You tell me: blogs and websites...

You obviously take a look at this blog for info and rants.  What are your websites, blogs, online dabblings, board-game related or otherwise?  Add 'em to the comments and grab some readers!  If it's game-related, maybe it'll even end up in my blog-roll....

How to remix your Christmas gaming...

One of the many joys of having a semi-regular readership of this here blog is that friends and readers (who really are just friends I haven't met yet) send you anything odd they find on the intertubes that is remotely boardgame-related.


Thanks to Michaela for mentioning this little tidbit!

In my never-ending quest to get people to play something, anything other than Monopoly, I wholly endorse this product without even looking at it.  The Boardgame Remix Kit is a set of 26 different games to play with pieces from Monopoly, Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, and Clue.  And if you're reading this right now and you own one of these, I expect you probably don't play your old copies anymore as you've realized what else is out there.  Okay, maybe occasionally Scrabble....

The set of remixes is available in PDF form, a set of rules cards, an Iphone app (of course!), and soon a good old-fashioned hardcover book.  Definitely worth a download if you find yourself spending this holiday at your relatives' place with nothing but their standard collection of drek.

(via Boing Boing)

Board games on the web...

I know it seems like it would defeat the purpose but you can actually play many great board games online as we speak. Although it can remove the best part of cards and games - the live interaction - it still provides a nice diversion at work or a substitute for all my games that are back in BC. Sigh.
Here's a few different places I have found, with many, many great games....

Below is a screenshot of Mykerinos, a new classic that I own and can't get enough of. It is playable on www.mabiweb.com and all the games are by email, which is quite nice. You just take your turn when the email arrives.


At www.daysofwonder.com, you can play many of that company's games in real-time online. This is a shot of the Ticket To Ride online version. I think it loses a lot of the excitement on the computer but still, if you need your fix...



One of the great games I own that is somewhere on the other side of the country is Tikal. The email game below that I had at www.spielbyweb.com two weeks ago made me miss it a little more.



Another great site with TONS of email games is www.yucata.de. Currently playing Oregon which is convincing me that it's not worth the purchase.



Last one I'll mention has tons of games live and ready to play with people around the world. Just bombed my first game of Kingsburg... sigh. Looks like a great game, though, definitely worth picking up. And the JAVA graphics on this site are REALLY good!



For other places to find good weekday diversions, check out my 'Board games online' section.