How to Play
The NewVenture YouTube Channel includes three main playlists:
- Peg Pastimes: I present a little history and background information about each game in the collection, as well full instructions and some bits of strategy to help you play (and win).
- NewVenture Games: I share stories about the inspiration and development of my original game designs, teach you how to play them, and brag a little about how great they are.
- Game Stuff: These are videos about table-top games in general. I cover history, research, game collecting and the hobby itself, as well as sharing insights into the creative and production process.
Who’s on First?
How do you choose a first player? A few common methods are: Rock-Paper-Scissors (one-two-shoot); flip a coin (heads, I win - tails, you lose); high roller with dice used in the game (or high spin if it’s a spinner); the person who chose the game, or owns the game, or...
Who would’ve thought that Rhombuses could be so much fun?
This is a great visual pattern-making game for the whole family. Very easy to learn and play for 2 to 6 people, or even with teams. It's simply a matter of playing these uniquely designed cards side-by-side to form diamond...
Puluc – A 2-player elimination game from the Ketchi Indians of Guatemala
Puluc (also called Boolik or Bul) is a running-fight board game originating in Mesoamerica, and is known particularly among several of the Maya peoples of Belize and the Guatemalan highlands. It's not known exactly when the...
Bonnets, Bustles, and Boots is a Clever Card Game for 3 Players with a Theme of Victorian Fashion
A card game specifically designed for courting couples and their chaperone...their what? The idea for this original NewVenture card game comes from the late Victorian-era practice of courting couples always have a mature...
A few words about “creative” packaging. (A bit of a rant.)
Something a little different from the Game Room this week. I have a lot of games. The collection is nearing 2,000 products now. The challenge has always been storage and retrieval. How are they stored, and can I get to a...
Why Do I Collect Table-Top Games?
“So many games, so little time.” Heard that before, have you? The sentiment is very much linked to a disease that I am afflicted with. It’s a common malady known by the acronym GAS which translates as “Game Acquisition Syndrome.” It is likewise related to, and often...
Konane – A traditional board game of Hawaii. (A very good game!)
Konane was almost lost to history, discouraged by colonizers in the early 1800s. Fortunately, it's back, and we can enjoy this bit of Hawaii's fascinating culture on the game table. When you explain the rules, people don't...
A Bazaar game! A fun and (dare I say it?) educational gem from Sid Sackson’s impressive catalog.
Bazaar is one of my favorites to play with family and friends. Simple to learn, easy to play, and challenging besides. A couple of notes from the editorial desk: 1. There's a third thing that can be done in each player's...
Tâb is a challenging “Running Fight” board game from ancient Egypt (and beyond).
Tâb was rediscovered by archeologists a century ago in digs throughout the eastern Mediterranean. It was a game that appears to have been popular with all classes, and traveled along the trade routes as far east as India and...
Play SENET, game of the Pharaohs from the year 3,000 B.C.E.
Our "wayback machine" takes us once more to ancient Egypt and another of the oldest board games known to modern archeology. Senet is a great little race game, with set-backs and strategic mechanisms well known to modern...
The ancient Egyptian game called Mehen is the earliest known multi-player board game.
Most ancient board games, and indeed most abstract strategy games, are for two players. The game of Mehen "the coiled snake" appears to be the oldest multi-player board game ever discovered. The game is will over 4000 years...
Board Games as Time Machines
It’s fairly obvious that I’m very much into historic and vintage board games. My game collection and YouTube video series all attest to that. And you may also be aware that I’m an advocate of games in the classroom, for a number of reasons. Recently, I was invited to...