Here is the board game (and board game-related!) news that caught our attention for the week ending April 8, 2022.
Gaming News
- The estate of one of the original creators of The Game of Life sued Hasbro to reclaim the copyright on the game. Lower courts had rejected the claim, which would have overturned many entertainment contracts and was supported by groups like the Screen Actors Guild, but the Supreme Court recently decided that it would not issue a ruling in the case, thereby letting the lower court ruling stand and effectively ended the litigation. This piece from Bloomberg Law in February has a good overview of the issues involved.
- Scott Bennie, a designer with credits including Dungeons & Dragons, AD&D, the World of Warcraft, and Lord of the Rings RPGs, as well as video games including the original Fallout, passed away last week at age 61 from complications of pneumonia.
- Dungeons & Dragons: Onslaught is a new miniatures-based tabletop skirmish game coming out later this year. The game is set in the Forgotten Realms, and lets players take on a character from either the Harpers or Zhentarim factions. The game will include 12 such characters, along with monsters, and include a total of 21 pre-painted miniatures. The game will also be supported by official events and tournaments.
- Crowdsourcing site Gamefound is moving to an open beta stage, meaning that any creator can create a project on the site once they complete a background check. The site was started last year by game publisher Awaken Realms, and according to its CEO, has already hosted over 300 projects. Unlike rival Kickstarter, Gamefound plans to remain exclusively for tabletop games and related projects. Details of how to apply to host a project are outlined in a blog post on the site.
- Big Sur is a tile-laying game about the famous (and horrible to drive) Pacific Coast Highway. It will be published by 25th Century Games next year.
- Azul: Queen’s Garden, the latest title in the ever-growing Azul franchise, is due in stores this month. The stand-alone game had been due out last year, but the shipping crisis kept it off shelves until now. Instead of building tiles in a palace, this edition has players trying to build the most beautiful garden, while relying on similar drafting mechanics as the original game.
- Small World of Warcraft is getting a free-to-play expansion focused on the Murlocs. The print-and-play, called Revenge of the Murlocs, can be downloaded now.
- Classic game Agricola turns 15 this year, and so it’s no surprise it’s getting a special anniversary edition. Officially called Agricola 15, it will have fresh artwork by the game’s original artist, Klemens Franz, and will contain everything from the original game and some of the expansions and promos. The new edition will be compatible with expansions from the original and is due to be released at Essen in October. Agricola is our featured image this week.
- The Princes of Florence will see a new edition this year. Although the title will remain unchanged, the new edition will provide players with more gender options to play, with a double-sided board that lets players choose either a female-presenting character or a male-presenting one. The rest of the game will remain largely unchanged. It is also set to be released at Essen.
- Recent rom-com Moonshot includes a scene with characters playing the popular space capitalism game Terraforming Mars. The movie, which includes a terraformed Mars as a key setting, is currently streaming on HBOMax.
GeekDad & GeekMom Reviews
Here’s what we reviewed this week:
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Paul Benson reviewed GeekDad Approved Dune: Imperium – Rise of Ix.
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Aaron Spurlock reviewed Life of a Chameleon.
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Jonathan Liu reviewed Maul Peak and Tidal Blades: Heroes of the Reef.
What We’re Playing
Finally, here’s what the GeekDads and GeekMoms played this week:
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Aaron Spurlock played Travis Hill’s Union Station, Life of a Chameleon, and Return to Dark Tower.
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Jonathan Liu played Gen7, The Initiative, Return to Dark Tower, Decorum, Herbaceous, and Mind MGMT.
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Michael Pistiolas played Azul, Marvel Champions, Ugly Gryphon Inn, 6nimmt!, and Ticket to Ride.
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Robin Brooks played Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game and Lord of the Rings LCG.
