• There have been people coming in looking to play D&D and other pen & paper RPG’s, so we’d like to organize a game date for ‘em. If anyone else is interested to learn and play pen & paper RPG’s, please contact us [thru our website] so we can arrange a definite date and time. By the way, as a bonus incentive, those who will be hosting the game(s) - the Dungeon masters - get to play for free.
• Due to the intense summer heat, we have added refreshing fresh fruit shakes to our menu. Currently we have Mango, Mango-Lychee, Mango-Banana, Banana, Lychee and Lychee-Banana flavors. We also added new appetizers, main dishes and desserts, so be sure to check ‘em out.

• A Scrabble Tournament will be starting on August 7, so please SPREAD THE WORD. Stay tuned to our website for more info. Any interested participants may register at Game Crab Boardgame Cafe. Early birds get discounts!
• Our weekly Night of Champions: Super Boggle Edition, is NOW ONGOING. It’ll be a quick, one-night tournament, with only a P15.00 entrance fee! The winner gets a free steak AND the choice to defend his/her crown the succeeding week(s).

Challenges {Come One Come ALL}:

• As part of our love for Last Night on Earth (yes, we love the game), we are issuing a challenge to all players to beat THE NEW TIME. Mia and her group were able to beat the “Die Zombie, Die!!!” scenario with 7 turns left! Congratulations Mia! Any group that can beat their time will receive a special prize courtesy of Game Crab Boardgame Cafe (a FREE annual membership for all the people in the group). On a side note, we’ll be offering the Growing Hunger expansion come July.
• We also challenge everyone to come and beat the HEROIC mode in Pandemic, or defeat Nefarian by the 27th Turn or beat LOTR in HEROIC mode as Frodo, Sam, Fatty and the rest of the Hobbit Crew. Anyone who does, also receives a FREE annual membership for all the people in the group courtesy of Game Crab Boardgame Cafe

Well, that’s about it. Hope to see you all soon at Game Crab Boardgame Cafe.

Game Crab Boardgame Cafe is now offering official campaigns being handled by RPGA accredited Dungeon Master’s for all interested players.  What’s the difference?  Well, since it’s RPGA sanctioned, all your characters get stored online and you receive certificates of authenticity containing your characters’ stats, items, spells, etc., which you can bring to any other group anywhere in the world and it’ll be recognized.  You also get to collect certain freebies after achieving certain accomplishments.

For further inquiries, please visit us at Game Crab Boardgame Cafe.  We’ll be more than happy to answer all your questions and inquiries there.

Oh… as an added push for any Pandemic challengers… here’s a picture of us finishing the game in HEROIC mode:

After alot of heartbreaking attempts… we finally finished this game in heroic mode! We urge everyone to take up the challenge as well!

Also, since I know everyone likes pictures… here’s a picture of a Hoopla game that we finished in good time (with 7.5 minutes to spare). Come and challenge the time we set as well.

Lastly… we at Game Crab Boardgame Cafe love Puerto Rico so much, that I’m posting a picture as an ode to the industrious workers in this game:

Greetings to all those BUMS IN SAN JUAN (HAHAHA… sorry, inside joke)!

Anyway, expect more updates to the site soon, and please DO NOT FORGET to attend our FREE Gaming & Demo Extravaganza on June 13 & 14! Only at Game Crab Boardgame Cafe

"I Don’t Play Games!"

"I don’t play games. I’m a grown up. Besides, who has time to play games? I’ve got important things to do!"

Is this you? Do you think games are for kids and nerds, while grown ups do important things like read newspapers, watch Pinoy Big Brother , and talk about politics?

Well, ask yourself the questions you stopped asking yourself after you left school:

- Are you enjoying your life?
- Are you creating a meaningful life?
- Do you remember what you do all that work for?

Maybe you’ve forgotten what life is for. You feed your family, you give to the poor, you work for peace, you make or raise money to buy a house. You try to make a better world. You try to live a better life, or give a better life to your family and children.

Hey, wait a minute! Better life? What’s a better life? Did you forget about that? Where does the better life start? How do you get there? What does living a better life mean?

The better life is what you do all those other things for.

There’s no single way to live a better life, but it must include more than just working to make a better life for other people, so that they can go make a better life for other people in turn. Somewhere along the line, someone has to live it.

Living the better life doesn’t mean retreating from all of that other work. Work you do is a cumulative investment. It has to grow and constantly be maintained. With care, even while you tend to your labors, you can enjoy the fruit.

A Better Life

But what constitutes a better life?

- Art : Whether you experience art, or you create art, the better life is one that tackles great themes, great emotions, great humor, and great love.

- Play : You play to connect to other people, to connect to the mechanisms of the world, to engage your brain, to stay young, and to build yourself and your community.

- Kinship : There is no love like family love, parent to child, spouse to spouse, sibling to sibling. Not all of us have a chance at all of these experiences, but most of us have access to some. Even if you don’t, real friendship and kinship count, too.

- Rest : Just letting go of responsibility for a moment, an hour, a day, or a week, is to connect to a world that exists, but goes largely unrecognized. If you’re too busy moving and creating, you never realize what you’re moving and creating for. It’s not enough to say it; stop and go do it.

Stand and look out at the world. You crawl the surface of a thin layer of crust on a vast solid object in space, miles of nothing beneath your feet, and light-years of nothing over your head. You’re as busy as a beaver ; take time to think about the rest of the world. Are you really satisfied working half your time and wasting the rest on television and beer?

You are one step in the great story of mankind; make your step worthwhile. To do that you need to stop once in a while and refocus.

- Travel : That little layer of crust is all we have, but it behooves you to take out some time and get to know your fellow humans. In the grand scheme of things, we are all one family in a great garden. Get to know it.

- Thought : Read. Discuss. Create. Humans have come this far, but we’ve got a long way to go. Not everything has been thought of. Get yourself immersed in something important and start brainstorming humanity towards a new idea. Make your free time quality time.

- Divinity : Somewhere inside of us we all feel a need to have some meaning. It just doesn’t feel right that humanity only exists to create more humanity. If it did, then why would we have these questions?

Wherever your spirituality takes you, get in touch with it. So long as it doesn’t involve forcing others to believe in it too, it will be a positive thing for you and for the world.

Play

This site is about games (and occasionally about other things). So that’s what I’ll talk about.

If you think I’m going to tell you to spend time rolling dice and hoping your pawn crosses the finish line first, I can understand your reluctance to read any further. I’m not going to talk about gambling, which is the thrill you get when something beyond your control benefits you. That’s not what I mean by games; although if you enjoy that sort of thing, and you do it responsibly, go for it.

I’m also not here to talk about investing your life in games that take up a lot of time or take years to play well.

And I don’t want you to excuse yourself to a little corner of the room to play electronic games by yourself for hours on end.

I’m talking games that get you in contact with other people, that require attention to play well yet are easy enough for most people to learn, that are beautiful, constantly engaging, always give you a chance, and are tons of fun to boot.

How do you get started?

1. Decide to do more with your life.

2. Know why playing games is good for you. Here is a good start. There are many more articles like this one.

3. Know that you are not alone. Board Game Geek has more than 100,000 registered users, and that is only a small percentage of the people who visit the site. The largest game convention in Germany gets more than 300,000 visitors each year.

4. Know what games to play. Take a look at Board Game Geek’s top hundred games. Take a look at some of the Geek lists listing great games for all occasions. Good starting games include Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride .

5. Know where to get these games. Buy them online at places like TimeWellSpent or Funagain Games.

6. Learn the games. The rules for these games come with the games, and they are usually well written and illustrated. Even better is to find someone who knows how to play and have him or her teach you (we have highly qualified Game Masters at Game Crab to help teach you the nuances of any game you might choose to play).

7. Find people to play with. Start with your family and friends. If that doesn’t work, there may be a game group in your area, or gamers who live in your area. Ask about game groups at Game Crab Boardgame Cafe. Post notices in a local community center, or start your own game group .

And enjoy your life.

Source: http://jergames.blogspot.com (Yehuda) — slightly edited

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Yes, it’s a little long… but trust us, it’s worth the read.

Who can come to Game Crab Boardgame Cafe? Well, quite frankly, ANYONE can come at ANYTIME.

When you’re alone…

Or you’re with your family [Isama si Ate, Kuya, Daddy, Mommy, pati na si Lolo at Lola]…

Or you’re with your friends [Pambarkada din 'to... The more, the merrier]…

And pwde rin pang-date!

We’ll make sure that our friendly staff will cater to whatever your needs may be. Whether it’s to help explain a game, serve you good food, or make sure na walang sisingit sa date nyo.

So whatcha waiting for? Tara na! Punta na sa Game Crab Boardgame Cafe! Where there’s fun to be had by all! See you there!

P.S.: The crab plushies come FREE when you apply for a lifetime membership.

Our congratulations go to the winning group, and we hope to see you again in Game Crab Boardgame Cafe for your next event.

Here’re some pictures of the exciting event (courtesy of http://www.theconquest.com.ph):

And here’s a splendid shot of Lord Valantis taking a shot at the Apocalypse Dragon:

And here’re a shot of the armies preparing to annihilate each other (poor houses):

And finally, as a blatant plug, a shot of Game Crab Boardgame Cafe’s counter and handsome (and available) co-owner:

Again, our sincerest congratulations to the winning team! We hope this’ll only be the first of many more future Mageknight events! To those who’re interested in Mageknight and want to learn more about the game, please feel free to visit http://www.theconquest.com.ph or to drop by Game Crab Boardgame Cafe. We’ll be happy to introduce you to the proper gurus!

The group sponsoring the tournament wants to revive the Mageknight fire here in the Philippines.  We here at Game Crab hope to work hand-in-hand with them to realize this dream.

New to the boardgaming scene? No need to worry. Our courteous and capable Game Masters are ever present to help you learn the games, and assist you in any way they can.

Patterned from the likes of Settlers and Pit Stop Cafe in Singapore, Game Crab provides a clean, beautiful and conducive atmosphere for gaming. Whether you and your friends are looking to play a wild, loud and crazy party game; or you and your family want to play an intimate but fun game of Pictionary or Cranium; or you and your gaming group are on a quest to slay dragons in Descent or humble Wildkins in World of Warcraft; or you’re just looking for a good place that serves good food… Game Crab is sure to cater to your needs.