Dale Yu: Have you read a good book lately?

Well, things are a bit better here at home, but it’s still quite hectic.  In fact, I’m risking life and limb taking a few minutes out of my chores this week to jot this little note.  My wife and I have been invited (impressed) to be a part of a holiday house tour this weekend.  As a result, there has been furious cleaning activities going on at all hours in order to get ready for the event.  Though the light is at the end of the tunnel, there’s still a lot more cleaning to be done!  When it’s all over, I’ll report back with some of the new gaming-related decorating improvements that happened as part of the house tour preparations.

In the meantime, I’d like to talk a bit about my other big hobby – reading books.  I’m an avid reader, and I’d estimate that I make it through 3 or 4 books a month.  Lately, I’ve been reading mostly historical fiction novels, but I’ll pretty much read anything that looks interesting – fiction or non-fiction.  I’ve also had a good time reading with the kids – trying to get them interested in books as well.

Last week, I did receive a nice parcel from Germany which contained a new children’s book.  The book is titled “A Portrait of Nellie”.  I’ve read the book with each of my children, and I’m happy to say that they were each able to get most of the way through it without my help.

The cover of the book

So, why am I talking about a children’s book here in a boardgaming column?  Because the author is Alex Randolph.  Yes, that Alex Randolph – designer of Twixt, Code 777, Inkognito, and Ricochet Robots.  He is probably best known for his 160 game designs, and as the back cover of the book notes, “some of them [are] even world-famous”.  The story was written AND illustrated in 1954 by Randolph for his 8-year-old niece. 

There is apparently a nice backstory to this book.  Until this week, I had no idea that Randolph was also a poet and author.  He apparently moved to Venice in the late 1960s to work on both his game designs as well as his other works.  While there, his studio was accidentally burned to the ground along with most of his notes, journals, manuscripts, etc.  The manuscript for “A Portrait of Nellie” was later found as it was one of the few works not stored in the Venice studio at the time, and was in fact in the possession of Alex’s wife, Gertrude.

How did the book get published?  Well, in the past Drei Magier Spiele had produced a number of Alex’s games – Russelbande, Venice Connection, Ghosts!, and many others.  In 2008, Drei Magier Spiele was purchased by Schmidt in a friendly takeover.  The principals from DMS then went on to form a new company, Drei Hasen in der Abendsonne (3 Rabbits in the Sunset) which was publish nice books for German children.  Though I don’t know for sure how it happened, I’m sure that previous contacts between the Drei Hasen and the Randolph family allowed the manuscript to go to print.

So what is the book about?  It’s probably best to just copy the text from the back cover: “Mice lead a secret life.  Even if they live in the same houses as humans they usually stay invisible.  Mice are afraid of cats and after all always beware of al possible enemies.  Like Nellie.  That is why it comes to a marital row when Sammy staggers his wife with completely unmousy behavior.  While Sammy finds out that there are cats with mousephobia, Nellie is and will be a mouse of principles.”

It’s a nice collectible, and a very nice addition to my small section of gaming related books.  I’m not entirely sure how to find the book as amazon.com and amazon.de do not list the title.

Here is the website for the three Rabbits… http://www.hasehasehase.de/

And here is the information on the book.

Age: 8 years and up

*Suitable for reading in elementary school

Text and drawings: Alexander Randolph

Size / pages / binding / printing ink interior 21,7 x 15,2 x cm / 104 pages / hardcover / monochrome

ISBN 978-3-941345-00-3

If you’ve got young kids, it’s a nice book to read with them, and it’ll be a nice addition to your game shelf as well.

Until your next appointment,
The Gaming Doctor

EDIT: I have found contact information if you are interested in getting the book—

“Please direct people who are interested in the book directly to us, we will dispatch our books worldwide. For informations on transport costs and more, please tell them to contact us at verlag@hasehasehase.de “

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