Introducing the Origami Millennium Falcon

Star Wars has been a passion of mine ever since I saw the (original) film in the movie theaters at the tender age of 2. HOLY CRAP, I’M OLD! Darth Vader scared the bejesus out of me (good thing I was still in diapers), but the idea of spaceships, distant planets, and countless alien races fascinated me. As I grew up, I read books about the Star Wars universe, learned about its characters, collected all the toys, ran around the house shouting “PEW! PEW!”, and grew to revere George Lucas as a god like being who could do no wrong. Continue reading

Bringing A Child’s Illustration to Life

Take a moment and ask a young child to describe something imaginary. You might find that they ramble endlessly or their description makes very little sense. Younger children oftentimes do not have the necessary vocabulary skills to formulate their abstract thoughts into coherent sentences. What any child can do is draw. A child might be limited when attempting to verbally describe what they see in their head, but their artistic freedom has no such limitations. Continue reading

Obligatory Gen Con 2013 Summary

Let me first preface this summary by stating how incredibly tired I am. Gen Con is not so much an event as it is a trial of the mind and body. A geek is constantly bombarded by sounds, sights, and odors. Very little sleep is had, bad (but tasty) food is eaten in terribly unhealthy portions, and the smells from the Indianapolis sewer system hit you like a pissed off boxer every time you walk outside. Regardless of the mental and physical onslaught, I keep coming back as do the thousands I had the pleasure to mingle with at Gen Con this year. Continue reading

The Rise of the Geeks

Geek culture has become trendy in the last number of years. Shows like “The Big Bang Theory” have taken your standard geek with light Asperger’s syndrome and made them chic. Being “smart”, “nerdy”, and above all, “slightly eccentric” is the new cool. Emphasis on the “slightly” here. Society isn’t ready for Furries to start walking down the street…yet…. Continue reading

Our Family’s Descent (Part 2): First Blood

The family is now ready to embark on “The Shadow Rune” campaign. The first quest is an introduction to the game entitled, “First Blood”. With this being our first time playing the game, we had to refer to the rules many times to make sure we were playing correctly. Thus this introduction quest was setup to play through rather quickly in order to allow the players to become familiar with the game’s rules. Even so, it proved to be an exciting time for all! Continue reading

Learning Conflict Without Hostility Through Gaming

When I was a kid, I wanted to conquer the world. Through the game of Risk, of course, not actual global conquest. I loved Risk. I played the game every day at family reunions, and I was always trying to get friends to play. As I got older, and played more games, I started to realize that an individual’s goals can conflict with other players’ goals without the need – or possibility – of hostility. And so, I went about to design such a game. Continue reading

Fantasy Sports: The Geek Game for Sports Geeks

Each year, millions of people play fantasy football. These obsessive players spend hours pouring over stats, projections, and injury reports in hopes to put together the best possible combination of football players that can give them the highest number of fantasy points each week. What many of them don’t realize is that they are just like the millions of geeks who sit down and play games at the table. Player stats vs. character stats? They are the same! Jocks and geeks unite! Continue reading

Our Family’s Descent (Part 1): It Begins

Our goal is to have an epic adventure using one quest per week. This means it will take us roughly around 20 weeks to complete the campaign, “The Shadow Rune”. During this time, I’m going to chronicle our family’s journey as they travel through the kingdom of Arhynn. After a few gaming sessions, I’ll write a full review of the game to post on this site. Continue reading

The Scout Motto for Gamers

A little over a year ago, when I had my own web site, I wrote about the games I always have with me in the car. I took an old Backgammon set we had and filled the empty space with 7 games available to play at a moments notice. As times goes on, the contents of my little gamer’s travel kit continues to change. I do my best to live by the Scout Motto which has made playing games a possibility anytime, anywhere. Continue reading

Teaching Your Kids the Joys of Tech Hacking

Tech Hacking is a unique new way for families to bond. It can be the perfect project builder for people who have a little bit of computer or technological savvy. The basic idea behind Tech Hacking is to take apart some type of device and rebuild it into a new and improved, or in some cases, completely different gadget. The concept is to disassemble an existing device and find a way to recreate it into something new. This can be the perfect project to share with your kids. Continue reading