Board Game News

Across Words is an Electronic Talking Word Race Game, a rousing, high-fiving, laugh-provoking, quick-thinking, adrenaline rush of a game! Players race to make the word that solves the clue. The talking ”emcee” sets a lively pace from start to finish.

The game was conceived by Jeffrey Breslow, a very well respected game inventor with Big Monster Toys (BMT). His idea was to make an electronic version of a crossword puzzle. He tweaked the idea over time and developed a working prototype of a game that featured 2 players, or 2 teams, with the exact same letters. They would be battling to make 4, 5, or 6 letter words based on audible clues read by the “talking voice.” Originally the game was titled Lett’r Rip, but the game ultimately became Across Words.

Normally, the game sells for $30.95 but Winning Moves Games is currently offering it at a special promotional discount of $15.95 ($15.00 off) + FREE SHIPPING.

We believe that Across Words is a great game and we want people playing! We hope you enjoy it!

Purchase Across Words for $15.95 with free shipping.

Winning Moves Games has produced a brand new version of the classic family word game of Scrabble - Super Scrabble: The Deluxe Edition.

This new edition is a follow-up to Super Scrabble, which was designed by Murray Eskenazi and released by Winning Moves in 2004, and which marked the first time that the game of Scrabble had ever been altered. Super Scrabble is an officially-licensed Scrabble product and it has been approved by the National Scrabble Association (NSA). The game features 200 tiles instead of the standard 100 and comes packed with the original 100 plus a 2nd bag of 100 tiles with a slightly different letter distribution than the original 100. The board has 3 additional rows/columns of spaces and the point scoring goes as high as quadruple letters and words.

Super Scrabble: The Deluxe Edition builds upon that game by improving the game board with a raised grid to hold the tiles in place, as well as a slick turntable design that places the game board on a rotating base with ball bearings on the bottom of the game board so it can be easily twisted and turned, and each player can get an optimal look at the board, without fear of scrambling the tiles on the board.

Super Scrabble: The Deluxe Edition is the ultimate Scrabble game experience!

In The Technology Behind Backgammon at WhatPC?, Paul Wardley of Personal Computer World discusses the emergence of artificial intelligence-based backgammon programs:

Self-taught backgammon-playing computer programs are so good that they have overturned many of the assumptions previously held about how the game should be played and which are the best moves, especially in the opening phases of the game. Any player who trains by regularly playing against a backgammon program, using moves suggested by the program itself, can learn to play at levels that were previously attained by only a few top players.

One of the earliest AI-based backgammon programs was TD-Gammon, written by IBM researcher Gerald Tesauro and included in the 1996 release of the OS2/Warp Family Funpak. Later programs based on that technology include Olivier Egger’s Snowie and the free GNU Backgammon.

An interesting read.

Learn more about backgammon
Play backgammon online

As you may have noticed, we have a new section of the web site dedicated to Mobile Board Games. We’re offering a great selection of titles, for all sorts of different mobile devices, including:

• PalmOS
• PocketPC
• SmartPhones
• Symbian
• BlackBerry

In addition to traditional board games, the mobile games store also features sports games, strategy games, adventure games, card games, puzzle games, and trivia games.

You can also subscribe to device-specific RSS Feeds for New Software, Updated Software, Best Sellers, and Special Offers.

As part of the grand opening special, we’re offering 20% OFF on all games (until April 25, 2007). To get the special price, use the coupon code “GAMEON” during checkout. You can use this code as often as you like, so if you’ve been thinking of purchasing a mobile board game or two, now’s your chance to do so with a nice discount.

There is a new downloadable Monopoly game, based on the latest edition of the classic family board game. Monopoly Here & Now is a modern makeover for today’s would-be billionaires. Load your account with millions, roll the dice, and move all-new tokens around the board. Buy and sell all-new properties featuring popular destinations from across the United States.

Just like the actual board game edition of Monopoly Here & Now, which came out in late 2006 (see New Monopoly is Here, Now), the download edition features a completely updated game, with new properties, new tokens, and new property values.

New properties include Boston’s Fenway Park, Las Vegas Blvd., Houston’s Johnson Space Center, Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry, and Minneapolis’ Mall of America. New tokens include the Toyota Prius, New Balance Shoe, McDonald’s French Fries, Labradoodle, Motorola RAZR Mobile Headset, and a Laptop Computer.

Today’s properties, today’s tokens, today’s millions, MONOPOLY HERE & NOW EDITION is timeless fun for tomorrow’s billionaires!

More information about Monopoly Here & Now
Download Monopoly Here & Now (15MB)

The board game blog Gone Gaming has announced the winners of the Gone Gaming 2006 Board Game Internet Awards, as selected by their contributors. Winners include the following:

• Best Game Resource Site: Board Game Geek

• Best Publisher Site: Days of Wonder

• Best Game Club Site: East Tennessee Gamers

• Best Online Magazine: INDEPTH

• Best Online Gaming Site: SpielByWeb

• Best Blog: Gathering of Engineers and NYC Gamer (tie)

Read the full article for details and more winners.

In an article in the The Guardian Online, the independent student newspaper at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, Chelsey Levingston suggests that students challenge their friends to a board game to beat the winter blahs. According to Chelsey, games suggested by students included:

• Apples to Apples - A word association game, Apples to Apples is fun with large groups of people or at least three friends.

• Scene-It? - A movie trivia game featuring DVD movie clips and sound bytes, best played with large groups. Expect a lot of yelling.

• Clue - The classic mystery game has been reinvented in a DVD edition.

• Trivial Pursuit - There are several new interactive DVD versions, including Pop Culture, Saturday Night Live, Totally 80’s, and 90’s editions.

• Scrabble - The classics never get old, and Scrabble is one of the very best games for intellectual stimulation and quiet conversation.

Read the full article (Get Your Game On).

In a really cool series of articles at The Simple Dollar, Trent gives his picks for the best money-related board games of all time.

#1		Puerto Rico by Rio Grande Games Many of you have probably never heard of it, and that’s a true shame, because it may be the most elegant board game ever created. It is a complete simulation of a nation’s economy packed into an incredibly fun and easy to play game that takes about an hour or so to play. Read complete review …
#2		Acquire by Avalon Hill Acquire is deliriously fun and a great abstraction of how the real market works. If you want the challenges and the joys of stock investing in a board game form, Acquire is a wonderful choice. Read complete review …
#3		Modern Art by Mayfair Games This is the best version of an open market I’ve ever seen in a game - plus it’s incredibly fun to play. If you want to teach (and learn about) the open market to someone, this is easily the most enjoyable way to do it. Read complete review …
#4		Monopoly by Milton Bradley For many of us, Monopoly is the game that pops in our heads when the phrase “board game” is mentioned. Rainy afternoons and marathon games of Monopoly were rites of passage when I was growing up. Read complete review …
#5		The Game of Life by Milton Bradley The Game of Life is a simple game that can be played in an hour and provides great insight into many of the financial issues that an average life can have. Throughout the game, there are countless opportunities to learn about and teach key personal finance issues. Read complete review …

That’s a really fun and informative list, and by the way, The Simple Dollar is a very good blog that covers the world of personal finance. Most of us can certainly use some help in that area, and Trent offers a huge amount of very useful information, all presented from a uniquely personal perspective.

SCRABBLE Cubes is a new game from WorldWinner, and has quickly become one of the most popular games on the site.

SCRABBLE Cubes is a 3-D word game based on Hasbro’s classic crossword board game, in which players achieve high scores by connecting letters to find as many words as possible across the surface of an ever-changing arrangement of cubes. The game features SCRABBLE tiles with corresponding point values, giving wordsmiths everywhere the opportunity to compete in a modern version of their favorite word game for cash and prizes. Adding to the challenge, players are tempted with bonus cubes containing special values, such as “double word score” or “double letter score,” as in the popular SCRABBLE board game.

The games plays as sort of a three-dimensional Boggle, except that it uses SCRABBLE point values and bonuses. This is not just a straight conversion of SCRABBLE to online play. This is actually a game that could never exist in the real world, but it’s a perfect fit for the computer and online play.

You can play for free in practice mode as long as you want, or you can play in one of the many ongoing live competitions against real people from around the world.

SCRABBLE Cubes is a terribly addictive new diversion, and should please any word lover.

Play SCRABBLE Cubes Now

America has voted. No, not that overblown political thing on November 7th. We’re talking serious fun here. Board games. Specifically: Monopoly!

Earlier in the year, Hasbro asked players to vote for their favorite landmarks to be included in a new “Monopoly: Here & Now” edition. Americans cast more than 3 million online votes to shape the new edition’s game board and determine which landmarks from 22 cities made it onto the board, as well as the location of those landmarks on the board.

Now, the votes have been tallied, and here are the results:

• America has elected New York City’s Times Square to occupy the highest rent property space (traditionally home to Boardwalk) on the game board of the new edition. The Big Apple shares the coveted blue property color group with its northern neighbor Boston, which landed its Fenway ballpark on the space traditionally occupied by Park Place.
• The rest of the high-rent district (which includes the green color group) features the White House (representing Washington, D.C.), Chicago’s Wrigley’s Field, and the neon-glittering Las Vegas Blvd (aka “The Strip”).
• Orlando’s Disney World occupies the red space traditionally known as Illinois Avenue, which has proven to be the most landed-upon property space on the board during a game.
• Cleveland’s Jacobs Field and Dallas’ Texas Stadium are the most affordable properties for real estate moguls to purchase, occupying the dark purple spaces.
• Beyond the new property landmarks, the new game has newly appraised property values and rents (players who land on Times Square with a hotel will pay $20 million), larger currency denominations, and airports replacing the railroad spaces.
• The game tokens have also been updated, and now include an environmentally-friendly hybrid Toyota Prius, a New Balance running shoe, McDonald’s French Fries, a Motorola RAZR cell phone, an airplane, and a laptop computer.
• The Chance and Community Chest cards, too, have received updated scenarios. For example, winning $10 in a beauty contest has changed to winning $100,000 in a reality TV show, and players are sent directly to jail (without passing GO) for such misdeeds as identity theft and insider trading.

View all Monopoly editions