You know I love games. And writing. Imagine how excited I was to discover a whole lot of new writing-themed games! Forget about those old standbys, Scrabble, Boggle and Banagrams. I'm talking about the modern, new kids on the block that breathe life into the works and worlds of long dead authors.

I think my favourite games in this genre are the ones that pay homage to famous writers. The Shakespeare Game published by   Lawrence King and designed by Adam Simpson uses Shakespeare's plays, characters and quotes to imagines what happened in his missing seven years. That's the length of time Shakespeare disappeared from the history books. This one is a fun game where you get to try out your acting chops and recite quotes from some of the Bard's most famous plays.

If like me, you're a fan of the golden age of crime and mystery novels, Agatha Christie themed games are hard to pass up. I really, really want to buy Agatha Christie's The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge but can't really justify the exorbitant price tag of $153 for the standard edition or a whopping $289 for the collector's edition which comes with high quality props and a velvet lined wooden box. Perhaps I should invest in Agatha Christie Bingo or Agatha Christie's Death on the Cards instead.

Possibly the world's most famous sleuth is Sherlock Holmes, created by English author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who incidentally believed in fairies. At the time he was writing, interest in the occult and the supernatural as well as the birth of psychoanalysis had a big impact on authors of the day. As you would expect, there are a lot of games featuring Sherlock (as well as movies, tv series and video games). It always helps when a work is out of copyright!

I recently bought Sherlock Holmes The Challenge Trilogy from Professor Puzzle. This cute little game looks like a boxed set of embossed books from an antique library. You know I love design and this game is just gorgeous to look at and to hold. Each 'book' in the box is a deck of cards with a different theme. You can choose between a testing game of deduction, a curious game of disguise or a tricky test of lateral thinking. There's not a lot of replayability in this set but once you're done, you'll feel a lot smarter and it will look great on your bookshelf! I've also had my eye on the game 221B Baker Street for quite some time. 

I've just ordered a copy of the Polite Society: the Jane AustenBoard Game. This looks super fun and will be a great compliment to our reading of Pride and Prejudice. I can't wait to get all formal and haughty with this one!

If you’ve got any good book-themed games to recommend, let me know!