Gen Con has pushed the convention back to mid-September, but they are moving forward with plans to have an in-person event. Now scheduled for September 16-19, the Indianapolis convention will have limited attendance, and depending on local ordinances, may require proof of vaccination, masks, and social distancing. Those who purchased tickets for 2020 and rolled them over will have priority on purchasing tickets this year. In addition, they are going to still host a virtual event the same weekend, as well as working with local game stores to have smaller local events around the country. We here at GeekDad are discussing our options as to whether or how we will attend.
Z-Man has announced that they are discontinuing their “Euro Classics” line of games, which included Reiner Knizia’s Tigris & Euphrates, Samurai, Ra, Through the Desert, and Taj Mahal. The company will not reprint their editions of any of these games and have returned the rights to them to Knizia. They are also ending their development of a new edition of Wolfgang Kramer’s Princes of Florence, which had been scheduled as the next game in the line, and have likewise returned the rights to the game to Kramer. If you are curious as to why you can read Z-Man Head of Studio Steve Kimball’s blog post. My searches online show that, currently, only Taj Mahal is actually available online on anything other than eBay. The 2009 edition of Through the Desert from Fantasy Flight is our featured image this week.
Lucky Duck Games announced a partnership with GameTrayz to help bring their fantastic game organizers to a wider market. The game company also announced a new brand, Lucky Duck Kids, which will focus, obviously, on games for younger audiences. According to the press release, “one of the two new games will feature our ‘Scan & Play’ system, similar to the one seen in Chronicles of Crime, but will be set in a magical fantasy world that is perfect for parents to share with their children.”
Brotherwise Games will be publishing a game based on The Dragon Prince, the Netflix animated series.
Fantasy Flight announced a delay in releasing Keyforge: Dark Tidings, due to “unprecedented worldwide shipping congestion.” The sets will have a staggered release as they become available, but it might be mid-April for some. The company also announced Keyforge Adventures, two free-to-play adventures that bring cooperative play to the game.
If you live in Europe, Africa, or the Middle East, you can now purchase Star Wars: Talisman from The Op. Due to the complicated licensing with anything Star Wars, they cannot, as of yet, release the game in the Americas, but if you live in a region where it’s available and have been searching for a gift for your Star Wars fan friends on this side of the pond, you need search no further.
Steamforged Games has teased the upcoming release of Sonic: The Card Game, but other than the name and logo, they provided no additional details.
According to PC Game, a man who purchased and then accidentally opened a rare sealed Beta booster pack from Magic: The Gathering discovered that it contained one of the rarest and most valuable cards from the game: a Black Lotus. Long banned from gameplay, a mint Beta Black Lotus could be worth as much as $60,000, but even a card in bad shape could bring in over $5000.
Finally, here’s what the GeekDads played this week:
Jonathan Liu played Under Falling Skies, Floriferous, Brew, Codenames, Emperor’s New Clothes, Harsh Shadows, Ghost Writer, Long Shot: The Dice Game, GRBLD, Res Arcana, and Roll for the Galaxy.
Robin Brooks played Warhammer Underworlds: Direchasm.
Michael Pistiolas played Can’t Stop, Dice Throne, and Marvel Champions.
Z. played Dungeons & Dragons: Ghosts of Saltmarsh.
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This post was last modified on March 18, 2021 1:40 pm
Rob, GeekDad's Gaming Editor, is a technical writer for Google (provided by HCL). He is alo college professor teaching design, programming and 3D printing, watches a ridiculous number of movies, plays as many board games as he can, and loves history, from the medieval period to the technological age. He's also the Umpire-in-Chief for his local Little League, and is a Little League Certified Tournament Umpire.
His kids are a 20 year old college junior and a 16 year old high school senior. (Although there's a good chance that they're older now and this just hasn't been updated.)