This is the official introduction of my recent original game design: Colorbars.
You will be playing cards to a row on the table – your “tableau” – lining up the colored cells on the card to create a “bar” of a continuous color. Each card has random color cells on it, plus some cards allow you to perform some special actions. The longer your color bars, the higher your score after five rounds.
This is a fun family game, and also a light filler for game nights. It can also be played solo to see how high you can score! Available now at the NewVenture webstore and other online retail outlets.
This 3M “Bookshelf” game is one of my favorites from the series. Two players or four, there are some real challenges to look ahead a few moves and predict what might happen. It’s also fun to play in a “cut throat” fashion allowing only a few seconds for each turn.
The classic “Touring” card game was published continually for over 60 years. Invented in 1906, it followed the rise of the automobile in popularity. By 1924, the Parker Brothers company added it to their catalog and began a series of updates decade-by-decade. Their artwork and text changes as cars and traveling changed, finally being overshadowed by Mille Bournes in the late 1950s.
The game is a card collection style game in which players are attempting to reach a goal expressed in “miles traveled.” But adding mileage cards is not easy when your competitors can play hazards to your tableau. Flat tires, running out of gas, collisions, and speed limits must be dealt with on your road trip.
The game is surely “dated” but I think it’s still a fun diversions for family game night. Out of print now, but it can still be found in thrift stores and online.
Two players, two sets of pieces, and two boards intertwined, entangled in a struggle to annihilate the opposing forces. “Custodial capture” has always been a favorite mechanism of mine in abstract games, and Anti-Grid gives it a little twist.
I first designed this game a couple of decades ago, but at that time I had no way to produce it and share it with the world. (I published a few copies through The Game Crafter as a board game.)
While designing our Peg Pastimes games, I realized that the peg format works great for Anti-Grid! Makes it compact and portable (I like that).
The game of Contack was invented in 1938 by two entrepreneurs in Tulsa, Oklahoma and immediately licensed by Parker Brothers. Over the next 25 years (or more), it was a popular product in their catalog. It faded from the scene in the 1960s.
The root of the game is matching colors and numbers, and the turn-by-turn process is very much like dominoes. But due to the triangular shape of the tiles, there is some interesting strategy in how you escalate your score. On the other hand, it’s a fine little “match-up” game for the family to play. (Don’t take it too seriously.)
This historic two-player war game has been popular for over 220 years – maybe more. The earliest version was played around 1800 on a Fox and Geese board somewhere in the middle of Europe, and by 1803 was being published as “Belagerung Spiel” in German. It was in print continuously for nearly 150 years.
Sometime around 1870, a new version was developed (in Prussia) which used a much larger board with more pieces. The challenge was adapted to a number of military engagements, from ancient conflicts to contemporary wars through the 1950s
This large version of Asalto is a 2-player game for ages 8 and older, and can take up to 30 minutes We’ve included it as part of our Peg Pastimes series of historic games from around the world. More info here: Asalto.
