Buddy Saunders, owner of the Lone Star Comics chain in Arlington, Texas, saw our article on the healthy effects of games, and the potential marketing benefits for the games industry (see 'Board Games Stave Off Dementia'), and sent us this comment:

 

Re: The 'Board Games Stave Off Dementia' article.  News items such as this are a big reason why I've gone from being a semi-regular reader of ICv2 to never missing a posting.  Every retailer should read the New England Journal of Medicine report regarding board games and their value in preserving mental ability as player's age.  Equally important, we should save the information for future reference.  I've long believed that any sort of mental activity tends to strengthen and preserve mental skills.  What's especially nice about the NEJM's study is that playing board games has now been shown to be a powerful tool in preserving mental skills, even more than other activities such as reading (although reading showed great value, too, something that's important to me as a comic book retailer).  Games and comics are the lynchpins of Lone Star's business.  We've long marked comics and games as entertainment (candy).  Now we can also promote them as healthy brain builders (fruits and vegetables), too.