Here is the board game (and board game-related!) news that caught our attention for the week ending September 17, 2021.
Gaming News
- It’s definitely strange to be sitting here writing this in California today rather than from a hotel room in Indianapolis. But to all of those attending Gen Con: have fun, stay safe, and we’ll see you next year. It’s worth noting that I am not going to try to cover every possible Gen Con release and announcement here.
- Congratulations to Nibcard Games in Nigeria for winning the Diana Jones Award. Designer Eric Lang has a very good thread on Twitter on the award and why Nibcard is such a deserving winner.
- I’ve mentioned several other pieces in the last few months about how the global supply chain crisis is impacting the industry, but the news this week that huge game and puzzle maker Ravensburger is halting all orders in North America is probably the biggest headline so far. According to Toy Book, the company will no longer accept orders from retailers starting September 17 and going “for the foreseeable future.” The company will instead focus on clearly its backlog. They do say that they have “high confidence in being able to deliver the current orderbook and forecast commitments leading into Q4 and the 2021 holiday season.” However, if you have been considering any Ravensburger gifts for friends or family this holiday season, you might want to go buy them sooner rather than later.
- Ross Thompson, formerly at The Op and a friend of the blog, will be joining Steamforged Games as its head of trade marketing. We’re all very happy for Ross here and look forward to working with him to bring more news and reviews of Steamforged titles to our readers.
- WizKids is due to release Star Trek Missions, a game based on the classic franchise that will use the Fantasy Realms engine. The game is due out next February.
- Upper Deck is holding a contest to find the “ultimate legendary gamer”. They want to find someone who is passionate about tabletop games and who has made a positive impact in the gaming community, and more specifically, the community around their Legendary game titles. The first 50 entrants will get a t-shirt. The grand prize winner will get tickets and airfare to Gen Con 2022, gallery prints, hoodies, water bottles, a customized card, games, and sleeves. There will also be second and third place prizes.
- Asmodee and Repos Production have announced 7 Wonders: Architects, a standalone entry in the 7 Wonders series with a focus on family-friendly accessibility and quick play sessions. It will be available this fall.
- Hunt A Killer games has released Mystery at Magnolia Gardens, an investigation game starring Nancy Drew where players “solve puzzles, piece together clues, consider all the evidence, and solve the crime.” The game is for 1-5 players and is out now.
- As was covered previously, Z-Man will soon be releasing World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King – A Pandemic System Board Game. The company is partnering with Geocaching to bring us, pause for a breath, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King – A Pandemic System Board Game Geocaching Campaign, because the title of the game itself wasn’t quite long enough. They’ve “created 4,200 copies of seven unique trackables—a small, collectible, trackable graphic with a unique code on the back for logging and tracking.” Players can try to find a trackable near them and move it to another location to help log mileage and work with others to complete quests. Each completed quest will unlock print-and-play bonus content for the game.
- After a successful Kickstarter campaign, Archon Studio is accepting late pledges for Masters of the Universe: Fields of Eternia miniatures game.
- Portal Games is now taking pre-orders for its movie tie-in Dune: House Secrets, a cooperative story-driven game. The game is due out on October 15, a week before the movie is scheduled to (finally) hit theaters.
GeekDad & GeekMom Reviews
Here’s what we reviewed this week:
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Jonathan Liu reviewed Verdant and GeekDad Approved Gravwell 2nd Edition.
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Michael Knight reviewed GeekDad Approved Summoner Wars: Second Edition.
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I reviewed GeekDad Approved Gorinto.
What We’re Playing
Finally, here’s what the GeekDads played this week:
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Jonathan Liu played SolForge Fusion, Hair of the Dog, Bullet♥︎, Dunhuang: Pearl on the Silk Road, and The Spill.
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Michael Pistiolas played Sword & Sorcery, Unmatched, Cauldron Quest, Unicorn Glitterluck: A Party for Rosalie, Ingenious, Love Letter, Ugly Grypon Inn, and The Incredibles: Save the Day Game.
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Michael Knight played Summoner Wars 2nd Edition and Thunderstone Quest.
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Robin Brooks played Kill Team: Octarius.
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I played Cascadia and Embarcadero (our featured image this week.)
