Board Game News

Interview: Robert Abbott Clears the Air about Confusion

As I discovered by chance on May 2, BGG is holding a contest in which you can win a copy of Robert Abbott's Confusion. I had already sent Abbott questions about how the game came to be and what's...

Links: DSP 2011, More Alien Frontiers & Lots of Cardboard-to-Digital Action

• Voting is open for the 2011 Deutscher Spiele Preis. Vote for up to five titles in the family games category and one title in the children's game category. Deadline for entry is July 31, 2011,...

Designer Diary: Race for the Galaxy: Rebel vs Imperium

The first Race for the Galaxy expansion, The Gathering Storm, was designed with both experienced and new players in mind, so we limited the number of new cards and powers and instead focused on...

New Game Round-up: Previews of Star Trek: Expeditions and Deadwood & Logoless Is More

• StarTrek.com has posted a video preview of Reiner Knizia's Star Trek: Expeditions, with Jeremy D. Salinas, aka Drakkenstrike, providing the video.• Fantasy Flight Games has posted a first...

Designer Diary: The Unusual Inspiration for Wampum

Since becoming enthralled with the variety of modern board games, I have been inspired in many different ways to create games of my own. Sometimes the first spark comes from an experience or fun...

Days of Wonder Digs Deeper with Small World Underground

Philippe Keyaerts' Small World has a been a huge success, spawning a half-dozen expansions (so far) and selling more than 100,000 copies in ten languages since its debut in 2009.So it shouldn't...

Queen Games 2011 Release Schedule

Queen Games' Rajive Gupta has passed along an outline for what gamers can expect to see from the German publisher, while also noting that some dates might change down the road. Titles already...

Links: Mayfair Brings out the Sheep & Nothing Else Compares to Sheep Newscasters

• Mayfair Games is launching a new weekly series of promotional videos with, ahem, "news rams Bob MacWordell and Angus McPeters" and has released two teaser videos to date. Here's the first of...

Highlights of BGG.Con 2010

Note: This report was delayed first due to the demise of Boardgame News, then due to personal issues – still, I hope you enjoy reading about my adventures at BGG.Con 2010!2010 was the sixth...

Designer Diary: Race for the Galaxy: The Gathering Storm

(Editor's note: Given the number of requests I received for a condensed RftG preview, I've now included all three previews from Tom Lehmann in a single post. His previews for the next two RftG...

Designer Diary: Oz – Searching for Great, Avoiding the Terrible

Over the past few years I've read a lot of kids' novels, both classic stories and modern ones, to my daughter Alice and son Leonardo. One of the classic stories that I've always liked is L. Frank...

Links: Anthracite is the New Red, Talk of Ninjato & How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love a Smaller Game Collection

• The Spiel des Jahres jury has revealed the name of its new award that will debut in 2011: Kennerspiel des Jahres, or "expert game of the year". The nominees for this award will be announced...

New Game Round-up: More Anima, More Game Previews & How to Attract a Publisher

• Clever Mojo Games has announced that it plans to release a tile-laying game from designer Isaias Vallejo in Q4 2011. Here's a short description of Sunrise City:Quote:Players build a city with...

James St. Laurent Talks About Crude Beginnings & a Second Strike

This interview (and introduction) first appeared in the April 2011 newsletter from Stronghold Games. Thanks to Stronghold's Stephen M. Buonocore for giving permission to reprint the interview!We...

New Game Round-up: Card Tepee in Cherokee, Spielbox Freebie & a Rune Age Peekie

• White Goblin Games has announced a new card game from Fréderic Moyersoen called Cherokee that will be released on May 28, 2011. Here's a short description:Quote:Players try to occupy the...

GameWorks' Animalia Still Smoking After Five Years

At least this is what one or more Polish companies seem to be thinking given that they have illegaly taken Mathieu Leyssenne's illustrations from Braff, Cathala and Pauchon's Animalia and used...

From the Editor: Inadvertent Holiday

My apologies for the relatively quiet this past week on BGG News. The combination of:1. Tending to an injured wife,2. Preparing taxes, and3. Readying a house for marketput a crimp in my ability...

Designer Diary: Race for the Galaxy

(Editor's note: This game preview originally ran as three parts on Boardgame News. I had planned to reprint the material on BGG News in a similar manner, but due to reader requests I'm changing...

Designer Diary: A Game Designer’s Peculiar Pilgrimage along The Road to Canterbury

I have always been fascinated by religious history, theology, and heresy. And for some reason I seem to enjoy taking the side of the heretic (even if I don't agree). I still think that Pelagius...

Links: Origins Awards Nominees for 2011, Free D&D Adventures & More

• GAMA (The Game Manufacturers Association) has announced the nominees for the 37th annual Origins Awards. The categories most relevant to BGG readers:Best Board Game• Castle Ravenloft•...

Designer Diary: Paperclip Railways – a Brief but Fasten-ating History

It's Day 0 at Spiel 2010, the Wednesday set–up day when we're all supposed to be sticking up posters, assembling shelves, stacking product, writing out itty–bitty price labels, grabbing...

Ted Alspach Presents an End to Bothersome Ties with TieBreaker

From the designer who brought you the amusing yet unnecessary Start Player comes a new game-like activity of similar questionable merit. Given his skill for dishing the dirt on his own designs,...

Gryphon Games Takes to Kickstarter for Montage, The Road to Canterbury

U.S. publisher Gryphon Games, an imprint owned by FRED Distribution that publishes family-friendly games, is taking a different path to publication with two upcoming releases and using...

New Game Round-up: Cité Imported, Cities Destroyed & Many Other Non-City Games

• Guillaume Besançon's Cité, which was shown at Spiel 2010 but apparently not widely available, will have a few dozen copies (with English rules) available via an online U.S. retailer, most...

Designer Diary: Snag – Designing In and Outside of the Box

Snag is the result of the Blue Panther LLC 2010 Small Games Contest. I don't enter many design contests because I find they distract me from the games on which I'm currently working – and I...

Links: Typical Mainstream Coverage, Lots of Videos & the Patron Saint of Gaming

• TV commentator Mo Rocca took a trip to Gen Con, took a few swipes at gamers on the way – "...as many as 30,000 gamers crawl from their basements..." – interviewed Scott Nicholson and...

Preview: Leaders Bring Help to Those Building 7 Wonders

Antoine Bauza's 7 Wonders was the buzz of 2010, getting advance play at conventions in the U.S. and Europe and exciting players with the thought of a good, fast game for seven players. Since its...

Interview: Alan R. Moon on the Evolution of Airlines Europe

As every game designer – and more than a few game players – knows, no game design is ever complete. You can always tweak the game board, the card texts, the costs, the use of special tokens,...

Preview: Wu-Feng (and Antoine Bauza) Add Black Secrets to Ghost Stories

Antoine Bauza's Ghost Stories is an incredibly fun and thematic cooperative game that often has players on the edge of their seats with uncertainty over whether their monks will be able to...

Designer Diary: The Making of Bézier's 2010 Steam Expansions

I like to keep pushing the Age of Steam/Steam expansion envelope. In 2010, for the first time ever, I'm releasing three double-sided MOUNTED expansions, as well as a double-sided bonus map....