World At Play Games Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Thoughts by Alishia) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:54:00 +0000

Thanksgiving and CYBER Monday are HERE!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and CYBER Monday is 4 days later. Are you prepared? How many of you are taking advantage of the BLACK Friday? I can’t see myself out there beat feet in the crowds. Some of the deals are great if you like to pull hair, bite, and scratch and beat down your fellow man. Be on the lookout for specials we will be running for the upcoming holidays. You never know what kind of crazy deals we will be having. In the meantime, check out our Rory’s Story Cube. It happens to be 28% off. Included you will notice there is a short video clip for a simple explanation on how this game works. It’s a way to entertain your whole family. It shows how the imagination works and blooms. Be creative, go wild and the best part is no BLACK Friday mayhem. LOL Hope you enjoy.

Happy Thanksgiving to all and I will be back soon,
Alishia

Your new product researcher

Bruder Toys are going VIRAL

noreply@blogger.com (Thoughts by Alishia) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 13:58:00 +0000

For your entertainment Bruder Toys has graciously offered their YouTube channels to showcase the wonderful products that we at Art Clem Enterprises carry. All you have to do is click on the product and you are magically taken to the video clip so that you can see the toy in action! Such as the MAN TGA Cement Mixer, crane truck, MACK dumptruck, and the tow truck with cross country vehicle as well as the CATERPILLARSkid Steer Loader and the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited with Horse Trailer with 1Horse. Ihope you enjoy these video clips as I did. Here is one for your enjoyment on the Schaeff HR16 Mini Excavator. The kids (young and old) are going to love this.

Until next time,

Try a little creative play,

Alishia

Fall is upon us...

noreply@blogger.com (Thoughts by Alishia) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 14:55:00 +0000

We are ending the month of September and in 2 days October will begin. Fall is upon us and so is football season. It’s a time to get together with all your friends and family. To dust off, pull out or purchase a board game or two. Games seem to be part of our nature; probably because they serve a useful purpose (learning skills like strategic thinking) all the while being fun. Mike Smith (on Yahoo! Games plugged in) wrote this article: “Great board games you can play in under an hour”. I attached the link so that if you are interested reading more details, you can do so. Also, I have included links on our site to some of the games listed in the article as well a few others you might be interested in. Just hover and click on the game title and it will take you there. Tell us what your favorite short game is. We’d love to get your input or if you have a story you’d like to share, please feel free to drop us a line or add it to the blog.

Lost Cities

Apples to Apples

Disney Apples to Apples

I look forward to hearing from you,

Always smiling,
Alishia

2 for the road

noreply@blogger.com (Thoughts by Alishia) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 13:04:00 +0000

Greetings and salutation: We gained a new IT person. ACE would like to welcome Jim to the fold. He seems to have settled in nicely. We hope he plans to stay with the company for years to come. We are growing so fast but unfortunately we will be losing 2 more assets to the company.

Ray from IT left us on Friday the 16^th. He has moved on to the mid-west of Texas. He was with the company for over a year. He had a joyful laugh with seriousness about him. Good luck Ray. We hope life brings you all the things you are looking for.

Vern from the warehouse, our manager, will be leaving us on the 23^rd to further his career with another company. Vern has offered to help in the evening as we move into the Christmas crunch but will say permanent good-byes after that. Vern has been with us since 2008. His jolliness will be missed. Who is going to sneak up unexpectedly on the office ladies? These shoes will be tough to fill.

Aside from the departures, the company is looking forward to a bright future. We will be bringing new people into the family soon to train to get ready for our busy season. We are excited as new changes are being made and weekly new products are being introduced to our websites. If you want to learn more about us, try our company website. There you will find links to our stores as well as insight into the company.

Until next time, Happy Gaming and tell us what you think.

Alishia (product research)

Puzzles, Puzzles, Puzzles!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Thoughts by Alishia) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 18:33:00 +0000

Balloons aglow puzzle

Here is a bit of puzzle trivia…The first jigsaw puzzle was created around 1760, when John Spilsbury, a British engraver and mapmaker, mounted a map on a sheet of wood that he then sawed around each individual country. Spilsbury used the product to aid in teaching geography. After catching on with the wider public, this remained the primary use of jigsaw puzzles until about 1820. On that note, there are so many types of puzzles that we carry such as logic, learning, word, mathematical, jigsaw, 4D, and so on. We recently added a few Thomas Kinkade art puzzles that would make a great gift this year. You could also sit at the table with your family and create a great conversation while pondering over how to arrange the pieces. To make it more interesting, you could time yourself and try to beat your best time at a later date or better still, make it a competition and see what other friends or family can beat your time. Here is a video on "How to solve a Jigsaw puzzle". I hope you enjoy it. Now is the time to get your boxes out and give it a try. Fall is coming and this is a great indoor pass time. Give us a few of your ideas on how you put yours together.

Live life and play hard,
Alishia

The SMURFS are back!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Thoughts by Alishia) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 12:41:00 +0000

With all the new movies that have and will come out this summer, we at World at Play Games are proud to present you with only the best items for your enjoyment. The new Smurf®movie has arrived in 3-D and so have the figurines to collect. As you may recall they were mostly male, very short (3 apples high) with blue skin, white trousers with a hole for their short tails, white hat in the style of a Phrygian cap, and sometimes some additional accessory that identifies a personality. We carry the Schleich line of figurines and the movie character set to bring back old memories and make some new. The film begins with the Smurfs getting ready for the Blue Moon Festival. You older folks might recall this clever little cartoon that came out in the 80’s. Was Smurfette originally black headed? Was there anyone older than Papa smurf? Who created Smurfette? Who created Sassette? How many original smurfs were there? If you would like, leave your answers and opinions on our Facebook page or blog us here. I will give the answers at the end of the week. Be sure to get your collectables today.

Happy Shopping,

Alishia

08/19/11
The answers to the "Smurf" triva have been revealed on our facebook page. Look us up at www.facebook.com/worldatplaygames We thank all of you for taking the time to have fun playing with us.
Alishia

New product research

Sock Monkeys

noreply@blogger.com (Thoughts by Alishia) — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 13:17:00 +0000

Ladies and Gentlemen of all ages, come one, come all. We now have our “Think of It” items ready for your pleasure. We now carry, the original sock monkey, sock giraffe, sock teddy bear, sock frog and my personal favorite the 48” sock monkey (large enough to become anyone’s snuggle buddy. Check out these handcrafted toys as an American classic! In the 40's and 50's, people used to make dolls from real socks. These are replicas of that wonderful tradition. Originally made from red-heeled work socks, the Sock Monkey touched many hearts. Bring the memories of yesteryear home with this cherished favorite. Soft, simple, and lovable, the original 20-inch sock monkey leaves plenty of room for the imagination. His long arms and legs can be tied in knots and his simple face consists of two crescent ears, a wide red mouth, and thread eyes. They are so adorable, you will want to collect the whole sock family.

Mansions of Madness

noreply@blogger.com (Noah) — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 18:56:00 +0000

Here is my focus for the day… Mansions for Madness. They are flying off the shelves as we speak. Mansions of Madness is a macabre board game of horror, insanity and mystery.

Gather your fellow investigators and unravel the dark mysteries within before it's too late. Based on the horror fiction of master writer H.P. Lovecraft, Mansions of Madness creates an engrossing new narrative every time you play.

Each game takes place within a pre-designed story that provides players with a unique map and several combinations of plot threads. These threads affect the monsters that investigators may encounter, the clues they need to find and which climactic story ending they will ultimately experience. One player takes on the role of the keeper, controlling the monsters and other malicious powers within the story. The other players take on the role of investigators, searching for answers while struggling to survive with their minds intact.

Both the engaging plot and the stunning components will draw you in to a world of cosmic horror. The beautifully rendered modular map tiles show every intricate feature of the rooms you'll search and the monster figures represent the otherworldly forces of evil in horrific detail. The bases for each monster figure even have slots into which you can insert that monster's token, displaying only the pertinent statistics. All together, the thirty-two included figures, over 300 cards, over 200 tokens and markers and nearly 70 puzzle tiles, will help immerse you in a sanity-bending story of terrifying mystery. Do you dare enter the Mansions of Madness?

Heading in the right direction

noreply@blogger.com (Thoughts by Alishia) — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 12:14:00 +0000

Good morning gamers and shoppers,

We are well underway in getting our new home set up. I didn't realize how many items our company offers until looking into our new warehouse. It really puts things into perspective. Our warehouse manager has really done a bang up job at getting everything together as we move on into the new year. A huge thank you to all the employees who are making this happen.

The office team is working hard to get new lines up for your enjoyment. Be on the look out for the outdoor sports and water toys coming to you soon. We have recently started to carry Aerobie sports products. Here is a fact find for you...World class thrower Erin Hemmings broke the Guinness World Record of the "longest throw of an object without any velocity-aiding feature" on July 14, 2003 using an Aerobie Pro ring. The distance? 1,333 feet (406 meters) of which we carry.

Till next time, this is your new product researcher,
Alishia

Hi Ho, Hi Ho....

noreply@blogger.com (Thoughts by Alishia) — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 14:57:00 +0000

We are off to a fantastic start this year.

New company product lines will include Zing, Pressman, Smartlab and Aerobie. New items posting will be with Think Fun and Ravensburger. Be on the lookout for these great items and more in the near future.

Already we have increased our staff by adding on 4 new employees to our permenant team as of January. All of whom are excited about being part of such a great company.

Our move to the new warehouse should be complete by the 1st of March. With our merchandise increasing along with the staff, we needed somewhere to house everything.

As we continue to add to our inventory, will be letting you know what we will have to offer for all your gaming needs and family fun.

Have a great Thursday,
Alishia James
Marketing Research Administrator

2011 brings new things

noreply@blogger.com (Tracye) — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 15:20:00 +0000

Wow! We're almost at the end of January...1 month into 2011. I don't know where the time went, but I know we've been very productive here, as per usual.

2011 has brought us here at World at Play Games new things already.

We've brought on new employees, Alishia, Jamey, Joe, and Ryan. They fit in perfectly with the rest of us. We have a great crew.

2011 also brought a big change our way...after years of being in our current warehouse/offices, we're going to be moving to a new building, which is very exciting! The move should be happening in mid-February, but no worries, it will not effect the shipping of items out to you, our customers. I'm sure the move will be an easy transition.

2011 also brings a bit of sadness, as Noah will be leaving us in a few months. He will be greatly missed. I mean, who's going to harass me to bring them bacon all the time? Other than Patrick, that is. Noah has been like the little brother I never wanted, and I'm going to miss him a lot.

This year is going to bring new games, new toys, new fun items our way. I'm looking forward to seeing all the cool new stuff that comes in, and I'm looking forward to telling you guys about them, be it by blog, Facebook, or a blurb in the news on our site.

I hope everyone is having a great 2011 thus far. As long as we don't get anymore snow, I will be a happy camper. Don't get me wrong, it's pretty, but after being trapped in the house for a few days, it's not so pretty.

Tracye

Customer Service

Resident Blogger

Welcome 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Tracye) — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 16:57:00 +0000

Wow! In 4 days it will be Jan. 2011. This year has really been flown by!

But ya know what they say..."time flies when you're having fun."

I have to say that the past year here has really flown by, and yes, a lot of fun was had.

It's hard to believe that I've been here for a year already, and that's definitely how you know you love your job!

What's not to love? We sell way cool games and toys. I love being able to see all the cool new games coming out before anyone else has ever even heard of them. It would be really fun if we got to play the games, but that doesn't happen unless someone buys it...and we're all busy outside of work as well with families, so we don't get to hang out and play, but it's all good.

I believe 2011 will be another amazing year here at World at Play Games. We're getting more and more new items and new games are always being released. Of course, we still sell a lot of the well known games like Catan, and all of its expansions, and Carcassone, and all of its expansions.

Those games will be popular for a long time to come.

Dixit and Dixit 2, both "newer" games are very popular, and I see them staying that way for awhile as well.

Along with the new products, we also gained some new employees. Needless to say, they fit right in with us and we're happy to have them aboard.

I hope everyone has a safe, wonderful and happy New Year.

May 2011 be filled with great things for everyone!

Tracye

Customer Service

Resident Blogger

Christmas Time!

noreply@blogger.com (Tracye) — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 19:03:00 +0000

It's getting close to Christmas...11 days to be exact, and I have to say, I was not prepared for what lay in store when the Christmas rush hits!

This is my first Christmas here. I just missed it last year, since I started working here in January. I heard all the stories, and I thought they were hilarious.

Well, the Christmas "rush" began in November for us and I was blown away.

Being the customer service department, I get the emails and the phone calls. I've never heard that phone ring more than it has this month! And the emails...tons of them, which were a good thing, because I got to discover things about the games I never knew.

I have to say my job is way easier than the guys in the warehouse and in shipping. All the boxes that come in, and all the packages that go out daily are insane! I commend the guys (and girls) that receive the items in and the boys in shipping that make sure they get out to our customers. They've done an amazing job.

Everyone here has pitched in, worked long hours and is making this happen so our customers get their items. Even the boss, and his right hand woman, our C.O.O. have been putting in extra long hours and working in the warehouse to get everything done. Luckily, everyone has been keeping their sense of humor...especially Vern, our warehouse manager. He keeps everyone laughing, as does Brandy, our Product Line Manager. They're both hilarious and can be heard laughing about something. Patrick is our resident clown, and his off the wall antics and words definitely make us smile too.

I'm very happy to say that I've enjoyed my first Christmas here, and look forward to many more with this great group of people I work with.

I hope everyone has a great Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

Tracye

Customer Service

World at Play Games

Happy Haunting...or Hunting

noreply@blogger.com (Tracye) — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 13:56:00 +0000

So, it's been awhile since I've blogged. My apologies...things have been getting busy around here, and we're starting to gear up for the Holiday season. Funny how we get ready for Christmas before Halloween even happens.

Speaking of Halloween, which is my favorite "holiday", we have lots of cool games that fit right in with the creepy, spooky fun of Halloween.

There are even cool snacks out there, like Zombie blood, which is an energy drink in an IV bag. True, it is green like zombie blood, but it'll give you the energy you need to fight off those pesky zombies. There's also Zombie Jerky, which is beef jerky...made from zombie cows, of course.

Now on to the games. For the more timid people who fear zombies and other creatures, we do have 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown' and 'Nightmare Before Christmas' Yahtzee. As well as other Nightmare Before Christmas items like Jenga, Trivial Pursuit, and my favorite, the Magic 8 Ball. Granted, it's called the Nightmare before Christmas, but it's full of pumpkins, ghosts, skeletons, and other Halloween themed goodies.

Now, for those who are braver, and enjoy the killing of zombies, we have a plethora of zombie games. This is definitely my cup of tea, especially after a long day...what's better than killing off a bunch of brain hungry zombies?

For funny zombie action, we have Zombie Fluxx. I own this game, and it's hilarious. The rules change constantly with each card that's laid down.

Trust me...I thought I had the game in the bag with the card I was going to throw down, and *poof!* my opponent threw down her cards and won. It happened in the blink of an eye. Oh well, that's what I get for thinking, I suppose.

There are also Zombie Dice. A game in which you're the zombie! Your goal is to eat more brains than your opponents. You push your luck with each roll to eat as many brains as possible and stop before the shotgun blasts end your turn.

Now on to the board games. So many zombie games out there to choose from. If you can't choose, just buy them all.

There's 'All Things Zombie', which is based on the wildly popular miniature game.

'Last Night On Earth-the Zombie Game', which is a board game with 28mm figures, and it also has a creepy CD soundtrack with it.

Last Night on Earth also has expansions:

Survival of the Fittest

Zombies with Grave Weapons

Growing Hunger

Hero Pack 1

'All Flesh Must be Eaten', which is a RPG with d20 conversions. This game also has several supplements (campaigns) and an All Flesh Must be Eaten "Zombie" Master's Screen.

It's the same as a DM screen, only you're not a DM, you're a ZM!

There are also games like Haunting House, Bump in the Night, and of course, the Arkham Horror games, with my favorite soul taker, Cthulhu.

Whatever your fright level, we have the perfect game for you. So, after you've gone trick or treating (don't tell me you don't, cos I still do!), and you have all your sugary loot, go home, turn all the lights out, save for the spooky flicker of candles and play a scary game.

Oh, and watch out for zombies.

Dude...where's my stuff?

noreply@blogger.com (Tracye) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:20:00 +0000

"When is my stuff going to ship?" "Have you shipped my stuff?" "How long is it going to take to get here?" "I checked tracking and there's no information."

These are just some of the questions I find in my email daily. I don't mind answering them at all, obviously, as it's my job to answer the questions and to keep our customers happy.

But, these are also questions where the answers can be found on our website.

www.worldatplaygames.com

When is my stuff going to ship?

Items ship out within 3 business days (Excluding Saturday or Sunday, since we're not here on those days). of receiving a cleared payment. Keep in mind, that if a mail holiday (no mail running) falls during the week, that will put an extra day on the order, since we can't ship anything if USPS or UPS are not running.

We discussed the Pony Express, but horses now just aren't as sturdy as they used to be.

Have you shipped my stuff?

When your item ships out, you will automatically get an email notification. Make sure the email address you give us is an email address that you check, and actually get email to. The reason I say that is because I get emails from upset customers saying we never sent them the tracking info. When I reply and tell them what email address it was sent to, I get "I don't check that email address", and that doesn't help either one of us.

How long is it going to take to get here once you ship it?

That's a good question, and one I wish I could answer. Once it leaves our warehouse, I can't advise on how many days it will take to get to you. If I could do that, I'd be rich!

The shipping email we send you with a tracking number can assist you in finding out where your item is and approximately when you should receive it.

Generally, it should only take a few days, but if you've ordered books, they go out Media Mail, which can take 10-12 business days to receive once we ship it.

If you are an International customer, it can take 14-30 business days to receive your item, but can take up to 5 weeks if there's a hold up on either side of customs.

There's no tracking info. on USPS.com

This happens sometimes. It doesn't mean we haven't shipped your item. If we've provided you with a tracking number, then we've shipped it, and it's in USPS's possession.

If you're unable to track it on their site, it just means that it hasn't been scanned into their system yet, and that happens sometimes. If you get a message saying to check later, try later in the day, or even the next day.

If you're an International customer and cannot track your package, don't worry. The package isn't scanned until it makes it through customs to the country we're sending it to. I know it's aggravating, but once it makes it though and gets scanned in, it will show up.

What I do to help-

I go through the orders every day, see when they shipped out, and if they have, I check the tracking either via UPS or USPS to see the delivery status. If I see it's been delivered, I will send an email your way, letting you know I see your item was delivered.

I haven't gotten any emails back saying otherwise, so that's a good thing.

If you have questions or concerns, I'm just an email away, and will answer them as quickly as possible.

I'm here from 9am-5pm EST. Monday-Friday.

Tracye

Every day is Santa day!

noreply@blogger.com (Tracye) — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 18:20:00 +0000

While I was looking for a cool new game (or a cool older game) to write about, I discovered that I couldn't pick just one out of the plethora of cool stuff we have. I mean, we have thousands of games, and to pick just one didn't seem quite right, and it's certainly not an easy thing to do.

So, I wandered up and down the aisles of our warehouse, and took a mental inventory of all the games we have. The thing is, we have more than just games, and I sometimes wonder if visitors to our site know that?

Well, if you didn't know, you're in for a treat, because I'm going to tell you about all the cool things we offer. Walking through the warehouse is like being in Santa's workshop...only there aren't any elves here, and no jolly guy with a white beard. There are so many cool things lining the shelves, and you want to look at it all, and of course, play with all the neat stuff, but unfortunately, that's just not something we can do.

The first thing I saw were all the card games. TONS of card games. Card games for kids and for adults. Ranging from the super fun, and sometimes super confusing Fluxx to classics like Uno, Rook and Canasta. We also have regular playing cards for people that like to play Blackjack, poker, and any other card game requiring regular cards.

Dice...what can I say about dice? Lots! We have lots of dice games and lots of dice bags to hold those dice in. We have the "scary" Cthulhu dice game and Zombie dice game, and the more tame Farkle, poker dice games, and rock, scissor, paper dice game. Let's just say there are a lot of dice games. Too many to name, and there are lots of dice bags to hold those dice in. We also carry a large selection of dice. We have dice sets from Chessex, that have the 7 dice for all your gaming needs. We also still have the 100 sided die...which I haven't used in forever, but people still buy them. We also have "Loaded dice", which Noah found out can get you pummeled when playing craps with Vern and Patrick.

RPG's...(Role Playing Games) All sorts of RPG's and books from Wizards of the Coast, Necromancer Games, Troll Lord, Green Ronin...the list goes on and on. We have a large selection of books. Player's handbooks, DM screens, modules, etc. We also house a large selection of maps and game mats.

Miniatures... You have to have miniatures if you're going to play Warhammer, Warmachine, D&D, etc. seriously. Even if you don't play, the miniatures out there are fantastic, and some people just paint them for hobby, whether they play or not. I have a ton of unpainted miniatures if someone would like to volunteer to paint them, I'd be a very happy camper.

Paints...yes, you have to have paint to paint those miniatures. Sharpies just won't do. We have a large selection of paints from Vallejo. Beginner paint sets for those just getting started, to the large paint cases for those that are more advanced. Whatever your level, we have lots of colors to choose from.

Toys...we have tons of toys! From the good guys like Woody and Buzz Lightyear, to the plush quazi evil, like Cthulhu and the Cthulhu that's actually called Evil Cthulhu (he's still cute, though). We have Hotwheels cars, rubber band shooters, silly string, and tons of great wooden toys, by Melissa and Doug.

We also have Monty Python and the Holy Grail stuffed/plush toys, like the Beast of Aaaaargh!, the Holy Grail, itself and the famous Rabbit with pointy teeth.

Art supplies...Yep, we have art supplies for the kiddies! Melissa and Doug have a large line of paper (various sizes) for drawing, doodling and painting. Crayons, paints, ink stamp kits...you name it, we have it for your little artists.

Finally, board games. Yeah, we've got those. All kinds of board games. From the classic Monopoly and Mouse Trap (YES!! Mouse Trap!), to the newer games like Redneck Life and Trailer Park Wars (yes, those are real games, and they look hilarious).

See, I told you we had a lot of stuff...though that's not nearly all of it. The blog would be forever long, and my fingers would fall off, which wouldn't please the boss. We like to keep the boss happy.

If you would like to see the huge selection we have, you can check out our site www.worldatplaygames.com

Until next time, have a great 4th of July weekend!

Tracye

Pencils, paper and dice...oh my!

noreply@blogger.com (Tracye) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:05:00 +0000

You guys have heard of Dungeons and Dragons, right? No, I don't mean the online computer game, or a board game...I mean the *real* Dungeons and Dragons, that you play with character sheets, dice and books.

Perhaps I'm showing my age a bit, but I prefer the aforementioned method, where dice-rolling is involved. There's nothing more exciting than having to roll for critical's or damage...your fate lies in that roll, and hopefully, when you roll that d20, you get what you need.

Dungeons and Dragons was actually first published in 1974, by TSR, then Wizards of the Coast took over in 1997, and have been publishing it ever since. The first box set I remember was the red D&D box set and that was around 1981 or so. I know someone who still actually has that box set, and I'm sure it's worth a lot of money now, because you can't find it anywhere, obviously.

What's fun about D&D is each player plays a specific character, whether it's a Paladin, Priest, Ranger, Thief, etc. These characters embark upon adventures that are created and controlled by a DM (Dungeon Master).

The characters on the adventure solve problems, engage in battles, interact with townies, and each other. And just to let you know, it's always good to get along with the other characters in your party...especially if you need help in battle. For example, a Priest doesn't travel well with a Gypsy Bard who is chaotic evil, or lawful evil. The two just don't go together, but it can be done, as long as the Priest isn't aware of the characters alliance. I've done it before on an adventure, and it turned out to be quite good.

During the game, the characters earn points, which boost you up in levels. I mean a 20th level Paladin can do way more than say a 3rd level Paladin.

In AD&D 1e and 2e (Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1st ed., and 2nd ed.), the levels were uncapped, and you could go higher in levels.

3e went to the 20th level, before switching to epic levels. Epic levels in 3e and 3.5 were reached after you hit 20th level, rate of advancement changed, the way attack bonuses were figured, saves, gains, spells, etc. all changed. And now, in 4e, all levels are capped at 30th.

The best part of playing D&D is wondering what the DM will have up his (or her) sleeve to try to kill or damage your characters. Will it be a Remorhaz (my favorite monster), Ocre Jelly, or will you come face to face with a dragon? (Yeah, I like the old school monsters.)

Regardless of what monster(s) your DM throws your way, it's always fun trying to fight them, which is why you must choose your weapons and armor carefully when you're creating your character. You can read more about that in the player's handbook. It's full of information on creating your character.

Another great thing about playing D&D is you only need pencils, paper, dice and imagination to play. Well, you may also need some Mountain Dew (a long time gaming favorite, thanks to all the sugar and caffeine) and some snacks, because some of these adventures can go on for many hours...unless you have a TPK (total party kill) early on in the game. The longer adventures are the most fun.

Minatures add to the game, but aren't really necessary. I remember using dice as our characters during one game. Was interesting to say the least.

Of course, a player's handbook comes in handy, but someone usually has one with them if you find yourself without one. It's the same with dice. Somebody *always* has extra dice. I have several sets-thanks to Chessex for making awesome dice!- with me, and as long as I get them back at the end of the game, all is well.

So, put down the video game controller, back away from the computer, turn off the T.V., grab some friends, and play some D&D.

You can find character sheets online, and players handbooks, DM books/screens, and the Monster Manuals are quite easy to come by. It's easy to learn and it's a lot of fun whether you're a guy or a girl, no matter what your age is.

Tracye

Once upon a time...

noreply@blogger.com (Tracye) — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 16:23:00 +0000

We recently got in a cool new game called Story Cubes. And I, being a creature of curiosity, had to inspect further and see what it was all about.

I found the small box contains 9 dice with different pictures on each side. With those pictures, and your imagination, you make up a story. The stories can go from normal to outlandish, depending on how much or how little imagination you have.

After I opened it up and saw the pictures on the dice, I made up an impromptu story in Noah's office, which he thought was ridiculous, but that's the whole point of the game. The stories will start out on the ridiculous level, but the more you play it, the better the stories will become.

There are many ways to begin the stories I learned, after checking out the Story Cubes website. It doesn't have to begin "Once upon a time" every single time. They have some great examples on their site to help you out, and my favorite is "It was a dark and stormy night", which sticks out in my mind, because that's how Snoopy began the majority of his stories when he was typing in the comic strips.

The Story Cubes site not only has alternate story beginnings, but they also have a page where people have posted their stories that they've come up with, which was pretty cool as well. There's also a section that will let you post your own stories, which I may look into doing after I've bought the game.

Noah has said he's going to buy this game, and I'm going to buy it as well, because with 9 cubes, 54 images and 10,000,000+ combinations, I'm thinking this game would keep me and my friends occupied for a long time, and would come in quite handy whilst waiting in venue lines for 10+ hours. And knowing my friends, there will be some crazy stories!

I'm not saying the next Bret Easton Ellis will spawn from playing this game, but it will improve your storytelling techniques and spark the imagination, which is a good thing, especially if you need improvement in that area.

I decided to give it a shot and make up a story. The dice I had to work with were: Airplane, ? (can be anything you choose), moon, turtle, sheep, castle, light bulb, cell phone and a fish. Here's the story I came up with:

It was a dark and stormy night on the moon. Inside the large castle, a sheep struggled to find his cell phone so he could call someone about the light bulb that had burned out. Luckily, the turtle that was lurking about fixed it so they could see. Turns out it was a bad thing, because suddenly, they saw a fish flying an airplane, while reading a book, heading straight toward them.

See...pretty ridiculous for an impromptu story, but still fun. Yes, I totally want the Story Cubes!

Tracye

Friendly competition?

noreply@blogger.com (Tracye) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:52:00 +0000

In the previous blog, I mentioned that my friends and I are very competitive when it comes to playing games. Sometimes the combination of friends + games is a bad thing, especially when things get tense, but once it's all over, we laugh about it.

Here are some games, guaranteed to make you have those "debates" I mentioned in the last blog as well.

Mad Gab: This is one of the most hilarious games I've ever played, because we sound like a bunch of idiots with some serious speech impediments. Even though we're laughing like lunatics, it's still discouraging when you can't quite nail those phrases, like:

"Watch choo ear nut washer tse", or "Eye Mull of Mush Sheen"

Of course after you say them over and over during your allotted time, they start making sense, and you start hearing the phrase…even through your friends laughter, as they’re rolling on the ground, because remember, you’re saying this phrase over and over and I promise you, I sound like a serious idiot when I’m saying the phrases.

Once they make sense, you say what you think the phrase is, like:

”What you hear not what you say”, or “I’m a love machine”

If you don’t guess it by the time the buzzer goes off, you don’t get the points, and that’s the whole goal of the game…to win!

Seriously, it’s a great game, and it is hilarious. I highly recommend it for a night of fun.

Phase 10 Deluxe Card Game:

I like card games like Uno, Rook, etc., but the first time I played Phase 10, I thought I was seriously going to pull my hair out. It was the most frustrating game! But, once I got used to it, I no longer wanted to pull my hair out and found the challenge of reaching all 10 phases of the game to be quite fun. It’s aggravating to see your friends move to the next phase of the game, while you’re still 2 phases behind them, but ya know what? Fate likes to throw a monkey wrench into things, and you may find yourself 2-3 phases ahead of your friends and on the way to a victory.

Whoever reaches and completes the 10^th phase wins. It’s all fun, until someone throws their cards. Definitely a strategic game, and it can take awhile to play, but it’s a good way to spend rainy or hot days when you don’t want to go outside.

Phase 10 also has a dice game, which is equally as fun…till dice are thrown, then, it just becomes dangerous.

Power Yahtzee:

Yahtzee has been one of my favorite games since I was a kid. My mom taught me how to play it, so she would always have someone to play against her, because solitary Yahtzee just isn’t as fun. Trust me, I’ve played it. Boring.

Yahtzee was always a challenge, because you want to get those straights, 4 of a kinds, etc. But with Power Yahtzee, it can make things happen a lot faster. It has a red Power Die, and that one little die can make or break you. It can double or triple your score, earn you a fourth roll, even speed your progress by letting you score in 2 boxes at once (I like that feature!), but it can also freeze your roll immediately, which no one wants!

There are also 2 new categories in which to score: 2 pairs and choice, and now you can score more than once in things like straights and Yahtzees (which we all want!).

Power Yahtzee is going to become one of those games that my friends will just refuse to play, much like regular Yahtzee. What can I say? I love to play, and have since I was a kid. Guess I’ll be playing a lot of solitary Yahtzee.

Ok, I’ve given you 3 amazing, fun games to try out. So stop reading this blog already and go get them, and get ready for lots of laughs, possible glares and flying dice and cards.

Tracye

Road trips and games

noreply@blogger.com (Tracye) — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:01:00 +0000

So over the long weekend, a bunch of friends and I went on a road trip. While we waited in line for over 9 hours to get into the venue, someone said, "I have Apples to Apples! Who wants to play?"

Well, of course a lot of us wanted to play, so we did just that...well, I just kind of watched.

There are 2 decks of cards; Things and Descriptions. The chosen person to be referee chooses a Descriptions card, and the players try to pick from the cards in their hands, the Things that best match that Description. The referee has to choose the Thing that appeals most and awards the card to the player that played it.

Needless to say, there was much debating going on, which was hilarious, because everybody thought their Thing card was the best. However, only one person can win, and once that player had the pre-determined number of cards, the game was over.

We then decided it would be safer to play Uno. Wrong. Just wrong. We tend to play "extreme" Uno, and deal out 20+ cards per person, instead of the normal 7-10 cards. It was going great until I threw a bunch of "Draw 4" cards down. The person who went after me had a hand full of cards and was not very happy. Hey, you've gotta get rid of those action cards, because the point value is high on them, and you don't want those in your hand if someone wins.

Long story short, I called Uno, and everybody started throwing down different colors, throwing skip cards, reverse cards...anything they could do to keep me from winning. Guess what? Didn't work. I won anyway.

Once several rounds of 'Extreme' Uno had been played, someone brought out a checker board. Again, not a good idea. It seems everyone in the large group we were in are very competitive. The aforementioned checker board was laid out, and the wars began. Round after round of my friends playing because they wanted to win. It was finally decided that there was only one checkers champion amongst my friends, and no one was going to knock him off his pedestal.

Monopoly would've been great, since that can be a time consuming game, but then again, "debating" could have ensued over Park Place and Board Walk if the set was broken up, and both people wanted the other really bad.

I had Pocket Farkel with me, but we didn't play it, only because I knew it would turn into us shooting craps and more "debates" would break out.

I'm glad we had the games with us, because it definitely made the time go by really fast, which was a good thing. And of course, no one was really mad at anyone else after the "debates" during the games, it was all just in fun.

Now, if I'd had some silly string and rubber band shooters, that would've been REALLY fun!

Tracye

Oldies but goodies

noreply@blogger.com (Tracye) — Wed, 26 May 2010 15:42:00 +0000

Here at World at Play Games, we sell games of all sorts. But did you know we also carry some really cool toys? We've recently received in some toys that I was "oohing" and "ahhing" over, because I remembered them from when I was a kid.

The first thing I spied was Silly String. Ok, not really a toy...more of a weapon for me. I sprayed it at all the girly-girls during pep rallies in high school. There were also surprise attacks made in the hallways as well. I'd totally forgotten about that stuff, until a box of it showed up here, and I felt like a kid on Santa Day.

Much to everyone's chagrin, I found a box of rubber band shooters. Oops. Yes, I can shoot the rubber bands myself, but it's so much more fun when you have a little wooden "gun" doing it for you. It also comes with 20 rubber bands, which means I won't have to go around snagging other people's rubber bands. This is one of my favorite "new" toys (or weapons, where I'm concerned). I had many of these taken away from me when I was a kid. Best part now? I'm not a kid anymore, and nobody can take it away from me...well, Noah, Vern and Patrick might try to after I shoot them a few times, but they've gotta catch me first. Good luck with that.

An office favorite is the Flying Animals we've just gotten in. Yes, we have flying pigs, monkeys, chickens, ducks and cows around here. They're stuffed animals that fly when you pull and release. This is an awesome toy for kids, but with Noah, Patrick and Vern, they've become weapons. If you don't believe me, just watch Noah's weekly video, then you'll understand what I mean.

We have lots of new toys and games, which you can find on our site. Check them out and have some fun this summer!

Tracye

Elenco - My new favorite toy company

noreply@blogger.com (Noah) — Wed, 05 May 2010 21:42:00 +0000

Summer time is the slow part of the year for us. Let's face it, people are outside in the sunshine, not couped up inside with a board or card game. Since we're not flooded with orders, we are able to spend a lot of time on finding new product lines and making them available for sale on our website. One of the new lines we're carrying that looks really cool is from a company called Elenco.

Elenco Electronics Inc. makes all sorts of awesome educational toys that help kids learn science and electronics. I know, I know, kids usually aren't excited about learning, especially stuff like math and science, but these toys are awesome. I really wish I had these things when I was a kid.

There's some of the usual stuff. You know, microscopes, anatomy models, metal detectors, and those science kits that everybody's grandfather talks about. But they've also got all kinds of stuff for the aspiring electrician. For example, they have a line of toys called Snap Circuits. These toys have all the pieces to let a kid put together a working electrical circuit, just by snapping the different pieces into place. They range from simple kits with fewer pieces to much more complicated, very advanced kits. When a kid outgrows Snap Circuits, there are still kits that teach you about soldering and more difficult tasks, so kids can constantly be challenged by harder and harder sets.

But I haven't even got to the coolest stuff. These toys are why I'm writing this whole blog. Elenco has a whole line of robotic kits. These motorized robots come disassembled, so you get to put them together. This means you can customize and tweak them as you go, see how they work, and really feel attached to the robot once it's done. But the best part is that once they're assembled, they are freaking cool. There are things like ladybug robots and build-your-own racecars, but my favorite is the Titan Tank. I practically drooled over it when it first arrived in the warehouse. After you build your tank you can remote control it and aim its cannon at things. Even better is that you can operate 4 of these together and have tank battles.

Ever since the Titan Tank rolled into the warehouse I've been daydreaming about me and 3 of my childhood friends, building our tanks and customizing them with decals, then taking them out and doing epic battle. The tanks even respond to being 'shot' by other tanks, and eventually will spin around and beep to indicate that they have been destroyed, so you know for sure when you've decimated your opponents. It sure beats the "my tank's imaginary shell killed your tank!" vs "no way, my tank dodged it with its imaginary super boosters!" argument that inevitably happens when boys play with traditional toys.

The way I see it, boys will be boys and are going to pretend that every vehicle you give them is a tank, no matter how much you assure them that it's just a garbage truck. So why not go ahead and give them a tank that they can build themselves, one that will help them learn about mechanics and electronics. Or if they're into bugs or anatomy, Elenco has products for them, too. So, if you're interested, be sure to check out the whole line of Elenco toys!

Back from Connooga

noreply@blogger.com (Worldatplaygames) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:16:00 +0000

Hey all!

Some of you may have seen us a few weeks ago at Connooga 2010. For those of you who have never been, Connooga is a "multi-fandom" convention that takes place in Chattanooga, TN. If you're a fan of sci-fi, anime, gaming, horror, fantasy, role-playing, or just about anything else out of the ordinary, Connooga has something that should interest you.

We here at World at Play Games all have a little geek in us, so we couldn't resist setting up a booth at this year's Connooga. Patrick and I manned the booth, where we set up some of our damaged and slightly-used merchandise that we normally don't put out on the website, plus some of our more popular items like Fluxx, Pound Bags of Dice, and some large plush animals. Since we're strictly an online business, this is the closest Patrick or myself get to running a retail store. Add to the fact that this was my first time attending a convention whatsoever, and it was quite an experience for me.

It became quite an experience for Patrick as well. We were at the convention from Friday to Sunday. Sometime Friday night, Patrick was visiting one of the many room parties that went during the nights of the convention when he had a run-in with another convention attendee. And when I say run-in, I mean that the guy stumbled and fell onto Patrick, breaking his shin in 2 places. After a trip to the hospital to get pain medication and a cast, Patrick spent the rest of the convention rolling around one of the hotel's loaner wheelchairs.

The good news: The convention was a success. We sold some of our products, passed out a lot of business cards, and seemed to make a pretty good impression on the people who visited our booth.

The bad news: Patrick is still in a cast. His broken shin wasn't healing correctly, so he had to go back to the hospital and have surgery. He had an "intramedullary nailing of the left tibia", which is a fancy way of saying that they screwed a piece of metal to his shin bone to keep it from moving out of place. It'll be a while before his broken bone heals fully, but in the meantime he's back to his usual duties here - minus anything physical and plus a wheelchair.

Hopefully this experience will teach Patrick and the rest of you an important lesson: Be wary of drunk convention attendees.

Game Review: Arkham Horror

noreply@blogger.com (Noah) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:22:00 +0000

I'll admit, I wasn't sure what to think of Arkham Horror at first. The game is pretty popular, and has done well enough that Fantasy Flight has created tons of expansions for it, so it couldn't be too bad. However, as a very competitive person, I didn't like the idea of a cooperative board game. After all, what fun is a game when you can't destroy your fellow players and gloat about your victory?

Turns out cooperative play is a TON of fun. I'm still able to be the cutthroat player I love to be, the only difference is that I'm pouncing on a common enemy, not the other gamers playing with me. In case you're not familiar with Arkham Horror, it's a board game based on the works of H. P. Lovecraft (who we took a look at in our previous blog post). The players are investigators who are trying to stop a terrible beast from awakening. Throughout the game, dimensional portals open up and other-worldly monsters appear. The investigators have to battle the monsters, close the portals, all while trying to prevent the evil being from awakening. Ultimately the game ends when either the monster is sealed away, or when it awakens and the investigators battle it to the death.

When you start the game, you're given a choice of investigators and monsters. The game is playable by 1 - 8 players (yes, you can play it solo), but 16 investigators are included, so you have plenty of choices. Also, you have a choice of 8 different monsters to pick. You can hand-pick your team or just draw them at random. The monster you picks has a huge impact on the game's difficulty, and the combination of team members and monster makes each game drastically different. Combine that with the fact that the deck of event cards is much larger than what you'll go through in a typical game and you'll find that it's very hard to play two identical games.

All these options also mean you can change the difficulty and length of the game to suit your needs. For example, on our first playthrough we decided to battle Yig, one of the very easy monsters. If we want more of a challenge, though, we can swap in Cthulhu or one of the more difficult monsters. This is especially helpful if you're limited on time, since struggles against the most difficult monsters take significantly longer than games where you fight an easy monster.

On the subject of length, be warned that this is not a short game. While it doesn't take as long as some of the much larger games we sell, it can still take a few hours to play through. Our first shot took Patrick and myself over 4 hours, although much of that was spent re-reading the rules and clarifying certain things. The rules are fairly easy to grasp, with much of it making pretty good sense. Once you've got a handle on the rules and get a good flow going, you can play games that last between 1 and 2 hours against the easier monsters. Still, this is not an appetizer to satisfy your gaming urges for a short time, it's a full meal to be enjoyed on its own.

The game should also be enjoyed with others. Although you can play it solo, it's really best with 5 or 6 players. Every round of play, a new monster spawns and begins roaming the town. In addition, a gate opens that must be closed. Closing a gate takes multiple turns, so when you're playing with fewer players, inevitably more goats open than can be dealt with. When Patrick and I played with just the two of us, we found ourselves constantly struggling to fight off the monsters and work towards closing gates. Because of this we weren't able to make any progress on sealing away the boss monster, so inevitably it awakened and we were forced into battle. I would recommend, once you get the hang of the game, to simulate having more players by letting each player control multiple investigators. It burdens the players with much more to keep track of, but gains your team the flexibility to do more than just battle an onslaught of monsters and survive. Ultimately, though, there's nothing like having 5-6 people running all over Arkham trying to stop the looming evil.

All in all, I'd have to say that Arkham Horror has put to rest my fears about cooperative gaming. I wish I had a regular group large enough to really enjoy Arkham Horror, but it's still quite fun playing with fewer people, even if it means a constant uphill struggle. I'm anxious to get some of the expansions, which add new areas to explore, new monsters to fight, and new investigators to control. I just wish I had 5 more people with a few hours to devote to battling evil!

Game Review (now with video) - Munchkin Bites

noreply@blogger.com (Noah) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 23:06:00 +0000

This week we played Munchkin Bites. It's very similar to Munchkin, which we previously reviewed. This time, however, we've got our gaming on video! So check it out:

Can't watch the video? Well if you missed our review of Munchkin a while back, the game is incredibly similar. Munchkin Bites is one of several themed versions of Munchkin, with Bites being a horror-themed game with vampires and werewolves (whereas original Munchkin is fantasy-themed game with orcs and wizards). The game is very light and nonsensical, and its main purpose is humor. It's definitely not a game for serious gamers who want to strategize their way to victory, but with a group of people who just want to have fun and laugh at the jokes within the game, Munchkin Bites (or any version of Munchkin) can be tons of fun.