Science Made Cool

Holiday Sale

It's "Black Friday", and retailers all over the country are trying to tempt you with holiday sales. Why should we be any different? For a limited time, buy a copy of Bone Wars with a copy of Parasites Unleashed for $20. It's like getting Parasites Unleashed for free, or Bone Wars at half price, or both games at a substantial discount... anyway, it's a good deal. Just click either of the game images in the left-hand sidebar to navigate over to our homepage and find our webstore. Happy Holidays!

Addictive Puzzles

I've always been a sucker for puzzle games -- the kind of person who feels compelled to play Myst or 3 in Three for 48 hours straight because I can't bear leaving the game before it's solved. So I've spent far, far too much time this evening working through Fantastic Contraption. The premise is simple: build a device to carry an object across the screen. In a lot of cases, it's much trickier than it sounds.

Games Teach Science!

We've been saying it since we started the company, but now important journals like Wired Magazine have noticed:  games are a great way to teach science!

Players in online games gather data, run the numbers, and test their hypotheses while devising strategies to use against computer-controlled opponents. In other words, they're thinking scientifically. This is great to hear, because it supports a position we never get tired of repeating:  science isn't just a mass of facts to learn, it's a way of thinking. 

UNRELATED SNARK:
It's a pity these idiots don't spend more time learning about how to think scientifically.

Another Happy Customer

Looks like Parasites Unleashed got The Other 95% Seal of Approval. Glad you guys liked it -- even if you had issues playing it before dinner...

Parasite Review

The good people at the Hobocon Web log were at GenCon last week, interviewing some of the exhibitors for a documentary they're filming. They were also kind enough to pick up copies of Bone Wars and Parasites Unleashed!, and have put up a very nice review of Parasites.

GenCon Report

I'm back from GenCon Indy 2008, after 13 hours of driving. Here are my own, very subjective impressions.

-- The convention was very well-attended. Industry insider gossip has the attendance at 5 or 6 percent above last year, which is pretty impressive given the jump in gas prices.

-- One way the fans saved money was by not spending it in the dealer room. It wasn't a bad year, but nobody I talked to said it was fantastic, either. Certainly not the best sales year ever, despite the bigger crowds.

-- There wasn't really any one single "gotta-have" product this year. Fantasy Flight Games had their Battlestar Galactica board game, and Privateer Press had Monsterpocalypse. Wizards of the Coast, of course, had the Fourth Edition of Dungeons & Dragons -- but that's been out in stores for months already. I don't think this is a bad thing, really. "Must-have" products in the past have sucked all the oxygen (i.e. dollars) out of the dealer room for everyone else.

-- The most heavily-promoted item was Champions Online. Pretty much every flat surface in downtown Indianapolis had a Champions Online logo plastered on it. Rather impressive for an online game which won't even go live until 2009.

-- In the roleplaying section, I was impressed enough by A Dirty World by Greg Stolze to buy a copy.

-- Best meal:  Mexican-style red snapper stuffed with octopus and shrimp at Huachinango, on the northwest side of Indianapolis. Heartily recommended.

-- Worst meal:  breakfast at a Bob Evans restaurant in Dayton on the homeward leg. Biscuits with the consistency of an art eraser, sausage patties cooked to hockey-puck toughness, a mix of underdone and overdone potatoes on the side, and coffee like weed killer. The place to have breakfast if you're planning a tri-state murder spree and want to get in the right frame of mind.

-- Best side trip:  The Air Force Museum in Dayton.  I could have spent a week there instead of two hours on Monday morning. Also qualifies for Best Juxtaposition:  the Wright Flyer replica hanging opposite an F-22 Raptor in the Modern Flight gallery.

Off to GenCon!

Tomorrow our crack team -- let's be honest, it's just me -- will head off to sunny Indianapolis for GenCon Indy 2008, the hobby game industry's annual big show. I'll be demonstrating PARASITES UNLEASHED! to all comers, and showing off BONE WARS as well. This year Zygote Games are partnering with Tangent Games in the exhibitor area, so stop by for a double helping of science-related fun!

If possible, along the way home I hope to make a stop at the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. The Museum has a superb collection, including the only surviving examples of some aircraft, like the mighty B-36 Peacemaker. I can do this because of the stealthy ninja-like way I take down the booth when the dealer room closes.

Eye on Chicago

The 2008 University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt list was released earlier today. By now the road trippers are well on their way to Kansas, and Chicago-based members of the teams are knocking themselves out learning to play the Flight of the Bumblebee on plastic recorders (#29) and building really big baking-soda volcanoes (#21), among other things. I hope someone films all the BMX stunt crashes through the stained-glass sugar windows (#130) and puts them on YouTube. Can't wait for Judgment Day...

Friday: PARASITE!

It's here! Not on a boat, not in a Customs inspection warehouse, not even on a truck stalled near Des Moines. PARASITES UNLEASHED is HERE!

Which means you can BUY IT!!

UPDATE: For all you folks that preordered through Amazon, this means that your games will be on their way soon. We shipped the Amazon order this morning, and it'll head out to you as soon as the USPS gets it to their warehouses. Thanks so much for being so patient through all the frustrating printing delays.

Sad News

It's being reported elsewhere that Gary Gygax has died. If it's true, this is a sad day for the whole adventure games hobby. Gygax was one of the creators of the original Dungeons & Dragons, and started GenCon. He was the prime mover and public face of the gaming world. If you wish to raise a toast, I believe he preferred dry martinis.