Before all the craziness last week (Toy Hall of Fame Induction, Neighborhood Toy Store Day, National Gaming Day) I wrote about Befuzzled, one of the many games you’ll see at the Chicago Toy and Game Fair which is happening THIS weekend at Navy Pier.  You can get all of the info HERE and you can get a coupon for $2 off admission HERE.  And now I’m going to give you a little preview of what kind of games you’ll be able to try before you buy at the fair this …

 
If the kids in your neighborhood aren’t back in school yet, they will be soon.  So in honor of the “back to school” theme we see right and left at this time of year, I’m going to take this opportunity to talk about “educational” games.  (yawn, I know…but hear me out.)
Many of you know that I wholeheartedly believe EVERY game is educational.  All games teach “soft skills” like playing well with others, taking turns, dealing with defeat, planning ahead, etc.  But then there is a whole segment of games that …

As many of my regular readers know, I’m not really a fan of abstract strategy games.  They’re just not my thing, but every once in a while I come across one that I can’t help but love.  I first played Stomple at the 2010 Chicago Toy and Game Fair and included it in my “ChiTAG picks” article (See HERE).  And now that I’ve had a chance to subject some of my play testers to it, I think it deserves it’s own article complete with great inventor story!
To remind you quickly …

Part 1 of this article is a reprint from an article I wrote for Global Toy News; Part 2 reviews the two games.
Every holiday season at some point I end up raiding the game shelves at my father’s house looking for something to play.  I’ll admit that over the years, I’ve “liberated” many of my favorites and they now reside in one of my game cabinets, but there are some that I’ve left for sentimental reasons (and there are others that haven’t made the cross-town journey simply because I’m afraid …

ChiTag was over more than a week ago, and I’ve yet to do a recap but it’s because I have to PLAY the games I found there before I review them to make sure I actually like them.  (duh)  This year there were TONS of games to play and buy at the open-to-the-public fair on Chicago’s Navy Pier and I covered a bunch of them in the preview article and I’ve also written articles about many of the games like Word on the Street, Triviathon, Blurt and Backseat Drawing.  But …