Here is the board game (and board game-related!) news that caught our attention for the week ending August 20, 2021.
Gaming News
- Another story broke this week about horrible abuse in our industry, this time involving Greg Spence, the founder and CEO of The Broken Token, a company that makes dice towers, storage inserts, and other board game accessories. These stories and many more like it show that our industry has for far too long been a haven for abusive, misogynistic, and racist individuals. While it’s good that more and more women and other underrepresented individuals are finding safe places to tell their stories and out the abusers, we still have a long, long way to go.
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Van Ryder’s PopCorn Dice is now available from their online store and will be available “soon” from local retailers. The press-your-luck dice game was originally scheduled to include some kind of NFT component, but in response to feedback they received online, they have decided to postpone that element of the game until a more environmentally friendly alternative exists.
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Funko has announced a game based on the highly underrated 1991 film The Rocketeer, to be released at Gen Con. GeekDad will have a full review of the game available soon.
- The International Gamers Awards has announced its slate of nominees for 2021. Nominees are broken into three categories: Multiplayer, Two-player, and Solo. The nominees in the Multiplayer category are Anno 1800, Beyond the Sun, Dune: Imperium, Hallertau, Lost Ruins of Arnak, Nidavellir, Paleo, and Praga Caput Regni. The Two-player nominees are Botanik, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, Imperium: Classics & Imperium: Legends, Jekyll vs. Hyde, Let’s Make a Bus Route: The Dice Game, MicroMacro: Crime City, My City, and Undaunted: North Africa. The Solo nominees are Calico, Cantaloop: Book 1 – Breaking into Prison, Clever Cubed, Hallertau, Imperium: Classics & Imperium: Legends, MicroMacro: Crime City, Sleeping Gods, and Under Falling Skies. Oddly, the IGA’s own website hasn’t yet been updated, at least as of this writing.
- WizKids is set to release a new expansion for Super-Skill Pinball. The expansion, called Ramp It Up, brings new tables, new mechanics, and new scores to achieve.
- AEG is running a sale through this weekend on the Valley of Kings Premium Edition, which “consolidates the three previously released games in the line, upgrades the components, and adds new content.” The sale, which includes a 15% discount on the game and the Necropolis expansion, will be automatically applied when the game is added to your cart.
- Renegade Game Studios is also holding a sale, this time to celebrate their 7th anniversary. The sale discounts some titles as much as 60% and runs through the end of the month.
- Plaid Hat Games, meanwhile, has announced that all of their Q3 releases will be delayed due to “ongoing worldwide pandemic, shipping delays, and pallet shortages.”
- Fantasy Flight has released new details about Unfathomable, the new game built on the mechanics from the long-out-of-print but truly great Battlestar Galactica board game. The new preview includes details about the gameplay.
- Modiphius has announced the first expansion for Five Parsecs from Home, the company’s solo sci-fi adventure strategy minis game. The Trailblazer’s Toolkit adds new customizations, new adventures, and new adversaries to the game. You can purchase and download the PDF at the company’s website.
- Small Railroad Empires, a train-building game that had a successful Kickstarter earlier this year, will be coming to retail soon and can be pre-ordered today.
GeekDad & GeekMom Reviews
Here’s what we reviewed this week:
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Jonathan Liu reviewed Lands of Galzyr and Hammer Time.
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Michael Knight reviewed WILD: Serengeti.
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Elizabeth MacAndrew reviewed Funkoverse: Darkwing Duck Expansion.
What We’re Playing
Finally, here’s what the GeekDads played this week:
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Paul Benson played Unmatched: Cobble and Fog, Infinity Gauntlet: Love Letter, Jaws, Shadows of Brimstone: Forbidden Fortress, and D&D Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage.
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Will James played Tiny Epic Mechs, Cloaked Cats, and Dungeons & Dragons: Adventure Begins.
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Jonathan Liu played Magic Maze, Click Clack Lumberjack, Bullet♥︎, Cascadia (our featured image this week), Crokinole, Shards of Infinity, The 7th Continent, Abandon All Artichokes, Excavation Earth, Hues and Cues, The Key: Murder at the Oakdale Club, Lands of Galzyr, Letter Jam, Long Shot: The Dice Game, Metro X, Mind MGMT, PARKS, Tiny Towns, Tooth or Bear, Verdant, and Welcome to New Las Vegas.
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Michael Pistiolas played Marvel Champions, Race to the Treasure, Unicorn Glitterluck: A Party for Rosalie, So Clover, Codex Naturalis, Viticulture, Can’t Stop, and Ticket to Ride.
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Michael Knight played WILD: Serengeti, Marvel Villainous, and Zombie Princess.
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Robin Brooks played Kill Team: Octarius.
