Here is the board game (and board game-related!) news that caught our attention for the week ending April 10, 2020.
Gaming News
- Origins has been postponed. The con, originally scheduled for June 17-21, will now be held on October 7-11. GAMA, the organization that runs Origins, will host Origins Online during the original weekend. Details on that will be coming soon.
- BGG.Spring, which had been scheduled for May 22-25, has been cancelled. All registrations for the event will be automatically rolled over to the 2021 con, now scheduled for May 28-31 2021, but they will honor refund requests as well.
- White Wizard Games has two pandemic-related offers. The first is a coloring contest: download one of their pictures, color it, snap a picture, and then tag them on Instagram (@whitewizardgames) with the hashtag #wwgcolorcontest, Twitter (@wwizardgames) and use hashtag #wwgcolorcontest, or like their Facebook page and tag them @whitewizardgames. The contest runs through the end of April. They are also matching several other companies in offering to donate a percentage of their online sales to local game stores. Simply purchase a game directly from them and include the name, mailing address, and email of your local game store in the notes section at check-out.
- Gaming giant Asmodee is offering a selection of their most popular games in free print-and-play versions on their site.
- Asmodee’s president Steve Horvath did an interview with The Covenant this week in which he revealed that we will be seeing many more Star Wars games coming out from Fantasy Flight over the next three years, including expansions for X-Wing: Miniatures and Legion based on Disney+’s hugely popular The Mandalorian, an expansion for Outer Rim that hopefully fixes the game’s issues, and several new titles.
- Blue Orange has released Kingdomino: The Court, a free print-and-play expansion for Kingdomino. The expansion is also compatible with Queendomino.
- We reported earlier that The Op and AEG had signed a deal to bring The Op’s licenses to AEG’s classic Smash Up. The first release under that deal: Smash Up: Marvel. The game is due out this summer.
- Cards Against Humanity is joining in the print-and-play boom, offering a family-friendly version of the game.
- Mayday Games took a rather unusal approach to the pandemic: they decided to switch gears and remain open by becoming a distributor for N-95 medical masks.
- Publisher 2 Tomatoes has made several of their titles available as free print-and-play downloads, including Peak Oil and Escape Pods.
- French company Synapses Games has released their game Match 5 as a free print-and-play.
- And finally, a quick note: all of these print-and-play games are great, but please remember to support these companies with actual dollars once things return to normal.
What We’re Playing
Finally, here’s what the GeekDads played this week:
- Rebecca Angel Maxwell played Alakaslam.
- Jonathan Liu played Excavation Earth, Ghost Fightin’ Treasure Hunters, Ghost Stories, Go Nuts for Donuts, Imminent Collapse, Pandemic, and Welcome To…
- Robin Brooks played Warhammer Underworlds: Beastgrave, Go Nuts for Donuts, and Ganz Schon Clever.
- Greg Howley played Lost Cities and Photosynthesis.
- Michael Knight played Forgotten Waters, Tiny Epic Tactics, and Trainmaker.
- Michael Pistiolas played Magic: The Gathering, Marvel Champions, Gloomhaven, and Ticket to Ride.
- I played Santa Monica (our featured image this week), Tiny Towns, Point Salad, and Sheriff of Nottingham.
