Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons, passed away yesterday.

I never really got into playing D&D, for some reason, but I was always very aware of that world. It had a large influence on the world of fantasy writing: for example, it was noted by some that you could hear the dice rattling while reading Elizabeth Moon’s Deed of Paksennarion.

(And yes, I know the difference between D&D and Adventure. I just couldn’t resist.)

I finally got the maximum score at the Quiddler Daily Puzzle, from the same people who brought us Set.

What? I never blogged Set? Darn, have to remedy that. Set is a pattern-matching card game. Each card has a picture on it that is one of three shapes, colors, shading, or counts. To make a set, you have to choose three cards such that for each attribute, everything is the same, or everything is different. It’s a simple game that can be played anywhere you have enough flat space — one time at the Pacific Science Center, I pulled it out of my backpack to play with Erin while we waited to go in to the planetarium, and promptly had all the other kids in line leaning over, some of whom joined in. Despite the simplicity of the rules, it can get rather frustrating when you just can’t for the life of you see a set, even after dealing out 3 additional cards…

Again, I <3 The Onion.

Sousaphone Hero offers two dozen public-domain marches, including 1893’s “The Liberty Bell,” 1896’s “Stars and Stripes Forever,” and 1897’s “Entry of the Gladiators.” The bulky sousaphone-shaped controller coils around the body, and players wear white spat-like foot coverings fitted with sensors that monitor synchronized marching steps. As with the fret buttons on Guitar Hero’s guitar peripheral, the sousaphone controller’s three valves are color-coded to match on-screen notes the player must hit.

Players may also choose from 27 different fat-guy characters who can be customized with Alpine hats, epaulets, and a mustache editor with a wide array of options.

The Shifted Librarian reports on a teen librarian who keeps DDR set up all the time, and will allow patrons to challenge her in an attempt to get their fines waived. :-)

Anybody have a clue why the Casual Collective seems to be down at the moment? There’s nothing on the devs’ blog about it…

Update: back up now. Yeah! :-)

Random comment: …and Papa John’s finally opened a store in town. All’s well with the world. :-)

I was just playing Buggle over at The Casual Collective when I saw a rather unusual occurence. Normally, when the links between Buggles are made, they block each other. Somehow, though, in this one, we got a crossover.

OpenDNS couldn’t resolve HandDrawnGames.com, and neither could the nameservers for Nyx, so I dug a bit deeper, and turned it up at http://65.98.116.171/DesktopTD/. Have fun!

Update: seems to be better now, and the game’s been updated a bit.

Do not click through this link to read about the game referenced at the other end.

You have been warned.

One of my favorite trivia games has returned to the web. YDNJ is a trivia game with lots-and-lots of attitude. Unfortunately, Donna won’t play it with me anymore because a, I know too much trivia, and b, I read the clues faster than she does. :-) (h/t MeFi)

Almeda has some definite ideas on the subject over at her LJ, and she explains why Psychonauts isn’t one.