News Bits: 12/3/2012

Here is the news:

Protospiel design convention comes to Milwaukee [Link] A convention for game designers, and an extension of the annual Protospiel convention, will be held in Milwaukee in March. It seems like a great time to get seasoned feedback for your game. Check out more here.


Playing games may improve health in aging brains [Link] So does reading and writing, but this is a gaming blog, so you know the angle I'll promote. I know this was true in my grandma: she called for Pinochle to the very end.

Bellwether Games interviews Paul Owen (Trains, Planes, and Automobiles) [Link] I've been following Paul Owen's blog for a while, and he has very interesting and insightful things to say about game design. This interview does a fantastic job of distilling that insight into a shorter form. I highly recommend this.

MeepleTown interviews Hisashi Hayashi (String Railways, Trains) [Link] Some interesting comments on Japanese board game culture.

The Dice Tower presents its video Christmas buying guide [Strategy games, Advanced strategy games, Thematic games, Party games, Family games, Children's games, Two-player games, Stocking stuffers] These are some great lists. Also, is that Ryan Metzler in full Santa regalia? (Tom just went with the hat--not quite as thematic.) You can see our own Christmas buying guide here. Stay tuned for our stocking stuffer guide (coming later this week).

Where are the new game mechanisms? [Link] Each month Tom Gurganus of Go Forth and Game asks a new question and posts the answers he receives to that question at the end of the month. This month's answers are posted at the link.

Reviews in review [The Manhattan Project, Trains, Guildhall, Bang!, FlowerFall] The first three reviews are from The Dice Tower's Miami Dice series (perhaps my favorite series of video reviews), the last two are from this blog. I was very interested in the first three games before the review, and I'm much more interested after.


Kickstarters of Note
Honestly, there's not a lot on Kickstarter that excites me right now. Do you see any projects that excite you? Leave them in the comments!

Unrelated Awesomeness of the Week
BGG user HamsterofFury posted a worried geeklist about his experiences trying to teach games to his "below-average" ten-week-old daughter. The list (and the responses from the community) are hilarious, and definitely worth reading.