Buffalo GameBuffs Blog

I want to thank everyone for your well thought out and inspiring comments at the contest blog post.  For me, hosting this contest at the blog was a great way to get people talking and sharing ideas about earthday and earth friendly things that everyone can do as well.  From everything I’ve seen and heard, Buffalo Games is truly striving to use recycled and recyclable material in every aspect of production, from shipping material, to everything that makes up the inside and outside of their games and puzzles.  So this was a great way to get people talking about what can be done to be more earth friendly.

Below are the winners of this recent contest.  Thanks again for your thoughts and comments and I hope other blog readers were as impressed and inspired as our judges and I were. 

Comment 12 - Ivelisse Jimenez  picked by Crystal

Comment 10 - Cameron  picked by Yehuda

Comment 11 - Lana  picked by Gameguy thinks

Comment 4 - Tommy Vorst picked by M.A.D.

Comment 2 - Teeni picked by Donna

Coment 16 - Jeri Crum  picked by Eric

I have contacted all of the winners and am simply waiting for their reply and shipping info to send over to Buffalo Games to ship the games out. 

Back in February I posted a bit about the Wits & Wagers video game version that would be coming soon, and that soon is now here.  Wits & Wagers is a party game that mixes traditional trivia elements with betting. You and three of your friends can play on the same console and pick from 50 faces to add to the quirky 2D avatars.  A total of six players can play online and it supports the vision camera.  The original game version is produced by Nortstar Games and the video game version was developed by Hidden Path.

So if you have an xbox 360, get your bet on and download the trial version, I know I’ll be downloading it.  Liking party games and seeing good board and card game conversions onto xbox live over the past year I’m looking forward to this quirky title.   Now when are the console video game versions of the party games iMAgiNiff…, LikeWise, and The T-Shirt Game coming out? 

As the week starts its slow crawl to Friday, I thought I’d post another fun flash game diversion.  I received alot of e-mail about the last game diversion I posted about, Filler.  Everyone loved it, though also complained that they couldn’t stop playing it  :)  Even Bernie DeKoven picked up on the Filler fun.  And a return favor to him for finding the Magic Crayon game in a post at his blog.

The image above is a screenshot of the game Magic Crayon.  You have to draw shapes and use physics to get the ball to the flag.  The game starts easy and slowly ramps up the difficulty.  The music is complimentary as well, so you shouldn’t have to turn it off. 

But this fun post will be a bit different.  Think of it as a flash crayon game and a bonus crayon game.  Before the Magic Crayon game there was a game called Crayon Physics.  I wanted to post about it months ago but it is not a flash online game and you have to download it and then play it.  The download is also only for windows operating systems and I know many of the blog readers use Macs.  But now I can post about it and have two crayon physics based games so everyone can play at least one of them.  The creator is working on Crayon Physics Deluxe these days and it looks very promising.

play the Magic Crayon

download the original Crayon Physics

Thanks everyone for the earth friendly ideas and inspiration.  We’ve given away The T-Shirt Game on this blog a couple other times before, but I really liked the idea of sharing earth friendly ideas and thoughts and I was overwhelmed by the quality of the comments and ideas. 

Our previous T-Shirt Game contest had over 100 comments, but all people had to do was leave a comment along the lines of “I want The T-Shirt Game”.  This time you had to leave a more substantial comment.  Contests that ask for more detailed comments or answers normally don’t have as many people taking the time and energy to enter.  I also did receive alot of people leaving comments like “I want the game” or “I wanna win” from people this time around but unfortunately I could not enter them in the contest as the rules asked for comments about what you would do for earthday and beyond. 

So I’ve contacted the judges today and as soon as the results are in and I’ve verified the contact info for the winners I’ll post them on the blog.  Thanks again everyone that left a comment, read the comments, and did anything to be more earth friendly. 

I regularly post about video game versions of board and card games and I have found many readers of this blog find that news helpful.  I also know that there are many parents that read this blog and I wanted to make a quick post to let you know about a great website resource about video games for the parents. 

With the release today of Grand Theft Auto 4 (GTA4) it will be talked about alot this week in mainstream news sources and I wanted to remind people that GTA4 is an M rated game for players aged 17+.  I’m not here to review the game, I’m simply providing links to learn and be informed. There is a website called What They Play that looks at video games with the parent in mind.  With GTA4 now released they have articles there like Kids Talk About Grand Theft Auto 4 and Grand Theft Auto 4: 11 things parents should know.  If you are not sure about GTA4 and want to know what the kids are talking about, these articles will help.   

You can see all of there articles about GTA4 at the link below.   Just as you would want to know why a movie is rated R, PG13, PG, etc before allowing your child to see it, I am providing these links to help you get all informed 

GTA4 Parent type articles

It’s great when parents and children can play appropriate games together, be they video or traditional board game type.  Especially when a child gets the chance to teach a parent or guardian how to play a game.  Find games you all like and set aside time to play, laugh, have fun and ask and answer any questions… your children may even think you’re a little cooler… maybe 

As summer slowly approaches you may find yourself wanting to expand your t-shirt collection.  And being a board game type player you may also want to show your gaming cred.  So where can we find some nice gaming t-shirts?  Below are a few online sellers that have a decent selection of board game related t-shirts.  I will focus more on board game type shirts rather than role playing games. 

Game Ink

The Game Ink folks have some great graphic designs for their game related t-shirts.  They also did the Gamer Dad design at the top of the post. Their t-shirts run the gamut of popular to obscure games.  Just looking at the samples above you can see Werewolves, the old style Trouble bubble and even the board gamers’ rant of Monopoly taking too long.  I just wish they had more designs, but a recent post says they are getting all creative with designs again and you can even vote on their new designs at that post.

Visit the store

Read the post

Cafepress

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Cafepress has a large assortment of board game related t-shirt designs.  Doing a search on their site for board game related t-shirts gives about 1,200 designs.  Granted, some are better than others and it doesn’t take too long to quickly look through them to pick out a few of the better designs and designers.  A couple that caught my eye are above.  The Werewolf one is perfect, Carcassonne shows a quality design and why not flaunt our inner geek and nerd with the Word Nerd for the Scrabble lovers out there.  You can click on the text links to go to that particular t-shirt design.  And if you wanted to be all creative you can design your own t-shirt to wear, just don’t forget about copyright infringements for images you may use.

A Cafepress store of note is The Board Game Gift Shop.  There you will see quality designs based on Rio Grande Games and games like Carcassonne (like the design above), Lost Cities, Puerto Rico, etc. 

Visit Cafepress’ board game area

Choice Shirts

I found only a few board game related t-shirts at Choice Shirts in their retro/vintage area.  They appear to be more pop culture/mature related.  They also have Lite-Brite t-shirts there

Visit Choice Shirts

You can also go to the board game companies that produce the games themselves as some of them also carry apparel and merchandise related to the games they design or produce.  You may also have some luck searching for retro or vintage t-shirts in your favorite search engine.

If you know of another online board game t-shirt shop, feel free to leave a comment or email me.

I have met and shared emails and chats with other blog readers that love Scrabble.  As a way to help other Scrabble players get rid of some of those pesky last letters they may have normally been stuck with, and maybe even grab a bonus or two with them, below you will see a chart with two letter words.  All of these words are taken from the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, so they are all legal… no worries.  The chart lists the words and point values.  Feel free to print this out and use it for your next game.  Let me know if this helps you at all.

source : BellaOnline

About two months ago I posted about EA and Hasbro joining forces to make video game versions of board games and board game versions of video games.  That post is here.  re-reading that post I feel the excitement and positive attitude, now… not so much.  Let me elaborate while still having a glimmer of hope.  And keep in mind I’m devoting a long post to this news item because I do care and want it to be a good game.

I receive press releases and news items through the Business Wire service.  I get tons of items a day but sifting through them I find some cool board game related news that you may be interested in.  Or I’m just wierd that way  :)  One such item announced the newest video game version of Monopoly.  This press release explains that this version will be based on the monopoly Here & Now edition and will be released this Fall on the Xbox 360, Wii, Playstation 2 (note : the PS3 is not mentioned) and even mobile phone and Pogo.com editions.  

A “creepy” screenshot of one of the mini games (obvious homage to Operation)

Lets first look at a couple things that appear interesting.  After reading the press release and an interview with a couple developers done by N’Gai Croal I’m curious to see how they add the party twist to the game.  I find myself having fun inviting friends over to play some traditional board games and casual video games and adding some party game type twists could be fun.  The mini games will involve simutaneous play from all players to achieve different goals.  The developers also state that they are tweaking the game to add a mode of gameplay so that it can be played in 20 to 30 minutes. This could be good for those that have game sessions drag on for over an hour. A few of the minigames that are planned so far include :

- Get Out of Jail (cut through iron bars as quickly as possible)
- Hospital Fees (X-ray Mr. Monopoly to find all of his organs)
- Ride to Reading (speed around the train tracks without overshooting each of the four train stations)

The (possible) Bad

One of the lines in the press release that gets me worried is :

“Play in offline single or multi-player mode and compete to own it all and win!”

What?!  How can a game like this, in this generation of consoles, not include online play?  Granted, being a multiplatform game, especially because of the PS2 version, may contribute to the difficulty to geting this game online but look at all the successfull online board game versions like Uno, Carcassonne, Catan, and the recent Lost Cities.  N’Gai Croal had the chance to interview a couple developers of the game and glancing toward the end I see the question and answer :

What about online?

We’ll have more on that later.

Ok, so maybe they can’t discuss that now, but shouldn’t they at least be able to say … yep, online will be there, we are just working on the application.  Or something along those lines, that’s what other developers say because online play these days is almost expected.  Hopefully it’s not because there are issues with integrating online play at all. 

Reading through the press release one can see that this will be a full retail release, not an xbox live arcade or WiiWare release for about $10.00.  We have seen some quality video game versions of board games on xbox live arcade and one would hope that with a retail release we’ll get alot more.  At least the game will not be the usual $60.00 as the developers state that it will be $40.00.  Though if there is no online play then why spend more for the video version for local multiplayer when I could go out and buy the actual board game version for less and still do offline multiplayer with my friends

Speaking of creepy images, I looked over at the Monopoly Here & Now website and was greeted with this creepy version of our favorite monopoly icon.  Sometimes when a 2D cartoon icon is translated into 3D animation, it just doesn’t work quite right.  However, there is some interesting info about Monopoly over there, feel free to take a peek, just try not to stare at the creepy image too long 

Here’s hoping that possible rumored video game versions of Hasbro titles Scrabble and Risk will definitely have online play.  I know alot of people that would be addicted to a console version of Scrabble, but I can’t see that without online play.  Scrabble is already popular online on the PC with the Facebook applications of Scrabble and Scrabulous.

Sources : interview, press release

PS : With everything said and done, I want this game to be good.  Sure, many gamers have issues with the luck and repetition and such with Monopoly gameplay but I would like to see a good video game version to get more people playing the game.  If done right, it could intrigue a new generation of board game fans.  So prove myself and the other naysayers wrong EA and Hasbro.  Give us a great game here and I’ll spend the $40.00. I don’t want to see game lovers dragging this game off to jail.

Tomorrow, April 22nd, will be Earth Day.  It’s a time when we, as normal type people, can take the opportunity to evaluate what we do in our daily lives and see what we can change to be friendlier to the environment.  One can do something as easy as saving fuel and carpool or just plan out our errands so that we get them done in one trip or turning off the lights when we are not in a room all the way to organizing school or community events pertaining to earthday.

Companies can also take a look at their production practices to see what can be changed.  It’s also a chance for companies to let people know what they are doing to produce their products in a more eco friendly way and hopefully encourage other companies to follow suit.

With that thought, I know that after speaking with Buffalo Games and seeing their new products that they are striving to make more and more earth friendly products and packaging while still being durable and practical to gamers.  Like they use recycled material for all their boxes and use soy based inks for their printing.  But really, what I find great about their environmental concern is that they do their own design and manufacturing in house in Buffalo, NY so they have the chance to directly ovesee how things are made.  Call me old fasioned, please be nice and don’t call me old :), but I like that. 

Ok.. enough about what Buffalo Games is doing for the environment, I want to know what YOU will be doing for earth day and after.  To help inspire and get people talking about earth day ideas, Buffalo Games has agreed to offer 6 copies of The T-Shirt game to six people that leave a comment here about what you will be doing or changing in your normal routine for Earth Day. 

In the spirit of community, I have contacted six other game bloggers, players, etc to be the judges of the comments. 

Our judges :

Yehuda - His intelligent and insightful game related articles are a delight to read.  He also has a great general board game news site at the colorful Purple Pawn.

Gameguy thinks - His spirit of playing games for fun and a way to relax with friends and family is contagious.

M.A.D. - [who's actually quite happy I think  ]  Is a great example of the love of all things creative (working on her own comic book) melding with a love of games.

Donna - Is the organizer of a local casual game group here in Buffalo, NY.  I’m also a member.  They are a fun group and welcoming to all other casual board game fans looking for some laughs, good games, and conversation.

Eric - Editor over at the always updated, honest and even witty Board Game news.  It shares a happy space in my RSS reader. 

Crystal - Is a longtime virtual friend of this blog’s MySpace page and a fellow video and board game fan.

I look forward to your comments about what you will be doing for the environment and I will remain silent through the comments to allow your ideas and words to take center stage.  This contest will run until May 1st 2008 at 12:00 midnight EST.  Please keep in mind that this contest is only open to shipping addresses in the continental United States and Canada. Also, only one comment per e-mail, name and ISP address.

Note : The T-Shirt Game is a recent release from Buffalo Games and is an example of their environmental concern with a small compact box design and a molded fiber tray and box that is made exclusivly with recycled material and printed with soy ink.

A T-Shirt Game review

Earthday website

Contest sponsor : Buffalo Games

Update : Great comments so far.  Even if you have a similar idea or story (short or long) please leave it in the comments too, the more often others read an idea the better it may sink in.  Ideas/stories of recycling, planting, changing routines, donating time anything earth friendly related is ok.

Edit : This contest has ended

As I did my normal Monday browsing of what arcade game will be hitting xbox live arcade for the week I saw a pleasant surprise. This Wednesday, those patiently (or impatiently) waiting for Lost Cities to appear in video game form have only two more days to wait. I know I’ll be downloading the free trial. Unfortunately no local multiplayer games to be had, though logically that would be difficult if your opponent can see your cards. Just like UNO on Xbox Live you can play three other players through their live service.

This is what the xbox arcade page has to say :

Risk it all on the expeditions of a lifetime in the award-winning card game Lost Cities™ as it comes to life on Xbox LIVE® Arcade. Draw from a pool of cards to amass the most points, play your cards wisely, take chances with your money, and create the best strategy to outwit your opponent on the road to victory. 

Take a look at the official arcade page to see game screenshots and more game info.

Not too long ago I posted about the lucky gamers over at Gamers With Jobs who had the chance to playtest a new updated version of Hasbro’s Risk.  My post and a pic of the gameplay is here.  Based on their playtest notes and comments this modern update looks very promising to me.  It adds more tension, mini missions, added strategy and a shorter time for playing the game. 

Anyway… Taking a peek at Gamers with Jobs website you can see/hear that in their latest podcast (yeah again with me talking about podcasts) they are offering us a chance to win a copy of this game. 

“All you have to do is send in a funny picture that involves a board game of some kind to contest@gamerswithjobs.com! What could be easier!?”

Take a look at the details, and even listen to their podcast here.  This is a rare opportunity as the game is not even out for sale yet so take a quick internet surf trip there, and maybe a reader of this blog will be the lucky winner.  Definitely let me know.

source article

Recently I did a post about the revelation that Lost Cities, A great two player strategy card game, would be coming to Xbox live arcade based on seeing a listing on the ESRB game ratings website. 

Anyway..  I listen to alot of podcasts, downloadable news type shows you can listen to through itunes or any mp3 player, and on Major Nelson’s podcast he had an interview with Sierra’s Ross Erickson.  Sierra is a veteran game publisher that has released many games for xbox live arcade.  Ross was on another podcast I Iisten to a couple weeks ago too, but this time he let it slip that Lost Cities should be available on xbox live arcade in “about” 3 weeks.  They also did Carcassonne, another great strategy game conversion, so that’s a good sign about the quality of Lost Cities.

Very cool news.  I look forward to giving it a shot myself.

Note: If you have any questions about podcasts and how to find and play them just e-mail me or leave a comment here.

Last week I introduced you to an addictive little game called Filler.  Since then I’ve received a few e-mails from newly recruited Filler addicts fans.  Here’s a screenshot from one such fans first attempt, Kristin.  You can see she was very close to filling the screen on this level too, only needed a couple more percent.

Feel free to send screenshots of your own games or just e-mail me or comment here about your own Filler accomplishments. 

play the game here

Whether you look forward to April 1st or not it never hurts to be prepared.  Tomorrow is April Fools day and I want to assure you that this blog will be April Fools day prank free.  The internet is notorious for April Fools jokes so just watch yourself and don’t believe what you read on the internet even more than usual.

April 1st is a day when that colorful mischief monkey in many off us wants to come out.  We can either embrace it or try to avoid the monkey.  For those that love playing pranks on friends and co-workers, or those that like to be prepared for a prank, there is an article over at Asylum.com that should give you some creative ideas and some foresight to avoid some pranks.  Just like the toothpaste in Oreo cookies prank, as seen in the image at the top.

 So enjoy your April 1st and watch out for that colorful mischief monkey.

full article here

click to enlarge

It’s time to get your party game fix on again.  Buffalo Games has just started shipping their newest party game called LikeWise.  The picture above shows LikeWise getting the “unboxed and staged somewhere in the house” treatment.  I had a fun time playing this with freinds.   

In the game, players are shown random pairings of  Description and Subject Cards and try to match answers with words or doodles.  A fun part is writing and/or doodling your answer on the back of your own paddle with a dry erase marker.  A nice strategy is to answer what you think others will answer or just be silly and write or doodle something totally off the wall… I was doing that alot  :)  The die element changes up the basic gameplay just enough to add variety to the basic gameplay too. 

How to get your own hands on LikeWise :

[Feel free to let them know Buffalo GameBuffs blog sent ya]

Online :

I have seen LikeWise available for pre-order at a few online stores, but I see that it is in stock at Puzzle Buffs for $23.95

Order it online here

Local store availability (Buffalo, NY) :

Because it’s a newly released game the larger outlets like Target, Barnes and Noble, etc take a few months to start carrying it. So I called local specialty toy stores in the area and the only one I found that has it in stock (as of 3-27-08), others said it will arrive in a week or two, was Clayton’s Gifts & Toys Incorporated.  They told me that they have it in stock right away because they ordered it back in January because it looked fun.  They are selling it for $23.95 as well.  Contact info for them :

Clayton’s Gifts & Toys Incorporated
5225 Main St
Williamsville, NY 14221
Phone: (716) 633-1966

If you are not in the Buffalo, NY area just call a few specialty toy stores in your area.  It only took me a few minutes and the people were very nice over the phone.  Or just order it online at the link above.