Erik's Board / Card Games Blog

Some of the game-related news items posted in our discussion forum recently include:

• Worldwide Coverage of Monopoly Here & Now: The World Edition
• Profile of Game Designer Jack Elias (Barrel of Monkeys, Perfection)
• Mah Jongg Salon in Boston
• Scotland Yard for Nintendo DS
• Sababa Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
• Gen Con 2008 Recap
• U.K. Monopoly Championship
• Halo Board Game - Trailer Released
• Sodbusters - Farming-Themed Board Game

The town of Rutland, Vermont, will soon be in the record books. On Friday night, residents of the town played Twister on a board measuring 102 feet long and 39 feet wide, according to The Rutland Herald. Once verified, that will rank as the largest Twister board ever.

The Guinness Book of World Records web site lists the previous record for largest Twister board as 88.9 feet long and 27.6 feet wide. It was set on April 24, 2005, in Limburg, Netherlands.

^{Image courtesy of Hasbro}

Monte Carlo Solitaire is a simple card game that depends heavily on luck, although skilled players will win more often than beginners. The game starts with a 5x5 grid, with the player removing pairs of cards and then consolidating the board. Here are the complete rules for Monte Carlo, also known as Double and Quits, or Weddings. (A closely related, and slightly easier, game is Monte Carlo Thirteens.)

More Solitaire Card Games:

• Little Spider Solitaire - Rules
• Poker Solitaire - Rules
• Best Solitaire Games

The rights for the fantasy-themed battle game BattleLore, originally published by Days of Wonder, have been sold to Fantasy Flight Games. In a press release, Days of Wonder CEO Eric Hautemont said, "This agreement now allows us to focus our resources on providing even more support for the other games in our portfolio as well as successfully launching ... new games." Fantasy Flight CEO Christian T. Petersen said, "We plan to support this game vigorously. Even in the very first discussion with Eric and Richard about this deal, there was a flood of exciting ideas for how FFG can expand this game." (The entire press release is available in our discussion forum.)

BattleLore was designed by Richard Borg, who said, "I am delighted with the opportunity to see BattleLore gain a second life at Fantasy Flight, and look forward to partnering with them as we continue to develop and expand the BattleLore system."

This move makes sense for both companies. BattleLore never felt like a natural fit in the Days of Wonder line, and hopefully the shift to Fantasy Flight will allow it to meet its great potential.

BattleLore was my choice as the #1 board game published in 2006. It is also my pick as the #2 game designed by Richard Borg.

^{Image courtesy of Days of Wonder}

GameTable Online plans to make Axis & Allies and at least some of its other online versions of games published by Wizards of the Coast available on the social network site Facebook. "We haven't finalized the order in which they will appear (or the precise dates) but A&A is high on the list," said Jay Adan, GTO's director of marketing. "I love our current implementation of Axis & Allies, but imagine having the ability to play that game like you can play GTO Backgammon on Facebook -- asynchronously or live. A&A is a game that really begs for that kind of flexibility and GameTable Online has always been about trying to give people more opportunities to play the games that they love."

Adan said that GTO plans to add some non-WotC games to Facebook as well. "The short answer is yes," he said. However, "there is some work involved in doing the transition from GTO to Facebook, especially for some of the older games. So, priorities for which will get moved over will depend on the ease in which we can do it and whether or not specific publishers come forward to express interest in helping to offset the costs involved in doing the transition."

Some of the games available on GTO may not be suited for the Facebook platform, particularly those in which opponents can interrupt the current player's turn. Games like that, Adan said, "can bog down as each player needs to decide if they want to interrupt, then the current player has to respond to the interruption. A single turn could take days or weeks." GTO is working to address that problem, but it may not always be possible.

^{Image courtesy of Wizards of the Coast}

After more than 5.6 million votes were cast, Montreal has replaced Boardwalk in a new international edition of Monopoly known as Monopoly Here and Now: The World Edition. Scheduled to go on sale in 50 countries on Tuesday, August 26, Monopoly Here and Now: The World Edition was designed after a worldwide vote in early 2008 to determine which cities would be included on the board. Montreal received the most votes, thus earning its spot on the board's most expensive property. Riga, the capital of Latvia, finished in second place and will occupy the spot of Park Place. Read more about Monopoly Here and Now: The World Edition to see what other cities are represented.

^{Image courtesy of Hasbro}

Ted Cheatham (designer of Silk Road, Gumball Rally and President) attended the Gen Con game convention this year and has filed two reports (one video, one audio) for BoardGameNews.com. If you want to catch up on some of the highlights from Gen Con 2008, I highly recommend Ted Cheatham's Gen Con reports.

Five games published by Wizards of the Coast -- Acquire, Axis & Allies, Guillotine, Robo Rally, and Vegas Showdown -- will be available for free online play on GameTable Online later this month. GTO had developed the games for Wizards' web site. However, WotC recently announced that they will focus their online efforts on Dungeons and Dragons and Magic: the Gathering.

"GameTable Online did a terrific job of creating online versions of our games," Randy Buehler, vice president of digital gaming at Wizards of the Coast, said in a press release. "With GTO's recent switch from a subscription model to free play, this became a great way to let our fans continue to play our games online, for free and whenever they want."

GameTable Online's lineup also includes 10 Days in Africa, Battle of the Bands, Tigris & Euphrates, Kill Dr. Lucky, Lord of the Fries and New England, along with classic games such as Backgammon, Checkers and Chess.

^{Image courtesy of Wizards of the Coast}

Tom Vasel, host of The Dice Tower, a great podcast about board games and card games, recently announced the winners of The Dice Tower Gaming Awards for games published in 2007. The winners, chosen by a panel of 14 judges, are:

• Best Game of the Year: Race for the Galaxy (designed by Thomas Lehmann, published by Rio Grande Games)
• Best Family Game: Zooloretto (Michael Schacht, Rio Grande Games and Abacus Spiele)
• Most Innovative Game: Cutthroat Caverns (Curt Covert, Smirk and Dagger Games)
• Best Reprint: Thebes (Peter Prinz, Queen Games)
• Best Small Publisher: Smirk and Dagger Games (Cutthroat Caverns)
• Best New Game Designer: Friedemann DePedro (Duel in the Dark, Z-Man Games)
• Best Game Expansion: Memoir '44 Air Pack (Richard Borg, Days of Wonder)
• Best Game Artwork: StarCraft (Christian T. Petersen and Corey Konieczka, Fantasy Flight Games)

I think the selections are generally outstanding. Race for the Galaxy also won a Meeples Choice Award from the members of the Spielfrieks discussion group. Cutthroat Caverns was my pick as the #6 card game published in 2007. Zooloretto was my pick as the #2 board game published in 2007, while Thebes was #7 on that same list. My only real quibble with the winners StarCraft's victory for best artwork. It just feels too busy for my tastes.

Winda Benedetti, whose MSNBC.com byline identifies her as a "Citizen Gamer," posted an interesting article yesterday about playing games on social networks. I recently joined Facebook and the first thing I did was to start browsing the games section. (I'm now involved in a game of Scrabble and the word-search game Scramble.) What else should I be trying? Please post a note in the comments section below to tell me about your favorite games on Facebook.