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The GameCaravan is devoted to guiding you to fun and adventure with games, especially board games and online games.  Our biggest treasure is our huge database of Boardgames where you can find game data, reviews, links, errata, awards, your favorite designers, players' comments, and more.  We can also help you find local game groups, conventions, news, companies, links, online games, and related goodies.  A great caravan attraction is a place where you can create a wish list of the treasures you would really like to get for your next birthday or special occasion. Then refer your family and friends to your wish list.

Getting Board Games

How do you find great board games?

• Check the AWARDS page to see the most respected games of the past and present.
• Check FUNAGAIN.COM to see a list of the current hot games. 
• Check the BOARDGAMES DATABASE to search for games that match your interests.

We have also made it easy to buy games from our affiliate partners:  Chips & Bits, Funagain, and Amazon.  This helps cover GameCaravan expenses and our ability to continue to guide you to the best in board games.

New Games

October and November is a BIG season for games as the new titles arrive from the ESSEN Game Fair. Here is a sampling:

BattleLore - The world of BattleLore meshes history and fantasy together -- putting players in command of a vast array of miniature troops on the battlefields of a Medieval Europe.

Cartagena - The game represents the famous 1672 pirate-led jailbreak from the fortress of Cartagena.

Gloria Mundi - You're a Roman statesman struggling to survive in this era of cultural decline and political chaos.

Imperial - Europe in the age of imperialism.

Midgard - The world of men, called Midgard, is in its final days, and the battle at the end of the world, called Ragnarok, has begun.

Get the details at Funagain.com

Two Most Popular Games of Past Decade

Probably the two most popular games of the past ten years are SETTLERS OF CATAN and CARCASSONNE. They have won numerous awards, are ranked 2 and 1 top sellers of all time on FUNAGAIN, and have numerous expansions, editions, and variants. If you haven’t tried these or are looking for a great gift, you won’t go wrong with either of these.

CARCASSONNE is set in a medieval terrain. The CARCASSONNE series are tile playing games. 2-6 players, ages 8+ draw and place tiles to build a landscape and score points. They then place a limited number of followers in choice places to score the most points now or at the end of the game. Simple rules are easy to learn, take under an hour to play, and appeal even to non-gamers.

Expansions give you extra tiles and include KING AND SCOUT, INNS AND CATHEDRALS, and TRADERS AND BUILDERS. Even its variations are top-sellers. HUNTERS AND GATHERS take you back to the pre-historic era, THE CASTLE lets two players compete to build a castle, the DISCOVERY is set in the age of discovery, and the TOWER builds up in 3-D. With the huge success of this series, we can thankfully bet that we’ll be treated with more in the future.

New Games
Christmas Movies
New Multiplayer Wargame
Promoting Your New Game
Children's Games
Best Games of 2006
Two Most Popular Games
Selling Your Game Idea
Receive Games for Your Next Gift
Harry Potter is Here
Lord of the Rings
Game Caravan Treasures
Buying Games

This week's Best Selling Boardgames
This weeks's Best Selling PC Games
Add Page to Your Favorites

eCaravan Liquidators
Turn excess inventory into CASH.
We buy small or large amounts of overstocks, discontinued stock, and unwanted merchandise.

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GameTap has more game titles and is the leader in on-demand games with more than 400 titles from over 28 publishers, and new games are added every week.

Children's Games

We have a growing list of children's games in the database.  After all, kids are the next generation of gamers.  You know about the classics already like Candy Land etc, but there are a growing list of learning and more action oriented games (no not shootem-ups, but get up and do something) such as those from CRANIUM.  Even RIO GRANDE and MAYFAIR, known for their great Euopean imports, have childrens games like KIDS OF CATAN, BARNYARD CRITTERS, and BUCKET KING.   There is also a growing collection of the popular Harry Potter games you can find on our Harry Potter page.  See more choices by selecting "childrens" and "family" games from the BOARDGAMES page.

The GameCaravan links page has a growing section on educational games and general sites devoted to kids fun and learning.  We have included numerous sites covering children's fun, teachers aids, homework help, reference materials, and educational games.  Check it out and get the kids involved.  Learning should be fun.

Find the Best Games Recent Games

Are you looking for the great new game for a gift, to add to your wishlist, or to take to the gaming group next year?  In 2007, we didn’t get a blockbuster like Carcassonne or Puerto Rico, but there have been plenty of new and fun games to try. You have several aids in finding the game that best fits your interests:

1. GameCaravan’s Boardgames Search page lets you search for 2006 and later games (as well as many other game attributes).
2. GameCaravan’s Awards page shows you the award winning games.
3. FUNAGAIN's website provides several ways to search for recommended games.  It has lists of award winning and best sellers.  My favorite is the "all time best sellers" list where you know you will find great games.
4.  The various reviews of the Essen Game Fair tell you what received the biggest buzz at the industry’s biggest event.

Since the 1990’s, many of the best board games have come from Germany, even though designers have come from many places.  The Essen Game Fair in Germany is the world’s largest game convention with many companies displaying their newest games.  Rio Grande, Mayfair, Uberplay, and other game companies soon produce English versions of the best.  Here is FUNAGAIN’s list of releases they are selling from Essen.  Here are a variety of Essen reviews that can give you leads to coming hot games.

Game Journal Essen Review Kulkmann's Gamebox Brett & Board

News Flash: Multiplayer wargame can be played in one day

VIKTORY II is a fast paced, multiplayer wargame you can actually finish in a sitting. It is easy to learn, fun to play, and subtle to master. It is based upon 19th century warfare with superb playing pieces you use to conquer other players. VIKTORY II is for 2-6 players from MORRISON GAMES. View full review.

Promoting Your New Game

GameCaravan regularly gets email from new game developers.  The November GAME JOURNAL contains an article by Chad Ellis about promoting new games.  Its quite interesting and may give budding developers ideas.  One of his chief suggestions is to get people to talk about it such as give free copies to game reviewers.  GameCaravan does regularly receive copies of games to review and add to our growing database.  Some of the best are featured.  See the article below Selling Your Game Idea for more info.

Selling Your Game Idea

I guess most of us at sometime have come up with an idea for the next killer game.  Some of us have even developed it on paper or computer.  But how do we get rich from it?!  Well, the bad news is that you won't get rich from it, but the good news is that you can find resources for getting starting.  Amazon has two books that explain how to get started.  The Game Inventors Guidebook is a short book, but gets four stars on Amazon.  The Toy and Game Inventors Handbook is written by a Hasbro designer.  Check out the reviews on Amazon.  The Games Journal also has a review of The Game Inventors Guidebook.  This great monthly newsletter also has game design articles.  Check out these:

GAME DESIGN 201 - Bob Schwartz interviews Jesse Schell, instructor of a Game Design course
at Carnegie Mellon University.

GAME THEORY 1.1 - Jonathan Degann discusses the importance of story arc in good game design.

You should also check out our LINKS page for websites that can assist you.  Our COMPANIES page has contact info for dozens of game companies.  Take heart that others before you have been successful.  I regularly get copies of new games from independent game developers to review and add to the GAMECARAVAN database.

Playing Online Casino Games

In addition to adventure, board and online games - I am also an avid fan of playing casino games on the web. Never for high stakes, I couldn't afford that even if I wanted to. But I do enjoy playing the occasional online slots game for a chance for some quick cash and real excitement. Until recently I was having trouble deciding where to play. In December 2007 I found a great website called Online Casino Suite. The site seems to have genuine involvement from the creators whish I was happy to see. While they do not list many online casinos in their casino reviews guide, they do provide detailed information on the few listed. If you like to play Bingo like my mom does, check out their online bingo halls. When we last checked they started a casino blog so that might be of interest as well.

Harry Potter is Back

One of the nice things about Harry Potter movies, is now we have something to look forward to in between the books.  GameCaravan has trekked the web and our partner affiliates to find a wealth of Harry Potter treasures.  Check our new HARRY POTTER PAGE for free online games, board games, video games, books, movie info and more.

How to Receive Games for Your Next Gift

The Caravan's newest treasure has arrived!  We have now provided you a place where you can wish for the games and goodies you would really like to get for your next gift.  Now if you get socks instead of games for your next birthday, its your own fault!  At the Wish List Command Center, you can create your own wish list and easily email it to your family and friends.  You can also enter the games you own to avoid getting duplicates and indicate to other caravan travellers whether you want to trade or sell them.  And most importantly, people can see what you are wishing for when birthdays and Santa come by.

Lord of the Rings Stuff

We've loved the J. R. R. Tolkien's books for decades and occasional games have appeared.  But now that the movies are here, so are lots of other stuff.  Here is a sampling I have found.  The movies are now on DVD and VHS.

First the games:  Hasbro/Fantasy Flight has a game, LORD OF THE RINGS, and its expansion, FRIENDS AND FOES, that came out before the movie.  It is unique in requiring cooperation among the players to win and is from the noted designer, Reiner Knizia.  KOSMOS/RIO GRANDE has a tile playing game, LORD OF THE RINGS - THE SEARCH featuring a competitive race to the mountain.  Games Workshop coincided their new series, LOTR TABLETOP BATTLES, with the movie.  It is a miniatures series with a Basic game and several miniatures addon packs.  There are a couple of card games: TAROT DECK AND CARD GAME and the German game from Reiner Knizia that hasn't yet been released in English, Lord of the Rings: Die Gefährten: Das Kartenspiel.  

PC games:  Lord of the Rings:  Fellowship of the Rings - Undertake a journey following the same path as the Fellowship in the book.  Play as either Frodo, Aragorn, or Gandalf the Grey.   As you take the fabled One Ring closer to its fate, you will explore the most dangerous wilds of Middle-earth from the Shire to the very edge of Mordor in a stunning 3-D world.

Books:  No game or movie can be a serious substitute for the outstanding book series from J.R.R. Tolkien.  If you have never read it - you must, and for those of us who have, its always a good re-read.  Check AMAZON.COM for a wide variety of books related to the movie, the author, and of course the original novels.

Movies:  The new movie is getting rave reviews, but it isn't the first.  Check AMAZON.COM for the old animated versions.

Other Stuff:  While many of us may wonder what took so long for LOTR to make it big, now that it has, you'll be amazed out how much stuff there is related to it such as toys, posters, soundtracks. Check out AMAZON.COM'S LOTR Store for a sampling.

Treasures of the Game Caravan

I've worked many months to bring you Phase One of this vision.  You can find many great board game sites on the web (see our links page for the best), but the Game Caravan has several mostly unique features.

• There are a couple of good games databases, but the treasure chest of the Game Caravan is a games database that helps you find and enjoy games that most interest you.  You can search it ten different ways to best serve your interests.  It already contains over 500 games (mostly newer ones) and is ever growing in such areas as strategy games, war games, railroad games, family games, children's games, abstract games, miniatures, and card games.
• A report of games that have received awards will point you to the best games.
• A growing list of local game groups will help you find people to game with.
• A list of game conventions will help you find tournaments to test yourself while having fun.
• A table of game companies will help you find company contacts.
• A movie database will help you find movies relating to your favorite games in history, wars, railroads, fantasy, and science fiction.  I have reviewed these movies from the viewpoint of gaming, history, and military enthusiasts so the movie info will be rather different than others you may see.  Search the movie database five different ways to best meet your interests.  The database is expanding whenever I have a chance to see another movie to review.
  

Buying Games

After making it easy to find  online games you are looking for, we have also made it easy to buy them.  This will give us encouragement to continue with future phases.  Chips & Bits has a great selection of traditional wargames, board games, strategy games, and electronic games.  Their selection of Avalon Hill games still seems to be decent, but I advise you to grab these before they are gone for good as Hasbro bought them out and will only re-release popular games.  Funagain has the best selection of European style, family, children's, and card games along with player reviews.  If you can't find something at Amazon, it probably doesn't exist, but try out our Amazon Search box to find out.  The Game Caravan mostly has newer games, but the web has several places to buy out of print games.  Check out the Gamers Alliance for catalogs and eBay for auctions.  The newsgroup, rec.games.board.marketplace, also is a good source.

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