Ask Jay: More of the Same? - Questions about Reprints

Readers have asked Jay Tummelson of Rio Grande Games lots of questions about reprints in the past week. We’ll start with those questions, then branch outward:

What’s old won’t be new
Q: Back in March 2007 in this column, someone asked about the possibility of a reprint of the Eggertspiele title Neuland, and you said that you would ask Peter Eggert about his plans for the game. Do you have any news to report about a new edition of this excellent game?

A: Peter has been busy with his plans for Essen, but we will discuss it at Essen.

Q: Have you given any thought to reprinting the Queen titles Schnäppchen Jagd or Die Händler? Both of them are highly rated games on BoardGameGeek that have never had an English edition.

A: Not really—those decisions are up to Queen. I will remember to ask them at Essen.

Q: Do you plan to reprint Attila, Industrial Waste, Medina, or San Marco in the near or far future?

A: No.

Complete the collection question
Q: Do you know whether the new alea title, Im Jahr des Drachen, will be a big, medium or small box game?

A: Big, I believe.

Expounding on expansions
Q: Will the Spielbox expansion for Zooloretto (coming in issue 5/2007) appear in some form in the United States, either as part of a packaging of the on-line expansions or through a magazine (Knucklebones, for example)?

A: I am planning multiple expansions in one box for Zooloretto this fall. It will include all the expansions the Michael has arranged so far, as I understand, including the one from Spielbox.

Q: There have already been a couple of expansions for Verflixxt! (That’s Life!) that have not reached the United States—Das große Loch (The Pitfall), a freebie released at Spielefest 2005 and Verflixxt nochmal! (That’s Life Again!) which was released at Spiel 2006. Ravensburger has announced another expansion (Verflixxt hoch) for 2007. Is there any chance for a combined expansion for the English-speakers?

A: Well, so far, the English speakers have not shown much interest in the basic game—far less than 2,000 total have sold since it was released. I think that is why Ravensburger has shown no interest in making an English or multi-lingual version of the expansions.

Coffee talk
Q: How are things going with your new website? When do you expect it to come online?

A: It is done and needs to have a few hundred games and other things loaded, so expect it to be a few more weeks yet.

Q: Are you finding that there is increasing competition in the publishing industry, or is the addition of new publishers a positive for the gaming industry as a whole?

A: As I tell many people, my main competition comes from companies like Time Warner, who offer different forms of entertainmant than board games. Other board game companies only add to a too small list of such companies.

Q: What are your thoughts on where the gaming industry is heading? Do you think that games like Carcassonne and Settlers of Catan will become household staples like Monopoly & Clue?

A: No, I do not, but check back in 25-50 years as it took that long for those games. There is no way to predict what the public will choose to like and dislike, regardless of those in the industry who have claimed that always knew such-and-such a game would be a hit. Such people never had such thoughts or they’ve had them about many games, most of which were NOT hits.

I do see family style board-gaming (like the games I make) growing for years to come, but which games, if any, will be holdhold staples, I do not know.

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Comments:

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"A: As I tell many people, my main competition comes from companies like Time Warner, who offer different forms of entertainmant than board games. Other board game companies only add to a too small list of such companies.” I love this answer. Great stuff. Posted by Jim Cote on Aug 21, 2007 at 06:17 PM | #

Indeed. Posted by Robert Ramirez on Aug 21, 2007 at 08:43 PM | #

A future question: On a podcast interview, you talked about a new version of Thurn & Taxis, but with an american postal theme and you were trying to get permission from Wells Fargo to use their name.  Has there been any developments on this game? Posted by Rob Cannon on Aug 22, 2007 at 06:06 AM | #

My future question for Jay: For the love of God, please post the third preview installment (which was promised to us in July) of Race for the Galaxy!!! :-) Posted by Phil Schwarzmann on Aug 23, 2007 at 04:14 PM | #

Phil, Appending three extra exclamation points, a colon, dash and a mysterious closing parenthesis marker (without an perfunctory opening) doesn’t make this statement a question. ):!!- Posted by Brent Mair on Aug 23, 2007 at 04:18 PM | #

Hehe, okay let me reword it, “Could you please, for the love of God, please post the third preview installment (which was promised to us in July) of Race for the Galaxy!!! :-)” Posted by Phil Schwarzmann on Aug 24, 2007 at 01:49 AM | #

How well are the sales of the first edition of Zooloretto going? Is it close to selling out (keeps being out of stock at the on-line vendors) or is there no plan to print a second edition by end of year? Posted by Stanley Bourgeois on Aug 24, 2007 at 03:48 PM | #

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