Tag Archive for Board Games

Michael Salsbury | April 13, 2011
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Board Games News Bites–04/13/2011

Following are some quick "news bites" for the board game industry from the past couple of months:

  • Three Crowns Game Productions (3CG) reports that sales of their Plan West and Konigsberg ’45 titles surpassed their expectations, with only a few of each still in stock.  They have Tannenberg 1914 in the plans for April-May 2011 and need help deciding what to work on.  Pre-orders will help with that.
  • 4th Street Software released the 1974 version of 4th Street Football (board game and computer game versions), shipped the 2010 4th Street Baseball season, the 1956-57 4th Street Hockey season, and the 1983-84 hockey season.
  • APBA Games is taking orders for their 2010 Baseball season card set, and has a number of other new products available.
  • Asmadi Games has reduced prices for Innovation, Whack a Catgirl, and Gold Thief for 2011.
  • Briarpatch Games has added several new titles, including Fancy Nancy Fabulous Fashionista, Goodnight Moon My World ABC Game, I Spy Memory Mini Game, Madeline at the White House, Pirate Brawl Mini Game, and Tic Tac Turn.
  • Buffalo Games has released "Gotcha!", a board game where players race to hit the buzzer every time they see another player breaking the rules.  Players put new rule cards in play on their turn.  Reminds me of a drinking game I once played…  Buffalo is also working with Tyson foods to promote "Great Games, Great Food" where you can get $2 off a Buffalo Games product.
  • Burley Games released "Take It Higher!" at Essen Spiel 2010, a game co-authored by Peter Burley and Reiner Knizia.
  • Cactus Game Design, makers of the Redemption game, is offering a free Priests booster pack with every web site order (according to their home page).
  • Cambridge Games posted an interesting story of what it’s been up to for the last 3 years, which should be required reading for anyone thinking of starting a game company.
  • Catan.com announced that Catan Seafarers is available for iPhone.
  • Cheapass Games has published a free and revised version of Deadwood.
  • Clash of Arms Games has announced some price reductions, including Sea of Dragons, Convoy/Deadly Waters, Baltic Arena, Mighty Midgets, Harpoon4 Rules, and more.
  • DK Simulations has released four titles for the Android platform, including Barbarossa Android, Korean War, Yugoslavia 1941, and Rommel in Africa.  The prices are very reasonable, reviews are good, and some of the titles are free (or introductory versions are free).
  • Dr. Finn’s Games released "Biblios (a.k.a. Scripts and Scribes)" where players take on the role of an abbot in a medieval monastery competing with others to amass the greatest library of sacred books.
  • DreamPunk Productions received their print proof for their upcoming Stork game.
  • Drumond Park has released several new titles for 2011 including Articulate Your Life, Box of Shocks, Dino Bite, Eggheads, His and Hers, Oginov, and The Million Pound Drop Game.
  • Eagle Games is taking pre-orders for a variety of Defenders of the Realm pre-painted minis.
  • Elfin Werks is offering a free Strada Romana Mini-Expansion and a free Lungarno Mini-Expansion.
  • Evertide Games announced that Lords of Scotland is on sale, and can be found cheaply at places like Thought Hammer, Funagain Games, and Cool Stuff Inc.
  • Eye-Level Entertainment is looking for fans of their Nature of the Beast game to help them design some new cards in 2011.
  • FamilyTimeFun Games is releasing Racers Ready in April 2011.  This game "tests a family’s coordination and teamwork."
  • Shadow Hex Games is testing Zombie Chess, a zombie apocalypse themed chess game.

That’s all I have time for tonight.  Hopefully I will be able to post more soon.  I have dozens more of these updates to share.

Category: Board Games, Game Deals, Wargames | Tags: ,
Michael Salsbury | July 12, 2009
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Fortune Magazine Says Board Games are Back

According to Fortune magazine, as reported on CNN Money’s web site, “Board Games Are Back“. The article says that game and toy maker Mattel is betting that the “Blokus” board game it acquired this year will be a hit. Fortune says that Mattel took on the title to “capitalize on the growing cachet hobby games have with twentysomethings — a demographic that Mattel’s actively pursuing.”

The article indicates that 2008 board game sales climbed 23.5%, to $808 million. They’re expected to grow more this year. That’s perhaps a good sign in our current economic situation. Video game sales have reportedly declined some due to the dip in consumer spending brought about by the economy. Experts think board games may be a “recession-resistant” industry because they’re inexpensive to acquire and provide lots of entertainment.

As someone who enjoys hobby games, this is all good news.

Category: Board Games, Other Gaming News | Tags: ,
Michael Salsbury | September 21, 2008
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Top 10 Free Board Games

Erik Arneson over at About.com’s Boardgames page has posted his list of the top 10 free board games available on the Internet.  I don’t want to “steal” Erik’s hard work in compiling the list, so I’m only going to mention a couple of titles on the list, to give you a flavor for what’s there. If you like what you’re reading here or are curious as to what else is on the list, click the link above.

Battle for Moscow is a historical wargame simulating the Germans’ struggle to defeat the Soviet Army and capture Moscow in 1941.

Robo Battle Pigs is a sci-fi themed game about robotic pigs battling to the death on an 8×8 surface.  The goal is to take your opponent’s pigs out of commission.

Category: Board Games, Wargames | Tags: , , , ,
Michael Salsbury | August 11, 2008
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Twilight Creations at Gen Con Indy

From the Twilight Creations site comes the
following news:

“…we will be at GenCon
Indy next week from August 13-17. We will have our newly released
Humans!!! there as well as a sneak peak at Bump In The Night. The
designer of the game will be there to personally demo the game at our
booth. Check it out – you won’t be disappointed.”

Being a huge fan of their “Zombies!!” game, you can bet I’ll be there
to check out these new titles!

Category: Board Games | Tags: , , , , ,
Michael Salsbury | August 2, 2008
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Boardgames at Origins 2008

I took quite a few photos at Origins 2008, both to document some of the more interesting things I saw and to share with those who couldn’t or didn’t attend the convention a sense of what they missed.

As you walk around Origins, you’ll find gamers setting up everywhere, at all hours of the day and night.  Pick-up games, demos, and planned events can be found everywhere, like these tables in the walkway between the convention center and hotel:

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Here are a couple of players setting up a Heroscape table:

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And here are just a few of the board games in progress as I walked around the convention center:

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It’s possible to check out games from the Origins library to play, even if there is no specific instance of that game scheduled at the time:

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If you’re into train-oriented board games, you can join in the fun and even win some awards:

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At the back of the room were some intense CCG championships:

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In the Mayfair Games room you could play a “giant” Settlers of Catan game:

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You could also have joined in on any of these other games:

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As you look at these photos, you should notice that Origins attracts young and old, tall and short, slim and “not so slim”, men and women, the costumed and the plainclothed, etc.  It’s a pretty good cross section of society, all in one place to have fun.

Category: Board Games | Tags: , , , , , , ,
Michael Salsbury | July 22, 2008
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New Titles from Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG)

Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG) has announced on their web site some new titles for August 2008:

Tomb - Tomb pits opponents against one another in a fast paced board game of monsters, traps, and treasures. After assembling your party from a plethora of random characters in the Inn, you set out into the Tomb. The Tomb is created as the game begins, with each player hiding treasure, traps, and monsters in each crypt, unknown to the other players. Do you remember where you left the chest of gold? Better hope your opponent didn’t put a Pain Eater in the same crypt! No rogues at the Inn today? Hope you don’t run into a poison dart trap! Tomb captures the fast-paced feel of a dungeon crawl without the hours of set up before hand. Just grab your party and go.

Straw - Will you be the one who breaks the Camel’s back?
It’s been a bountiful day at the bazaar. The caravan is leaving, and you must quickly pack your items onto the back of the Camel. But beware; even beasts of burden have their breaking point! Straw is a light-hearted family game where the players try to pack as many item cards as they can on top of the Camel without breaking its back. Be careful not to load the Camel too close to its limit, though. If your card breaks the Camel’s back, you lose! But if you can break the Camel’s back with the Straw card, you win!

Legend of the Five Rings RPG 3rd Edition Revised – In its triumphant third printing, the Legend of the Five Rings RPG Third Edition receives a major update! Now including material such as the Spider Clan, more intuitive combat rules, and more, the Third Edition Revised is everything players both new and old need to jump into the world of the Emerald Empire.

Legend of the Burning Sands RPG – The Burning Sands setting has exerted a powerful pull on the imagination of gamers since the 1998 debut of the Legend of the Burning Sands Collectible Card Game. As in the Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game, this book allows you the chance to live out all-new adventures in a land of mystery and magic.

Category: Board Games | Tags: , , , , , ,
Michael Salsbury | June 29, 2007
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Upcoming Z-Man Games Releases 6/29/2007

The following article was imported from our old content management system on 08/10/2008. It may contain missing links and missing images which we do not plan to go back and correct.We apologize for any inconvenience.

Z-Man Games posted the following news on their site recently:

6/25/07 We have news on our upcoming games. Duel in the Dark is scheduled to hit our warehouse the end of July. For early August we expect Shazamm and R-Eco. For late August we expect Prophecy and 1960: Making of the President.

Category: Board Games | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,