Days of Wonder
We talked about the Ticket to Ride expansions last week, and already you can preorder the Asia one.
Looney Labs
Still on the subject of preorders, Looney Labs is offering some as well: Ice Dice and and the newest Fluxx incarnation Star Flux are available and will be shipped by the end of the month.
dv Giochi
It’s been quiet around Bang! recently, but for this year’s Essen it’s coming back with a new expansion: Gold Rush. Gold Rush includes a bunch of new cards – obviously – a new game mechanic and a completely new way to play. The new game mechanic is equipment purchased for gold nuggets; at last you have a way to choose what equipment you get, all you have to do is pay for it. The new variant eliminates player elimination from Bang! and lets the dead come back on their turn only. I’m looking forward to the gold nuggets, but am sceptical about the raised dead gunmen – the variant sounds like it might remove many things I like about the game, dead men don’t have to conceal their identity and play may become more obvious because of that.
Funforge
The new release for Essen this year is The Big Idea by James Ernest, a card game about creating wacky inventions. The English rules are available now in case you want to check it out before the fair.
Le Scorpion Masqué
Not in time for Essen but also later this year we’ll see Quebec (Philippe Beaudoin, Pierre Poissant-Marquis). In Quebec you’ll construct a city with a name I’m not going to tell you. You’ll score points for buildings you construct as well as for gaining influence in politics, religion, economy or culture. The game looks like it will have a nice level of complexity and I’m looking forward to trying it.
The photo of a seahorse has been taken by Flickr user shellac and shared with a CC-BY license. Thanks for this great shot!