We packed half and hour pretty tightly this time. We have a lot of news about Jeremiah’s local area. It was pointed out by City Pages that Maplewood is the most dysfunctional suburb of the Twin Cities. We are pleased to congratulate John Nephew for his win in the political arena of Mapplewood. Jeremiah also mentions Worldwide Dungeons & Dragons Day at his favorite game store, The Source.

Our special interview today is with the Board Game Geek Gnome. The gnome and some friends spent a Saturday morning touring the Titan Missile Museum. We had a great time and learned a lot, but mostly not to let a gnome loose with a nuclear missile. They had several copies of the game Nuclear War available for purchase in the gift shop. We couldn’t resist playing. Special thanks go to Bill for bringing the gnome and Mike for joining us on the quest.

You can now pick up our dialect training CDs at Hat’s Games in Tucson Arizona. If you haven’t heard about these CDs yet, it is a great way to pick up an simple accent for the role-playing table without workbooks or endless hours of training.

Join us for Family Night in Sierra Vista Arizona. We will be introducing the healthy pastime of gaming to families that are looking for new ways to spend quality time together. We all play because it is fun, but that doesn’t mean it also isn’t healthy brain food for us as well. We will be sure hold the flag high and relay that message.

Games Magazine has announced their 2008 awards. They are as follows:

• Best New Historical Simulation Game: Ran by GMT Games
• Best New Word Game: Unspeakable Words by Playroom Entertainment
• Best New Puzzle: Sacred Myths and Legends Series by Family Games
• Best New Party Game: GiftTrap by GiftTrap Enterprises
• Best New Family Game: If Wishes Were Fishes by Rio Grande Games
• Best New Family Card Game: Bull in a China Shop by Playroom Entertainment
• Best New Family Strategy Game: Shear Panic by Mayfair Games
• Best New Abstract Strategy Game: Easter Island by Twilight Creations
• Best New Advanced Strategy Game: Khronos by Rio Grande Games
• Game of the Year: Pillars of the Earth by Mayfair Games

Eric Burgess of Boardgame Babylon invites us to contribute to the Franze-Benno Delonge Memorial Fund. Donations go to the the American Cancer Society to fight the disease that took Franze-Benno’s life. Delonge designed titles like TransAmerica, Big City, Dos Rios, Manila, and Container. You will find even more information about it on Eric’s website.

Polymancer gives us some helpful hints at bringing a new player to the roleplaying table. Polymancer magazine is a multi-genre magazine about roleplaying games (RPGs), miniature wargames, LARPs, and more. Articles are written so that they can be useful to gamers of all kinds, no matter which rules they prefer to use. This is done by making the articles “system-independent.” There is a complete adventure scenario in every issue. This is not an e-zine, but the real thing: an honest to goodness, printed magazine for gamers. Find out more at www.polymancerstudios.com.