I can’t believe it’s been almost a month since Toy Fair!  I feel like I just got back, but that’s probably since I’m still wallowing in follow up work!  Anyway, the first game sample I got while at the show was given to me by the wonderful people at Educational Insights (I was at their booth visiting Tim Walsh who was signing his hit game BLURT: read review here).  They were so excited about Stix & Stones that they gave me a copy, along with the biggest tote bag I’ve …

There are times that you just know fate has a hand in things.  Like I swear fate pushed the toy/game industry on me.  There’s no way I would have pursued it on my own, and yet due to some events beyond my control here I am writing game reviews while taking a break from game inventing!
From the sound of it, the game In A Pickle ended up being invented as a result from a little push by fate too.  As told by one of the inventors, Colleen McCarthy-Evans, this is …

I know it’s my first review since Toy Fair and you’re all dying to hear about something new and exciting, but I have to have some time to play the games!  So instead I’m doing a “throwback” review of my favorite old game – backgammon!   So why a review a game that predates modern civilization? Because I’m guessing far more than half of my readers have never played it (and it’s got some cool history!)
Like I said, backgammon is old.  Some estimate that it’s has been around close to 5000 …

On the very edge of the Chicago suburbs, right at the last exit that divides the bustling commuters from the nothingness that spans to westward to the Rockford oasis there is a Cabela’s store.  It outfits hikers, hunters and other people looking to venture away from the city.  This weekend I made the trek from Chicago proper to this oversized log cabin to return an ill-fitting Christmas gift.  As I wandered through the maze of camo and fishing gear, I spotted a game I knew, Find It.  It’s a charmingly …

A while back I wrote an article about taking games with you when you travel (see here) and Nate Scheidler, Organizer of Chicago Boardgames Meetup Group, said that he packs a game called Pickomino.  Well, at the time I’d never played Pickomino and although I’d heard of it, I hadn’t heard anything about it.  This is really the reason I started The Game Aisle; I know how hard it is to decide which game to purchase when all you’ve got to go on is the box art.  So when a …