Board 2 Pieces February 9, 2010

---

W. Eric Martin: Lessons for Game Publishers – Practice Parallelism

In early February 2010 I played the published version of Stefan Feld’s Macao for the first time, and while I found the game intriguing in the usual alea/Feld manner of not knowing how everything fits together on the first play and making somewhat random moves that may or may not pan out (see In the Year of the Dragon, Notre Dame, Rum & Pirates), the other players and I were confounded by card text that exhibited a common grammatical problem, namely non-parallelism.

Parallelism, also known as parallel construction, is the practice of words, clauses and phrases agreeing with one another when they are used in series in a sentence, e.g. “I came, I saw, I conquered.” The verb in each clause is in the simple past, which allows a reader or listener to process the meaning of the sentence more easily than she would with something like “I came, I saw, I was conquering.” (Let’s ignore for the moment that the two sentences don’t mean the same thing – I’m considering structure for now.)

We tend to overlook non-parallelism in casual speech – “I’m going shopping, taking in a movie, and will see you tonight” – but such mismatches strike the ear abruptly when encountered in more formal situations. Take this example from Macao‘s back cover: “Who will have the best plan and can acquire the most prestige by the end of the game?” While not incorrect, the “will have” and “can acquire” are jarring. Far better would be this sentence: “Who will have the best plan and acquire the most prestige by the end of the game?”

Read more...

---

The First Virtual Board and Card Game App for Apple’s iPad Will Be…

Completely boring and predictable. Label Interactive, which specializes in branded games and “rich media advertising solutions,” has announced the release of GameTable – featuring chess, checkers, backgammon, poker, solitaire and other “classic” games – in March or April 2010, immediately following the release of the iPad itself. From the press release:

“GameTable isn’t a typical video game,” explains Jeff Juliard, Label Interactive founder and president. “There is no ‘logic’ built in. GameTable simply provides gorgeous, photo-realistic tables, boards and game pieces along with an extremely intuitive and fun way for users to interact with them. It basically saves you from having to find a deck of cards or dig out your old board games – you can play your favorite classic games anywhere and anytime you want.”

Logic, after all, takes time and costs money. Imitation wood look and public domain game designs, on the other hand, are muy barato…

---

More Details on Chocolatl, Coming from Quined and Huch & Friends

Dutch publisher Quined Games has released a few more details of Günter Burkhardt’s Chocolatl, which BGN first covered in December 2009. As a reminder, here’s a game description from the publisher:

Quetzalcóatl: A game with the fascinating history of the Aztecs, the legend of Quetzalcóatl and of course Cacao: the fruit of the gods! Your goal: Make the greatest offerings to the gods – harvest the best Cacao, build onto the pyramids and earn points at six locations on the map. The player who brings the most valuable offerings to Quetzalcóatl (=Chocolatl) ends the game and is the winner!

Chocolatl will be released in Q2 2010 as both a standalone game and as the sixth title in Quined’s Master Print Series, the cover of which is shown above. The Master Print Series edition of 500 copies will be released by Quined in Benelux with rules in English, Dutch, French and German; this edition will also be available for order directly from Quined. German publisher HUCH! & friends is releasing the other edition of the game outside of Benelux, with rules in the same four languages. Pics of the game can be seen on the Chocolatl page of the Quined website. (3-5 players, ages 8+, 45 minutes, €30)

---

Truffle Scuffle & Penguin Soccer, New from Nestorgames

Néstor Romeral Andrés has released a pair of new two-player games through nestorgames, which publishes games on an “as ordered” basis. The new games are:

• Truffle Scuffle, by Micah Fuller – Two players each have a team of four hogs that they send scooting around the game board to collect truffles, but each player has only one hog to start with. On a turn, you move each of your hogs on the board to an adjacent tile and claim one truffle on each space, if any. Before moving, you can discard four truffles of the same color to add another of your hogs to the board. Collect a majority of three of the five types of truffles – or all nine truffles of a single color – and you win. (2 players, 20 minutes, €22)

Read more...

---

Eight New Games from LEGO in 2010

In 2009 LEGO launched its game line in Europe with ten titles – games that are expected to be released in North America sometime in 2010 – and in March 2010 the company will release four new titles in Europe, with four additional titles to follow later in the year. Those games are:

• Shave a Sheep – This awesomely-titled game lets players do exactly what the title says, but you’re relying on the roll of the die to let you shear without fear as a wolf awaits for a taste of lamb chops. (2-4 players, ages 5+, 10-15 minutes, €10)

• UFO Attack – The UFO is attacking your mountainous moonbase. Try to collect as many resources as you can and hotfoot it back to Earth. (2-4 players, ages 6+, 10-15 minutes, €13)

Read more...

---

Matt Thrower: The Credibility Gap

I have an amazingly poor record when it comes to finding bargain copies of games in charity shops. But about this time last year I came close - I found copies of Civilization and Kingmaker in my local charity shop. I didn’t buy either, the former being one very long game too many and the latter being something I already own. But what was particularly interesting about this experience was that both games were ones that any gamer worth his or her salt would recognise as being classic titles which are heavyweights in terms of both complexity and strategy, whilst the staff in the charity shop had stacked them with the children’s’ books, and the adult books were being kept company by any number of god-awful cheap shot party games and TV quiz show spin-offs. This demonstrates, I think, the perception in which board gaming is held by the general public: something that kids do.

Read more...

---

Spielbox to Be Published in English

The German-language game magazine Spielbox will also be released in English, starting with the February 2010 issue. As noted on Spielbox.de, the English version of the magazine will be available approximately two weeks after the German one. Seven issues are published annually, and subscriptions cost €40 – €56 depending on where you call home on the globe.

---

Media Watch: Turning Computer Applications in Games

“Imagine Microsoft Office turned into a video game. One where learning a productivity app is a delight. One where the core loop of gameplay involves using and gaining skills in Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

It sounds a bit unlikely doesn’t it?”

That’s how game designer Danc – yes, that’s the only name given – introduces Ribbon Hero, an application he helped design that can now be downloaded from Microsoft to turn Office into a game. Here’s how Ribbon Hero came about:

Ribbon Hero, in part, was born from a speech I gave back in October 2007 on applying the design lessons of Super Mario Bros. to application design. I made the following bet:

• If an activity can be learned…
• If the player’s performance can be measured…
• If the player can be rewarded or punished in a timely fashion…
• Then any activity that meets these criteria can be turned into a game.

Not only can you make a game out of the activity, but you can turn tasks traditionally seen as a rote or frustrating into compelling experiences that users find delightful.

Of course many game designers and publishers take this same approach for educational subjects like mathematics and spelling, and the games produced tend not to be enjoyable. What’s the secret of designing a successful and fun game that is also educational?

---

From the Editor: The Winner of Claustrophobia Is…

Jeph Stahl! Many thanks to Jeph and the 650+ others who took the time to complete the January 2010 Boardgame News reader survey. Roughly 150 people did not give their names or email address, and from the remaining 500 or so respondents Random.org chose Jeph’s number.

I’m still poring over all the suggestions and criticisms offered, with the three main requests from readers being (1) more reviews, (2) more pictures and (3) more columnists who cover what I, the respondent, likes which is not necessarily what anyone else likes. Admittedly this last request will be tougher to fulfill than the first two, but I’ll do what I can. I can’t specifically address each respondent’s concerns and requests, but looking over all the responses has given me a better idea of what to focus on in the months and years ahead. My goal is to roll out some of the changes by March 1, with others to follow. The first step, of course, is deciding exactly what those changes will be…

---

Gone Cardboard: Details about Dominion: Alchemy, Hints at Prosperity

Canadian publisher Filosofia, which releases the various Dominion card games in French, has posted teasers about what players can expect to find in Dominion: Alchemy. The set will include 12 new Kingdom cards (instead of the 25/26 in the previous releases), along with a new type of Treasury card called “Potion” – and without potions, you might not be able to purchase certain cards. The box will include 16 Potions, all of which will be on the table available for purchase no matter how many players are in the game.

In a BoardGameGeek thread, Dominion designer Donald X. Vaccarino confirmed the info posted by Filosofia, noting that the smaller set came at the request of several non-U.S. publishers of the game. Says Vaccarino, “We are still doing 300-card sets as well. The expansion after Alchemy is the normal, larger size. If I had to guess I would say we’ll alternate sizes for a few years, but nothing is set in stone past the expansion after Alchemy. I think that expansion may be announced at Nuremberg, so we’ll leave that one alone for now.”

Speaking of which, French site TricTrac.net has posted an image of the fourth Dominion expansion, to be titled Prosperity and released at Spiel in October 2010. Note that the box cover on display at Nuremberg is likely a draft and not the final cover. [Disclosure: I was a playtester on Prosperity and can’t wait for this one to be released.]

---

More Details on the Digital Bang!

In early February 2010, I posted an item about Palzoun Entertainment and dV Giochi working on a digital version of Emiliano Sciarra’s card game Bang!

While writing that post I wasn’t clear on which platforms the digital Bang! might appear, but thankfully Ryan Seney went searching for more details and ran across the Bang! section of Palzoun’s blog. In that section, reps from Palzoun answer questions from readers and note that the game will be available on the PC and for Linux, while also showing a mock-up of the game on the iPhone, as shown below.

Palzoun notes that the game will be playable in multiple languages, and evidence of this can be seen with the Italian reminder text above and the English explanatory text in the image after the jump.

Read more...

---

Gone Cardboard: Castle Ravenloft, Coming from Wizards of the Coast

The streams are crossing at Wizards of the Coast, with the Dungeons & Dragons division and remnants of the Avalon Hill/Board game division combining forces to bring out the Castle Ravenloft board game. Here’s a game description from the publisher:

The master of Ravenloft is having guests for dinner – and you are invited!

Evil lurks in the towers and dungeons of Castle Ravenloft, and only heroes of exceptional bravery can survive the horrors within. This boardgame features multiple scenarios, challenging quests, and cooperative game play.

Design credit for Castle Ravenloft goes to Mike Mearls – lead developer for Wizards’ Dungeon & Dragons: 4th Edition – and Bill Slavicsek, who has designed a handful of other games for WotC. The game will include forty plastic miniatures of heroes and monsters for use on the included dungeon tiles.

Castle Ravenloft is for 1-5 players with a retail price of $65 and a release date of August 17, 2010. This game has been added to Gone Cardboard.

---

Gone Cardboard: Queen’s Ransom, Coming from Z-Man Games

In addition to Mountain of Inferno and Tien Zi Que – described earlier on BGN – Z-Man Games has announced another small card game for release in either March or April 2010. Queen’s Ransom is from designer Kevin L. Jones, and contrary to what the title suggests, players are neither ransoming a queen nor paying said ransom. Instead they need to discover who kidnapped the queen and where she’s being held so that no ransom needs to be paid. Queen No Ransom? Yeah, the actual title is better.

In Queen’s Ransom, three suspects and three locations are presented to the players, with pairs of evidence cards (of value -3 to 3) placed face-down next to each suspect and location. Whichever suspect card has the highest sum of evidence cards next to it is the target the players must identify; the same goes for the location card.

Players start with a hand of money cards and special action cards, and on a turn, a player can (1) pay the jester’s current asking price to peek at one evidence card, (2) use a special action, such as the one shown below, or (3) pass. At the end of a turn, the player draws a card, and after each player has had a turn, the jester’s asking price for info changes. Any player can make an accusation at the end of her turn, checking the evidence cards secretly to verify whether she’s uncovered the queen or botched the investigation.

Queen’s Ransom is for 2-5 players, ages 10 and up, with a playing time of 20 minutes and price of $10. This game has been added to Gone Cardboard.

---

Game Review: Endeavor / Magister Navis

By Greg J. Schloesser
February 6, 2010

Designers: Carl de Visser & Jarratt Gray
Publisher: Z-Man Games / Lookout Games / Ystari Games

Players: 3-5
Ages: 12+
Playing Time: 90 minutes
Rules Language: English / German / French
Price: $50
Links:

I first played this Carl de Visser and Jarratt Gray design a few years ago at Spiel in Essen. The game had not yet been published, and I recall having a few issues with the game that prevented me from enjoying it. However, due to the passage of time, I cannot recall what those issues were. The passage of time since I played had a bright side – I forgot what I didn’t care for about the game and desired to play it again. Much to my pleasure, I enjoyed the published version considerably more and am happy to continue playing it.

While Endeavor has the theme of nations expanding their empires across the globe, in reality the game is quite abstract. The rules attempt to set the atmosphere by spinning tales of advancing one’s civilization in the areas of culture, finance, industry and politics, while controlling vital trade routes between worldwide cities. In reality, however, the flavor is mostly absent, as players are simply placing tokens and collecting cardboard chits, tracking their collection on their player boards. The buildings that players purchase simply enhance this collection process or allow a player to be more aggressive militarily. Sadly, while the game paints an intriguing thematic picture, in reality the theme is little more than a ghostly presence. That being said, the game itself is quite engaging and challenging. There are numerous options and decisions to be made each turn, and a wary eye must be kept on one’s opponents.

Read more...

---

Chris Kovac: 2010 Canadian Toy and Hobby Fair

As another January ends, it means a trip for me to the Canadian Toy and Hobby Fair. This year brought a few changes for the show, such as moving from downtown Toronto to near the airport (to accommodate out-of-town participants), tying the show to the much larger Toronto Gift Show (CGTA), and unfortunately moving the media day to Monday, meaning I miss getting my juice and cookies.

Ideally in the long run, the change in location will help the show, which has been shrinking for the last couple of years. The show had about 50 booths but since most of these distribute or manufacture toys rather than board games, hunting for games was much easier than at larger shows. Buried among the dolls, plastic models (flying helicopters seem to be all the rage right now) and plush toys this year, I found seven games which might be of interest to gamers. Please note some of these games might have already been released, but they are new to me and are most probably being distributed for the first time in Canada. The games are:

1. The Lazy Bowler, from Dory Dan

This was a beautifully crafted prototype for a five-pin, mechanical miniature bowling game, complete with pin setting and ball return. The Lazy Bowler was built by Dory Dan, a rather nice gentleman from Gander, Newfoundland, who has a successful business making musical spoons (over 100,000 sold). Whether this coffee table-sized design is viable as a commercial game is up to you dear reader to decide, but it is sure pretty to look at. If anybody is interested in producing or developing the game, please contact the game developer.

Read more...

---

Media Watch: Inside Fun

The Concord Monitor features a handful of modern games in its Friday entertainment section. From the article:

Outside, winter continued its dreary thudding across the landscape. Inside, a handful of Monitor staffers enjoyed card and board games.

No question: Inside was the place to be.

W. Eric Martin, editor of BoardgameNews.com, dropped by this week to offer a sampling of quick pick-me-ups…

Yes, I played the role of game fairy, toting a sack of games to the Monitor’s office and giving people a more enjoyable lunch break than usual. I did this in February 2009 as well, at the request of my friend Clay Wirestone, and based on that experience this time I brought games that (1) have rules that are easy to explain, (2) have short playing times or are played in rounds and (3) emphasize fun over strategy.

Transamerica was the clear winner of the afternoon, with Swat! being second favorite. Best line from the write-up: ”Beer & Pretzels would come alive with a crowd of people and actual intoxicants.”

---

Gone Cardboard: Aztlan, Coming from Nexus Games

NG International, which releases games under the Nexus Games label, has announced the second title in its Nexus Designer Series, Aztlan by Leo Colovini. Here’s a game description from the publisher:

Aztlan is a new Euro-style game that will charm both experienced players and beginners with its bluffing and challenging mechanics and high quality components. In the mythical Aztlan, ancestral home of the Nahuatl people, rival god-kings engaged in a struggle to rule the mightiest empire and the highest civilization. The game develops during five different epochs, where each player tries to conquer the largest realm, using an intriguing highly interactive mechanic based on majorities and card playing.

Games in the Nexus Designer Series include extended biographies of the designers and descriptions of previous games of note. Aztlan follows on the heels of Ad Astra, the Bruno Faidutti/Serge Laget design that debuted from Nexus in 2009 and was subsequently released in the U.S. by Fantasy Flight Games.

---

Valdora Freebie on the Abacusspiele Catalog

Designer Michael Schacht is a fixture at German publisher Abacusspiele. Zooloretto, China, Hansa, Paris Paris, Shanghaien – these designs and many more have appeared under the Abacus banner over the past decade. In addition to the games themselves, Schacht is a regular feature in the Abacus games catalog, with a small Schacht-designed game expansion appearing in each Spring catalog since 2000.

For 2010, Schacht has created a half-dozen special commission cards for the 2009 release Valdora that allow players to choose which client will receive the gem being delivered. You can view all of Schacht’s Abacus catalog expansions – each of which can be downloaded and printed – on his website or download the Valdora freebies immediately (PDF).

---

Kris Hall: Thomas Hudson and 18io

The 18XX mini-genre of railroad games seems to be entering an especially active phase right now.  Mayfair just published a new edition of 1853, a game about railroading in India, and they supposedly will publish a new edition of 1830 this year.  And there are several designers working on new 18XX games who are not associated with Mayfair, and the ones that I’ve contacted were happy to talk to me by e-mail about their upcoming games.

This week I have an interview with Thomas Hudson, designer of 18io, a game about railroading in Ohio in the years before the Civil War.

Kris: Why design 18io? What will be special or distinctive about this 18XX game?

Read more...

---

Reiner Knizia’s Topas Now Available for iPhone

Reiner Knizia’s Topas, released by Amigo Spiele in 2009, is now available for the iPhone and iPod Touch courtesy of Ludicious Games – with the digital version offering somewhat different versions of the original tile-laying game.

The boxed version of Topas includes 36 domino-style cards, with 1-3 gems on each half of the card in one of four colors. On a turn, a player adds one card to the array of cards on the table and scores points for any colored rows which she extends with the card just played. One catch is that no row can include more than seven gems, so players can’t pile on to the same row again and again.

The Ludicious Games’ adaption of Topas includes three solitaire ways to play:

• Arcade – in which, as in the basic game, the player tries to create rows of gems to score points; when a player creates a row or column of exactly seven gems, those squares disappear, opening up the board for future plays. Additional colors of gems beyond the original four come into play as the player advances.

• Color Mode – in which the player needs to score ten points in each of the four colors before being able to score further in any one color.

• Weakest Link – in which a player completes four quick games of only eight tiles each, with the player’s final score being the second-lowest of the four games.

Screenshots of two of the game versions after the jump:

Read more...

---

Bang! Videogame in the Works

Okay, this is somewhat old news, but the first time that I’ve run across it: Palzoun Entertainment and dV Giochi are working together with Italian company SpinVector to create a Bang! video game. The companies previewed the game at Lucca Comics & Games 2009 in November, and Palzoun has now posted some of the newly drawn characters for your entertainment, with two new characters to be posted each week.

Read more...

---

Gone Cardboard: Reiner Knizia’s Callisto Released by University Games

Reiner Knizia’s Callisto, which was released in Germany in late 2009 by Piatnik, is now available in the U.S. through University Games. Here’s my description of the game from the BGN Spiel 09 preview:

Callisto is a Blokus-style game in which players want to cover as much area as possible with their jagged pieces and have as few bits left over as possible. Each piece played must touch one of your other pieces on the board or one of the columns that matches your color; only two of your columns are placed at the start of the game, however, giving you an out later in the game when you place the third one in virgin territory. The gameboard is set up differently for each number of players.

Callisto is for 2-4 players, ages 7 and up, with a retail price of $25. This game has been added to Gone Cardboard.

---

Game Review: Such a Thing?

By Greg J. Schloesser
February 4, 2010

Designer: Urs Hostettler
Publisher: Valley Games

Players: 2-10
Ages: 10+
Playing Time: 30 minutes
Rules Language: English
Price: $20
Links:

I’ve always been a big fan of party games. I’ve spent countless evenings with friends playing untold numbers of party-style games, most of which are designed to elicit laughter and good conversation. While I have the reputation of being a staunch “European-style” gamer, I’m still eager to play a fun party game.

Such A Thing? by designer Urs Hostettler – published in Germany by Abacusspiele as Ein solches Ding – challenges players to think of something that fits a number of different specifications and descriptions. Each player continues to add to the description until one player is challenged to “name such a thing,” at which point they will be put to the test.

Read more...

---

Board 2 Pieces February 4, 2010

---

Shannon Appelcline: Small Press Interviews: Tasty Minstrel Games

Tasty Minstrel Games made its big premiere this month with the release of Homesteaders and Terra Prime. This article continues my Small Press Interviews series by talking with Tasty Minstrel Games’ founder, Michael Mindes.

Read more...

---

Le Havre: Le Grand Hameau Available from Lookout Games

Le Grand Hameau, a thirty-card expansion for Uwe Rosenberg’s award-winning game Le Havre, can now be ordered from the Lookout Games website in either English or German. The expansion includes a new set of special buildings that were suggested by gamers, then developed by Rosenberg and hardcore Le Havre fan Grzegorz Kobiela. Le Grand Hameau also includes three corrected cards to replace ones from the base game.

The English version of Le Grand Hameau will also be distributed in North America. In February 2010, Alliance Game Distributors started soliciting orders from retailers with a retail price of $8; no release date was given.

---

Libellud Goes Exclusive with Asmodee

French publisher Libellud has released only a single game to date, but it’s an impressive one, namely Jean-Louis Roubira’s multi-award winning Dixit. An expansion for that game with more illustrations, Dixit 2, is scheduled to be released in 2010, and to allow the company to focus more of its time on design and development, Libellud’s Régis Bonnessé has signed an exclusive distribution deal with Asmodee. As noted on the Asmodee website, “The small publisher will of course retain full editorial control and will thus be able to concentrate entirely on what it does best: invent games based upon the imagination. Asmodee will look after all aspects of production and marketing of Libellud’s future creations on a global scale thanks to its international network.”

Asmodee signed a similar agreement with Swiss publisher GameWorks in 2008 and has since distributed its releases Kimaloé and Jaipur. The Asmodeepress release notes that the first Libellud title handled under the agreement will be “a game based around fairy tales.”

---

Media Watch: Much ado about Monopoly

Barbara Simpson of the Simcoe Reformer calls out her fellow Canadians for being duped by Hasbro’s “vote for the cities” competition, while giving Hasbro its due for landing thousands of dollars of free publicity:

Dear Mr. Pennybags: We applaud your ingenuity.

In the classic game of property, you’ve maneuvered your monocle-wearing self to the lucrative Go square. You’ve cashed in on Canadians’ strong side of pride in their home communities by creating an online square-naming contest to brand a new version of your dusty old board game.

Touché, Mr. Pennybags, touché.

---

Dale Yu: Thirteen Things I Think I Think About The New Nuremburg Games

1) My interest in Nuremburg has always been lower than for Essen.  The Nuremburg fair is really only for industry folks – and there isn’t the same sort of electricity surrounding the event (at least IMHO).  As it’s only open to industry types, there doesn’t seem to be as much buzz generated by the gamer rank-and-file.  However, it is still the other “major” trade fair for our hobby – and it represents the other major release point for new games in the year.  Despite the number of new games that come out around Nuremburg, I generally don’t get too excited about it.  I think that some of it is because since it isn’t a public fair, the timing of new game releases isn’t as strictly tied to Nuremburg.  A game coming out for this fair may have already been released, or it may not be coming out until late March.  There isn’t the same sort of frenzied deadline like the Thursday of Essen Spiel week.  To make it worse (for me), it’s hard to see any of these new games until April at the earliest – and usually only because some kind European has thought ahead to include some of the new games amongst their precious luggage space.  As a result, I don’t have the same sense of urgency to read about the new games when I know it will be weeks or even months before I get a chance to play them.  But, there is a great preview article here on BGN which outlines the new releases. I’ve perused this over the weekend, and there are a number of games which have caught my eye thus far… You should really go and take a look too!  Unlike the gargantuan Essen Preview – this one is of a manageable size and can be digested in only one or two sittings!

Read more...

---