party game Liebrary), game designer Leslie Scott (Jenga), and game designer and author Tim Walsh (Blurt, The Playmakers).
Chateau Roquefort - Children's Game Review
Castle Roquefort is a paradise for mice -- a Castle of Cheese. In this children's board game, players send their four delightfully sculpted mice across the roofs and into the rooms to pick up cheese -- but you have to watch out for trap doors that can send your mice to their doom. In his review of Chateau Roquefort, Mark Jackson says the game can be enjoyed by both children and adults, and that it is a great introduction for the younger set to action point games.
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Guesstimation Game Sponsoring Cranberries Reunion Tour
Discovery Bay Games recently announced that the game Guesstimation will be the presenting sponsor of The Cranberries reunion tour. The 19-city tour kicks off on Nov. 12 in Baltimore. The multi-platinum band has not toured in nearly seven years.
Guesstimation, for 2 or more players ages 8 and up, is a trivia game in which players do not need to know the exact answers to win the game. During each round, a question is read and everyone writes down their answer. When the answer is revealed, the closest guess wins the round.
"We are excited to have Guesstimation as the presenting sponsor of our reunion tour," said lead singer and songwriter Dolores O'Riordan. "It's a great way to spend quality time with friends and family and that's always a good thing."
Hello Kitty TCG Due in March 2010
Upper Deck recently announced plans to release a trading card game based on the Hello Kitty universe in March 2010. Described in a press release as a "Hello Kitty collectible miniatures and stickers trading card game," Upper Deck says the game will be targeted to young girls and tweens.
"We are so excited to be adding such a global icon to our product portfolio," Margeaux Sullivan, Upper Deck's Hello Kitty brand manager, said in the release. "Hello Kitty has been charming girls of all ages around the world for more than three decades and we look forward to helping her celebrate her 35th anniversary."
Upper Deck entered a multi-year arrangement to publish the TCG with Sanrio, the company which owns the rights to Hello Kitty. The game will include collectible figures, stickers and trading cards. Upper Deck said it is planning to issue three concurrent releases next year.
Trivial Pursuit Experiment - New Web Site
A new web site is challenging men and women so see who is better at the classic trivia game Trivial Pursuit. Known as the Trivial Pursuit Experiment, the web site allows players to log in and answer as many questions as they want to. (As of this morning, the men's team led 682,000 to 515,000.)
But be careful, because Trivial Pursuit can be addictive. Comedian Ricky Gervais recently said, "Forget [my] Hollywood career. Trivial Pursuit comes first. I hate it when my friend gets asked who Mickey Mouse's girlfriend is and then I get asked what Kierkegaard's first essay was."
Trivial Pursuit Team Edition, the latest edition of Trivial Pursuit, will be available this holiday season. It includes six new question formats, including multiple choice and "name six." Trivial Pursuit Team Edition is also played in rounds, which means that players do not collect wedges as in previous version of the game.
Image courtesy of Hasbro
Hula Hippos - Children's Game Review
Twenty-four small wood chips in the shape of hippos and a polished wooden ring... that's it. That's all that you find in a box of Hula Hippos. And yet, reviewer Mark Jackson says that game designer Heinz Meister milks more fun out of those simple game components than many games whose boxes are stuffed full of boards and bits. Here is Mark's review of Hula Hippos.
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Image courtesy of Gamewright
Norwegian Wins Monopoly World Championship
Bjorn Halvard Knappskog of Norway has won the 2009 Monopoly World Championship. The 19-year-old student is the first world champion from Norway, and the youngest person ever to win the title. He was awarded a $20,580 prize, the amount of money included in the standard Monopoly game.
More information is available at Monopoly.com and at the Monopoly World Championships YouTube Channel.
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Image courtesy of Hasbro
2009 Monopoly World Championships - Day 1
The first day of the 2009 Monopoly World Championships has come to an end in Las Vegas. It started with 42 players from around the world; just 16 will play on the second and final day of competition. The top five players going into day two are the national champions from Germany, Canada, Switzerland, Lithuania, and the Czech Republic. The reigning world champion, Spain's Antonio Zafra, and the 26-year-old U.S. champion, attorney Richard Marinaccio of Buffalo, N.Y., also advanced.
The 16 finalists, ranked in order of their finishes on day one, hail from: Germany, Canada, Switzerland, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Croatia, Australia, Spain, New Zealand, Austria, Russia, Denmark, the United States, the Netherlands, and Norway.
More information is available at Monopoly.com and at the Monopoly World Championships YouTube Channel.
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Image courtesy of Hasbro
Newspaper Profiles Monopoly Judge
Phil E. Orbanes, chief judge at the 2009 Monopoly World Championships in Las Vegas, was profiled by The Boston Globe today. Described as "the world's foremost Monopoly historian," Orbanes came up with the idea to add a third die, the Speed Die, to Monopoly sets. The Speed Die -- which cuts the average game down to about 90 minutes -- has been included in the standard game since last year, and it is being used at this year's World Championships.
Orbanes told the newspaper that playing Monopoly "was the first activity I participated in with my aunts and uncles where I felt equal. I wasn't the little kid who they were patting on the head saying there, there, or do this or do that. I was holding my own." Today, Orbanes is also the president of Winning Moves Games.
Kayanak - Children's Game Review
Kayanak may very well be the best children's game ever. Or at least that's what game reviewer Mark Jackson thinks today. He says it's possible something better will come along -- but for now, Kayanak is his favorite. Read more in Mark's review of the children's game Kayanak.
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Image courtesy of Haba