I was contacted by Martin Samuel of a company called Games Above Board. As I looked at his site, I got the impression that this game company was created by someone with a real passion for fun. I responded to his email, asking to know more about him, and his games. His response very much confirmed my suspicions:

Born and raised in Kenya, without the dubious benefit of TV, my Grandmother taught me all the classics (chess, draughts/checkers, backgammon, Ludo/Parchcheesi, Monopoly, Scrabble and any number of card games) and, as an only child, I played games with adults more often than with kids my own age.

It was a 1994 New Year's Day Resolution to accomplish something (anything) and by 07.01.94 I self-published Eclipse, my first 2-player abstract strategy board game, which went on to become Hijara courtesy of the now defunct Great American Trading Co. and listed in Games Magazine Top 100. Here's what the The Scottish Boardgames Association have to say.

My company, Games Above Board is a shop-window for my creativity and its wares are (possibly) for the enjoyment of others. I am also a drummer (professional for 20 years) and (published/recorded) lyricist. One of my song co-writes, "Turn To Me", is soon to be released on a new CD by my co-writer Lisa Nemzo.

My company's goals: It (hopefully) may inspire others to look within themselves, find their own forté and pusue such as, there is no guarantee of financial reward but in doing so, the sure sign of success is the satisfaction... and happiness happens!

And you may quote me on the following:

What is the yardstick of your success? I measure mine in happiness.

Labels: Defender of the Playful

Lucky Seven is a game of pure luck. No skill, and only a limited amount of intelligence required. And yet, like any good game of luck, it suckers you in. It makes you want to play. It gives you hope that this time you might actually win.

You get seven large discs that look and feel and are very much like beer coasters. Which is logical, given that its designer conceived the game "in a Zurich restaurant by writing numbers on and shuffling 7 coasters on the table."

That designer is Martin Samuel, of Games Above Board, and, oddly enough, this simple little solitaire-like game of just about pure chance proves to be Major FUN. It's a game you can play by yourself. It's a game kids can play. It's a game the whole family can play together.

Each of the seven coasters is numbered. Like all of Samuel's games, the coasters themselves are minor works of art. To play, the coasters are turned number-side-down, shuffled, and placed in a line. Pick any coaster. Turn it over. The number thereby revealed tells you what coaster (1 meaning the first on the left, 2 the second, etc.) to turn over next. The object: see if you can turn over all seven coasters before you reach a coaster whose position number has already been revealed.

Samuel suggests 3 different ways to play: "the most coasters turned wins the round, the most rounds won takes the game, or the number of coasters turned are accrued, and the first player to reach 50 (or 100, or....?) wins." Now, I'm not a gambling man, but I bet you can find even more absorbing, fortune-tempting, monetarily-rewarding ways to play this game, should you be so inclined.

Labels: Family Games

There are oh so many significantly playworthy variations of Tic-Tac-Toe (a.k.a. Naughts and Crosses, a. also k.a. Three-in-a-Row) that one would think it a nigh impossible feat to create a completely different, but similarly significantly playworthy, most definitely Tic-Tac-Toe-like game. Apparently game designer Martin Samuel thought it possible, and his game Rhumb Line is proof of the tastiness of this conceptual pudding.

As you know ever so well, Tic-Tac-Toe is about getting 3, or maybe 4, or perhaps even 5 of your marks, or pieces, in a row. But what, wondered Rhumb Line designer Martin Samuel, would it be like if the row were on a circle, like the circle of a compass? Why, you'd not only have rows (radii, one might say), but you'd also have arcs, and even spiral-like configurations. And there in would lie the rub - a visual, perceptual kind of tickly rub, because it's different from the way we look at things when we look at Tic-Tac-Toe.

There are a couple more significant departures from everything you thought you knew about Tic-Tac-Toe. When you manage to make your four-in-an-arc, or radius, or spiral, the game doesn't end. You record your score (using the conveniently located score lines), and continue. Thus, as the game continues, the board becomes more complex. More pieces. More possibilities. Then, when all but the last piece has been played, yet another newness transpires - you get to remove any one piece and place it anywhere else on the board - opening up yet other possibilities just when you thought there were no more to be found. And how very fun would that be? Major FUN. Try it for yourself, right now, free, on- actual -line.

The game is played on a rubbery fabric mat, lovingly illustrated like the dial of a mariner's treasured compass. The board lies most satisfactorily flat, and yet curls up with ease to line the sides of the of the cylinder that houses the game, the polished pieces, and their velvety drawstring bag. And is now (as of Dec 16, 2009) available for the iPod Touch and iPhone.

Labels: Thinking Games