Whew…ChiTAG is over and I’m exhausted!  I will freely admit that between T&GCon, the TAGIEs and ChiTAG it’s my favorite 4 days in the game industry calendar because it feels like everyone is in town and it’s not quite as crazy as New York Toy Fair – although that’s debatable.  During those 4 days I tackled: speaking at T&GCon on the “Packaging and Design” panel, I attended the Toy and Game Inventor Awards (and lost), was interviewed by a newspaper and a radio station, met with (what feels like) a …

If you live here in the US, Memorial Day is this weekend; which means the kids will all have a truckload of extra energy – you know, the kind that comes from knowing that they don’t have school on Monday.  I don’t know why this occurs, but whether they’re your own children, your relatives, neighborhood kids or ones of questionable ownership that show up just in time to snag a hot dog fresh-off the grill, you’re going to need to find something to keep their salty potato-chip fingers off your …

This past weekend was my one-year anniversary and for our honeymoon we went to Puerto Rico and Dominica for ten days.  So how odd is it that the game I’m reviewing this week happens to be 10 Days in the Americas by Out of the Box?  It is totally a coincidence, but makes for a great opening paragraph don’t you think?
10 Days in the Americas is the latest in a line of map-themed games invented by Alan Moon and Aaron Weissblum.  The series already includes: 10 Days in Africa (2003), …

This review of Word on the Street is SERIOUSLY over due and it’s all because one of my favorite playtesters doesn’t like the game.  Why?  Because I always annihilate him when the two of us play.  Heh heh heh.  Seriously though, Word on the Street is a great game for word game geeks.  In fact, it just won a Mensa award this year!  (congrats!)

The game is essentially a “tug of war” with letters.  There are 17 consonant tiles placed in a line down the center of the board, which is the “median” of …

I know LOTS of people shy away from drawing games because often they think their drawings would be identical to that of a preschooler’s if instead of a marker they were using a bright green crayon.  I’ll admit it – I’m in that group.  I think I can hold my own pretty well but I avoid participating in any drawing contests if they include any of my designer friends.  I’m just not that great of an artist when it comes to sketching.
So then why would I give a good review …