Blog Posts by Mike Smith

Was Cicero the original Simon?Simon says, put your hands on your head. Simon says, turn around.

Put your hands down. Out!

If that gives you flashbacks to standing in kindergarten, arms at your sides, while all your classmates point and stifle giggles, let's just say you're not the only one.

'Simon Says' is centuries old, a childhood favorite all around the world, and remains popular in today's classrooms where teachers use it to teach impulse control, listening ability, and motor skills. But where did the game originate, and just who was Simon, anyway?

It's summertime, and the living is easy. Maybe a little too easy. Lounging about in the sun is all well and good, but sooner or later, you're going to get bored with all that relaxation. So if you're looking to spice things up without having to run indoors, check out these high-tech toys perfectly suited for outdoor hijinks.

It's hard to think of an activity more wholesome and family-friendly than an evening spent playing board games. But just as film has its 'Clockwork Orange', fiction has its 'Catcher in the Rye', and video gaming has its Grand Theft Auto, so too the world of board games has its controversial black sheep. Here are five you should probably skip at your next family game night.

War on TerrorWar on Terror: The Board Game
It has cards called "Suicide Bomber," "Regime Change," and "Terrorist Attack," uses a spinner dubbed the Axis of Evil, and comes with a ski mask with the word "EVIL" written in red across its forehead. It's War on Terror: The Board Game, and it raised eyebrows by making light of what, at the

Civilization World - Firaxis Now entering its third decade, the Civilization series of
turn-based nation-builders ranks as one of PC gaming's most enduring. Even in
last year's Civlization V, the game's most recent and high-tech installment,
it's easy to see the core concepts the twenty-year-old original game beneath
the pretty graphics. Appropriately, "Civ" has built its success on rock-solid
historical foundations.

Which is one reason why the latest in the series is going to
come as a bit of a shock to the franchise's legion of fans. Civilization is
coming to Facebook in a new, free version dubbed "Civilization World" -- and in
the words of its creator Sid Meier, it's the most dramatic stretch the series
has ever

July 4th sales extravaganza In case you hadn't noticed, it's Independence Day weekend. Not only does that make it one of the year's best opportunities for grilling out, watching fireworks, and enjoying the sun, it's also one of your best chances to get away from it all, take an extra day off work, and catch up on your gaming. Consequently, it's prime season for gaming price-cuts, too -- and here's our pick of this year's best.

Steam

Digital distribution service Steam's summer deals are legendary -- and this year's selection isn't going to hurt that reputation one iota. In addition to their rotating set of daily deals, they're slashing prices on massive bundles.

Every Valve-developed game -- including Half-Life 2 and

The kids are out of school. Gas prices are dropping. The sun is shining (perhaps). In short, it's summer. And where there's summer, there's travel -- and where there's travel, there's cars and planes full of bored people wondering if they're there yet, and nobody wants that. Turn your journey from chore to cheer with a selection of travel-friendly board game classics.

Settlers of CatanSettlers of Catan: Travel Edition
Breakout smash Settlers of Catan has introduced millions to the so-called "German-style" board game: simple rules, short play sessions, and a pronounced emphasis on strategy rather than luck. This travel edition streamlines Catan's rules still further, and transforms the board from an

Think bingo is just a game for the elderly? Don't know the difference between a number-nine and Gandhi's breakfast? Responsible for creating millionaires, spawning its own dialect, and driving at least one math professor insane, bingo history is littered with fun facts. Read on for five of the best.

Hope it's a winner.What's with the name-o?

Unpacking the etymology of the word "bingo" is a tricky task. Both the game and the word -- used as a general expression of surprise or pleasure -- are centuries old, and the two have, as far as we can tell, often gone together.

But not always. Although the game was called "bingo" in 18th-century England, by the 20th century Brits were calling it "Housey Housey." Some

From the screen to your living room. Video games have been drawing inspiration from the much older world of board gaming for decades. Now it's time for the video games
industry to give back.

Appearing this month in Barnes and Noble stores, strategy board game Tetris Link owes the Soviet Union's most famous video game more than just its name.

Link includes four sets of familiar Tetris pieces in each of four colors and a six-sided die marked with the familiar tetromino designs from the original game. Rolling the die determines which piece you'll be playing, and the tetrominos slide down a vertical plastic track not unlike a Connect 4 board.

You're not trying to make lines, though -- you're trying to connect your own pieces into