In honor of the great Franz-Benno Delonge, designer of eurogame classics like TransAmerica, Big City, Dos Rios, Manila and the new classic, Container, Boardgame Babylon is encouraging listeners to join us in donating to the American Cancer Society to help fight the disease that claimed FBD's life at only fifty years of age.

As a tribute, Boardgame Babylon is hosting a TransAmerica tournament for donors at Boardgamegeek.CON on November 16th from 5 to 8 PM. The tournament will be a single elimination event, with Rio Grande Games kindly providing copies of the game for play. The finalists will win prizes provided by supporting game companies, retailers, and others helping with the drive. These wonderful companies include:

* Boardgamegeek.com (uh, that place where you are reading this)
* Meeple People.com
* Rio Grande Games
* Strategicon
* Thoughthammer Games
* Time Well Spent
* Valley Games

If you would like to help as a sponsor, please contact us at: sheylon@gmail.com. We are raising donations for a great cause but prizes are a nice extra thank you for donors who are supporting the drive.

Just make your donation here and you will be included in the tournament: http://main.acsevents.org/goto/boardgamebabylon

Further details are on the donation page.

You do not need to be at Boardgamegeek.CON to participate!

We welcome contributions from friends and fans of Judge Delonge's even if you are not attending the event but you would just like to honor his memory with a donation. We will even have a drawing after the tournament for some prizes to go out to donors that are 'playing at home' if they cannot join us at BGG.CON. This is open to gamers in all countries! If you win a prize and the supporting company won't pay to ship it to you, I will!

Of course, the REAL reason to support this effort is to fight this terrible disease - the prizes are just a nice thank you for supporting the cause. Your contribution goes directly and entirely to the American Cancer Society - the costs of setting up the event and prizes are being paid for by the terrific companies and individuals involved. Please donate what you can - it is all appreciated!

Once again, here is the link: http://main.acsevents.org/goto/boardgamebabylon

Thanks in advance to those who support of this event and this cause. I certainly believe this is a good way to honor Benno for all the great games he gave to us while also working towards the goal of a cancer-free world.

E.R. Burgess
www.boardgamebabylon.com

(photo courtesy of John Bohrer)

Yes, it's been a bit quiet around here. To be honest, I have multiple shows waiting - it's just that my capacity on Libsyn is limited and it looks like the system balked at me posting another show.

So, once November rolls around, I'm expecting to post the next BGB. I'm also expecting to announce a special event for BGG.con shortly, too - and I'm hopeful that it will be something that will encourage a lot of people to get involved.

Stay tuned.

Thanks for downloading and listening to (and waiting for) Boardgame Babylon.

Wow - two Boardgame Babylon shows in one week? It's never been done before and don't expect it again... ;)

As promised, this is the Q&A session recorded at Gateway 2007 with Guest of Honor Tom Jolly. Tom is, of course, well-known in the board game community as the designer of the classic game, Wiz-War (one of my few games rated a '10'), as well as more recent favorites like Drakon, Cave Troll, and Camelot. He was kind enough to entertain attendees with all kinds of interesting anecdotes about his history in game design and self-publishing, his experiences with various publishers and about how the industry has changed in the nearly twenty-five years since he entered it with 100 bagged copies of Wiz-War in hand.

I've decided to add this to the Stories of Self-Publishing series for the simple reason that a whole lot of the questions were about his days running Jolly Games, the shingle under which he published many of his older games, including G.O.O.T.M.U., Knots, Programmer's Nightmare, and Villages. But this doesn't mean I am wanting for more in the series - one more is already recorded and another is scheduled soon.

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

Show Notes

Games Mentioned

Wiz-War   Villages   Drakon   Cave Troll   RA

Cosmic Encounter   Magic: The Gathering   Knots

Disk Wars   Camelot   Cargo   G.O.O.T.M.U.

Other Links

Tom Jolly   Strategicon   Jolly Games

Okay, here's the wrap-up show for Gateway 2007 - and less than a month later! Not bad for things around here.

I took a very different tack with this show from previous con wrap-up shows. This time, I interviewed some folks at the show. About a half-dozen extra interviews were tossed due to sound quality and, I'll admit, even some of these are rough when I took my little iRiver recorder into the dealer room to chat with these guys. But I think you'll still enjoy many of them.

Please send me your feedback on this format and any comments you might have to: sheylon@gmail.com or, preferably, post them on the Boardgame Babylon Guild on boardgamegeek.com: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/guild/138

Thanks for downloading and listening to Boardgame Babylon.

Show Notes

Games Mentioned

Wiz-War   Lost Worlds   Nuclear War   Imperialism   Duel in the Dark

R-Eco   Leaping Lemmings   Conquest of Paradise   Roads of Rome

Other Links

Protospiel West   Sorvent   GMT Games   Flying Buffalo   Strategicon