More than any other entertainment medium, video games offer the chance for us to participate in a world beyond the ordinary. Whether you are playing as a supersonic hedgehog, an athletic archeologist, or a moustachioed Italian plumber, video games allow their players to inhabit spaces where the usual parameters of existence do not apply. The medium's history is chronicled through the individual stories of 151 of the most iconic video games. Beginning in the early 1970s, the book charts five decades of the pixel revolution. The story of each game is accompanied by trivia and quotations, and illustrated with photographs, screenshots and artwork. This celebratory reference, and up-to-date history, will enthral any video games aficionado. - Chronicles the history of gaming through an analysis of151 of the world's most-iconic and best-loved games - Expert analysis of the story of each game, accompanied . by fascinating trivia, memorable quotes, and information on the year of publication and where the game can be played today - Includes titles across all platforms, including arcade, console, PC, online and handheld games - Charts five decades of video game evolution, from Computer Space to Fortnite - Compulsively illustrated with over 1000 action screenshots, game artworks and photographs

The heroes travel to Absalom Station to warn the Pact Worlds government of a fast-approaching threat from beyond the stars! But before they are fully prepared, the titanic spacecraft arrives and shuts down the fabled Starstone Reactor, plunging the station into chaos. The heroes must find a way to bring the power back online, while rescuing citizens and dealing with Azlanti spies, angry outsiders, and confused spirits. Can they save the heart of the Pact Worlds and take the fight to the strange alien vessel? "The Starstone Blockade" is a Starfinder Roleplaying Game adventure for four 16th-level characters. This adventure continues The Devastation Ark Adventure Path, a three-part, monthly campaign in which the players stop the threat of an ancient alien civilization in Starfinder's first high-level adventures! This volume also includes an examination of the church of Eloritu-the god of history, magic, and secrets-as well as a selection of ghastly new aliens! Each monthly full-color softcover Starfinder Adventure Path volume contains a new installment of a series of interconnected science-fantasy quests that together create a fully developed plot of sweeping scale and epic challenges. Each 64-page volume of the Starfinder Adventure Path also contains in-depth articles that detail and expand the Starfinder campaign setting and provide new rules, a host of exciting new monsters and alien races, a new planet to explore and starship to pilot, and more!

Fire your imagination with these fun storytelling cards. Reviving the Victorian craze for 'myrioramas', the 20 picture cards can be placed in any order to create seamless scenes. Almost infinite combinations of cards provide endless storyscaping possibilities. Traverse an enchanted landscape as you build a perpetual panorama inhabited by fire-breathing dragons, magical unicorns and sinister shadow figures. With many games to play and millions of stories to tell, each turn of the card is a new adventure. Where will the story take you? There are over two quintillion storyscaping possibilities, and you can build a seamless panoramas stretching up to 170cm!

A Fistful of Kung Fu brings the hyper-kinetic, bullet-spraying, demon-slaying, kung-fu-fighting action of Hong Kong movies and Asian cinema to the wargames tabletop. In a modern world walking a precarious line between the advances of next-generation technology and the tradition and mysticism of ancient cultures, Kung Fu schools face off in no-holds-barred tournaments, corporations hire agents and spies to steal each other's secrets, overworked SWAT teams respond to gunfights between feuding Triad and Yakuza clans, and ancient artefacts are sought by hopping vampires, demon sorcerers and cyborgs alike. Combining the gunfights of John Woo's Hard Boiled, the hand-to-hand combat of Enter the Dragon, the sheer mystical weirdness of Big Trouble in Little China, the wuxia action of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and everything in-between, A Fistful of Kung Fu is a skirmish wargame unlike any other.

The Battle of France saw German forces sweep across the Low Countries and towards Paris, crushing Allied resistance in just six weeks. From Fall Gelb and the British withdrawal from Dunkirk to the decisive Fall Rot, this new supplement for Bolt Action allows players to take command of the bitter fighting for France, and to refight the key battles of this campaign. Linked scenarios and new rules, troop types, and Theatre Selectors offer plenty of options for novice and veteran players alike.

Combinations are the central element in chess; they make the game so magical and captivating. The beautiful point of sacrificing a queen, the strongest piece, in order to checkmate with a lowly pawn brings a smile of joy to all chess lovers. Virtually all chess games possess a combination, either one hidden in the shadows of analysis carefully avoided or one that provides a decisive blow.
Winning Chess Combinations is a unique work that doesn't merely repeat the wonderfully rich and vast numbers of combinations, asking readers to solve a particular diagrammed position; it is a work that is far more realistic. A combination involves a sacrifice upsetting the balance of forces, but will it work or tragically boomerang? The reader is invited to solve this critical question by identifying the advantages that a specific position holds which might make the combination successful.
Winning Chess Combinations is the seventh in Yasser Seirawan's highly acclaimed Winning Chess series - PROBABLY THE BEST-SELLING SERIES OF CHESS BOOKS EVER PUBLISHED.

Chess Training Pocket Book II is a sequel to the best-selling Chess Training Pocket Book: 300 Most Important Positions and Ideas. In the same tradition, this follow-up volume will save you years of hit-and-miss reading and sporadic improvement because it gathers together for you the crucial, game-winning knowledge in one easy-to-carry book.

It will test, train, and sharpen your thinking skills. Each carefully chosen position offers a crucial building block in your chess knowledge.

This thoroughly updated and revised edition of the highly acclaimed 1986 reference work provides a definitive history of all championship events in the United States through April, 2011. Both the games and the occasions are covered in depth, including biographical details, descriptive settings, anecdotes, tournament drama, unusual games, and grandmaster analysis. Included in this edition are 13 new tournaments, 40 new diagrams and 13 additional crosstables.

Anatoly Karpov is one of the greatest ever Chess World Champions with his greatest strength being the subtle maneuvering of his positional play. Many of his opponents were baffled by the profundity of his strategies, but in this book award-winning author Tibor Karolyi explains Karpovs genius. Karolyi has selected Karpovs most entertaining and instructive strategic wins from 1986-2009 when Karpov was battling with his young rival Garry Kasparov for chess supremacy. It was during this period, at Linares 1994, that Karpov achieved what statistics show to be the finest ever tournament performance.

Every chess player, from club level up, can improve their game by using engines. That is the message of Matthew Sadlers thought-provoking new book, based on many years of experience with the worlds best chess software. You may not be able to replicate their dazzling-deep calculations, but there is so much more your engine can do for you than just checking variations! Matthew Sadler, co-author of the ground-breaking bestseller Game Changer, presents some unique methods to improve by using your engine. He explains how in your opening preparation, instead of sifting through masses of computer analysis you should play training games against your engine. He also shows how to train your early middlegame play, the conversion of advantages, your positional play, and your defensive skills. And, of course: how to analyse your own games. These generic training methods Sadler supplements with concrete techniques. He explains how the top engines tackle crucial middlegame themes such as entrenched pieces, whole board play, attacking rhythm, exchanging pieces, the march of the Rooks pawn, queen versus pieces, and many others. He also opens your eyes to typical strategies that the engines found and fine-tuned in popular openings such as the Kings Indian, the Grunfeld, the Slav, the French and the Sicilian. Sadler illustrates his lessons with a collection of fantastic games, explained with his trademark enthusiasm. For the first time, the superhuman powers of the chess engine have been decoded to the benefit of all players, in a rich and highly instructive book.

If you believe that winning at casino games depends entirely on chance or luck, then this is not the book for you. If, on the other hand, you think that it's crucial to have an effective strategy in order to win, then you simply can't do without it. The green table is the most democratic place to play, where the inequalities between you and the dealer are at a minimum and players can significantly increase their chances of victory. You just need to know how. Simply told and with a touch of irony, 'games king' Dario De Toffoli guides us through rules, secrets, tactics and advice, in a book that is as much for beginners as experts. So prepare yourselves to explore the world of Blackjack, which is 'deconstructed' and analysed in all its mathematical glory for the first time, making readers more conscious and successful when they play. Whether you are in front of a croupier in the flesh and blood or in front of your computer screen playing an online game, now is the time to abandon all those good luck charms and understand that your success depends on you. Because it's fun to play, but it's even more fun to win. So, what are you waiting for? Play the game, but don't let the game play you...

This comprehensive chronological reference work lists the results of men's chess competitions all over the world--individual and team matches, from 1951 through 1955. Entries record location and, when available, the group that sponsored the event. First and last names of players are included whenever possible and are standardized for easy reference. Compiled from contemporary sources such as newspapers, periodicals, tournament records and match books, this work contains 1,620 tournament crosstables and 144 match scores. It is indexed by events and by players.

Release the beasts! Heroes abound in the Age of Lost Omens, but for every great hero, there is an even greater monster. Lost Omens Monsters of Myth provides details on 20 of the most infamous and terrifying monsters from the Inner Sea region and beyond. Uncover the secrets of some of Golarion's greatest monsters from the Sandpoint Devil to Fafnheir, the Father of All Linnorms, and more. Monsters of Myth provides rumors, tales, and even treasures for the brave adventurers willing to face these legendary creatures!

For nearly fifty years grandmasters and amateurs alike have been making their annual pilgrimage to the World Open. Legendary organiser Bill Goichberg created the model of this iconic event in American chess: large entry fees, large prizes, and no-frills. Every year around the 4th of July, Philadelphia is the scene of countless epic battles at the board. Joel Benjamin and Harold Scott examined hundreds of games and conducted a series of interviews with what they call the Heroes of the World Open, players who won the tournament on multiple occasions. What they wanted to investigate was: why have some players been so consistent in their efforts, always battling for the top prizes? Benjamin and Scott discovered that many different paths were taken on the road to victory, but that the Heroes definitely had one common factor: their fighting spirit! The authors present the history of the World Open from its humble beginnings to the juggernaut it has become today. There are many entertaining stories and scandals that the reader will enjoy. This rich book holds a fantastic collection of the very best games that were crucial in deciding the outcome of the tournament as well as a selection of exciting tactics. WINNING THE WORLD OPEN is as entertaining as it is instructive. Not only the many thousands of players that participated will find it an irresistible read.

Viktor Moskalenko is one of the leading chess instructors of our time. Not only has he coached Masters and Grandmasters, including Ukrainian star Vassily Ivanchuk, he has also taught hundreds of classes for amateurs and his best-selling books have inspired thousands of ambitious club players all over the world. Moskalenkos previous and highly popular chess opening books were mainly written for the Black pieces. Now he presents an extremely powerful set of lines for White. The guiding principle of his 1.d4 repertoire is: be bold and put pressure on your opponent as early as possible. Moskalenko does not shower you with long computer-generated variations but has a keen eye for the essence of positions. His talent to find new resources in well-known lines results in a host of novelties, daring recommendations and cunning tricks. When you play his lines and follow his recommendations you will frequently surprise your opponent and build up positions full of swing. Studying An Attacking Repertoire for White with 1.d4 is a delight because this is a typical Moskalenko book: practical, accessible, original, entertaining and inspiring. Viktor Moskalenko (1960) is an International Grandmaster and a FIDE Senior Trainer. The former Ukrainian champions recent books include The Even More Flexible French, The Wonderful Winawer, Training with Moska and The Fabulous Budapest Gambit.

Genius in the Background introduces brilliant chess that will be unfamiliar to even well-read chessplayers. Twelve chess stars are profiled with examples of their greatest achievements, but these stars are not famous they are geniuses who stay in the background. For example, Pervakov and Afek are not household names but they compose chess studies and puzzles of such elegance and cleverness that they deserve to be famous. Top players such as Garry Kasparov and Veselin Topalov may be famous names to chess fans, but they did not become World Champions without great help two of their coaches are profiled in this book and provide insights into the education of a chess champion. A broad range of chess is covered by the twelve profiles from openings to endgames, puzzles to training. The common thread is beauty and brilliance that deserves to be better known.

Rogue Stars is a character-based science fiction skirmish wargame, where players command crews of bounty hunters, space pirates, merchants, prospectors, smugglers, mercenary outfits, planetary police and other such shady factions from the fringes of galactic civilisation. Crews can vary in size, typically from four to six, and the character and crew creation systems allow for practically any concept to be built. Detailed environmental rules that include options for flora, fauna, gravity, dangerous terrain and atmosphere, and scenario design rules that ensure that missions are varied and demand adaptation and cunning on the parts of the combatants, make practically any encounter possible. Run contraband tech to rebel fighters on an ocean world while hunted by an alien kill-team or hunt down a research vessel and fight zero-gravity boarding actions in the cold depths of space - whatever you can imagine, you can do.

Games for All Occasions. Planning a party? Indoors or outdoors? No problem--if you avail yourself of the 297 indoor and outdoor games clearly and simply described in Games for All Occasions by Ken Anderson and Morry Carlson. There are icebreakers. . .quiz games. . .written games. . .picnic games. . .musical games. . .waterfront games. . .games for lawn parties. . .the latest games. . .action games. . .stunts. . .thought games. . .for children--adults--group leaders--party hosts--teachers--parents--the young in heart--for all who want to entertain or be entertained. No matter what the occasion, there is bound to be an appropriate game in this handy, indexed collection assembled for you fun and recreation!

Experts agree that regularly solving tactical exercises is a vital component of chess training. However, it's also widely acknowledged that there is one major drawback to traditional chess puzzles - students know for sure that there is a genuine tactic in the position waiting to be found, whereas during a real game there is no such guarantee! In this workbook, Volker Schleputz and Grandmaster John Emms offer a unique framework to practise chess tactics independent of themes, difficulty and - most crucially - even the definite existence of an actual tactic in a given position. Analysing carefully selected games, from beginner through to club and tournament level, the reader assumes the role of a tactics detective, searching for mistakes and missed opportunities by both sides without the help of a chess engine. ------ Are you making the most of your chess talent? Do you always perform to the best of your ability? Do your results match up with your understanding of the game? If the answer to any of these questions is 'no' then read on!In The Survival Guide to Competitive Chess, Grandmaster and experienced tournament player John Emms reveals the secrets of how to maximize your potential and improve your results. Drawing upon his own over-the-board experiences, Emms tackles the all-important aspects of practical play: concentration and behaviour at the chessboard; playing for a win or a draw; winning good positions and saving difficult ones; handling time trouble; avoiding silly mistakes; understanding your strengths and weaknesses; building an opening repertoire; using chess computers and software; preparing for opponents; understanding and utilizing the finer points of the rules; and much more besides. Read this book and play every game with the confidence that you really can give it your best shot.

With this new supplement for Frostgrave, players can lead their warbands into the vast network of catacombs, sewers, and dungeons that run underneath the Frozen City. It was in these dark confines that the ancient wizards known as Beastcrafters experimented on living creatures, creating strange hybrids and deadly monsters, many of which still roam the forgotten passageways. Along with a host of new scenarios, treasures, soldiers, and creatures, the book also contains rules for the traps and secret passages that are often found in the dungeons. With wonderful and rare magical treasures to be discovered, will players risk taking their warbands down into the Breeding Pits?

Mermaids, sword fights, and adventures through Neverland are all fun and exciting-until you're staring down the mouth of a crocodile big enough to topple a castle. Journey into the world of Peter Pan and its mysterious inhabitants in Neverland: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting. EXPLORE THE ISLE OF MISCHIEF & MYSTERY Many have heard of the island of Neverland. Stories of pirates, mermaids and Peter Pan are told by parents around the world to send their children off to a happy, dreaming sleep. But, it's been a long time since the Darlings first flew to Neverland and a new story is about to be told. Your own. Take a journey into the world of Peter Pan and its mysterious inhabitants in Neverland: A Fantasy RPG Setting. The book is a feature-length hex crawl campaign, intended for sandbox exploration. Created by Andrew Kolb, you'll find endless adventure inside, lovingly adapted from the tales of Peter Pan and tailored for an older audience. Each hex is self-contained, brimming with lore from Peter Pan and the Darlings' escapades. It's time to tell your own stories of pirates, mermaids and children who can fly. For use with the fifth edition of the world's oldest role-playing game.

This beautifully illustrated deck of playing cards is perfect for round after round of gin or Gin Rummy – or any other card game. Featuring illustrations of 40 gins from around the world, plus 12 gin-based cocktails, the deck is accompanied by a booklet giving detailed background to the world's favourite juniper-based spirit, the 40 gins themselves and recipes for all the cocktails. Perfect for a hand of cards or a handy refresher on how to mix a Tom Collins or Twisted Gin Fizz.