Board Game News

Game Brewer Invites Us to Adventure Through Multiple Themes, Collect the Best Furs in Siberia, and Save Patients in Ancient Greece

• In August 2020, I mentioned Game Brewer's Kickstarter campaign for Arkwright: The Card Game, a streamlined, smaller box version of Stefan Risthaus' beasty, brain-burner Arkwright. Its...

Build Bridges, Arrange Leaves, Fight for Whiskey, and Mark Up Europe

As I have undoubtedly made clear from multiple posts about The Mind (one example) and The Game (example) among other things, I'm a fan of German publisher Nürnberger-Spielkarten-Verlag, a.k.a....

Combo Your Way Higher in the World of Red Rising

U.S. publisher Stonemaier Games has announced its next release: Red Rising from Alexander Schmidt and Jamey Stegmaier, with the game being set in the world of Red Rising, the first novel in a...

Travel to the Moon with Oink, Turn One Wallet into a Dozen, and Build Again with Mad King Ludwig

• Japanese publisher Oink Games has taken to Kickstarter (KS link) with a trio of titles that it will debut at the Osaka Game Market at the end of March 2021. Details about the games are brief,...

Game Overview: Monasterium, or A Game for Professional Novices

I've played and enjoyed three titles by game designer Arve D. Fühler — Pagoda (covered here), El Gaucho (covered here), and TA-KE (which I still want to cover at some point, despite the game...

Slide Juicy Fruits for Business, and Test Your Rorschach Skills

• German publisher Deep Print Games has announced two titles it plans to release in the first half of 2021, with Capstone Games putting out both games in the U.S.Juicy Fruits is a 1-4 player...

Interview: Shem Phillips, Designer of the North Sea Trilogy and Founder of Garphill Games

Editor's note: This interview was first published on Diagonal Move on January 15, 2021. —WEMFor today's interview Shem Phillips, designer of Raiders of the North Sea and founder of Garphill...

Explore Space, Invade Tarawa, Complete Missions Against Nazis, and Defeat a Slasher...All By Yourself!

Playing board games solo isn't necessarily everyone's jam (yet?), but solitaire gaming is definitely becoming more and more popular in our hobby. It could be my reticular activator drawing me to...

Orcs Come to Caverna, Llamas Find a Home, and Lookout Revisits 1880: China

German publisher Lookout Games has unveiled its 2021 line-up, with the titles largely falling into the expected categories of Rosenberg expansions, a two-player game, a giant involved strategy...

BGG News Turns Ten

Ten years ago on January 27, 2011, BGG News started, and in my introductory post, I laid out what I expected to include in this space:Quote:Howdy, y'all! I'm the former editor of...

New Looks for Carcassonne and Qwirkle, and a New Location for Pandemic: Hot Zone

• Pandemic: Hot Zone – Europe is the follow-up to 2020's Pandemic: Hot Zone – North America that you knew was coming. I'd be surprised only by the announcement of Pandemic: Hot Zone –...

Isaac Vega and Lindsey Rode Launch Rose Gauntlet Entertainment

Keystone: North America will be the first release from new publisher Rose Gauntlet Entertainment, co-founded by designers Isaac Vega and Lindsey Rode, with the game being co-designed by Vega and...

Days of Wonder Celebrates 15 Years of Ticket to Ride: Europe

Publisher Days of Wonder has announced a Q2 2021 release date for a deluxe 15th anniversary edition of Alan R. Moon's Ticket to Ride: Europe — Ticket to Ride: Europe – 15th Anniversary —...

Become a Detective on Arrakis in Dune: House Secrets from Portal Games

At PortalCon 13, an online event hosted by Polish publisher Portal Games in place of its usual in-person event, designer Ignacy Trzewiczek announced new games and expansions for existing game...

Run Your Business Carnegie-Style, Lead Your Class to Victory, and Trade (Flower) Stocks

• Carnegie is an upcoming 2021 medium-heavy economic game inspired by the life of Andrew Carnegie from Xavier Georges (Ginkgopolis, Carson City, Troyes, Black Angel) and Quined Games that...

Ultimate Railroads Takes You from Russia to Germany, the U.S., and...Asia?

On January 1, 2021, I tweeted the following:Teaser image from @hig_spiele about its plans for 2021. —WEM pic.twitter.com/L1V2iElr81— BoardGameGeek (@BoardGameGeek) January 1, 2021Now...

Grab a Horseless Carriage, Welcome New Cartographers, and Prepare for Sagrada Legacy

• In a mid-January 2021 newsletter, U.S. publisher Floodgate Games shared a logo for Sagrada Legacy and offered this teaser:Quote:We'll be making an official announcement about Sagrada Legacy...

Playing Through Nature, from Annapurna to a Lush Meadow

• As I've said many times before, games are everywhere. My wife is a business writer, and for some reason she shared an image of our game room with an interviewee — and this person then...

Help Creatures Gain Immortality in Equinox, from Knizia and Plan B

Reiner Knizia designs tend to have a long lifespan, either because the game itself becomes iconic (as with Lost Cities) or because the design is flexible enough to fit many different...

Find the Right Crew to Tackle Space Dragons, and Prepare to Steal with Matthias Cramer

• German publisher Edition Spielwiese has passed along an overview of its 2021 game releases, with the first title due out being Space Dragons, a trick-taking-ish card game from Richi Haarhoff,...

Game Overview: MicroMacro: Crime City, or It's Murder by Numbers, One, Two, Three

MicroMacro: Crime City by Johannes Sich is an ingeniously simple and engaging design, but before you even get to the experience of being a detective and "solving" criminal cases in this horrible...

Industry News: dV Giochi Buying Ghenos, Asmodee Bought Philibert

• Italian publisher daVinci Editrice S.r.l. — a.k.a. dV Giochi — plans to purchase fellow Italian publisher Ghenos S.r.l., which operates under the brand "Ghenos Games".To quote from the...

All Bridges Burning, and How GMT’s COIN Series Captured My Heart

Ahhh, the summer of 2019...I remember it so fondly. Handshakes, hugs, going out to restaurants, and weekly board game meet-ups were all the norm. More relevant to this article, it's also when I...

Bid for Light in Umbra Via, and Bring Mayhem to the Table with Looney Tunes

In mid-December 2020, Danni Loe at Pandsaurus Games sent me the following cover image, noting that it was for a game that would be announced on January 13, 2021 — and while I was thankful for...

Corey Konieczka Asks You to Take The Initiative

In January 2020, I posted about the founding of Unexpected Games, a new studio under the Asmodee umbrella "centered around innovative design and spearheaded by renowned game designer Corey...

Shuffle Cards to Terraform Mars, and Master My Father's Work

• Publishers FryxGames and Stronghold Games have released the barest of information about Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition — which is subtitled "The Terraforming Mars Card Game" on the...

Game Overview: Beez, or Who Can Deny the Heart that is Yearning for Nectar?

When I first posted about Dan Halstad's game Beez in January 2020, the game seemed to be complete, and publisher Next Move Games announced that it would debut at Origins 2020.Then the world got...

Fighting in the Future, But Not Aboard Battlestar Galactica

• Italian publisher Ares Games has announced that it's been unable to extend its license agreement with Universal Brand Development, which means that its contract to produce the Battlestar...

Use Sounds for Clues, and Stack Meeples Once Again

• For this weekend post, let's look at a few party games that will be playable on some other weekend following this one, starting with Show Me Your Sound, the initial title from new publisher...

Upgrade Your Tribe and Influence the Elemental Realms in Gates of Mara

I don't know whether you've noticed, but designer J.B. Howell has been building a diverse catalogue of solid games. I think it's obvious when you explore some of his more recent releases such as...