Brandon Boyer

Games Crafter: one site to design, manufacture and sell your tabletop game

And one for the tabletop/prototype set via Raph Koster: The Game Crafter, a new site Koster nicely sums as "CafePress for board game designers", where creators can assemble -- pawn by chip by spinner by card by die by sand-timer -- their own games, alongside uploaded art, which can then be boxed and sold, all through Crafter's site. A small handful of games are available already.

Brandon Boyer

Its-a mate: the curious character assignments of Super Mario chess

It's true: Nintendo has granted board-game/pop-culture mash-up artists USAopoly -- the same company behind the frankly kind of wicked Donkey Kong Jenga and Nintendo-themed Monopoly -- the rights to produce a Super Mario Bros version of chess.

Which is nice, particularly if it helps ease the youths into the game, but I'm still puzzling over how the designers came to their character assigning conclusions. Luigi as Mario's queen over Peach herself? Granted, she is just a princess (and needed that Princess Daisy counterpart), but.. Luigi? And no one could think of a better mate for Bowser than his own son?

Maybe I'm approaching this too literally. Kudos, though, for the cute pawn selections on both ends.

Super Mario Chess Collector's Edition [via crunchgear]