Check out Piecepack.org. Some clever boardgaming fans have designed a set of universal boardgaming components you can print out on your inkjet printer, and then held a series of design contests for games that use the components. There’s also a wiki that lists all the games available for the system as well as hosting a ton of other info. It’s all free – the only requirement is a printer and some toner or ink, and some friends to play with. If you’re not the type to spend the time to make up your own pieces, you can even buy preprinted sets and even sets made out of wood.

What if you were a huge fan of the original 2D Zelda games on the NES and SNES? What if you thought the 3d versions released on the N64, while good, betrayed the spirit of the original games? If you were an enterprising programmer, you’d get to work on a re-imagining of the games in 2D. Cool, cool retro gaming fun to be had here, though the game’s not yet fully developed there’s still enough available to get a sense of it. Check it out if you grew up developing claw hands on the original NES controller pad 😉

I’ve talked about the exult project a couple of times here – the reverse engineering of the original Ultima 7 so that you can play it on modern machines, including Linux and OSX. It’s a fantastic project and anyone with even a passing interest in computer role playing games is well advised to check it out. Anyway, there has recently been a new project undertaken by many of the members from the original Exult group to port the Ultima 8 engine. Not only will this enable modern players to play another of the seminal RPG’s from the golden age of Origin, it will also enable (possibly anyway) folks to play the Crusader series of games. The project is still in its early stages, but there are some screenshots on the Pentagram website to wet your appetite.