Category Archives: News

Deutscher Spiele Preis – 2016

In 1990 the German magazine “Die Pöppel-Revue” introduced The Deutscher Spiele Preis, or German Game Prize, which is now awarded annually at the Internationale Spieltage, Essen.  Whereas the Spiel des Jahres rewards family games, the Deutscher Spiele Preis is awarded based on votes from votes from the industry’s stores, magazines, professionals and game clubs, so it tends to reflect “gamers games” and is usually more in line with the Kennerspiel des Jahres.  This year the award went to Mombasa with the Spiel des Jahres winner Codenames in second.  Spiel des Jahres nominees Karuba and Imhotep also featured in the top ten as well as this years winner of the Kennerspiel des Jahres Isle of Skye: From Chieftain to King.

Mombasa
– Image used with permission of BGG contributor punkin312

In Mombasa, players acquire company shares with the aim of earning the most money.  The game features a unique, rotating-display hand-mechanism that drives game play. Each round players choose action cards from their hand, then reveal them simultaneously and carry out the actions. These cards are then placed in a discard pile, and the previously played cards recovered for the subsequent round.  The company boards are double-sided, so games vary quite a lot depending on which tracks are revealed and which companies they are asigned to.
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Mombasa
– Image used with permission of boardgamephotos

Summer 2016 Oxford Meeples Big DoG

On Saturday, August 6th, Oxford Meeples is again opening the doors of Wolvercote Village Hall to the general public once more and inviting people to join them for another Big Day of Gaming.  As usual, the Oxford Meeples will be bringing a large number of their games, but everyone is welcome to bring their own too.  The hall opens at 10 am with gaming starts from about 10.30 am and continuing ’til late.  Entry is free, although donations towards rent of the hall and refreshments will be appreciated.  Children are welcome when accompanied by an adult.  Several of the GOATS are hoping to attend, but that will depend on weather and other commitments as usual.

Oxford Meeples Summer DoG '16
– Image from oxfordmeeples.org

Boardgames in the News: Asmodee on the March Again?

It’s been quite quiet recently, but summer is now here and with it, the silly-season of take-overs and mergers, which inevitably means Asmodee are at it again.  Asmodee, (originally known as Siroz), started out as a small French game publishing and distribution company, specialising in the family market.  Their best-known product was probably Dobble, though there were others too.  In 2007, the investment firm, Montefiore acquired 60% of the company and invested €120 million to finance Asmodee’s international growth.  Their expansion history began a bit like this:

Meanwhile, the Canadian F2Z Entertainment, the parent of company of Pretzel Games, also own Filosofia Éditions (who bought Z-Man Games in 2011) and bought the U.S. company Plaid Hat Games last year.  Then, in January 2014, the private equity company Eurazeo bought 83.5% of Asmodee and the mad expansion began all over again, but this time in earnest:

Last summer we speculated how long it would be before Asmodee turned their attention to F2Z Entertainment with their enticing range of games including Pandemic and  Carcassonne.  Well, last week, Asmodee announced that it has entered into exclusive discussions to acquire F2Z Entertainment with closure of the acquisition expected to take place in the coming months.  Who will be next, Rio Grande Games perhaps?

Asmodee Logo
– Image from escapistmagazine.com

Spiel des Jahres Winners – 2016

The 2016 winner of the coveted German Game of the Year or Spiel des Jahres award is Codenames.  Codenames is which is a word-based deduction game played in teams.  Each team has a leader who gives clues to the rest of their team who are trying to choose particular word-cards from an array.  The trick is for the leader to come up with a clue that covers multiple correct answers so that the rest of the team can identify the complete set before the opposition.  It’s not really a game that really suits our group as several of the regulars aren’t very keen on social deduction games, but it is very quick to play, so, although we would probably have given the award to one of the two other nominees, Imhotep (manipulating large wooden blocks) or Karuba (“boardgame Bingo“), it may well end up as the “Feature Game” next week.

Codenames
– Image used with permission of boardgamephotos

At the same time the Kennerspiel des Jahres was awarded, which honours more challenging games.  It was introduced in 2011 to replace the jury’s habit of intermittent special awards for games too complex for the Spiel des Jahres (notably Agricola which was awarded a special “Complex Game” prize in 2008).  This year the Kennerspiel des Jahres award went to Isle of Skye: From Chieftain to King, which is one of our favourite games.  This year was a bit of a “Marmite” year for us as there were a lot of games on the lists that don’t really fit our group, including the two other Kennerspiel des Jahres nominees (Pandemic Legacy and T.I.M.E Stories).  The Kinderspiel des Jahres award was announced last month and went to Stone Age Junior (aka My First Stone Age), which is a simpler version of the family worker placement game Stone Age.

Stone Age Junior
– Image used with permission of boardgamephotos

Boardgames in the News: What Britain Buys

The Channel 4 series “What Britain Buys” has turned its attention towards our hobby with a ten minute piece by Mary Portas.  Episode two includes interviews with Ben Drummond and Dean Tempest, founders of Big Potato (which produced John Lewis‘ top selling game last year, Linkee), as well as a visit to Oxford’s own boardgame café, Thirsty Meeples.  There they speak to some of the customers and “Games Sommeliers” as well as the owner, John Morgan.  There are lots of shots of gaming goodness including people playing Settlers of Catan, Riff Raff, Star Wars X-Wing, Takenoko and much more besides.  The program is available to watch on demand from channel4.com and the interesting bit starts 37:15 mins in.

Mary Portas
– Image from channel4.com

Boardgames in the News: What does Brexit mean for Eurogamers?

On Thursday, after a long and miserable campaign, the UK public voted to leave the EU.  Boardgamers are a friendly bunch, so what does the imminent divorce mean for us?  Obviously there’s lots of speculation and scare stories, but the most immediate and obvious effect is undoubtedly the cost and potentially the availability of boardgames in the UK.  A copy of Ticket to Ride: Europe bought from Germany using Amazon.de would have cost €43.92 including postage, which would have been about £33.45 on Thursday evening at 10pm.  At 5am the following morning, this had risen to £35.94, an increase of £2.50 in just seven hours.  The same game bought from the USA from Amazon.com costs $64.69 (including shipping and tax waivers etc.) which was about £43.21 at 10pm on Thursday rising to a staggering £48.25 at 5am the next morning – an increase of over £5!  The exchange rates will probably improve over time, however, it will be a while before they achieve pre-referendum levels and there will no doubt be more uncertainty to come too, no doubt.

Ticket to Ride: Europe
– Image by boardGOATS

 

Boardgames in the News: The Goat that wants you to Vote

What’s cute, funny and rhymes with votes?  Why, GOATS of course!  Which is why the latest gimmick in the Great EU Referendum Battle invokes our four-legged friends:  “If you’ve got time to watch a goat gif you’ve got two minutes to register to vote.”  Apparently, the plea was so successful that the voter registration website collapsed under the weight of applications, just before the deadline.  Fear not, however, if you missed the deadline (midnight on 7th June), the government are considering special legislation to include people who registered after the cut off, so if you haven’t registered there may still be a chance.

votes
– Image from http://www.gifgoat.party

UK Games Expo 2016

This weekend, 3rd-5th June, gamers will be converging on Birmingham for a three days of fun and games for the UK Games Expo (sometimes known as UKGE, or simply Expo).  The event is focussed on gamers playing games and includes Euro Games as well as role playing games, miniatures games, and war games.  In addition to tournaments there is lots of “open gaming” space and demonstration events for new designs.  For the little people there is the “Family Zone” with activities specially designed for kids, and for bigger people there is a trade fair with all the latest games games and seminars presented by industry experts, panels and celebrity guests.

UK Games Expo
– Image from ukgamesexpo.co.uk

This is the tenth year of Expo and the event keeps growing and growing, so much so that this year, the event will be spread across two venues, the the NEC Hilton Metropole (comprising organised play and evening gaming) and Hall One of the NEC (trade, open gaming and the Bring and Buy).  Since the focus is on playing rather than marketing, in general, there are fewer new releases than at some of the other conventions.  One of the highlights of the event this year though will be the release of Tony Boydell‘s Guilds of London which had been planned for Essen last year, but was sadly delayed.  Essen’s loss is Expo’s gain however, and everyone is looking forward to seeing it at last.  Several of the GOATS are planning to go this year, some for just a day, others for the duration and it is certain that it will be a fun weekend.

UK Games Expo
– Image from ukgamesexpo.co.uk

Boardgames in the News: Oxford Science Festival

Science Oxford (formerly known as The Oxford Trust) is a charitable organisation that was set up in 1985 with the mission to “encourage the pursuit of science and enterprise” and the long term aim of “making connections between science, enterprise and society.”  This year, as part of the Oxfordshire Science Festival, they are holding a boardgame evening including a talk by Reiner Knizia.  Dr. Knizia is the designer of over six hundred Euro games, including Keltis which won the Spiel des Jahres in 2008.  The event will be held at the Old Fire Station on George Street in Oxford on 28th June and will be followed by games in the Thirsty Meeples across the square.  Tickets can be booked online and are £10, though there is a 10% discount for tickets to Science Festival events booked before the end of May with the “Earlybird10” voucher code.

Science Oxford
– Image from scienceoxford.com