Ben again, coming to you live and direct, from 20 minutes into the future….

Playing Gods is tootling along (sounds very British, doesn’t it?), selling copies here and there. Last Friday I got a wonderful call from the folks at EvolveFISH, who have been carrying my game for the past few weeks. The message left on my machine said that the games were “flying off the shelves” (I hope not literally, as I’ll be seeing a lot of returns), and that they needed 24 more games ASAP. Now that’s the kind of message I like to get! Meanwhile, I have run out of individual mailing boxes (when people order the games via the Web site, I send them in 12 X 12 X 4 corrugated cardboard boxes (FYI for you entrepreneurs: they cost me about 85 cents each; between packing supplies, tape, and labels, the packaging alone is costing just under $1 per game). I’m also out of Limited Edition figures; seems I can’t keep them in stock more than a few days, but my supplier, Jim “Awesome” Dawson at the local place called Firewheel Casting, says he’s making more molds, so I should be getting them in batches of 20 instead of 10.

Hmm… Let’s see, what else is going on in my strange little world? Well, I got a very nice plug from a writer/producer for The Simpsons, a very funny and generous guy named Mike Reiss. I sent him a copy of the game, and he kindly gave me a blurb: “It’s smart and funny and so handsomely mounted! Best of luck with it!” Hell, if a Simpsons scribe says it’s smart and funny, you know it’s gotta be ridiculously smart and funny, and something that anyone who is (or even thinks they are) smart and funny should buy.

Which leads me to an announcement! Hear Ye, Hear ye! Playing Gods has teamed up with the Church of the SubGenius to include the globally-recognized icon J.R. Bob Dobbs as a legitimate object of worship in Playing Gods: The Board Game of Divine Domination. Yes, the clean-cut, pipe-chomping Mr. Dobbs is one of the new gods now available on the new sticker sheet (along with War, the Magic 8 Balls, and McWorld, aka American Consumerism). The new sticker sheet is available for FREE on the Web site (or will be soon); check under DOWNLOADS. You can print them onto a blank page of adhesive, or use Avery Template 8239, which you can get at your local office supply store, or steal them from work.

I’m doing my best to add content to the Olympus section of Playing Gods; I intended it as a place for people to swap playing tips and upload images, though participation so far has been spotty. I’m not discouraged, though, takes a while.

COMING IN THE NEXT BLOG: Rule changes I didn’t mention this time! A nice note from Nebraska Senator Ernie Chambers! Stay tuned!