Muggins

They call Muggins "aerobics for the mind." Because you might need to multiply and divide as well as add and subtract, they call it a math game. And, yes, it's been reportedly a huge success in math classes. As they say on the home page, it's a game "for those who love math or those who hate math, those who are math challenged and those who are math geniuses, these games are guaranteed to challenge, build math and thinking skills, and increase self-confidence." But that's no reason for you to think of Muggins as anything other than pure fun.

Muggins can be played by up to four players or teams. Three dice are thrown. Players try to combine the dice through arithmetic operations so as to cover one of the 36 open scoring spaces on the board. You get a higher score if you have covered two or more adjacent spaces. And, if you throw a triple, you get the added, and deliciously vindictive opportunity, to remove your opponents' markers.

If you think you don't have a move (you can't figure out a combination of the dice that will result in one of the available spaces), you pass. If someone else can figure out how to use your dice to make a legal move, that person can call "muggins" and take that move for his or her own (hence, the name of the game - Muggins - as used in the game of Cribbage for a similar situation).

And, for those seeking the more, shall we say "participative" form of Muggins, we introduce the true meaning of Muggins, as found on Dictionary.com: \Mug"gins\, v. t. In certain games, to score against, or take an advantage over (an opponent), as for an error, announcing the act by saying ``muggins.'' In other words, when you find yourself not able to calculate your best move fast enough, just put your marker anywhere and see if anyone Muggins you. Of course you risk losing yet another marker, but, in the heat of the game, you can never tell what a well-timed bluff will get you.

The set (a wooden board, enough marbles for four players, three dice) also includes three polyhedral (12-sided) dice used in Supermuggins and, oddly enough, Muggins, Jr.

Yes, Muggins is just about your ideal educational game. Yes, you exercise arithmetic and algebraic skills. But it's the game part, even more than the educational part that makes Muggins so clearly Major-FUN-Award-worthy. It's a fun, challenging, exciting game for 1-4 players, or teams, that can be played by kids 12-up (younger, still, if using the Muggins, Jr. variation). The fact that it's educational is mere gilding on this highly playable lily of a game.

iMAgiNiff

Buffalo Games' iMAgiNiff wins this week's Major FUN Award for giving people a fun way to get personal, and interpersonal. It asks people to reveal what they think about each other in a way that, under other circumstances would border on intimidating, but the spirit and art of the game keeps it safely on this side of genuine hilarity.

There are a couple hundred Question Cards. Each card asks questions like: "If_____had to sing at a karaoke bar, which song would he/she be?" And then goes on to list six choices: "Blue Suede Shoes," "New York, New York," "Stand By Your Man," "Figaro" "I Honestly Love You" or "Stairway to Heaven." Imagine that you are the blank that everyone else is filling in. Now, ask yourself, could you get insulted if everyone thought that you would be any one of those?

In my official role as Defender of the Playful, that was my biggest concern with the whole premise of this game. And I'm glad to report that even the most sensitive among the eight of us found the game to be genuine, full-bodied fun, all the way through. The answers are ambiguous enough so that no one can really take them really personally. The scoring system (you get points if you vote according to the majority) also keeps the game on the happy side of tense. Which person gets to be subject of the each round is determined purely by chance. Finally, the names with which the blanks get filled really don't have to have anything to do with the people playing. They can be names of politicians or neighbors and the game is still as involving, and, psychologically, even safer.

We liked how the designers used a write-on, wipe-off marker to allow players to fill the board with whatever names they wanted to use for the game. It gave us a feeling that we were customizing the board, just for each other. Which added to the sense of ownership and fun. To vote, players pick a numbered card, which they put face down on the table, and then, simultaneously, reveal. This makes the game that much more exciting. Also, since there's always a minority, there's always something to argue about, and, since the arguments are about things that are clearly ridiculous - like why someone is more like Berlin than Mexico City - it all seems to further the fun.

Yes, score is kept. Winning players get to progress along a spiral track. But, as in all Major FUN Award-winning games, winning isn't really the point. Playing is.

For 3-8 players, 12 and up.

Cuboro

Cuboro is what people in the trade call a "Grandparents' Toy." What they usually mean by this is that it costs more money than most parents are willing to spend for a mere toy.

As a grandparent myself, I, too, would classify Cuboro a Grandparents' Toy. However, I'm not planning on giving it to my kids. Or my grandkids. I'm keeping it for myself. I figure it'll be another ruse I can use to get the grandkids over. And, in the mean time, I get it all to myself!

Cuboro is a beautifully made wooden construction toy that is used to create marble labyrinths. The blocks are made of beech, precision cut and sanded smooth. In the Standard set (54 blocks, $122.95), 26 of the blocks are just that - well-made, solid wooden blocks that serve as the foundation for the constructions. The remaining 28 provide an assortment of 12 different "functions." By carving channels and tunnels into the blocks, the designers create the elements of wonder. Each of the functional blocks provides part of a marble path. Some channels and tunnels curve. Some cross. By assembling the elements in just the right way (and there are literally hundreds of "right ways") you get a complete marble track.

Playing with Cuboro is a process of building and testing. Adjusting. Testing again. Adding. Adjusting. And again, testing. It challenges mind, eye and dexterity. It combines creative play with scientific exploration. This is really what makes Cuboro such a deep, playworthy toy. It engages the players on so many levels. And, just when you think you've exhausted the permutations and combinations of the Standard set, you can purchase sets of new elements, each of which combines with every other set, each providing a whole new collection of possibilities.

It's important to note that Cuboro is very different from construction toys like Lego and Erector Sets, and equally different from dedicated marble run toys like the beautiful Scalino system. It's open-ended. There are no plans included for creating specific structures (though a clear and well-conceived book of such plans is available to the appropriately desperate). Cuboro is designed for both flexibility and complexity. It lends itself to creative, scientific exploration as well as a more closed-ended puzzle-solving approach. This is part of the reason why I feel this toy is so valuable. Its open-endedness and intricacy is a paradigm for the kinds of experience I find most conducive to building playfulness and community.

Cuboro is the most expensive toy so far to earn a Major FUN Award. The elegance of its design, craftsmanship and functionality create a new standard for the kind of games and toys we hope to be reviewing in the future. As you become more familiar with the standard set, consider investing in an expansion set. Cuboro Duo ($84.95) adds double tracks, so you can race two marbles at a time. As amazing as it is that they managed to carve all those curvy tracks and tunnels into hardwood, the added game play is even more amazing. The words "quantum leap" come to mind. There are also "Six Packs" available, at $19.95 each, for yet more amazement.

Finally, trivial as it may seem, I also really appreciate it that the manufacturers invested in a box that was hefty enough to store this significantly hefty toy.

In case you were wondering, "Cuboro is manufactured...by a small, family-owned woodworking and toy company in Switzerland. The beech wood that the Cuboro blocks are made from is harvested by the family in an ecologically sound manner. The excess wood left by the manufacturing process is not discarded; rather it is burned in the kilns that methodically dry the blocks to ensure that they maintain their precise shape and character."

Pass the Bomb

Pass the Bomb is a fast-paced word game for two or more players 12 and over (a junior version is available for kids 5 and up...read on).

The "bomb" is an electronic, clock-battery-included, cartoonish-bomb-with-fuse-shaped timer that goes off randomly between 10 and 60 seconds after it is activated. I'm mentioning the bomb first because it is the first thing you see when you open the box, and it's fun all by itself. Especially the random going-off part.

However, the genius of the game is, as they say, in the cards. There are 110 of them. Printed on both sides. Each has two or a few letters on it. The game: start the bomb, turn the first card over, say a word that ends with (or starts, or contains) those letters. Then pass the bomb to the next player. Who must say a different word. Etc., etc., until the bomb goes off (through, conceivably, no fault of the player, since it's random).

Whether the letters have to be in the beginning end or middle of a word is determined by the throw of a die, which, because this game is international, is graphic. And, yes, the graphics aren't that immediately obvious. But here I niggle.

The game is engaging and elegant. The losing player keeps the card, so the cards are used to keep score. The game is fast, so everyone stays involved. The challenge steadily increases as time passes and the obvious solutions get used up, so the tension increases. The unpredictable timer, and the brevity of the time allowed are just the right touches to keep the game fun.

As for the Junior version - same bomb, but different cards, and challenge. The card set is a collection of cartoon drawings depicting different scenes. Players then have to name things that might belong in that scene. It turns out that this is easily as fun as the word game. Even if you don't have kids, Pass the Bomb Junior is most funworthy in deed.

Public Art, Public Play

Today's Major FUN Award goes to Rafael Lozano-Hemmer for his "Relational Architecture" projects, as exemplified by his body movies piece - (this link takes you to a very large quicktime movie, requiring a fast connection and great patience - all well worth the effort).

In this remarkable work of art, Lozano-Hemmer invites people to play via complex and subtle uses of light and technology. I quote from his website:

Body Movies transforms public space with 400 to 1,800 square metres of interactive projections. Thousands of photo portraits taken on the streets of the cities where the project is exhibited are shown using robotically controlled projectors. However, the portraits only appear inside the projected shadows of local passers-by, whose silhouettes measure between 2 to 25 metres high, depending on how far people were from the powerful light sources placed on the floor of the square. A custom-made computer vision tracking system triggers new portraits as old ones are revealed.

Body Movies effectively transforms a public square into a public playground, where strangers play with light, shadow, and each other. It illustrates every principle I can think of that characterizes an effective play environment: It supports almost any degree of involvement. Players can choose to ignore it completely. Players can watch other players at play. Players can dip into and out of it at will. Players can get silly and stay safe, get serious and take risks, become fascinated and fascinating, play alone or in groups. Players can spend hours figuring out how to make it do things.

Lazano-Hemmer came to my attention via an email I received from Madamjujujive, aka Julie Ferguson, a contributor to two of my "Blogs o'Fun" - Metafilter and Everlasting Blort. She knew that I'd be at least as excited as she was about her discovery of the art of as described in this discussion on MetaFilter. I mention this by way of thanks, to Madamjuvujive, Rolo, who passed the lilnk on to the MetaFilter community, and to the many wonders and powers of we who blog.

Want to see more of Lazano-Hemmer? He recommends HUMO: A mobile platform for the rapid deployment of huge images and his "ambitious net project" Vectorial Elevation.