The next locked-room mystery in the spirit of Clue/Cluedo is arriving in late summer. It’s called See How They Run, a British whodunnit about a Hollywood film producer who finds members of his latest production are getting murdered one by one. When two local coppers come to investigate, the result looks like an Agatha Christie caper with some extra melodrama, looking similar to 1980s John Landis’s madcap movie Clue. Add the clue from “Three Blind Mice” in the title and a mix of American and British actors, including Adrien Brody and Sam Rockwell from west of the pond, Ruth Wilson, Saoirse Ronan, Shirley Henderson, and David Oyelowo from across the ocean, and you have the first trailer for See How They Run:
Some movies seem to come out of nowhere. Take The Menu. What kind of stylish dark fantasy is this? The movie is about a couple visiting an exclusive remote resort restaurant that has deadly surprises in addition to exotic food. Is it The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, & Her Lover, or a twisted mix of Iron Chef and The Freshman? It also appears to follow the framework of Clue/Cluedo and locked room mysteries like Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. Or is it something else entirely? The Menuhas an exceptional genre cast mix, featuring Ralph Fiennes (James Bond, Kingsman, Harry Potter series), Anya Taylor-Joy(The Queen’s Gambit, The New Mutants, Unbreakable series), Nicholas Hoult (X-Men series, Mad Max series), and John Leguizamo (The Mandalorian, Ice Age series, John Wick series).
Get on your foodie hat (I guess that’s a chef’s hat, right?) and take a look at Searchlight Pictures’ The Menu:
We’ve seen some good variants on classic board games introduced over the years by USAopoly, and this next merger will appeal to fans of Dungeons & Dragons’ recent years of comic book stories. Clue: Dungeons & Dragons is a licensed update to the 2001 edition of the game with new characters, playing pieces, and gameboard. It’s the game of Clue with a Dungeons & Dragons theme, a good way to pull in younger players who aren’t yet ready for roleplaying games, but want to join in with stories of fun fantasy adventurers like Minsc and Boo.
Only three would take their honored places in the Hall this year when they were announced at a ceremony this week at The Strong in Rochester, New York. The National Toy Hall of Fame recognizes toys “that have engaged and delighted multiple generations, inspiring them to learn, create, and discover through play.” Criteria for induction include: Icon-status (the toy is widely recognized, respected, and remembered); Longevity (the toy is more than a passing fad and has enjoyed popularity over multiple generations); Discovery (the toy fosters learning, creativity, or discovery through play); and Innovation (the toy profoundly changed play or toy design). A toy may be inducted on the basis of innovation without necessarily having met all of the first three. So what made this year’s cut? American Girl Dolls, the Risk board game, and sand–yep, look out Anakin Skywalker, your least favorite thing is one of the favored playthings of this world.
Which of these 12 toys would make your list for 2021?
The beauty of all these toys? We did some of our own research and about 95% of them are still available for today’s generation of kids. Just click the toy name above and you’ll find most available at Amazon right now. Want to spoil your kid and get them one of each of the 78 toys in the Hall (or donate a set to your local community center)? It’ll cost you about $1,840.
Two years ago here at borg, we talked about Hasbro′s turn at offering its classic games in mash-up form, with Monopoly, Clue, Taboo, Scrabble, and Speak Out colliding with former Milton Bradley games Candy Land, Connect 4, Guess Who?, Jenga, and Twister. Hasbro’s next line of classic games takes your favorite board games outside. They’re in the form of beach towel backpacks that transform into a giant board to stretch out on the beach or at a park, at last giving you something to do when you’re enjoying this summer. We tried out Beach Towel BackpackClue and found lots of reasons why this could be your new version of choice (check out our review below), Connect 4, Candy Land, Chutes & Ladders, and a new take on one you’ve probably seen in a giant towel version before: Twister.
In the spirit of The Prisoner, Clue, Sneakers, Ready Player One, Dispatches from Elsewhere, and Kingsman,Cutting Edgeis a new series by fantasy author Francesco Dimitri and award-winning Italian artist Mario Alberti arriving in comic book stores this week. March 2012. Dozens of the greatest minds, the world’s elite, receive letters from a mega-finance corporation inviting them to an event in London, with no further information. Among them, Joshua Malinot, a painter, Hiroshi Itou, a noted genius in physics, Stella Orsini Del Giglio, a post-scandal heiress, Jirakee Walker, a prize-winning National Geographic photographer working in Australia, a suave playboy who goes only by the name Delroy, and Mark Underwood, a social psychologist and expert in information. What do they all have in common? Someone believes they are the “Cutting Edge” of society.
As we inch closer to Christmas, Hasbro Gaming is making its latest effort to breathe new life into its classic board games. The new idea is mash-ups of classics, combining two games into one, which should tap into the nostalgia of long-time players. The game company is taking its recently developed game Speak Out and its famous acquired Parker Brothers inventory Monopoly, Clue, Taboo, and Scrabble, and combining them with its celebrated former Milton Bradley games Candy Land, Connect Four, Guess Who?, Jenga, and Twister. The result: Hasbro Mash-Ups, some strange combinations, but new twists for family game night, all at less than $21 each retail price.
The best bet looks to be Monopoly Jenga. This game adds some additional strategy to the wooden block game where players remove a piece of the tower one by one until the tower collapses. The Monopoly twist is adding color-coded Monopoly properties as blocks: Railroads, Free Parking, Chance and Community Chest cards, and a Go to Jail block. The goal? Collect the most properties, property sets, and railroad blocks without making the tower fall.
The strangest is Hasbro’s Taboo Speak Out. There’s something really creepy about a family game with mouthpieces, and the box cover art doesn’t help much.
Perfect for ventriloquists, but a problem for everyone else, the speaking barriers are the key twist to the fun classic Taboo game. The rules are simple: Give clues to get teammates to say the Taboo word on the card, without using any of the five forbidden words, all while wearing a Speak Out game mouthpiece. Easy peasy, right? Maybe not.
The detective strategy game Clue is making another comeback. Today IDW Publishing is releasing the first issue of a three-issue comic book miniseries called Clue: Candlestick. Writer-artist Dash Shaw is also serving as series letterer, bringing his stylized look to the usual suspects: Colonel Mustard, Professor Plum, Mrs. Peacock, Mr. Green, Mrs. White, and Miss Scarlet. Hasbro’s game turns 70 this year, so Shaw has compiled a new crime wrapped in secrets, lies, and puzzles, including a maze and coded message. The puzzles can be unraveled by readers as they make their way through the mystery.
The best feature is Shaw’s incorporation of all the elements of the board game, including the familiar map of the house with connecting floor tiles, stone game pieces that serve as useful art on the grounds of Mr. Boddy’s estate, and, of course, the familiar weapons of choice. To find out who is searching what rooms and when, you’ll need to solve a logic puzzle. As with the expanded Master Detective version of the game, you may have more than you bargain for in the story’s first issue, including a focus on Professor Plum, Colonel Mustard, and Mrs. White. It turns out those weapons might have had some history.
In addition to Shaw’s main cover art, variant editions of each issue will form a triptych of the classic Clue suspects and their legendary weapons of choice. Illustrator Jed McGowan (Time in Nature) designed a third variant cover for the first issue. Each issue features additional story content and will feature new, removable Clue game cards on the back cover, based on the comic art in the series.
Here’s a preview of the first issue of Clue: Candlestick, courtesy of IDW Publishing:
A classic board game and TV show are getting new tie-in comic book series and a classic creator and character are all coming to IDW Publishing this year. IDW announced several new books this week to expand their line of monthly series. The Hasbro board game Clue/Cluedois getting a new comic book mini-series. The Netflix award-winning TV series GLOW is getting a limited series. And Stan Sakai is bringing his world of the swordsrabbit Usagi Yojimbo to IDW with stories old and new, including a full-color, three-part series.
The Sakai announcement is bigger than a single series, as IDW says it plans to bring all 35 years of his Usagi Yojimbo stories into new collected editions–the black and white comic will be in full color for the first time–and new stories are being prepared. Beginning in June, a three-part story set again in the Edo period in 17th century Japan finds Usagi “embroiled in a puppet drama where the players are not quite what they seem.” According to Sakai, “Bunraku (Japanese puppetry) captures many elements that make the world of Usagi Yojimbo unique: an adventure filled with Japanese culture, folklore, and history. It also features the return of a long-awaited fan favorite character and Yokai (Japanese supernatural creatures).” Usagi Yojimbo #1 will be released in a main cover by Sakai, plus variants by Daniel Warren Johnson(Murder Falcon),Kevin Eastman(Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), and comics legend Walt Simonson.
IDW returns to Clue tie-in mysteries with CLUE: Candlestick, a three-issue comic book miniseries launching in May. “Rife with puzzles, secrets, and lies, and everyone’s a suspect,” the series will be created by animator Dash Shaw writing, illustrative, coloring, and lettering a new Clue mystery. Check out a preview of the new Clue series below, courtesy of IDW Publishing. Continue reading →
The Strong’s National Museum of Play has announced twelve finalists for induction into the 2018 National Toy Hall of Fame. Only a select few will take their honored places in the Hall this year when they are announced at a ceremony at The Strong in Rochester, New York on Thursday, November 8, 2018. The National Toy Hall of Fame recognizes toys “that have engaged and delighted multiple generations, inspiring them to learn, create, and discover through play.” The Hall of Fame, which began in 1998, is celebrating its 20th year. Criteria for induction include: Icon-status (the toy is widely recognized, respected, and remembered); Longevity (the toy is more than a passing fad and has enjoyed popularity over multiple generations); Discovery (the toy fosters learning, creativity, or discovery through play); and Innovation (the toy profoundly changed play or toy design). A toy may be inducted on the basis of innovation without necessarily having met all of the first three. So who are this year’s finalists? American Girl Dolls, chalk, Chutes and Ladders, the Fisher-Price Corn Popper, the Magic 8 Ball, Masters of the Universe, pinball, the sled, Tic-Tac-Toe, Tickle Me Elmo, Tudor Electric Football, and the card game Uno.
This year’s 12 finalists for the National Toy Hall of Fame. Which would you choose?
The beauty of all these toys? We did some of our own research and they are still available for today’s generation of kids. Just click the toy name and you’ll find it available at Amazon right now. Want to spoil your kid and get them one of each of the 65 toys in the Hall (or donate a set to your local community center)? It’ll cost you about $1,390. That total is skewed a bit by the more expensive toys on the list: the current equivalent of the Atari 2600 and Nintendo Gameboy, a bicycle, a dollhouse, an Easy Bake Oven, Lincoln Logs, Lionel Trains, and roller skates. Yet eight toys in the Hall can be purchased for less than $5.00, 24 toys cost less than $10.00, and 50 of the 65 toys in the Hall cost less than $25.00–most of the classics are pretty affordable! And if you want to save your money, how about getting your kid a cardboard box, a paper airplane, a kite, and a stick for Christmas this year–they’re pretty much free.
What do you think is missing? How about Spiro-graph? The Fisher-Price telephone and See ‘n’ Say? Shrinky Dinks, Colorforms, and the Kaleidoscope? Finger paints? The sprinkler? Playskool cobbler’s bench and mailbox? Hello Kitty? Past nominees include Battleship, Care Bears, coloring books, Jenga, Lite Brite, Matchbox cars, My Little Pony, Nerf, Pez, Playmobil, pogo stick, Operation, Pac-Man, pots and pans, Risk, sand, scooter, Slip ‘n’ Slide, stilts, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers, and the top.
Here are the Hall of Fame’s descriptions of each of this year’s nominees:
