Here is the board game (and board game-related!) news that caught our attention for the week ending December 18, 2020.
Gaming News
- The first vaccinations are being administered and hope for the end of the pandemic is finally on the horizon, but the calendar for conventions next remains in flux. Adepticon, originally scheduled for March, has been canceled. PAX has announced that PAX South has been canceled but announced dates for the other PAX events in a series of images posted to Twitter. Finally, Gen Con announced this week that they plan to move ahead with an in-person event on August 5-8. They are, however, postponing badge registration and event submission until they can have a better idea as to what late summer may look like.
- Mondo Games has announced that their popular Unmatched series will be entering the Marvel realm with the upcoming releases of four new titles in the Marvel universe: Redemption Row, which will feature Luke Cage, Ghost Rider, and Moon Knight; Hell’s Kitchen, with Daredevil, Elektra, and Bullseye; Teen Spirit, featuring Ms. Marvel, Squirrel Girl, and Cloak and Dagger; and For King and Country with Black Widow, Black Panther, and Winter Soldier. The games should be out this summer. Unmatched: Cobble & Fog was a GeekDad Game of the Year finalist.
- There’s an interesting post this week on how Hasbro’s huge market share has helped Monopoly remain the best-selling board game in the world as it approaches its 85th anniversary next month.
- Good Puppers, a card game about, well, dogs, had an unusual update on its Kickstarter page. It turns out that the container ship that was bringing the copies of the game to the US to fulfill Kickstarter backer orders encountered a powerful storm at sea that dislodged 15-20% of its containers, sending them overboard. The ship rerouted to Japan to assess the damage, so at this point, the company does not know if the games are OK or heading into the watery abyss.
- Portal Games has a brief post looking back on its releases in 2020.
- Modiphius turned its gaze the other way with a 2021 preview.
- Spirit Island is going mobile. It’s available now for tablets and coming soon for phones.
- A couple of news items this week about D&D in other media:
- Chaldea is, according to its YouTube page, an “epic fantasy story told through comic art, voice acting, fiction, and live-action film. The world of Chaldea is based on Peter Adkison’s tabletop roleplaying game and the characters and story are inspired from RPG sessions of Dungeons & Dragons and Burning Wheel.“
- Variety is reporting that Wonder Woman love interest, Enterprise captain, and IRL Ponch and Jon’s boss’ son Chris Pine is set to star in the D&D movie, currently in development. The movie’s release has been pushed from November 2021 to May 2022 because, well, you know.
- Max Brooke, senior developer of the second edition of X-Wing Miniatures Game, has left Fantasy Flight Games.
- One of the holiday-themed dice from QWorkshop’s advent calendar is our featured image this week.
GeekDad and GeekMom Reviews
- Paul Benson reviewed GeekDad Approved Dune: Imperium.
- Michael Knight reviewed Windward.
What We’re Playing
Finally, here’s what the GeekDads played this week:
- Michael Pistiolas played Arkham Horror LCG, Solo, Magic the Gathering, Downforce, 7 Wonders, 6 nimmt!, For Sale, Can’t Stop, Blokus, Trouble, and PARKS.
- Jonathan Liu played MicroMacro: Crime City, Cubitos, Dominations: Road to Civilization, and Roll for Adventure.
- Robin Brooks played The Crew: Escape From Planet 9 and City of Zombies.
- Michael Knight played Windward and The Captain Is Dead.
- Z. played Dungeons & Dragons.
