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Monoply's patent was challenged and invalidated because of prior art. This was discovered during the anti-monoply legal battle.

Another example of a board game patent is on Khet. Claims 31-54 cover the play of the board game. It isn't unheard of for boardgammers to poke around expired patents (yes, the search is broken) for games to implement (the biggest challenge being translating legalease back into board game rules). Most games that I've come across while looking at patents I've never seen implemented/sold. Oh, another game that is covered by a patent - icehouse. Mr. Loony was quite happy and even made a Tshirt of it. Yes, that hippy is very much into patenting his games (though he also has a freeware licensing policy for computer implementations of his games).

One tends not to go to court to challenge a patent that is valid in the first place

Monoply's patent was challenged and invalidated because of prior art. This was discovered during the anti-monoply legal battle.

Another example of a board game patent is on Khet. Claims 31-54 cover the play of the board game. It isn't unheard of for boardgammers to poke around expired patents (yes, the search is broken) for games to implement (the biggest challenge being translating legalease back into board game rules). Most games that I've come across while looking at patents I've never seen implemented/sold. Oh, another game that is covered by a patent - icehouse. Mr. Loony was quite happy and even made a Tshirt of it. Yes, that hippy is very much into patenting his games (though he also has a freeware licensing policy for computer implementations of his games).

One tends not to go to court to challenge a patent that is valid in the first place

Agreed. I'd also suggest bringing at least two decks of playing cards and your favorite 3-8 player game or two (I'd recommend something like Fluxx. It takes a game to pick up, but its small (figure a double deck of playing cards), and is a fun game for 2-6 players and definitely falls in the "Beer and Pretzels" category.

No, really. Check it out...:-)

Lego is surely the coolest toy out there!

"IBM Club, which brings together employees for intramural sports, picnics, movies and other types of social, cultural and recreational activities."

Heaven forbid that anything like this is used as the official "informal" company communications system.

In the board/card/table gaming world, Looney Labs does a pretty good job with their mailing lists. Yes, they keep up on the games that are being released, but since it's practically a small family operation, they have blog entries and such that go out as well.

Andy Looney had a similar concept, with a 55 word limit.
Nanofiction

I'd have to second all this,

Fluxx is the game I play more than anything, its always in my pocket and it only takes a couple of minutes to teach a new player

Zendo has to be the best game a geek could ask for. Problem solving to the max

And then once you've got a set of Icehouse pieces theres a huge amount of fantastic games that you can play, my personnal favourite is Volcano which has a chess like stratagy to it

See here. To save you the time, here's a list of stuff I found from that story, games that sounded interesting or worth checking out.

First, I decided I should really get into Go. Some links from that Slashdot story: here, The Second Book of Go here, here, here, here, and here.

Other games:
Apples to Apples - got this for my cousin, they liked it.
Settlers of Catan - got this for myself, very nice game, try a local hobby shop or here or try Amazon.com

Others: Puerto Rico (Similar to Settlers of Catan), Lord of the Rings board game was mentioned, Kill Dr. Lucky, Deadwood, Give me the Brain, Lightspeed Games, Fluxx is fun, very random and quirky.

There's more! Mind Trap
Munchkin , Heroscape, Ticket to Ride, Mystery of the Abbey, Memoir '44, Queen's Necklace at Days of Wonder, Bang!, Betrayal at House on the Hill, Articulate
Killer Bunnies (and Quest for the Magic Carrot), Illuminati , Acquire .

Some other reviews/top game lists here:
here
here
here

Happy gaming!

How about Icehouse or Mahjong?

A couple times a week my coworkers and I get together at lunch to play these games. Icehouse is an abstract gaming system where you can play many different games. Our favorite Icehouse games include Pikemen, Martian Chess, and RAMbots.

The hardest part about playing Mahjong (the real Mahjong, not Mahjong solitare)is finding a place that sells the pieces. It is fun and addictive, but you need 4 people to play.

Looney Labs (and their weekly blog) make some excellent games that might fit your audience. They are perhaps best known for their card game Fluxx (my personal favorite), but also have a number of other games which are more board-game like.

The one that sounds most similar to what you're looking for is Chrononauts, the card game of time travel, which involves a time line that you build and control on the table. It also has an "Early American" version.

As already noted, they make the Icehouse pyramids which are most noted for games like Zendo and Ice Towers, but are also used for quite a few others.

Enjoy!

Looney Labs (and their weekly blog) make some excellent games that might fit your audience. They are perhaps best known for their card game Fluxx (my personal favorite), but also have a number of other games which are more board-game like.

The one that sounds most similar to what you're looking for is Chrononauts, the card game of time travel, which involves a time line that you build and control on the table. It also has an "Early American" version.

As already noted, they make the Icehouse pyramids which are most noted for games like Zendo and Ice Towers, but are also used for quite a few others.

Enjoy!

Looney Labs (and their weekly blog) make some excellent games that might fit your audience. They are perhaps best known for their card game Fluxx (my personal favorite), but also have a number of other games which are more board-game like.

The one that sounds most similar to what you're looking for is Chrononauts, the card game of time travel, which involves a time line that you build and control on the table. It also has an "Early American" version.

As already noted, they make the Icehouse pyramids which are most noted for games like Zendo and Ice Towers, but are also used for quite a few others.

Enjoy!

Looney Labs (and their weekly blog) make some excellent games that might fit your audience. They are perhaps best known for their card game Fluxx (my personal favorite), but also have a number of other games which are more board-game like.

The one that sounds most similar to what you're looking for is Chrononauts, the card game of time travel, which involves a time line that you build and control on the table. It also has an "Early American" version.

As already noted, they make the Icehouse pyramids which are most noted for games like Zendo and Ice Towers, but are also used for quite a few others.

Enjoy!

Looney Labs (and their weekly blog) make some excellent games that might fit your audience. They are perhaps best known for their card game Fluxx (my personal favorite), but also have a number of other games which are more board-game like.

The one that sounds most similar to what you're looking for is Chrononauts, the card game of time travel, which involves a time line that you build and control on the table. It also has an "Early American" version.

As already noted, they make the Icehouse pyramids which are most noted for games like Zendo and Ice Towers, but are also used for quite a few others.

Enjoy!

Looney Labs (and their weekly blog) make some excellent games that might fit your audience. They are perhaps best known for their card game Fluxx (my personal favorite), but also have a number of other games which are more board-game like.

The one that sounds most similar to what you're looking for is Chrononauts, the card game of time travel, which involves a time line that you build and control on the table. It also has an "Early American" version.

As already noted, they make the Icehouse pyramids which are most noted for games like Zendo and Ice Towers, but are also used for quite a few others.

Enjoy!

can;t be beat..

http://www.wunderland.com/LooneyLabs/Fluxx/Default .html
it's only a simple card game, but then it rapidly becomes a complex card game...

IceHouse is awesome! It's a game construction set and has rules for lots of games, and you can make up your own. It's perfect for the creative geeky type, for the easily bored type, check it out!
Looney Labs has lots of other neat games too, Fluxx, Aquarius, many more.

In the latter category was in which the player who won, wasn't even there! I played a card which basically caused everyone to play all the cards in their hand. One of the guys got up to answer the phone right before it became his turn. We played for him (since he had to play everything anyway;-) and the *&$*#&*&#*($&%**#&$^%*@&$ won.

It's called Icehouse, and I highly recommend it.

The poor man's version of Robo Rally is RAM Bots. It is played using icehouse pyramids and a chessboard.

One problem with selecting a game is that it will only appeal to some of your friends and not others.

I love strategy, logic and bluffing games. I hate word games. I'll play Risk, Monopoly or poker for hours. Most of my friends like playing things like Boggle or Scrabble-- they'll play something like Cranium.

One solution to this is to use game kits which can have multiple uses. A deck of cards can be used to play a huge number of games depending on the crowd.

Another really cool "game kit" is Icehouse Pyramids. The pyramids are these pretty colorful plastic pyramids. You can use the pyramids to play a dozen different games. You can download the rules for free from their website, and many other people have made other kinds of games using the pyramids.

Another issue is time: Alot of the strategy games take a long time to learn, play and master. When everyone has busy lives or kids and can only spend a couple hours every other week or month to play these games, a game which is quick to learn is essential.

We play Zendo asynchronously in my workplace (people take turns whenever they have a break, and we are pretty lax with turn order). This is an inductive logic game, like Eleusis. It's very friendly as opposed to competitive when we play, and is very social indeed as people talk over their reasoning with one another.

I disagree, I think that a white list with challenge auto-replies, as I use, are clearly effective and add just a little to mail traffic. I encourage others to use such a system, which would eliminate problems from having the spam reply-to being a real address. Since applying this schema, I've gotten exactly one spam message in my inbox. That's an excellent percentage.

Check out Loony Labs, I know they would give you some advice www.wunderland.com

Both of these are card games which are sort of like Uno, but more complex and interesting. I've played Fluxx much more, so these comments relate to that. Fluxx is a great game because if you are familar with it and good at it, you can plan some good strategies, however, if you're a novice, there it is still possible to win. So, both skill and chance come into play. Games can range from one minute to over thirty, and it's good to play from two players to four or five.

There's even a Palm version, called MicroFluxx. It seems like the developers created and were distributing it without the knowledge or consent of Looney Labs, but the matter has since been settled.

Enjoy!

Todd

Both of these are card games which are sort of like Uno, but more complex and interesting. I've played Fluxx much more, so these comments relate to that. Fluxx is a great game because if you are familar with it and good at it, you can plan some good strategies, however, if you're a novice, there it is still possible to win. So, both skill and chance come into play. Games can range from one minute to over thirty, and it's good to play from two players to four or five.

There's even a Palm version, called MicroFluxx. It seems like the developers created and were distributing it without the knowledge or consent of Looney Labs, but the matter has since been settled.

Enjoy!

Todd

By hour, the games we have played the most together are:

PC: (1992-2002)
Quake3
Kentris (head-to-head trippy pallette cycling competitive tetris with statistics)
Warcraft 3

PS2: (2002-2003)
Dance Dance Revolution... way too much.
Frequency/Amplitude
Soul Calibur 2

Parlour/"Real" games: (2003)
Gnostica (uses icehouse pieces + tarot cards) (wunderland.com)
Diceland
Aquarious (also from Wunderland.com/Looney Labs)
Palabra (occasionally)

As for 1 player she likes to play Nethack a lot more than me. And I like to play Amplitude & Twisted Metal Black a lot more than her.

I was going to mention Fluxx too, (and it's Fluxx, not Flux, BTW) but I've got the link to the product to go with it :)

Clearly there is no legal recourse, only technological. I don't personally know anyone else who uses this solution, but I'd love to hear from people who do.

How could they not include FLUXX?

Anyone got any recommendations along the lines of "If you love FLUXX, you'll also love..."?

Have you played Chrononauts? An excellent little card game with pretty much that central thesis (plus a smidgen of parallel worlds).

This is something I've noticed from several of the articles here on /.: We seem to be carrying around two definitions of the word "Adult". On one hand, you have the "mature, sophisticated, intellectual" definition, and on the other, you have the "porn, alcohol, and other age-restricted materials" definition.

Tragic though it may be, it seems that the latter definition is the more common one, even here on /., and we're supposed to be the intellectual crowd.

Enough maudlin, back to games.

On the American side of things, there's Cheapass games, Looney Labs, Out of the Box publishing, and for you linux/opensource/get-it-for-free-fans, Piecepack.

On the German side of the coin, you've got a bit of a quandry. Most German game manufacturers are GmbH, which is an abbreviation for something or another, but basically boils down to the fact that the company isn't allowed to export their products themselves. So, in order for German games to reach other shores, they must go through other companies. Among them, Mayfair Games, importers of the Catan series (pronounced cuh-tahn'), Rio Grande Games (Bohnanza is a good gateway game, while Peurto Rico and TransAmerica have been getting good attention from less casual gamers.), and on some occasions, Fantasy Flight Games, current makers of most Lord of the Rings board games.

For actually buying the games, I would suggest Funagain or Boulder Games.

Enjoy.

A big problem with getting into these specialty board games is the cost of entry. Reviews help, but it's hard to really know if you're going to like a game until you buy it and try it out. You can get more bang for your buck by getting a game system, which allows you to play many games. One of my favorites is Icehouse, which enables you to play hundreds of games of different genres. Geeks love Zendo, an inductive logic game you can play with an Icehouse set.

Another option is Cheapass Games, a company specializing in selling games you can play using equipment you probably already have (dice, tokens, cards).

I've also heard good things about Piecepack games. Piecepack is a public domain gaming system, so you can buy a set from several different manufacturers or make your own.

A big problem with getting into these specialty board games is the cost of entry. Reviews help, but it's hard to really know if you're going to like a game until you buy it and try it out. You can get more bang for your buck by getting a game system, which allows you to play many games. One of my favorites is Icehouse, which enables you to play hundreds of games of different genres. Geeks love Zendo, an inductive logic game you can play with an Icehouse set.

Another option is Cheapass Games, a company specializing in selling games you can play using equipment you probably already have (dice, tokens, cards).

I've also heard good things about Piecepack games. Piecepack is a public domain gaming system, so you can buy a set from several different manufacturers or make your own.

Ironically, for those who want slightly more structured chaos, try Andy Looney's Fluxx. Great fun, and there's loads of proposed cards.

I really like this keyboard as well, and have even modified mine. I hate going back and using flat Qwerty keyboards that you can't program. It feels so limited, and the keyboard locations terrible compared to Dvorak.

Sounds like an identity from Looney Labs' Chrononaughts to me...

Here are several essays on game design, many focusing on simplifying a game to focus on the interesting mechanics and decisions. Clearly this applies to computer games as well, but non-computer games are also more accessible to non-programmers.

Here are several essays on game design, many focusing on simplifying a game to focus on the interesting mechanics and decisions. Clearly this applies to computer games as well, but non-computer games are also more accessible to non-programmers.

Yeah, that's why I stopped playing most card games and RPGs. I wasted so much money on Decipher's Star Wars CCGs trying to get rare cards even though the game was terrible (no where near as good as magic). I stopped buying RPG books when I realized I wasted hundreds of dollars on White Wolf's World of Darkness books just to stay up-to-date on the stories. It might be an effective business model to keep shoveling cards and books down gamers' throats, but it's not an effective consumer model.

Thankfully, there are alternatives. I recommend anything from Looney Labs. I've played Fluxx, Chrononauts, and Aquarius, and each was a fun, elegant, and affordable (no 20 different expansions to milk out more cash) game.

Yeah, that's why I stopped playing most card games and RPGs. I wasted so much money on Decipher's Star Wars CCGs trying to get rare cards even though the game was terrible (no where near as good as magic). I stopped buying RPG books when I realized I wasted hundreds of dollars on White Wolf's World of Darkness books just to stay up-to-date on the stories. It might be an effective business model to keep shoveling cards and books down gamers' throats, but it's not an effective consumer model.

Thankfully, there are alternatives. I recommend anything from Looney Labs. I've played Fluxx, Chrononauts, and Aquarius, and each was a fun, elegant, and affordable (no 20 different expansions to milk out more cash) game.

Yeah, that's why I stopped playing most card games and RPGs. I wasted so much money on Decipher's Star Wars CCGs trying to get rare cards even though the game was terrible (no where near as good as magic). I stopped buying RPG books when I realized I wasted hundreds of dollars on White Wolf's World of Darkness books just to stay up-to-date on the stories. It might be an effective business model to keep shoveling cards and books down gamers' throats, but it's not an effective consumer model.

Thankfully, there are alternatives. I recommend anything from Looney Labs. I've played Fluxx, Chrononauts, and Aquarius, and each was a fun, elegant, and affordable (no 20 different expansions to milk out more cash) game.

I wish I had a copy of Are you a Werewolf? to play with people. It is a game about lying and figuring out who is lying. It's fun, in a paranoid way, and would have told me a lot about my fellow students.

I've designed many non-computer games for a few years now, and I see all the same issues discussed in this article that we've seen in face-to-face multi-player games. He covers the basics quite well. There are two aspects that he does not discuss which I believe are important.

First, good games are cohesive. The rules and the plot and the mechanics should flow together. The fundamental structure should dictate the higher behaviors in the game. This creates a game world that makes sense and learning a few basic guidelines are all that you need to get started.

Second, many games with three or more players and player interaction can suffer from petty diplomacy. If someone gets ahead in the game, other players can take time to squash the leader. If bad enough, there is a disincentive to get ahead. Balancing this problem can be quite tricky, and I would like to see more discussion about how designers deal with it on-line. IRL, we use hidden information, randomness, or high complexity to keep petty diplomacy from breaking a game.

Still, a good article, and it distills years of game design experience very well.

I design games for use with Icehouse pieces

I understand Tilden completely. I design games for use with Icehouse pieces, and while I hope that the creators of Icehouse sell a lot of sets, I am much more interested in having people make lots of interesting new games with them.

Inspiring creativity is much more important than being successful in business, and much more rewarding.

oh yes, oh god yes! fluxx is one of the most enjoyable little moments of madness going. A very fun game to play "in the background" while relaxing and talking with friends. into the wee small hours of the morning. Fluxx is superbly fun. this page describes it nicely.

If you haven't found them the last two years I've made this post, you're missing out. Several small time game companies make cheap games often with a delightfully geeky bent:

• Fluxx ($10) from LooneyLabs
  A self-modifying card game where the rules of the game are the cards played.
  
  
• Icehouse ($35) also from LooneyLabs
  No, not the beer. A Unquestionably cool set of plastic pyramids suitable for playing a variety of games, and designing of your own games.
  
  
• Falling ($10) from Cheapass Games
  Imagine real-time (as opposed to turn based) blackjack on speed.
  
  

All of these games are perfect for sitting in restraunts waiting for food, or other such awkward time slots that normally get wasted.