While the month of March means a frenzy of college basketball games to determine a national champion, my own version of March Madness has been playing through my Shelf of Shame, aka games I own but haven’t played. I’ve gone through a few this week and discovered I had a gem of a two-player game.
Box of Monsters
USAopoly announced the Monster Box of Monsters Expansion for Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle. It adds 150 new cards to the game and “You’ll face new adversaries in the form of magical Creatures, each to be handled with care. Undertake new tests of your proficiency by besting Encounters as you fight evil across new Locations.”
Source: http://usaopoly.com/blog/monster-box-monsters-expansion-harry-potter-hogwarts-battle-game-near
Precious Little Card Game
Renegade Game Studios and Oni Press is releasing Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Card Game this summer. The deck builder by Keith Baker is based on the graphic novels by Bryan Lee O’Malley and 2-6 players will “assume the roles of their favorite characters in the Scott Pilgrim universe, each of whom comes with a unique starting deck. Innovative double-sided cards let you decide whether to solve your problems with hard work and empathy, or whether to embrace the unpredictable world of gratuitous video game violence.”
Source: http://us9.campaign-archive1.com/?u=e7f51ce684ac7db3828dfd1ed&id=fe9334360f&e=e60eb6f1ae
Evil Time
Professor Evil and the Citadel of Time from Funforge and Passport Game Studios is expected this summer. This cooperative game will have players “work together as they invade Professor Evil’s mansion, wherein he has stashed away dozens of rare and priceless artifacts… and you need to recover them.”
Source: http://us9.campaign-archive1.com/?u=8c9737c87d0e5a483c35ddc7f&id=2de8436d02&e=7d424f1e3e
Gloomhaven Reprint
The hotness of the moment, Gloomhaven, will be Kickstarted for a reprint on April 6th. According to a recent Cephalofair Games newsletter, it “will be the retail version with minis, but it will also include the cypher key for the glyphs found in the game.”
Source: http://archive.aweber.com/isaac-childres/Dng5G/h/A_Flood_of_Activity.htm
Mind Games
Over on cnn.com there was an article on RPGs being inspiration for the CIA. “Volko Ruhnke, who is an intelligence educator at the CIA and a freelance game designer … [said]he is particularly interested in one type of game: a simulation tabletop game to train analysts and help with analytic tasks. It could help forecast complex situations by forcing players to handle multiple scenarios simultaneously.”
Source: http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/13/technology/cia-board-games-training/
Game Kastles
The leagueofgamers.com crew interviewed Ray Wisneski, owner of 13 Game Kastle stores in the San Francisco Bay area. “The community has really grown and we’ve help[ed]it grow and mature. You thrive as the community thrives. We also see so many more women and families. There are more couples who come to game nights. 15 years ago it was almost exclusively male. Now, women are feeling more comfortable in gaming environments and men are being more inviting.”
Source: http://www.leagueofgamemakers.com/behind-the-counter-interview-with-ray-wisneski-game-store-co-owner/
Caught in the Crossfire
Plaid Hat Games teased its upcoming social deduction game, Crossfire, “a game in the world of Specter Ops.” Designer Emerson Matsuuchi is working with Plaid Hat Games again “to take players back into the dystopian struggle between Raxxon and A.R.K. This time, players will be competitng in two teams to either protect or assassinate a Raxxon VIP, while trying to determine if other players at the table are really who they claim to be, all while the clock is ticking.”
Source: http://www.plaidhatgames.com/news/776
Resource Efficiency
There was an interesting article on Mechanics & Meeples about resource-efficiency games. Catan, Agricola, and Race for the Galaxy are just a few examples of a game which “focuses on turning resources into victory points through a chain of actions.”
Source: http://www.mechanics-and-meeples.com/2017/03/06/the-design-of-a-resource-efficiency-game/
Rolling and Writing
Nevermore Games has a new imprint, Spiel Press, that will focus on roll-and-write games such as Qwixx and Rolling America. According to purplepawn.com, “its games will come in printed books with a new game on each page (not just copies of the same score sheet). As a player moves through one of these books, a story will develop out of the varying game rules.”
Source: http://www.purplepawn.com/2017/03/spiel-press-launches-with-focus-on-roll-and-write/
Upcoming Board Game Conventions
March 23-26. Adepticon. Schaumburg, Illinois.
March 31-April 2. Protospiel – Milwaukee. Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
March 31-April 2. Crucible. Orlando, Florida.
April 1-2. South Coast Game Fest. Swansea, Massachusetts.
April 7-9. Gaming Hoopla. Gurnee, Illinois.
April 7-9. Protospiel. San Jose, California.
April 22-23. QC Game Fest. Davenport, Iowa.
April 27-30. Kingdom-Con. San Diego, California.
May 12-14. CMoN Expo. Atlanta, Georgia.
May 18-21. Geekway to the West. St. Charles, Missouri.
May 25-29. Game Fest 29. Atlanta, Georgia.
May 26-29. Gamex 2017. Los Angeles, California.
May 26-29. KublaCon. San Francisco, California.
June 14-18. Origins Game Fair. Columbus, Ohio.
June 23-35. Polycon. San Luis Obispo, California.
July 5-9. Dice Tower Con. Orlando, Florida.
July 15-17. Protospiel. Manchester, Michigan.
July 22-30. World Boardgaming Championship. Champion, Pennsylvania.
August 17-20. Gen Con 50. Indianapolis, Indiana.
August 25-27. Coulee Con. La Crosse, Wisconsin.
September 1-4. Gateway 2017. Los Angeles, California.
September 1-4. Pacificon Game Expo. Santa Clara, California.
September 9-10. WashingCon. Washington, D.C.
September 15-17. GrandCon. Grand Rapids, MI.
September 15-17. Protospiel. Chicago, Illinois.
October 13-15. XPO 2017. Tulsa, Oklahoma.
November 17-19. PAX Unplugged. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Visit casualgamerevolution.com for more convention listings.
