If you’re not with the rest of the world at Gen Con, come join me at the virtual con GenCant this weekend. Use #GenCant2016 and tweet the action from your tabletops.
Jump Drive
Race for the Galaxy: Jump Drive is a new introductory game to the Rio Grande classic. According to the RGG website, Jump Drive is “a complete game and offers simpler rules and a shorter game than it’s older brother: Race for the Galaxy.” Check out the teaser in the boardgamegeek.com link below.
Source: http://riograndegames.com/Game/1308-Race-for-the-Galaxy-Jump-Drive
h/t: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1614720/teaser-1
Evolving
North Star Games’ Evolution is coming to the digital realm. The first video teaser is now online.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SY9aYrSSVk
h/t: https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/56406/app-news-north-star-games-evolution-coming-mobile
Hands Up
The Hand of the King, a new card game from Fantasy Flight Games, is due later this year. It promises to be a “fast-paced card game of cunning deals and clever maneuvering. Each turn, you and your opponents will compete, using the services of Varys, the Master of Whispers, to gain influence over the Great Houses of Westeros.”
Source: https://drafts.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2016/8/1/hand-of-the-king/
Wave IX
Fantasy Flight Games is previewing its Wave IX expansions for X-Wing, including the Shadow Caster Expansion Pack: “With its new ‘mobile’ firing arc, plus its pilots, upgrades, and all the tactics they permit, the Shadow Caster promises to be one of the Scum faction’s trickiest, most flexible, and most impressive ships to-date.”
Source: https://drafts.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2016/8/1/full-of-surprises/
Armored No More
The Armored Core Kickstarter has been changed halfway through its campaign. After successfully funding, Bad Crow Games president wrote that “The license holders for the game franchise have final approval authority over everything that is produced. … This name change removes any uncertainty and allows us to deliver the entire game on schedule.”
Source: http://www.polygon.com/2016/8/1/12344690/armored-core-board-game-kickstarter-from-software-mech-command-rts
Stay on Target
Target has a few exclusive games for sale: The Oregon Trail, Codenames: Deep Undercover, Ticket to Ride: First Journeys, and more.
Source: https://corporate.target.com/article/2016/08/oregon-trail
Games of Our Times
Here’s an interesting article on how games from Twister to Pokemon Go reflect their times. “The most popular games of an era can act as cultural milestones, indicating shifts in beliefs and behaviour. Twister, for example, was described as “sex in a box” after it was created during the sexual revolution of the 1960s. … For its American audience, Tetris’s brutalist blocks were both a compelling puzzle and a thrilling dramatisation of cold war tensions.”
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/aug/01/twister-sex-box-pokemon-go-new-reality-how-games-define-the-times
Judging the Con
An Indianapolis superior court judge is also an avid board gamer who runs games at Gen Con.
Source: http://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2016/08/02/indy-area-judge-uses-his-nerdery-escape/87334080/
I Want To Be A Billionaire
According to ICv2.com, board games generated over a billion dollars in the United States and Canada in 2015.
Source: http://icv2.com/articles/news/view/35150/hobby-games-market-nearly-1-2-billion
Buy All The Games
I liked this short piece on what to buy for your growing game library. It’s a must-read for anybody who’s been recently bitten by the board game bug; it certainly would’ve saved me a few bucks.
Source: http://geekandsundry.com/the-best-way-to-build-your-board-game-library/
Upcoming Board Game Conventions
August 4-7. Gen Con 2016. Indianapolis, Indiana.
August 5-7. St. George Board Game Convention. St. George, Utah.
August 12-14. Board Games Bash. Austin, Texas.
August 19-21. Dragonflight XXXVII. Bellevue, Washington.
August 26-28. Coulee Con 2016. La Crosse, Wisconsin.
August 26-28. Guns of August. Williamsburg, Virginia.
September 1-4. Tacticon 2016. Colorado Springs, Colorado.
September 2-5. Gateway 2016. Los Angeles, California.
September 10-11. WashingCon. Washington, D.C.
September 24-25. Congress of Gamers. Rockville, Maryland.
October 15-16. RetroWorld Expo 2016. Wallingford, Connecticut.
Visit casualgamerevolution.com for more convention listings.
