As Christmas approaches the question of what to get for friends and family comes up again. 

In this short article I'm making some suggestions to get for friends of yours that are not board gamers.  Over the last 2 months I've been playing board games on Friday afternoon in the office, and it has given me a chance to try out a few games on people have never played anything more than Monopoly or Twister.

As Christmas approaches the question of what to get for friends and family comes up again. 

In this short article I'm making some suggestions to get for friends of yours that are not board gamers.  Over the last 2 months I've been playing board games on Friday afternoon in the office, and it has given me a chance to try out a few games on people have never played anything more than Monopoly or Twister.

I recently started using an iPad at work and was impressed at how much it actually does help with work - meaning you're connected a lot more often and able to thus do a lot more for the company without them paying anything extra!  A great argument to support giving people iPads at work.

However, as I needed to spend a day in the office over the weekend to support a large event taking place (where I wasn't actually doing very much) I bought the iPad versions of Ticket to Ride and Small World.

We continue to gain new followers on Twitter and I really enjoy looking through their links to see more about them.  As part 'Thank you' and part 'Sharing', I wanted to just mention a few of our followers and raise awareness of them and what they are doing - or simply to note anything we found interesting.

Last year Laura agreed to pick up some games for Jeremy - a person who reviewed games online.  We wondered around Essen picking up about a dozen games - including an early issue of Civilization - and I'll admit to some irritation at the effort it took to collect this amongst the other work we were doing for the magazine.  Essen is a very busy place...

The team at Minion Games are looking for funding to get out a new game, Venture Forth, via the fund raising site Kick Starter.

For anyone that has wanted to support new game development or be on the inside track for a new game, this could be your chance to get involved.

The Pitch:

Fans of Steam™ will soon be building their rail networks in new places around the world. The first of Mayfair Games’ expansions to Steam™ will be shipping out this summer. The Steam™ Map Expansion # 1 will offer three new maps in a single pack and these maps will support 2, 3, and 6 players.

The Steam™ Map Expansion # 1 is for ages 10+, requires the ownership of Steam™ to use, and will have an MSRP of $24.

Gamewright, a leading manufacturer of family games based in Newton, Massachusetts, is proud to announce a brand new line, called Port-a-Party games. The line features portable and travel-friendly party games for ages 12 and up. Gamewright is initially launching two titles: Joe Name It, a fast-playing “name it to claim it” trivia game and Who Would Win, a hilarious game that pits improbable celebrity matchups against each other. 

Having been swamped with work since going back into the corporate rat race recently, I've been having to make the most of my train travel time - about 2 to 3 hours a day - to get some gaming in.

To that end, 'Roll through the Ages' (and a link for the boardgame version) has been a great purchase for the iPhone.

Dear Readers...

As you will have noticed we are a few weeks behind on getting a new issue out to you.  Unfortunately the day-job has meant that we have not had the time to put into getting the next ezine together.

For the moment we are having to suspend the scheduled release and will instead try put out an issue when we have the opportunity to do so.

Thanks for reading and check back occassionally to see any updates.

Until then - happy gaming!

- Neil