Board Game News

Links: Thoughts on Trick-Taking, Board Game Manufacturing, and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

I let a lot of things pile up throughout 2021, including links to game-related articles that may or may not still be of interest more than a half year later. Let me dig through the slush pile to...

Designer Diary: In the Palm of Your Hand

In the long text that follows, I explain the origin of the game In the Palm of Your Hand, originally published by La Boîte de Jeu and distributed in the U.S. by Hachette Boardgames. I don't...

Gather Your Coven, Duel as Witch and Witch Hunter, and Add Mythological Creatures to Nidavellir

• In May 2022, Mindclash Games announced Septima, an upcoming, competitive witchcraft game from designer Robin Hegedűs, which is coming to Kickstarter on June 16, 2022. In Septima, 1-4 players...

From Terra Mystica to Terra Nova, and From Splendor to Splendor Duel

• German publisher KOSMOS revealed an unexpected SPIEL '22 release on Instagram at the end of May 2022: Terra Nova, with this being a design from newcomer Andreas Faul based on the decade-old...

Game Preview: Cranking Out Cable Cars in Knizia's San Francisco

I lived in San Francisco for two years, and I never rode the cable cars, despite being on the corner of California and Divisadero and seeing cable cars every single day. Such things happen when...

Use Fruit Bats Wisely in Uwe Rosenberg's Atiwa, and Revisit Ohley and Orgler's 1880: China

German publisher Lookout Games plans to demo a few of its upcoming releases at UK Games Expo, which opens June 3, so it's now made information about those releases public, with the headliner...

Game Overview: Schnipp & Weg, or Flex Your Fingers

Whenever I look at The Hotness on BGG, I notice that most of the games included are fairly complex — and while many BGGers would disagree, this label includes titles like Wingspan, Living...

Get Your Cattle to Buenos Aires in Great Western Trail: Argentina

In February 2021, eggertspiele announced a second edition of Alexander Pfister's Great Western Trail, as well as "two additional Great Western Trail titles, each of which will use elements of the...

Designer Preview: Dice Realms

In Dice Realms, players improve and expand their realms, which are represented by customizable dice whose faces can be popped out and upgraded.Tactile PlayOne joy of tabletop gaming is the...

Designer Diary: Crescent Moon

In 2016, I played Chaos in the Old World, an area-control game in which players represent evil space gods, each with their own asymmetrical faction.What struck me was that, although all of the...

Links: Limitations in Game Manufacturing, Reconciliation in Game Design, and A Song about Eurogames

• In mid-May 2022, IndigiNews published an article by Atum Beckett that highlights increased attention on colonialist themes in board games and how some creators are trying to create something...

Designer, Publisher, Developer, Graphic Designer, and Artist Diary: Kabuto Sumo

1. DESIGNBy Tony MillerThe story of Kabuto Sumo began with my desire to create something for my son, Raphael. In early 2019 my excitement was at an all-time high as Fire in the Library, my first...

Check Out Upcoming Legion Wargames and GMT Releases and Vote for the 2021 Charles S. Roberts Awards

• The voting process has officially kicked off for the 2021 Charles S. Roberts Awards for Excellence in the Conflict Simulation Game Industry. The Charles S. Roberts (CSR) board has implemented...

A Quintet of Games from Cathala and Friends: Kyudo, 1001 Islands, Raptor, Orichalque, and MOW

• French publisher Offline Editions debuted in 2020 with an edition of Magic Fold from designers Bruno Cathala and Yohan Goh, and Cathala — along with Ludovic Maublanc — is on the design...

Grow Wildly and Greenly in Evergreen, Treeblox, and Tinderblox Sunset

I've seen plenty of "green" games announced by publishers recently, with green taking on multiple meanings even within the same game. Such is the case with Evergreen, a 1-4 player game from...

Settle the Stone Age Again in CATAN: Dawn of Humankind

• Catan is both an island and the entirety of the universe throughout time. The latest example of this all-encompassing game design is CATAN: Dawn of Humankind, a game for 3-4 players from...

Designer Diary: Sobek: 2 Players

Editor's note: This diary was first published in French on July 1, 2021 on Bruno Cathala's website. This English translation comes courtesy of Danni Loe, who previously worked for Pandasaurus...

Game Overview: First Empires, or It's Nothing Personal, But Get Out

In a designer diary on BGG News about First Empires, Eric B. Vogel wrote, "I really dislike wargames that reward defensive play — 'turtling' — because aggression is what is fun in a...

Spiel des Jahres Nominations for 2022: Cascadia, Scout, and Top Ten

The nominees for the 2022 Spiel des Jahres — Germany's "game of the year" award — have been announced, along with nominees for the Kinderspiel des Jahres (KidJ) for children's game of the...

Explore Strange New Worlds in Starship Captains

Publisher Czech Games Edition has unveiled a new title that it plans to debut at SPIEL '22: Starship Captains from first-time designer Peter B. Hoffgaard, with the game's general release in...

Mount Damasks, Resist General Franco, and Lie to Friends about Christmas Gifts

After highlighting a few high-profile crowdfunding projects earlier this week, let me shine the spotlight on several projects from smaller publishers:• Resist! is a solitaire design from Trevor...

Tile the Amygdala, Leave the Church in the Village, and Welcome the Return of the Rats

• It's often difficult to provide a hook for abstract strategy games, but designers Michael Kiesling and Wolfgang Kramer and publisher Game Brewer might have found a winner in Amygdala, which...

Designer Diary: Space Station Phoenix, or Torn Down and Rebuilt

In August 2013, while living in Peru and accompanying my wife on a research trip there, I made my first prototype of "The Space Station Game". I printed several sheets of paper in black and white...

Game Overview: Crescent Moon, or Bribing Friends for Area Control

Crescent Moon, an upcoming 2022 release from designer Steven Mathers and Osprey Games, had me at “an ambitious asymmetric area control game of tense negotiations.” Based on that description,...

Bid for Land on Mars, Quest More for Thunderstones, and Revisit Middle-earth Again

Let's follow up a recent post about spinoffs and sequels with another set of titles seeing new life:• Designer Mark Corsey's auction-based The Game of 49 has been reborn as Zillionaires on Mars...

Bring Sweets to the Table with Azul: Master Chocolatier and The Great British Baking Show Game

• Publishers unveiled two sweet-looking games on May 17, with Next Move Games announcing Azul: Master Chocolatier for release in late 2022, with a debut at SPIEL '22.What's new in this release?...

New Life for Dominion: Prosperity, and More Expansions for Cartographers and Age of Steam Deluxe

• Following on the heels of a second edition of Dominion: Seaside, in June 2022 publisher Rio Grande Games will release a second edition of Dominion: Prosperity from designer Donald X....

Everything Old Is New Again with Legends of Andor, Tokaido, and Royal Dilemmas

• Artist/designer Michael Menzel wrapped his Legends of Andor series in 2017 with Legends of Andor: The Last Hope, with other designers then building on his creation with additional heroes or...

Designer Diary: Batman: Everybody Lies, or A Different Type of Detective

Chapter 0: The BasicsBatman: Everybody Lies is a story-driven deduction game. The action takes place in Gotham, with you exploring various locations of this crime-driven city from the grim and...

Greater Than Games and Dice Hate Me Games Split; Compounded Gets Remixed

• In February 2015, publisher Dice Hate Me Games merged with Greater Than Games, becoming one of three imprints in a newly reorganized line-up at GTG along with Sentinel Comics and Fabled...