I consider myself a fortunate man when it comes to my gaming life: I have two terrific gaming groups and my family also likes playing, often during impromptu gatherings. We recently celebrated my parents’ 48th anniversary (all together now: Wow!) and ended up playing Telestrations for the first time. With all of the laughter and hilarity enjoyed by young and old alike, it was, without a doubt, the best ab workout I’ve had in years.
Epic Expansion
Tiny Epic Galaxies is growing its universe with the Tiny Epic Galaxies: Beyond the Black expansion. The box art can be seen on the company’s Facebook page and it’s set to be Kickstarted on September 1st.
Winner Winner Chicken Dinner
Although Nyquist failed to repeat last year’s Triple Crown run by American Pharoah, we’ll be able to get our horse-racing fix on the tabletop when Winner’s Circle comes back to print in 2017.
Magical Day
The annual Magic: The Gathering Announcement Day was last week and we learned about “six new products and one new way to buy an already announced product.”
Yokohama
According to this tweet, TMG will be publishing designer Hisashi Hayashi’s Yokohama.
It’s A Trap!
The fourth wave of expansions for Star Wars Armada will be available in the third quarter of this year. Featuring two new ships, “one each for the Rebels and Imperials, Armada Wave IV is your chance to harness the power of gravity well projectors, grav shift reroutes, massive forward-facing Rebel guns, and other powerful, new technologies.”
Historical Wonders
The stories behind two of the 7 Wonders, Ephesus and Rhodes, which “are fading from our knowledge even as their few remaining stones erode.”
Deck Building Cthulhu
Now available for Android and coming soon for iOS: Cthulhu Realms, the Cthulhu-themed Star Realms deck building game.
Bloodier Bowls
According to Dice Tower News, a fourth edition of Blood Bowl, “the Warhammer-infused tactics game of brutal sportsmanship,” should hit the retail shelves by the end of this year.
Alien Battles
Upper Deck is adding Aliens to its VS. System this August, and “the release will include 200 cards of new content and original art, which cover all four Alien movies. Players can play as any of the major characters from the Alien universe or even as the deadly Xenomorphs.”
Animeeples Everywhere
The official Agricola Release Weekend just happened, with the revamped base game “features an updated and streamlined design by creator Uwe Rosenberg. The components are wood and the game features an expanded card deck with a “greatest hits” collection of cards from the original game and its expansions, newly revised and updated for this edition.”
Dark Souls Funded
Steamforged Games set the Dark Souls board game Kickstarter goal at $70,832 and reached it within three minutes. A few weeks later, the campaign is officially closed, having raised over $5 million. The game is due in April 2017.
HasbroCon
Hasbro seems to be on the verge of running its own gaming conventions after trademarking “HasbroCon” for “organizing and conducting conventions, exhibitions, fan clubs and gatherings for entertainment purposes and in the fields of toys, animation, comic books, fantasy, gaming, popular culture, science fiction, television and film.”
Digital Enhancements
When analog board gaming meets digital augmentation: Ars Technica discusses the use of digital technology in the games XCOM and Golem Arcana.
Pledging Growth
An overview of how Kickstarter has contributed to the growth of board games, as “ tabletop games have surged as players have grown jaded with the digital screens they toil over during the work day.”
Kids Gaming
Geek & Sundry suggest five alternatives to playing Candyland with the wee ones.
Modern Classic
Designer James Ernest created and Kickstarted the game Tak, which was described in Patrick Rothfuss’ fantasy novel The Wise Man’s Fear. The abstract game’s original goal was $50,000 and it raised over $1.3 million.
Finding a Gaming Group
Although they missed the big one (boardgamegeek.com), Casual Game Revolution offers five online resources for finding a gaming group.
From the Factory
Mayday Games shared a video that takes us behind-the-scenes at a board game manufacturer in China.
Upcoming Board Game Conventions
May 26-30. Game-o-Rama. Atlanta, Georgia.
May 27-30. Gamex 2016. Los Angeles, California.
May 27-30. Nexus Game Fair. Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
May 27-30. BGG.CON Spring. Dallas, Texas.
June 3-5. 2D Con. Bloomington, Minnesota.
June 10-12. Southern-Fried Gameroom Expo. Atlanta, Georgia.
June 15-19. Origins Game Fair. Columbus, Ohio.
June 17-19. PolyCon 34. San Luis Obispo, California.
June 23-26. Texicon. Hurst, Texas.
June 24-26. RAGECON 2016. Sparks, Nevada.
June 26. Pacific Northwest 5th Annual Game Swap. Puyallup, Washington.
July 6-10. Dice Tower Gaming Con V. Orlando, Florida.
July 8-9. MichiCon 2016. Rochester, Michigan.
July 23-24. MegaMooseCon. Richburg, South Carolina.
July 30. VladdaCon. Holliston, Massachusetts.
August 4-7. Gen Con 2016. Indianapolis, Indiana.
August 26-28. Coulee Con 2016. La Crosse, Wisconsin.
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.
