Thanks to the wonderful folks at CafePress.com, the artful stylings of Kalin and the computer graphics skills of Roberto, we have an official merchandise store.  We've currently got four designs stocked, two pertaining to the racial implications of chess, one to tout your skills as a poker master and one whimsical design that makes light of developing in the game Settlers of Catan.  You can check out all of the designs at the official GameTime 24x7, Ltd. Merchandise Shop.

Let me begin by stating that, until last night, it has been roughly thirteen years since I have played the game of bridge.  At the time, I considered myself a decent player, understanding the mechanics of bidding and playing cards to capture tricks, all with the goal of earning points.  That all changed yesterday night at the all new Chicago Bridge Meetup.

As I was being reintroduced to the game, I realized I was sitting with serious players when they began to talk about conventions.  Once I realized that they were not talking about trade shows, I found out that there were so many more idiosyncrasies to the game of bridge than I had ever imagined.  Did you know that unlike euchre, which prohibits table-talk, bridge not only allows a version of table-talk through the bidding process, but actually sanctions and encourages said process?  In one night, I found out that you can communicate to your partner (and opponents) how many points you have in your hand, what your strong suit(s) are, where you may have voids and even how many aces you hold, all by "responding" to your partner's bid.  I think I held my own, although I still have yet to make heads or tails of the scoring system.

Corporations that want to increase the effectiveness of communication between project team members, sales teams or managers would do well to require them to play bridge and explore the convention systems.  By practicing the communication methods in a rigorous game-playing environment, professionals can apply the techniques into their jobs, embracing new ways to communicate more effectively.

Special thanks to John for organizing the Meetup and to Kate and Rebecca for making our foursome such a wonderful group of card players.

After a fruitful meeting of the minds with the marketing team at Argo Tea, we have made arrangements to have ongoing GameTime Afterhours events at the Argo Tea at 16 W. Randolph every Wednesday from 6pm-10pm.  I'm so giddy that now I've got the theme song from The Jeffersons stuck in my head.  I love the feeling of positive results.

So, plan to join us for our inaugural regularly scheduled GameTime Afterhours, this Wednesday, February 20 at Argo Tea!

This evening, I had the pleasure of meeting John Ashton, the founder of a new downtown Chicago bridge meetup.  After observing that all major bridge groups were on the way north side, i.e. near me :-P, John decided to put together a casual bridge group to allow players of all caliber to have an enjoyable social engagement around the game of bridge.

Turns out that John is also an avid history buff with a penchant for games.  He was telling me all about a variety of truly classic games, including an early Scandinanian variant of chess called Tablut.  He recently wrote a paper analyzing the game and has cordially given me permission to post the paper on our blog - Tablut Summary-Longer.pdf (73.79 kb).  Tablut is apparently a more contemporary, i.e. circa 1700s, variation of the Viking game Hnefatafl (just don't ask me to pronounce it).  John also shared with me that Aage Nielsen, a Danish software developer, produced a Java version of the game that is playable online - Hnefatafl Online.

I find old school games intriguing, having played my share of Parcheesi, Mankala and Nine Men's Morris over the years.  John promised me a chance to view his collection of historic games at the bridge meetup this Wednesday at his place.  For those of you more interested in contemporary board games, be sure to check out the Chicago Boardgames Meetup Group this Tuesday night at Goose Island.

I was blown away this evening by the incredible reception that GameTime Afterhours gathered today and over the course of the week at Argo Tea on Randolph Street.  Eleven people came out for games and socializing.

Kalin and I played a head-to-head Settlers of Catan game, using it as a teaching opportunity for some of our other guests.  We're still working out some of the details for our two-player variation - suggestions are welcome.

Just as we were wrapping up the Settlers game, four gents from University of Chicago stopped in and we decided to put together some Texas Hold'Em.  Using Monopoly money in lieu of chips, which turned out to be a wonderful substitution, we played winner-keeps-all.  I had to step away, so I didn't catch the final winner, but it became a close head-to-head match when I met up with Phil Simborg to discuss the club vision.