Time is Running Out

Just a quick reminder that anyone interested in entering the drawing (explained here)  for a copy of the Armor of God has until November 30th at midnight to become a follower of the blog here and/or a fan of the Facebook page for the blog (do both and you get your name entered twice!).

And don't forget to spread the word (I know, even though it will lower your chances of winning).

I will hold the drawing on December 1st and announce the winner here on the blog.

BookofMormonGames.com

There is actually a website called Book of Mormon Games. Surprisingly (not really) the url is http://bookofmormongames.com/. What there is on the site is a list of short multiple choice quizzes about different "topics" from the Book of Mormon. For example, there is a quiz about the different "Villians and Victories" in the Book of Mormon (here). Additionally there is a Book of Mormon Hangman game. A word is displayed, well, a few letters and spaces is displayed. You guess letters (you can only get it wrong 4 times before you lose the game). There isn't any actual hangman displayed, just a you got it right or you got it wrong kind of presented text.

One problem I found with the site is that on the quizzes you answer all the questions and hit the "Grade Me!" button and nothing happens. Even after the time limit counts down to the end, still nothing happens. Must be some problem in the coding or scripting of the quizzes.

All in all, the site could help you with your Book of Mormon knowledge a little bit, if the quizzes were scripted correctly. I'm just not sure I'd call it a website about games (although the hangman game would constitute a game).

Gaming with Kids

I recently came across the book Libraries Got Game: Aligned Learning through Modern Board Games and was very excited to find that the American Library Association had put it out. I mean, I love games and am very interested in learning and education, especially for children. So, putting the two together is absolutely awesome! Anyway, as I shared the book with others (or told them I had found it; I still need to get into reading it) I was offered an excellent opportunity. Here at Utah State there is an on campus elementary school and I will be teaching games to kids there! The idea is to have a sort of "after school club" that meets once a week for an hour. We'll start up the first Tuesday in December! As I understand it, any child who wants to stay after and learn some board/card games is welcome.

My plan is to use the book as a guide to choosing games and helping the kids learn them. I've also decided to chronicle the whole thing in a blog: Gaming with Kids (here).

Cache Valley Meet-Up Report

Well, I was able to spend about 4 hours (out of the total of 8) at the meet up on Saturday evening. It was a lot of fun! There were maybe 20 people or so who came and went during the whole day. The following games were played (for more info on each game click their title to go to the boardgamegeek entry):

Arkham Horror
Armor of God
Blokus Duo
Dominion
Dominion: Intrigue
Kingburg
Last Night on Earth
Saint Peterburg
Thurn & Taxis
Ticket to Ride
Tigris & Euphrates

I was able to play several that I had never played before. It's always good to learn new games, even when I pretty much lose every single time. I lost every game I played this weekend, but I did come in second one time.

I hope that this gathering can happen at least once a year and that it can grow. It's a lot of fun getting together with others and playing games!! Thanks to Jason (tuttleboy) for setting the whole thing up.