Around the Table Spring 2020

spring 2020

Chip Theory Games Entering the Retail Market

Tenants and Landlords: Effective negotiations during the Covid 19 outbreak

Playing Tabletop RPGs Online Getting the most from your role-playing games at a safe distance

The Love of Organizing

The inspiration behind the Broken Token game inserts

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AROUND THE

BOARD OF DIRECTORS & STAFF PRESIDENT Stephan Brissaud IELLO USA VICE-PRESIDENT Anne-Marie De Witt FIRESIDE GAMES TREASURER Marie Poole ÆON LAW SECRETARY Jeff Tidball ATLAS GAMES & GAMEPLAYWRIGHT DISTRIBUTOR CHAIR Sito Sanchez PEACHSTATE HOBBY DISTRIBUTION RETAIL CHAIR Dawn Studebaker THE GAME ANNEX DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE Jeff Pinsker AMIGO GAMES DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE Andrew Chesney CHIP THEORY GAMES DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE Alan Hochman GAMERMATS DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE Nicole Lindroos GREEN RONIN PUBLISHING EMERITUS Will Nibeling

GAMA STAFF

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR John Stacy DEPUTY DIRECTOR Chris Materni COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER Danni Loe EDUCATION MANAGER Melissa Jacobs MEETINGS MANAGER Jim Godin EVENT COORDINATOR Paul McGraw PROJECT COORDINATOR Billie MacFarlane MEMBERSHIP ADMINISTRATOR Jessica Davidson

AROUND THE TABLE EDITORS CONTENT EDITOR Danni Loe GAMA COPY EDITOR Jennifer Ward CRAZY SQUIRREL GAME STORE The Game Manufacturers Association

240 N. Fifth St., Suite 340 Columbus, OH 43215 Phone: 614-255-4500 Fax: 614-255-4499 media@gama.org • gama.org

A Publication by the Game Manufacturers Association

spring 2020

CONTRIBUTORS

Thank you to the following industry professionals for contributing their time and expertise to Around the Table! Please enjoy their articles throughout this third issue.

If you would like to contribute to future issues of Around the Table by suggesting a topic or writing your own article, please email media@gama.org.

Brittanie Boe Brittanie “Bebo” Boe is a writer based out of Everett, Washington. She lives with her daughter Hailey, her wife Avalon and their two cats Purrzon Dax and Umaru. She is the author of the Everything Tabletop Games Book available now in Barnes & Noble, Books a Million and anywhere books are sold. When she’s not writing she’s making videos and doing photography for her YouTube Channel, Be Bold Games, where she teaches board games in 5 minutes or less. You can find her content on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook under Be Bold Games.

Madalyn Cohron Madalyn is a selfproclaimed Geek Librarian.

She works at the Hoover Public Library in Alabama where she plans all kinds of programs and maintains the Science Fiction/Fantasy, Graphic Novel, and Board Game collections for adults. Though ever-changing, she would say that her favorite book is IT by Stephen King and her favorite board game is Betrayal at House on the Hill…for now. She is easily identified by the coffee mug clutched in her hands and the cardigan covered in cat hair. hooverlibrary.org Edward Garcia Edward Garcia, is the CEO and co-owner of Queen & Rook Game Cafe in Philadelphia. He has an MBA from The Fox School of business at Temple University and a background in finance, non-profit management and retail.

He lives in Philadelphia with his partner and co-owner Jeannie Wong, their two kids and their two cats. Find out more about his cafe at queenandrookcafe.com.

Matthew Gravelyn Matthew Gravelyn is a writer and game designer who creates approachable tabletop games. Matthew is most well-known as a writer for Humblewood and his own game, Mall Kids, as well as a series of how-to guides for creating D&D subclasses. He also created The Hard Move podcast to share conversations about game analysis. When not reading, writing, or playing games, Matthew likes to be outdoors hiking, paddle boarding, or camping with his wife and son.

You can find Matthew’s work at mr-matthew.itch.io and follow him on Twitter @mrmatthew.

Derek Liam Artist, musician, nerd, engineer. Derek was born in a small mountain town in Colorado. No straight line led him to study graphic and web design at the now-defunct Art Institute of Colorado. He found a job running lasers and packaging products for The Broken Token in 2015. Passion, determination, support, and a bit of luck landed him the lead designer position he holds to this day. Over the last 5 years, he has designed dozens of our products, a couple that have even won Origins Awards. Not sure what’s coming next, but rest assured, he’ll make sure it’s well organized. You can find his work at thebrokentoken.com. (continued on page 7)

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AROUND THE

A Publication by the Game Manufacturers Association

spring 2020

Adverstories

Features

10 16 26

GAMA Member Feature

Just Games Rochester & Zia Comics

Tips and tricks to help retail stores sell games, written by the following companies

Swimming Lessons for Retailers

32

Board Game Apps on the Marketplace

38 44 48 60 68

8-9

Offering alternate retail services

12

Bloomsbury Publishing

Board Games Over the Rainbow

14

Pegasus Spiele GmbH

18

Candor USA

20

Elf Creek Games

Stay entertained and connected with your gaming friends while staying home

24

BCW Supplies

28

Renegade Game Studios

Designing a Booth

30

Ringtail Cafe Productions

Tips to showcase your product at events

34

Rio Grande Games

The Love of Organizing

36

Steve Jackson Games

The inspiration behind Broken Token game inserts

42

Bezier Games

Are We There Yet?

43

Van Ryder Games LLC

The journey of gaming in libraries

46

Arcane Wonders

Playing Tabletop RPGs Online

50

KTBG/Burnt Island Games

Getting the most from your tabletop role-playing games at a (safe) distance

52

PvP Geeks

58

Parallel Games Inc

Birds, Bees, and Butterflies of Board Gaming

62

Lucky Duck Games

How representation of the LGBTQ+ community and other marginalized groups have made gaming better

Exploring a new trend in the industry

69

Tenants and Landlords:

Effective negotiations during the Covid 19 outbreak

Chip Theory Games

63 IELLO

64

Indie Boards & Cards

66

Anvil Eight Games

78

USAopoly Inc.

Departments

3

3, 7

GAMA Board and Staff Contributors

6 Letter from the Executive Director 7 Letter from the President and Retail Chair 54 New Products 70 GAMA News 74 New Members

76

Index of Advertisers

Around the Table Š 2020 The Game Manufacturers Association Published by Fahy-Williams Publishing P.O. Box 1080, 171 Reed St. Geneva, NY 14456 P 800-344-0559 F 315-789-4263 To advertise, contact Ashley Cavanagh at 315-789-0473 or email ashley@fwpi.com. spring 2020 • AROUND THE table 5

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FROM THE executive director

Dear GAMA members,

W

hen we started planning this issue of Around the Table, the world was a different place. Since then, nearly all 50 states have implemented shelter-in-place orders. Gaming conventions and organized play have been cancelled or postponed, and many companies have furloughed employees and shut down operations. Since early March, GAMA has been working diligently to update members on governmental programs and have advocated for expanded small business support.

We have been working to rally our industry to help each other and were heartened that more than 50 publishers came forward to offer retail support programs to ensure stores were receiving some revenue through this difficult time. In addition, we rolled out our Friendly Local Game Store Locator with over 900 retail locations listed. If your store is not listed on this handy consumer guide, I encourage you to visit https://bit.ly/FLGSLocatorSurvey and add your store to the list. It is our way to support all retail stores, whether they are GAMA members or not.

In this issue, we are pleased to showcase, in our member spotlight section, the Power Retail Award winners that were presented during the GAMA Expo in March. Additionally, Edward Garcia will share examples of the alternative retail services hobby games stores are offering to adapt to these challenging times, while Mathew Gravelyn discusses options for playing RPGs online. Retail store franchise owner David Wheeler also presents advice for negotiating with your landlord to secure the best rates for your store in times of crisis.

Each issue, we strive to curate articles that will stimulate your imagination and foster a lively exchange of ideas. If you would like information about submitting content for Around The Table, please send an email to media@gama.org.

Be safe!

John Stacy GAMA Executive Director

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FROM THE president

CONTRIBUTORS (continued from page 3)

Dear GAMA members,

A

s you all know, COVID-19 is forcing our industry to deal with an unprecedented crisis. Government orders are impacting many retailers, distributors, and publishers worldwide, at all different levels. On the bright side, however, this situation is boosting the number of games being played at home by families due to the lockdown. Our information shows that those of you still able to operate are seeing strong sales and fan engagement.

In this evolving landscape, adaptability, ingenuity, and resourcefulness are paramount to navigating this crisis. Whether it is through a virtual convention or playing board games online, the demand for our products is stronger than ever, and your efforts to adjust your business to this new environment will likely be beneficial in the long run.

This situation is temporary, and the damage caused will hopefully be reversed/ remedied for the most part. But we have no idea when that will happen. So until then, we all need to work together to help each other. For example, many publishers have set up support programs to help retailers, and GAMA has designed new tools to support members. I know that the strong solidarity and camaraderie of our industry will help us get to the other side of this ordeal.

As your president, colleague, and most importantly friend, I will make myself personally available to anyone who has any questions, concerns, or suggestions. So please feel free to reach out. We will all get through this together.

Be excellent to each other.

Stephan Brissaud GAMA President

FROM THE retail chair

Dear Retailers,

I

wish this issue was steeped in joy and retail bliss, but we all know it is not.

Many of us have seen our way through recessions, horrific moments in history like Sept. 11th, and more. However, this is one of the most unique and unchartered situations that many of us could not have imagined in our lifetime.

What I want us all to focus on are the small victories in all of this. All of those families you sold board games to, they are playing them. They are using board games to hunker down and pass the time while staying safe.

So many of you have stepped up and created content to keep your customers company while sheltering in place and staying at home. Some customers are all

alone and you are making things easier for them.

You have managed to lead the way with unique and creative marketing, but also amazing ways to support your communities. We have seen stores spend time sewing masks, advertising for other small businesses, creating groups to support one another, helping friends build websites, and more.

So retailers, stay strong, stay proud, and keep on doing what you all do so well. You are proving how awesome each individual game community is and how now more than ever the community needs you as much as you need them. I have never been so proud of all of you.

Dawn Studebaker GAMA Retail Chair

Allen Panakal Hi, my name is Allen Panakal. You may know me from conventions, art shows, or my awardwinning work as the artist and writer of the Ancient Ones: a space opera mixed with fantasy elements. Think “Star Wars” meets “Lord of the Rings.” People call my artwork “fracturism,” short for “fractured impressionistic realism.” Blending my background in graffiti and graphic design with my love for synthwave and outrun style, I create illustrations that build worlds in completely new ways. Call it synthwave, call it outrun, call it what you want … I just love colors and shapes. It’s the thing that keeps me creating—well that and all the stories I have for the series. You can find more of my work at ancientones.net.

Danny Quach My name is Danny from Danny Plays Gamez! I’m a board game enthusiast, a table top RPG newbie, and overall nerd. I have a YouTube channel, http://youtube.com/DannyPlaysGamez as well as a queer board game podcast called Variable Player Power Podcast. You can also find me on Twitter @DannyPlaysGamez where I’ve built a community of amazing and diverse gamers from all over the world.

Justin Spicer Justin Spicer is an instructional designer by day and a 15-year veteran of entertainment and hobby-based journalism in his free time. When not pursuing the newest trends in learning or covering the innovative publishers, designers, and musicians, Justin enjoys family activities such as gardening, making music, and visiting museums.

David Wheeler David Wheeler is the CEO of the Dragon’s Lair Comics & Fantasy franchise. spring 2020 • AROUND THE table 7

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Chip Theory:

Entering the Retail Market

By Ryan Howard, Content Writer and Editor

E

ight years ago this month, Josh and Adam Carlson launched the Kickstarter for the first Chip Theory Games title, Hoplomachus: The Lost Cities. Since then, CTG has gone from two guys handselling their games in convention hallways to a worldwide success story, thanks in large part

to the fan devotion surrounding one of its deepest and most innovative titles: Too Many Bones.

Too Many Bones dropped in 2017, back when CTG was still not much more than a labor of love for the Carlsons. It quickly became a smash hit, as fans and reviewers

alike marveled at its unique gameplay and pristine component quality.

Billed as the first-ever “dice-builder” RPG, Too Many Bones is an encounterbased fantasy adventure game for one to four players. Players take on the role of one the game’s several “Gearlocs,” a race of diminutive yet hardy creatures who must protect their homeland, Daelore, from a variety of bloodthirsty tyrants. Featuring a creative deck of encounters, a close-quarters battle mat where every move you make has consequence, and a wide array of Gearlocs with their own special play styles, Too Many Bones was hailed by strategy fans as a complex, addictive challenge no matter the play count.

Though Too Many Bones’ gameplay is paramount to its success, the game has also earned plaudits for its exceptional component quality. Like other CTG titles, Too Many Bones makes ample use of the company’s beautiful weighted playing chips, which add a literal and figurative gravity to every move the characters make.

The company’s regular quality touches like stitch-edged neoprene playing surfaces and durable PVC cards and reference sheets are on display, too. However, the components that really set Too Many Bones apart are the “bones” themselves.

Unlike a traditional role-playing game, where players keep track of their stats on a paper character sheet, Too Many Bones character sheets are made up of die-cut neoprene with a variety of slots for dice.

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l

As players gain experience, they also gain skills and stats, represented by 16 dice, each set heat-printed with symbology and statistics totally unique to every Gearloc. The dice can in turn be used in battle against a variety of difficult enemies, culminating in an exciting duel with one of the tyrants.

When Too Many Bones launched, CTG sold games solely through online and convention channels, and the game’s popularity spread thanks to effusive word of mouth on the part of its players.

Online fan communities quickly developed, allowing players to trade tips on how to beat a difficult encounter or their favorite character builds for individual Gearlocs. CTG has encouraged that engagement from the start, taking an active role in responding to and interacting with its digital community.

While Too Many Bones immediately gained a passionate fanbase for its replayability, solo and co-op compatibility and pristine presentation, it also garnered attention in the board game media. Outlets like The Dice Tower, Man Vs. Meeple and Shut Up & Sit Down are among those who have praised the game, and both

Too Many Bones and its standalone expansion, Too Many Bones: Undertow, were finalists for Board Game Geek’s Golden Geek award.

Since 2017, CTG has aggressively expanded its product line, most notably through a variety of Too Many Bones expansions and the publication of Cloudspire in 2019.

Cloudspire is a deep strategy game that combines elements of tower defense and the Massive Online Battle Arena (MOBA) video game genre. The result is a challenging puzzle of programmed minion movement and fortress destruction, which unfolds on a stunning modular neoprene play surface topped with gorgeous, full-color chips.

Cloudspire boasts play modes for solo, two-player co-op and PvP up to four players, but it’s earned special praise for its solo and one-on-one formats. It’s also been nominated for the Origins 2020 Game of the Year Award.

The future is bright for Chip Theory Games. In early 2020, the company announced its hiring of Andrew Navaro, former head of studio at Fantasy Flight Games, to help the company develop new properties and focus on potential partnerships and player accessibility.

Traditionally an online-only company, CTG is also developing partnerships with physical retailers to offer its acclaimed Too Many Bones series for sale in game stores.

With multiple new product lines in development, a dedicated team and a growing catalogue of beloved titles, CTG remains committed to offering its players a high-end, memorable, and, above all, fun experience in the years to come.

CTG will work with retailers to sell Too Many Bones in any game store in the United States. For more information, contact Chief Operating Officer Andrew Chesney at achesney@chiptheorygames.com. spring 2020 • AROUND THE table 9

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MEMBER FEATURE MEMBER FEATU MEMBER, MATTHEW VERCANT

Just Games Rochester

How did you get into the hobby games industry?

I first got rolling as a part-timer at Game Universe, then owned

by James Mathe, in Milwaukee, WI. At the time I was working as an English professor and part-time for James’ stores. Eventually, the company needed someone who could manage ordering and handle a little marketing writing, so I made the call to slide into the industry full-time and move to part-time teaching (which I still do, off and on).

How do you introduce non-gamers to the hobby?

Gently. Respectfully. Like everyone who walks in our doors are customers. There’s a lot of misconceptions about what a “game store” is, so you never know what baggage a person is walking in with. And these are our neighbors, anyway, so the goal isn’t a fast sale and move on. So we just generally try to be disarmingly friendly.

Ask questions and listen to them. Trying to find out who they are, and why they came in the door, is goal number one for our staff.

We’re next door to a large grocery, so a lot of times folks are just coming in to look around and see what we’re about. Earning their trust is our first goal. Eventually, that morphs into many sales, and an opportunity for demos and advice.

What advice would you give to a retailer who is just starting?

New stores should be looking for new customers; that is, customers that aren’t gamers right now. That’s your lifeblood. Before you even start, run the demographics on your area: average income, population, ages, all that and come up with a marketing plan that focuses on what isn’t being served in your area. Go and visit game stores in similar demographic areas with similar business models and see what they do. Look at the best, most developed stores in the country and find out their stories. Did they start from nothing and slowly build over many years? Did they have a massive upfront

investment of cash? Are they comfortably sized for a large urban area and content staying that way? It’s important to have a realistic outlook on what you can do in the area you’re in. Once you know that, and can develop a core customer profile, you can market your services to fill that profile’s needs. And while you can obviously pick any profile and location you like, I’d encourage people to look at gaming as an expanding market: Don’t think, “Where are the existing gamers?” Do think, “Where are the potential customers that aren’t gamers yet?” Those are the new store’s customers. Make a store that can appeal to them.

What is one aspect of your business you’re proud of?

Our work with community organizations such as libraries, schools, museums and non-profits are a huge part of what defines us as a company. We really put our community first, whether it’s raising funds for homeless shelters, or creating youth programming in community organizations, or just doing a quick demo night at a fellow business or community center. Our value isn’t just in having merchandise, or knowing about our merchandise, or demoing our merchandise; we are active participants in what our community cares about. In 2019 we contributed over $12,000 in a variety of ways to great local non-profit organizations and programs.

What’s your favorite game to demo to customers?

Ice Cool! Showing folks how to make trick shots, jump over walls, and spin those penguins around corners is always a great experience for them! It’s just such a disarming, cute, fun game that leaves an impression on all ages. There are a few others, but generally I like fast, light, easy-to-take-in games for this purpose.

What’s the story behind your company name?

Well, we’re in Rochester, New York, and we wanted something with a high SEO for “Games” and “Rochester” as search terms, so “Just Games Rochester” was born. I know there are a lot of great names out there, cooler ones certainly, but our goal was to be successful as a business, and for that to happen people had to be able to find us. “Just Games” was also simple, memorable, and easy to say; all benefits in marketing copy.

How has GAMA helped grow your business?

I’ve been part of GAMA off and on at different organizations for over a decade. Really, the connections to other retailers are critical.

Everyone says that, and a lot of times, it’s pitched like “only at the trade show can you meet other retailers.” But GAMA does so much online, too: social media groups, resources, best practices. I think, in your first year in particular, meeting lots of successful folks is a key part of learning the trade. Over time though, the value I find in GAMA is more about finding like-minded retailers. We’re a sordid bunch, often coming from wildly different backgrounds, with hugely desperate ideas of what a “game store” is – sometimes even in the same community! It’s nice to have a big melting pot where I can go, “Oh, hey, this woman from Iowa is running a store like mine,” or

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ATURE MEMBER FEATURE MEMBER “Hey, that guy in Chicago has some great ideas I could use.” There’s very little one-size-fits-all advice in this industry (well, except for maybe “look after net profit first”), so finding folks with similar ideas about business and similar successful models is huge. I love helping folks out too, but I’m painfully shy in person, so you won’t see me much at conventions. Anyone who wants to contact me and chat is welcome to do so though! Certainly I had a lot of more experienced retailers to get me up and running.

MEMBER, TROY STEGNER

Zia Comics

research into the makeup of the local area. What is the ages, likes, income, etc of the people in your area. New retailers should also take location into account. Rent might be cheaper at a location that is off the beaten path, but you will be missing out on the foot traffic of a more centrally located storefront. Marketing and advertising is an important aspect that is commonly overlooked. You need to set aside a portion of your income for getting the word out about your store. Do NOT be afraid to try new things. You don’t have to follow the same path as every retailer before. When we look at doing something differently than others the first thing I think is “If I were a customer would this be attractive to me?” Float the idea by a few loyal customers to get their weigh in. Start the idea on a small scale and if it becomes a hit, make it bigger.

How did you get into the hobby games industry?

We started out as just a comic book store. Las Cruces, NM, is not a big city by any means. When the local game store called it quits, the players asked us to start hosting Yu-Gi-Oh!, HeroClix, and Magic: the Gathering. My expertise was in comics and pop culture. I knew very little about TCGs or board games. Luckily there were some champions for those games that brought me up to speed rather quickly. All those games in the store attracted the attention of the tabletop crowd. Those customers were instrumental in Zia Comics becoming Zia Comics AND GAMES.

What is one aspect of your business you’re proud of?

I am very proud of the progress I’ve made. We started in a 1,000 square foot store front where we had to carefully curate everything we brought in due to space constraints. We are now in an 8,000 square foot building with an arcade, a dedicated D&D room, a podcast studio, and a dedicated game room. I am also very proud of my employees. They go out of their way to help make the store a success. They are proud to work at Zia Comics and I am even more proud of the effort they put into making the store a place people want to visit.

How do you introduce non-gamers to the hobby?

We host Free Board Game Night every Saturday. It consistently averages 12-20 players per week. That is not the same players every week. There is a small core of five or six players that come every Saturday, but we always have new players rotating through. I also make sure ALL my employees know at least enough about games that they can help narrow down the choices for customers who are new to gaming or not familiar with some of the new titles. Since we are a comic book/pop culture store, transitioning those customers to licensed titles is an easy first step into the gaming world for them.

What’s your favorite game to demo to customers?

Now that I have full time employees, I don’t get the opportunity to demo games as much as I used to. I always liked the easy to learn, simple to play, yet deceptively strategic type games. I have found if a game takes a long time to demo, you will lose a big percentage of the audience. Demo it quick and easy, then let them learn about the strategies themselves from playing.

What advice would you give to a retailer who is just starting?

If you are planning to open a store, do your research. Find a niche in your area that is being underserved and fill that niche. Do some

What’s the story behind your company name?

When I first moved to Las Cruces, I bought my comics at a store that I won’t mention their name (rhymes with SHastings). I tried to start a subscription with them unsuccessfully for over two months.

I complained to my wife that I could do a better job than they did.

I came home from work the next day and she had already rented a storefront and got a business license. Zia is the sun symbol used for way too many things around here. When they asked her for the name of the business to put on the license she kinda froze up and Zia Comics was the only thing that popped into her mind. We added the “and Games” after we got into gaming.

How has GAMA helped grow your business?

GAMA has been a godsend. I have learned so much from my peers by attending the seminars. Being able to meet and talk directly to distributors and publishers is also a huge benefit. GAMA has also enabled me to meet many of my peers and pick their brains about best practices. I have picked up a lot of little nuggets of knowledge from just talking to other game retailers spring 2020 • AROUND THE table 11

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SEIZE the Throne in The King is Dead: Second Edition!

By Filip Falk Hartelius Senior Games Developer, Osprey Games

T

The King is Dead: Second Edition Designed by Peer Sylvester – Art by Benoit Billion

The King is Dead: Second Edition releases in July 2020 Will you be ready to seize the throne?

he king is dead. The kingdom is divided. Three factions – the Scottish, the Welsh, and the English – vie for control, all too evenly matched to seize it for themselves. As instability builds and foreign invaders loom, Britain is desperate for a ruler. But who should bear that mantle?

You are nobles and powerbrokers, commanding leaders and conniving schemers, intent on claiming the throne. Without the backing to take control for yourself, you will need to gain support from the factions so they may elevate you to ultimate power. You can gently guide the conflicts so your preferred faction ends up on top, but it would be imprudent to pin all your hopes on just one of them…

The throne is empty and the island is in chaos. Will you rise to the occasion and claim the crown for yourself?

The King is Dead is a game of political upheaval in medieval Britain. Over the course of the game, you will resolve power struggles in the eight regions of the island to determine which faction will prevail and crown the new monarch. Become the favorite of the victorious faction and the kingdom will be yours!

During the game, you will play action cards to manipulate the balance of power across the board. You will have only eight cards throughout the entire game, so choosing when to make your play and when to sit tight will be your key to victory. Act too soon and your opponents will unravel your carefully made plans, but wait too long and the fate of the island will already be sealed.

Whenever you take an action you will summon a follower to your court, increasing your influence with one of the factions. Each follower you take will solidify your claim to be that faction’s preferred ruler, but will weaken their ability to win power struggles.

Once each region has been claimed, the faction with the most regions takes control, and the player with the most influence in that faction wins.

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AVAILABLE THIS JUNE FROM OSPREY GAMES

THE SAGA CONTINUES This two-player deck-building game of tactical combat pits the raiders of Britain’s Long Range Desert Group against Italian forces in the North African Theater of World War II. The North African campaign has begun.

In this sequel to Undaunted: Normandy, players will take control of the British Army’s Long Range Desert Group and operate behind enemy lines or command the formidable Italian forces opposing them. As casualties mount, wounded soldiers leave the players’ decks, forcing them to adapt in the face of changing tactical circumstances.

Use your cards to strengthen your forces, deploy vehicles to advance rapidly across the battlefield, and seize the initiative as you determine the outcome of the North African Theater.

Ages: 14+ Players: 2 Playing Time: 30-45 minutes Contents: 100+ cards, 22 large map tiles, 4 dice, tokens, campaign booklet Price: U.S.$40.00 • ISBN: 978-1-4728-3731-8

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The Rise and Return of

Hansa Teutonica

A Eurogame Origin Story

By Johanna Sadkovich Sales & Marketing Executive, Pegasus Spiele

J

ust over 10 years ago, a game like no other came onto the scene. Hansa Teutonica, by designer Andreas Steding, was released at Essen SPIEL in 2009 and quickly found a home on the shelves of Euro-style game lovers worldwide. And for good reason! It had everything a good Eurogame should, including a mountain of delightfully fiddly, multitasking wooden blocks.

But its rise to popularity, as well as one man’s career in the games industry, was in many ways a lucky happenstance. At least, according to Klaus Ottmaier, Head of Publishing at Pegasus Spiele.

Klaus was working a temp job over the holidays for a small game store in Cologne, Germany, which was also handling distribution for the Cologne-based publisher Argentum Verlag.

One evening, he was invited to playtest a game with Argentum Verlag’s cofounder Roman Mathar. Soon afterwards, Klaus found himself getting more involved in the testing of prototypes as the publisher hunted for the perfect SPIEL 2009 release.

For months he tested game after game, but nothing really caught his attention. In early March ’09, Klaus got his hands on a list of titles that had won an authors’ competition at a local gaming club. Most of the games had already been snatched up by other publishers whose editors had been on the jury, but there were still a few left unclaimed.

Then Klaus spotted it: a title called “Wettstreit der Händler,” a light Euro-style competitive game themed around trade guilds. In it, players were given the simple task of winning a victory-point race. But this was different. With multiple paths to victory, player interaction frequently forcing strategic changes, and a unique mechanic for displacing opponents that Klaus had

never seen before, or in any game since. And he knew, this was it!

Klaus spent the rest of the year fine-tuning the game, conducting over 70 play tests, and working closely with Andreas and illustrator Dennis Lohausen to transform this “Contest of Merchants” into the beloved Hansa Teutonica that released at Essen SPIEL in 2009.

The game went on to receive a recommendation for the 2010 Spiel des Jahres, and won both the “Board Game of the Year” and “Best Strategy Board Game” in the Golden Geek Awards at BGG Con. It saw two expansions, Hansa Teutonica: East and Hansa Teutonica: Britannia, released in the years that followed, both of which were well received by enthusiastic fans.

Returning to the present, we again find Klaus working diligently on his first editorial project. This time putting the final touches on a long-awaited revised edition – the Hansa Teutonica Big Box!

This exciting new edition from Pegasus Spiele is scheduled for release later this year. It masterfully combines the classic base game with content from its two expansions, offering revisions and updates to further enhance gameplay, while retaining the elegant mechanics and seemingly inexhaustible re-playability that made it such a favorite. Get ready to teleport some traders, friends. Hansa Teutonica is back!

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a

Quick games

for clever wordsmiths!

Both games can be combined!

Available in

SPRING 2020!

Contact us to place an order:

sales@pegasus-web.com

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Swimming Lessons

By Edward Garcia, CEO of Queen & Rook Game Café

T

he last few weeks of February and the first week of March already had shown a drop in attendance for events and sales, but we were still shocked when the City of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania closed all non-essential businesses and everything stopped. We are, in essence, a social business and more than 90 percent of our business was from sit-down customers. It felt like having to jump off a ship into the ocean, imagining how icy the water would be, but finding that the chill was much more than you were prepared for.

Along with the millions of other small businesses, we are trying to stay above water not knowing when help will arrive or when we will reach the shore.

As a Board Game Cafe, the situation is a little easier for us than others. We were not just a game shop, but also a restaurant and that meant we were classified as essential. So that meant that we could add on games and puzzles to carry-out orders for food and beer.

For our staff, we made the decision to layoff everyone on the first day of the state closures so that they could be amongst

for Retailers

the first to get unemployment. If we did well with delivery, then we would hire people back as quickly as we could. We are still waiting for the orders to ramp up. So far it has been tough, as people have pulled back on spending and have been cooking at home. I can’t even count the number of homemade loaves that have popped up on my social media feed, but we think that will get tedious soon and things will pick up.

Given that, we have tried to have more ways for people to get our games. We had an online store and game delivery on our list of future projects, but we had not found time for it in the day-to-day grind. Finally, we got our opportunity. I was able to get an online store up pretty quickly through our POS provider, but finding pictures and descriptions for all the games in stock took me until the wee hours of the morning. Our goal was to get it up and running and debug it while it was open. There were some difficulties and bugs to work out and, for a while, only half of our inventory showed up. The last few days, it has been working fine and has really increased sales.

Besides curbside pickup and shipping, we have added local delivery as well so people can get food and games delivered to their door within an hour. We also partnered with a local game shop we were friendly with to offer their games on consignment through us, which has helped with distribution shut downs.

All along, we made a conscious effort to keep engaging with our social media audience. We have tried to post almost every day about what is going on with store hours, inventory, and food specials. We have offered online Keyforge tournaments with our community champions, online Friday Night Magic events, Zoom Quizzo, and are preparing to launch on-going online Dungeons & Dragons sessions, with other events in the works.

Another pipeline dream of ours was offering clothing and logo merchandise. Customers have been asking, but it was always one of those projects that was set in the future. As of writing this, I have designed about 70 different items from t-shirts to shoes and plan to launch sales through a social media campaign.

The way I would sum up our approach to staying afloat during this pandemic is that everything is an option. We will try almost anything to keep our store’s name in people’s minds and keep them engaged for when we are able to open our doors.

We haven’t become a grocery store and offered toilet paper yet, but who knows. We don’t know what will happen in the coming months, but we are stubbornly optimistic and tenacious. We know that what we offer as a board game venue is valuable; we just have to survive long enough to be able to offer it again.

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s

COMING SUMMER 2020

A ROLEPLAYING GAME OF POST-APOCALYPTIC FANTASY WWW.LOSTCITADELRPG.COM

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e st

,

Healthcare to Help You A message from

GameManufacturesHealthCare.com

I

t was great to speak to and meet so many of you in Reno! We were able to learn about your needs as individuals and business owners when it comes to healthcare coverage options. Many of you are looking for healthcare options to help your part-time staff, while others want to offer healthcare coverage to new employees that is of more value than offered at their previous jobs, and some are looking to offer or obtain coverage for the first time.

Right now, as many of you are in limbo with COVID-19, peace-

of-mind could offer a great deal of support. The security knowing that if you become sick you have healthcare coverage to assist you. The ability to use Confidential Counseling with $0 copay to discuss your worries and concerns, or how to balance working from home.

Use of Telemedicine with $0 copay in case you become sick or need medical advice. These products, and more, are included in every healthcare coverage plan at no additional fee. Bring that peace-of-mind to your life, knowing you are not alone.

This is how Game ManufacturersHealthCare.com is different. We listen to your needs and help you find the plan or plans that fit you and your business. We include a suite of products in every coverage plan at no additional fee called Prosper Benefits, which are a bundle of Telemedicine, Confidential Counseling, Medical Bill Saver, and Health Advocacy to help you in your daily life. We offer affordable products that meet your needs and those of your employees.

If you have any questions or would like to learn more about accessing health care coverage you can visit us at GameManufacturersHealthCare. com or schedule a call with a Broker Representative who can answer your questions and help you through the enrollment process.

The lantern may fade, but the coin still shines.

Deep strategic gameplay

Interactive mechanics keep players invested

A Beautifully illustrated and immersive game world

Prepare to Brave the Dark Roads After half a year of daylight, we must now prepare for the dark season. The roads will be treacherous but they will still need to be braved by a select few in order to keep our cities thriving. In Merchants of the Dark Road, you are one of these brave few merchants.

Prepare your caravan, collect items, lanterns, and even gather heroes that will travel the dangerous paths between cities with you. While the job is perilous, fame and fortune await.

COMING SOON TO KICKSTARTER

GameManufacturesHealthCare.com

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Elfcreekgames.com

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“ b

R

Quick healthcare solutions for the Covid-19 pandemic and our economic crises.

Since we’re all social distancing, you might as well spend your money on healthcare coverage for some peace of mind while you enjoy that movie in.

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Remote

healthcare coverage during the Covid-19 crisis

We want to give assistance in any way we can. The Right Now Solution is affordable healthcare insurance for individuals and families. These are quick healthcare solutions for the Covid-19 pandemic and our economic crisis.

Visit RightNowSolution.care to sign up today!

An exclusive member benefit provided by

ATT gatefold for digimag.indd 1

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e h T s ’ t a h W

Z Z BU

About Honey?

By Paul Salomon, designer of Honey Buzz

I

n January of 2016, I posted a thread on BGG to ask what games had used a honey bee theme. I was hatching ideas for an innovative tile-laying system, and I had begun to build the mechanisms around the true science of bees. Those ideas would become Honey Buzz, a beautiful mid-weight euro game forthcoming from Elf Creek Games. I didn’t know four years ago that so many bee games would be coming out in 2019 and 2020. Back then Hive and Waggle Dance were pretty much it.

So why did I choose bees, and what sets Honey Buzz apart from the swarm?

I love games that offer a smooth blend of theme and mechanics. Honey Buzz is exactly that, but it first started with an abstract idea. (I am a mathematician and teacher, after all.) There are several different tiling patterns you can make from diamond tiles and I wanted to design a game that leveraged that geometric variety to offer players interesting strategic choices. If we cut the corners off the diamonds, (a mathematical process called truncation) then the tiles connect to make hexagonal empty spaces where resources can be stored in the same way a bee stores nectar in its hive. In Honey Buzz, you connect tiles to make empty spaces for nectar, but the shape of the tiling pattern determines what type of nectar can be stored there, so one must build strategically.

Hexagons alone do not a bee game make, so I did a ton of research into bee science and spoke with apiculturists so that I

could build a rich and accurate setting. Early on I took this approach too far, almost to the point of simulation, and things got weird. Even the production of honey from nectar in the game is grounded in science. Did you know bees flap their wings to generate air currents and evaporate the water out of nectar? That’s in the game too! Through years of redesign, and ultimately excellent development by Mike Hinson and the Elf Creek team, we cleaned the game up while preserving a lot of accurate theming. In the final version, players use their female worker bees to build tiles in their hive and complete actions. Male bees, however, do no work at all, so they appear in the solo mode where the drones get in your way as you try to meet the queen’s high expectations.

Of course, a game about bees selling honey is a little whimsical and fantastic, so we set Honey Buzz in Sweetwater Grove where the bees have discovered economics and opened up shop. Even though they’ve discovered economics, they’re not great at it yet. As you flood the market with honey, selling to various adorable woodland creatures, prices keep dropping. It is a bear market, after all!

The world and creatures of Honey Buzz are brought to life

by Anne Heidseick’s undeniably beautiful and charming art. With many more strategic and aesthetic details to be found in the box, Honey Buzz is a feast for the eyes and an absolute delight to play.

Order today. This is going to be sweet!

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“H t

of uzz is one “Honey B st worker the freshe t games I placemen played!” have ever -DEREK

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THE BOA

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SPOTLIG

Accessible, strategic worker-placement Unique “hive” engine building gameplay A Bee-utiful blend of familiar mechanics

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Available Q2 2020!

Order now!

Spring has arrived and the bees have discovered economics! Can a honey stand be the secret to peace and prosperity between the woodland critters? It just may BEE! Honey Buzz is a worker-bee placement game where players build their own hive, forage for nectar and pollen, make different varieties of honey, and sell their honey at the bear market!

Hive Upgrades Available!

Upgrade the base game components and table presence of Honey Buzz with the Deluxe Component and Wooden Coin upgrade packs!

This set includes the additional deluxe components that were available during the Kickstarter.

Honey is money, but so are these deluxe wooden coins for Honey Buzz! Includes 60 double-sided, engraved and painted wooden coins.

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Prepare to Brave the Dark Roads

,thAfter gihalf ly d fo r ey a fl a h rseason. etfThe Aroads will be aa year of daylight, wea must now prepare for the dark llitstreacherous lliwbuty ewill ht uto b suo eh cin a er they stillt need be braved by r a select few order tot keep our cities t fothriving. stn ahcr eM nIyou . g nofithese vibrave rhfew t merchants.

In Merchants of the Dark Road, are one tcellPrepare oc your ,ncaravan, ava ra c lanterns, ruoand yeven er ap er P collect items, gather heroes that will travel the eitidangerous c ne ew tecities b s h ta p the sjob uiso reg n afortune d paths between with you.

While perilous, fame and await.

GN IM OTO CKICKSTARTER COMING SOON Elfcreekgames.com

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“10/10!”

“It’s always been good, good but now it’s super good!” good

“My #2 Game Of All Time!”

-Richard Ham, Rahdo Runs Through

-Zee Garcia, The Dice Tower

“If you only get one cooperative game this year, make it this one!”

-Robert Geitslinger

ATLANTIS NEEDS YOU! What if you could save Atlantis from its fated destruction?

Atlantis Rising is a cooperative worker-placement game for 1-7 players! The island is sinking and players must work together to save their people. Brought masterfully to life by artist Vincent Dutrait and updated with high-quality components, Atlantis Rising is an instant classic!

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Design the

Sorting Tray

to Fit Your Needs

By Ted Litvan, Marketing Manager, BCW Supplies

The Modular Sorting Tray in a grid of 24 cells

The BCW Modular Sorting Tray is composed of individual card cells that slide together.

By connecting the gray card cells into a grid, you can create the tray that’s ideal for your needs. The trays may be used for card sorting, organizing cards during game play, or merchandising cards in a store display.

Special dovetail joints lock the card cells into a larger tray

Each card cell has two positions. The base can be at the bottom of the cell for card storage, or the base can be angled for easy handling and visibility when sorting cards. The card cells are large enough to hold toploaders when the cells are in the storage or sorting mode, and the cells will hold magnetic card holders when the cells are in the angled, sorting position. When the card cells are in the storage mode, they are stackable.

The bottom of each card cell has two adjustable positions: flat or angled.

The BCW Modular Sorting Tray will be available in the summer of 2020. The individual cells will be sold in packs of six, but you can get additional packs to create a larger tray as needed. Find them at game stores, sports card stores, online retailers, and directly from www.bcwsupplies.com.

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Modular Sorting Tray • 6 trays included. Combine with more for larger designs • Easily assembles in a variety of configurations • Stackable • Used for sorting or displaying • Accommodates sleeved cards, toploaders and magnetics

Available this summer from game stores or www.bcwsupplies.com 2020_AroundTheTable_02_Spring_4.29.20.indd 25

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R a e i n h t b r o e w v O How representation of the LGBTQ+ community and other marginalized groups have made gaming better.

By Danny Quach, Health and Wellness Coordinator by Day, Board Game Enthusiast by Night

“Why does it matter?”

“Can’t we just focus on gaming?”

“Let’s leave politics out of this”.

I

get it. A lot of us use gaming as an escape and as an outlet to fly to a far away world of pushing cubes, collecting resources, and building decks to get away from everyday life.

But those who identify with being in

2020_AroundTheTable_02_Spring_4.29.20.indd 26

a marginalized group (women, nonbinary/gender-non-conforming, people of color, black/latinx folx, and LGBTQ+ people), we can’t separate our politics from our identities. It’s who we are.

When we sit down at the table, we can’t change our skin color or the shape of our eyes or nose. We can’t change who we love. We can’t change what is natural to us. We don’t want to feel unsafe to reference our significant others or feel

like we have to explain how we dress or correct and re-correct our pronouns.

We are gamers too. And we are here to play!

The good news is, over the past three years, as a content creator, board gaming enthusiast, and a selfproclaimed tabletop hype-man, I’ve seen change. I’ve seen more and more diverse groups of people around game tables at conventions. I’ve seen increasingly out-of-the-box content creators with a special point of view.

I’ve witnessed publishers deliberately hiring and contracting minorities for work, giving them a chance to succeed beyond the unfair systemic and societal constructs that have been put in place.

And this makes me absolutely elated.

It’s the small things… It’s having ribbons at conventions to make it just as easy to learn someone’s name as well as their pronouns. It’s having quiet spots and meet-ups where you can just exist. It’s having diversity in voices and unique perspectives on panels that provide a well-rounded look at our beautiful tabletop world.

But it’s also the big things, like having LGBTQ+ designers working on games. Nikki Valens is one such designer, whose name is attached to titles such as Mansions of Madness and Legacy of Dragonholt, which features some of the best writing and

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storytelling in tabletop gaming; the amount of care and representation Nikki put into it is absolutely amazing. Isaac Vega is another notable queer designer, having created Ashes, Dead of Winter, and Dead of Winter: The Long Night, which includes transgender representation in a character named Hugo Valentine.

And it’s everything in between, like having queer content creators like myself with Danny Plays Gamez, Bebo from Be Bold Games, Ella from Ella Loves Board Games, and Theo from Geeky Gaymer Guy. Our supportive and ever-

growing community, especially notable on Twitter, boasts voices from different backgrounds all over the world that come together to cultivate a safe space for everyone who enjoys games.

Seeing support for marginalized groups at conventions, within communities, and in games have motivated and inspired me to speak louder and listen more. Creating content and connecting with gamers from all over has allowed me to not only share my views, but also uplift and shine a light on marginalized voices. All of this representation has made gaming even better, because this community has now become a safe space to play and thrive for me and so many others.

Finally, as June approaches, I want to wish everyone a happy and safe Pride Month!

BOWL TO RICHES

The annual bowling competition is about to begin! Bowl your way to riches and avoid going for a swim as you knock down your opponent’s barrels and push them in the water instead.

$250

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info@HABAusa.com www.HABAusa.com 800-468-6873

spring 2020 • AROUND THE table 27

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THE SEARCH FOR

PLANET X

S

ince 2016, astronomers have been searching for a large, distant planet to explain unique orbits in our solar system. In The Search for Planet X, a new board game from Renegade Game Studios and Foxtrot Games, you will take on the role of these astronomers, using observations and logical deductions to search for this hidden planet. Each game, the free companion app will randomly determine the location of Planet X and the other objects, as well as the content of the research items and conferences.

LOGIC PUZZLE At the core of The Search for Planet X is a rich logic puzzle. The night sky on the game board has 12 sectors that either contain an object (like an asteroid or a comet), are empty, or contain the distant Planet X. These objects follow a number of predefined logic rules that apply in every game: each asteroid is adjacent to at least one other asteroid field, Planet X is not adjacent to a dwarf planet, and more. (The reverse side of the board contains 18 sectors and some additional objects, for a more challenging logic puzzle.)

On your turn, you will perform an action. The most common action is to survey a range of sectors for a particular object, like asking how many gas clouds are in sectors 4-9. The research action allows you to learn a logic rule that

By Randy Hoyt, Owner of Foxtrot Games

applies only in your specific game, like all four asteroids are in consecutive sectors or at least one comet is opposite a gas cloud. These actions and logic rules create so much more than a simple process of elimination or brute force combination puzzles.

APP INTEGRATION Players interact with the app to perform the actions. Each player can use their own device, or they may share a device with one or more other players. This app knows the location of all the objects in the game and can provide accurate results for each of the actions. The app provides for a rich logic puzzle experience without the need for a game master and without the opportunity for a player or a game master to make a mistake in revealing information.

Each action requires a certain amount of time. You will move your player piece along the time track around the board, based on the time required for your action. Just like in real astronomy, only part of the sky is available for surveying at any given time. The game board shows the sun in the center, and a separate piece rotates to show the position of the earth in relation to it as the player pieces move around the time track.

THEMATIC ELEMENTS You’ll note what you learn from your actions on your deduction sheet, and you’ll be able to piece together enough information to submit theories about the locations of the other objects. Just like real astronomers, your theories will go through a peer review process over a few rounds and then be revealed to the other players. The app will let everyone know the results of your peer review. If your theory was correct, you will score points but reveal information that could help an opponent locate Planet X. As you locate more objects, peer review submissions, and attend special conference sessions, you will learn enough to deduce where Planet X must be. By searching this location and confirming the neighboring objects, your discovery will earn you the acclaim of your fellow scientists.

The Search for Planet X captures the thrill of discovery, the puzzly-nature of astronomical investigation, and the competition inherent in the scientific process. Do you have what it takes to find Planet X?

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© 2020 Foxtrot Games LLC. © 2020 Renegade Game Studios.

“The Fox in the Forest is the best small-box card game I’ve played" -Quintin, Shut Up & Sit Down

RGS00574

MSRP $15

Ages 10+

2 Players

30 min

www.renegadegames.com

CLASSICS FOR EVERY COLLECTION!

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ow to H

C

Play

By Sal Hernandez, Art Director, Ringtail Cafe Productions

ryptid Codex is a quick-paced, easy to learn card game for two to six players. Players take the roles of cryptid hunters trying to prove the existence of cryptids. To do so, they’ll have to use the evidence and tools at their disposal to outwit their fellow players and capture monsters. Cryptid Codex is published by Ringtail Cafe Productions.

How To Play Cryptid Codex

Gameplay is simple and fairly intuitive.

The game comes with two decks: a Monster Deck and a Capture Deck. To start the game, both decks are shuffled and the

players are dealt five cards each from the Capture Deck as their starting hand.

The two decks are then placed on the table, face down. Then the top monster from the Monster Deck is drawn and played face-up on the table.

Players take turns, drawing a card from the Capture Deck and playing a Capture Card from their hand onto the monster.

The monster has a Capture Total on the card and the value of the cards played onto the monster by the players is tallied as they’re played. The total value of the Capture Cards adds up until someone plays a card that meets or exceeds the monster’s Capture Total. That person captures the monster and adds it to their own pile. A new monster is drawn from the Monster Deck and play continues.

The mechanic is simple but Capture Cards and Monster Cards have effects on them which lead to more

complexity. Monsters may be immune to certain types of cards or have other abilities. Capture Cards let players mess with each other or strategically add to the point totals.

While playing, players may capture well-known cryptids like Bigfoot as well as more obscure creatures. There are also Hoax Monsters in the deck who don’t count toward victory.

The game ends when one of the players reaches three captured monsters.

Gameplay generally takes between 15 and 30 minutes, the time can be adjusted by changing the number of monsters needed to win.

Visuals

The artwork for Cryptid Codex is bright and colorful, with a playful, comic book inspired look. The card text has a humorous tongue-in-cheek tone. Each card is unique, with no duplicates and there are several recurring characters that imply a bigger universe to the cards.

The Monster and Capture Cards have nods to actual cryptozoology as well as referencing portrayals of cryptozoology and the paranormal seen in pop culture. The entire game is a loving parody of the genre.

Want to prove the existence of Bigfoot by using a Cheesegrater of Destiny, or go toe to toe with aliens armed only with your massive Twitter following? You can! In this game, anything is possible!

Conclusion

Cryptid Codex is a quick, casual game.

It may not be ideal for someone who prefers longer or more complex fare but is great for family game nights, for gamers who want to play with non-gamer friends, or for fans of the weird world of cryptozoology.

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by Bebo of Be Bold Games

I

have been working from home for 7 years now; some might even say that I’m a master of isolation. Right now we’re living in more uncertain times than ever, so I wanted to put together some resources for people who are attempting to stay entertained and connected with their gaming friends, while staying at home and practicing safe behavior.

Ascension

By Stone Blade Entertainment Available on iOS and Android.

Ascension is a deck-building game in which players are racing to have the most victory points. They gain these by adding cards to their deck by paying their cost using the cards in their hand or using the combat points gained by playing their hand to defeat monsters and gain victory points from the victory point pool. These are limited and the end of the game occurs when this pool runs out.

Board Game Apps Cat Lady

By Alderac Entertainment Group Available on iOS, Android, and Steam.

Cat Lady is a delightful little game and in paper form it’s for 2-4 players. In this app you can also play 2-4 players but you can also play against the computer if nobody wants to pass and play with you. In the game players are playing cat ladies who are adopting cats and making sure they are well fed, clothed, and generally taken care of.

For bidden I sland Castles of Mad King Ludw ig

By Bézier Games Available on iOS and Android.

Castles of Mad King Ludwig is a delightful competitive puzzle of a game. You are an architect of sorts: you need to take room tiles of varying shapes and sizes and combine them into a castle that the titular king favors over all others. The app allows up to four players, either AI or pass-and-play with other humans. It also has a solo campaign mode that focuses on the puzzle-solving aspects of the game’s theme and mechanics.

By Gamewright Available on iOS. Forbidden Island has all the hallmarks of a Matt Leacock game: asymmetrical roles, a deck of cards (the “AI”) that really seems to have it in for you, and the delicious tension of hoping you can eke this one out. It’s less complex and analytical than Pandemic; combined with the theme, it’s a great alternative for more casual or younger players. The app works for 2-4 players (pass & play), or solo (controlling multiple roles). It also has multiple island configuration (via in-app purchase), in case you’re not going anywhere for awhile and want more replayability.

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d e

R aider s of the Nor th Sea

By Renegade Game Studios Available on iOS, Android, and Steam.

This is a nearly perfect digital port of the popular worker placement game from Renegade Games. In it, you will be building and provisioning a crew to raid increasingly challenging settlements to gain plunder and glory. With engaging visuals, a campaign mode, and a decent two-part tutorial, and three difficulty settings for the AI, Raiders is accessible for newcomers while providing tons of replay value

on the Marketplace Splendor

By Space Cowboys Available on iOS, Android, and Steam.

This is one of my absolute favorite app games not only because the game is quality but because the challenges built into the game completely transforms the system of the gameplay. The challenges built in the app version keep Splendor feeling fresh with regular updates. It’s well worth the money.

Mor els

By Two Lanterns Games Available on iOS and Android.

Morels is one of the most pleasant board games I’ve ever played in real life and it’s just as lovely on mobile. On their turn, each player can either take a card from the first two available cards, discard sticks to take cards further down the row, discard mushrooms to gain sticks, play a pan card from their hand, or cook three or more of the same type of mushroom in a pan. The player at the end of the game with the most points from cooked mushrooms wins!

Tick et To R ide

By Days of Wonder Available on Steam.

This is my daughter’s favorite game. Players take turns drawing cards in an attempt to get enough matches to build a railroad segment in order to connect cities. There is some friendly competition over limited/narrow segments as players try to complete their routes, but it’s good for younger kids as well. The app comes with the United States map, but other countries (and eras) can be downloaded as well. spring 2020 • AROUND THE table 33

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Family

GAMES

By Ken Hill, Production and Marketing Manager for Rio Grande Games

R

io Grande Games has been producing hobby board games for more than 20 years. This tradition of bringing great games to life continues with our current lineup family games for 2020. All of these games are easy to learn, easy to play and can be finished in 45 minutes or less. These games are fun for casual gamers and families but present enough challenge to keep even the most veteran gamers happy too. All of the games featured here are in-stock and available now.

Butterfly is a game for 2-5 players, ages 9 and up. Players use a wooden hedgehog piece to move around a colorful board, collecting tiles to score points in a variety of ways. Player boards are included to give players reminders of how the different tiles in the game work. Butterfly is game that can be played on several levels. As a game for children or families, the rules are easy to learn, and plays quickly.

Experienced and older game players can play it as a tactical fight, looking for the right move that will optimize your points while leaving your opponents with few good options.

Monster Baby Rescue is for 2-5 players, ages 9 and up. Players must take care of a cute baby monster which appears on their doorstep. Players

For 2020

take turns choosing tiles representing different ways of caring for them. But the players must be careful. Each tile they take costs a variable amount of time. Players must weigh the benefits of a tile against the amount of time it will cost. Monster Baby Rescue is great for families and expert game players who are looking for a fun and satisfying experience.

Caravan is for 2-4 players. Players position their camels to deliver goods where they are wanted. But, beware!

Your rivals are interested in the same goods and they are not above casting a greedy eye on your caravans.

CARAVAN features a large playing board, fun wooden camels and an attractive art style. The rules are simple and reinforced by 4 large player-aid boards that come with the game.

Queenz is for 2-4 players. The newest game from Bruno Cathala (award-winning designer of Kingdomino and 5 Tribes) and designer partner, Johannes Goupy, the players are beekeepers planting orchids to attract bees and produce the tastiest honey.

On their turns, players must either pick from available orchids, or choose from differently shaped garden tiles to plant their orchids. Placing the same color of flowers next to existing flower beds gives the chance to score big points.

Producing different types of honey earns even more points.

The Way of the Bear is a strategy game for 2-4 players. The players are princes attempting to gain the favor of the 4 bear clans by erecting bear statues throughout the land.

On a player’s turn, they may either acquire more statues, or build them on available plots. The game features amazing components and beautiful art.

The bear statues are highly-detailed resin models, and the modular game board changes based on the number of players. This game looks great both on the shelf and on the table.

Musical Chairs is a whimsical card game for 2-4 players that sends the players back to their youth. Timing is everything with card play simulating the crescendo of the music. Moving around the game board, players battle for the best chair cushions in order to plump up their scoring. The remaining cards in their hands can make spots even more lucrative. If multiple players end the round on the same spot, they battle “cheek-to-cheek” to see who gets the chair and who ends up on their derrière!

For more information on these or other Rio Grande Games titles, please visit our website: riograndegames.com.

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How It Got To Be

Z-Shot

By Steve Jackson, Owner of Steve Jackson Games

I

first came up with the game mechanic for Z-Shot sometime around 2011. It goes back to one of my very favorite design themes . . . all of the things that you can do with a roll of two dice. In this case, it mutated until we were rolling a lot more at once. In the game’s final form, you roll all 12 dice at once to start play! But the numbers 1-12, representing everything you can get by totaling either 1 or 2 six-siders, remains central to the game.

It’s very much a family game, despite the ooky theme. I know this because one of my test sessions was with my own family!

They kept saying “Let’s play again,” and that’s about the best thing you can possibly hear during a playtest.

I’d like to talk about the design process, but the fact is, it was quick and routine: take a concept, playtest it, tweak a bit, playtest again . . . The interesting part of the Z-Shot story is not the design, but the marketing.

What were we going to call this game? And that was the thing that held it up for eight years! Great empires rose and fell while this game sat on the shelf for lack of a name.

The working title just remained “12 Dice” while I looked for a good name and story. For a while I really liked “The 12 Dice of Christmas” – with pretty dice, red, green, and white, glitter or pearlized.

Nobody else loved that, though.

I found some very appropriate names that I won’t mention, because they turned out to be taken. We even approached a soda

pop company about a license . . . 12 dice, 12 cans in a pack, makes sense. But it turns out that the soda companies don’t want to be seen as marketing to kids, and a dice game was too much like kid stuff for them.

So, the game sat around for years, perfectly playable, but lacking a storytelling “skin” – which I really felt it needed.

We could have released it as a completely abstract game, but that’s not what our customers expect. I was stumped!

Then Phil had an idea: pair it with the very cool “Bullet Dice” (which are also available separately, plug plug) and make it a game about shooting zombies. After all, the zombie craze is still lurching along . . .

So that’s what we did. Now you’re shooting zombies numbered 1 through 12, trying to wipe out your horde before one of your buddies wipes out their horde. With an excellent zombie illo by Alex, Mighty Drawer of Undead, we had a theme and a package. And there you have it: a simple family game about the undead. Thank you for being the kind of customer base that lets me do things like this . . .

Steve Jackson is the founder of Steve Jackson Games. He’s been designing for more than 40 years now; his hits have included Munchkin, The Fantasy Trip, Illuminati, Ogre, and Zombie Dice.

He loves the Internet but he doesn’t want you to spend all your money there.

Support your local game retailer!

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Coming Summer 2020

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h t o o B Designing a

How do you highlight your product?

By Allen Panakal, Artist and Writer for the Ancient Ones

H

i, my name is Allen Panakal. You may know me from conventions or art shows, or you may have seen my award-winning work or as the Artist and Writer of the Ancient Ones.

I’m going to talk to you about designing your booth. These days, there are a plethora of displays and setups available to us and there are a couple of things new exhibitors should take into consideration.

Please keep in mind that for your first show, you don’t have to go all out.

Figure out what you can afford and start with that. It took me some time to save up and build the booth display you’ll see in the image above.

I realized that at shows, people don’t always want to approach the table. They may be shy or have social anxiety, or maybe they think that if they approach, they would be pressured to make a purchase.

In order to get eyes on your product, you have to see it up close and from a distance. You can see that my booth setups appeal to you from multiple angles and tiers. This way, the customer doesn’t feel obligated to engage if they don’t want to, but this can also draw them in.

With these tiers, you’re showing off a lot more of what you have to offer.

Large banners plus your artwork hanging on panels will help the customer see your work from afar. And as I stated earlier a lot of customers want to see the work from a distance without pressure before they approach.

The final element is good lighting.

Everyone should invest in good lighting. The lights at most conventions are up high and if you don’t have your own lights to make the artwork stand out, your work will be in the dark. That makes it harder to see anything you’re trying to sell.

What aspects of customer engagement do you keep in mind while forming the flow of the space?

The first thing to remember is to keep your setup clean and avoid clutter.

You have just a couple of seconds to

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Here are some specific tips that I’ve learned over the years • Stand up, don’t sit. If you are sitting, you look unapproachable.

• Have your work standing up. I designed three tiers so I have “steps” of artwork: The front of the table (work laying flat), the table itself, which has two “steps,” and Pro Panels and banners behind me.

• Presentation helps. Make sure your product is ready for purchase.

• Have your work displayed behind you, either on a banner or hanging artwork.

• Add tablecloths and a runner that match your work.

My work is space-themed, so black works well.

• Order a nice banner that has your name and IP on it.

• I use display stands to hold up my product.

• Invest in some garage mats to stand on. It’s good for your feet and back.

• Dress appropriately. Appeal to your audience. Look like you belong and want to be there. If you look like you don’t care about you, how can you care about your products?

How do you generate as much as you would at a show online?

This is where your online presence is important. Your website should follow the same ideology. Get eyes on the product; the site should be clean; you have a couple of seconds to catch the customer’s attention and then you have to maintain it. The presentation is everything. You don’t have the option of speaking with the customer, so you have to rely on the website to do all the work for you.

With everything that’s happening currently, having an online store is very important to artists and independent creators alike. Sites such as Artist Alley Online have been instrumental in helping artists who can’t attend conventions display their work and hopefully make some sales.

Their site acts as a directory of artists affected by specific shows. Although they started out as a group of friends, they’ve since expanded to allow any artists in a canceled or postponed show to join, creating a virtual online convention.

In closing, take your time designing your booth.

It doesn’t have to look exactly like mine; it should look exactly like you. It’s your world. Your booth should speak to your audience.

If you have any questions, please reach out to me! You can find me on the following social media platforms:

catch attendees’ attention and maintain it all the way to a sale. Corner booths are great since you can grab attention from two sides, though the exhibition fee for corner spaces is typically more expensive for this reason.

The presentation is everything. The booth has to look approachable. YOU have to look approachable. You should dress nicely, smile and engage – but don’t pressure – the sale. The customer will buy from you if they want your product. If you force a sale, you may lose them as a future customer.

Website: ancientones.net Twitter: twitter.com/AllenPanakalArt Instagram: instagram.com/allenpanakalart Facebook: facebook.com/AllenPanakalArt

How do those answers change when moving to a “virtual booth?”

Conventions can’t be your only source of income. You should have other avenues to display your work and make sales. So what’s the solution here?

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Silver Coin Takes the Silver Series to Hobby Gamers

By Designer Ted Alspach, Founder & CEO of Bezier Games

W

hen the Silver series first debuted last fall, it came with two games back to back: Silver, the “starter” game that introduced the series, and Silver Bullet, which added significant interaction to the series in the form of new cards and abilities. Silver Coin is the game in the series that was designed specifically for hobby gamers: there are now several strategic choices that can be made on your turn, and the emphasis is more on the actual playing of the game than simply engineering a quick win of the game.

Silver Coin is the game that *I* have been the most excited about (at least, so far) in the Silver series, because it scratches that light strategy itch.

The great thing about the Silver series is that once you’ve played one of the games, you can pick up another one with ease; the basic mechanics and victory conditions are same, but the 14 cards in each game are unique, and tend to focus on one or two specific aspects.

In the case of Silver Coin, that’s flipping. Flipping your cards. Flipping your opponents’ cards. You’ll flip them up and down, and you’ll even flip them around the Z axis (turning them sideways). All this flipping gives you a ton of additional options on your turn, both to improve your own village or to possibly hamper the progress of your opponents.

Faceup card abilities in Silver Coin seem more powerful than in previous Silver games… and in some cases they might be. In fact, one of the most powerful cards is the new 1 card, the Con Artist. If the Con Artist is faceup in your village, you can flip him over facedown to take another turn. That’s right, you can set up a

second turn, allowing you to do some absolutely crazy moves (even though you are limited to using the Con Artist once per physical turn). Here’s an example:

Let’s say you have a faceup Con Artist, and a facedown Con Artist. On your first turn, you take a card from the draw deck and keep it, exchanging it for your facedown Con Artist. As this is a 1 card, the player to your left might start snickering, thinking about how awesome it will be to have a faceup 1 on their turn. However, before your initial turn ends, you turn over your faceup Con Artist which triggers an extra turn for you, and take the discarded *now face up* Con Artist back, discarding another one of your cards. You could just end your turn now, knowing that you could repeat this process next time it’s your turn, or you could go for broke, and flip down that recovered Con Artist and take a *third* turn…in a row! As mentioned above, you can only use each Con Artist once per physical turn, so you won’t be able to re-use your Con Artists again until the next time you take a turn (after the other players have taken their turns), but getting even just one extra turn each time around the table can be huge for you.

Here’s another example of how the Con Artist is amazing: If you are thinking of calling with a faceup Con Artist, don’t…take your turn, drawing a card to reduce your sum, and then flip down your Con Artist and *then* call. You just snuck in a bonus turn right before you called!

And that’s only one of the 14 new cards that comes with Silver Coin. You’ll find a whole bunch of cards like this in Silver Coin that can combo off of each other for some truly incredible feats of card manipulation!

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Join Van Ryder Select Today!

By Shaun Varsos, Business and Product Development Manager for Van Ryder Games

V

an Ryder Games has always valued our retail partners, and over the last year we’ve worked very hard to strengthen those partnerships and to create new ones.

One of the things that has allowed us to become an even better partner to our retailers and distributors is that after a long relationship with Impressions, we are now directly managing our product catalog and fulfillment into distribution. We’ve been able to work with excellent distributors, such as GTS and Universal, to quickly get our products onto the shelves of many stores. This change also paved the way for us to strengthen our VRG Select program, something that has been hugely beneficial for both us and the VRG Select stores. We’re excited about what the future holds on both of these fronts.

Our VRG Select program for retailers started with our Graphic Novel Adventures. We created a unique book display to help retailers sell the books in their stores and offered it to those who were interested in signing up for the program. Having

that tool made it easier for retailers to sell the books, since it conveyed the product benefits without requiring a sales associate making the pitch, and it was a great step to show our partners the kinds of things we could offer through a direct relationship we hadn’t been able to do traditionally.

We maintained those relationships while we developed the program, and eventually were able to offer one of our best benefits so far, Detective: City of Angels. DCOA was such a huge game in scope, production, and cost, that we realized it would not be economical and carried too much inventory risk for us to sell through the normal distribution chain. The VRG Select program afforded us the opportunity to make it work. Through VRG Select we’ve been able to offer Detective: City of Angels in limited quantities to our VRG Select Retail partners. This hit title has become a hallmark title for Van Ryder Games appearing on many top 10 award lists. It’s a game that continues to perform well for our VRG Select Retailers. There are also other upcoming titles that will only be available in our VRG Select program, like Hostage Negotiator: Career (Summer 2020).

VRG Select retailers also enjoy access to the full catalog of games we currently produce, including our newly released products like Bees: The Secret Kingdom and

Frontier Wars. We often have bundle specials and better-than-wholesalepricing deals as well! If you’re a retailer interested in signing up for our VRG Select Retailer program, contact us at salesteam@vanrydergames.com to join the program today!

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The Love of

Organizing

By Derek Liam, Lead Designer for The Broken Token

I

remember being 6 or 7 and coming across some architectural drawings my grandma had. She was into interior decorating, specifically redesigning the living space of my grandparents’ unique home in Noname, CO. Literally, the place’s name is “no-name,” you should look it up, it’s actually a really cool place.

Anyway, my grandpa built the house and she would exclaim endlessly at how he had clearly “never used a kitchen,” a common refrain she uses to this very day. She had no formal training in any of this, just the experience and the innate creative spark to want to do something about it.

It resonated with me and I decided then that “when I grow up I’m going to be an architect,” and I would design homes that “made sense,” as I understood it by watching my grandma through the years. All the way through high school I really thought it was going to be my thing. I did summer programs at the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture whose design philosophies really meshed with my grandma’s and, by extension, my own. Design is always a partnership between two parties. For Frank it was design and nature, for my grandma it was function and ease of use, and for me it’s between design and someone else’s design.

Through a series of circumstances well beyond the scope of this article, those dreams did not come to fruition. However, I did make it to art school, although I never actually finished my degree. One of my college classes was on “Form and Space,” which covered a lot of topics involving three-dimensional forms.

One of the projects was redesigning a product’s packaging and I knew exactly what I wanted to do. My favorite game at the time was Elder Sign by Fantasy Flight Games.

The design intent seems pretty clear. The packaging serves the game. It’s no longer separate from the pieces, but now integral to its function. This speaks to one of my biggest tenants of design: form follows function. It may not be the prettiest thing in the world, but as you use it, you overlook that because it feels right. I took the project to game nights and people fawned over it. Of course as an artist, I really only saw its faults, but the message was clear: people wanted things like this, they wanted more from their board games.

Through some luck and a supportive family I found myself in the position of completely upending my life to move from Denver, CO, to sunny San Diego, CA, to work for a small company called The Broken Token. At the time, they had six or seven employees and were hiring for laser operators, but it was such

Sadly, all that exists of this project is this poor quality Instagram collage. a unique opportunity, my family and I were prepared to move heaven and earth to make it happen. Quite separately from me, Greg Spence had stumbled on the same thing I had recently discovered: there was room to improve the games we love and people were excited to pay us to improve them.

I hadn’t made too big a deal about designing game organizers to get the job, I really just thought the lasers were cool and was happy to be board game adjacent. In the course of our conversations, Greg mentioned that if the company were to grow, he needed to find someone who could design future products so he could focus on the more business-y stuff. I replied with a confident, “I can do that!” Two weeks later, I brought him an improved version of the in-box solution for Elder Sign I made. He was impressed enough that I was given the designer job on the spot.

After some discussion, we decided my first “real” project would be our most requested organizer at the time: Firefly: The Game by Gale Force 9. In another act of serendipity, it just happened to be

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my current favorite game for which I was already working on a personal solution.

It took me about a day of concerted effort to decide that there was no way I was going to make a satisfactory solution that fit into the default game box.

Nothing existed at the time that looked like the storage crate I was envisioning.

We had no way of knowing if it would be well-received or even sell a single copy, but it was time to think outside the box… literally.With no limitations, I asked myself what a storage solution for this game would look like. After a few iterations it ended up looking like this.

Everyone was a little dubious if it could be a viable product. Who could possibly be willing to spend more money on a storage solution than they did on the actual game? I was confident in my assertion that there was no better solution, at least not one that did much more than anyone could do with plastic baggies anyway.

We hear that a lot: why spend the money when plastic bags work just fine? It’s not untrue. If you’re willing to deal

with taking components in and out of dozens of little bags, it does work “just fine” to keep individual components separate. However, some games call for much more than that. Players don’t want to spend 45 minutes to an hour just setting up the game. This crate allows you to be ready to play in as much time as it takes you to put out the game board.

That being said we still didn’t know if it would be successful.

I’m humble by nature. Despite my alternative appearances, I don’t particularly strive to seek praise or want to be noticed, yet the response to what we ended up calling the Big Damn Crate would give anyone a big head. In the four years since we released it, I’ve been told that it has changed people’s lives. I had an old man approach me sheepishly at a convention to sign his copy and take a picture with him because it was his favorite game and my design made it so much better for him. To this day, the best compliments I can receive for my designs

are being told that it feels like it should have come with the game.

The Big Damn Crate still sells. Our production manager chides me about it every couple weeks. “How are we still making this thing?” I really don’t know what the answer is, but it certainly has to be in part because of how I approached the design: no preconceived notion of what’s possible, a focus on function and usability, treating each game as my favorite, and taking risks on creative solutions.

I’ve since designed 50 or so more organizers for The Broken Token, going from part-time designer, to full-time, to lead designer in charge of another fulltime designer. With each new design, I strive to uphold the philosophies that got me to where I am. As a player of games, I understand what helps and doesn’t. My designs are an extension of the original, not a replacement for it. I treat every game as if it’s my favorite because for the people buying these inserts it is. People appreciate a good insert that doesn’t get in their way of playing a game, but makes it more accessible and easier to do by its very nature.

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Your Customer Wants

Smartphone Inc Today (They Just Don’t Know It Yet)

By Robert Geistlinger, Director of Sales & Marketing at Arcane Wonders

“S

martphone Inc is an economic simulation game.”

This seems like a dry statement when trying to sell this game to a customer.

That certainly was my first impression of the game when I saw it back in 2018, and I am someone who loves economic board games. Board gamers are constantly flooded with new titles to consider as they decide where to spend their money.

The tagline at the beginning of this article isn’t going to elicit an instant interest from a lot of customers. It didn’t draw me in when I was first pitched the game either. While it is true that an “economic simulation” is the core of what Smartphone Inc is, it doesn’t tell the whole story.

Smartphone Inc lets players experience the thrill of a corporate takeover during the era when smartphones were just taking off all over the world. You have to make ruthless forecasting decisions each round that not only affect your own business, but the business of your competitors. Can the market in Australia handle a price increase this round? Should I be investing in new technologies before my competitors beat me to it? Is Canada a great new location for a headquarters? Am I going to get priced out of my existing markets by Tom over there?

It took me exactly one playthrough to realize everything that makes this game special. The challenge was it happened only after I was convinced to play the game, when previously I had no interest in doing so. For your customers, or even the folks you play games with, having to convince them to play the game first isn’t always

an option. A dry pitch isn’t going to convey to them what this game is, and why they should be leaving your store with it in their hands today.

Make no mistake, Smartphone Inc is a game your customer wants to buy today, they just don’t know it yet!

I could sit here and write that in this game there are 5 rounds, with each round divided into 8 phases. I could tell you the names of those phases (Programming, Pricing, Production, Development, Research, Logistics, Sales, Profits) and then go into a detailed explanation of each of them, telling you about the innovative action-planning puzzle. However just like when someone is trying to teach you a 4-hour heavy Euro-Game and they are already 35 minutes into explaining, your eyes would glaze over, and you would flip to the next page of this magazine. Your customer is going to move to the next shiny box on the shelf, and Smartphone Inc is going to be forgotten.

We selected this game to be the next game in the Dice Tower Essentials line because we truly believe that if a gamer were to only have one “economic simulation” game in their collection this should be the one. Smartphone Inc is an elegantly designed masterpiece that is quick to learn, easy to teach, infinitely replayable with a clean design that would look great on any gamer’s table and shelf.

“Smartphone Inc is a glorious cut-throat experience in global economic domination!”

That certainly spices it up a bit.

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Are We There Yet? The Journey of Gaming in Libraries

By Madalyn Cohron, Librarian at Hoover Library

W

hen I decided to enter the world of librarianship, I had no idea that I would find myself managing a collection of over 300 board games and enriching the local gaming community. In 2013, the library began hosting a bimonthly “Game Nite” program and in 2020 the program is still strongly attended. We’ve even moved to hosting the program monthly and adding additional game days throughout the year. As enthusiasm for gaming swelled within our community, I thought to myself, “Wouldn’t it be super-cool if we had games that patrons could checkout?” With support from co-workers, library administrators, and patrons alike, we now have two collections—one for adults and one for children—which boast approximately 600 games and circulate more than 1,000 times a month.

“Won’t people stop buying games?” is a question I am asked

frequently. Since developing the collection, I have heard dozens of patrons say that they loved a game so much they purchased it immediately. I also have many patrons who use our collection to introduce friends and loved ones to gaming. More often than not, their effort pays off due to the ability to check out a variety of games and see which ones are the best fit. Our collection is very diverse; it is geared towards new and seasoned gamers.

Avid gamers look to the collection for recommendations and the newest, hottest games on the market. As I do with the other collections I manage, I pride myself on keeping up with the current trends and purchasing games everyone wants to get their hands on—this is my favorite part of the job. From steadfast evergreens to new games, we’re providing access to unique materials and creating an innovative path for both the gaming and library professions.

From firsthand experience, it is apparent that our library is known for its strong focus on gaming. Libraries aren’t just for

books anymore! With comfortable seating, coffee shops, and an abundance of recreational activities, libraries are seen as a “third space”—or rather—a home away from home. In my library, we love offering “edutainment” to our patrons and gaming falls right into this category. Of course games can be used for educational purposes, but gaming also fosters community. Game-centric programs and board game collections help introduce people to this fabulous hobby in a welcoming, friendly environment. This helps alleviate any tension and anxiety patrons might have about trying new games. As a librarian and gamer, I strive to introduce people to new loves—be it book or board game. I have helped people coax their friends to gaming programs, found the perfect

Jeremy Davis, Children’s Board Game Collection Manager and Coordinator two-player game for a patron and their reluctant spouse, curated game lists for assisted living facilities, Alzheimer’s patients, and Scout groups, and I have even selected games for the pickiest gamers. Games allow me to connect to patrons in an innovative way and brings a fresh perspective to my role as a librarian.

Over the past few years, I have seen a beautiful partnership form between game industry professionals and librarians. I have attended several conventions—game related and library related—and I’m always pleased with the representation from each profession. In an effort to highlight gaming in libraries, the American Library Association has instituted game days in libraries, created gaming roundtables, and encouraged the formation of interest groups for libraries with game collections.

This surge in gaming isn’t just happening in public libraries. The use of board games to help bridge the gap between education and recreation extends into schools and universities as well. Along

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?

Top 10 with the growing interest in gaming, the relationship between gamers and librarians has grown exponentially. With hard work and determination from both professions, I believe there are many ways for this partnership to grow into something truly remarkable. Our shared journey is just beginning!

To any librarians reading this, there’s no need to sweat! In order to bring games into your libraries, you don’t need a gigantic budget or an extensive collection from day one. You do, however, need drive and passion. Board game collections, in my opinion, are a labor of love. I have asked for game donations, pleaded for a larger budget, and even begged for more shelf space. My processing assistant and I label everything and repair games when needed. The staff count all of the pieces in a game at check-out and check-in. And let me tell you—your stomach will never sink lower than when a patron walks up to the

Game Recommendations for a Circulating Collection:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Catan King of Tokyo Pandemic Betrayal at House on the Hill Fox in the Forest Forbidden Island Ticket to Ride Tsuro of the Seas The Resistance Dominion

desk 10 minutes before closing and wants to checkout Feast for Odin… However, customer service prevails!

Where should you start? Well, when I’m asked to help a library curate their new collection, I share my policies with them and always recommend a list of steadfast evergreens. I encourage a balance between cooperative and competitive games; games

that support two players or larger groups; and games that highlight several common mechanics. This ensures that the collection contains something for everyone.

I’m obviously a little biased, but I believe gaming to be a vital service in libraries today. Providing access to patrons, building community, and increasing industry support are all absolutely necessary if we want to see gaming remain a standard service. I would also like to note that at the time of writing this article, my library was preparing to close due to the rapid spread of coronavirus. And you know what? Board games were flying off the shelves (almost as fast as toilet paper and hand sanitizer) until we closed the doors. That speaks to the importance of games within our community. So, in light of everything, let’s all do our part to build relationships, grow communities, and— above all—game on!

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In Too Deep Getting Your Hands Dirty to Keep the Streets Clean

By Sean Jacquemain, Marketing Manager for Burnt Island Games

I

n the year 2087, central governments have fallen. What remains are fragmented citystates struggling to hang on to law and order while criminal organizations wait for the right moment to seize power. As a member of a secret experimental program, you just might be able to turn the tide of illicit activity in your city and take back the streets for law-abiding citizens.

In the world of In Too Deep, you play an agent trying to make the city safe. Sometimes, to clean up the streets, you have to get your hands dirty.

Cybernetic implants have given the criminal underworld a technological advantage. These black market enhancements make them faster, stronger, and more agile than the average human, but you have found a way to exploit that power. By infiltrating their cerebral upgrades, you can gain control of these hoodlums like never before. Going deep undercover into the minds of your targets, you’ll need to participate in crimes of escalating seriousness to get your hands on the critical evidence you need.

Each turn, you can hook into a new criminal and ma-

nipulate their activities throughout the city. The longer you stay inside the mind of a criminal, the more your grip on their actions will grow; you can gain their special abilities and even extra actions to pull off complicated crimes. The more jobs you complete, the more evidence you’ll collect, bringing the team closer to taking down the Syndicate once and for all. But while your physical body is in a secret location strapped into a chair far from the actual action, you are by no means safe. Entering the mind of a criminal—and especially multiple criminals at once— takes its toll on your mental state. The case you’re building might be worth it in the long run, but the longer you spend living this lifestyle, the closer you’ll come to crossing the line.

Committing crimes will gain you valuable intel about the underworld in general, and the evidence you desperately need to foil the Syndicate’s plans.

However, living a double life wreaks havoc on your psyche. You have to decide when the stakes are high enough to risk crossing the line by pulling off one more job… and when you should unplug, get your head straight, and prepare to fight another day.

Collectively, all the agents share the goal of building up enough evidence to foil the Syndicate’s looming plot to take over the city. If the plot is foiled before it can strike, the agent who has built the best case without being the most compromised will walk away with top honours. However, if the team falls short, the Syndicate sinks its claws into the city for good, and the most corrupted agent wins a place as a rising star in the new regime.

In Too Deep is a game of shifting goals and strategies. Will you honor your commitment to keep the populace safe, or will you abandon the law? You all start off with the best intentions, but you never know how loyalties might change as the deadline looms. In the end, only one agent can come out on top. The path you choose is up to you.

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The Tabletop

MOBA

Akimo with his Ultimate Power Card

By Giacomo Neri, PvP Geeks Director

Skytear Starter Box

S

kytear is a card-driven miniatures game inspired by multiplayer online battle arenas (MOBAs), a genre of video games played by over 100 million players each month.

Draft your team from a pool of 24 heroes, with new ones added each quarter. Then, use your champions’ unique skills and ultimate abilities to lead your minions so they can tear down the enemy nexus. When it falls, victory will be yours.

Skytear is more than a brawl; the winning conditions are never the same match-to-match. Stay flexible and expect a range of playstyles.

There’s no need for dice. Instead, Skytear uses Power Cards: special moves that heroes can take at any time.

This makes for exciting matches that players described as being “like Magic, but with heroes on a map.”

Building decks is half the fun of Skytear, with a deck building system that allows you to further personalize each hero and is fully integrated into the initial drafting phase.

Equip heroes with cards that amplify their strengths, or surprise your opponents with unexpected tools.

Unlike existing tabletop games inspired by MOBAs, we designed Skytear with organized play in mind, particularly through these key features: • Pre-assembled miniatures

• 45 minute playtime • 2 minute set-up time • Small table footprint of 28”x28” • A new expansion every quarter

But most importantly, we’re striving to give hobby retailers the best support to grow a community around Skytear.

PvP Geeks Support to Hobby Retailers

Tournaments kits are more than just the usual promo cards: they include exclusive miniatures and components to upgrade some of the game’s default pieces.

Each participant always bring home a prize made of plastic, no matter their placement. This is an important point to us, because we want to create a space that’s welcoming and friendly to both casual and competitive players (and we embraced this principle also in the overall game design).

We built a deck-builder app that allows us

to regularly “nerf ” and “buff ” heroes to ensure that the meta stays fresh and diverse.

The tournament organizer app allows you to collect registrations with pre-validated decks, form pairings, and submit results that will inform the global ranking ladder.

The rankings will power a world championship with regionals in North America, Europe, and Australia, leading toward a world final this December.

Finally, the store locator and the ambassadors program allow us to grow local communities and reward retailers that are willing to invest in us.

If you Google Skytear you’ll find our Kickstarter from May 2019 that was fulfilled in January 2019. We won’t run another. As crazy as it sounds, we used Kickstarter to start a project, and now we want to thrive together with hobby retailers.

We are aware that stocking a new miniatures line is not a choice made lightly, but you’ll be surprised to see how many MOBA players are already customers of yours—and how excited they’ll be to get their hands on Skytear.

Astryda with the Bewitch Power Card

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A new faction for Judge Dredd: Helter Skelter bringing the Dark Judges to Mega-City One, with an encounter mode that adds solo play. Requires a copy of Judge Dredd: Helter Skelter to play. Number of players: 1-4 Ages: 14+ Components: 4 miniatures, 5 oversized cards, 39 playing cards, tokens ospreypublishing.com

King’s Keys reinvents playing cards for a variety of fun new games!

Instead of suits and ranks, this 4x4x4 deck combines Colors, Items and Numbers for 64 unique cards. Rules for King’s Keys plus two other games are included with more available on the website.

Challenging fun for all ages! MSRP: $16 contact: jeff@jankendeck.com jankendeck.com

Stronghold Games has a deep catalog of Roll & Write style titles. Second Chance brings Uwe Rosenburg’s definitive style to a sleek, small box game where a deck of cards replaces the dice. This “flip & write” is great solo or with family & friends! indieboardsandcards.com

Kraken Attack Quick, all hands on deck! Working as a team, chase away the fearsome Kraken Tootone before he sinks your ship. If you succeed in placing 3 Kraken attack tokens on the Kraken you win.

However, if the Kraken smashes 4 holes in your ship, you lose and sink… Age 7+ - 1 to 4 players - $ 34.99 iellogames.com

Dice of The Giants Series The new Dice of the Giants Series from Easy Roller Dice Company is now available in D20 and D6 formats. This is a great addition for dice collectors, and perfect for any giant-themed gaming session. Collect these huge 48mm dice in seven unique designs. easyrollerdice.com

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In Nevada City, a new strategy game from Rio Grande Games, each player represents one of the town’s founding families, determined to shape the town’s growth. You will need to produce and sell resources in order to build the businesses that will meet the needs of the growing town. riograndegames.com

Break The Code!

Choose a question, make the right deduction and be the first one to break the code! It’s a combination of colored numbers that each player hides behind their screen. Each turn, pick a question card and gather information about the position and colors of your opponents’ code… before they find yours! Age 10+ - 2 to 4 players - $ 16.99 iellogames.com

Kameradenschweine is a tremendous new expansion for the hit card game Front Line - No Komrades. The set includes an entirely new set of hapless conscripts marching to their fate, and feaatures extraordinary artwork from Kwanchai Moriya and dynamic rules from Will Conway. Glory awaits. anvil-eight.com

Tang Garden: Take the role of engineers during the Tang Dynasty summoned to build a garden while balancing elements of water, rock, and greenery. Decorate your garden with pavilions, bridges, vegetation, and animals in order to impress visitors in this beautiful game. sales@luckyduck games.com luckyduckgames.com

UNDO - New Cases As Weavers of Fate you can pause time and jump to specific moments in a deceased person’s life to undo their tragic death! New missions available in spring: Players will accompany an expedition to the Yucatán Jungle in “Treasure Fever” and enter H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos in “Forbidden Knowledge.”

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To mark the 10th Anniversary of Zombie Dice, we’re releasing Zombie Dice Deluxe! This new boxed set features 16mm translucent dice in three different colors (6 green, 4 yellow, 3 red), a screen printed dice bag, and six dry-erase scorecards with marker, making this set playable right out of the box! sjgames.com

Honey Buzz is the “Worker Bee” placement game for 1-4 players!

Expand your beehive engine, forage for nectar and pollen, produce various kinds of honey to sell at the Bear Market, and compete for the queen’s favor! elfcreekgames.com

Telestrations: Upside Drawn, a take on the award winning Telestrations game, gives a whole new meaning to laugh out loud miscommunication by putting the pen in one person’s hand, and control of the board in another’s!

Only through “Up” or “Down” directives can the team put the drawing together to guess the clue first! usaopoly.com

Frontier Wars from Van Ryder Games is now available. This exciting war game features 4 players (or 6 with the expansion) going toe to toe for total domination, as you take on the role of one of four factions, each with their own unique strengths, and prove your military might. salesteam@vanrydergames.com vanrydergames.com

In Endeavor: Age of Expansion, you use the mechanisms you know from the Age of Sail with a completely new set of buildings and asset cards. You are introduced to new actions including trade, fortify, and conscription and mobilization. Age of Expansion adds all new strategies to the gameplay you love! kidstablebg.com 56 AROUND THE table • spring 2020

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Your succulent garden is amazing! Through thoughtful selection, delicate pruning, and tireless care, you’ve earned a reputation as a master horticulturist. In Succulent, you compete against your peers for lucrative and prestigious projects that will cement your place as the community’s premier succulent gardener. renegadegamestudios.com

Hues and Cues is a vibrant game of colorful communication where players are challenged to make connections to colors with words. Using only oneand two-word cues, players try to get others to guess a specific hue from the 480 colors on the game board. usaopoly.com

Elegant and refined – that’s how you should design your Japanese garden in Miyabi! Become the master gardener in this new game by Michael Kiesling. habausa.com

In Smartphone Inc., you become a CEO of one of the largest smartphone-producing companies in the time when smartphones were only beginning to conquer the world in this economic simulation game. Over five rounds, players program their decisions about price, production, research, and expansion in order to earn more profits and become the most successful company in the world by earning more money than rivals. arcanewonders.com

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Inclusion By Design:

Better Community

Cultivating a

By Emily R. Dearring, Creative Director, Parallel Games, Inc.

I

am lucky. I was raised by a single mother who worked her entire career in a male-dominated field. I grew up inherently understanding that I could do anything and be anything a man could. Of course I’m equal, of course I’m completely capable, of course. I am lucky because I’ve never in my life assumed I wasn’t just as skilled or as smart as anyone else because of my sex, race, or background. This is not the case for a lot of women, LGBTQI folks or people of color. Growing up in a society, and possibly even a community or household that reinforces supporting cis-gendered, heterosexual, white men can be hugely detrimental.

Worse, though, is a society or community that ignores supporting minorities under the assumption that inclusion is, simply put, just not exclusion.

I think a lot of people believe that inclusion is just the act of not being deliberately exclusive. I also believe that 80 percent of people in the game industry are great people who are supportive of human rights and equality in all things. I do think, however, when you come from a background like mine, or like those of middle class white men, you don’t realize how difficult it can be to feel accepted and welcome when you don’t fit the standard community profile.

Inclusion is not just the act of not excluding, inclusion means welcoming those who have been excluded or ostracized elsewhere. Being inclusive means understanding that there is a wrong to be righted in our society and deliberately doing something to fix it.

So how do we fix it? What is the current status quo, why is it wrong and

how can we change it? What does it look like in concrete terms? Well in a study performed in 2018, Assessing Gender and Racial Representation in the Board Game Industry by Tanya Pobuda, there were found to be more animals and aliens on box covers than women. Furthermore

Nemo’s Island removes stereotypical gender norms and excludes human races where possible the number of non-white people on box covers was only around 11 percent as compared to the 20 percent for animals and aliens. How is anyone supposed to feel welcome in a community if they are not represented in its media? Inclusivity means–and what we should uphold it to be–going out of your way to challenge the assumed narrative and try to make sure those that are not represented are embraced.

As the industry grows, we should attend to diversity and inclusion as a matter of design. At Parallel Games,

we’ve made it our mission to ensure equal representation and diversification where possible. In our first game, City of the Big Shoulders, we tried to walk the fine line between historical archetype and stereotype. When you dig into the game, you find that there are women and people of color represented on the paper currency in the game, many of whom made significant impacts on Chicago throughout this time. Additionally our next game, Nemo’s Island (designed by Ed Wedig), will integrate both binary gendered and nonbinary gendered humanlike animals to remove stereotypical gender norms and avoid excluding specific human races where possible. Our solution to a problem we see is not to change the theme of our games– we’re simply making our company mission of inclusion an additional part of their story. While there is always more we can improve on, the importance of my message here is understanding what inclusion and diversity really are and taking small steps to make positive change.

I am lucky. I have not been ignored as a person of color, talked down to because I’m a woman, or ostracized because of my sexual orientation. But there are a TON of people who have.

It is our job as community leaders to build bridges and open gates for all players. Diversification, by nature, inspires innovation, acceptance, and growth and as we embrace inclusion by design we’re adding to a global narrative encouraging improvement economically, creatively, and most important–morally.

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Playing Tabletop RPGs Online

Getting the most from your tabletop role-playing games at a (safe) distance

By Matthew Gravelyn, Writer & Game Designer

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he world is in a weird state these days. Our healthcare system is being put to the test, governments are arguing over the best course of action, and many of us have been advised—even mandated— to stay in our homes. I’ve never experienced anything like this and it’s quite overwhelming. One way I’m adjusting is by staying in contact with friends and family, partly through playing games online. Online gaming is perfect for maintaining proper social distancing and quarantine procedures but is also a great way to stay in touch with long-distance relationships and work around tight

schedules. Let’s take a look at some tools you should use for an optimal online gaming experience.

First and foremost: don’t feel overwhelmed. There are a number of free and approachable apps for facilitating online gaming. Starting with communication, I prefer Discord for voice and video chat because it has a great friend and messaging system, and it’s super simple to set up a group for your game. You can easily start up a group call, as well as share your computer screen if you need to read from a source book together. You can also use Skype, Zoom Meetings, or Google Hangouts to the same effect.

If you’re planning to play a game that is more visual or requires you to draw during the game, you can also look into online collaborative drawing apps. A Web Whiteboard, or AWW, is a free app that lets you draw on a digital whiteboard simultaneously with your friends. This is great for drawing maps, sketching out combat positions, or visually describing a scene. This type of tool is less important in narrative-focused games but might still be welcome if you and your group want that extra layer of interaction.

Some games demand a bit more when it comes to online play, like complex character sheets, miniatures and maps, and polyhedral dice. For these games, a platform such as Roll20 or Tabletop Simulator may be right for you. These platforms allow you to use premade modules or create your own to handle all of the recordkeeping of the game. My one word of caution to you is that some of these platforms have a steep learning curve; they are not something that everyone can just jump into. Make sure all players have time to check out the platform to get used to the features in advance of the game, and also be critical about whether you strictly need a complex platform to facilitate your game.

In addition to the apps you’ll use to run an online gaming session, I also recommend a way to collect and share notes with each other. Setting up a shared Google Doc can be a great way to collect ideas, feedback, and questions during or after play. Have a thought during your lunch break about your rogue’s relationship with the shady guild leader? Jot it down so you can come back to it the next time you play. Google Docs also work really well on mobile devices, so it’s easy to collaborate even when you’re away from your computer.

Now that your tools are in order, there’s one more thing you need to address before starting: safety. All tabletop role-playing games should make use of safety tools to ensure the best experience for all players, but this is especially true when you move

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Here are a few games that I like for online gaming:

to online play. Even with video chat, there is a portion of communication you lose, including body language, posture, and glances. These overlooked cues might otherwise let you know that someone is uncomfortable, or you might be playing with people that you’ve never played a game with in-person. There are many concerns when it comes to player safety and comfort, and most—if not all—can be addressed with a little prep and a couple of safety tools.

For a one-stop shop of the most effective safety tools, I recommend the TTRPG Safety Toolkit created

by Kienna Shaw and Lauren BryantMonk. It includes a variety of tools that can help you run very successful and comfortable online game sessions. You can also utilize your other tools to assist with safety, like having a shared Google Doc with everyone’s preferences or sending private messages to the facilitator for anonymous feedback. When players feel safe and heard, you get the very best play from everyone.

Now let’s talk about how to find the right game for online play. All games can be played online, but there are some that work better with video chats and online tools than others.

There are certain criteria that I always look for when determining if a game will work well online. The first is the required materials for the game, and how easy it is to share them. If each player needs a 300-page printed book, that will be more difficult to facilitate than a game that offers short, digital documents that can be shared online.

Additionally, consider what play materials each player needs, such as character sheets and reference guides, and how easy it is to share those with everyone.

The second aspect I consider is additional components. This can be dice, minis, tokens, maps, or any other item that the game expects you will have physically in front of you. The primary concern is cost and availability, making sure that all players have access to these, but you also want to consider how these components will be shared by players.

For example, a single pile of tokens that is shared between players will be very hard to track when each player is at a different table. Tokens that are used freely between players are much easier to manage online.

Once you’ve considered the physical components of the game, you’ll want to think about how the

• Our Lady by Jess Go – a cardbased storytelling game for three children and the magical woman who changed their lives. Available at go-jg.itch.io/our-lady • Lasers and Feelings by John Harper – a one-page game with few required materials, a good bit of dice rolling, and plenty of replayability. Available at onesevendesign.com/laserfeelings • Reunification by Press Pot Games – a letter-writing game about a family separated by civil war.

Available at presspotgames.itch. io/reunification • Dungeons & Dragons by Wizards of the Coast – the classic roleplaying game is available for online play at Roll20.net

game is played. If the game is heavily focused on physical maps, miniatures, or measuring distance, make sure you have the necessary tools to facilitate that. Don’t expect to go into a crunchy battle simulator over voice chat and have it play well. On the other end of the spectrum, if you are limited to voice-only communication, look for games that have to do with storytelling and making choices rather than managing components and rolling dice.

Online tabletop gaming may seem daunting at first, even a little embarrassing to play into your webcam, but I assure you that it will be a rewarding experience. Even outside of quarantine, online gaming can be a great way to keep in touch with distant friends and work around busy schedules. With a few online tools and the right game, you too can run a successful and safe gaming experience on the world wide web. spring 2020 • AROUND THE table 61

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Zen in Gaming with Tang Garden

By Gonzalo Aguirre Bisi, Founder & President of Thundergryph Games

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ang Garden is a Zen-like game that will take you to the first golden age of China, where players will progressively build a garden by creating the landscape, placing the scenery and projecting their vision through vertical panoramas. During the construction, noblemen will visit the garden to admire the surroundings and the way the natural elements coexist in the most breathtaking scenery humankind has ever laid their eyes upon.

After testing a prototype in 2015, Francesco Testini felt the need to start a project with Pierluca Zizzi. When Testini discussed with him his intentions, Zizzi came up with an instant idea that bounced into his head without hesitation, and suggested: “Given your passion for the Orient, what do you think about the construction of a poetic and romantic garden, where characters gain points depending on what they view with their own eyes and their feelings about it?” Testini was very intrigued by the idea of the characters having their own preferences and personalities, it felt like the player’s aim was to please the characters in the game.

By then, Testini had visited many Chinese gardens in Suzhou, Shanghai and

Xi’an. Among them he visited the famous Huaqing Palace, built for Yang Guifei.

After researching the topic thoroughly he also found out that the Tang dynasty wasn’t only the golden age of art, poetry, music and calligraphy, among various aspects of the Chinese culture, it was also the golden age for the construction of gardens. This led to the first steps of the game we know today as Tang Garden.

Many things changed and evolved in the process of the game’s creation, but a big part of the game was there from day one, such as: the decorations, the poet, the artist, the emperor and many other characters.

“We put a lot of effort into making the characters easy to remember but at the same time coherent to each other and to their own personalities, applying all the knowledge that I gained during my freshly finished degree in oriental studies,” said Testini.

A year later Tang Garden was noticed

by Aguirre Bisi from Thundergryph Games.He was amazed by it and they started immediately building up the game along with the authors.

After two years of development, the game was concluded. Thundergryph said: “We have great plans for the future of this game and we can’t wait for players to experience what we have created with so much passion.”

With a simple and engaging tile placement and set collection mechanism, Tang Garden will adapt to any audience.

The journey of discovering all the visitors and the hidden strategies behind its simplicity will give great replayability no matter if you are playing solo or with others.

Francesco Testini states: “Tang Garden is a poetic game, a chemistry born from passionate people, and I hope this shows through your game sessions, giving you great satisfaction and fun.”

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Break the Code!

By Emma Recher, Executive Assistant, IELLO. Localized by John Stephens, Retail Liaison, IELLO.

A

game of questions, deductions, and intuition.

In Break the Code, each player has a hidden code, a series of colored numbers drawn randomly and placed sequentially. This is your code, and through the course of the game your opponents’ will try to break it. Why? Well, to win the game. They can’t win the game without breaking your code. Can you guess their code before they guess yours?

Break the Code is simple, just uncover the secrets of your opponents’ codes without revealing yours.

Choose the right question!

Shared by all players are six question cards, drawn from the deck and turned, face up. On your turn you get to choose which of those six questions you’d like to ask, and use the answers from your opponents to learn about their code. You have to make good use of these questions, for when they are asked they get discarded, and a new question from the deck will take its place.

Each question and answer will bring you a little closer to your opponents’ code, as long as you choose your questions carefully.

evolution of information and ratchets up the excitement. Every question now becomes a double-edged sword, because even the person asking the question has to answer. Learning to gather vital information without surrendering any of your own is an intoxicating thought exercise every turn.

A highly addictive experience!

Break the Code breaks the mold of classic deduction games. Each piece of information you gather is important, and you have to make the most of the questions available to gather and hide information. You’ll have to know when to take risks, and to end the game you’ll have to accumulate enough information to reveal the secret code. Remember, you only get one try, so don’t go too early and lose the game with incomplete information.

In Break the Code you’ll discover an excellent experience, packed with nervous tension and deductive fun.

Three games in one box!

Break the Code changes based on the number of players!

With two players you compete against one another, racing to deduce your opponents’ code before they can break yours. The game becomes a duel of speed and precision, there is no guessing, if you’re wrong the game is over. When you ask a question only your opponent answers, so choose questions not only to gather information, but to hide information from your foe.

With three players the competition becomes a race to find a hidden fourth code, in the center of the table. Through the use of strategic elimination you’ll find out what numbers your opponents’ are hiding from you so that you can figure out the nonplayer code first. Every question you ask will be answered by both your opponents.

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Playing at Home

By Ian Birdsall, Marketing & Brand Management, OffDutyNinja

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tronghold Games is well known for having a diverse catalog.

From their arguable flagship, the brain-burning, heavy Euro Terraforming Mars, to lighter titles that are great for gamers of all ages, and everything in between.

Recently, I have been exploring the many roll & write style games that Stronghold offers. Being cooped up and unable to have my usual game night gatherings, I have been in need of games that are great for solo play when I need a break, but also easy for my family to play with me. Finding a game that is quick to play, fun and challenging for all levels of gamer is a harder task than one might think.

Stronghold has put together an impressive collection that is great for any gamer and well-balanced for any player count.

I want to call out one of these in particular today. Second Chance by Uwe Rosenburg. A card-based system, as opposed to a roll of the dice, drives the gameplay of Second Chance.

Each player, 1 to 6, starts with a sheet of paper containing a 9 x 9 grid and draws a starting tile card. These cards have various shaped polyominoes that each player will draw on their respective grids. Then, each turn two cards are drawn from a general

deck showing a choice of options for each player to add to their grid. The available shapes remaining are listed on a handy player reference so you can strategically make your choices based on what remains in the deck.

As your grid fills, you will start to run out of options. If you cannot place one of the 2 drawn shapes into your grid, you get to draw an additional card from the top of the deck as a second chance. It is also your last chance because if you still can’t fit the shape into your grid, you are out! There are three ways to win: have the fewest empty squares when the deck runs out, be the last player standing, or be the first to completely fill your grid (an accomplishment that has evaded me).

Even though there is technically player elimination, the games go quickly and it usually happens in the final minutes, so it is not a concern.

Playing solo has you complete a series of three games in the same way as multiplayer with the goal of trying to have less than 10 empty squares in total! It is not easy.

I would be remiss if I did not mention some of the other games in this genre from the Stronghold Games catalog. If you have already picked up a copy of Second Chance or want more options, try one of these.

Brikks, by Wolfgang Warsch, plays 1 to 4 and is basically pen and paper Tetris. You are even able to slide the piece sideways into an available slot that is just as satisfying as it was in the classic console game. Complete rows to score points and collect energy points that you can use for things such as rotating your piece. After 20-30 minutes, everyone should have filled their grid, the game is over and you tally your scores to find the winner.

The award-winning That’s Pretty Clever and its sequel Twice as Clever, also by Wolfgang Warsch have some excellent player interaction. Roll the dice and choose which to use to try and collect scoring combos, but your choices will affect the choices of the other players and vice versa. Twice as Clever adds five new dice and additional actions to the mix for when you’re looking to shake it up.

Dizzle by Ralf zur Linde adds dice drafting to the roll & write format.

The trick is that subsequent dice must match the previous choice! Fill your personal board with these dice and mark off the boxes at the end of each round. Keep an eye on the dice the other players need so you do not get stuck in a corner.

Keep an eye out for these small pricepoint titles that pack loads of entertainment into a small box!

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ALL YOU NEED IS A PEN!

8+

1-6

15min

strongholdgames.com

1. Reveal two cards

2. Draw one shape

3. Fill your board to win

Fill your board completely and outlast the other players. If you can’t make a shape fit, don’t panic.

Everyone gets a Second Chance!

GREAT FOR SOLO PLAY OR WITH YOUR CLOSE FRIENDS. FIND THE SMALL BOX GAME THAT’S JUST “WRITE” FOR YOU!

ICE D E H WT O R H T OS B M O TC C E L L CO

!

T A E P E R

The award-winning That’s So Clever, and it’s sequel, Twice As Clever shake up the Roll & Write genre. A combination of games that will keep the game night rolling for a long time!

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Attention! Front Line

NO KOMRADES!

By Brian Niro, Director, Anvil Eight Games

F

ront Line No Komrades is a delightfully cut-throat variant on the casual party and group game genres.

In FLNK, players assume the role of Komrades – hapless conscripts who have been forcefully marched off to the front by their merciless Kommissar. Each round, any one of a deep assortment of misfortunes from the Incoming! Deck is launched at the Komrades. Your conscript’s job is to stay in the game by avoiding damage and by making sure your “Komrades” get the worst of it.

With friends like these, who needs Komrades?

Oh!?!

Front Line No Komrades is a line movement, card action, and player elimination party game with cascading damage that prevents any one player from resting too long.

FLNK is a party game that can be played and enjoyed by children, teens, and adults alike. We found that it was often the case that party games were restricted to one age group, and that didn’t seem like the best option to us! So we have designed FLNK to be both approachable and endearing.

At the end of the day, Front Line No Komrades is tailored for anyone looking for a light game that doesn’t inundate players with volumes of rules and false complexity. There is depth to the strategy of FLNK, but that depth can be very quickly explored and easily navigated.

Did you say “group therapy session”?

Players should expect some light-hearted fun with their family and friends! We recommend approaching the game in a friendly-aggressive manner for the most laidback, disruptive, and joyous play style. Think of it as a group therapy session. Friendly

grudges will be created and others resolved while your poor Komrades endure their tribulations on the tabletop.

Because the typical game of FLNK will take between 15 to 40 minutes, depending on the number of Komrades and the player familiarity with the rules and game contents, players are able to play several games in very little time at all.

Wait… There’s more?

But of course!

Oxna Bears All is a brilliant expansion for the hit card game Front Line No Komrades. Oxna continues the fast-paced card game of survival, but offers new expansive play possibilities, including several fun new Komrades and quirky new equipment.

Most importantly, Oxna Bears All offers new ways to play the basic game – with unique missions for your rag-tag group of conscripts as well exceptionally compelling options for cooperative play and linked campaigns. The expansion includes Scenario cards, dangerous new Incoming! Cards, new Characters, Equipment, Maneuvers, and Events.

And more???

Jawohl!

Kameradenschweine is another mesmerizing new expansion for the hit card game Front Line No Komrades.

Kameradenschweine has been a labor of love from creator Will Conway and award-winning artist Kwanchai Moriya, who has created an entirely new cast of conscripts and Kommandant for the No Komrades core game. The expansion includes new Scenario cards, thematic new Incoming! Cards, a whole new cast of Characters, Maneuvers, Events, and Equipment (requires Front Line No Komrades to play).

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Birds, Bees, and Butterflies of Board Gaming

B

oard gaming has long been a hobby where underlining and adjacent interests of the players collide. In fact, many see board games delineated not by mechanics but by theming.

As the industry has expanded in recent years, the boom it has experienced has brought new outside interests into the hobby, with theming and mechanics intersecting. One such area has focused on existing ecosystems. “I like to use boardgames to explore any topic that I want to emotionally impact someone,” explains Matt Shoemaker, designer of Bee Lives: We Will Only Know Summer. Shoemaker is not only a librarian who cherishes knowledge, but is also a beekeeper. His idea was to capture the habits of bees into a board game that not only explored a complex topic, but did so in a fun but engaging manner.

While this phenomenon is nothing new, the ecological shift toward pollinators and how they are vital to the environment is. Look no further than Elizabeth Hargrave, designer of the smash hit Kennerspiel des Jahres winner, Wingspan. Hargrave wanted board gamers to connect to the same pleasures she experiences as a birder. “There’s something about playing a board game that creates a sense of attachment to the things that are mine in the game.” Matt Shoemaker shares a similar idealism: “Board games let you take these broad, abstract concepts and turn them into something tangible … and be emotionally impacted by.”

These attachments to the subjects and their actions continues to inspire Hargraves, whose latest board game exploration centers on the flight patterns of butterflies in Mariposas. “The core idea came from the migration behavior of monarch butterflies,” Hargraves begins. “I wanted to tell that story, and I wanted gameplay to look on the board like the migration maps that you see.”

The influence of behaviors from birds, bees, and butterflies directly influences design decisions during development. Paul Salomon, the designer behind Honey Buzz, notes, “The honey production mechanism in the game today is based on the actual way bees turn nectar to honey.” Shoemaker’s Bee Lives also explores this dynamic. “You’re visiting all of these flowers and doing what you can to make enough honey, but it’s still a challenge just to survive.”

Survival and instinct become mechanics, challenging players not only to optimize movement but to become part of the subject matter as a means to leverage their natural advantages. “The brownheaded cowbird is a nest parasite that lays its eggs in other birds’ nests.” Hargrave describes the bird’s habits in real-life, before explaining how it manifests itself within Wingspan. “So in the game, when someone else lays eggs, your brown-headed cowbird gives you the power to lay an egg on another bird’s nest.”

By Justin Spicer

However, the longer lasting impact of these games may be on the publishers and players. Wingspan has had an impact on those who have taken the time to embrace its unique theme. Hargrave has “heard from gamers who have started birding because of Wingspan.” Her hobbies, including raising monarch butterflies, are quickly becoming hobbies for board gamers who had little to no exposure before playing Hargraves’s games. Salomon notes that “people are often scared of bees, but they’re very sweet and innocent,” and feels confident games like Honey Buzz will help promote their benefits. Honey Buzz’s publisher, Elf Creek, has also made commitments to donate to an appropriate organization that promotes the continued preservation efforts of bees and their habitats.

“I hope the game shows gamers that some games can be difficult and frustrating, yet still be fun,” expresses Shoemaker. “Life out there is difficult for many wild animals and we shouldn’t take for granted everyday things just because they are easy for us to acquire.”

Hargrave shares a similar sentiment when it comes to the spirit of Wingspan and Mariposas and the investment players make in their gaming habitats. “These are my birds, my butterflies -- and I care how they do. Perhaps it will also remind people to look at these creatures and care about them out in the world, when they’re done playing.”

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s

Tenants and Landlords

Effective negotiations during the Covid 19 outbreak

By David Wheeler, CEO of Dragon’s Lair Comics & Fantasy franchise

I

know that everyone here is going to need to negotiate with their landlords at this time. I took the opportunity to speak to a good friend, whose family owns a number of commercial properties throughout the country.

She indicated the following (with some additional notes from myself).

First, from me, consider that this can and should be viewed in the same way that initially negotiating for a space is viewed, with some advantages; you already have a relationship with the landlord, you are already in the space, and ideally you have a good history with them.

Perhaps most importantly, it is less expensive to work with you, the tenant that they know and have already paid to have in the space, than an unknown.

Consider the costs that a landlord has incurred in getting you into the space. They have paid a broker to find you and negotiate with you.

They have already paid for tenant improvements, which is often the value of a significant number of months of rent. They have a vested interest in keeping an existing tenant in the space rather than having to go out and find another tenant to fill the space and to incur the same costs again.

The coronavirus, in some ways, is a great leveler as well. The demand for new spaces is likely to be low and there is less of a guarantee that a new tenant is going to succeed. It is to the advantage of the landlord to keep an existing tenant in the space than to incur the costs to find a new tenant.

Additionally, an empty space is more likely to experience wear and tear at the landlord’s expense.

My friend’s family has already begun to consider how they can keep their existing tenants.

They realize that, while they are hoping to recoup their lost revenues in January 2021 by deferring missed rents and amortizing them over 2021, that as they near that point that they may need to re-negotiate.

What her family is most concerned about, because they have few mortgages, is getting paid their CAM and/or NNN. In other words, they are less interested in whether or not they make money right now, but more interested in not having to pay out money at this time.

This demonstrates that it is important to try to find out what is motivating the landlord that you are negotiating with. The easiest way to do this is to ask them. At least in the case of my friend’s family, while of course they want to make money, they are empathetic to the plight of their tenants and would rather keep existing tenants, and have good relationships for the future.

Something to realize on the tenant side is that this is not a time to try to go for the deals that have nothing to do with the current crisis.

I would not recommend trying to negotiate for rent reductions that will go beyond this time of mutual pain.

By dealing genuinely and honestly with landlords we are more likely to help ensure positive outcomes for everyone. We are in this for the long haul and we want to forge good alliances with those we work with, at all levels of the industry.

If you are dealing with a large conglomerate, you may not have the leeway that you might have with a family owned center. In this case you may have to try to encourage a sympathetic manager to go to bat for you.

When you go to negotiate with your landlord or their agent, you should be ready to provide them with documentation showing your financials and be ready to provide them. You also should see if you can collect statements from adjoining businesses showing how you work with them to bring more customers into a center.

Don’t look at this as a “Tenant versus Landlord” interaction. Look at this as a “Tenant and Landlord working together to overcome a common problem” interaction.

You want to stay. They want you to stay.

Find out a way forward for both of you.

Should you find that a landlord doesn’t seem to be amenable to listening to you, it might be effective to have an attorney write a letter on your behalf. While the attorney’s letter is likely to include the same items that you have already discussed with your landlord, for some individuals a letter from an attorney carries much more weight. An appeal from a person with supposed expertise (an attorney) may have a greater effect than your words alone.

The downsides to this are two-fold. First, it

costs money to hire an attorney. Also hiring an attorney may be taken negatively by a landlord as an escalation. I would exercise a great deal of caution before bringing an attorney into the discussion.

Also, from a practical standpoint, it demonstrates that you are a professional who is willing to use an attorney at need. No landlord is going to want to not only face the costs of replacing a tenant who wants to work with them, but also potential legal costs of fighting a tenant that wishes to stay.

To sum up: 1) Go into your negotiations with a positive point of view and an “us against the virus” attitude.

2) Expect to provide documentation to support that you are actually in pain and that this is a temporary set back, and that you are a strong business that will survive, not someone who was on their way out anyway.

3) Find out what is motivating your landlord and see what their immediate needs are.

4) Expect to be in ongoing negotiations. This is unlikely to be a “one and done”.

5) This is not a time to negotiate on issues that do not pertain to the pain caused by Covid 19.

My final thought is this. Should it really come down to a situation where you cannot negotiate with your landlord and you are forced out of a location, this is not necessarily the end.

You may be able to find a landlord who will offer you better terms. No matter how this goes, at least in the short term, there will be a lot of businesses that fail and that will mean open spaces in complexes. While it is expensive to make such a move, there are also opportunities.

But it is far better to stay where you are, and come to a good accommodation, than to move.

Please feel free to reach out to me for advice and support during negotiations.

And now, the obligatory caveat: Neither my friend or I are attorneys or accountants or property brokers. You should consult with them before making any actions. These are our opinions based upon years of experience. They do not constitute legal advice by any stretch of the imagination. spring 2020 • AROUND THE table 69

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GAMA

news

GAMA Expo 2020 Recap W

e are grateful for all the support during this year’s Expo from our presenters, sponsors, exhibitors, and attendees. Attendance was strong considering the late breaking news about the spread of the coronavirus resulting in several dozen exhibitors cancelling at the last minute. The overwhelming feedback we received from our 1,400 attendees was very positive with many commenting that it was their best show in years.

We were very pleased that 75.3 percent of attendees downloaded the show app and used the comment features to provide feedback on

the seminars, exhibit hall, game nights, the app, the meals, and other aspects of the program. The staff are reviewing this feedback and will use it to help plan for next year’s Expo.

Additionally, we have forwarded feedback to all presenters so they can continue to improve.

Overall, we had 1,402 attendees, a decrease of 16 percent from 2019. Of that number there were 636 unique retailer badges representing 361 retail locations at the show. In the exhibit hall there were 170 booths, that even with the cancellations, represented an increase of 12.5 percent over last year.

Many of the new exhibitors were smaller publishers or first-time exhibitors and we were happy that we were able to accommodate them at the show this year.

Last, we wanted to send a special thanks to the GAMA staff and to Jeff Jones and the volunteers from RageCon (Reno Area Gaming Expo) that all worked so hard behind the scenes to pull the show together. Through the long days, you pulled together to put on a great conference.

Thank you all!

Rick Loomis Service Award

This award was created to honor the legacy of GAMA founder Rick Loomis and the service he made to the association and hobby games industry during his career. Rick’s sister Laura Samuelson and business partner Steve Crompton both shared meaningful words on stage before

GAMA President Stephan Brissaud presented the award.

Avonelle Wing was chosen as the inaugural recipient of this award for her tireless contributions to gaming conventions through her work at Double Exposure. She is a huge proponent of increasing representation and intersectionality within the hobby games community.

Congratulations, Avonelle!

Power Retail Awards The GAMA Retail Division honors the best in retail innovation and creativity each year by presenting the Power Retail Awards. Nominations were open through Fall of 2019 to anyone who wished to recognize an exceptional store, with the winners chosen by the GRD. See page 10 for an interview of two of the winners!

The 2020 awards were presented to: Outstanding Marketing - Zia Comics | Las Cruces, NM Outstanding Organized Play - Just Games Rochester | Rochester, NY Outstanding Store Design - The Ludoquist | Croydon, UK Outstanding Store - The Ludoquist | Croydon, UK We hope everyone had a wonderful show and returned home full of new ideas and connections. Save the date for Expo 2021 at the Peppermill, March 15-18!

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GAMA

news

Origins Postponed to October; Origins Online Scheduled for June

T

he Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA), the nonprofit organization serving the hobby games industry, today announced that it will postpone the 46th Annual Origins Game Fair, originally scheduled for June 17-21, 2020, at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, to October 7-11, 2020. The tabletop convention attracts more than 20,000 attendees from around the world to central Ohio to play thousands of board games, collectible card games, miniatures and role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: the Gathering, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Catan, and hundreds of other titles.

The decision to postpone the convention follows extensive discussions with its membership, the city of Columbus, the Greater Columbus Convention Center, hotel partners, and exhibitors. “The decision to postpone the convention was not one we made lightly,” said GAMA Executive Director, John Stacy. “The safety and well-being of the Origins community is our number one priority. Given the current health situation, we believe that it is best to move the convention to October.”

With the postponement, GAMA also announced that they would be hosting an online gaming convention during the original show weekend, June 19-21, 2020. Origins Online 2020 will be a fully virtual convention for tabletop gaming fans to enjoy from their devices and will feature an Exhibit Hall where attendees can demo and buy games and merchandise. In addition, the virtual convention will offer streaming workshops and educational seminars with guest authors, artists and game designers, plus hundreds of games online that attendees can sign up to participate in.

“We are all in this together. The postponement of the in-person event and introduction of Origins Online is an opportunity for the hobby games industry and broader gaming community to get excited together and come back stronger on the other side of this pandemic,” Stacy continued.

Details regarding the postponement of Origins Game Fair and Origins Online are shared on the event’s website OriginsGameFair.com. spring 2020 • AROUND THE table 71

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GAMA

news

Covid-19 Resources

During this rapidly evolving crisis, GAMA is here to support you and your business with information, networking, and advocacy. The COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented and will continue to require many changes to our normal routines and business practices. GAMA would like to share with you the steps we are taking as an association to help support our members during this difficult time.

Governmental Action

Coronavirus Paid Sick Leave and Expanded Family Leave Law (Effective April 1, 2020) - GAMA members need to prepare for the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), which was enacted into law on March 18, 2020, and takes effect April 1, 2020.

The federal law mandates employers provide for paid sick leave (up to 10 days) and expands the Family and Medical Leave Act for up to 10 weeks. The cost of all paid sick, family, and medical leave incurred under the new law will be reimbursed to companies via payroll tax credits. Small businesses with fewer than 50 employees may qualify for exemption from the requirement to provide leave due to school closings or childcare unavailability if the leave requirements would jeopardize the viability of the business as a going concern.

Where cost to provide the leave is greater than payroll taxes, the IRS will send a check to the employer to cover the costs.

Please note that health insurance costs are also included in the credit, employers face no payroll tax liability and self-employed individuals receive an equivalent credit.

Federal CARES ACT Implemented to Support Small Businesses - On March 27, H.R. 748 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), a $2 trillion stimulus package designed to provide aid to states, industry and workers during the coronavirus outbreak was enacted into law. Among the key features of this law are a $349 billion are: • The Paycheck Protection Program, which authorizes the Small Business Administration (SBA) to provide forgivable loans to small businesses to use for payroll expenses, such as employee salaries, paid sick or medical leave, insurance premiums, and mortgage, rent, and utility payments. The loan forgiveness option is structured to incentivize employers to keep their employees on the payroll. The amount of paycheck protection loans that will be forgiven will be reduced proportionally by any reduction in the employees or significant reduction in employee pay.

• Provides for an Employee Retention Credit, a refundable payroll tax credit worth 50 percent of employee wages paid during the COVID-19 emergency.

• Allows employers and self-employed individuals to defer payment of the employer share of the Social Security tax.

• Expands access to federal unemployment benefits to those not traditionally eligible including those who are self-employed, independent contractors or with limited work history.

• Provides for a one time payment of up to $1,200 to eligible adults to help with lost income due to COVID-19.

U.S. Legal Organizations Offer COVID-19 Assistance - With uncertainty over job security, evictions, insurance coverage, and the future of businesses, the legal needs of the American people have grown due to COVID-19. In response, several organizations have risen to meet the demand. On Friday March 27, the Lawyers for Good Government Foundation (L4GG) announced the launch of its Small Business Remote Legal Clinic, offering pro bono legal consultations for small business owners to help them understand and act upon the options available under the COVID-19 stimulus package and other grant and loan programs that may be available to them. L4GG says it has put together a coalition of 34 law firms in 30 cities across the U.S. to help staff the remote legal clinics.

SBA to Provide Disaster Assistance Loans for Small Businesses Impacted by Coronavirus (COVID-19) - SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loans offer up to $2 million in assistance for a small business. These loans can provide vital economic support to small businesses to help overcome the temporary loss of revenue they are experiencing. The SBA loans can be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable and other bills that can’t be paid because of the disaster’s impact. The interest rate is 3.75% for small businesses without credit available elsewhere.

Federal Lawmakers Working on Economic Stimulus Package - Congressional leaders and the White House are working on different proposals to try to blunt the impact of COVID-19 on the U.S. economy and it’s expected a package could be voted on next week. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the White House wants to send most Americans $1,000 within three weeks and an additional $500 per child to counter the rapidly declining economy. The cash payments to many Americans would total $500 billion and is part of a $1 trillion economic stimulus plan that the White House and Senate are working on. The administration is also proposing measures to help small businesses, including nonprofit groups, obtain loans and creating an emergency lending program for airlines.

H.R. 6201: Families First Coronavirus Response Act - Congress has passed, and the president has signed into law the Families First Coronavirus Act which seeks to strengthens the social safety net by providing tax credits to business to cover the costs of both the expanded sick leave and expanded FMLA coverage as outlined below. The credit is applied to the tax the company normally pays for each employee’s Social Security. This is the 6.2 percent tax employers pay on each employee’s salary. If sick leave or family and medical leave ends up costing more than the Social Security bill,

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GAMA

news

Covid-19 Resources

(continued)

the U.S. government will send the employer a check to cover the remaining costs.

The expanded coverage under the bill include: Increased Sick Leave Benefit – Requires employers to provide two weeks of paid sick leave for people who become infected with the coronavirus or have to care for someone who is, as well as people who are quarantined or whose place of work or children’s school is closed due to coronavirus.

Expanded Emergency Family and Medical Leave - employees will be able to take up to three months of paid family and medical leave, equal to no less than two-thirds of their pay if they have to quarantine themselves or care for a family member who is quarantined or for a child whose school has been closed.

Increased federal dollars for Food Security Programs - provides for $1.5 billion for food programs aimed at helping those who may struggle to get access to meals during the pandemic, including those who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), food banks, and the 22 million children who receive free or reduced-price lunch at school.

Increased Emergency Unemployment Insurance - Provides $1 billion in 2020 for emergency grants to states to assist with

processing and paying unemployment insurance. These funds will be managed by each state and further mandates state’s waive waiting periods and job search requirements if the unemployment was caused as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Retailer Support Programs

Many GAMA publisher members are working on programs to support retailers during this unprecedented time. If you are a publisher offering a retail support program, please email us at media@gama.org so we can include you in this centralized list of initiatives.

FLGS Locator

We have launched a Friendly Local Game Store (FLGS) locator for retailers (both GAMA members and non-members). To ensure your listing has accurate information, please complete this survey at your earliest convenience: forms.gle/rQU3yS8UTLq4ceeu9 In addition to your business information, we will also highlight any alternate services you are offering customers, including curbside pickup, local delivery, gift card sales, and more.

For more info on these resources and more, please visit gama.org/page/covid-19-resources

We offer over 1200 different dice, as well as, pawns, timers, sorting chips, dice bags, dice cups and dice jewelery.

Packaged for a variety of retail solutions.

View our complete catalog at

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NEW

members Distributor

Geek Culture Distribution Australasia, New Zealand geekculture.co.nz

JDWBoardGames Nampa, ID Kube Creations Lancaster, PA

InDiPro Games Seattle, WA indiprogames.com

KVue Art Sacramento, CA kvueart.com

Spiral Galaxy Games Shropshire, UK

LPR Games Dallas, TX facebook.com/LPRanchGames

Event Organizer CFB Events Santa Clara, CA cfbevents.com

Name Games Charleston, SC babiators.com

GobbleCon Game Convention San Francisco, CA gobblecon.com

NSDMG Columbus, OH

SCARAB Columbia, SC s-c-a-r-a-b.com Southern-Fried Gaming Expo Lawrenceville, GA GameATL.com Independent Game Designer, Artist, or Author Adam Michaud Corvallis, OR Andy Van Zandt development and design Uintah, UT Better Tomorrows Berry Creek, CA Cause & Affect Elberton, GA Comaco Mercer Island, WA comaco.fun

Richard H. Perry Lopez Island, WA twitter.com/RichardHPerry

Global Printing, Sourcing & Development San Rafael, CA globalpsd.com Kicktraq Worthington, OH kicktraq.com Lightspeed Global Ontario, Canada lightspeedglobal.ca Liminal Operations Fort Collins, CO liminaloperations.com Line of Sight Design Greenville, SC lineofsight.design Meijia board game factory Jiangsu, China meijia.games

Ridgeline Games San Luis Obispo, CA

Next Level Web Vista, CA nextlevelweb.com

Sackt Tracy, CA

onepointnine Beaverton, OR

Scratch Paper Sun Valley, NV

Other Stuff Games San Diego, CA otherstuff.games

Tracy Alan Games Portland, OR tracyalan.com Industry Service Provider AEON Law, PLLC Seattle, WA aeonlaw.com CMX Gaming Double Oak, TX cmxgaming.com DreamPop Tampa, FL

Dragon Force 195 Millersburg, OH

eBay San Jose, CA ebay.com

Dragonflower Ink Arcata, CA dragonflower.ink

Game Pharos Seattle, WA gamepharos.com

Etho San DIego, CA

Games Without Frontiers Washington, DC

Galda Games INDIANAPOLIS, IN galdagames.com

GamesQuest Hampshire, UK shipquest.co.uk

Hall or Nothing Productions Lancashire, UK hallornothingproductions. co.uk

Genuine Entertainment Los Angeles, CA genuineent.com

Overboard Longview, WA Quests And Chaos Newark, CA questsandchaos.com Rho Sigma Condominio Cantabria, Guatemala Seek Lehi, UT seekxr.com Ship Daddy Boiling Springs, PA goshipdaddy.com SiOCAST, S.L.U Barcelona, Spain siocast.com Thunderforge Productions Virginia Beach, VA Wood, Herron & Evans Cincinnati, OH whe-law.com Media Cimoooooooo Las Vegas, NV youtube.com/user/Cimoooooooo

ComicBook.com Columbus, OH comicbook.com

Chara Games Fort Walton Beach, FL charagames.com

Everything Board Games Gilbert, AZ everythingboardgames.com

Definitely Not Evil Labs SAINT GEORGE, UT definitelynotevillabs.com

Fear the Boot Manchester, MO feartheboot.com

Dire Wolf Digital Denver, CO direwolfdigital.com

Game Boy Geek Gilbert, AZ GameBoyGeek.com

Enhance Gaming Westlake Village, CA EnhanceGaming.com

The Influence Foundation Hazelwood, MO TheInfluenceFoundation.com

Fandom Tabletop San Francisco, CA cortexrpg.com

Love Thy Nerd Granite Shoals, TX

Furious Tree Games Townsend, MA furioustreegames.com

TabletopGamingNews.com Richmond, VA TabletopGamingNews.com Publisher Ariah Studios La Grange, IL ariahstudios.com Ars Invenio Collective Columbus, OH arsinveniocollective.com Atheris Entertainment Orlando, FL atherisentertainment.com Azure Knight Games DEPEW, NY azureknightgames.com B.A. Games Lincoln, NE bagamesco.com Bad Cat Media Seattle, WA badcat.media Bellwether Games Bryan, TX bellwethergames.com Big Cat Games Pleasanton, CA bigcatgames.biz Blok Party South San Francisco, CA playtable.com

Game and a Curry Wood-Ridge, NJ gameandacurry.com Game Trayz O'Fallon, MO gametrayz.com Gamelyn Games Queen Creek, AZ gamelyngames.com Gatwick Games Holladay, UT gatwickgames.com Guildhall Studios Bellevue, WA seaoflegendsgame.com Haunted Castle Gaming Ontario, Canada hauntedcastlegaming.com Hunters Entertainment Van Nuys, CA huntersentertainment.com Inkwell Ideas Brambleton, VA inkwellideas.com Inside the Box London, UK itbboardgames.com Jack Dire Studios Huntington Beach, CA Jackdire.com

Cards For All Columbus, OH

Jasco Games Lubbock, TX jascogames.net

Cat Quartet Games Bellevue, WA catquartetgames.com

Kansas City Board Game Company Kansas City, MO

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NEW

members

Leder Games St Paul, MN ledergames.com

Around the Table Lynnwood, WA attgamepub.com

Gamescape Tallahassee, FL gamescape.com

Its Your Move Games Oakland, CA itsyourmoveoakland.com

OFF THE SHELF GAMES El Cajon, CA offtheshelfgames.com

Legend Story Studios Auckland, New Zealand fabtcg.com

Assortmart Stanton, CA assortmart.com/

The Games Cube New South Wales, Australia

JDR Distribution Clermont, FL

Omnihedral Savage, MD

Level 99 Games Albuquerque, NM

Baseball Card Warehouse Lexington, KY bcwcards.com

The Game Store Warrenton, VA facebook.com/theGameStoreVa

Kappa Castle Okinawa, Japan

Parker Banner Kent Wayne Comics Cornelius, NC pbkwcomics.com

Lord of the Chords Singapore lordofthechords.com

Beer and Board Ok, OK

Mount Tiki Games Marietta, GA MountTikiGames.com

Black Powder Trade and Game Las Vegas, NV

Mythic Dreams Studios Anderson Island, WA

Boardwalk Games Dallas, TX boardwalk-games.com

Ninja Star Games Irvine, CA ninjastargames.com Paper Plane Games Quebec, Canada paperplanegames.com PGe Chicago, IL Reef's Edge Creative Pensacola, FL reefsedgecreative.com Shadow Balance Games Carson City, NV shadowbalancegames.com Sirius Dice Brooklyn, NY siriusdice.com Smart Zone Games Plainview, NY smartzonegames.com Starlux Games Los Angeles, CA starluxgames.com Retailer Adventure Games Oshkosh, WI adventuregamesoshkosh. square.site Adventures Underground Richland, WA AdvUnderground.com Alternate Worlds Comics & Games Cockeysville, MD alternateworldscomics.com Arcane Lounge Richwood, WV arcanelounge.com

Bonus Round Game Cafe Chicago, IL bonusroundcafe.com Brute Force Games San Diego, CA bruteforcemtg.com Bumble Bee Games Ferndale, WA Card Merchant Auckland, New Zealand cardmerchant.co.nz Carl G Wargaming New Brunswick, Canada carlgwargaming.ca Dice Envy Sherman Oaks, CA diceenvy.com Drake's Games Mt Pleasant, SC Dungeon Gaming Center Buckeye, AZ dungeongaming.com

The Garage: Games & Geekery British Columbia, Canada garagegames.ca Gator Games San Mateo, CA gatorgames.com Gators Games and Hobby Leavenworth, KS gatorsfeedsyourneeds.com Geeky Teas & Games Burbank, CA geekyteas.com Gestalt Gaming Murfreesboro, TN gestaltgaming.com Great Oaks Tavern Wadsworth, OH greatoakstavern.com Grog's Board Game Club Topeka, KS facebook.com/grogsgames/?ref=bookmarks Heroes Corner Games & Merchandise Chico, CA heroescornergameschico.com Heroic Adventures Edwardsville, IL fantasybooksinc.com

High Tide Games California, MD Face To Face Games Toronto hightidegames.com Ontario, Canada facetofacegames.com Hobby Bench Glendale, AZ Galactic Gamez hobbybenchstores.com Fort Worth, TX galacticgamez.com House of Cards MTG British Columbia, Canada Game Centre houseofcardsmtg.com Auckland, New Zealand gamecentre.info Ink spell Books Half Moon Bay, CA Game Keeper Jeux et inkspellbooks.com Accessoires Quebec, Canada In The Zone Cards and gamekeeperonline.com Games Ashtabula, OH The Gamers Tomb inthezone.tcgplayerpro.com Greenville, NC

Labruutories Fairfield, CA labruutories.com Legendary Game Cafe Ocala, FL legendarygamecafe.com Level Up Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, CA levelupvideogames.com Lost Planet TORRANCE, CA facebook.com/LostPlanetGames magic stronghold games British Columbia, Canada magicstronghold.com Meeple On Board Athens, Greece meepleonboard.gr Meepletown USA Union, KY meepletownusa.com Meta TCG Fort Worth, TX MetaTCG.gg Missing Piece Games Seattle, WA themissingpiecegames.com Modern Games Bend, OR moderngamesbend.com Mr. Nice Guy Games Monroeville, PA mrniceguygames.com Mythicos Studios Succasunna, NJ mythicosevents.com

PLUS EV GAMES Camarillo, CA plusevgames.com THE POP SHOP Sandusky, OH POPSANDUSKY.COM The Relentless Dragon Nashua, NH relentlessdragon.com RockPaperGames Buckley, WA rockpapergames.com R U Game Dexter, MI Runcible Games Rolla, MO Facebook.com/runciblegames Saved Games Library & Shop New Castle, IN savedgameslibrary.tcgplayerpro.com Splendiferous Games Detroit, MI Strange Empire Gaming Caldwell, ID Table Top Cafe Alberta, Canada tabletopcafe.ca Titan Games & Comics Smyrna, GA facebook.com/TitanGamesandComicsSmyrna

The Nerd Cave Lakeport, CA

Triple Play Sports and Games British Columbia, Canada tripleplaysc.com

Next Ridge Games Tampa, FL nextridgegames.com

The Upkeep Games Howell, MI theupkeepgames.com

North Game Den LAYTON, UT facebook.com/northgameden

YGO Black Market Grand Terrace, CA

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INDEX OF advertisers Company............................................................................................... website

adverstory page......... ad page

Anvil Eight Games................................................................. anvil-eight.com....................................... 66........................67 Arcane Wonders............................................................ arcanewonders.com....................................... 46........................47 BCW Supplies.......................................................................bcwsupplies.com....................................... 24........................25 Best Coast Pairings...................................................bestcoastpairings.com...................................................................70 Bezier Games.......................................................................beziergames.com....................................... 42.................. 40-41 Bloomsbury Publishing........................................... ospreypublishing.com....................................... 12........................13 Candor USA........................................................................... candor.insurance....................................... 18........................19 Chip Theory Games...................................................chiptheorygames.com......................................8-9....................... C1 Easy Roller Dice Company............................................ easyrollerdice.com...................................................................49 Elf Creek Games.............................................................. elfcreekgames.com....................................... 20.................. 21-23 GameFor.................................................................................iamgamefor.com..................................................................... 6 Green Ronin Publishing......................................................greenronin.com...................................................................17 HABA USA..................................................................................... habausa.com...................................................................27 IELLO USA.......................................................................................iellousa.com....................................... 63....................... C4 Indie Boards & Cards.........................................indieboardsandcards.com....................................... 64........................65 Janken Deck...........................................................................jankendeck.com...................................................................71 Koplow................................................................................ koplowgames.com...................................................................73 KTBG/Burnt Island Games.................................................kidstablebg.com....................................... 50........................51 Lucky Duck Games..................................................... luckyduckgames.com....................................... 62....................... C2 Parallel Games Inc................................................ parallelboardgames.com....................................... 58........................59 Pegasus Spiele....................................................................pegasus-web.com....................................... 14........................15 PvP Geeks................................................................................ playskytear.com....................................... 52........................53 Renegade Game Studios............................................renegadegames.com....................................... 28........................29 Ringtail CafĂŠ Productions..................................................ringtailcafe.com....................................... 30........................31 Rio Grande Games....................................................... riograndegames.com....................................... 34........................35 Southern Hobby Supply..............................................southernhobby.com...................................................................71 Steve Jackson Games...............................................................sjgames.com....................................... 36........................37 USAopoly Inc.............................................................................. usaopoly.com....................................... 78................. 77, C3 Van Ryder Games...........................................................vanrydergames.com....................................... 43.......................... 4

To advertise, contact Ashley Cavanagh at 315-789-0473 ashley@fwpi.com

Issue 3rd Quarter 4th Quarter

Deadline June 26 September 25

Mailing Date August 7 November 6

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Get Inside the Walls of

HOGWARTS™ with Harry Potter™

House Cup Competition Nate Heiss on Working Magic into the First Wizarding World Worker Placement Game

H

arry Potter™ House Cup Competition, the first officially licensed Wizarding World themed worker placement game by USAopoly (The Op), lets players assign student workers from their favorite house at Hogwarts™ School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to learn Lessons, complete Challenges, and earn points towards the coveted House Cup! In this highly strategic use of the worker placement mechanic, 2-4 players send out fan favorite Harry Potter™ film characters (three student representatives per House) to gain Knowledge and Magic skills to use towards objectives of various difficulties. The greater the requirements of the Lesson or Challenge, the more points you earn to fill a unique Hourglass Scoring Display with colored gems.

Watch the competition unfold in real time!

Around the Table is taking you inside the walls of Harry Potter™ House Cup Competition with designer Nate Heiss (The Red Dragon Inn: Battle for Greyport, Rumplestiltskin) on how he created a thematic experience for Harry Potter fans to learn first-hand what it takes to win the school year's most prized honor!

The Op: What was your favorite parts about bringing House Cup Competition to life?

Nate Heiss: I was so excited to make a game where the points represented—points!

That never happens. Players are competing and leveling up their students in the arts of Charms, Potions, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. As the students become more experienced, they can use more advanced spaces and complete more

complex Lessons. I am really excited about how this parallels a wizard's journey through their time at Hogwarts, becoming true masters of their craft for the betterment of all.

How did you go about customizing the worker placement mechanic for Hogwarts?

Staying true to the theme with this mechanic already made sense, because your workers improve over time! This means that later in game, the workers can do more interesting and powerful actions. It really meshed well with the idea of students learning and growing at a wizarding school. Early on in the game, the placements seem standard and much like you would expect from other worker placement games. However, by the end, your students are able to cast spells, learn Lessons, and take actions that are fitting of learned wizards!

What are you hoping players will experience learning and playing this game?

I want players to experience strategic depth and growth. I hope they end up discovering fun combos in the Lessons and locations.

Most of all, the idea is for everyone playing to enjoy the characters and being in the Harry Potter universe. I think this is going to be unlike any other Harry Potter game the fans have ever seen, and turn

tabletop gamers of all levels onto the fun of worker placement style games in general!

What tips or strategies would you give players once they've had time with the game?

Try to level up your students and learn as many Lessons as you can. Lessons are a little bit like free turns, so they are advantageous.

Also, going first is deceptively powerful; because you have first choice of the best spots at the beginning of each round, value it highly! Ideally, you can complete multiple challenges a turn, but sometimes it is better to team up and complete a larger one!

How did you prepare to create a Wizarding World game, and which house are you?

I watched a lot of the Harry Potter movies and spent a lot of time on Pottermore (now Wizarding World). I love Harry Potter, but there are even bigger fans out there than me, so I made sure to ask them many questions and show them the game. I'm very Ravenclaw, although I think I could fit into Gryffindor in a pinch. I'd love to try on the Sorting Hat and find out! I love logic and puzzles and strategy games, as well as learning and teaching... so for sure, Ravenclaw.

Bring victory to your house when Harry Potter: House Cup Competition becomes available this summer from your favorite local game stores and online retailers for $49.99.

Find out where to buy and look into other experiential board games and time-passing puzzles by visiting TheOp.games. For more news and updates, follow The Op on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram via @TheOpGames.

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AVAILABLE NOW

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