100 Games

There's a video going around the gaming community that I wanted to share with you all.  It's a recording of Mike Selinker (game designer and puzzle maker) listing out the 100 games you should play if you want to be game-literate.  The panel where he presented this took place at PAX East (game convention) this past March.  The video is an hour long, but it's worth a watch!  At the bottom of this post, you can find the list of games he talks about.

Amber Cook attended the panel and was inspired to try out all these games.  She says that she has only played 33 of the 100 and has created a blog where she will be sharing her experiences playing all 100 of the games.  First up was TwixT.  This is an old game that I've actually played a few times myself.  My parents have a copy, and it is quite good.  If you'd like to follow Amber, you can find her blog here.

Here's the list:

1. 1000 Blank White Cards
2. 7 Wonders
3. Acquire
4. Artemis: Spaceship Bridge Simulator
5. Ascension
6. Assassin's Creed
7. Axis & Allies
8. Battletech Pods
9. Bejeweled
10. Betrayal at House on the Hill
11. Boggle
12. Bohnanza
13. Braid
14. Can't Stop
15. Carcassonne
16. Cards Against Humanity
17. Citadels
18. Civilization (video game)
19. Clue
20. Dance Dance Revolution
21. Depression Quest
22. Diablo II
23. Diplomacy
24. Dixit
25. Dominion
26. Dungeons & Dragons
27. The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen
28. Falling
29. Farmville
30. Fiasco
31. Final Fantasy VII
32. Fluxx
33. The Fool's Errand
34. The Game
35. Gloom
36. Grand Theft Auto
37. Halo
38. HeroClix
39. How to Host a Murder
40. Ico
41. Ingress
42. Johann Sebastian Joust
43. Journey
44. Katamari Damacy
45. Killer Bunnies
46. The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
47. Lego Star Wars
48. Lemmings
49. Limbo
50. Lords of Waterdeep
51. Love Letter
52. Madden NFL
53. Magic: The Gathering
54. Mario Kart 64
55. Mass Effect 2
56. Mastermind
57. Minecraft
58. Mouse Guard
59. Myst
60. Ogre
61. Pandemic
62. Parappa the Rapper
63. The Pathfinder Adventure Card Game
64. Pit
65. Plants vs Zombies
66. Portal
67. Puerto Rico
68. The Resistance
69. Risk Legacy
70. RoboRally
71. Rock Band
72. Scrabble
73. Scribblenauts
74. Second Life
75. The Secret of Monkey Island
76. Set
77. The Settlers of Catan
78. SimCity 2000
79. Smash Up
80. StarCraft
81. Stratego
82. Super Mario Brothers 3
83. Talisman
84. Tetris
85. Threes
86. Tichu
87. Ticket to Ride
88. Time's Up!
89. Tokaido
90. TowerFall
91. TwixT
92. Uno
93. Vampire: The Masquerade
94. Werewolf/Mafia
95. World of Warcraft
96. You Don't Know Jack
97. You Have to Burn the Rope
98. Zendo
99. Zork
100. A game you designed

I've played 29 of these games.  Many of the board games that I haven't tried yet are on my wish list.  I really prefer to play board games over video games, so I'm not sure I'm really keen to try things like Assassin's Creed or Halo...but you never know!

How many of these games have you tried?

 

Perplexing Puzzles - 5/27/12

This week's free puzzle is #4 in the Digital Dates series.  These puzzles mix math practice with American history facts.  Digital Dates #4 focuses on order of operations practice (exponents are not included). 

Enjoy!

Perplexing Puzzles - 5/20/15

Digital Dates #3 is new today!  Download this puzzle by clicking on the picture above.  Are your students enjoying these?  I'm planning to make more...all focusing on important dates in American History.  The math practice will change too...so stay tuned for more of these!

Don't forget that you can download #1 here and #2 here!

Enjoy!

The Titan Series on Kickstarter

If you love games, you should check out The Titan Series on Kickstarter.  There are only 14 days left to help get this project funded, so don't delay!  The Titan Series is a group of game designers that have gotten together to produce 9 new gateway games and have them delivered, fresh off the press, to your door over the next 3 years.

The designers have previously created games like Kill Doctor Lucky, Magic: The Gathering, and Smash Up.  I feel confident that they will be producing some really fun games for the Titan Series!

Gateway games are perfect for introducing people to the world of gaming and are family friendly!  Calliope Games has put this Kickstarter together.  They have produced games like Tsuro, Roll for It!, and Ugh!  We have Tsuro and this is a very good game.  It is easy to play for the newest gamers, but still has enough strategy mixed in to keep advanced gamers interested.  Calliope has a good track record.

Today, they have announced that anyone who has backed the project at the Titan level or higher will be given a chance to take part in an online seminar on game design called the Titans’ Intro to Game Design Seminar.  It's just the promise of an invitation, so there will probably be a fee involved, besides having funded the project.  But what could possibly be more fun?!  I know I will be taking part in the seminar!

I can't wait to receive my first Titan game! 

Perplexing Puzzle - 05/13/15

Another Digital Dates puzzle for you today!  Your students will solve the basic math facts, use the answers to color in the digital read-out, and discover the answer to the trivia question.  These puzzles go cross-curricular, mixing history and math!

If you missed Digital Dates #1, you can find it here.

Some on Sunday

1)  Happy Mother's Day!  My kids made me this special breakfast for me.  It was delicious!  We are planning to veg about the house all day...huh, not much different from most other days!  I hope all you mothers have a special and exciting day.  If you're looking for something different to do, I do have some Mother's Day Rebus puzzles you can try here...

2)  We were in Virginia Beach for another visit recently.  Got to see family and friends and visit the "Art of the Video Game" exhibit at the Chrysler Museum.  That brought back some memories!

3)  We also had a close encounter with a bee migration.  They were at the end of my parent's court.  At first they were swirling in a giant column, but after a couple hours, they clustered around the queen forming the beautiful bunch you can see above in the rose bush (I believe it was a rose bush).  Our neighbor called some bee keepers, and they were happy to come out and collect the swarm.  It was a wonderful thing to see!

My folks live in a townhouse in the middle of a biggish city, so you wouldn't think you'd see all that much nature.  But not only did we see the bee swarm, but also saw a raccoon that apparently found a home in another neighbor's attic and a small baby possum.  The baby possum was so adorable!  He was right outside our back window so we got a good look at his cute little face!  Oh, and the raccoon was on my parent's roof!

4)   Just a cute picture of Jack.  If you look close, you can see our cat Mona lying on his hip.  For some reason, she really loves hips!  Apparently Jack's hips are super ticklish!  Her little paws found just the right spots!

Enjoy your special day Mothers!

Perplexing Puzzles - 05/06/15

Here is a new type of puzzle involving some math facts practice.  This one covers multiplication and division of the basic facts from 1 to 10.  After you complete the problems, you color in the digital read-out at the bottom based on your answers and reveal the answer to the trivia question.  The question on this sheet is a bit trivial as I'm sure we all remember Columbus, but for the kids just learning their history, it might be a good review!

Enjoy!