News

Game Of The Week - The Hare & The Tortoise. What's more appropriate for Easter than the closest theme to 'rabbits' we have in the shop?! That's not strictly true - we have Killer Bunnies, but that's a little dark when you're celebrating chocolate and Christ's resurrection. The Hare & the Tortoise is a 2-5 player betting game that gently nudges animals into racing around a path. We all know the famed Aesop's Fable of the hare who thinks he's hot stuff, but now there's an added lamb, wolf and fox, for that extra bit of danger. Players secretly bet on which animal(s) will win, and then take turns to lay down cards. When enough cards have been played, the animals jump into life and start racing! Each animal has a different way of moving - the rabbit moves 2 spaces, unless certain cards are played, at which point it falls asleep. The lamb is equally lazy and stops to take a drink from the river on occasion, and the wolf has special 'howl' cards that mean only he can run. It's like the Olympics all over again, but slightly more logical. After 3 rounds of sprinting and satsuma breaks (for the players, not the animals), the player with the most points is declared winner! To see it played on TableTop, click here!

All The World's A Board Game. In exciting news for Bardophiles, some folks with too much time on their hands have discovered that ol' Billy Shakes himself was quite the prolific gamer. Or something like that. An Oxford University professor has found references to board games in Shakespeare's mountainous collection of works, and is entertaining the idea that perhaps he made the games then tried the oldest advertising trick in the book - working the game titles into his theatre plays as subliminal messages. That's what Dove and Carlsberg do. Boggle, Cards Against Humanity and Hungry Hungry Hippos are all amongst the games referenced - ‘He call’d them untaught knaves; unmannerly, Slovenly cards; against humanity, Betwixt the wind and his nobility,' for example. Although the idea of the 'Cards Against Humanity' guys reading Shakespeare to steal the name is the most unlikely part of this story... OOOH, BURN! For the full article with the complete game-a-riffic quotes, click here!

TableTop Goes On An Adventure. For fans of Wil Wheaton's 'TableTop' Youtube series, the news of its brand new baby RPG spin-off show might make you scratch your heads. On the one hand - cool! More funny geeks doing fun stuff for us to watch! But on the other hand, if you're not such an RPG expert, you might feel it won't be your cup of bubble tea. I actually think that if anything can make role-playing games more accessible to the masses, it'll be Wil Wheaton and his cronies. The series will be spread over 10 weeks and use Fantasy AGE for the campaign, using live action game-play plus animation. The people sitting at the table will include Hank Green (the much-less-famous-or-sought-after brother of hugely popular YA author, John Green), Laura Bailey (Avengers Assemble), and more. The series will be broadcast on the Geek & Sundry Youtube channel on June 2nd, so tune in and watch! Even if you're not a role player, you get to watch people tell epic adventure stories and (probably) end up hilariously failing missions. Win win for all!

Easter Eggs And Board Games. We at Rules of Play sincerely hope you have a brilliant Easter weekend/week full of roast dinners, egg painting and eating so much chocolate you throw up and have to call it a day, because that's what Easter's all about! Plus Jesus. But if you're looking to spice up the usual activities with some gaming, then check out this eggsellent list of games for you to consider! It includes Carcassonne (building medieval French cities for points), Dixit (using word association and guesswork with crazy-lookin' cards), King of Tokyo (smashing buildings and claiming Victory Points), Pandemic (working together to rid the world of disease before everyone dies) and Jungle Speed/Jungle Speed Safari (an animal-inspired and crazier version of the card game 'Snap!'). Now you'll have something to distract you from the dreaded curse of 'chocolate belly'! Don't ask me what it is - the less you know, the better...

International TableTop Day is almost here! In just over a week on Saturday April 11th, we'll be celebrating our favourite day of the year by hosting a whole day-long event of board games and fun! From 12-4pm, we'll be at the Chapter Centre with a bunch of family board games for kids and parents alike! Then from 6-11pm, we'll be at The Gate Centre for an evening of beer, board games and debauchery. Come along and join in - it's completely free!

We're back at the Board Game Bar this Monday! If you're coming to TableTop Day but you want a little practice first, then we'll be at Urban Tap House this Monday, 5-10pm, £3 entry per person! Join us for beers, board games and silliness!

New Releases / Restocks / Coming Soon!

New Releases Coming Next Week! Stake your claim as the greatest pirate of all time in Dark Seas, building an island empire, recruiting pirates and acquiring treasure and infamy!; expand on your Doomtown collection with Faith and Fear; a brand new data pack with The Valley for Netrunner (insert Welsh joke here!); Lord of the Rings LCG - The Lost Realm; and another Conquest war pack with The Threat Beyond!