Gameblog

Category: Less about games

  • Definition of skill in games

    Dutch professor Ben van der Genugten has created a formula for calculating the skill level of a game. He has used it in Dutch courts to help determine that fantasy sports games are games of skill and now he’s using it to argue that poker is a game of skill, too. (See Leading Professor Rekindles…

  • West Riding for sale

    I’ve got a copy of Winsome Games’ West Riding for sale and it’s ridiculously cheap for something that difficult to find: just 20 euros (under $30), including economy shipping anywhere in the world. If you want it, just head to the BoardGameGeek Marketplace.

  • Lazyweb translation request

    I’m doing a translation here and got stumped by a word. Are there any Germans reading this blog? If someone could help me translate “sofortlosspieler, I would be most grateful. I understand the parts of the word, but can’t figure out what it actually means as a whole.

  • Hot games for Q2/2008

    Continuing from the previous round… Glory to Rome takes the spot as the hottest game of the quarter, by far: it has double the hotness points the second game on the list has. And why not? It’s new and it’s very, very good. I’ve played four games, once each with two, three, four and five…

  • Jonathan Schaeffer and Duplicate Poker

    I was scouring the web for interesting Poker news (that’s what I do for living these days) and I bumped into a familiar name. There’s a Man vs Machine Poker Championship coming, where two human Poker pros will play against Polaris, a Poker computer program. In the end of the article I read, they interview…

  • More playing-cards

    Modiano was kind enough to send me some sample packs, so more playing-card reviews are coming up!

  • Cards from Piatnik

    I have good news for those of you who have enjoyed my playing-card reviews: I just placed an order to Piatnik, I’m getting 17 of their packs. Tarock, mostly, but also several different European regional packs. You see, I asked around for cards to review and Piatnik’s Finnish agent replied. I didn’t get anything for…

  • A word on video games — Mario Kart Wii rocks!

    We got a Wii last week. The final reason was Mario Kart Wii — it’s one of my favourite series, I’ve enjoyed it on both GameCube and particularly on DS. The Wii version is the best, however, for several reasons. Wii has been on our “to buy” list since it came out, it was obvious…

  • The International Playing-Card Society

    I joined The International Playing-Card Society recently. I have little interest in participating the activities, but I was curious about Playing-Card, their journal. I received the three back issues of this subscription season yesterday and I’d say they’re worth the money. I mean, I haven’t subscribed to Counter, because I can read board game stuff…

  • Hot games for Q1/2008

    Oh my, another quarter gone! The previous one was good, how about this one? Wabash Cannonball is the hottest of the hot, and no wonder. I’ve loved every game so far. I’d like to try a five-player game at some point, to see how that changes the game. And of course more games with three…