I’m back!  Yes, the lack of articles over the last 2 weeks is because I was on vacation.  And I offer up this photo from my trip to kick off my rant about games and travel.
In this photo you can see my husband playing Ms. Pac-Man at the airport in San Juan.  They have old arcade games peppered throughout the terminals and given that we had five hours to sit around, my husband and I really appreciated them.
Here in the US if you end up in an American Airlines Admiral’s …

Earlier this month I was at Richard Gottlieb’s “Future of the Industry” conference and someone brought up the issue of packaging.  Given that “green” is a trend; the absence of throwaway packaging is definitely an a-peel-ing part of Bananagrams.  (Couldn’t resist a good pun!)  While this game feels familiar to other crossword games like Pick Two, we all agreed that the adorable zippered banana sack and the hanging merchandiser helped make this item a standout.
The game itself?  I think it’s great!  (FYI – I really like quick word games.)  The …

For those of you who don’t know, I’ve got a degree in industrial design and ending up in the game industry was somewhat a fluke.  I needed a job, they were the only ones hiring after 9/11 so voilà -  “toy/game inventor Kim.”
Now if you don’t know what an industrial designer is, consider what a graphic designer does for 2D designs; industrial designers do that for 3D products like cars, electronics, household goods, furniture and the list goes on.  Essentially it means that I have a weakness for beautifully designed …

Another dice game that I just love is Cinq-O, from Mattel.  One of the best things about it is that it comes in a handy carrying case that easily clips to your backpack for on-the-go play.  Surprise, surprise, this can also be found in my car, neatly tucked within the Yahtzee box.  This game is a slightly similar to the style of Yahtzee because all players are taking turns with very little player interaction (versus Easy Come, Easy Go which has lots of stealing and retaliation).  In Cinq-O you’re rolling …

I love dice games, really love dice games. Every time I pick up a handful of dice there’s something about the shake and the throw that makes me feel lucky. Fortunately, this passion doesn’t extend into the world of craps; gambling just isn’t my thing, but I digress.
Thankfully, it’s not just me; I think my entire family has a weakness for dice games. Every one of us has at least one well-loved copy of Yahtzee and if you asked, I’d say we probably all have a copy …