UK Games Expo 2008 Preview • All publishers Articles & Special Features Mary Dimercurio Prasad: Game Room Accessories and Snackage What should a well-stocked game room include? You may be surprised by the number of items that can enhance your board gaming experience! Read more... - Comments (25) More articles: May 3 - Brad Keen: Convention Report – Saturday at CABS May 1 - From the Editor: Another Convention Preview Apr 29 - Ray Smith: Interview with Jim Sandefur Apr 25 - Larry Levy:  Gathering Memories—The Games (Part 2) Apr 25 - Travis Reynolds: Basic Training – Conflict at the Gathering Game News Gone Cardboard News: A Game of Games – Coming in June Ted Cheatham and Mike Petty released a small card game at the Gathering of Friends in April 2008 called A Game of Games. While the game is similar to Password – players give single word clues to get their teammate to guess game titles – A Game of Games includes additional scoring opportunities that depend on your knowledge of a game’s designer and year of release. A Game of Games is available for preorder through Fair Play Games and will be released on June 1. This game has been added to Gone Cardboard. Recent news: May 11 - Im Reich der Wüstensöhne – Playable on PlayCatan.com May 11 - Cannonball Colony – New Title from Adventureland Games May 10 - Gen Con Owes Hasbro More Than $400,000 May 10 - BGN Game Giveaway Winners for March & April 2008 May 9 - Media Watch: What’s Taboo for Senator Obama? May 9 - Gone Cardboard News: Time’s Up Times Two – Coming in June May 9 - Gone Cardboard News: Dirge: Carnage in Crimson – Coming Soon May 9 - Gone Cardboard News: Khet 3D: Tower of Kadesh – Shipping Soon May 9 - Gone Cardboard News: Monty Python Fluxx – Coming in Fall 2008 May 8 - Gone Cardboard News: Okko, Era of the Asagiri – Coming in June

Columnists Valerie Putman: Who Needs Rules? As the last week of classes finished up, one of my colleagues had a bunch of us over for home brewed beer, good food, and good times.  My friends at work know that I’m a board gamer and, in fact, the host and his wife owned Settlers of Catan and Carcassonne.  As the grown ups became a bit boring for their 3 year old to hang out with, he pulled out Settlers and started rolling the dice and playing with the cards.  Later, I was asked if I wanted to see the “boat game” and was delighted to see he meant Serenissima!  We opened the board up and loaded it with boats (at least 3 or 4 in each space) and pushed them around the open seas (and even across land when he felt like it). Read more... - Comments (1) Recent columns: May 10 - W. Eric Martin: Forty Thoughts on Gamers and Gaming May 9 - Kris Hall: Pirate Impressions May 8 - Aaron Lawn: Trade Show Ramblings May 7 - Dale Yu: The New and Improved Game Room May 7 - JESS: Castellers by Reiner Knizia May 6 - Melissa Rogerson: Why you lost Previews & Reviews Game Review: Party Pooper By Ted Cheatham & W. Eric Martin April 23, 2008 (updated May 10, 2008) Publisher: Out of the Box Publishing Designers: Garrett J. Donner, Brian S. Spence & Michael S. Steer Players: 4-8 Ages: 12+ Playing Time: 40 minutes Rules Language: English A bumped review as I’ve played again and revised my take on the game. See below for details. Ted Cheatham is back for a quick shot at the newly released Party Pooper: For those of you who skipped Ted’s presentation, here’s a recap of the rules: Try to guess which player the current round’s host will identify as the most/least likely to do some specified task or challenge, whether it’s singing karaoke, taking a dip with the Polar Bear club, or going dancing with your teenage daughter. Guess well, and you’ll score a point; have everyone guess what you’re thinking when you’re host, and you’ll score lots of points. Read more... - Comments (3) More previews & reviews: May 8 - First Impression: Wizard’s Gambit May 6 - First Impression: 4th Corner Apr 29 - Game Preview: Merlin’s Company / Memoir ‘44 Campaign Bag Apr 25 - Game Review: Mall World Apr 21 - Game Review: Utopia Apr 9 - Game Review: Key Largo

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Recent comments from BGN readers:
May 11, 2008 - Media Watch: Game collection fetches $150,000 By Jonathan Degann
May 11, 2008 - Media Watch: Game collection fetches $150,000 By Greg Fleischman
May 11, 2008 - Media Watch: Game collection fetches $150,000 By Larry Levy
May 11, 2008 - Valerie Putman: Who Needs Rules? By David Reed
May 11, 2008 - Media Watch: Game collection fetches $150,000 By Greg Fleischman
May 11, 2008 - W. Eric Martin: Forty Thoughts on Gamers and Gaming By Tom McCorry
May 11, 2008 - Media Watch: Game collection fetches $150,000 By Larry Levy
May 11, 2008 - Media Watch: Game collection fetches $150,000 By Greg Fleischman
May 11, 2008 - Media Watch: Game collection fetches $150,000 By W. Eric Martin
May 11, 2008 - W. Eric Martin: Forty Thoughts on Gamers and Gaming By Greg Schloesser

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Articles

Gone Cardboard News: A Game of Games – Coming in June

Ted Cheatham and Mike Petty released a small card game at the Gathering of Friends in April 2008 called A Game of Games. While the game is similar to Password – players give single word clues to get their teammate to guess game titles – A Game of Games includes additional scoring opportunities that depend on your knowledge of a game’s designer and year of release.

A Game of Games is available for preorder through Fair Play Games and will be released on June 1. This game has been added to Gone Cardboard.

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Im Reich der Wüstensöhne – Playable on PlayCatan.com

Klaus Teuber’s Im Reich der Wüstensöhne (In the Realm of the Desert Sons), the second title in his new Entdecker series, won’t be available in most game stores, but you can try the game online at PlayCatan.com for free through the end of May 2008. After that time, the game will be available only to Premium members of the site. To find the game, visit PlayCatan.com, then click on “Play” underneath the Catan Online World heading.

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Cannonball Colony – New Title from Adventureland Games

Designer Phil Harding, he of the self-published Archaeology and Archaeology: The Card Game through Adventureland Games, has a new title set to debut at the Australian Games Expo in June 2008. Here’s a description of Cannonball Colony:

It is the golden age of colonialism and a beautiful deserted island has just been discovered. Unfortunately, ships from four different countries have arrived at the same time to claim it! The main mechanism of Cannonball Colony is two layered tile-laying. Players construct a network of road tiles, then build forts, cannons and blockades on top of road tiles to which they have access. When different networks of roads merge, new options open up for players. There is strategy in the way you plan to develop the island for your benefit, but also tactical decisions as you react to what and where your opponents build. The game has the ruleset of a light Eurogame, the thought of a somewhat weighty abstract, and plenty of direct conflict as you blow up opponents. The player with the most forts standing at the end of the game wins the island for his country!

The cover shown above is a draft, and yes, Harding knows about the misspelling. While I think a game about literature professors who create weapons out of their works in order to mutilate stubborn rival faculty members with canonballs sounds cool, that’s probably not what he intended.

Cannonball Colony is for 2-4 players, ages 10 and up, with a playing time of 30-60 minutes. Details about price and ordering will soon be available on Adventureland Games.

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Valerie Putman: Who Needs Rules?

As the last week of classes finished up, one of my colleagues had a bunch of us over for home brewed beer, good food, and good times.  My friends at work know that I’m a board gamer and, in fact, the host and his wife owned Settlers of Catan and Carcassonne.  As the grown ups became a bit boring for their 3 year old to hang out with, he pulled out Settlers and started rolling the dice and playing with the cards.  Later, I was asked if I wanted to see the “boat game” and was delighted to see he meant Serenissima!  We opened the board up and loaded it with boats (at least 3 or 4 in each space) and pushed them around the open seas (and even across land when he felt like it).

Read more...

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Gen Con Owes Hasbro More Than $400,000

While looking for information on the Lucasfilm vs. Gen Con LLC lawsuit, Trask at LivingDice.com ran across Gen Con’s bankruptcy filing, which took place in December 2007. Among the creditors listed are the Make a Wish Foundation ($148,000), Lucasfilm Ltd ($284,000) and Hasbro ($431,000). You can download the filing from the Gencon [sic] Bankruptcy Filing post on LivingDice.com.

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BGN Game Giveaway Winners for March & April 2008

Put your hands together for the following BGN members who won games in the drawings for March and April 2008:

• Jamaica – Jeffrey Henning (March), Timothy S. Higgins (April)
• Kill the Hippies – Joshua Cappel (March)
• Game Ink T-shirt – Steve Hughes (March)
• Slide 5 – Michael Merten, Pat Mitchell (March)
• Galactic Destiny – Jim McDanold (April)
• Word Blur – Giuseppe De Carolis (April)
• Medievalia – Jon Sykes (April)

Hope everyone enjoys their games, and thanks again to all the publishers that generously donated games!

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Game Review: Party Pooper

By Ted Cheatham & W. Eric Martin
April 23, 2008 (updated May 10, 2008)

Publisher: Out of the Box Publishing
Designers: Garrett J. Donner, Brian S. Spence & Michael S. Steer
Players: 4-8
Ages: 12+
Playing Time: 40 minutes
Rules Language: English

A bumped review as I’ve played again and revised my take on the game. See below for details.

Ted Cheatham is back for a quick shot at the newly released Party Pooper:

For those of you who skipped Ted’s presentation, here’s a recap of the rules: Try to guess which player the current round’s host will identify as the most/least likely to do some specified task or challenge, whether it’s singing karaoke, taking a dip with the Polar Bear club, or going dancing with your teenage daughter. Guess well, and you’ll score a point; have everyone guess what you’re thinking when you’re host, and you’ll score lots of points.

Read more...

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W. Eric Martin: Forty Thoughts on Gamers and Gaming

1. You should always carry a game with you when you leave the house. You never know when the opportunity to introduce someone to a new game might arise, and showing always trumps telling.

2. These opportunities happen more frequently if you talk about games every chance you get. I used to be reticent on the topic of games and didn’t bring up the subject around people whom I had just met. Thankfully I’m no longer that person, and I play many more games as a result.

Read more...

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Media Watch: What’s Taboo for Senator Obama?

From ABC News:

Sometimes even politicians need a break from the game of politics. Aboard his 757 airplane en route for five hours from Washington, D.C. to Oregon, Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama opted for a new game: Taboo.  Obama was challenged to a press corps versus Obama staff game to pass some in flight time.... The competitive senator quickly got into the game, cheering on staff members, handing out high fives to his team, and checking the score religiously after each turn.

How well did the Senator perform? And would he propose a Taboo-off to settle the long-running Democratic nomination process? Read the complete article on ABCNews.com to find the answer to one of these questions.

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Gone Cardboard News: Time’s Up Times Two – Coming in June

R&R Games’ Time’s Up – Peter Sarrett’s take on the charades game Celebrities – has been a blast whenever I’ve played it, and soon there will be even more to love. Coming in June 2008 are two new (or partly new) Time’s Up titles:

• Time’s Up Deluxe, which combines 500 names from the base game and the two expansions with 500 new names. This set, which retails for $30, also includes an electronic timer, play rules for an odd number of players (so you don’t have to kick someone out to form teams of two), and advanced rules for a fourth round of play. What can you do once you’ve eliminated speech in round 3 and are left with nothing but pantomiming? Eliminate that, too! Yes, the fourth round is all about posing. Your teammate will keep her eyes closed until you’re ready to show off your still life version of Herbert Hoover or Georgia O’Keeffe. Take a cue from Madonna, and strike a pose…

• Time’s Up: Title Recall, which does away with the famous names and replaces them with 864 titles from books, movies, songs, and more. This standalone game will retail for $20.

These games have been added to Gone Cardboard.

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Gone Cardboard News: Dirge: Carnage in Crimson – Coming Soon

John Clowdus will start shipping the fourth title from Small Box Games, Dirge: Carnage in Crimson, the week of May 12, 2008, but there’s still time to preorder the game at a discounted rate. Dirge is a two-player miniatures combat game with a basic action point system; wreck the other player’s army, and you win. You can download the rules from the Dirge webpage on the Small Box Games website.

This game has been added to Gone Cardboard.

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Gone Cardboard News: Khet 3D: Tower of Kadesh – Shipping Soon

Luke Hooper at Innovention Toys says that the Tower of Kadesh expansion for Khet – which was first shown at NY Toy Fair back in February 2007 – has finally arrived at the company’s warehouse. He adds, “After our full inspection they will begin shipping next week!”

This game has been updated on Gone Cardboard.

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Gone Cardboard News: Monty Python Fluxx – Coming in Fall 2008

Looney Labs has announced that it will release a Monty Python-themed version of Fluxx before the end of 2008. According to designer Andy Looney, the card mix “focuses heavily on Holy Grail but pulls in as many other bits and references as I can squeeze in.” The previously announced Martian Fluxx has been moved to the second quarter of 2009 to make room for this title.

These games have been updated on Gone Cardboard.

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Kris Hall: Pirate Impressions

By pure coincidence, my family came into possession of two pirate games in the last three weeks.  Some days ago, my eldest daughter was given the game Pirateology as a belated birthday gift, and then my copy of GMT’s Blackbeard arrived this week.  Both games have a fine physical production, but both play very differently.

Read more...

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Gone Cardboard News: Okko, Era of the Asagiri – Coming in June

Asmodée Editions had initially given a Q3 2008 release date for Okko, Era of the Asagiri, but in a rare display of overachievement on the part of a game publisher, Okko is now due out in June 2008.

Okko, Era of the Asagiri is a two-player miniature-style game with modular game tiles, a ton of characters, and a heaping helping of dice. For more details, head to Asmodée’s Okko webpage or visit the official Okko website, which includes a PDF of the English rules.

This game has been updated on Gone Cardboard.

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Gone Cardboard News: Money, Gem Dealer – Coming in September; High Society in 2009

FRED Distribution has passed on images for the first titles in its Gryphon Games line: Money and Gem Dealer, both due out in September 2008, and High Society, which is now scheduled for early 2009. Gryphon games will be 6"x8" with a bookshelf look and perhaps 8-10 titles in the series once it’s complete. “They’re not all going to be card games,” says FRED’s Keith Blume. “But they will be family-friendly games that you can get into in five minutes and play in 20-40 minutes. That’s the ballpark we’re shooting for.”

Money, as you might expect, is all about the bills. Blume says that the money cards will be Lost Cities-sized to give you more grip on the geld.

Read more...

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First Impression: Wizard’s Gambit

By W. Eric Martin
May 8, 2008

Publisher: Gryphon Forge Games
Designers: Eric Drever & Matthew Stipes
Players: 2-5
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 45-60 minutes
Rules Language: English

Game Played: Production copy
Number of Plays: Thrice, once each with 2, 3 and 5 players

Ryan Bretsch must be affecting my mind. In comments on BGN and elsewhere, Bretsch, a mainstream game fan, has cried out for publishers to stop using geeky subject matter. “No more elves or trolls or generic fantasy worlds or obscure foreign cities or Renaissance art fests or all those other things that game publishers do repeatedly,” he demands. While I normally roll my eyes at such requests – since many people dig fantasy worlds and topics shunned by mainstream games – I found myself unexpectedly sighing while reading the ad copy on the back of Wizard’s Gambit:

Read more...

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Board 2 Pieces: May 8, 2008

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Aaron Lawn: Trade Show Ramblings

Ah, lateness.  This column was written two weeks ago, just missing my Thursday appearance… Hooray!

I’ve just wound my way back into California after a three day stint at the GAMA Trade Show in Las Vegas.  As you may or may not know, GTS¹ is the trade show for the Hobby Game Industry².  As far as board games, especially Euro-style board games, it’s an odd show to report on.  Why odd?

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Media Watch: Game collection fetches $150,000

From the (Oregon) Mail Tribune:

You might say Ken Fonarow is doing a little spring cleaning. After buying and selling board and role-playing games for 25 years and hawking his wares at shows around the country, the retired policeman is selling his personal collection — for $150,000. Fonarow’s 20,000 games — from one-of-a-kind collector’s items to out-of-print rarities — is being snatched up by board and role-playing game Internet retailer TrollandToad.com, based in Barbourville, Ky. TrollandToad.com spokesman Ryan Severin says the acquisition is the largest in the company’s 17 years of doing business. It has 75 employees and had sales of $5 million last year.

Visit the MailTribune.com for the complete article, which includes a pic of Fonarow and a tiny part of his collection.

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Media Watch: Gathering for game nights

From the Baltimore Sun:

They gathered at Potomac Community Center for game night as they do every Wednesday; never mind that it was the day after Christmas. Initially, they considered playing board and card games unfamiliar to most of the public but popular among the gaming faithful: Qwirkle, Anno 1503 and Loot. But ultimately, the evening would begin with a traditional favorite. “I want to say it’s been a long time since I played Uno, but actually I played about a month ago,” said Wei-Hwa Huang, 32, a software engineer at California-based Google who was visiting his hometown of North Potomac for the holidays.

Head to the BaltimoreSun.com for the entire article, which covers the Games Club of Maryland as well as more traditional family game nights.

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Gone Cardboard News: Massive Z-Man Games Update

Zev Shlasinger has an incredible number of plates in the air right now, and while he’d love to take a rest, most of them will be spinning against his will until June or July. (Hmm, that analogy doesn’t really work, does it?) Here’s an update on many titles forthcoming from Z-Man Games:

• Neuland is arriving at the Z-Man warehouse on May 8th, so expect to see it in stores soon.

• The second edition of Ideology will probably be out sometime in June rather than the previously announced date of April.

• Wasabi! is coming from the same printer as Ideology and also expected in June.

• Chinatown should appear in June as announced. Filosofia has already released the new version of the game in French, and the English one is almost ready.

• Traders of Carthage, from Susumu Kawasaki is expected in June as well.

• Agricola has been delayed until late June or early July as Lookout Games, the original publisher, is coordinating a simultaneous printing in eight different languages and waiting for final approval from everyone involved before going to press. Due to preorders and orders from distributors, Zev says that this print run is already sold out, which means that he won’t have copies available at Origins (assuming the game would be released by then). He has already ordered a reprint, but of course the initial run needs to be printed first!

Read more...

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Media Watch: Wits & Wagers Developer Q & A

North Star Games’ Wits & Wagers graduates from board game to electronic time suck today with its appearance on Xbox LIVE Arcade, courtesy of developer Hidden Path Entertainment. IGN has published an interview with Hidden Path’s CEO, Jeff Pobst, about the game’s development and the players’ funky dances.

Thanks to Ted Alspach for pointing out this interview!

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Dale Yu: The New and Improved Game Room

Well, I was going to write a huge article on the things I love to have in my game room (since I now have a new game room!), but Mary Prasad beat me to it!  (If you haven’t already read it, I highly recommend taking a gander at her article on game room accessories.)

Instead, I’m going to concentrate on a few things about my new recreational space, and it will take the form of a photo essay… Smaller pics will show up on the screen as you read the column, but you can click on the pictures to see the full-size pics!

Read more...

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JESS: Castellers by Reiner Knizia

Devir will publish Castellers, an all brand new game by Reiner Knizia.

Read more...

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Deutscher Spiele Preis Voting Now Open

Voting for the 2008 Deutscher Spiele Preis is now under way, and you – yes, you – can participate by submitting up to five games for consideration. Your first title listed is awarded five points, the next title four points, and so on. You can also submit a single title for the best children’s game released in the latter half of 2007 and early 2008.

To vote, visit DSPvoting.de and complete the form there, including all of the fields at the bottom of the screen: first name, last name, street, ZIP/mailing code, city/state, country, phone number, email address, email address take two. The deadline for entry is July 31, 2008.

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Preview of the XBLA Ticket to Ride on Team Xbox

TeamXbox.com has published a preview of the Xbox LIVE Arcade version of Ticket to Ride, something I ran a news item on back in March 2008, although Days of Wonder’s Mark Kaufmann was coy at the time about an XBLA version of the Spiel des Jahres-winning title.

While the Team Xbox preview doesn’t include a release date beyond “later this year,” it does include a few screen shots, including one which looks more like an embroidery pattern than a U.S. map with potential train routes. Maybe I just need to get used to the new look…

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Dungeon Twister Coming to Xbox 360, PS3, DS

Christophe Boelinger’s Dungeon Twister has launched eight expansions to date – including Fire & Water, due out in English in Q3 2008 from Asmodée Editions – but the biggest expansion might be the one still to come: an electronic version from French development studio Hydravision Entertainment that will be available on the Xbox LIVE Arcade, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo DS.

Asmodée lists a release date of 2009 on its gossip page, while March 2008 SEC filings by Dutch/American game publisher Playlogic Entertainment lists a Q4 2008 release date.

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Gone Cardboard News: Asmodée Cancels Renaissance

Almost a year after it first announced the project, Asmodée Editions has decided not to release Renaissance – a sequel to designer Pascal Bernard’s Joan of Arc – in English after all.  Eric Franklin’s English translation of the rules is available for download from the BoardGameGeek Renaissance page for those who want to pick up the game in French.

This game has been removed from Gone Cardboard.

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Filsofia Pimps the New Chinatown

While English speakers are still waiting for the new edition of Chinatown – currently due out in June 2008 from Z-Man Games – Canadian publisher Filosofia has already released the French edition of the game. Illustrator Mathieu Leysseyne (Animalia, Jamaica) continues his fine work with yet another game that features inviting and squeezably real characters and objects. Check out Filosofia’s Chinatown minisite for multiple pics from the game, along with avatars you can adopt.

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