Here is the board game (and board game-related!) news that caught our attention for the week ending July 3, 2020.
Gaming News
- Bicycle announced this week that they have named Wil Wheaton as their Global Board Game Ambassador. Wheaton, who is of course best known for sort of playing himself in The Big Band Theory and for his role in a sci-fi show in the ’90s, is a board game enthusiast who used to host the web series Tabletop. Details on what exactly Wheaton will be doing for the company, and whether or not he will be able to bring games into the country in diplomatic pouches, have not yet been revealed.
- Stephen Buonocore, founder and president of Stronghold Games, has announced his retirement as of August 1, 2020. Buonocore has been featured on many podcasts and TV and radio interviews and is on the board of directors for the Jack Vasel Memorial Fund, which seeks to help individuals in the industry who suffer hardships. Travis Worthington, CEO of Indie Games Studio, the company that was formed when Stronghole and Indie Boards and Games merged in 2018, will continue to run the company following Buonocore’s departure.
- The event catalog for Gen Con Online will be released on Monday, July 6. Due to logistical reasons, we will not be hosting an event this year, but look forward to returning to hosting Gaming with GeekDad in 2021.
- Fantasy Flight will be hosting their “In-Flight Report,” with announcements of new games, on their Twitch channel on July 29, the night before Gen Con Online begins, at 7pm Central.
- Custom damage decks for X-Wing Miniatures have been released by Fantasy Flight.
- The Op has released National Parks: Get Wild, an educational dexterity game based around the US National Park system.
- Stonemaier Games is set to release Pendulum, a real-time worker placement game, later this summer. Exact details like price and release date have yet to be announced.
- Very few live conventions remain on the calendar, and that list got even shorter this week with the announcements that both BGG.Con 2020 and EGX—the UK’s biggest gaming event—have been canceled. Both will be replaced by online events.
- AI leader DeepMind is trying to teach AI how to play Diplomacy, which of course relies almost entirely on collaboration and thus presents a truly unique hurdle for the company.
- Gale Force Nine has announced a release date of the long-delayed Aliens: Another Glorious Day in the Corps, a cooperative miniatures game based on James Cameron’s classic movie. Along with the October date, the company announced the upcoming release of two expansions for the game, due in “late 2020”.
- If you’re a fan of traditional card games and have ever wondered why we call the three-leaf clover suit a “club” or the leaf suit a “spade,” take a listen to this recent episode of The History of English podcast, wherein those, and many other fascinating tidbits about the development of the modern playing card, are revealed.
GeekDad and GeekMom Reviews
- Jonathan Liu reviewed Roar and Write.
- Michael Knight reviewed Mantis Falls.
- I reviewed GeekDad Approved Pan Am: The Game, which is our featured image this week.
What We’re Playing
Finally, here’s what the GeekDads played this week:
- Jonathan Liu played 3 Secrets: Crime Time, Welcome to New Las Vegas, Billionaire Rumour, The Crew: Quest for Planet Nine, Flash Point: Fire Rescue, and In Too Deep.
- Michael Knight played Mantis Falls, Heroes of Normandie the Tactical Card Game, and Heroes of Stalingrad.
- I played Flash Point: Fire Rescue.
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