Games Information Blog

How to Invent Board Games

admin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:02:22 +0000

Guide to Inventing Board Games

Knowing how to invent board games lets you surprise your family or circle of friends with a new, inventive game scenario, or lets you toy around with marketing your own board game. Consider combining the two, coming up with new and interesting game rules for you and your friends to playtest every week. As you tweak your game system, you might find one with market appeal.

Less ambitious is learning how to tweak board game rules, so your usual game nights have special house rules that spice up the evening. Like the scenario above, you might find a rule combination that can be turned into a game with wider appeal.

You would be surprised at how many indie board games there are on the market. Americans looking playing games, but they get tired of playing the same old game with the same old rules. Many are always looking for a new board game to play.

Choose the Game Type

Select from the different genres and game types on the market. There are trivia games, party games, strategy games, word games and resource allocation games, just to name a few. Each comes with its own challenges in the creation process.

When choosing a game archetype to play with, focus on the kind of games you enjoy and the kind of games you’re good at. If you hate math, your game invention shouldn’t be a resource allocation game. If you hate spelling and vocabulary, your game system should involve word puzzles and word building.

Once you finish this process, you should be able to say to yourself, “I’m inventing a new strategy game.”

Come Up with an Interesting Theme

Select a theme for your board game. A theme is the specific color of a board game, what makes it different from all the others. Themes might be “game of world conquest” (Risk) or “game of cornering the market” (Monopoly) or “game of settling a new land” (Settlers of Catan).

Once you have a theme, it’s going to be a lot easier to come up with a working title. You don’t have to come up with anything yet, but it’s nice to have ideas in the back of your head. With themes and titles, simpler is better. When choosing a theme for your game, try to sum it up in one phrase or sentence.

Select Player Numbers

Another factor to consider is your minimum and maximum number of players. Most games allow between 2-6 players. Some games can be played solitaire, while others (mainly party games) might include 8 to 10 or even more. That two to six range is best, if you want to market your game, because people tend to buy board games to enjoy with a small number of friends, but larger groups are harder to gather.

Create the Goal of Your Game

Winning a game requires attaining a goal. If you don’t have a goal of the game, no one’s going to be interested in winning. Some goals are to get to the other side of the board. Others are the demolish the enemy’s strategic positions, or fill out your pie with pie pieces.

When selecting a board game goal, you are determining the end game scenario. How does someone win the game?

Write the Rules

Rules are the nuts and bolts of your game. In essence, the rules of a board game is the game itself.

Write rules to referee the players’ actions and lay down the system that a player attains the goal of the game. When writing these rules, you’ll need to close any loopholes in the game.

Playtest the Board Game

Playtesting board game in the second (and third and fourth) step in writing board game rules. You have to be certain there aren’t any gaping loopholes that make the game unplayable, so get your friends together and play the game according to your rules.

Once finished, close any loopholes by rewriting the rulebook. Playtest again to see if this makes it work better.

If there are any game balance issues, address those in the rewrite. For instance, if there is one surefire and straightforward way to win the game, but your game is supposed to involve multiple strategies that could win, you have balance issues that need to be addressed.

You may have to go through several revisions to get this part right.

Get Feedback from Players

When finished with game sessions, ask your players for real feedback. Being nice and giving encouragement does you no good at this point, so encourage real advice.

Questions to ask in the feedback phase are:

Is the game challenging?
Is the game too complicated? Too simplistic?
Are the rules clear?
Is the game too long? Is it too short?
Is the game balanced?
Is the game fun?

That last question is essential to answer. If your new game isn’t entertaining to play, then you need to spice up the game by making it more challenging, or move faster, or improved in some way. If this doesn’t work, you need to invent a new game.

Name Your Game

Hopefully, you already have something in mind. If not, it’s time to brainstorm names. Once again, keep the title simple and to the point. Try to make your board game’s name describe the game, or invoke interest and mystery as to what this game is. A board game called “Brown” probably isn’t going to sell many copies.

How to Invent Board Game Supplies

You may want to design the look and appearance of your board game, right down to the game pieces and the game board. If your board game has cards, think of what symbol or artwork would look nice on the backs of the cards. You want your game to be pleasant to look at while you’re playing it, so consider colors and designs that work well with your theme, but are nice to look at.

If you’re really creative, design your own crude game pieces. If you have a friend who is more creative, collaborate with them on this process, or ask them to design something on their own.

Once you have an entertaining board game idea, a good theme, working rules and board game supplies, you have invented your board game. Now it’s time to set up a booth at the next games fair and to start pestering game companies to give your board game a look. Or you can save your brilliant board game for your group of friends, and begin work on inventing a whole new board game.

Popular Family Games

admin — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:54:13 +0000

Best Family Games

Popular family games are something people seem to come to this site wanting to learn about a lot. For that reason, I wanted to include another list of popular family game ideas you might enjoy playing with the kids or the cousins.

I’ve tried to include famous games and relatively obscure games alike, focusing specifically on games that have high entertainment value and playability. There’s going to be something about each of these games that entertains the crowd of people around the board, whether it’s solid game play or silliness.

Clue: The Card Game – You can now play the classic murder-mystery boardgame, Clue, as a card game. The game mechanics are fairly similar. Each player starts the game with a checklist, which they must use to mark off those who couldn’t have committed the murder, so they can solve the crime by process of elimination.

Instead of the name of the person, the murder weapon and the room they committed the crime in, it’s now the murderer, the means of escape (vehicle) and their destination. You solve the murder and catch the criminal, but since there’s no mention of a murder weapon, your kids aren’t exposed to that mess.

Each person is dealt a number of cards they can mark off. Occasionally, others will draw cards allowing you to see or more of your cards, while you can do the same. Seeing these cards substitute for moving around the game board, though there is an aspect of movement in Clue: the Card Game. You’ll have to move around to make accusations from certain locations, which requires a special card to move.

In the end, the game may not play exactly the same, but Clue: The Card Game definitely captures the spirit of the original game. I played along with a couple of 6-year olds and they were able to follow along and participate, though they occasionally gave away a little more than they should. It was fun.

Electronic Catchphrase – Provide your teammates with clues to guess the word or phrase on your turn, then hand over the electronic clue provider to the opposing team. The challenge is to avoid being the one holding the device when the buzzer goes off. This is a lot of fun for kids, though I’ve seen this used as a pretty entertaining party game.

Parcheesi – One of the oldest race board games on the market. Parcheesi has been popular with game players for over a hundred years, back to the days of the Raj. Parcheesi teaches strategy, counting skills and decision making, in a game that was played in India as early as 500 B.C. Legend has it the Hindi royalty played the game on giant boards with costumed dancers as the game pieces, which is why Parcheesi is called the “Royal Game of India”.

What’s great about Parcheesi is that it’s unpredictable and players can mount big comebacks to win the game.

Encore Board Game – Encore is a singing game, where you try to give clues to the identity of the song by singing 8 or more words. Show off your vocal talents or entertain with really bad renditions of songs. This game is harder than you would think. No song knowledge needed, though it can’t hurt.

Wits & Waters – Another one that’s great for family get-togethers and parties, because Wits and Wagers is designed for kids 10 and up, while it also allows up to 21 players. Wits & Wagers is a trivia game, except the person who guesses right doesn’t win. Instead, you collect the trivia answers on a piece of paper, then wager points on which answer you think is correct. This means the trivia buffs get to show off their talents, while everyone else competes on a level playing field.

Payday – It’s been a while since I played this game, but Payday is always a good way to teach your kids why you’re always telling them to “wait until payday” for us to buy the new toy or new pair of shoes.

Barbarossa – Think of the clay shaping game in your Cranium Board Game and then imagine this as a full game, or imagines Charades with clay. Hilarity is sure to follow when a group of people try guessing what the heck your trying to tell them with your clay. A great way to brake the ice at staid old family reunions, or just have fun with the kids on a rainy day.

More Games to Consider

Caribou
Time’s Up
Kill Dr. Lucky
Mancala
Ultimate Werewolf

Popular Stategy Games

admin — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 04:41:19 +0000

Popular Board Games and War Games

There’s a whole list of popular strategy games on the market today, including games that recreate historical wars or battles, classic strategy game scenarios like Diplomacy and Risk, and games that place the action in a fictional setting, like Twilight Imperium and Settlers of Catan.

Some popular strategy games are more unit-based and tactical in nature, while others avoid combat and are more about resource allocation, while others involve player interaction and diplomatic skill. If you have a specific sort of war scenario or test of your skills at warmaking or civilzation building, the chances are there’s a game out there that already caters to your needs.

Many games can be considered strategy games, because you employ one sort of strategy or another to win them: Monopoly, Scrabble, Dungeon & Dragons, Mah Jong, Chess, Checkers, Go, Dominoes, Backgammon. Pretty much you name it and a game requires some strategy to win. I’m going to narrow our terms here and say that strategy games involve war, conquest, diplomacy or the building of nations.

Settlers of Catan

Considered by many to be the best strategy game of the last generation, Settlers of Catan is a German-designed civilization building and resource allocation game. You pretend to be settlers to the island of Catan, where you cultivate gain, wood, brick and other trading interests.

To succeed at Catan, you have to cooperate with your fellow players through commerce and trade. The board can be rearranged each new game to add spice, while there’s a sequel called Starfarers of Catan.

Sid Meier’s Civilization

Released in 1991 as a turn-based strategy game for the PC, Civilization was improved upon all the way down to Civilization IV. Since then, Activision lost right to Civilization and called a later edition Call to Power II, while Sid Meier has gone on to create Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri, Sid Meier’s Railroads! and Master of Magic.

In Civilization, you take one of Earth’s civilizations back in 4000 B.C., start with building cities and armies and roads to get around, and eventually end up in a technological race somewhere else in the world. Sample civilizations included China, Egypt, Azteca, England, Greece, India, Mongolia, Rome and Zululand.

Carcassone

Another German board game, this one the 2001 Game of the Year. Once again, you cultivate fields and build roads and cities. No one is eliminated, while the winner is based on points accumulated.

Illuminati

This 1982 card game by Steve Jackson Games is still one of my favorites to play. Illuminati is the game of world conspiracy, where you take the role of a famous world conspiracy: The UFOs, the Bermuda Triangle, the Gnomes of Zurich, the Discordian Society, the Servants of Cthulhu and the Bavarian Illuminati.

You use the unique powers of each to take over various other organizations, represented by playing cards, ranging from the Pentagon, the CIA, Orbital Mind Control Lasers, the Trekkies, the Porn Industry, the Televangelists, the Republicans, the Democrats, California, New York City, the Boy Scouts and so on.

Each conspiracy must meet a different requirement to win the game, while players are encouraged to game up on one another to keep one side from winning. Illuminati is awesome. Later editions included Illuminati: New World Order and expansions like Brainwash, Y2K and Bavarian Fire Drill.

Risk Board Game

Risk was designed in the middle of the 20th Century and was the original game of world domination. Most of us played Risk at least once as a kid. Risk continues to put out new versions, with a retro version of the old game coming out in 2009. Other editions of Risk included Castle Risk, Edition Napoleon, Risk 2210 A.D., Godstorm (where pantheons get involved), Black Ops (I think later called Reinvention or Risk Factor).

There were also versions of Risk played out in fictional universes, such as Middle Earth (The Lord of the Rings), Star Wars: Clone Wars Edition, Star Wars: Original Trilogy Edition, Narnia, The Transformers Edition and Halo Wars Collector’s Edition.

Each game had its own set of rules, but the original game is still a lot of fun to play, as is.

Axis & Allies

Axis & Allies is a more elaborate version of Risk, with players taking on the role of powers during World War II. Created in 1981 by Avalon Hill and reissued by Milton Bradley in 1984, this game, which was actually older than either of those release dates, was a staple of my childhood.

Later additions to the A&A canon included Axis & Allies: Europe, Axis & Allies: Pacific Theater, Axis & Allies: 1942 and Axis & Allies: 50th Anniversary Edition (50th anniversary of Avalon Hill, I believe). I think there may have been other board games based on D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge and Guadalcanal, too.

Where the units in Risk were all the same, the big difference in Axis & Allies was you had infrantry, tanks, fighters, bombers, navies and the like. You got money for the territories you overran and could choose to use them to buy more units or research secret weapons. Unfortunately, no atom bomb was available. You would have to play Supremacy, another great strategy game of my childhood, to get that option. After nearly 30 years of gameplay, Axis & Allies is still popular and you’ll find it in stores even oday.

Diplomacy

Diplomacy is based more on diplomatic skill and social interaction than army building or strategy. You’ll definitely need to employ a strategy, but how you execute that strategy and your skills at alliance building overshadow the armies.

Backstabbing and conniving are a big part and when you betray your ally often determines who wins, so the game does a great job of making each round and each decision seem to be about the life and death of your nation-state, which are the great powers of Europe in 1900: France, Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Turkey and Great Britain.

The twist is that you spend 15 minutes between each round trying to convince the other players to work with you and not against you, then all write down orders for your armies in secret, to be revealed all at the same time. Brilliant.

Warhammer

Warhammer is a wargame set in a fictional world with elves, dwarves, orcs, undead and armies of Chaos. You decide to build armies based on one of those concepts, along with human armies of the Imperium. Warhammer has been around decades, inspiring a first rate RPG and a sequel called Warhammer 40,000, set in deep space.

Warhammer 40,000 is a great wargame, too, because the elves, dwarves and orcs become space marines and so on. Warhammer is an expensive game, because of all the cool miniatures, but it’s great fun.

Puerto Rico

Imagine yourself to be a developer on the island of Puerto Rico, just the same as all the other players in the game. Then imagine your are trying to build mercantile interests, produce goods, trade them on the open market. Puerto Rico is one of the highest rated board games on one or two of the biggest online game sites. There is a card game version named San Juan which is also pretty good, too, though not as good as the board game.

How to Plan Office Party Games

admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:12:39 +0000

Planning Tips for Office Parties

So you are supposed to plan next week’s office party and you don’t know how to plan office party games. Included below are a number of ways you can approach your work party that hopefully won’t have the rest of your co-workers grumbling. You might even find that the people at your work actually have a good time and forget about the grind for a few hours.

1. Know Your Audience

Know the people in your office so you can plan appropriate games. If you have a bunch of partiers in your office, then they might be bored with many party games. If you have older or more conservative office workers, wilder party games are going to go over like a lead balloon.

Most offices have a selection of people, which can make planning office party games a nightmare. You’ll have to find games to play that are exciting, without being a little too exciting. Get a feel for the personalities in your office by asking around what kind of games each person enjoys.

2. The “No” Game

This is a good way to get to know one another in a mixer, while also playing a game. Fill out a name card or note card and hang it from string or a chain, enough so that people can wear the cards around their necks. Next, write the name of everyone in the office on a separate card and hand them out to the appropriate office staff.

Hand out the cards at the beginning of the event, then have everyone mix and mingle for 15-20 minutes. The one stipulation of this game is that no one can say the word “no” (“know” is okay). If they do, that person must have over their card to the person they are talking with. Whoever collects the most name cards during the mingling wins the game.

3. Break Up a Marriage

If spouses are included, play the game where the spouse impersonate how they believe their husband or wife acts. If the people in your office don’t know each other well outside work, have the rest of the office try to guess who the spouse is impersonating. There really is no better ice breaker than this game.

4. Play Party Games that Have Worked Before

Classic party games like Charades are classics for a reason. Charades is another great ice breaker, because you have people making outrageous gestures and trying to work in teams to solve word puzzles. Because they have to strive to help the rest of the team with their charade, this is likely to get someone to do what they wouldn’t do normally.

5. Texas Hold’em Tournament

A poker tournament might not be as popular as it was 3 to 4 years ago, but this is a good way to enjoy yourselves. Give away a prize for the big winner to keep everyone interested, then divide up by table. Everyone gets the same stack of chips. As soon as a person is eliminated, you can combine tables (if you have multiple tables). Keep going until someone is the big winner.

Casino night can be fun, especially if no one has to put money into the event. Free Texas Holdem tournament shouldn’t offend those gambling sticklers out there and, in the end, it’s just a card game.

Another option is to play Bingo.

6. Celebrity Couples Game

Get post-it notes and fill them out with the name of one-half of a celebrity pair. When the party starts, stick one of these names on each person’s back. That person must mingle with the crowd, trying to find their partner.

The stipulation of the celebrity pairings game is that everyone who speaks with you must pretend to be talking to the famous person on your post-it note. This represents the clues you get. You and the other half of your duo get five minutes to find each other, just as everyone else does the same.

Celebrity Couples

Here’s a short list to get you started. Pick and choose the ones you think are most appropriate or best-known by the crowd in your office party.

Brad Pitt – Angelina Jolie
David Beckham – Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice)
Ellen Degeneres – Portia de Rossi
Stan Laurel – Oliver Hardy
Tom Cruise – Katie Holmes
Jay-Z – Beyonce
Giselle Bundchen – Tom Brady
Bud Abbott – Lou Costello
Faith Hill – Tim McGraw
Justin Timberlake – Jessica Biel
Dezi Arnez – Lucille Ball
Kim Kardashian – Reggie Bush
Callista Flockhart – Harrison Ford
Sonny Bono – Cher
Tony Romo – Jessica Simpson
Penn Jillette – Teller
Jim Carrey – Jenny McCarthy
Kyle Broflovski – Eric Cartman
Joe Jonas – Camille Bell
Cheech Marin – Tommy Chong
Beavis – Butthead

6. Consider a Change of Venue

If at all possible, take the party outside of the normal confines of your office. Having a party in your office still seems like it’s at work. People associate those four walls with the drudgery of work. If you get your co-workers together somewhere they aren’t used to seeing each other, they are more likely to start enjoying themselves and behaving in ways they wouldn’t around the office.

7. Ask for Ideas

Don’t be afraid to ask for ideas from co-workers. There’s no reason to become a party tyrant. The better the planning is, the greater fun everyone will have. You want the party to be a success, first and foremost.

8. Keep It Under Control

Remember to keep things under control. This doesn’t mean ruining everyone’s fun. It only means that sexual harrassment and hard feelings can happen outside the office or during off-hours, too, so don’t let the party take a turn for the worst. You might not be able to foresee these incidents, but don’t pick party games that are going to spiral into an offensive sexual situation.

How To Throw a Board Game Party

admin — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:42:16 +0000

Hosting a Board Game Party

Hosting a board game party is a fun way to bring together a bunch of friends for something besides a drinking party or cookout, where the group can take part in game activities, instead of standing around talking about work. Read how to throw a board game party and take some notes. Assuming you and your friends enjoy board games, you’re likely to own most of the tools you need for hosting.

There are some things to keep in mind, mainly revolving around the idea of keeping the night entertaining, fast-paced and inclusive. So here’s how to host your own board game party.

1. Take a Board Game Survey

Ask around with your party-goers and ask them which board games they enjoy. You don’t want to stock the party with board games the players aren’t going to want to play. All it takes is one or two people not being on board to make a board game night a beating.

2. Avoid Lengthy Games

There are some great games, like Diplomacy, Monopoly or Dungeon Quest, which take far too long to play at a board game party. The idea of the party is to play several games, so try to find games that can be played in 30 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes. This way, your celebrants will be able to fit in 3-5 games for the evening.

If you later want to throw a Monopoly Party or a Risk Party, then plan one and bill it as such.

Here’s a list of random games, if you’re having trouble thinking up a list of shorter board games. There’s no real rhyme nor reason to these games, except that they are highly rated, I enjoy them and they tend to be shorter than Twilight Imperium or other such games.

Backgammon (5-30 minutes)
Chinese Checkers (10-120 minutes)
Kill Dr. Lucky (40 minutes)
Stratego (30-120 minutes)
Blokus (20-30 minutes)
Puerto Rico (90-150 minutes)
221B Baker Street (fun game, can’t remember the time frame)
The Settlers of Catan (60-90 minutes)

3. Avoid 2 Player Games

Along the same lines, avoid two player games, since this is supposed to be a party. You might have a couple of 2 player games in reserve, in case your group plays games of elimination, so those eliminated can continue to participate in fun until the next round of games.

4. Divide Up into Gaming Parties

If you are starting to approach the double digits in number of guests, consider having two game tables and two simultaneous games running. This might divide the time you get to spend with certain friends, but no one wants to play a game that gets bogged down with two many players, or sit and watch others play.

Simply get a second table and set it up in the same room.

5. Serve Snacks

Remember to serve some finger foods and other snacks at your party. Avoid too many dips and sauces, since these will get onto cards and game boards. Cheese and crackers and other such light snacks will be perfect.

Also, have refreshments on hand, including soft drinks, juices and water. Always include a non-sugar drink, in case you have people who can’t or don’t want to drink sweet drinks. Stock some beer, if appropriate.

6. End With a Party Game

After an evening full of strategy and resource management, end with a fun party game to send everyone home in a festive mood. Loaded Questions, Battle of the Sexes, Taboo or Cranium are what I have in mind.

How To Win a Chess Game Fast

admin — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 02:31:59 +0000

Winning Chess in a Few Moves

When you know how to win a chess game fast, you’ll be able to impress friends and family with your seeming skills as a chessmaster. Learning to win Chess quickly is a little bit like learning a card trick, since it will impress the crowd, but those in the know will understand that your opponent was an inexperienced “mark”.

Veteran players or knowledgeable players will know how to counter your moves, but it will look like you’re some kind of grandmaster, though you’ve really only learn 4 or 5 moves.

With that in mind, here are a couple of methods for winning chess rapidly.

Move Your King’s Pawn

Your king’s pawn is the pawn directly in front of your king piece (E2 for White, D7 for Black). Move this pawn up either one or two squares, though it’s probably best defensively to move forward only one space for defensive purposes, in case this brilliant ploy doesn’t work immediately. Moving this pawn forward will allow your Queen and the King’s Bishop to move forward.

Move Queen Diagonally Two Spaces

Once your opponent has moved, move your Queen chess piece two spaces diagonally. It should sit immediately to the right of the pawn you just moved (f3).

Move King’s Bishop Four Space

Next, after your opponent moves again, you should move your King’s Bishop (f1 for white, c8 for black) four spaces diagonally, so that it resides at c4 (or f5 for black). This is a key placement for the trap you are about to spring, because it will trap the opponent’s king with nowhere to go. Make certain your opponent doesn’t have a piece they can move to capture your Bishop.

Capture the Bishop’s Pawn With Queen

Finally, move your Queen forward to capture the King’s Bishop’s Pawn (f7 against white, c2 against black). Your queen should come to rest one space diagonally from your opponent’s king, in the same diagonal white column that your King’s Bishop is also occupying. Neither your king’s knight nor bishop on that side of the board or, in fact, any piece (besides the king) should be able to capture your Queen.

This means that your opponent’s king should have only one of two moves left to it, assuming it has not moved yet. One, the king can move forward one space. If this happens, your Queen captures the King on the next move. Two, the King moves diagonally one space to capture your Queen.

If this happens, then your supporting Bishop comes into play. Your Bishop piece will be able to move forward space diagonally (forward and to the right) to capture your opponent’s king. So if the King doesn’t move, he loses; if the King moves forward, he loses; if he captures your Queen, he loses. Checkmate.

Fool’s Mate Checkmate

When a white player makes a foolish move or two, black can win in two moves. Once again, no experienced player would make this move, so you will only be able to use this against novice chess players.

If White Moves King’s Bishop Pawn Two Spaces

When your opponent moves his pawn in front of his knight on the king’s side (King’s Knight’s Pawn) or the pawn in front of the bishop (King’s Bishop’s Pawn), try to set the Fool’s Mate situation up. Do this by moving your king’s pawn ahead one or two spaces.

Move Queen into Checkmate

Next, see if your opponent makes the second of the two moves mentioned earlier. It really doesn’t matter which order this is done in. In either case, his or her King will be exposed.

If the KK Pawn and KB Pawn are both moved out and you have cleared space for your Queen to move, you have your opponent.

Move the Queen ahead four spaces diagonally. This should put your Queen at H5, a position on the outside column of the board. In fact, she should be sitting directly next to your opponent’s two pawns that were moved out two spaces. This should put her directly in line with the White King, trapping it.

The king can only make one move: diagonal. Also, none of your opponent’s pieces can move to block your Queen, or to capture your Queen. All the opponent can do is to move their King one space towards your Queen diagonally, which does nothing. The White King is therefore in checkmate.

Once again, you have to hope your opponent makes two really bad moves in unison, so this happens rarer. But if they do, he or she will be freaked out when you win in only two moves.

Chess Moves to Win Quickly

The first time you pull off that set of moves against a newbie chess player, it will freak them out. Chess is supposed to be a game of patience with long, thought-out manuevers. So to defeat an opponent in four simple moves will probably crush their will. As mentioned before, an experienced player will recognize what you are attempting immediately and counter you. In fact, since your Queen is so exposed, you risk a debilitating loss of your Queen rather rapidly.

Still, it’s worth the risk to impress your friends. So there you go; that’s how to win a chess game fast.

Popular Learning Games

admin — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 22:47:17 +0000

Best Learning Games

When listing popular learning games, I wanted to include games that were good for younger kids and teenagers, since learning games are going to be different for each age group. If you have advanced younger children, they might prefer to play some of the games I listed among the teen popular games. Also, tweens can play either, probably depending on the age of their siblings.

Popular Learning Games For Kids

There are all kinds of learning games for younger children, so I wanted to point out a few of the top possibilities from the board game and online game formats. These teach reasoning and thinking skills to children on one level or another.

Mancala – Played in Africa and Asia, but also marketed here in the states, this game is compared to Chess and Go. The game requires you to capture stones, while counting and redistributing seeds that are placed in the holes on the board at the beginning of the game. This is why westerners sometimes call Mancala a “Count and Capture” format or game. You’ll see this marketed as the “Pine Mancala Game”, because you can buy a set with a pine game board.

Mad Gab – For 2 to 12 players, each team is giving two minutes to sound out puzzles and come up with a phonetic parallel from seemingly nonsense clues. You’ll get a series of words that won’t seem to make sense, but are actually clues to a real phrase. The common example stated is “Know Ozark”, which is a clue for the phrase “Noah’s Ark”. Teaches kids about phonetic linguistics and word play.

Camp – Your kids pretend to go camping in a trivia board game which the parents won’t mind playing with their children.

Jumpstart – An online 3D game for kids to play calls itself “adventure based learning for kids”. Travel around the world, collect clues and solve puzzles in a graphically exciting online game. Called a “masterpiece of children’s technology” by the USA Today.

Trivia Archer – This game is a test of your math, history and science skills. Let the kids play games and learn the answer to trivia questions about their studies.

Popular Learning Games For Teens

Teenagers are going to learn from playing board games, just like the smaller children are. The games they are going to play are going to be more complex and will simulate the “real world” in some way. Many of them require some form of resource allocation or social interaction skills.

Learning Strategy Games

Strategy games are a good way for teens to learn some of the social interaction skill sets they will need for office politics and other forms of skulduggery. Think of a reality game show with a learning aspect (if that’s possible).

Risk – Astrategy game that requires a certain level of strategy and planning, but also requires social interaction. If you play with 4 to 6 players, a player will not be able to conquer the world simply through force alone. Sooner or later, that player is going to need to make an alliance. So a player who knows when to make an alliance, when to trust that ally and when to turn on that ally is going to learn important lessons about social interaction, whether they are the betrayer or the betrayed.

Diplomacy – A similar strategy game, and probably requires even great diplomatic skills. Diplomacy lets teens take on the roles of one of the 7 “Great Powers” of Europe in the year 1900. All but one side has only 3 army units, so they have to build alliances in order to succeed in the game. Because everyone in the game writes their moves down once a 15-minute social interaction phase takes place, you can promise to do one thing and then betray that promise immediately. Of course, your ally can do the same.

Resource Allocation Games

Monopoly – Believe it or not, Monopoly is a good learning tool for those who are about to go out into the career field, because it forces the players to make decisions based on “resource allocation”. You only have a certain amount of money to spend and you need to make investments of that capital wisely. When a kid can master Monopoly, that kid is going to naturally learn a few money skills.

Team Sports

I know that team sports like football and basketball have a bad reputation in movies and tv, because they portray monomaniacal coaches and neanderthal jocks who know nothing but aggression. But I’m afraid that these shows are often written by people who only saw that side of the sports world growing up.

Actually, organized team sports can teach your children not only about social interaction and discipline, but also about being a part of a team and working with others towards a common goal. Sure, there are going to be a few knuckleheads around any sporting event, but if you instruct your child and give him or her guidance and perspective during their childhood sports life, they will learn valuable life lessons while competing on the athletic field.

How To Play Better Checkers

admin — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 01:20:34 +0000

Becoming a Better Checkers Player

When learning how to play better Checkers, you need to combine a study of game principles with experience testing your draughts skills against others.

Reading about what checkers masters think and then testing to see whether you can apply those ideas during a Checkers game is what it’s all about.

Experienced checkers players have different styles of play, so learning basic checkers strategy not only improves your playing skills, it lets you see checker moves tactics better and develop your own style of play.

That’s when Checkers becomes fun, when you play enough and read enough to start debating your own strategy theories and testing them out online, at your local club meetings or in a live tournament.

Read a Checkers Strategy Guide

Reading a Checkers strategy book can help you improve quickly. Checkers strategists have spent centuries collecting experience and game wisdom at draughts, so you can use that as a resource for Checkers tips. You don’t have to learn every lesson through your own game experiences, and you frankly won’t be able to fit all that checkers knowledge in one lifetime. We stand on the shoulders of checkers giants, so there’s no reason to stand on your own.

Here is a list of six books for you to consider reading for strategy tips. Read reviews and summaries to see which book or books are the best for your playing needs.

How To Beat Granddad at Checkers – John P. Cardie & Bob Murr
Win at Checkers – Millard Hopper
Play Winning Checkers: Official Mensa Game Book – Robert Pike
Starting Out in Checkers – Richard Pask
How To Win at Checkers – Fred Reinfeld
Familiar Themes – Ben Boland

Play Checkers Online

Most people don’t have access to a ready supply of checkers players who are willing to play day and night. That’s why Internet Checkers websites are so invaluable to players. Not only can you play checkers with real opponents, but you can play checkers with opponents of your same relative skill level. If you want to challenge yourself, you can play draughts with some better than you, which can teach you valuable lessons.

While you can collect a lot of Checkers suggestions and advice tidbits from reading books or online sites, you’ll grow fastest as a Checkers player by challenging yourself, taking your lumps and improving through web experience.

Play computer opponents, if you want a purely theoretical game or a practice game where time isn’t a concern and winning isn’t important. Virtual checkers games are a good way to test out theories and wild strategy ideas, which will help you refine your play and become a better checkers player.

Play Live Checkers

If you intend on playing in Checkers tournaments, playing live checkers is the best practice for tourneys. If you don’t have friends who play, search your local telephone directory for a local Checkers club. Join this group and play Checkers as much as time will allow.

Practice, Practice, Practice

Practice Checkers as much as possible. Once you learn a few tricks, play Checkers often to test those tricks out in a real game and learn from your failures and successes. In the end, learning how to play Checkers better is a matter of absorbing the lessons and applying them under real game circumstances.

How To Win at Chinese Checkers

admin — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 03:01:58 +0000

Winning Tips for Chinese Checkers

Once you learn a few Chinese Checkers strategy tips, you’ll learn how to win at Chinese Checkers pretty quickly. Below are a few suggestions that can help you improve your Chinese Checkers game, by frustrating your opponent and picking your spots to vault your Checkers across the board at the right moment.

Remember to maintain an economy of motion. The fewer moves you can get a checker to a spot, the closer you are to defeating your Chinese Checkers opponent. The more moves you can force your opponent to use to move his or her pieces across the board, the more likely you are to win.

Jump Your Checkers From Starting Position

When you begin the game, open up a bridge to the center of the chinese checker board with your first move or two. Then start to open up jumping positions among your back checkers, allowing you to get your pieces out of the point of the star quicker than your opponent. You’ll eventually want your pieces in the back to jump out front, becoming the vanguard of your Chinese Checkers formation.

Close Your Ranks

When the chinese checkers of your opponent begin to approach your line of checkers, remember to close the ranks of your own checkers. This will keep your opponent from moving their pieces through the field of your own. Don’t initiate contact with the enemy, but wait for your opponent to approach you. Instead, move your pieces that are behind into a solid formation.

Play Chinese Checkers Defensively

Along those same lines, maintain your patience and know when to play defensively. It doesn’t help you to jump your checker ahead 2 jumps, if it opens up an opportunity for your opponent to move one of their checkers ahead three jumps. Sometimes, maintaining a defensive position and shoring up the form of your checker positions is better than sending a checker forward to be jumped.

Remember that every principle of moving your pieces of the board goes the same for your opponent, so try to frustrate their ability to use these principles.

Look For Multiple Jump Possibilities

Try to jump your checkers multiple times, if possible. One good strategy is to leave a buffer between the body of your checkers and an opponent, while keeping a two-deep wall of checkers to avoid similar jumps by your opponent. When you sense an opportunity to make several jumps at once, move the checker second in line and spring the trap on your opponent, jumping first your own checker, then the checkers of your opponent.

If you really want to be tricky, you can stack your checkers to where you jump two or more of your own before jumping an opponent checker, really catapulting forward.

Divide and Conquer

Remember to keep your checkers packed tightly together. Travel in packs. Don’t leave one of them behind, because this means it will take a long time to jump it across the board.

Move to the Back

When you get to the other side, try to move your checkers as far back as possible, hopefully into the point of the star. This gives your other checkers less distance to travel. It’s best to do this by jumping through your opponent’s pieces to do this. Remember, economy of movement is the key to winning in Chinese Checkers.