It’s a crying shame. Mark’s been one of the industry’s biggest boosters, even from before he started the Games Quarterly Catalog 16 years ago. He turned around the Origins Awards before handing them over to Charles Ryan and then went on to rescue GAMA in the aftermath of the quiet doom that was the Miami GTS.

Matthews Simmons Marketing, which ran Games Quarterly Catalog, Games Quarterly Magazine, National Games Week, and the ill-fated Games Expo 2007 died because of the horrible contraction the tabletop games industry has suffered through the past couple years. MSM runs on ad money, essentially, and when companies hit hard times they cut their ad budgets–and sometimes don’t bother to pay their bills.

Still, it’s good to see that the two Richards (Hartnett and Martin Leep) will pick up GQC‘s torch and continue along Mark’s path. I wish them luck.

For me, this means I successfully wrote an article for every issue of Games Quarterly Magazine. I just wish it had been a longer streak. The magazine had the best pay rate in the entire industry. Still, as I told Mark, I’d have written for him for free if he’d asked.

Here’s to Mark and his crew. I hope they all land on their feet and that we see them again soon. They contributed so much to tabletop games, and I can only hope that MSM’s demise doesn’t prove to be the canary in the industry’s coal mine.

April 6, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New Owners for Games Quarterly Catalog

Games Quarterly Catalog (GQC), the 16 year old standard reference for the games industry, is now under new ownership. The acquisition was completed today. The previous owner Matthews Simmons Martketing (MSM) sold the catalog to Richard Hartnett and Richard Martin Leep. Mr. Hartnett has been a Sales representative for Games Quarterly employee since the beginning of the year, and Mr. Leep is the former Senior Editor for MSM. They are, as of now, the exclusive representatives for Games Quarterly Catalog.

“I am pleased to see this vital publication continue, with two people who know the function of GQC so well, ”stated previous owner Mark Simmons.

Games Quarterly Catalog lists product lines from over 500 game publishers, with an estimated 42,000 items. It is a comprehensive guide to family, hobby and educational non-electronic games. About 5,000 retail stores and distributors use GQC on a daily basis. The staff of GQC also voluntarily manages, for both the hobby and games trades, a standard manufacturer code system with over 4,400 manufacturers and publishers listed. Most distributors utilize the standard codes, to allow retailers to easily identify and order products from the wide range of companies.

Mr. Hartnett noted that the regular production schedule for GQC will remain as it has for the past several years with a one time delay of two weeks in order to facilitate this transition. This means the summer edition, GQC 63, will ship June 30. Updates and advertising placements have already begun. This edition includes a large quantity of new game and accessory releases for Summer.

Mr. Simmons further announced that MSM is closing after 16 years of service to the games industry. He noted the closure was forced by mounting bad accounts receivable through the past eighteen months and recent losses due to the launch of Games Expo 2007. Games Quarterly Magazine’s publication has ceased. National Games Week, according to Mr. Simmons, is a phenomenon that is likely to continue, with or without management. “However, stated Mr. Simmons, ”who knows what the future will bring?“

Mr. Simmons has become the North American Agent for Shanghai China based MeiJia International, the top board and card game manufacturer in China. He also has taken a position as Marketing and Sales Director for Denver based Vibrant Solar, Inc, which installs solar panel arrays for homes and commercial buildings. Mr. Simmons can be reached at markmeijia@aol.com.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Regarding Games Quarterly Catalog Contact:

Games Quarterly Catalog Company
12568 Tammywood Street
Broomfield CO 80020

Richard Hartnett email: GamesQuarterly@ecentral.com phone: (303)437-3218 or

Richard Martin Leep email: GQCproduction@comcast.net
phone: (303) 817-1877

It kills me not to be able to join my friends behind Games Quarterly for their inaugural show, but deadlines come first. I still plan to make it to Adepticon at the end of the month and GTS in April though. I hope to see some of you there!

I found out years ago that Billy was a gamer. Back when I developed the second edition of Silent Death, the guys at ICE used to tell me how much he loved Rolemaster. Billy grew up in Charlottesville and once in a while came by to visit ICE’s HQ there.

When I talked with Billy, he hadn’t been home for a year and a half, having spent much of that time on a boat sailing around the world. Despite that, he still made time for a pleasant chat. Look for the article in this winter’s issue of Games Quarterly Magazine.

My sights were set so if I could just one time walk in and buy a game that had my name on it, I could’ve just died there.

Special thanks to Wil’s pal and mine, John Kovalic, for helping us reach each other.

See after the break for a full list of what I’ve come up with so far. Names with asterisks after them are ones I’m pretty sure I can confirm. If you know of any others or can give better details about the ones I have, I’d appreciate it.

The next question, of course, is who on the list would you most like to see interviewed?

Celebrity Gamers

– Adam Copeland (WWE’s Edge)
– Antonio Rivera
– Armin Shimmermann
– Asia Carrera
– Bare Naked Ladies (band)*
– Ben Sargent
– Bill Amend
– Bill Campbell*
– Bill Gates
– Billy Crystal*
– BillyZeKick (band)
– Biohazard (band)
– Brian Warner
– Bruce Campbell
– Bruce Sterling
– Carrot Top
– Catherine Zeta-Jones (her kids play)
– Chaz Chamberlain
– Claudia Christensen*
– Conchata Ferrell
– Craig McCracken
– Curt Schilling*
– Daryl Hannah*
– Dave Chappelle
– David Brin
– Dean Haglund
– Devin Grayson
– Dream Warriors (band)
– Dwight Schultz
– Elijah Wood
– Emilio Estevez
– Eric Raymond
– Ewan MacGregor
– Fairuza Balk
– Freddie Prinze Jr.
– George Lucas
– George R. R. Martin*
– GWAR (band)*
– Harrison Ford
– Iain M. Banks (author)
– Jack Black
– Jacques Villeneuve (F1 champion)
– James Franco
– Jason Alexander
– Jason Mewes
– Jason Statham
– Jeff Bezos
– Jennifer Lopez
– Jim Lee*
– Joel and Ethan Coen
– John Dolmayan
– John M. Ford
– Johnny Knoxville
– Jon Spencer (Blues Explosion and Boss Hogg bands)
– Joss Whedon
– Judy Dench
– Katherine Kerr*
– Katherine Kurtz
– Kevin Smith
– Kobe Bryant
– Leslie Coulton (WWE)
– Lexa Doig
– Lionel Jospin (former French Prime Minister)
– Lou Ferrigno
– Marcy Playground (band)
– Marilyn Manson*
– Mary Gentle
– Massimo D’Alema (Italy’s ex-Prime Minister)
– Matt Groenig
– Matthew Lillard
– Metallica (band)
– Michael Sheard
– Mike Meyers
– My Chemical Romance (band)
– Nathan Fillion*
– Nelly
– Paget Brewster
– Parker Posey
– Peter DeLuise
– Quentin Tarantino
– Raymond E. Feist
– River Cuomo
– RJ Dio
– Robert Lynn Asprin
– Robin Williams*
– Rush (band)
– Sam Raimi
– Sarah Michelle Gellar
– Sean Astin
– Stephen Colbert*
– Stephen Lea Sheppard
– Steven Brust
– Steven Spielberg
– Terry Pratchett
– Todd Pratt
– Tom Morello
– Vin Diesel*
– Walter Jon Williams*
– Wil Wheaton*

I just remembered the other day that this piece was still collected stray ions on my hard drive. Rather than let it languish further, I thought I’d share it with the world. Written in 2004, it’s a bit dated, but everything I wrote about Lunch Money is still true. It’s a great game.

Play This! Lunch Money

Most of us have left grade school far behind, but we can still remember the cruelty of the playground, the insults fired like spitballs, each prodding its victim closer and closer to the breaking point, until the inevitable happened. A fight broke out. That’s what Lunch Money (designed by Charlie Wiedman and published by Atlas Games) is all about: talking trash, getting in cheap shots, and beating down the other kids before they beat you.

Each player in this card game is dealt five cards out of a 110-card deck. This is plenty for four players. If you have more people ready to join the fight, you can shuffle in another set of cards or a deck of Lunch Money: Sticks & Stones, the new expansion released earlier this year. Games play fast, so you can get lots of rounds into an evening or slip a few in between sessions of more complex games.

When it’s your turn, you play cards from your hand to inflict mayhem on your foes. Your targets play cards to defend. Each player gets 15 tokens, and cards that hurt you take away your tokens. The last player with any tokens left wins the game.

The cards themselves are maybe the best part of the game. They feature pictures printed in various sorts of duotones, which makes them look like tinted photographs from someone’s long-dead childhood. The photographer, Andrew Yates, used his daughter Anna as the model for each of the cards. She seems to have survived the trauma, as she’s due to appear now as a young adult in the upcoming sequel game Beer Money. [This is out now, although I have yet to play it.]

There are four different kinds of cards: Basic Attack Cards (like “Roundhouse”), Defense Cards (like “Dodge”), Weapon Cards (like “Pipe”), and Specialty Cards (like “Big Combo”). You play Basic Attack Cards to hit someone, and they play Defense cards to keep from being hurt. Both are discarded after being played.

Weapon Cards are rare and powerful finds. They return to your hand after being played and so can be used again and again until someone disarms you or stops you in your tracks.

Specialty Cards is a catchall category for stranger things. Some allow you to come up with powerful combinations of cards that deal a terrible amount of damage. The most useful of these cards is “Humiliation,” which blocks any attack or defense. Just like on the playground, it’s more about pride than blood.

The text on the cards is even better than the creepy photos. Here are some examples:

Humiliation: “Jesus hates you and so do I.”
Pimp Slap: “Look at me when I’m hitting you.”
Chain: “What’s black and blue and red all over? You are silly!”

A good chunk of the fun comes from how the rules encourage you to describe what you’re doing in the fight. When you whip out that “Humiliation” card, you’d better have an insult to go with it. Those that don’t are sure to face real-world taunts worse than any in the game. To ram this home, the extended “Example of Play” featured in the rules includes a transcription of this kind of commentary as well as the card play in a game.

This is a game to play when you want to have fun without having to think too hard about it. Even the FAQ on the Atlas website (www.atlas-games.com) confesses that there are certain strategies that can force the game to become tedious. Their best answer to that problem: peer pressure. In a game that features trash talk, it only seems right to apply that to any grognards out to break the game.

Although it doesn’t say it anywhere on the packaging, the theme and graphic design of Lunch Money should tip you off to one fact. While this is a game about kids, it is not for kids. However, if you’re an adult with a dark sense of humor–or an abiding need to explore the harder moments of your childhood in something other than a drooling flashback–this is the game for you. Grab yourself a deck and some friends and start playing dirty.

You can find Lunch Money in better game stores across America or order it direct from Atlas Games. It retails for $19.95. Sticks & Stones will set you back another $9.95. Beer Money is shipping now and costs $19.95 too.