Welcome to the Gaming Shelf, io9's roundup of tabletop gaming news, releases, updates, and interesting crowdfunding campaigns—focusing on sci-fi and fantasy games... for the most part. It’s been quite an eventful couple of weeks, as game companies get ready for the holiday season. We had so many announcements and…
Last month, Russian archaeologists found a secret chamber inside a medieval castle. While exploring this previously unknown area, the archaeologists discovered a clay brick with tracings of what appears to be a medieval board game.
Playing A Game of Thrones: The Board Game was one of the most intense experiences of my life—it remains the only board game I’ve ever stormed away from out of anger, sorry family. But if I thought that was an extreme Game of Thrones experience, I too know nothing, Jon Snow. Because there’s a new Song of Ice and Fire …
So it was written, and so it was done—128 years ago to this day, H.P. Lovecraft was born, and with him came the creation of a vast and terrifying world. An ancient place of gods, magic, and monsters. Here’s a collection of some board games and tabletop role-playing games that took inspiration from everything…
Welcome back to Toy Aisle, io9's regular round up of all the lovely toys and merchandise we’ve spotted on the internet recently. This week, Shuri gets the incredible action figure she deserves, Christopher Robin’s take on Winnie the Pooh gets an adorable toy, and the Dude almost certainly abides. Check it out!
Welcome to the Gaming Shelf, io9's new roundup of tabletop gaming news, releases, updates, and interesting Kickstarter campaigns—focusing on sci-fi and fantasy games, with the occasional exception of course (Machi Koro is too cute to ignore!). Seeing as we’re on the heels of GenCon, board game companies have been…
Welcome back to Toy Aisle, io9's weekly round up of the most delightful toys we’ve seen tempting our savings accounts on the internet. This week: S.H. Figurarts finally brings Princess Leia to its Star Wars line, Overwatch’s best dad gets the chibi treatment, and honest to god Pokébutts. Check it out!
The Brothers Chaps’ Homestar Runner cartoons are one of the few good things to ever come from this internet thing. It introduced the world to countless quotable characters, but few became as immediately popular as the S-shaped, one-armed, flying, burninating dragon called Trogdor, who’s now starring in his very own…
Welcome back to Toy Aisle, io9's weekly round up of all things toy. This week, we’re shipping ourselves off to San Diego and staying in a cramped convention hall with tons of new announcements.. an a few toys that slipped out earlier in the week. Plus, Mario Kart Hot Wheels, the Golden Girls(!), and so much more!
Calling out around the world, are you ready to camp your butt next to an air conditioner? Because summer’s here and the time is right for staying the hell away from all outdoor activities. As summer temperatures continue to break records and raise sea levels, I highly suggest keeping it cool and pull out some awesome…
Do you watch Disney’s classic animated films and secretly root for the villains? Do you think Captain Hook was actually a tragic figure, a victim of a flying boy with no sense of responsibility? With Villainous, a new board game by Wonder Forge, you finally get to spend game night playing the baddie, and you’ll…
Welcome back to Toy Aisle, io9's regular roundup of the newest, coolest toys we want to add to our collections. This week’s entries might be a bit hard to acquire though—because truly, San Diego Comic-Con exclusive season is upon us. We’ve got creepy Yodas! Aquamen! Spaceship cockpits! Oh, and a Swedish chef. Take a…
The most effective way to tell your co-workers you don’t want to be bothered is to close your office door. But if you’re stuck in cubicle purgatory, that’s not an option. Instead, try this Scrabble tile rack desk lamp that lets you spell out seven-letter warnings like ‘GO AWAY’, ‘NOT NOW’, or other, blunter messages…
It all started after the 2016 election. The TESA Collective, which makes games and tools about social causes, was in a bind. They wanted to make a game that would inspire players to change the world, but they knew people also needed a break from all the crap. How could they accomplish their goal and combat the…
Welcome back to Toy Aisle, io9's weekly round up of the best toys we’ve seen all week. This time we’ve got a bumper bunch of Jurassic Park merchandise (and some Jurassic-adjacent attempts too), rocking toys that boldly go, and perhaps the world’s most absurdly articulated action figure cape ever seen. Check them out!
It’s neither easy nor advisable to become a member of Hellboy’s Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, given the unique set of skills it takes to face the kinds of otherworldly threats handled by the organization. But if you’ve got your heart dead set on investigating the things that go bump in the night, then…
If your wallet serves as more of a toolbox than a place to stash a few bucks, alongside a flat-pack knife and credit card-sized multi-tools, you can also slip in this super tiny, 3D-printed chess set. Compared to playing rock-paper-scissors, it’s a far more civilized way to make important decisions.
If you had the board game Fireball Island in the ‘80s, odds are you never forgot it. Not just because it was a wild game that let you race marbles around and knock out opposing players, but because the box and board were so ridiculously massive. That original game was shelved by Milton Bradley long ago but, as of…
Welcome back to Toy Aisle, io9's weekly roundup of shiny toys and merch we desperately wish we had the money to waste on. This week is getting a bit life-sized, with a giant Star Wars trooper, a slightly less giant (but still life-sized) baby Groot, and a cool look at Thor’s new Infinity War weapon. Check it out!
We’ve covered a few of Massdrop’s unorthodox keyboard upgrades over the years, but none as lovely as this officially-licensed Hasbro Scrabble keyboard that puts every letter of the alphabet at your disposal, instead of just seven you randomly grab at the start of a game.
