JIGG Magazine

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from Japan`s International Gamers Guild. Join us too if you love to play
games and live in Japan:


http://kintaro63.wordpress.com/

Pictured: Games Workshops, Eldar Codex

You Need your Hobbies in Japan!

Pictured: The boardgame Lunar Rails, distributed by Mayfair Games

by Kevin Burns

You have left your home and your family. You have no friends. Your apartment closes in on you and the cockroaches are huge, black, and they fly; your boss is a jerk who cuts up goldfish to feed to his piranhas. You need to get your mind off things. You need a hobby!

Some of the greatest people I have ever met in Japan have been the friends I have made through playing games. I enjoy historical simulation games, usually called wargames. These are games about history or military history, that are played on a board or a table.

Before you run away from your computer sceaming war monger! Let me just say that most of the wargame players or "wargamers" I meet are some of the most peaceful people on the planet. Usually they are pacifists in stance, or at least anti-war. Perhaps because we have studied war in detail, we may be more aware of how terrible it is than the general public. Indeed, some of the most kind, and caring folk to grace our planet in fact, are game players:
role playing game players and wargame players.

I have also played role playing games, but I don`t like these nearly as much. Dungeon and Dragons is perhaps the most famous roleplaying game. It has received a lot of bad press from a sensational media and some players with obvious psychological problems. However, roleplaying is in no more dangerous than acting. To some extent roleplaying is like putting on a drama. You each take on the role of a character and go on some kind of a quest. You probably need to play a game to see what I mean.

We also play boardgames. Some of the games we play are: Settler of Catan and the whole
series of Catan games, Puerto Rico, Axis and Allies and that whole series, Games Workshop
or GW Games, Chess, games made by the companies: Fantasy Flight, Eagle Games and
Milton Bradley. There really are too many to list. Come on out and see.

One dear friend I met about twelve years ago is Steve Brown. Known to his fans as "Stan!" He is a great guy. The man is intelligent, funny, creative and a great humanitarian. He can always make me laugh and think. Steve taught English in Shizuoka Prefecture before going back to the states to design games and write. He still does so at present. He proudly showed me the books he authored when we went to Chapters in Vancouver. He now works as a manager for a game
and comic book company in California. I hope he continues his writing and cartoon work as he
is talented!

Steve and I started a games club called JIGG: Japan`s International Gamers Guild in 1992 and it is still going strong.

Link here: http://greatpowers1.googlepages.com/jigg%3Ajapan%60sinternationalgamersguild

Here are links to our two main forums for JIGG though we have forums for members in
most parts of Japan, check the homepage for a link to a club near you.

JIGG Tokyo: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JIGG

JIGG Kanagawa: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HisSimSouthKanagawa

Online Game Shops

Pictured: The Rainy Day Matching Game


Here are the sites I usually use to get boardgames,
http://www.boardgameprices.com/

http://www.boardgamesearch.com/

Both of these sites seem to work fine. It's a bit of work checking prices, but depending on what you want, you can usually find the cheapest price from one of those places listed.

As for cards, check out:

http://www.wholesalegaming.com/

The prices are cheap, and I'm still drooling over the Hecatomb prices! (US$27 for 3 boxes!!!!)

I've also recently done an order through this company:

http://www.ccgarmory.com/

They've got good prices and delivered the product quickly, though I felt their handling cost was a bit high, but more than made up with the cheap games I got. (BTW check out the game Allegiance if you're thinking about picking up a game for cheap!)

If games are too expensive, you can always play them online for free or make your own .

If it's RPGs you want, then nothing beats IPR , the best place to get indie RPGs (Which I feel give you more bang for your buck than most other RPGs) BTW Refik, email me if you want to get in on Burning Empires. You bought the book, didn't you?

How about in Japan? Well, I think Amiami does Magic:tG cheap, and I've found good prices at ifplus for WOW tcg. Plus, the best place to buy boardgames has got to be Shosen bookmart in Jimbocho, click on the second link at the top for the bookmart map. Their games are often the price you'd pay if you just bought one game and had it shipped over. But usually, if you're willing to wait, you can get it shipped for cheaper. Example, Descent was Y12000 but lists for about half that online.

Hmmm... are there any other good places to buy? If anyone has any good sites, put them up here so we can all benefit! :)

Ryan Bigelow

(Originally posted at the JIGG Yahoo Group)

Sudoku - Mind Games At Their Best?

Pictured: Subbuteo Table Soccer

by Gabriel Adams

Sudoku is a logic based puzzle, somewhat similar to a crossword puzzle, except it uses digits instead of words. The name Sudoku is an abbreviation of a Japanese phrase which means "the digits must remain single". It is also sometimes called Number Place or Nampure.

The history of Sudoku

You can find predecessors of Sudoku as early as 1895, when an early version or variant of Sudoku appeared in a French newspaper.

The game now known as Sudoku was not invented until 1979, however, and was actually invented in Indianapolis, not Japan. Sudoku became widely popular in 1986, when the Japanese puzzle publisher Nikoli found and published the puzzle.

The game of Sudoku

Sudoku is based on a graph of squares, nine squares by nine squares. This graph is sub-divided into 9 3x3 squares or regions. The board looks much like 9 tic tac toe games all together.

The game is played by placing digits (1-9) in the squares on the game. Easy enough. The tough part is that each region (3x3 square, each diagonal row, each horizontal row, and each vertical row of squares must contain one of each of the nine digits, but may not have duplicates.

Each Sudoku game has some of the fields pre populated with numerals, called givens or clues. The difficulty is not necessarily related to how many fields are populated, though.

Difficulty

Sudoku is a very simple game in it's construction, but it can require some serious brain effort and skill to solve. Publishers often rank games according to difficulty, using 4-5 levels to organize games by their difficulty.

Accessibility

Sudoku puzzles are published in many newspapers and magazines around the world. They are also available in print form, and as computer games. Probably the easiest way to get them, though, is from a website that features free Sudoku puzzles. Many websites can also generate custom puzzles for free.
About the Author

Visit http://www.sudoku-puzzles.net for free sudoku puzzles and more.

Kevin`s War Store--Close Out Sale!!!

Until April 1st, all stock in Kevin`s War Store will be sold at
20% off the regular price: http://www.KevinsWarStore.com

The Kevin`s got to be more than a tad crazy Close Out Sale!!!

This applies to items in stock at time of order. We do not
guarantee that all items will be in stock.

Go to the online store, click on the items you want, but pay
20% less for the item. The discount does not cover shipping.

Kevin