Die Minen von Zavandor – Coming from Lookout Games

Lookout Games has announced a new title for release in June 2010 – although the game might slip a month later or arrive in May at the Spielwahnsinn ("Game Madness") event in Herne, Germany. The new game is Die Minen von Zavandor from designer Alexander Pfister with graphics by Lookout regular Klemens Franz. (2-4 players, ages 10+, 45-90 minutes, ~€35)

Die Minen von Zavandor is set in Lookout’s fantasy world of Zavandor, but otherwise has no direct connection to Lookout’s The Scepter of Zavandor. In this game, which has a bidding mechanism at its heart, players are dwarves who try to equip their mines with buildings and people that will prove useful during the game, in addition to earning them points at game’s end. In his blog, Pfister describes (in German) Minen as being less complicated than Scepter. He also says that the bidding mechanism doesn’t feel like a classic auction: “The minimum purchase price of the buildings / artifacts is 3 gems – but with a starting income of 2-3 gems, the question is usually not how much you should offer, but whether you should even make an offer.” Bidding is handled simultaneously, he says, so the game has little waiting time and plays smoothly.

Update, March 10, 2010: Lookout Games’ Hanno Girke has said that negotiations for an English edition of the game are still underway. In his words, “There are several options – you can safely assume that there will be some kind of EN edition, but it’s just not quite sure what logo you can find on the box.”

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