Pinball games combine excitement, challenge, technology, and fantastic artwork. They are sought after collector items, snapped up by enthusiasts who keep them running and "alive" both mechanically and cosmetically. Silverball lovers of all ages and tastes will be enthralled by the fifty pinball games -- both vintage and contemporary -- showcased in this book. Each has its own chapter outlining the game's special features, historical background, game rules, graphic images, collectibility and current value. Over 400 extraordinary full color photographs give a complete visual survey of each game. Enjoy whole machine shots, close-ups of backglasses and playfields, and ball's-eye-view images that reveal wonderful details of the playfield action. Along with its companion volume, Pinball Snapshots, this outstanding book will be thoroughly enjoyed by pinball collectors, historians, and graphic artists, as well as devotees of coin-operated amusement games.

A graphic novel biography following the life of Bobby Fischer, from chess wunderkind and national hero to his eventual spiral into madness and infamyThe life of Bobby Fischer (1943–2008) had many unexpected moves—from his solitary childhood to his stratospheric accomplishments in the world of competitive chess, and eventually, his decent into mental illness and disgrace. Black and White begins in Brooklyn, where Fischer was born and raised by a single mother. By the time he was a teen, he had established himself as a loner and dropped out of school. But none of that mattered; he had found his true calling—chess.In 1972, at age 13, Fischer played what many consider “the game of the century� against the Soviet Union’s chess champion Boris Spassky at the height of the Cold War. A year later, Fischer became the youngest-ever US Chess Champion, and at 15, the game’s youngest grandmaster. Never before had chess received such international attention. Fischer, whose sole focus in life up until then was chess, reached the Olympus of chess at 29, and then . . . he disappeared. Suffering from mental illness, the chess genius became increasingly paranoid, lost in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories—despite the fact that he himself was Jewish—and died as a fugitive in Iceland. With Black and White, author Julian Voloj and illustrator William Wagner have crafted a beautiful and fascinating work that reveals Fischer’s history while also contextualizing his lasting impact on pop culture. Black and White is the first-ever graphic novel to tell Fischer’s story and examine the legacy he left behind.

Renowned chess teacher and grandmaster Artur Yusupov continues his complete course of chess improvement. Volume 1, The Fundamentals, showed club chess players the basic ideas they should know. Now Volume 2, Beyond the Basics, sets off on the road to mastery. Yusupov guides the reader towards a higher level of chess understanding using carefully selected positions and advice. This new understanding is then tested by a series of puzzles. Artur Yusupov was ranked No. 3 in the world from 1986 to 1992, just behind the legendary World Champions Karpov and Kasparov. He has won everything there is to win in chess except for the World Championship. In recent years he has mainly worked as a chess trainer with players ranging from current World Champion Anand to local amateurs in Germany, where he resides.

The chess world has witnessed a great number of wonderfully gifted attacking players, geniuses who have dazzled the chess public with their brilliant masterpieces. Everyone has their own favourites, and in "Chess Secrets: Great Attackers," Colin Crouch chooses three of his own: Garry Kasparov, Mikhail Tal and Leonid Stein. World Champions Kasparov and Tal need no introduction, while Stein was a highly creative and intuitive player with the ability to destroy the world's best players with his vicious attacks.Crouch examines their differing approaches and styles, and highlights some crucial themes, including the idea of controlled risk - in some sacrificial attacks even the greatest players can't always see everything to the end. A study of this book will help you to enhance your skills in one of the most crucial elements of the game. *An entertaining and instructive guide to attacking chess*Learn from the greats of the game*Discover how famous chess minds work "Chess Secrets" is" "a new series of books which uncover the mysteries of the most important aspects of chess study: strategy, attacking play, opening play and gambits, classical play, endgames and preparation. In each book the author chooses and deeply studies a number of great players from chess history who have excelled in a particular field of the game and who have genuinely influenced their descendants. Dr Colin Crouch is an International Master, an extremely experienced tournament player and a highly regarded chess writer. His previous books for Everyman Chess include "Queens"" Gambit Declined: 5 Bf4!," which has been highly acclaimed for its thoroughness and originality, with one reviewer describing it as 'the opening bookof the year'. He has been a regular columnist for "British Chess Magazine" and "CHESS."

Learn the basics of photography while playing one of three game options and get inspired to take your own photograph. Lay out all images face up, pick a subject card from the pink deck and collect four image cards depicting that subject. Or play this game reversed, by matching the image one-by-one with the correct symbol. For a more advanced option, play memory with the symbols faced up and find pairs with overlapping subjects. Finally, inspire yourself looking at a pair, a trio or a quartet of cards and take a photograph with a smartphone that represents the same theme. Upload it on the My Photography Game website and share it with your friends!

Just about every bridge player over forty has read Victor Mollo's Bridge in the Menagerie, a book that is on any list of the all-time top ten on the game. Towards the end of his life, Mollo continued to write stories about the same well-loved characters (Hideous Hog, Rueful Rabbit, Oscar the Owl and the rest), but they appeared in various magazines around the world, and if you weren't a subscriber, you didn't get to read them. This is the fourth and final collection of these lost Menagerie gems, collected for the first time in book form. Previous titles in this series: Bridge in the Menagerie; The Hog Takes To The Precision; Diamonds are the Hog's Best Friend; Swings and Arrows.

After the historic D-Day landings comes the fight to liberate France and the rest of Occupied Europe. This campaign book focuses on the push inland from the Commonwealth beaches of Gold, Sword, and Juno culminating with the battle for Caen and the Falaise Pocket. Containing new scenarios, Theatre Selectors, and units, including rules for the Canadian Army in Europe and their adversaries, this book has everything players need to continue the liberation of Europe.

This book presents the history, rules and winning strategies for bridge, whist, hearts, canasta and many other games, with 200 photographs and diagrams. It is a compendium of the greatest card games from around the world, with clear diagrams of sample deals and hands providing an invaluable visual guide. It details the number of players for each game. It includes professional tips and expert guidance for advanced play in serious games of chance and skill. This beautifully presented compendium explores classic card games from every continent that many players will immediately want to add to their repertoire. The practical heart of the book details all kinds of advanced card games. For every game there is a full explanation of the rules, the type of pack required, card ranking, ideal age, playing and scoring. Diagrams of sample games in play make instructions easy to follow. This is a wonderful resource for all card game enthusiasts. The expert advice and lively background information will appeal to anyone wanting to settle a dispute about rules, find a new game or discover more about the incredible range of card games.

This book contains a dramatic and revealing translation of this ancient classic into English. The Chinese original is set side-by-side with the translation. Two things set this translation apart from all previous ones. First, archeological findings are used to uncover the meaning of passages obscured for thousands of years. Second, it preserves the flavor of the orignal in a poetic rendition. An introductory part of this book provides the historical and philosophical background to the I Ching. The story is told of the ancient Chinese civilization, pointing out events and figures mentioned in the I Ching. The undisguised face of the I Ching will appeal to the modern reader, who will read it in his or her own individual way, as poetry, as discoverer of self, or as soothsayer. It is in the grand tradition of the I Ching for different people to see different things. To Confucius, who was born in 550 B.C., it was a source of ethics.; To Leibnitz, the eighteenth-century inventor of calculus, it was the essence of binary mathematics.; To Jung Freud's rival in psychology, it was an explorer of the unconscious.; To some Wall Streeters, it predicts the stock market.; As a companion to this book, a computer software, Huang's I Ching offers computerized consultations of the I Ching. In the court of Zhou, they used to do this by counting stalks of the yarrow reed. Results of the court would indicate what passages to read. In later ages, yarrow-counting was replaced by coin-tossing, as a ritual closer to people's lifestyle. And now, the I Ching is ready for the future.

Former US Open Champion Timothy Taylor presents weapons for Black against the hugely popular Spanish Opening, basing his repertoire on the Modern Steinitz Defence. This opening can lead to razor-sharp lines, such as the Siesta Variation, where one slip by either player could prove to be fatal. But a major attraction of the Modern Steinitz is its flexibility, as Black can also choose to play in a more positional manner. Taylor studies in depth the critical main lines, and also what to do if White avoids these. Read this book and be ready to slay the Spanish!

Ten years after their award-winning Planning the Play of a Bridge Hand (August 2009, ISBN 978 1897106 51 8), Seagram & Bird tackle the hardest part of the game: defence. Using the same step-by-step approach, they guide the reader through the minefield of signalling, making a defensive plan and, above all, counting - points, tricks and distribution.

We need to exercise our bodies to keep fit and the same is true for our brains. After all, what's good for your gut, your cardiovascular system, and your muscles, is good for your brain - it's all connected. This definitive mental workout will show you how to build up your brain's agility and enable you to solve problems faster and better. Perfect for anyone wanting to get their grey matter moving and improve their brain power, once and for all. The Brain Fitness Puzzle Book is an authoritative training regime for anyone wanting to get to grips with their brain and have fun whilst improving its power. Put your brain through its paces with over 80 puzzles, these varied puzzles will help you improve everything from logic and reasoning, creativity, visual and lateral thinking and concentration, and much more. Learn how to stretch your brain muscles and get your grey matter moving by following the comprehensive workout - structured to imitate a physical exercise session, with a warm-up, ramping up phase, high-intensity 'cardio' challenge, and a cool-down. Get ready to be pushed to your limits as million-copy bestselling author Dr Gareth Moore and University of Cambridge's Memory Laboratory expert, Helena M. Gellersen, show you how to put your brain to the test. Explaining the science behind the puzzles, and packed with tips and tricks throughout, this guided puzzle book is perfect for anyone wanting to improve their brain power but not quite sure where to start.

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!

The third in a series about home video games, this detailed reference work features descriptions and reviews of every official U.S.-released game for the Neo Geo, Sega Genesis and TurboGrafx-16, which, in 1989, ushered in the 16-bit era of gaming. Organized alphabetically by console brand, each chapter includes a description of the game system followed by substantive entries for every game released for that console. Video game entries include historical information, gameplay details, the author's critique, and, when appropriate, comparisons to similar games. Appendices list and offer brief descriptions of all the games for the Atari Lynx and Nintendo Game Boy, and catalogue and describe the add-ons to the consoles covered herein--Neo Geo CD, Sega CD, Sega 32X and TurboGrafx-CD.

One of the best ways to improve is to study the games of a top Grandmaster, and Ivan Sokolov's uncompromising style and tactical flair make him a perfect role model. In this book Sokolov demonstrates the deadly effectiveness of his systems against openings such as The Nimzo-Indian, Queen's Gambit, Slav and King's Indian. Contains 50 deeply annotated games with introductions . Brilliant and inventive opening play will both instruct and entertain . Includes many spectacular miniatures of under 30 moves Ivan Sokolov is one of the most outstanding talents to emerge in the 1990's, and many of his victims in this book- Anand, Adams, Topalov, and Lautier - hail from the cream of the younger generation. As a key member of the Bosnia- Herzegovina Olympiad team he won a solver medal in Moscow in 1994, and was ranked 12th equal in the world in December 1996. Sokolov is resident in the Netherlands, and tied with Jan Timman in the 1996 Dutch Championship.

Many historical chess books focus on individual 19th century masters and tournaments yet little is written covering the full scope of competitive chess through the era. This volume provides a comprehensive overview, with more than a third of the 300 annotated games analyzed by past masters and checked by powerful engines. Players such as Max Lange and Cochrane, known to the chess public only by the name given to a fierce attack or gambit, are brought to life. Fifty masters are each given their own chapter, with brief biographies, results and anecdotes and an endgame section for most chapters.

This title presents a new look at digital gaming and the aesthetics of play. ""Play Redux"" is an ambitious description and critical analysis of the aesthetic pleasures of video game play, drawing on early 20th-century formalist theory and models of literature. Employing a concept of biological naturalism grounded in cognitive theory, Myers argues for a clear delineation between the aesthetics of play and the aesthetics of texts. In the course of this study, Myers asks a number of interesting questions: what are the mechanics of human play as exhibited in computer games; can these mechanisms be modeled; and, what is the evolutionary function of cognitive play, and is it, on the whole, a good thing. Intended as a provocative corrective to the currently ascendant, if not dominant, cultural and ethnographic approach to game studies and play, ""Play Redux"" will generate interest among scholars of communications, new media, and film.

Poker is America’s national card game, and its popularity continues to grow. Nationwide, you can find a game in progress everywhere. If you want to play, you can find poker games on replicas of 19th century riverboats or on Native American tribal lands. You can play poker at home with the family or online with opponents from around the world. Like bowling and billiards before it, poker has moved out from under the seedier side of its roots and is flowering in the sunshine.

Maybe you’ve never played poker before and you don’t even know what a full house is. Poker For Dummies covers the basics. Or perhaps you've played for years, but you just don’t know how to win. This handy guide will help you walk away from the poker table with winnings, not lint, in your pockets. If you’re a poker expert, you still can benefit – some of the suggestions may surprise you, and you can certainly learn from the anecdotes from professional players like T.J. Cloutier and Stu Unger.

Know what it takes to start winning hand after hand by exploring strategy; getting to know antes and betting structure; knowing your opponents, and understanding the odds. Poker For Dummies also covers the following topics and more:

• Poker games such as Seven-Card Stud, Omaha, and Texas Hold'em
• Setting up a game at home
• Playing in a casino: Do's and don'ts
• Improving your play with Internet and video poker
• Deciphering poker sayings and slang
• Ten ways to read your opponent's body language
• Playing in poker tournaments
• Money management and recordkeeping
• Knowing when and how to bluff

Poker looks like such a simple game. Anyone, it seems, can play it well – but that's far from the truth. Learning the rules can be quick work, but becoming a winning player takes considerably longer. Still, anyone willing to make the effort can become a good player. You can succeed in poker the way you succeed in life: by facing it squarely, getting up earlier than the next person, and working harder and smarter than the competition.

Who doesn't want to escape to the beaches of Southern California or to a cabin deep in the forests of Northern California? Danielle Kroll, author of Pacific Coasting, creates two original illustrations for these fun puzzles. They are must-haves for her fans, for lovers of California and the West Coast, and for anyone who wants to have fun piecing together a stunning puzzle at home, with friends and family, or give one as a gift to those they love. Featuring: 1,000 full-color interlocking pieces Art print with puzzle image Finished puzzle is 18 7/8 x 26 3/8"

The most complete treatise on sleight-of-hand coin conjuring, including best traditional methods and modern innovations. Guides you systematically from basic techniques, through integrated tricks to complete routined acts (18 in all). 510 clear illustrations by Nelson C. Hahne. The best manual for amateurs, an encyclopedic source for professionals.

What are the greatest opening ideas in chess history? This is a fascinating question that would undoubtedly spark endless debate and discussion amongst all the experts and enthusiasts of the game. From the invention and development of openings which are now considered to be mainline, to the wealth of stunning one-move novelties which have convincingly overturned previous expert assessments, there is certainly a plethora of brilliant ideas to choose from - everyone will have their own opinion on this subject!In this book, Christoph Scheerer looks back though chess history and at modern times in order to create his own list of favourites. Selecting from hundreds of candidates, Scheerer examines factors such as creativity, shock value, effectiveness and endurance in order to decide which ideas are most worthy of inclusion. Read this book and discover the stories behind the most powerful opening ideas of all time, and how you can utilize and learn from these ideas to improve your chess. *An entertaining guide to the best ever opening ideas*Written by an opening expert*Ideal for players of all levels