Here is the board game (and board game-related!) news that caught our attention for the week ending November 6, 2020.
Gaming News
- A couple of weeks ago, we mentioned the very sad news of the passing of Satish Pillalamarri, co-founder of North Star Games. As we mentioned at the time, the company is selling the remaining copies of Dude, the last game Satish worked on, and donating 100% of their profits from the game to a scholarship fund for his son, who was born shortly after his death. Now, they have added in a sticker to replace the cover of the box with Satish’s image. Dude is our featured image this week.
- Industry behemoth Asmodee today released “Connect and Play,” “an initiative to help people learn to virtually play board games with friends and family during quarantine” by providing “players with written step-by-step instructions on how they can play each game remotely over video conferencing services like Zoom, Google Meet, and Skype.”
- Industry behemoth Asmodee has moved into some cool new digs in the Twin Cities. The Business Journal piece on it might be behind a paywall, but there’s at least a picture there if you want to see where a lot of your favorite games originate.
- Throughout the pandemic, companies have been releasing solo variants of their games, with Portal Games leading the charge. Now that we are starting to see another wave of lockdowns, they have released a new solo scenario for Empires of the North.
- The Op has released Hip Hop Bid to Win Trivia Game. The title pretty accurately describes both the theme and mechanics of the game, so I’ll just say that it’s available now for $19.99.
- The Op also has Disney: Munchkin on shelves for $24.99.
- Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game is garnering all kinds of awards, and so Portal Games has released a new “Game of the Year” edition that adds a set of portraits to the game that had been previously only available at cons.
- The world of Fluxx is expanding once again, with Looney Labs’ release of Fantasy Fluxx.
- Renegade Games is releasing Atheneum: Mystic Library, a game of cramming for a magical exam while also cleaning up the library.
- Hasbro is reportedly working not only on a movie based in the D&D universe but also on a TV show. There are very few details out there right now, but we’ll keep you posted if we hear more.
- PC Gamer magazine has an interesting piece out this week about how the ultra-popular video game Among Us is a board game in disguise.
GeekDad and GeekMom Reviews
- Jonathan Liu reviewed GeekDad Approved Sorcerer City, GeekDad Approved Clank Adventuring Party, and P’achakuna.
What We’re Playing
Finally, here’s what the GeekDads played this week:
- Robin Brooks played Warhammer Underworlds: Beastgrave, Go Nuts for Donuts, and Marvel Champions.
- Jonathan Liu played Zombie Teenz Evolution, Atheneum: Mystic Library, The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine, Macaron, and Pandemic Legacy Season 0.
- Michael Pistiolas played Hanabi, Checkers, and Targi.
- Z. played Dungeons & Dragons.
