Here is the board game (and board game-related!) news that caught our attention for the week ending November 19, 2021.
Gaming News
- The big news of the week: we here at GeekDad are proud to announce our ten finalists for our Game of the Year award. Check out the announcement post for links to each of our reviews. A panel of GeekDad writers will be getting together online in the next few weeks to play through all of these games, and from those sessions, we will determine the winner, which will be announced in early December. The nominees are:
- Cascadia, designed by Randy Flynn, published by Flatout Games and AEG, with illustrations by Beth Sobel.
- Dune: Imperium, designed by Paul Dennen, published by Dire Wolf, with illustrations by Clay Brooks, Nate Storm, Brett Nienburg, Atilla Guzey, Derek Herring, Kenan Jackson, and Paul Ramos.
- Dwellings of Elderdale, designed by Luke Laurie, published by Breaking Games, with illustrations by Sergio Chaves, Anton Fadeev, Leesha Hannigan, Irina Kuzmina, Merilliza Chan, Nathanael Mortensen, Sasha Radivojevic, Sam Turner, Brian Valeza, and Frank Wade.
- Fantasy Realms, designed by Bruce Glassco, published by Wizkids, with illustrations by Octographics.net.
- Gorinto, designed by Richard Yaner, published by Grand Gamers Guild, with graphic design by Josh Cappel.
- Horrified: American Monsters, designed by Mike Mulvihill, published by Ravensburger, with illustrations by George Doutsiopoulos, Studio Hive, Kory Hubbel Lynn, Victor Maristane, Tom Moore, and Josh Newton.
- Overboss, designed by Aaron Mesburne and Kevin Russ, published by Brotherwise Games, with illustrations by Darren Calvert.
- The Crew: Mission Deep Sea, designed by Thomas Sing and published by Thames & Kosmos, with illustrations by Marco Armbruster.
- Tiny Epic Pirates, designed by Scott Almes, published by Gamelyn Games, illustrations by Felix Wermke, Nikoletta Vaszi, Ian Rosenthaler, and Chip Cole.
- Whistle Mountain, designed by Scott Caputo and Luke Laurie, published by Bezier Games, with illustrations by Mila Harbar and Taylor Bogle.
- Mike Selinker of Lone Star Games has taken an unpaid leave of absence from the company following accusations of abusive behavior towards employees.
- Hasbro is taking preorders on the Avalon Hill HeroQuest Game System, a $125.99 set that marks the game’s first appearance in stores in 30 years following last year’s successful Kickstarter campaign. The set includes 65 miniatures and 14 quests. There is a limit of 1 per customer, and the game is set to ship in mid-December.
- AEG is offering a great price on Tiny Towns: buy the entire Tiny Towns game line for just $75! But hurry—the sale only lasts through November 28.
- Looney Labs has announced Fluxx Remixx, a version of the game that is “a little more advanced and a little more chaotic” than the normal base game. The game should be out in March.
- Renegade Game Studios has released free content for Kids on Bikes, Outbreak: Undead, and Overlight.
- He won’t be the next host of Jeopardy, but LeVar Burton will be stepping behind the game show podium thanks to a deal with Hasbro’s studio Entertainment One that will see him producing and hosting a TV show based on classic trivia game Trivial Pursuit. No further details, including what network the show will ultimately air on, when it might be released, or whether or not Burton will have to use on those weird long skinny microphones, is available yet. Trivial Pursuit is our featured image this week.
- Gale Force Nine has become known as the publisher behind fantastic licensed games, but now they are set to release their first game not based on another IP. Wise Guys is set in Prohibition-era Chicago and has players take on the roles of bootleggers. You can check out a trailer for the game on YouTube.
- Party game studio Big Potato Games has released Big Screen Games, a set of games including Herd Mentality, Can of Squirms, and Scrawl, that is designed to be played on a TV with mobile devices.
- Catan is expanding its digital footprint with upcoming Playstation and Xbox versions. Dovetail Studios, the company making the videogame adaptation, announced that the classic title will be coming to PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S console, although there is no indication as to the release date.
GeekDad & GeekMom Reviews
Here’s what we reviewed this week:
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Jonathan Liu did a Kickstarter tabletop roundup.
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Michael Knight reviewed Zombie Princess and the Enchanted Maze.
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Robin Brooks reviewed GeekDad Approved Six Second Scribbles and GeekDad Approved GodTear.
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Paul Benson posted a roundup of upcoming offerings from Mondo.
What We’re Playing
Finally, here’s what the GeekDads played this week:
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Jonathan Liu played Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile, The 7th Continent, and Machi Koro: Legacy.
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Michael Pistiolas played Scooby-Doo: Betrayal at Mystery Mansion, So Clover, Wits and Wagers, Liar’s Dice, Downforce, Gravwell, Dixit, The Night Cage, Set a Watch, Mythic Battles: Pantheon, X-men United, Flourish, MonsDRAWsity, Shamans, and Super Mega Lucky Box.
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Michael Knight played Zombie Princess and the Enchanted Maze, Marvel Villainous, and Gloomhaven.
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Robin Brooks played Blitz Bowl and Bladeborn.
