I love playing board games with my nerdy friends by I can't stand it when they become overly competitive because that takes all the fun out of it for me- plus those bastards always cheat.

These Type A gamers need to be put in their place, which is where these Dick Moves For Winning Board Games by Nick Douglas of Lifehacker come in handy.

Want to crush your buddies while playing Settlers Of Catan?

Block a road in the middle

You can chop up another player’s road with a settlement, breaking it into two smaller roads and potentially making it ineligible for the “longest road” bonus. Even though this is covered in the rules, players regularly ask about it on the /r/catan subreddit.

Make the robber count

If you can, use the robber against the player to your right. If you hit a hex that only they benefit from, the robber will sit there all round. When their turn finally comes, if they get revenge, you’ll be able to respond immediately.

If Risk is more your speed then here are a few tips to help you conquer the world:

Feint toward an ally

Don’t immediately build up forces on the border that faces your next target. First build up near someone you could intimidate, but don’t actually want to invade. Then cut a deal with them, and move your armies over to ambush your actual enemy. If you play this right, you’ll be two steps ahead: Your enemy won’t be ready for you, and your new ally will owe you something just for doing what you secretly planned to do already.

Hand over Australia

Australia is the easiest continent to take over in the early game, but it’s very hard to expand from, and its bonus is pitiful. If you can grab a bit of Australia early on, and pretend you care about it, you can “give it away” in exchange for something more valuable. Be careful: This takes some careful negotiation, and other experienced players won’t fall for it.

Read Dick Moves For Winning Board Games here

Due to the commercialization of geek culture way more boys and girls wore Cthulhu costumes for Halloween this year than ever before, a trend which may result in the end of the world as we know it.

For it seems the fools who created the costume clearly don't realize that dressing kids up like Cthulhu is the fastest way to awaken the Great Old One from his slumber- because Cthulhu doesn't like puny humans impersonating him.

So take a note from this Dork Tower comic by John Kovalic and dust off that pirate costume so Cthulhu doesn't devour us all!

-Via Geeks Are Sexy

Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name -and while that would much more likely happen in a neighborhood bar you frequent regularly, it's hard not to envison the welcome smiles of Sam and Dianne when you enter the Cheers bar, which actually exists in Boston.

If you prefer a slice of cherry pie and some damn fine coffee though, you might prefer to visit the Double R Diner, which actually goes by the name of Twede's Cafe and is located in North Bend, WA. These two locations are only some of the many real life restaurants and bars made famous in television shows and movies. You can read about more of them (and start planning your visits) over on Travel and Leisure.

-Via onewheeloneil

Pixar movies have made our geeky minds race like no other animated features, and aside from the far out fan theories movies like Toy Story, Cars and A Bug's Life have spawned they have also inspired some deep shower thoughts.

-Via StreetratMatt

I've never thought about all the horrifying implications present in Pixar movies, but now I can't help but see the Pixar lamp as a murderer and the Toy Story gang as little plastic corpses.

-Via Mordred912

So if you can't handle being creeped out by your favorite cartoons then you should probably avoid these Pixar Shower Thoughts, but I've found they give me hope for our planet's future.

-Via HipNugget

See The 12 Most Mind-Blowing Pixar Shower Thoughts here

We've all seen those classic cross stitches with the message about there being one set of footprints in the sand because Jesus carried them when things got the hardest. But if you're a geek, you might see a set of single footprints in the sand for a different reason. 

This cross stitch sampler by Etsy seller stitchnanigans features a touch of that classic cross stitch design you expect with a delightfully nerdy twist.

Crime is the main theme of the Grand Theft Auto series- it's in the title, it's an inescapable part of the in-game missions, and this theme is the main reason parents try to keep their kids from playing GTA games.

But is it possible to play GTA V without breaking any laws when the very title of the game is a crime? (NSFW language)

(YouTube Link)

BuzzFeed employees Sydnee Goodman, Crystal House and Garrick Bernard gave it a shot while playing Grand Theft Auto V, and unsurprisingly they discovered it's virtually impossible to play a GTA game without breaking the law.

-Via Laughing Squid

Stranger Things came out less than a week ago and most of us obsessed with the nostalgic charm of the show have already streamed the whole new season. If you are trying to figure out how to pass the time until season 3 comes out (presumably in another year), you might want to consider making some fan art to pass the time.

For some inspiration (or just for some fun) you won't want to miss this Thrillist list featuring some of the coolest Stranger Things fan art around.

The Indiana Jones movies are full of Easter eggs and small background details many people missed until they were pointed out online, but in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade there's a moment that we all saw but didn't quite register.

It has to do with the scene where Indy avoids a saw blade trap by falling to his knees then rolls out of the way of a second blade like an archaeological ninja.

So why is this scene so horrifying? I'll let Cracked's Jordan Breeding explain:

In one section of the cave, Indy is told "Only the penitent man will pass." Knowing this is some sort of Biblical riddle (and that apparently faith makes you better at solving riddles), Indy struggles for an answer before, at the last possible second, he realizes he must literally kneel down "before God" and ... do a kickass forward somersault?

Why would a penitent man also be a skilled tumbler with lightning-fast reflexes? Is the 11th Commandment that one must become an expert in P90X so you may answer the call? And how the heck did Indy even know that would happen? The answer, it appears, is that he would have been fine if he'd just knelt -- the second blade would whip in front of him, though close enough to graze his knees. So what's the point of it?

Let's put it this way: If your idea of being penitent before God looks like this ...

... you'll be fine. But if it looks like this:

That blade will lop your f$%#ng head off. It makes perfect sense if you notice the title of the film, and the fact that the ancient knights protecting the grail (including the one who'd been magically kept alive by it for centuries) were from the First Crusade -- that is, a war to retake the Holy Land from the Muslims who'd captured it more than four centuries earlier. So our Crusaders were forward-thinking enough to ensure that only true Christians would get through, and that intruding Muslims would be killed on the spot even if they figured out the riddle.

-Via Cracked

Even though many terrible horror movies have been made I'd say about 50% of the horror movies made are good, or at least decent, but their sequels almost always suck.

However, a number of sequels have been made that truly rival the original film in terms of quality and viewing enjoyment, a few of my faves being Friday the 13th Part 2, Evil Dead II and A Nighmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.

Friday the 13th Part 2 is the first appearance of adult Jason, Evil Dead II sets up the franchise nicely for all the Deadite fun to come, and Dream Warriors has the most creative dreams, and kills, in the series.

But why stop there when Wes Craven's New Nightmare had Freddy IRL hunting the creators of the series? And let's not forget Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers, aka the flick that brought ol' Mikey back with a vengeance.

See 18 Horror Movie Sequels That Are Better Than The Original here

John Malkovich has played an extremely wide range of characters over the years, from the meek and mentally disturbed to the violent and full-blown psychotic, but his most important role was when he played himself in Being John Malkovich.

That's the role which prepared him for his second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth most important roles- playing the most iconic characters created by David Lynch.

Malkovich really captures the oddball feel of Lynch's characters, and it's really too bad he was busy with other projects or he could have easily taken over for the dearly departed Log Lady in the new season of Twin Peaks.

These images were taken from a series of vignettes directed by Sandro Miller which were shared on PlayingLynch.com, including this extra disturbing portrayal of The Lady In The Radiator from Eraserhead.

(YouTube Link)

See John Malkovich Reenacts Some Of David Lynch's Most Iconic Characters here

Halloweenies often choose a genre, type of visual media or a pun as the inspiration for their Halloween costume, but why go through all that when you can just base each year's costume on a famous actor?

If you agree with that statement then the hard part is over, and now comes the moment when you decide which actor to dress up as, may I suggest Tom Hanks?

Tom has played some of the most iconic roles in Hollywood, from Forrest Gump to Chuck Noland the Castaway to coach Jimmy Dugan from A League Of Their Own, so you have plenty of outfits to choose from.

But if those are all too played out for you then go for my personal pick- Joe Banks from Joe Versus The Volcano.

All you need is a tux and a lei and you're all set, but don't forget to say "Thank you, Chief" so people can figure out who you are!

See more Tom Hanks Halloween Costumes here

Halloween is such a big business that companies around the world churn out hundreds of different types of costumes each year to satisfy consumer demand, even though many of them are costumes nobody ever asked for.

Because these companies make so many cheap and crappy costumes a lot of them end up hanging on the clearance rack until they're thrown away or donated to a thrift store, unwanted costumes waiting for Jenny Nicholson to make fun of them:

Amongst this funny fashion show was a boy’s Scorpion King costume, a sexy “One Eyed, One Horned Flying Purple People Eater“, a fun Plo Koon Costume (Star Wars) and a rather ill fitting vampire costume, just to name a few.

(YouTube Link)

-Via Laughing Squid

It appears Thailand's Lowcostcosplay has a rival in Russia who also creates crappy costumes made using stuff he finds lying around his house- like his dog.

Moscow-based manager Alexander Kravets calls his version of cosplaying on a zero budget "suitable cosplay", and even though it's similar to Lowcost on the surface Alexander's cosplay looks explore deeper levels of geekdom.

So what makes Alexander's suitable cosplay different than the looks created by Lowcost?

Alexander is all about accurately recreating scenes from movies and TV shows, no matter how hard it is to achieve this goal with the stuff he has at his house.

Alexander shares his household cosplay creations with the outside world via his Instagram account, where his cosplay creations will wow you, kapow you and make you grin from ear to ear.

See more Passion For Cosplay: How A Russian Manager Imitates Hollywood Heroes here

Cabbage Patch Kids are one of the most iconic toy lines from the 1980s, right up there with Transformers, He-Man and Strawberry Shortcake, and kids still love the whole "adopt a doll" gimmick o this day.

But did you know the soil where the Cabbage Patch Kids are grown is sown with bulls#$t?

What I mean to say is- the Cabbage Patch Kids are a rip-off, and the credit for the original concept should go to Martha Nelson Thomas, the gal who Cabbage Patch "creator" Xavier Roberts ripped off back in the 70s.

Martha began making her Doll Babies in the early 70s, and aside from their striking resemblance to the Cabbage Patch Kids they also came with an unique outfit and were "adopted" rather than merely bought.

Martha's husband Tucker says Xavier Roberts "adopted" a few of Martha's Doll Babies at a craft fair and started selling them out of his own gift shop, but Martha was unhappy with how much he was charging for them so she took them back.

Roberts then said he'd start making his own if she wouldn't let him sell her Doll Babies, and a few years later the Cabbage Patch Kids were released, prompting Martha to file a lawsuit in 1975:

Roberts admitted that dolls were inspired by Nelson Thomas's creation, but claimed the design was his own. She had never filed a copyright on the design, but in 1975 she did file a lawsuit.

It took 10 years to actually make it to trial, but it finally settled out of court for an undisclosed amount in 1985. Mendes said that "She couldn't tell us what the settlement was but she said her children would go to college."

Thomas said, "we didn't want the conflict to go on forever. That's not a good way to live." While they never had the financial success of the Cabbage Patch Kids, Thomas says he was happy with his life as it was. He said, “Martha and I had a wonderful life together. It wasn’t elaborate but it was wonderful. I’m not going to trade in that life for a few dollars.”

(YouTube Link)

-Via Throwbacks

Video game magazines like Nintendo Power, Game Informer and Electronic Gaming Monthly kept gamers informed, hip to secrets found in their favorite games and hyped on new releases, plus you could share them with your friends.

The game secrets were awesome, the interviews with game designers were inspiring, but the ads were worthy of tearing out and pinning on your wall.

Game companies like Midway, Nintendo and Konami knew their audience well, so they made sure their ads caught the reader's eye and stayed fresh in their minds when allowance day came around.

See full Video Game Magazine Nostalgia gallery here

-Via Geeks Are Sexy