Scottie dog has a new nemesis in Monopoly after fans voted in an online contest to add a cat token to the property trading game, replacing the iron, toy maker Hasbro Inc. announced Wednesday.

Monopoly Fans Vote to Add Cat, Toss Iron Tokens

The makers of Monopoly are taking votes to decide which token will be eliminated.
The betting is that the wheelbarrow will be the one chosen.
Hasboro plans to introduce a new token in place of the one eliminated. New choices include a cat, diamond ring, guitar, toy robot and helicopter.

Arthur (AKA Edmond) Dujardin was born in Ecuador and raised in France where he became the author of, among other things, bilingual dictionaries and driving-school materials. After the war he tried his hand at designing several automotive-themed games, including Coup d’essai, Coup de maître, Carrefour and in 1954, 1000 Bornes.

codex99 - design: Mille Bornes

The Collins Official Scrabble Words book has long offered the final word on disputes over whether a player’s move is valid or not. Now, new additions to the list will make it a whole lot easier to score points in the popular board game.

"Thang," "grrl," and "Facebook" added as official Scrabble words

Pac Man is 30 years old!
If you go to the Google start page today (www.google.com), you can actually play a Pac Man game as part of the Google logo.

It was on this day in 1924 that the first crossword puzzle book was published, setting off a craze that has continued to be popular to this day.

Circular Monopoly coming in 2010? (And paperless, too! Transactions are done via "credit card")

Today is the birthday of Will Shortz, the editor of the New York Times puzzle page, and NPR's Puzzlemaster. When asked why people are so drawn to puzzles, Shortz said,

"We're faced with puzzles every day in life. What's the fastest way to run some errands? What's the lowest price we can get on home repair? Most problems we're faced with, we just do the best we can — we muddle through. We never know if it's the best solution or not. With a human-made puzzle, when you answer the challenge, you know you have a perfect solution. It's satisfying."

Two summers ago Ben was complaining that we didn't have a video game system. I suggested he make his own. That set him down a road that has involved joysticks, cherry switches, and arcade cabinets. Thanks to a friend from Scouts who had an old video game, Ben has been able to complete his game system. We've got some finishing touches to complete, but here's pictures of his full-sized, multi-game arcade system.

Click for more

A guide to family board games

Now there's a genetic test available to determine what sport your child is best suited for. Just sounds like more pressure from over-achiever parents, to me.

While waiting for the new year to arrive, Ben made this really cool Boy Scout Trivia Game. At the end you get to toss pies at one of his Troop Leaders!

How To Play Kubb

Kubb is a fun yard game for 2-12 players that is similar to horseshoes or bocce ... The game can take anywhere from twenty minutes to several hours to play and usually involves a fair amount of taunting ... Having uneven teams does not necessarily offer an advantage, making it a great outdoor game for cookouts or beach parties.

This evening Sarah, Ben, and I played a couple rounds of Kick the Can, an "old timey" game that's still tons more fun than any video game. It's not as exciting with

The local roller derby scene was featured in today's Denver Post and included information and quotes from family friend Tertia Speiser. Wish they'd used her picture, too.

The National Toy Hall of Fame has inducted the Easy-Bake Oven and Lionel Trains into it's ranks. There was some concern that the toys chosen

We've been learning new card games! So far we've learned Hearts, Up and Down the River, and Texas Hold 'Em. We'll probably try Spades sometime, too. The kids enjoyed poker but I don't think we have the strategy down,

Surviving Sudoku

The New York Times: Celebrating Puzzles.

We set up our badminton net for our Independence Day BBQ and we've been waping the shuttlecock around every night. Ben has gotten very good at serving and vollying - he and I can keep the birdie moving around for several swats. We've had a lot of fun p

Ben likes Monopoly. A lot. Turs out there are 902 different versions (licenced and unlicenced) of the game out there!

Monopoly Home Rules: varients on the game. These optional rules may make Monopoly a whole new game for you.