BoardGames
Latest
In 'Fortnite' Monopoly, Tilted Towers is the new Boardwalk
How do you get Fortnite-obsessed kids to play an old-school board game? By putting Fortnite in the board game, of course. Epic and Hasbro have revealed a Fortnite version of Monopoly that replaces the usual property trading with elements from the battle royale shooter. Island locations replace buildings (popular drop point Tilted Towers is the new Boardwalk), while health points replace money. Don't just call it a cosmetic change, though -- there are genuine changes to the game mechanics.
After Math: Huge hamster balls
While the Overwatch community debated this week as to whether or not Top Gear's Richard Hammond could actually fit inside the Hammond the Hamster's mech (hint: yes he can, with room to spare), there was no shortage of news throughout the rest of the gaming industry. Alexa got its own board game, ToeJam and Earl are slated to return to consoles this fall, and Fortnite -- for one gloriously brief moment -- opened a tutorial sandbox for its neophyte players.
Alexa-based board games can actually be fun
Board games aren't quite as sexy as their digital counterparts, but the hobby has nevertheless seen a resurgence in recent years. NPD Group reported that board game sales in the U.S. grew by 28 percent in 2016, cafes dedicated to the hobby are cropping up all over the country (and the world), and three out of the top ten most-funded projects on Kickstarter are tabletop games. Much of this can be attributed not just to the increased desire for real-life social interaction, but the rise of good-quality titles that are far superior to outdated classics like Monopoly and Candyland.
PlayTable combines blockchain and board games for peak nerdery
Whether they're taking over a section of your local Target or dominating the list of Kickstarter's highest grossing projects, board games are booming right now. And, while traditional board games still have their place, plenty of companies are trying their hands at augmenting tabletop play with websites and apps, or building products that incorporate physical pieces into video games. Blok.Party's PlayTable takes all of that a step further by building a giant tablet to serve as the game board and letting users create their own RFID-enabled pieces that incorporate blockchain tech for a truly personalized gaming experience.
Hasbro’s Gaming Crate delivers new board games each quarter
There are a plethora of subscription boxes to choose from these days, including nerdy ones like Loot Crate and Minecraft, kid-friendly boxes like the one from Nickelodeon, science-based subscriptions from MEL Chemistry and makeup assortments like Birchbox. Now even venerable toy company Hasbro has decided to jump into the fray with a a subscription service of its own, called the Hasbro Gaming Crate. It comes in both kid-friendly and more adult-oriented flavors and will send you three games every three months for $49.99.
League of Legends' creators made a board game
Riot Games is best known for League of Legends and now the developer-publisher is pushing into board games. Mechs Vs. Minions is the studio's debut effort, and it features miniatures, a modular board system, dice, a custom sand timer (think an hourglass, but on a smaller scale), quest cards and an overarching story. In addition to all that, there's a physically large mystery item locked away in the box, according to a feature article from Polygon.
Hasbro and Indiegogo want your board game ideas
Despite the ever-growing number of screens at our disposal, there's still a desire for traditional board games that rely on paper, card and plastic. Hasbro, an industry titan that owns Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit and other tabletop classics, is now looking to the community for fresh ideas. The company is teaming up with Indiegogo for the "Spring 2016 Next Great Game Challenge," an open competition to find and publish a user-created board game. Any enthusiast designer from Canada, the US, France, Germany and the UK can submit their ideas online, up until May 15th.
Settlers of Catan to be made into a movie or TV show
Settlers of Catan was perhaps the first board game I ever played that made me think board games were cool. The goal? To rule the fictional island of Catan. In order to do this, you build roads, settlements and cities with resources like brick, wood, sheep and ore, all while hoping you don't get robbed. It's a surprisingly strategic game, which is perhaps why it's won so many awards and gained quite a cult following, even spawning iOS and Android adaptations in recent years. But is it cool enough to be a movie? Gail Katz certainly thinks so. A producer known for movies such as Pawn Sacrifice, Air Force One and The Perfect Storm, Katz recently bought the film and television rights for the German-style board game, stating that she's excited by the "vivid, visual, exciting and timeless world" of Catan. Really?
Hasbro wants you to help design a new Monopoly board
In a world where most people chill out with Minecraft and Candy Crush, it's hard to get excited about a board game. Perhaps that's the point however, since Hasbro is hoping that we'll get misty-eyed with nostalgia about the family arguments that ensue from playing Monopoly. The game's 80th birthday is rapidly approaching, and so the company is teaming up with Buzzfeed to ask the denizens of the internet to help design the next version of the game.
Two great board games headed to iOS: Talisman Prologue and Eclipse
There's some great news today about two different -- both excellent -- physical board games headed to digital versions on the App Store. First up, the game Eclipse has been submitted to the App Store as a digital app. This is a great galaxy-spanning civilization builder, and the physical component has dozens and dozens of little miniatures and pieces to play with, so it'll be nice to have an iPad-based version around. The price hasn't yet been revealed, and it's unclear just how soon the game will be out, but if Apple doesn't have any problems with the submission, we should see it later on this week. In other board-game-to-digital-app news, we'll see a version of Games Workshop's Talisman, called Talisman Prologue, on the App Store later on this week as well. Prologue will be single player only, but it will use the game card-drawing mechanics of the physical game, and the short preview trailer that developer Thumbstar Games has released makes it look like an excellent time. There's no word on price for this one either, but we'll know soon enough: The game is set to be out in the US this Thursday.
Origin Stories: Sage Board Games
Codito Development is behind Sage Board Games, a company which has been cranking out iOS versions of board games for a few years now. Perhaps most notably, Sage has released a number of classic Reiner Knizia games, but they also publish Ravensburger's Puerto Rico and recently released Uwe Rosenberg's The Harbour (Le Havre). If you are a board game geek, these guys are heroes -- they started porting these out of a fondness for the games and a fear that they might disappear. Learn more about how they got started in this week's Origin Stories. For a list of games from Sage, check this page.
Chinese browser MMO Yitien launches alpha on March 29th
R2Games will be bringing Yitien, a Chinese-themed MMORPG, to browsers starting on March 29th. The developers promise a variety of play, from turn-based battles and multi-player arenas to PvP events and a version of the ever-familiar rock, paper, scissors. In one event, players can sign up at a certain time and enter a zone that transforms every player into a yeti. There will be no way to distinguish players from NPC yetis, but points and treasure are earned as NPCs are defeated and player attacks are successfully repelled. Attacking other players, however, will award you no points. Players will also participate in a simple board game, rolling dice and moving a number of spaces. The first player to reach a certain location on the board wins the game. Players landing on the same square will battle, while players who run into mysterious warriors will have to fight using rock, paper, scissors for the chance to win lucrative trinkets. Already available in China, Yitien has accrued 20 million total registered players with an average of 500,000 users logged on at one time. (How many bots are involved with those numbers, we'll never know.) You can sign up now on the official site. [Source: R2Games press release]%Gallery-184260%
Toy Fair 2013: 'America's Funniest Home Videos' board games includes QR cards to enhance game
America's Funniest Home Videos started when Steve Jobs worked on NeXT computers and Bob Saget, the original host, was best known as Danny Tanner on Full House. It's one of those shows that inevitably you find yourself doing a double-take and going, "That's still airing?" It's not just going strong, but the latest game based on the series debuted at Toy Fair 2013. TDC Games is using the show as its first subject in a line of Scan Games, which has a game board bundled with cards bearing QR codes. Scan the card with an iOS or Android device using a free app that you download after purchasing the game, and content related to the game being played will appear on your screen. In the case of the AFV game, the content is a clip of a home movie featured in the series. You guess what will happen in the video, then select the answer on your iOS device to see the rest of the clip play out and determine how many points you receive. It's not just the cards that have the QR code. There are codes embedded in the board as well, and point bonuses are issued when you scan those spaces. It's a neat mesh of technology and a traditional board game, and it's a game that's good for the entire family to play. The app is designed for an iPhone, so you will have to enlarge it on an iPad to take advantage of the screen. This could lead to video degradation on older iPads. This board game / iOS-compatible version of AFV will be available in fall 2013 for US$19.99. Bonus card packs, which can be played on their own or with the game, will be $9.99. Watch the video below to see the game in action.
Hasbro lands deal for real-world Tetris games, brings us our L blocks this August
With all the Tetris ports we've seen to not-quite-digital mediums, there's been very few truly physical games built around those seven iconic pieces. Hasbro plans to explore that final frontier shortly. It just reached a licensing deal with The Tetris Company to offer "multiple" very tangible games based on Alexei Pajitnov's original vision. The expansion starts in August, when we'll see a light-matching, Tetris-themed version of Bop It! and the seemingly inevitable Jenga variant. We'll have to wait for more details, although we hope Hasbro isn't too authentic -- we'd like a few more straight pieces this time around. [Image credit: Juanjo Marin, Flickr]
Game of Life and Monopoly are EA's first games on Samsung Smart TVs
Thanks to EA and Samsung, its now possible to play board games with your family while simultaneously negating the purpose of board games – which is to spend meaningful time with the people that you care about away from the noise and radiation of the all-engulfing boob tube.Samsung Smart TV owners have access to virtual versions of both Monopoly and The Game of LIFE via their television's Samsung Apps marketplace. Each game costs $10 and features exactly what you'd expect from each: Buying/selling/trading property in Monopoly, becoming a teen widower in LIFE, etc. Players that also own Samsung smartphones (specifically the S1, S2 and S3) can download a free companion app that turns their phone into a motion controller for throwing dice and spinning wheels.We'd also like to take this opportunity to announce that "Playing The Game of LIFE while staring at a giant, expensive television" wins Joystiq's Unintentional Irony of the Year Award.
Daily iPad App: Game Table lets you play checkers and chess against a friend
Game Table takes a different approach to iPad-based board games. Rather than focus on a strong computer opponent or fancy graphics, Game Table lets you get back to the basics by offering only a game board. There is no computer opponent to beat and no cumbersome rules to follow. It's just a basic game board with the appropriate game pieces. Most of the fun is supplied by you and your friends. The fact that Game Table is only a game board is one of its strengths. You can setup the game and play by the standard rules or get creative with the pieces and play by you own set of rules. It's this flexibility that earned Game Table a place on my iPad. My biggest critique of the app has to do with the size of the tablet. Most traditional game boards are large and require a table to play. The iPad is comparatively small, which makes it difficult for two people to play at the same time. You either have to hand the iPad back and forth or find a very narrow table that'll let both of you touch the iPad while facing each other. Game Table is no slouch when it comes to the type of games it offers. The app includes Checkers, Chess, Backgammon, Reversi, Go and card games like Poker. Game Table is available for 99-cents in the iOS App Store. There's also a free version, so you can try, before you buy.
DICE+ wants to team with screens and usher in an era of powered board games (hands-on)
We learned about DICE+, the digital chance cube, just before E3, and today we finally got to give it a few rolls and find out a bit more about DICE+ from the folks who made it. It's an inch-sized cube with a soft-touch rubbery finish that's packed with a Bluetooth radio and a rechargeable battery. For now, it juiced up via microUSB, but an induction charging version is also in the works. Its power cell grants up to 20 hours of continuous rolling, or a little over a week for non-gambling degenerates. Speaking of, the cube's maker, GIC, said a major point of emphasis in the cube's design was getting the balance of the thing just right to ensure the randomness of DICE + results -- and it's even spoken with casino companies about their tolerance requirements in that area. While DICE + may find its way onto craps tables eventually, for now, its maker's focused on what it calls "powered board games."%Gallery-157624% You see, while we're all familiar with board game mechanics -- roll a die/spin a wheel and move your game piece accordingly -- they don't translate well to the digital realm. People don't trust a computer to give truly random results, and tapping a screen to "roll" dice gets boring quickly. That's the beauty of DICE+, players get all the advantages of a digital board game, like animations and greater interactivity, without the aforementioned downside because it engages them in a satisfying, familiar fashion. Join us after the break for our impressions, and a bit more info about this throwback gadget.
DICE+ digital chance cubes rolling out at E3
As far as random number generators go, the traditional die is about as low tech as it gets. Or at least, it was. Gaming startup GIC has taken it upon itself to update the old chance cube by outfitting it with LED backlights, anti-cheat roll detection and Bluetooth connectivity. DICE+, as the shakers of tomorrow are called, will sell for between $30 and $40 when they launch later this year. Although the digital dice promise compatibility with iOS, Android, Symbian, Linux and Windows, GIC has yet to announce what platforms will be available at launch. We'll have to wait for E3 for the details, but the possibilities are intriguing -- hit the break to see the cubes in action. In the meantime, we'll be dreaming of Dungeons, Dragons, a digital D20 and Microsoft Surface.
zAPPed board games hands-on
Alright, zAPPed is no GameChanger but, where Hasbro's line of iOS-integrated board games falls short in the pun department, it shines in cleverness. The Game of Life launched just a couple of days ago with a special edition designed to be used with an iPad app, while other classics Battleship and Monopoly are scheduled to follow later in the year. All make your iDevice an integral part of the gaming experience and leverage an ingeniously simple solution to boosting the interactivity. Underneath the game pieces are uniquely arranged capacitive plastic pads that allow the apps to identify what you're holding. Different boats in Battleship have slightly different arrangements of pads underneath that allow the app to tell whether your carrier or destroyer has been sunk.Monopoly uses the same trick to differentiate player debit cards. When it comes time to make a transaction, you swipe the card across the screen of your iPhone and funds are automatically added or subtracted from your account. Monopoly also adds a few more play options, including a mini game for escaping jail. The Game of Life, of course, lets you spin a virtual wheel, but also customize virtual pegs -- adding hair and accessories where once you were stuck with plain pink or blue ones. Game of Life zAPPed Edition is out now for $25, while Monopoly will land in June, followed by Battleship in September. Check out the gallery below and the PR after the break. %Gallery-147154%Edgar Alvarez contributed to this report.
Unofficial Dominion on iOS now, official version later
I'm a big fan of Ascension, the iOS app that replicates the real-life deck-building card game of the same name. But when it comes to more self-contained deck-building card games where you build a deck as you play, as opposed to collectible card games like Magic: The Gathering, there's really one big name out there, and it's Donald X. Vaccarino's game Dominion. It's a great game that like Magic: The Gathering has been begging for a solid iPad/iOS port ever since Apple's platform first took off. That hope is coming true in more ways than one. There's already a version of Dominion available on iOS for US$1.99, but apparently it's unofficial yet (temporarily) approved. It may be strange to see a paid app that's unofficial and actually uses the art and IP of the game, but apparently Rio Grande is cool with that, because it has an official version coming out as soon as "a few weeks" from now. It's granted temporary licenses to developers to release their own versions of the game as long as those versions are down and gone by the time the official release arrives. Personally I'll probably wait for the official version, especially since it sounds like the wait isn't that long. But it's good to hear that one of the best card games around is coming in virtual form to Apple's tablet. As for Magic: The Gathering? Wizards of the Coast, the ball's in your court. Wizards has said it's releasing a reference app for Magic on iOS, but there are still no plans for an official version of the game itself. Meanwhile, Kard Combat is it.
