The only thing this app doesn’t do well, or at all, is give you different dice.  You’re stuck in parlor game, six sided limbo unfortunately.

And we were so close!

The app is free and I’d suggest you get it anyway since it’s so pretty.

Technorati Tags: iphone, ipod touch, apps, app store, motionx, dice, die rolling application

It’s hard.  Coming up with an idea that’s at least novel, if not new, then putting everything together, play testing, putting more stuff together, more play testing, gluing artwork on cardboard, swearing a lot.

I came up with a fun little game although still a bit rough around the edges.  Mi Gato se Incendia! is a game about a cat, and it’s struggles to remain flame free.  The object of the game is to rescue an escaped cat (Mi Gato).  The only problem is up to three other people are also trying to capture the cat – and there are various hazards throughout the neighborhood, from BBQ grills to alien encounters, which can cause your feline friend to burst into flames.

Thankfully cats have 9 lives.

You and your friends have 9 chances to affect a rescue.  If the cat ends up a crispy critter, no one wins.

You can download this game for free in PDF format here.  The mechanics are fairly simplistic, and you’ll need to print out and then cut out a bunch of cards and the game board. Still, all in all my friends and I enjoyed playing it.

Technorati Tags: board game, geek, arsgeek, free game, free, mi gato se incendia, meow

USB Missile Launcher
Stir Up Some Mayhem to Break Up the Monotony — Is your 9 to 5 getting you down?
Ever find yourself bored and frustrated on the job? Take control of the airspace
in and around your cubicle for a fun way to break up the day. — This USB
Missile Launcher features a 15 foot range so you can conduct target practice, or
see if your missle can land just outside the corner office. — Use your PC to
aim and launch the three foam missiles to secure your borders and defend your
homecube. The missile is controlled left to right, and fired using your computer
controls.

USB Missile Launcher
Price $29.99

Dr. Freud’s Therapy Ball
Tired of being called unsympathetic? Give the gift that keeps on giving. For that friend, significant other or relative who keeps trying to get you talk about their feelings, Dr. Freud’s Therapy Ball will have you appearing heart felt and caring in no time with over twenty responses such as: ”How did that
make you feel?” and “Talk about your mother.”

Dr. Freud’s Therapy Ball
Price $8.95

Train Man : Densha Otoko (2005)

My absolute favorite film of the year, therefore who WOULDN’T appreciate this as a gift? You have geekdom, Japan, a great love story and quirky all wrapped up in 102 minutes!
“A supposedly true combination of a romance and a Pygmalion story, Densha Otoko began as an on-line tale that captivated audiences in Japan: there’s a novel, a TV show, and a manga series, in addition to this feature. The title character is a textbook otaku, an anime and video game nerd who divides his time between the electronics stores in Tokyo’s Akihabara district and the computer in his cluttered room. One day on a commuter train, he prevents an obnoxious drunk from bothering a pretty girl. She sends him a set of Hermès teacups as a thank-you and a tentative romance begins. Train Man has no idea how to behave with a girl, so an on-line posse tells him how to dress and what to say. Ultimately, his example inspires them to go out into the world. Director Masanori Murakami effectively uses a split screen to create the on-line community. Takayuki Yamada makes a wonderfully maladroit Train Man: when he calls Hermès for the first time, he holds the phone as if he were about to commit seppuku. Miki Nakatami infuses Hermès with a winning mixture of gentleness and independence. This touching romance will delight Gen-Y and -Z members, whose lives are bound to the Internet. (Unrated, suitable for ages 13 and older: minor violence, alcohol and tobacco use)–Charles Solomon”
Train_Man Densha Otoko
Price $19.99

Blood Feud in NY
Did you ever wish you were a part of a crime family or know someone who does?
At the end of the Millennium, the FBI, working with various state and federal
agencies managed to rid New York of the ruling crime families that had become
entrenched in the city over many generations. As the boss of one of these
families, you are competing with the other players to determine who will
ultimately rule the world of organized crime. As tensions flare, a full scale
Mob War erupts to determine who will become supreme Mafia Boss of New York. This
is a hard action, take no prisoners game. You are a Boss at the head of a
powerful criminal organization. You and your adversaries are currently based in
one of the five boroughs of New York or in New Jersey. Your goal is to build and
expand your underworld empire by any means necessary. This can include
corrupting precincts to increase your take, kidnapping opposing family members
for ransom, and the coup de grace, taking out the opposing families’ bosses,
thereby removing them from the game. To take control of the city’s underworld,
you will need to be a brilliant strategist, a careful planner and a skilled
negotiator. Knowing the exact moment to take the offensive will be necessary if
you want to take advantage of opponent’s weaknesses. In the end, your paranoia
may prove to be one of your greatest character traits: ALWAYS watch your back!
Blood Feud In New York Board Game
Price $24.95

Halo III Covenant Carbine Scaled Replica
Give that Halo lover something they can take with them when the Xbox is off.
Price: $19.88

Marvel Minimates: Marvel Zombies Box Set of 5
Do you know someone who likes Marvel characters? Do you know someone who likes zombies? Do you know someone who likes BOTH? The Marvel superheros have become the walking undead! A great add to any collection- and they’re ZOMBIES!
Set of 5
Price: $18.99

X-Finger Middle Finger Road Rage Device Placed strategically in any vehicle, you can get that road rage out to defuse itself by squeezing a little bulb and gesturing to that moron exactly what you think of them. Hopefully you place it in an area where any little passengers won’t see…
Price: $14.49

The Cubes- Ann
A great addition to The Cubes collection or a starter. Used as either a voodoo doll playset or perhaps placed on a desk decorated with whatever subtle message you’re wanting to give your boss or co-workers, The Cubes is a brilliant set for anyone who is stuck in Cubicle HELL
Price: $12.99

No I Will Not Fix Your Computer-Tee
Are you or a friend constantly getting sucked into using your talents for free by any of your not so close friends, co-workers, relatives or acquaintances? Save your voice and get your point across. You are a person who deserves your own free time damn it!
Price: $19.95 – $21.95

Star Wars: A Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy (Hardcover)
Nothing beats a pop-book, unless it’s a Star Wars pop-up book! Sabuda and Reinhart Studios have created another spectacular pop-up book for George Lucas’s epic STAR WARS movies! Bestselling pop-up artist and engineer Matthew Reinhart has designed a thirtieth anniversary commemorative edition that comes packed with a variety of novelty features — pop-ups, working light sabers, pull tabs, and other interactive looks at the exciting and popular movies. This beautiful book will impress all fans of STAR WARS and gives a whole new perspective to the films.
Star Wars Pop-Up Book
Price $19.79

Mental Floss
Turn your friends and family into geeks by causing them to fall in love with learning and showing off their brain power. This game seriously caused me to give trivia/question games another chance when I was getting completely tired of the genre. You’re guaranteed to walk away a genius!
The Mental Floss Trivia Game picks up where every other party game stops. This mind-challenging game has taken traditional trivia and turned it on its side with more than 1,500 crazy questions. Try to make it through an “Enlightening Round,” stop a “Big Fat Lie” and play a “Mental Block” card to give your opponents a real setback. Includes game board, six movers, 250 floss facts, 200 Enlightening cards, Mental Block cards, Peace of Mind tokens, die, label sheet and instructions. Price $22.98

Board games allow us to revert back to whatever grudge we had stuffed down as adulthood made it improper to hold onto the memory of finding your doll house doll’s head on your bed with a note from GI Joe threatening the other members of the doll house family unless you sneak two cookies and leave them outside your big brothers door.

Games equal revenge. Granted if you take a candid photo of all members playing, it looks sweet from an outside perspective, but underneath it all, we all know it’s “To the death. Survival of the fittest. There ARE no relationships or bonds when the board is laid out.”

I’m all for the silly games that require little skill, but even more so I’m always on the look out for a game that can boost your cerebral abilities and at the same time have light hearted fun.

One quest for such a game led me to find “Mental Floss.” I’m not quite sure what prompted going on a game run a couple of years ago, but I was bent on finding SOMETHING that didn’t require knowing about “celebrities” or luck of the die.

My final stop before I gave up and cursed my city for having nothing but mindless insults, was Borders Bookstore. On a shelf in the middle of an aisle housed more games that Hollywood created, and upon asking a clerk if they HAD anything called forth brain power, she looked at me confused and said, “Well we just got in Simpsons Monopoly…” As I was looking at her wondering how she managed to breathe without being prompted, I spied one shiny tin box at the very bottom of the shelf and as the angels sung while the sun beamed through the windows- I saw the name, “Mental Floss- It’s Funny. It’s Quirky. And you’ll walk away a genius.” Oh Pressman- you had me at Mental.”

Questions are set up as such:

Right Brain, left brain, spot the big fat lie, and Enightening Rounds (answer three questions in a row and you’ll get a Piece of Mind token… or you can risk it all on the fourth).

Examples:

Right Brain: What organization began in 1916 as the Junior Citizens?
Left Brain: What is the plural of “piecemeal”?
Spot the Big Fat Lie:
A. The original “jawbreaker” wasn’t a candy, but slang for a dental technique used to remedy especially-severe cases of lockjaw.
B. The original “blockbuster” wasn’t a hit show, but a large bomb. Made by the British in World War II, the explosives were powerful enough to destroy an entire city block.
Enlightening Round:
(theme) I Had Too Much To Think Last Night
1. Sometimes called “the founder of modern philosophy,” this French mathematician, scientist, and philosopher weighs in as one of the greatest minds in post-Columbian history. And while he’s best known for his ultra self-confident statement, “I think, therefore I am,” what’s a less well-known is that he hated mornings, and preferred to spend them philosophizing in bed. Name the late, great thinker.
(and if you get it correct, you move onto a slighter more difficult question, and then another- and the you either take your token or try the fourth and most difficult one)

You’ll learn, you’ll laugh and then you’ll want to play some more. My game came with a free Mental Floss magazine, which drove me to their main website as the magazine was equally fun and the website was even more enjoyable.

So, if you want to take your family therapy to the level of proving who’s the most brilliant causing the losers to kneel before your superiority, then this is the game for YOU! If you’re surrounded by a bunch of Poindexter’s… then you might want to stick with Yahtzee or Life.

The winners are:

1. Dave

2. EJ

3. Dave Lartigue

4. Tricia.

We’ll be emailing all of you shortly as well as providing Thought Hammer with your contact info so then can arrange to ship the games out to you.

Congratulations to our winners and a big huge thanks to Thought Hammer for providing the prizes and allow us to use them in concert with our quest to get Jonathon to ComicCon NY in April of ’08.

I’m glad to see there’s so much interest in the contest!  We launched it 8 days ago and we’ve gotten 75 entries so far, not including extra entries folks have gotten by linking back to our Quest for the ComicCon post.

To find out how to enter our contest (it’s very simple) and how to get extra entries to increase your chances of winning, see our contest post.  The contest ends September 30th, with winners being announced October 1.

Thanks also to Thought Hammer for supplying the prizes!

Technorati Tags: contest, thought hammer, manhattan, game, board game, comiccon

Here’s more about Manhattan:

This great Spiel des Jahres skyscraper building game is back! Add your parts to the growing Manhattan skyline! The higher, the better! May the tallest buildings win!

Building boom in Manhattan! But not only there! Sky-scrapers are springing up all around the world. Players also have the opportunity to build sky-scrapers in Sydney, Frankfurt, Hongkong, Sao Paulo, and Cairo. The question each turn is whether to increase the height of one of your own buildings, or to build onto someone else’s building, making it yours! At the end of every six turns, players score for having the tallest building, the most buildings per city, and for each building they own. After four rounds, the player with the most points is the winner!

This is a reprint of the original German version, but in English.

Want to know how to score some entries towards a prize? It’s easy! You’ll receive one entry into this drawing simply by commenting on this post – be sure to enter a valid email. If you’d like to get an additional three entries, all you have to do is link back to our Quest for the ComicCon post on your blog or site. Use our contact form to let us know you’ve linked to this post (include a URL where we can check the link) and we’ll put you down for three more entries.

Don’t have a site or blog of your own? You can still get an extra entry by dropping by our Quest for the ComicCon post and leaving a nice message for Jonathon.

Here are the rules. Be sure to read them!

1. You can’t work for ArsGeek or Thought Hammer.
2. The prize winner will be drawn via random selection. All entries will be assigned a number based on their entry order. A random number generator will be used to select the winner.
3. This contest is open to US Residents only.
4. Thought Hammer will ship the games out to the winners.
5. When entering you’ve got to supply a valid email address. If we can’t contact you, you won’t be able to win one of these games.
6. All decisions by the judges and the random number generator are final.
7. The contest ends September 30th.

Good luck to all who enter and a big thanks to Thought Hammer for allowing us to use their prizes to help get Jonathon to the ComicCon!

The ArsGeek Team

Update:  We have our winners!  Click here to find out who they are.

Technorati Tags: contest, games, Manhattan, thought hammer, win, board game

Wondering if the game is any good? See our review to find out why it’s very much worth playing.

If you’re planning on attending GenCon Indy and would like to sit with the Black Industries folks at the Ennie awards, here’s your chance!

Not only will you get to hang out with the folks who created the new Talisman but you’ll also score yourself a copy of the game (released in October of this year) and two special cards not normally available.

All you’ve got to do is win this Ebay auction. The auction ends on August 13th at about 6pm EST.

Good luck!

We were very pleased with the game and the work that Black Industries put into it. In the review I mentioned that Capcom had been tapped to create a PC game version of the board game. Now we’ve got some more details for you! It looks like the game will allow up to 4 players in both online play or turn based. It will also be available for Xbox and Playstation.

Here’s what we know so far:

Based on Games Workshop’s classic board game, Talisman is the quintessential fantasy hybrid board/role-playing game for up to four players, either online or offline. The game takes place in a fantasy realm and is based very closely on the board game through a 3D representation of the map with animated movements and in-game events. Characters are fully animated as they walk about the board, attack other creatures, cast beautiful effect-laden spells and use objects to enhance their actions. Talisman will be rolling its way onto Xbox LIVE® Arcade, PLAYSTATION®Network and PC this winter. The highly anticipated 4th Edition of the board game is due for release from Games Workshop’s Black Industries imprint in October 2007.

Key features
• Electronic board game with 3D characters and environments
• 1 – 4 players offline and online multiplayer
• Dynamic camera angles adjust to each active player
• Up to 25 characters from the Talisman franchise
• Unique features for each character including strength and magical abilities
• Voice chat options
• Downloadable game expansions including character updates, adventure card updates and alternate endings

That last bit is what really interests me. Could we see some of the original Talisman expansions coming to us through the video game? Time will tell!

Technorati Tags: talisman, capcom, rock on

“The Entertaible concept is a tabletop gaming platform that marries traditional multi-player board and computer games in a uniquely simple and intuitive way. Entertaible comprises a 32-inch horizontal LCD, sophisticated touch screen-based multi-object position detection, and all supporting control electronics. It allows the players to engage in a new class of electronic games which combines the features of computer gaming, such as dynamic playing fields and gaming levels, with the social interaction and tangible playing pieces, such as pawns and dies, of traditional board games.” Read Full Story/Watch Video

Not only will this concept alter board games we know it, it can actually bring peace to our families by bridging the generation and preference gaps. While some family members prefer the computer/console games and others enjoy the feel of the die in their hands and moving pieces- this technology may just satiate both cravings!

I wonder if that’s why our world is so torn. Maybe this can actually cause world peace as well.

If you’ve got a favorite game, publishing house or artist and want to show them your appreciation, stop on by and cast your votes.

Technorati Tags: ennies, table top games, role playing, rpg, talisman, black industries, game

For more photos, be sure to see our Flickr Talisman photo stream!

Black Industries recently came out with a new version (the fourth) of a wonderful game that I used to play when I was younger. This game, Talisman, has gone through a number of revisions. The best of them by far being the 2nd edition and all of it’s subsequent expansion sets, long since out of print.

Recently Black Industries sent me a promotional copy of Talisman for review. I was overjoyed when I received the package as this was one of my all time favorite games yet at the same time I was a bit nervous. What if this version of Talisman didn’t match up to the 2nd edition? What if it was awful?

I had read some teasers and was following their site with interest and my fears were somewhat eased when I read that they were taking the best of the 2nd addition and adding in a few changes. I decided to leave the box closed and invited Cavtroop over to play the game and help with the review. We would also be joined by my wife, who by admission is not a dedicated gamer like Cav and myself.

Finally the night arrived, Cavtroop was here and we had the table cleared. After a quick dinner of Pizza and soda (traditional gaming night entrees) we got out Talisman and opened it up.

Our first impression was very favorable. The six section folding board was beautifully illustrated and sturdy as all get out. The box that contained all of the cards, character pieces, various bits and counters and of course dice was very nice. A sort of faux velvet. Even more important however was how it was designed. Every set of cards was compartmentalized, along with the character cut outs and counters. No more little baggies and aging elastic bands! Thank you Black Industries for paying attention to what seems at first like a little detail but makes cleanup, storage and replay all that much better.

We took everything out of the box and separated the various cards into their appropriate piles. The board is huge! A bit bigger than the 2nd edition and quite a good size to fill the center of a table. Adventure cards, character cards, toad cards, Talisman cards, spell cards, purchase cards, and alignment cards. Also bagged up were a large number of gold coins with an antique finish, six dice and counters for life, strength and craft.

Giving the rules book a thorough reading we found it to be well organized and well written. The rules are clearly laid out and very easy to understand. We did spot an editorial mistake, there are two section 16:10′s in the rules. Unlike everything else in the game, the book is a bit flimsy. It’s put together like a magazine. Hardcover would have been amazing, although what it would have done to the price or production run I don’t know.

I love the character cut outs. They are nice, solid cardboard which mount into plastic stands, as do the toads. Our one beef with the characters was that they would fall out of their bases half of the time when we were moving them about the board.

The counters are a nice change from the 2nd edition counters, which were card board cut squares about a quarter of an inch across. The new counters are roughly the same size but made of hard plastic. Our only beef was that the raised numbers on the counters (1-4) are a bit hard to read. Multi-colored counters, or a brush with white paint on the raised numbers would do wonders for this. The gold coins are beautiful and a lot nicer than little square cardboard bits. The six sided dice are nice looking as well.

We set the cards into their appropriate piles, shuffled the lot that needed to be shuffled and glanced through some of them. The cards are of nice card stock and while the size is good for playing, the type is perhaps a bit small. Certainly not a game stopper but it did cause a bit of pausing for reading very small type.

We all chose our characters at random. My wife got the Elf, Cavtroop ended up with the Thief and I had the Druid. We set up our appropriate counters for life, craft, strength and our one gold piece and we were off!

That’s one of the inherent beauties of this game, it’s very easy to learn. While the rule book is important to read, for the most part all of the rules of the game are right in front of you. Each game space tells you how to act when you land on it. All of the cards, including the character cards have the special instructions you’ll need in order to make them unique characters. When you move and draw an adventure card, that card spells out exactly what you should do with it, including putting it in the discard pile if need be.

Each turn consists of rolling a six sided die to determine how far along the board you move, determining which direction you’ll go in and then drawing an adventure card or following the instructions on the board. The game board consists of three different realms. The outer realm where everyone starts is where you spend time strengthening your character, gathering equipment and allies, and planning your future strategy. Once your character is strong enough you journey to the second realm by way of a raft (either constructed, found or bought) or by challenging the Sentinal for the right to pass into the middle realm. Once there things get a bit harder. Monsters, animals and spirit enemies become stronger. All the while in both the outer and middle realms your not only encountering enemies via the adventure cards but you’re also encountering each other.

When two players meet, their may be a battle in which one player may lose a life, gold or an object. Spells fly and weapons come into play as well as the special abilities inherent to each character.

Once your character has the strength and/or craft to tackle the center realm, you’ll need just one more item. A Talisman. These can be found, given as gifts, stolen or won from other players. Once in possession of a Talisman you can attempt to gain entry and navigate through the perils of the inner realm. If you can reach the crown of command, once per turn you can cast a spell which has a 50% chance of taking one life from every player. Here’s where the game gets frantic as the other players try every trick, method and spell in the book in an attempt to slow down or stop the player who has the crown of the command. Eventually there is only one player left, and that player is the winner.

my wife picked up the game after our brief explanations and without reading the rule book in about three turns. It was immediately apparent that she was enjoying herself immensely once she got a feel for the game. We all enjoyed the game for its sheer playability. As soon as the first die roll is made everyone is involved. The turns are fast paced without being hectic and the game flow never stops. You just keep playing and enjoying it right up to the end.

The play time listed on the box is 90 minutes. Truthfully it takes a bit longer to play than that. We started at 6:30 and wrapped up at 9:00 for 2 and a half hours of play. Not to worry much though, we didn’t really notice the time going by. Talisman is one of those rare games that combines simplicity and immediate game play with a high replayability factor. Every time you play it will be a bit different thanks to the 15 characters available and the multitude of different events, actions and player decisions that will effect the game.

All in all we had a great game. After two and a half hours of character building and plotting my wife wielding the Elf made it to the crown of command to win the game, destroying first me and next Cavtroop in short order.

This game brought back a lot of great memories when we played Talisman 2nd edition. Even more important though it was just as fun in it’s own right playing right now. All of the flaws we found with it are of the nit picking type. Nothing is a deal breaker or will really affect game play.

Should you go out and buy Talisman when it hits the market in late September? Absolutely. If you enjoy board games with a fantasy bent you’ll have a great time with this game. I dare say you’ll be playing it a lot! With the 2nd edition there were a number of expansions that extended the game in all kinds of interesting ways.

We’re really hoping that Black Industries does well by this game and that they’re able to turn out some of the expansions they’ve been hinting at. We’ll be first in line to add them to our Talisman experience.

Where should you get it? Your local game or hobby shop should be carrying it. You can also pre-order it from Thought Hammer for $35.00 right now. To talk about this game before and after you get it, check out the Talisman forums at Black Industries site.

EDIT: We’ve gotten some great tips from around the web.  The first is to brush the counters with a sharpie so the raised numbers have a nice, black luster.  The second is to laminate the player pieces, giving them a bit of girth and allowing their plastic ‘feet’ to stay on. 

Technorati Tags: reviews, talisman, black industries, board game, fantasy, gaming, awesome

I have this sitting in my home, unopened.  Awaiting the great un-boxing and play testing event.   I cannot wait to get my hands into this game.  Look for our review early next week, with lots of pics.

Technorati Tags: talisman, talisman 4th edition, game, board games, crown of command, reviews, toad

They’ve posted a preview video on YouTube – here it is for your viewing pleasure.

Looks like Capcom has also received the licensing to create a video game version of Talisman.

Technorati Tags: talisman, board game, black industries, way cool games, crown of command

We’ve selected our winners (at random) and we’ll be notifying them via email over the next 24 hours.

Here they are in no particular order:

henry_kay
gobbeg
DebbyDeb
sprose
asgelb

If you’d like to get a jump on the process, feel free to email me with your name and shipping address.

I’ll be getting these back to Thought Hammer in the coming week and then your copy of Carcassonne will ship too you!

Congratulations all, and thanks to everyone who entered.

The ArsGeek Staff

Search by RPGs, board games or CCGs.

We used to play Talisman all night, what great fun! Now you can hardly get it on Ebay for under several hundered dollars. Too bad a certain webmaster SOLD all his Talisman stuff a while back….

More information at the Black Industries website.

Edit by AG -

Here’s a few teaser wallpapers for you all.