The Oxford Games Blog

Ex Libris - Addendum

Posted by Oxford Games Ltd on Fri, 2 Nov 2012

Ex Libris - Addendum

Posted by Oxford Games Ltd on Fri, 26 Oct 2012

 

Oxford Games proudly presents its first extension pack of cards for Ex Libris, the bookish bluffing game that has been challenging your literary acumen and testing your writing skills since 1991.

Now expanded to include non-fictino as well as works of fiction from 48 authors new to the original Ex Libris collection, Addendum adds an extra dimension and years of play to this perennially popular game.

Games are shipping as I write and will be available from Amazon.co.uk from 1st November.

Sedate games ... Cerebral, tactical and gossip-stirring antics

Posted by Oxford Games Ltd on Wed, 24 Aug 2011

From  'A guide to game series'  Observer

 

Ex Libris

Blush rating: 3/5

AKA: The game of first lines and last words

Aim: To fool your friends with spoof intros

How to play
This game works best with a group of at least four people. First, make sure that everyone has some paper and a pen.

To start, one player is chosen to be the "reader" and picks a book off the shelf. The reader discloses the author's name and a little about the novel. Armed with this information, the other players must write down plausible opening and closing sentences for the book.

All of the players' suggestions are then passed to the reader who mixes them all together, including the correct lines, and reads all the entries out.

Players must identify the true versions at the same time as trying to dupe the other players with their own false entries. Award players a point for every person their fabricated version manages to fool and make whoever guesses correctly the next reader.

Spice it up:
Ham it up by reading the lines out in the manner of the author (cod Dickensian, fey Jane Austen etc), or show off by playing in a foreign language.

Literary Games for Bored Book Nerds

Posted by Oxford Games Ltd on Sun, 21 Aug 2011

 

'If you haven’t heard of Ex Libris, that is another good game to play when you’re stuck indoors and knocking back a few cocktails.'  Kathleen Masara on Flavorwire

What's Scrabble when you can play Novelist?

Posted by Oxford Games Ltd on Mon, 1 Aug 2011

 

Asks Dwight Garner

in The New York Times

July 1, 2011

 

"In my extended family, over the past decade, we’ve looked forward to playing something we call the book game, which I am going to retitle, for the purposes of this article, the paperback game......A version of it was packaged in 1991 under the brand name Ex Libris. Some of you may have played the paperback game; I’m guessing many of you haven’t. It’s time to plug this small but vital gap in your education." 

 

OGL @ 303 Gallery's Christmas Party

Posted by Oxford Games Ltd on Wed, 13 Oct 2010

 

Leslie Scott & Sara Finch will be at the

 303 Gallery's Christmas Party

on Sunday 7th November


' The party will be from 4pm ‘til 6pm and we are very happy to be featuring the participation of the founders of The Oxford Games Company, one of whom is none other than our very own Sara Finch of Bower Hinton Bears fame. They will be introducing the reissue of their celebrated “Ex Libris” & “Anagram” games, along with the book of the story of Jenga by Leslie Scott co-founder of the company and inventor of the game. She recounts “the remarkable business of creating a game that became a household name” with several useful lessons for makers & artists who dream of inspiring the world.'  The 303 Gallery 

Yandle & Son Ltd

Hurst Works

Hurst

Martock

Somerset

TA12 6JU

Anagram, the ingenious game of juggling words

Posted by Oxford Games Ltd on Mon, 20 Sep 2010

Inventor Interview: Jenga’s Leslie Scott

 

 by Kim Vandenbroucke of The Game Aisle

 

My answer to Kim's question 'What is your favorite game? (can’t be Jenga)', was


Is it okay to pick a game I co-designed??? My favourite game in all honesty is ANAGRAM: The ingenious game of juggling words,  which is an Oxford Games (my company) version of an old Victorian game called Word Making, Word Taking. I LOVE this game. And as everybody who knows me well knows, will play it at the drop of a hat!

 

But if it’s cheating to pick one of my own games…. then I think I would have to choose DIPLOMACY, which I confess I haven’t played for a while, but which I think is a brilliant game. I also like The Really Nasty Horse Racing Game.

Ex Libris, available again!

Posted by Oxford Games Ltd on Mon, 6 Sep 2010

While are still awaiting the arrival of the bulk of the games into the UK, we are delighted to announce that Ex Libris is now available from Culture Vulture Direct.

Ex Libris & Miss Barbara Cartland

Posted by Oxford Games Ltd on Thu, 2 Sep 2010

As we say in the blurb on the back of the Ex Libris box  - 'One hundred authors respresenting widely different writing styles are featured in the game - from Charles Dickens to Harold Robbins, from Jane Austin to Barbara Cartland.'

Ex Libris & Anagram relaunch

Posted by Oxford Games Ltd on Fri, 27 Aug 2010

Created by the inventor of Jenga, Leslie Scott, & the graphic designer, Sara Finch, EX LIBRIS The game of first lines and last words, & ANAGRAM The ingenious game of juggling words, were first published in 1991 by Oxford Games Ltd.