Board Game Madness 12/20, closing out 2011

Last post for 2011. Have a happy holidays!

Fun:

• Perhaps the most dangerous die in the world. The entire set. 
• Someone’s trying to get this interesting set of dice made on Kickstarter – it’s a dungeon randomizer.
• More beautiful dice 
• Who says that a hospital stay can’t be fun – bring Dominion! 
• Umm… er… ahh… yeah, I got nothing. (NSFW)
• Eh… well… oy… still got nothing. (Even more NSFW) 
• If you are interested in what goes into making a Ticket to Ride map, here’s a designer diary by the winner of the $10,000 contest from Days of Wonder who made the India board now for sale.
• Help support the Creative Play Project, a non-profit that encourages kids to play games and stay off the streets, by purchasing a board gaming t-shirt.

New Games:

• Quarmageddon: Second expansion for the dice pool builder craze from 2011. 40 new dice, 6 new creatures and 2 new spells. New “immunity” ability too. And they have gone the way of Thunderstone and gotten a box to include all previous editions. Release June 2012.
• Descent: Journeys in the Dark 2^nd Edition: Talked about this one a while ago, but now they have announced a release date of 2012. The conversion kit will be released at the same time.
• Rockband Manager: This Fantasy Flight game was created by the same designer as 7 Wonders. It’s a card game where you assemble a band, record albums, play concerts, buy gear, etc. All the fun of putting together a band without the car chases and singing cops (ok, that would make it more fun – can you name the movie?) It’s an auction game that’s due out in March.
• Recent releases: Siberia, Bios Megafauna, Core Worlds, Flash Point: Fire Rescue, Friday, Octopus’ Garden, Malta Besieged, Memoir Campaign Book Vol 2, Principato, Bazaar, Cyclades: Hades, Eclipse, Mansions of Madness: Forbidden Alchemy, Plutocracy

iOS

• If you’re looking to get something last minute for an iPad owner, BGG has an iOS 2011 gift guide
• Carcassonne River and Inns and Cathedrals is now available however it seems that there are some crashes
• Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution was updated and I can tell you first hand that there are crashes :-(
• Looking for an iPad wargame? Hex Empire has been released. It was apparently a very popular Flash game and has now been released to iOS.
• FITS is now out for $3.99! Only 1-2 players though, but that’s because it’s not pass and play. A look at the pics of the game show that you play on the same pad across from each other.

News:

• Seven Scrabble bingos (7-letter words) in one game! Joel Sherman of the Bronx scored a whopping 803 points to set a world tournament record.
• Fantasy Flight is rereleasing Fortress America, a political/war game from the 80s from Milton Bradley. They apparently had to update it though because it’s causing a bit of a furor with people who felt that it was casting America as a villain in this scenario.
• Merging mediums: A band from Kentucky called Big Fresh has released a new album called Moneychasers that is also a satirical board game. Don’t see where you can get the board game though…
• Interesting debate about whether to give real board games for the holidays or apps of board games

Commentary:

• I have internally been very suspicious of Kickstarter, the invest before it exists web site. Board games have been really proliferating on there as small publishers look to decrease their risk by getting people to invest in their initial run and getting little free bits along with the game. Fact of the matter is, most of these games aren’t very good. Only one of the games, Alien Frontiers, is in the top 100 and only 4 in the top 1000. I recognize the value of a site like this, but I’m a bit more critical of where I invest my money. I’ll save it for the 169^th expansion of Dominion.

References: Board Game Geek, GameSalute, Purple Pawn, Google News

Happy holidays and happy gaming!

Board Game Madness 12/13

Fun:

• Early holiday greetings from your favorite meeples
• Ominous Dungeon Lords shot 
• Can you count the number of gaming bits in the jar?

New Games:

• Race for the Galaxy: Alien Artifacts: Next expansion for the RftG universe, this presents a whole new way of playing the game. It is completely incompatible with earlier expansions and gives you a new exploration mechanic where you visit the Alien Orb and search for powers and victory points. Release likely next year 
• Briefcase: Newest in the deck building crase, this one has a financial industry focus. Build a business by acquisition and then have the abilities of that new division to help you with the rest of your game. Release sometime in 2012

iOS:

• Ascension: Return of the Fallen has been released (and if you ask me is an awesome expansion to the original) 
• Starving Gator – the iPad version of Hungry Hungry Hippos, for those with small children – available now

News:

• Apparently board gaming made NPR’s Morning Edition. They interviewed the designer of Risk: Legacy who talked about his game and how it’s different by permanently changing the board game based on previous plays 
• According to retailers, classic simple board games like Monopoly, Stratego and Sorry are all coming back. Parcheesi is making a comeback too according to a store in Mamaroneck.

Happy gaming!

Board Game Madness 12/6

Fun:

• Blast from the past: Nice 1953 picture of a family playing Monopoly.
• What happens when you mix alcohol, bad tempers and a party game? OK, at the very least alcohol and a party game...
• Gamer "threads" – a dress made of magic cards
• Exotic gaming locales: Playing way high up in the mountains
• Pimp my game: Someone created a kraken for Merchants and Marauders. Even if it isn't in the rules, that would be so cool!
• In case you are looking for a consolidated holiday shopping guide, BGG has released their 2011 Gift Guide for the holidays
• Another one by scrippsnews that also mentions a family favorite: Haggis (killer price of $9.99!)
• According to Magic: The Gathering designer Mark Rosewater, there's Ten Things Every Game Needs: Goals, rules, interaction, catch-up capabilities, inertia, surprise, strategy, fun, flavor and a hook
• I mentioned Risk: Legacy a while back. This is the game where you alter the board as you play it. Permanently. Well, someone made a really funny geeklist on what other games would look like if you applied the same theory to them.
• Very interesting analysis from blogger Richard Gottlieb about the 10 most important moments for games and toys in history

New Games:

• 1st & Goal: Football fans! Just in time for the playoffs. No NFL license here, so no real players, but this is two teams that can play against each other, calling plays and executing your game plan. Dice heavy with 120 play cards. They are going to expand it with six division packs (4 teams each) in the future. Should be available this week.

iOS:

• In case you are interested in how the iOS board games are doing, take a look at a report that BGGer Brad Cummings has posted. In summary, approximately 60% of the table-top gaming apps being released are "board games" (as opposed to dice or card). About 73% offer AIs and 68% offer online multiplayer. The average price of all paid apps is $3.63, although board games seem to be pushing that envelope on the higher end. The number of app purchases are up, but revenues are down 20%. This could be pre-holiday lull. Interesting report, I'd recommend it.
• CNET's best 30 games included Carcassonne, Great Little War Game, Monopoly, Puerto Rico, Scrabble and Ticket to Ride
• iPawn is a set of playing pieces that interact with the iPad to play games such as Snakes and Ladders and Air Hockey. This is now available.
• Titan coming soon
• Hive likely next year
• Caylus coming in January
• Assassin's Creed Recollection released ($2.99) – story mode and multiplayer
• Carcassonne expansions Inns & Cathedrals and The River II will be available before Christmas
• Summoner Wars postponed into January
• iThunderstone was updated. Why not Dominion KD?
• Ascension: Return of the Fallen will hopefully be ready pre-holidays
• Did I mention that Forbidden Island is now out on the iPad?

News:

• BGG is going through their annual supporter drive. If you use BGG and value their content, throw 'em a bone if you can
• According to DiscoveryNews, board games were originated for the elite in society to pass time. Now? We're just pariahs on society (oh wait, that's role players... lol) (BEFORE I get hate mail, I'm a role player also!)

Happy gaming!

Board Game Madness 11/22

BGM will not be out next week, or will at least be delayed as I have a minor surgical procedure on my shoulder. If it comes out will fully depend on how loopy I am from the pain meds…

Fun:

• CONTEST: North Star Games (makers of Say Anything) is running a contest to win a free iPad. Go through the BGG page for the rules. Make sure you tell them I sent you so I can get a free game if you win (which will mean that I will have to play the game with you first of course!) 
• “So I go the table to play a game of Merchants and Marauders and you’ll never believe the skullduggery I encountered! This guy parroted every action I made and then stole my loot!!! 
• Have to show this to my son – Lego Chess 
• Awesome geeklist called “Games Where Some Guy Just Totally Flipped Out” with great anecdotes
• From the This is Totally Wrong department, we have a mock ad for My Little Pony Hide & Seek 
• The BoardGameGeek Golden Geek Winners were announced with game of the year honors going to Dominant Species (oh my God, NOT 7 Wonders!!! (although that did win best card and family game)

New Games:

• Innovation: Figures in the Sand: New expansion for Innovation that brings in people civilization moods. Due out August 2012 
• Article 27: The UN Security Council Game: Negotiation game a la Diplomacy where every player takes a shot at being the Security General and leads negotiations over five issues. Looks interesting. Release unknown.

iOS:

• Ticket to Ride Pocket released for iPhone 
• Forbidden Island released 
• Tigris & Euphrates is now actually available in the App Store

Happy gaming and Happy Thanksgiving!

Board Game Madness 11/15

Fun:

• Contest! Tasty Minstrel Games is putting out a new game called Kings of Air and Steam. To celebrate hitting their Kickstarter goals, they are running a contest and offering to 1 lucky gamer immortalization of their face on the cover of the box. 14 people will also get the game for free. These are the same guys that brought us Homesteaders and the new hotness Eminent Domain. Answer their questions before November 27^th to be eligible.
• Hysterical (and somewhat insightful) Dear Flabby advice column for gamers
• Strange Halloween costume – dress as a board game?
• Because board game humor is always better with animals
• For our French speakers, but this is funny in any language
• Thanksgiving-themed Race for the Galaxy card
• Don’t mess with a Jedi with gaming on his mind
• Pimp my Game: Wow, someone really decked out their Cleapatra SoA game with a really nice throne And the columns have been painted really nicely too.
• I won’t be at BGG.con, but they will be selling Meeple Jewelry. They look really nice!

New Games:

• Zombie Dice 2: Double Feature: Yes, there’s a new expansion for the family friendly game of eating human brains. 3 new dice and movie simulations – Big Summer Action Movie and Santa Claus Meets the Zombies. Not sure of the release date on this one.
• Fresco Card Game: No link yet, but expected end of Q1/early Q2 from Queen games
• Jungle Speed Raving Rabids: Expansion to the popular dexterity game. Now you have to possibly grab a character sitting on top of the totem or create rabbit ears on your head. Looks silly, but then again Jungle Speed tends to be (and that’s good!)
• Schlock Mercenary: This is in the Kickstarter phase so it is still seeking funding, but they have reached their goal of $25K. As you’d expect from the farcical webcomic, this one is a multi-player shooter set in the SM universe. Scenario books and dice come with, so I imagine this will probably align with an RPG-like board game such as Castle Ravenloft.

iOS:

• Games reduced in price in the last week: Medici ($1.99), Ra: ($1.99), Tikal ($1.99), Bohnanza ($1.99), Bang! ($2.99)
• Tigris and Euphrates is now out ($5.99). It’s got pass and play and online multiplayer available. Also an AI at different levels. I’m not a big fan of the game, as I know some people are, but this one is highly anticipated. Apparently there are a few bugs, but the fixes have been promised. At this point, the game is waiting for Apple to signoff, but that is apparently imminent.
• Keltis HD (Lost Cities-like game) released this week.

News:

• I mentioned a while ago that there was a new TV channel that was a joint venture between Hasbro and Discovery Communications. They are about to kick off a miniseries based on the board game Clue. They have other shows based on Scrabble and Life.

Happy Gaming!

Board Game Madness 11/9

Sorry about the day late… BTW, anyone want to feel depressed that Stairway to Heaven is 40 years old???

Fun:

• Some AMAZINGLY attractive crokinole sets: Cthernie, Asunder, Frankenstein
• Monster-sized Jenga board. And an even bigger and stonier one! You could really get hurt playing this game!
• Would bandages and blood be considered appropriate garb for a game of Pandemic? How about a HAZMAT suit?
• Ingenuity at its finest – who needs a chess board???
• Some games really have an engaging theme and really pull you in. But then, sometimes they go a little too far and scare the begeezus out of you.
• Wow, this is an unbelievable dice sculpture by the artist Tony Cragg
• Some of you know I want to build my ultimate game table. This is what it takes from someone who did so at BGG. Of course, my design is much better.
• Contest: Take a picture of yourself and your dice in an exotic location and win a bunch of Q-Workshop dice and a bag. Yes, this is as strange as it sounds.
• Mmmmmm… chocolate covered dice <gurgle gurgle>
• In the news this week, Israel intimated that they might take a preemptive action against Iran to halt nuclear proliferation in the region. Well, how about a board game already in place to simulate this? And designed by military novelist Larry Bond.

New Games:

• Frankendie: Combine the pattern recognition game of Set with assembling creatures a la Norbert and you have this seemingly loud and fun game. Probably not out until after Christmas
• Carcassonne Expansions: From the I Wouldn’t Believe It If I… Wait, Who Am I Kidding Department, yes, three more expansions for the Rio Grande seminal tile laying game. Crop Circles, Plagues and Tunnels.

iOS:

• Trivial Pursuit has now taken to the iPad – available now
• Elder Sign: Omens released
• Dominant Species is still in testing (expect a couple of more months)
• Tigris & Euphrates updated to 11/14 release

News:

• Saturday 11/12 is National Gaming Day at Your Library! The writeup for North Merrick is “Join the North Merrick Public Library, as thousands of libraries throughout the country host special gaming events in celebration of National Gaming Day. There will be plenty of video games, board games and tournaments to entertain the whole family. Open to Teens, Tweens and their families.” Participating libraries are:
• North Merrick
• Farmingdale
• Island Park
• Long Beach
• South Huntington
• Huntington

Happy gaming!

Board Game Madness 11/1/11 (The Date of 1s)

Fun:

• I’ve found a video cast/TV show about Board Gaming called Shut Up and Sit Down. I LOVE this show. It’s funny, they review games from Power Grid to Descent, so it’s across the entire genre. Two English gamers that have a great sense of humor and good reviews on games. They’ve done 5 ½ episodes so far.
• Pastry gaming: Small World
• Drinking games: Agricola beer
• OK, the pieces to the new game Poseidon’s Kingdom may be too cute to play
• I’ve been known to play games in strange places from time to time. Zombie Dice or Lord of the Fries in a restaurant, D&D in an airport… but how about Sid Meier’s Civilization in a subway station???
• Contest #1: Want to win a free copy of Ticket to Ride Asia? Like DoW on Facebook and you and a friend (who may be me?) will win free copies.
• Contest #2: Want to win a free copy of Dominion: Hinterlands? Like ISlayTheDragon on Facebook and you (not a friend who may be me) will win a free copy. There’s other ways to win too.
• MeepleSource.com is putting out non-standard meeples to be used in your games. I am SERIOUSLY considering making my next Blood Bowl team meeples.

New Games:

• GameChanger: Identity Games has released an iPad add-on that allows you to play one of two kids games by plugging into the iPad and letting you use the board to interact with the digital interface. This is available for the holidays and one of the kids games is the Magic School Bus, a favorite of my kids.

iOS:

• Reiner Knizia’s Lines of Gold out now
• Ghost Stories updated for 4-monk play
• Elder Sign: Omens (Horror dice game) announced and available very soon apparently
• Bang! is now multiplayer
• Cyclades out now
• War of Words is available for the iPad and is apparently combat Scrabble. Not sure how this works, but you can blow words up.
• Tigris & Euphrates pushed back to November

News:

• 7 Wonders won a-(yawn)-nother game in Denmark. Don’t get me wrong, I really like the game and its accessibility to a large group of people, but this is getting a little ridiculous. Maybe I should just report on who wins second.
• Want to make custom pieces for your favorite games? Roland DG Corp is now doing 3D modeling with a more desktop-sized device (so they say… no prices yet)

Happy gaming!

Board Game Madness 10/25

Fun:

• Essen fair is this week and Board Game Geek is all over it. They have their usual GeekBuzz list of what is hot at the convention. Seems like civilization/city builders are the order of the day with Colonial: Europe’s Empires Oversees, Antiquity and Quebec. Stalag 17, a war game, tops the list. Other games are Wilderness (Exploration – the Bear Grylls way), Top A Top (kids card game), Pergamemnon (ancient army deck building battle game), Takenoko (Japanese farming game), Ascension: Return of the Fallen (expansion to the deck builder) and Dungeon Petz (worker placement spin-off of Dungeon Lords)
• Board game pieces spring to life – Gem sperm
• Pimp my Game: Thunderstone custom dungeon
• Check out the money shipping in the new Puerto Rico 10^th anniversary edition
• Die of the year (in my opinion)
• Giant Cthulumeeple
• A couple of fans have developed an expansion to Settlers of Catan called Oil Springs. There you can have access to another resource, Oil, that greatly improves your productivity, but can cause disaster for the island of Catan. I read through the PDF and it was really interesting. 

New Games:

• Space Bastards: This one wins for name of the year. Alien races, coming together, making babies, eating other aliens, mass mayhem, fun to be had. Best quote on the description on BGG is, “Space Bastards is a game in which you can enjoy and observe the picturesque aliens as small animals in an aquarium – while siccing them on your opponents, of course...”. Released at Essen, US availability TBD.

iOS:

• Tabletop Army Manager released – manage your miniature armies with this tracking aid
• Imperial released, then pulled – apparently it didn’t work and they are offering refunds.
• Ticket to Ride updated to choose AI, review the board after the game and iOS 5 capable
• Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization postponed to Feb ‘12
• LeHavre postponed to Jan ‘12
• Tigris & Euphates any day now!
• Controversial game War on Terror is being ported to iOS at some point in the future
• Android update – BGG App updated to read forums

News:

• Any fans of The Dice Tower know that one of the hosts, Eric Summerer, is completely obsessed with the old space-themed Avalon Hill game Merchants of Venus. A friend of mine, Gil Hova (designer of the game Prolix), did a small write-up on NerdNYC about a problem with rights to the game as two publishers, Stronghold Games and Fantasy Flight, have both announced reprints of the game. Purple Pawn also wrote about the unfortunate situation.
• Also in the iOS world, Playdek has announced that they are working with a bunch of new publishers including Eagle Games to bring their games to the digital environment
• Kickstarter, the site that gives inventors and small companies that much needed seed money to finish their projects, has raised $1.1 million for board and card games so far in 2011. Last year Alien Frontiers set the board game world ablaze with their game funded by Kickstarter.

Happy gaming!

Board Game Madness 10/18

Fun:

• Tom Vasel has begun releasing his annual Top 100 games of all time. They’re fun to watch. If your tastes lean a little towards thematic games, you’ll love this list. Oh, and his daughter has her own list of kids friendly games too/
• Purple Pawn put together a few gamer videos on Settlers of Catan and D&D

New Games:

• Village: This one seems interesting in that you are taking your family through a number of challenges to gain notoriety and fame as time goes on. Prominent members die and other ones take their place. Possible release later this year.

iOS:

• I have not upgraded to iOS 5 yet, there’s some people I know who have had difficulties. But apparently there’s Game Center improvements including recommendations to other players with the same games from friends.

News:

• Games Magazine (which I am a HUGE fan of) released their top games to purchase in 2012 (basically a top games in separate categories of 2011). I’m not such a huge fan of the list, but in defense of the publisher, it really is one reviewer’s viewpoint I believe. And I have no problems with his tastes differing from mine. Tikal II was #1 by the way. Oh, and one other thing on this, it was really interesting to note that board game sims dominated the list of electronic games. You can’t see that by the above link, but you can if you view it in the Games Magazine December edition this list is from.
• Shocker in the Scrabble world as an Australian tournament saw a cheating scandal with hiding letters and strip searches!

Happy Gaming!

Board Game Madness 10/13

Late this week due to an offsite meeting I’m at this week.

Fun:

·         Love the enthusiasm and it’s consistent with the overacting of the TV show…

·         Again, some people just do incredible work with minis for their games

·         New game idea – 7 Wonders meets Settlers of Catan. Oh wait – this is a real expansion!!!

·         So these “inspirational” posters are always good for a laugh

·         When in the alps, climb mountains play board games!

·         Kenny’s not to old to get this bib!

·         Bad sportsmanship after a win, who’s gonna clean up???

New Games:

·         City Tycoon: A city building economic game where you place tiles building the city and invest your own funds and resources into building up the city. Sounds interesting, release later this year in Europe, hopefully next year in the US.

·         Drako: So it’s dwarves vs. dragon in this two player game card/miniature game. Interesting thing about this one is it’s asymmetrical, similar to some war games. The dwarves are able to overpower the dragon, but must win before running out of cards.

iOS:

·         Starbase Orion – 4x space civ game a la Twilight Imperium – available NOW

·         Imperial – released

News:

·         International Catan Day is 11/15. Maybe we should have a game.

·         Days of Wonder has finally put Memoir ’44 on the computer, a long anticipated move. They’ve decided to use Steam as their multiplayer engine.

Happy gaming!

Board Game Madness Hits the Blogosphere

At the recommendation of a friend of mine, I have moved the Board Game Madness weekly mailing over to Blogger. In theory this will get it out to more people and also stop annoying those on the NBGA mailing list who don't want to see these.

 

Now to just figure out exactly how to get the last 2 years or so of emails into the blog and maintain posting dates...

 

Happy gaming!