It's time once again for a GAMES! event, this time with more 2012 flavor. Okay, it'll really be just like it was in 2011: awesome! We'll have board games, card games, strategy games, party games, a game giveaway, yummy food and Car Wars (in Jan, Apr, Jul & Oct).

As advertised, there's a copy of Small World Underground going into the Prize Vault this month, so you'll have another excellent option if you happen to win the door prize drawing. Of course, you must be present to win, which means you should come to get a free game and stay to play games for free even if you don't win.

Since we haven't had a Car Wars match setup in a while, I'll be running another one at this month's event. We'll probably do div10 and div40 cars in team deathmatch style again, but the possibility exists of an ongoing campaign with character development or even a one-against-everyone cooperative deathmatch. The sky is the limit, so if there's interest we'll lock 'n' load and blast one another to tiny flaming bits.

Now that the holidays are over and there's still no inclement weather in the forecast, there's no excuse not to come to GAMES! this Saturday, from 3-9pm. Tell all of your friends and bring your favorite games, because I guarantee it'll be the best GAMES! event so far this year.

Once again, our monthly GAMES! event was a blast and with the colder weather was quite well attended. We had 33 people in attendance, including nine people who had never been at GAMES! before. I'm still amazed that we've had almost 250 different people attend our events since we started GAMES! four years ago. There was quite a few different games played this month, including Warlords of Europe, Primordial Soup, Ticket To Ride Asia, Trivial Pursuit, Age Of Discovery, 7 Wonders, Blokus, Cargo Noir, Shadows Over Camelot and Skip-Bo. We also consumed nine whole pizzas, for whatever that's worth. It was a great event!

Alex won our door prize and grabbed a copy of Settlers Of Catan. It made Christmas shopping easy for her, since she gave it away almost immediately after picking it out. It really is better to give than to receive. There's a copy of the brand new Small World Underground going into the Prize Vault next month to fill the empty slot. Next month's winner could be you!

Speaking of next month, our January event will include Car Wars as an option, most likely team deathmatch style again. I haven't given any thought to car prices or arena layout yet, but I'd be very happy to send you info if you're interested in planning ahead and designing your own car or assembling a specific team, even. I'm considering whether to simplify the rules to use more of a 5th Edition mechanic (now that I have a copy of the 5E rules), but I'm not familiar enough with the differences to make an informed decision yet. Stay tuned for updates and be sure to put Saturday, January 14th from 3-9pm on your calendar now so you don't miss the fun at the next GAMES! event. See you there!

Winter feels like it has arrived, but it'll be warm inside this Saturday at GAMES! As usual, we'll have plenty of board games, card games and strategy games, plus pizza, chips and pop. I know of one conflicting event (a department Christmas party where I work), but if you don't have other plans you should definitely join us for food and fun.

As promised, there's a banana-shaped bag of letters in the Prize Vault now; you could take home your very own copy of Bananagrams, but you must be present to win.

It's a busy month, but that doesn't prevent you from fitting GAMES! into your schedule. We'll see you there, this Saturday from 3-9pm.