Sports/Games/Chess

Game of the Year winner at the 2009 International Toy Fair, Bananagrams is the international phenomenon that started with a simple idea: An anagram game that is so fast it will drive you bananas! Doing for letters what Sudoku did for numbers, it's the obsessive new puzzle craze that starts with 144 letter tiles in a banana-shaped bag and captures all the fun of crosswords and word games like Scrabble and Boggle.

Now comes Bananagrams! The Official Book, which translates the brain-twisting word fun of the game onto the page, and adds much, much more. Even if you've never dipped your hand into the Bananagrams pouch, the book stands on its own with hours of challenging play. Written by the only three-time National Scrabble Champion, Joe Edley, Bananagrams! offers sixteen clever puzzle types, including Banana Trees, where the object is to build word grids based on a theme; Banana Splits, a collection of four quick anagram puzzles to be solved in rapid-fire style; Banana Leaves, with its four-, five-, six- and seven-letter words; Banana Filling--what happens when you add a K?; and more. The puzzles have four levels of difficulty, from one banana to four bananas. Plus, there are glossaries; special strategies for Bananagrams: The Game; a list of Weords--weird words that are cool to play; two- and three-letter words to take your game to the next level; fun banana facts; and, of course, an answer key.

A New York Times bestseller, David Halberstam's The Breaks of the Game focuses on one grim season (1979-80) in the life of the Bill Walton-led Portland Trail Blazers, a team that only three years before had been NBA champions.

A Pulitzer Prize-winner for his groundbreaking reporting on the Vietnam War, Halberstam wrote more than 20 books, almost all of them bestsellers. His work has stood the test of time and has become the standard by which all journalists measure themselves.The tactile authenticity of Halberstam's knowledge of the basketball world is unrivaled. Yet he is writing here about far more than just basketball. This is a story about a place in our society where power, money, and talent collide and sometimes corrupt, a place where both national obsessions and naked greed are exposed. It's about the influence of big media, the fans and the hype they subsist on, the clash of ethics, the terrible physical demands of modern sports (from drugs to body size), the unreal salaries, the conflicts of race and class, and the consequences of sport converted into mass entertainment and athletes transformed into superstars -- all presented in a way that puts the reader in the room and on the court, and The Breaks of the Game in a league of its own.

1st edition. Signed by author. Dust jacket in protective cover; small creases along top of front cover; one closed tear front spine edge; black cloth over gray paper boards; small area at top of spine and along front edge scuffed; binding tight; text clean and bright. G/G

This beautifully illustrated deck of cards can be used to play pretty much any regular card game, and they also come with gin cocktail illustrations and recipes! This set was designed to be smart as well as fun, so each suit is a distinct type of gin:

• Historic styles: Genever, Bathtub and Old Tom
• Traditional i.e. London Dry
• Modern
• Flavored (including sloe)

Ace through ten cards in each suit features a bottle of gin, and the face cards (Jack, Queen, King) are the cocktails.  You'll find a booklet alongside the cards in the box which contains information on each of the gins, including garnish suggestions for the gins featured in the traditional and modern gin categories, along with full recipes for each cocktail in the deck.

The behind-the-scenes story of the wild twenty-five year odyssey of the New York Mets, including their 1986 championship season, as well as an account of the broadcaster's own baseball career.

New York: Arbor House, 1987. Signed first edition.  Dust jacket in protective cover; white cloth spine over blue boards with blue and red lettering on spine; binding tight; text clean. VG/VG

Perhaps no NBA player today is as exciting and yet enigmatic as Kyrie Irving. Martin Gitlin's biography chronicles Irving's brilliance on the court as a devastating one-on-one talent, examines the influence of his father, the untimely death of his mother, his growth as a basketball player in high school and college, and his journey in the NBA.

Nicknamed the "Isolation Assassin," Irving has earned the distinction as the most incredible isolation player in the league, outperforming rivals such as Stephen Curry and Russell Westbrook with his crossover dribble, drives to the basket, stop-and-go moves, and smooth, feathery jumpers, a distinction borne out, moreover, by his championship-clinching shot against Curry's Golden State Warriors in 2016. Yet while he speaks of maximizing his talent, he has shown reluctance to maximize the production of his teammates by passing the ball, as well as his overall defense. Irving expresses his desire to win championships yet demanded a trade away from the franchise best suited to deliver him a second.

Off the court there is no one like Irving either. An educated individual who claims that the earth could be flat and that dinosaurs perhaps never existed, Irving is a man of puzzling contradictions who seeks self-actualization and contentment through a variety of pursuits, including reflection, music, and acting. Gitlin, a veteran writer who has followed Irving's career from the beginning, has much to tell about one of the most mysterious and sensational athletes of our time whose appeal transcends his sport.

This Old Maid deck distinguishes her from many other characters identified by their interesting occupations. Great beginning career exploration that is fun to play.

Features:

• For ages 5 and up
• Cards are 3.25"x 4.5"
• Instructions included

For over a century the Boy Scouts of America has provided millions of American boys with the outdoor adventures of Scouting. At Scout camps across the nation, from early encampments to well-established Scout Reservations, summer camp has been the highlight building character while creating life-long memories. As America evolved so did the Boy Scouts and when the nation was at its best so was Scouting. Primitive Paradise is the story of Scout Camping, its evolution in the United States and impact on society as it unfolded in one community, Cleveland, Ohio. How out of the dreams of men and adventuring of boys a primitive paradise, Beaumont Scout Reservation came to be. How the powers of strong community built it and divided society facilitated its demise.

A classic game of Snap! that will bring boundless excitement. Each card comes with a "snappy" rhyme!

Features:

• For ages 5 and up
• Cards are 3.25" x 4.5"
• Instructions included

The Mamba Mentality: How I Play is Kobe Bryant's personal perspective of his life and career on the basketball court and his exceptional, insightful style of playing the game--a fitting legacy from the late Los Angeles Laker superstar.

In the wake of his retirement from professional basketball, Kobe "The Black Mamba" Bryant decided to share his vast knowledge and understanding of the game to take readers on an unprecedented journey to the core of the legendary "Mamba mentality." Citing an obligation and an opportunity to teach young players, hardcore fans, and devoted students of the game how to play it "the right way," The Mamba Mentality takes us inside the mind of one of the most intelligent, analytical, and creative basketball players ever.

In his own words, Bryant reveals his famously detailed approach and the steps he took to prepare mentally and physically to not just succeed at the game, but to excel. Readers will learn how Bryant studied an opponent, how he channeled his passion for the game, how he played through injuries. They'll also get fascinating granular detail as he breaks down specific plays and match-ups from throughout his career.

Bryant's detailed accounts are paired with stunning photographs by the Hall of Fame photographer Andrew D. Bernstein. Bernstein, long the Lakers and NBA official photographer, captured Bryant's very first NBA photo in 1996 and his last in 2016--and hundreds of thousands in between, the record of a unique, twenty-year relationship between one athlete and one photographer.

The combination of Bryant's narrative and Bernstein's photos make The Mamba Mentality an unprecedented look behind the curtain at the career of one of the world's most celebrated and fascinating athletes.