Convention Report: New York Toy Fair 2008 – February 17 (Part One)

By W. Eric Martin
February 17, 2008

You know you’re in Manhattan when you can’t walk two blocks without passing a Starbucks. While walking from Grand Central Station to the Jacob Javits Center for Toy Fair 2008, I saw four (or perhaps five) of the green-and-white logo beckoning with the promise of sweet drinks and free wi-fi. I resisted the siren call for now, pleased just to be able to walk the city streets, unlike in my hometown of Concord, NH, where more than 70” of snow has fallen this winter, and ice and slush cover every sidewalk.

Enough weather talk, let’s get to the games…

Playroom Entertainment
Reiner Knizia once again has a number of new releases peppered throughout the Playroom line-up, and the most interesting is undoubtedly Ilium. Ilium is another term for ancient Troy, and players are archeologists following in the footsteps of Heinrich Schliemann, looking for artifacts in the newly excavated site of that fabled city.

The board and game play might remind you of Portobello Market, the first strategy game of this style from Playroom. The board shows a number of dig sites, with paths of different lengths connecting the sites. To start the game, you place a number of discovery tiles on each site equal to the number of paths leading to it. The tiles show one of five types of artifacts, with 1-5 artifacts on a tile. Each player has his own deck of cards, and the card you draw each turn determines how many archeologists (1-3) you place on one empty space on any path. When a path fills, the player with the most archaeologists on the path collects one tile from one of the adjacent dig sites – but in each site he may choose only the tile with the fewest artifacts; the player with the secondmost artifacts takes the tile that the first player didn’t. As the dig sites empty, the more valuable tiles can be claimed.

The game ends after all five tiles with five artifacts on them have been claimed. Each player was dealt a secret card at the start of the game representing one of the types of artifacts, and players must now discard the tile of that type that contains the most artifacts. The player who ends up with the most complete sets wins the game.

Ilium is for 2-4 players ages 8 and up with a playing time of 35 minutes and price of $38. The release date is Q3 2008, and right now there’s no non-English publishing partner for the game. That’s right – Playroom is now releasing original games from Dr. K. Very cool…

Secrets of the Sea is another Knizia release, also for Q3 2008, and it’s an English version of Die Schatztaucher, first published by Schimdt Spiele in 2006. You lay out chips on a board representing the ocean, with light chips on top and dark ones on the bottom. On a turn, you roll dice to see how far down you can explore; after choosing a tile, you shine a UV light on it to reveal the hidden image on the back. If you find a monster, you’re doomed! If you find treasure or hidden objects, you may be able to collect the tile. Collect enough tiles of the same type, and you claim point chips. Secrets of the Sea is for players ages 5 and up. (The artwork isn’t final, and I won’t be here Wednesday to snag a free donut.)

Macau is an English-language version of Mr. Kongo, which Schmidt released at Spiel 07. I’ve had a copy sitting on my game shelf since October and have yet to play, alas. The short description of Macau? A non-gambling Texas Hold’em-style game in which you must predict what your score will be each round in order to actually score anything. Macau is for 3-6 playes ages 8 and up; it retails for $20 and will be out Q3 2008.

Baker’s Dozen is the final title in the Knizia trio, and if you’ve played Poison, then you’ve played Baker’s Dozen. BD – which might not be released in the donut holder shown here – has three types of donuts, along with four moldy donuts, and on a turn you play one card into the appropriate donut box: each type has its own box, but a moldy donut can go anywhere. If the total in a box tops 13, the player must claim the cards; if you take more cards of a type than anyone else, you can toss ‘em and avoid the trans-fat. If not, you’re penalized for what you ate, along with a penalty for all moldy donuts.

The card mix is slightly different in Baker’s Dozen compared with Poison. Jessica Bethke at Playroom said that it was retheming the game to get it into more markets. Apparently some people don’t like playing with Poison – or maybe it’s the sight of a menacing Reiner Knizia on the cover…

In its line of Bright Idea Games, Playroom has English versions of two games that Amigo is releasing in German in 2008: Time After Time (aka Wer hat an der Uhr gedreht?) and Pick a Paint (aka Alle meine Farben). Both are due out in Q2 2008.

Where the Buffalo Roam, shown in an extremely rough prototype, is by Jeffrey Neil Bellinger, the man responsible for Killar Bunnies. On a Twixt-style board, players move their buffalo around the land. On a turn, you either move one of your buffalo or place a fence. The player to be able to move wins the game.

Speaking of those rampaging rabbits, Killer Bunnies and the Journey to Jupiter is a new board and card game due out Q2 2008. The expected pop culture spoofs are present (Fembots, Predator, Moonraker) as players try to find the Magic Carrot (now located in outer space) and return it to Jupiter. Naturally you have all sorts of weapons to turn against fellow players as you travel on a giant hex map of the solar system. As you might expect, booster decks will be forthcoming, and they will add cards to the game as well as expansion hex boards.

Pictures - Click the picture for a larger version
	Rough prototype to say the least
	Chips and cards but no gambling – really, they mean it! – in Maureen Hiron’s Macau
	Hex boards become integrated with the Killer Bunnies mythos

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