Gambit 7, Coming from Days of Wonder
Days of Wonder has announced that it will release Gambit 7 at Spiel 08 in October, but the game will appear only in French and German editions, at least initially. Why the change from the customary DoW release pattern? Because Gambit 7 is based on a game that’s already available in the U.S. market, specifically North Star Games’ Wits & Wagers.
In Gambit 7, players hear a trivia question with a numerical answer drawn from one of eight categories – Business & Economy, Art & Literature, Geography & Nature, History & Government, Pop Culture, Science, Sports & Leisure; and Wild Card – then write their answer and display it in a list with everyone’s answers. Players can bet on their own answer being correct or choose someone else’s, with the winning answer being the one closest to the actual numerical answer without being higher.
The French and German editions of Gambit 7 will have numerous questions related to the language and culture of those countries and will retail for €25, a lower MSRP than is typical for Days of Wonder as Gambit 7 is the first in a new line of low-cost family games. In 2009, Gambit 7 will appear in an English-language Commonwealth Edition with questions related to the British Commonwealth; this version will be available for sale outside of North America.
“We love and will continue to publish the style of high-end board games we have become known for, such as Ticket to Ride, Memoir ’44 and Shadows over Camelot. But we also feel that the time has come for us to bring Days of Wonder games to a broader audience through our wider distribution channels, particularly in Europe, without diminishing the game experience we’ve become known for,” said Days of Wonder CEO, Eric Hautemont, in a press release announcing the game. ”Gambit 7 is the perfect vehicle to introduce this new low-cost line of games. It has all the elements of a typical DOW game – it’s fun, is easy-to-learn and play, and has great-looking graphics – but at a more affordable price point than our big box games.”
Mark Kaufmann stressed this point in a separate note: “To be clear, this does not mean we are abandoning our traditional line. We have several brand new games on the horizon and our next one, which we expect to announce early next year, will be a Days of Wonder big box game and available worldwide.”
Posted by W. Eric Martin on Sep 8, 2008 at 09:00 AM in Game News, The Industry at Large / 1185
Comments:
To comment, you must register with BGN. Registration is free, but donations are greatly appreciated!|
Congratulations to Dominic and Satish from North Star games for getting this great game to an even bigger market! Posted by Jeph Stahl on Sep 8, 2008 at 10:34 AM | #
|
|
For clarity’s sake, is North Star licensing this officially to Days of Wonder or is DoW “borrowing” the concept and releasing without North Star? The article doesn’t make this point clear. Posted by William Baldwin on Sep 8, 2008 at 12:02 PM | #
|
|
William, the game system for Gambit 7 is licensed from North Star Games, which is why the game will not be sold in North America. Wits & Wagers already covers this area. Eric Posted by W. Eric Martin on Sep 8, 2008 at 12:22 PM | #
|
|
Thanks for the official clarification. Posted by William Baldwin on Sep 8, 2008 at 02:37 PM | #
|
|
Rock on, Dominic and Satish! Posted by Brett Myers on Sep 8, 2008 at 04:15 PM | #
|
|
Are other languases following? French, German and English is not enough when you target your game to Europe. There’s Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Danish and all the other North and East European languages. So great to think of Europe, but don’t pick three big countries and think that’s Europe. Posted by David Young on Sep 8, 2008 at 04:29 PM | #
|
|
David, We do expect to have other languages available for Gambit 7 in addition to French, German and English. Because the content of the questions must fit culturally it is not just a simple translation of rules and we need to find the right team to help us develop those versions. That means it will take us a bit more time before we can pin down the details for other versions. Mark - Days of Wonder Posted by Mark Kaufmann on Sep 8, 2008 at 05:39 PM | #
|
|
That’s better. I suspected as much but I missed it in the news. Looking forward to a dutch edition. Posted by David Young on Sep 8, 2008 at 05:42 PM | #
|
Next entry: Comino, New from Corné van Moorsel
Previous entry: Rename Sushizock im Gockelwok for Gigamic
