Do you have a closet full of dusty old board games? Ever wonder if any of them are rare enough to set up you up with a nice pad on Millionaire Estates? Or should you just assume they're only worth Monopoly money? Read on for some tips to tell the trash from the treasures.

You know a game is a hit when it sells on eBay for higher than its retail price. You know it's a smash when pieces of that game are commanding premium pricing on the auction site. But when six of those pieces sell for well over $1,000? That's when you've officially got a monster on your hands.

Activision is in that fortunate position as six Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure figures in the U.K. have sold for £797, roughly $1,260. And the winner will have to toss in another $50 or so for shipping.

Don't make faces; the wind will change, and you'll stay that way. Eat your crusts; it'll curl your hair. Play chess; it broadens the mind.

Unlike so many folksy sayings, that last one is apparently true.

Researchers at the University of Texas have discovered that regular chess players are better at analyzing visual information than the rest of us. Specifically, they use more of their brain when processing other people's faces.

Most mice only live a few months. But Chuck E. Cheese's turns 35 today.

The kid-friendly restaurant chain was launched this day in 1977, bringing its curious blend of animatronic rodents, arcade games, Skee-ball and pizza to millions. It's faced more than a few hurdles over the years, but it's still going strong, with over 500 stores around the world and quarterly revenues of nearly $200 million.

But despite its success, there are plenty of things you might not know about the Pizza Time Theater. Such as:

"A man in Omaha, Nebraska reportedly has amassed a collection of over 1,500 board games," quipped Seth Meyers on a recent episode of Saturday Night Live. "The only one he hasn't mastered is the Game of Life."

That might be enough to embarrass some, but for Kaleb Michaud, the particular Nebraskan board game collector in question, it's been part of a wild ride to local celebrity status.

"Anamorphosis" is the technique of distorting an image so that it only looks 'correct' when viewed from a certain perspective.  In a still image, it's intriguing enough, but it takes on a new life when viewed as a video.

Video illusionist 'Brusspup' has done just that, using a moving camera perspective to seamlessly transition between the illusion of a 'normal' chair and the distorted reality.  Intrigued?  Watch the video in action:

Lego MinecraftCountless Lego toys have been depicted in video games, but as far as we know there's never been a Lego set that's based purely on a video game property.

That's all going to change this summer -- and the game in question isn't a headline-grabbing name like Mario, Halo, or Pokemon. Instead, it's quirky indie builder Minecraft.

Named "Minecraft Micro World," the set will be a small-scale, modular recreation of the game's famously blocky terrain, plus Lego representations of two of the game's "most iconic characters," Steve and a Creeper.

Minecraft's worlds are built from perfect cubes, and although you can't quite make one of those in Lego, a one-by-one plate with a tile on top turns out to be a decent approximation, according to the set's creators.

Ah, childhood toys. Hopscotch, skipping ropes, wiffleballs...what could be more wholesome?

Under normal circumstances, the toy world is indeed an oasis of happy, idealistic, and innocent fun and games. But sometimes, mistakes are made. Be it through lack of thought, lack of care, or lack of taste, history is sprinkled with toys that just should never have made it to market at all. Like these.