Let's start with the most eye-catching line-up of the show, this being the huge number of titles on display by Lookout Games:
A sampling of what's coming from @LookoutSpiele in 2018. Neom is a city-building game due out at SPIEL '18. —WEM pic.twitter.com/9bc0mIxo8m
— BoardGameGeek (@BoardGameGeek) February 2, 2018
More from @LookoutSpiele in 2018: Race packs for Caverna, a gingerbread house & an updated Farmers of the Moor. —WEM pic.twitter.com/vvTnAXh3Jq
— BoardGameGeek (@BoardGameGeek) February 2, 2018
Ever more from @LookoutSpiele: Artifex is from 2017, Patchwork Xtrem is probably 2019, & the rest is for 2018. —WEM pic.twitter.com/vDxaGkZlQX
— BoardGameGeek (@BoardGameGeek) February 2, 2018
We filmed overviews of the city-building game Neom from Paul Sottsanti, the second expansion for Isle of Skye, the Caverna "lost peoples" pack (with these originally existing as a fan project you could download from BGG), Patchwork Express, and Piepmatz (a.k.a. Little Songbirds). We'll publish those videos ASAP, and ideally we'll have everything available ahead of our trip to the game fair in Cannes in late February 2018. We'll see.
We wanted to film overviews of more titles, but (1) we had appointments elsewhere, (2) some items won't be out until 2019 (Patchwork Xtrem, the Bärenpark expansion) so coverage seems premature, and (3) artist Klemens Franz had the contents of Phil-Walker Harding's Lebkuchen Haus (Gingerbread House) with him, so we had only an empty box. Such is life at Spielwarenmesse. As one of my son's teachers says, "You get what you get, and you don't fuss a bit." I will confess to still fussing, though, as no matter how much we do, I always wanted to do more.
I'll note in passing that I appreciate Lookout's approach to displaying prototype games. The boxes are slathered with tape, so you're unlikely to mistake them for the final look, but you know something is coming. Expect to hear much more news from Lookout in the near future.
• I did not expect the huge reaction that this pic of Ice Cool 2 from Brian Gomez and Brain Games generated. Apparently folks are stoked for more penguin-flicking action.
On its own, this game is essentially Ice Cool with a few twists. The 1-point cards now have tasks on them, such as going through two doors on a single turn, and if you complete one of these tasks, you can reveal the card, then take another point card at random from the deck. Thus, you're now not punished with 1-point cards with no recourse to get anything better. A 2-point card can be revealed to move one of your fish to a location where you had previously grabbed a fish.
If you combine Ice Cool 2 with Ice Cool, you can make one of the four layouts included in the rules — or create your own layouts, of course. The central area in the pic below slides within the outer ring, and you can move it before you take a shot to try to reach an area otherwise unavailable.
Ice Cool 2 (@BrainGames_int) is a standalone game & an expansion that lets you play on 4 tracks w/up to 8 players. Team race mode, too. —WEM pic.twitter.com/8a8WnNSGYW
— BoardGameGeek (@BoardGameGeek) January 31, 2018
• We had our first look at the next Stefan Feld title from alea: Carpe Diem. This is a big box game — #18 in the series — and that's all the info available other than it being a tile-placement game with this short description:
First look at Stefan Feld’s next title from alea: Carpe Diem. —WEM pic.twitter.com/RmvGsynuZy
— BoardGameGeek (@BoardGameGeek) February 1, 2018
Funny thing: A few minutes after I snapped these images and tweeted them, alea editor Stefan Brück showed up in the Ravensburger booth and was surprised to learn that Carpe Diem was being displayed, saying that it probably shouldn't be visible until August since the game won't be available until at least 1-2 months after that. He also revealed that the image on the wall was an older version of the cover (on the left below), showing off the tweaked, yet still not final cover that he had on him:
• After snapping a pic of the mock-up box at Spielwarenmesse 2018, I've since confirmed with designer Jim Harmon that AMIGO Spiele does plan to release Lighthouse Run in late 2018, most likely with a release date of September 1. Here's what the game is about:
In more detail, each player has an identical deck of fourteen cards. The game is played over twelve rounds, and each round a player has a hand of three cards. Each turn, the player plays a card to move a number of boats, some their own and some belonging to other players. The cards also adjust which lighthouses are lit, and the boats may move only if the lighthouse they are approaching is lit. At the end of each round, a wave is placed on the board. Any boats caught by a wave are out of the game and will score points for the last lighthouse that was passed. The game ends after the last wave is placed at the end of the twelfth round. Player add the points earned for each of their boats and the highest total wins.
At @Spielwarenmesse 2018, @AMIGOSpiele displayed only a box for Lighthouse Run, perhaps a SPIEL ‘18 release. 2014 prototype at right. —WEM pic.twitter.com/3AsU9EQchG
— BoardGameGeek (@BoardGameGeek) February 4, 2018