Here is the board game (and board game-related!) news that caught our attention for the week ending May 15, 2020.
Gaming News
- Renegade Game is hosting a free virtual conference, Renegade Con, on the weekend of June 5. You can view the schedule and sign up to attend on their website.
- Portal Games is doing something similar, offering a free PortalCon, which will be livestreamed on the company’s YouTube channel on July 10-11.
- We mentioned the release of solo rules for Carcassonne recently. This week, Z-Man went a step further and released solo rules for Hadara and Pandemic as well, along with highlighting four other games that already have solo modes.
- Fellow Asmodee imprint Fantasy Flight has released solo rules for Arkham Horror: The Card Game.
- Plaid Hat is going the other direction with its recent hit Forgotten Waters with the release this week of the Forgotten Waters Remote Play Assistant, an app that allows groups to play the game over the internet that only requires a single physical copy of the game. So now I know at least one thing I’ll be doing this weekend.
- If you missed the preorder for Forgotten Waters, good news: Plaid Hat has announced that the retail version of the game will be on North American shelves June 5. If you live in the Nordic countries or the UK, you can get it even earlier on May 15, and Australia or New Zealand game stores should have it already.
- CMON is offering a free print-and-play version of Dream On. This version of the game, referred to as the “Afternoon Nap” edition, features 56 of the full game’s 156 cards.
- Days of Wonder is branching its Small World franchise into the world of licensing with the release of Small World of Warcraft. The game is due out this summer.
- If you’re an iPhone user and a fan of Small World, Days of Wonder needs beta testers for Small World 2.
- Days of Wonder has also announced the latest title in their small-format Ticket to Ride series: Ticket to Ride: Amsterdam should be in European stores in July and North American stores in September.
- One last note: if you are in one of the areas where retail stores are being allowed to reopen, please remember to support your local game store, but at the same time, please continue to follow CDC guidelines and stay safe.
GeekDad and GeekMom Reviews
- Michael Knight reviewed High Noon. He also spent some time chatting with the publisher.
- Jonathan Liu reviewed Lords of Vegas 10th Anniversary.
What We’re Playing
Finally, here’s what the GeekDads played this week:
- Michael Knight played High Noon and Pandemic.
- Jonathan Liu played Sentinels of the Multiverse, Chronicles of Crime: Welcome to Redview, Northgard: Uncharted Lands, Shadow Kingdoms of Valeria, and Tiny Epic Pirates.
- Michael Pistiolas played Magic the Gathering, Gloomhaven, Marvel Champions, 7 Wonders, Solo, Checkers, and Sequence.
- Robin Brooks played Warhammer Underworlds: Beastgrave, and Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, which he reports as his family’s “lockdown savior, we play a scenario a day after ‘school’ has finished.”
- I played Atelier: The Painter’s Studio, Once Upon a Time, Five Tribes, Formula D, Flash Point: Fire Rescue (our featured image this week), Dixit: Journey, Forbidden Island, Disney: Villainous, and Survivor.
