The board game (and board game-related!) news that caught our attention for the week ending July 19, 2019.
Gaming News
- According to a study by gaming consultants ICO, tabletop games raised a pretty staggering $80M on Kickstarter in the first half of this year. What’s even more amazing is that that number is actually lower than the total raised in the second half of 2018, which was $85M. That drop, according to the study, is likely due to a fairly normal trend of having fewer games released on Kickstarter in the first half of the year than the second. A few other interesting numbers from the same report: an average of 7 tabletop games are funded on Kickstarter every day, and tabletop games have a funding success rate of 69%. You can read more about the study on the ICO website.
- The Dots RPG Project, which aims to make our hobby more accessible, has been reorganized as a non-profit and granted 501(c)(3) status by the IRS. They have already released a set of Braille dice and are working on translating RPGs, including D&D 5e, into Braille as well.
- Huge ships, including the iconic Tantive IV, are returning to Star Wars: X-Wing. Alongside new models, there’s a conversion kit to make your first edition models playable in the second edition. Alongside this is the release of the Epic Battles Multiplayer Expansion, which seeks to open the traditionally two-player game up to groups as large as eight.
- River Horse, which already makes licensed boardgames from classic Jim Henson Studio films Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal, is returning to the Goblin King’s realm with Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: The Card Game. No release date has been set.
- Frank Spotnitz, producer of TV series including The X-Files and the creator of The Man in the High Castle, is developing a new series based on Warhammer 40,000. The show is said to be an adaptation of Dan Abnett’s Eisenhorn series, which you can read more about right here on GeekDad. Very few other details about the show are available at this time.
- The ever-expanding world of Munchkin is expanding again, this time with Disney Duck Tales from The Op.
- Blue Orange has announced that the US Championships of its award-winning Kingdomino will be held at Gen Con. The multi-stage tournament will run most of the afternoon on Saturday, and the winner will receive an trip to the World Championship tournament in France.
- Gen Con is only two weeks away, and while our Gaming with GeekDad event is sold out, we hope folks will stop by and say “hi.”
- For more GenCon news, I’d highly recommend following the official GenCon Twitter account.
GeekDad Reviews
Here are the games we’ve reviewed this week:
- Robin Brooks reviewed Blackstone Fortress and took a look at Citadel Paints.
- Jonathan Liu reviewed Cartographers: A Roll Player Tale and Dog Rush.
- Logan Giannini reviewed Men at Work.
- I reviewed Villainous: Evil Comes Prepared, which is our featured image this week, and Star Wars: Outer Rim.
What We’re Playing
Finally, here’s what the GeekDads played this week:
- Jonathan Liu played Paleolithic, The Abandons, Dog Rush, Techlandia, Die Hard: The Nakatomi Heist, Fishing Day, Harry Pottwer: Hogwarts Battle – Defence Against the Dark Arts, and The Labours of Hercules.
- Greg Howley played Betrayal at the House on the Hill, Reef, and Mice & Mystics.
- Michael Pistiolas played Ingenious and Bugs on Rugs.
- I played Stool Pigeon and Sagrada.
Ducktales. Yeah, it’s Munchkin, but I am a fan of Ducktales. Subscribed to the BGG forum to follow. If the price is right, I may pick it up just because…. 🙂