Here is the board game (and board game-related!) news that caught our attention for the week ending May 22, 2020.
Gaming News
- The announcements that many of us saw coming for some time have arrived: both Gen Con and Essen Spiel have been canceled for 2020. It’s sad, to be sure, but the simple reality is that there is no safe way to travel or for that number of people to come together safely. Gen Con has announced that all badge holders will be automatically rolled over to 2021 unless they request a refund, and any hotel reservations made through the Gen Con housing portal will be automatically canceled. Obviously, those of us here at GeekDad who see Gen Con as our big event each year (and our only time to be physically together) are disappointed by the news, but we look forward to seeing everyone (and each other!) and hosting our Gaming with GeekDad event in 2021.
- In much happier news, the nominees for the Spiel des Jahres were announced this week. You can read about them right here on GeekDad.
- Gudetama card game from Renegade won’t be available in stores until August, but if you’re dying to check out the trick-taking title you can download a print-and-play preview from their website.
- We mentioned Pandemic: Hot Zone, a more portable version of the classic and timely game, a few weeks ago. This week, Z-Man has released a print-and-play version of the game so that fans can try it out without having to violate stay-at-home orders.
- Also now available for print-and-play is a demo version of The Sherlock Files: Elementary Entries from Indie Boards and Cards.
- Fans of Pandasaurus’ The Mind game will be excited to hear that the follow-up, The Mind Extreme, is now available.
- The simple reality is that there will not be any in-person cons in 2020, but as we’ve reported earlier, a lot of publishers are looking to host their own virtual cons. RenegadeCon is June 5-7, and the website contains a bio of the Con’s organizer, Chris Witpan.
- Origins is also hosting a virtual version of their con during the weekend of June 19-21 when the live con was originally supposed to happen. Badges are now available for the con on a “pay what you want” model.
- One of the big stars this summer was supposed to be Scooby-Doo. The big-budget film has already been shoved off to the world of in-home rentals, but CMON’s game based on the iconic dog detective will be hitting store shelves soon. The co-op allows players to take the roles of the members of Mystery, Inc. (thankfully not including Scrappy-Doo) as they try to be the meddling kids who keep the old dude from getting away with it.
- After Wingspan basically swept the Golden Geek awards, lots of folks took the opportunity to point out that popular vote isn’t always the best way to determine awards. The game’s designer, Elizabeth Hargrave, had a much more nuanced Twitter thread about the issue of how gaming awards, in general, are decided.
- Two new editions of Monopoly will be hitting shelves soon. Monopoly: Godzilla Monster Edition from The Op features player tokens in the shape of classic Godzilla monsters and is available now, while the cutest Star Wars character ever is coming to the series this fall when Hasbro releases Monopoly: Star Wars: The Child.
- Asmodee has released solo play rules for 7 Wonders Duel, the 2-player version of the classic drafting game.
- Ludonaute will be releasing Colt Super Express, a 15-minute lighter version of their train robbery Colt Express this summer.
GeekDad and GeekMom Reviews
- Jonathan Liu reviewed Tiny Epic Pirates.
What We’re Playing
Finally, here’s what the GeekDads played this week:
- Rebecca Angel Maxwell played Scrabble.
- Greg Howley played Spirit Island and Azul.
- Michael Pistiolas played Magic the Gathering, Marvel Champions, Gloomhaven, and Checkers.
- Robin Brooks played Warhammer Underworlds: Beastgrave and Pathfinder ACG.
- Jonathan Liu played Tiny Epic Pirates, The Alpha, The Whatnot Cabinet, and Sentinels of the Multiverse.
- Michael Knight played High Noon, Forgotten Waters, and Dice Throne.
- I played Pan Am: The Game, Sierra West, Azul, Godzilla: Tokyo Clash, Back to the Future: Back in Time, Formula D (this week’s featured image), Aggravation, Reykholt, and Five Tribes.
I look forward to Gaming with Geek Dad at Gen Con 2021!
We’re looking forward to it, too. Hope to see you there!