Here is the board game (and board game-related!) news that caught our attention for the week ending April 16, 2021.
Gaming News
- Awards season continues this week with the announcement of the opening of nominations for the 15th Golden Geek Awards. The awards, given out by Boardgame Geek, are seeing some important changes this year, driven largely by suggestions made last year by Elizabeth Hargrave. Gone is the overall game of the year, along with the strategy and family categories. Instead, this year will see the awarding of “Light,” “Medium,” and “Heavy” Games of the Year. Best Party Game is gone as well, although it’s implied that may return later. They have also added a category of “Best Zoomable Game” in recognition of the oddness of gaming in 2020. Nominations are open through midnight Central time on Wednesday, April 21, and voting runs through May 1.
- Z-Man has an interesting article with Carcassonne designer Klaus-Jürgen Wrede as they ready the release of the 20th-anniversary edition of the classic game.
- Pandasaurus has released long-delayed Umbra Via, which should now be available at your local game store. The game, designed by Connor Wake, has players create paths through a “clandestine” garden. Jonathan Liu posted a review earlier today.
- The Op has released both Munchkin: Critical Role and a pair of puzzles based on the hit series.
- Exploding Kittens has released their newest game, A Little Wordy, a “two-player tile-unscrambling game” in which players assemble a secret word from a set of tiles and then try “to decipher each other’s Secret Word by paying for clues and hints with berry tokens.”
- It’s fair to ask if you’re even a brand if you don’t have a Monopoly edition. Now, Roblox can count itself as just such a brand, as Hasbro has started accepting pre-orders for Monopoly: Roblox 2022. Despite the name, the game is due to be released in August.
- Repos Production has released a trailer teasing the upcoming 7 Wonders Mystery. Little is known about the game so far, except what appears to be a release date: April 26. The original 7 Wonders is our featured image this week.
- The site DnD Disability has released a set of supplements to D&D 5E that allow for the creation of a subclass of paladin and the inclusion of a ready-to-play NPC that focus on disabled characters. While the supplements are available for free from the website, they ask those who download them to make a contribution to the Bristol UK Childen’s Hospital.
- A few weeks ago, we mentioned that Matt Leacock was working on a new co-op game around the climate crisis. Now, it’s been announced that the game will be released under the title Daybreak and be published by CMYK. As of now, no release date has been set.
GeekDad Reviews
What we’ve reviewed this week:
- Jonathan Liu reviewed Umbra Via.
What We’re Playing
Finally, here’s what the GeekDads played this week:
- Jonathan Liu played Brew, Exit: The Game + Puzzle – The Sacred Temple, and Vivid Memories.
- Michael Pistiolas played Sleeping Queens, Ticket to Ride, Marvel Champions, Mythic Battles: Pantheon, and Dice Throne.
- Z. played Dungeons & Dragons: Ghosts of Saltmarsh.
