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Catan creator Klaus Teuber has passed away at 70
Klaus Teuber, who created the board game sensation Settlers of Catan, has passed away at the age of 70. Teuber died on April 1 after a “brief and severe illness.” He is survived by his wife Claudia and their two sons, Guido and Benny, all of which are involved with publisher Catan Studios.
The best board games to give as gifts in 2022
We've rounded up our list of the best board games to gift this holiday season.
‘Let’s Play! Oink Games’ is no Jackbox, but it's a worthy party game collection
Let's Play! Oink Games isn't as immediately accessible as Jackbox's popular series, but it's a start.
The best board games with an app-based twist
Board games are a timeless way to socialize and bring loved ones together over the holiday season. If you're tired of the classics (please, no more Monopoly), it might be time to freshen up your collection with a hybrid board game. We know, we know -- this can be a touchy subject. Some love the hobby because of its physical components and therefore don't want a smartphone or tablet anywhere near the table. If you fall into this camp, we completely understand. App-supported board games can be wonderful though. Some offer sound bites that tell you where an invisible enemy is on the board. Others serve as a research terminal that lets you feel like an ace detective. Apps can be used to update games too, with additional quests, missions and modes. A few of our favorites have even added single-player campaigns to previously multiplayer-only games. If you're open to the idea and want a few recommendations, check out our Engadget-approved short list below. We take no responsibility for any festive family feuds that occur as a result.
'Catan' AR game could ride on Niantic's tech
If you're Niantic and you're planning a follow-up to augmented reality hits like Pokémon Go and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, what famous property do you work with next? Apparently, the answer is a hardcore board game. A product page, source code sleuths and TechCrunch tipsters suggest that Niantic is partnering on Catan: World Explorers, an AR title based on the classic colony-building game Settlers of Catan. While the game's mechanics aren't completely clear, it looks like it really is an attempt to squeeze Niantic's basic formula into Catan's world of hexagonal grids, road building and resource trading.
Monopoly Voice Banking isn’t that smart, but it makes the game tolerable
Monopoly is one of the best-known board games... and one of the most reviled. Games take forever to finish and can end in tears or fisticuffs. But that hasn't stopped Hasbro from churning out version after version, with themes ranging from Mario Kart to broke millennials. The latest variant, Monopoly Voice Banking, would seem to be another gimmick capitalizing on the recent uptick in smart home devices. But it actually removes a lot of the pain points, boiling down Monopoly into the parts that are actually fun.
'Overwatch' action figures and Monopoly are coming this spring
Hasbro is about to give you many, many ways to flaunt your Overwatch fandom beyond the occasional Nerf gun. It's launching a series of toys and games themed around the character-driven shooter, including Monopoly Overwatch Collector's Edition. The $50 board game turns maps into properties, cards into loot boxes and player pieces into familiar characters like D.Va and Winston. However, that's really just the start of the collection -- the action figures in particular stand out.
High-tech Pictionary is more challenging than using a pen
Pictionary seems like one of those perfect games that doesn't really need an upgrade. You draw on a piece of paper, and people guess what you're trying to show them. Sure, you can put the game on a phone or tablet, but the basic concept remains the same no matter where you play. However, this weekend at Toy Fair Mattel is unveiling Pictionary Air, which takes away the paper — or any other drawing surface, really — and asks to you draw in the empty space in front of you.
Sound Off! What are some games and gadgets that are fun for the whole family?
The holidays are here and many of us are traveling to visit families located far and wide. While it's always good to see our relatives, it's not as enjoyable to talk politics with Grandpa all day. We really need some entertaining ways to keep everyone sane. Fortunately there's a variety of games available on our tablets, phones, computers, and digital media streamers that are perfect for groups. What are your favorite standbys? Head over to the Engadget forums and share the games and gadgets you play with your family in order to keep things relaxing and fun. [Image credit: Amit Gupta / Flickr]
Gaming off the grid: Video game-inspired board games
If you're looking for family fun but don't want to stray too far from the video game franchises you know and love, tabletop gaming may be the perfect alternative for you this holiday season. While there are countless (and not very entertaining) licensed board games available at big box retailers – like Mario-themed Monopoly or Halo-themed Risk – there are far better options available for those looking to further explore their favorite video game worlds. Here is a collection of some of our favorite board and card games based on video game franchises. If you're looking for a fun activity for family and friends this holiday, you can't go wrong with these fantastic board and card games. >>Our favorite video game-inspired board games<<
Assassin's Creed Monopoly to prowl store shelves in Europe
If it's popular enough, getting your preferred series printed on a Monopoly board seems like a matter of "when" rather than "if." Fans of the Mass Effect and Legend of Zelda series have had cause for celebration within the past few years, but now aspiring Assassins can jump for joy – er, rejoice in a subtle, non-identifying manner. European outlet Toy Art has begun taking pre-orders for an English version of Assassin's Creed Monopoly, which is priced at €52 ($70) and listed to be available this November. Details are scarce in Toy Art's listing, but it would be fair to expect the Monopoly experience that's turned Sunday afternoons into heated, relationship-testing events for decades: rolling dice, building properties up to bankrupt friends, surprising opponents with death-from-above wrist blades ... hmm, maybe AC: Monopoly won't be quite the same as previous iterations. [Image: Ubisoft]
Do not collect 200 rupees in Monopoly: The Legend of Zelda
You know, when we were kids playing Monopoly, all we had to choose from were the thimble, shoe, top hat, car, wheelbarrow, dog and battleship, and cousin Johnny always took the battleship! Hmph! Well, kids today won't have to suffer such indignities thanks to USAopoly, the company behind custom versions of classic board games; they're releasing Monopoly: The Legend of Zelda Edition, complete with way cooler player tokens. Customers who pick up this special version of Monopoly will be able to choose from such Zelda series staples as the Bow, Hookshot, Boomerang, Triforce and Hylian Shield to represent their progress. If you're picking up the board game from GameStop, you'll also be able to choose the Ocarina of Time. The GameStop edition also comes with six "Power Cards" to tweak gameplay and a Hyrule map lithograph, all packaged inside an exclusive square box. A GameStop pre-order page for Monopoly: The Legend of Zelda Edition lists September 15 as a release date. If nothing else, it might not be a bad way to pass the time until Hyrule Warriors hits shelves on September 26. [Image: USAopoly]
The perks and quirks of Billionaire Banshee, a card game with cool cameos
Sometimes you have to take a break from video games, you know? You just want to sit back with friends, have a little gab and relax, maybe crack open a board game. Of course, that doesn't mean your board game can't have video game characters in it. Enter Billionaire Banshee, a card-based party game. Billionaire Banshee's cards are set to feature pixelated cameos from lots of indie game darlings, including Octodad, Guacamelee, Go Home Dinosaurs, Blood Alloy and Roundabout. The game itself challenges you to guess what kind of person your friends would date, the hook being that said date has one "perk" and one "quirk." For example, would your friends date someone who has a pet unicorn but also has translucent skin (yes, obviously)? It sounds weird, but we couldn't shake the appeal after seeing the game at PAX East. We haven't seen the cameo cards in question, but we're guessing one of the new quirks is about being a secret octopus. Or is that a perk? Find out when Billionaire Banshee completes its funding drive on Kickstarter. [Image: Steven Bailey]
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.
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.
Xbox Live features Planets Under Attack, big board, card, and puzzle game sale this week
Yes, the majority of you will probably be playing Halo 4 or Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 on Xbox Live this week. This we know. But just in case you're looking for something else, Major Nelson has a whole list of new content on Xbox Live this week. Perhaps, for example, the new version of Atari's Warlords, available for 800 Microsoft Points. Or one of three new Kinect Sports games, for 240 points each, or an XBLA version of Targem Games' Planets Under Attack, for a full 1200 points.There's a sale on, too: Carcassone, Catan, Magic: The Gathering, Magic 2012, Super Puzzle Fighter HD, and the two Puzzle Quest titles are all half off, for just 400 Microsoft Points each, and Ubisoft's I Am Alive is 33% off, down to 800 Microsoft Points. A downloadable course pack for Tiger 13 is as 50% off, and that's not all. Later on this week, Major Nelson says Microsoft will be hosting an "Xbox Live is 10" sale, which will include discounts on some content, as well as giveaways to some Xbox Live members "who have been with us the longest."We mean, sure, it'll mostly be Halo 4 and Black Ops 2. But just in case, there's some good deals there, too.
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.
Hasbro's Zynga board games now available, paradoxical
Lest you hadn't heard, Hasbro and Zynga recently teamed up to create board game versions of its popular video games. That includes a CityVille-themed version of Monopoly, a weird mash-up of FarmVille and Hungry Hungry Hippos, and Draw Something (the board game mechanics of which should be self-explanatory).Bizarrely, the collection also includes a board game version of Words with Friends. Words with Friends is often cited as being very similar – practically to the point of infringement – to Scrabble, the classic word game published by ... Hasbro. Just to reiterate: this is the board game version of a video game version of a different board game published by a company that should be, in theory, a competitor.Try not to let your head explode.
Zynga and Hasbro make CityVille Monopoly, more, for when you're board
Pretty soon your mom won't need the computer to get her Words with Friends fix. The Zynga and Hasbro partnership will bear its first fruit this fall, when board game adaptations of CityVille, Words with Friends, Farmville and Draw Something hit retail, ABC reports.CityVille Monopoly will be available in October for $24.99. It's a version of the Hasbro classic where players are tasked with building skycrapers instead of houses and hotels, and the first player to build four skyscrapers wins. Hungry Hungry Herd also releases in October, for $22.99, and is Hasbro's interpretation of FarmVille – it's just Hungry Hungry Hippos without the hippos.Words with Friends will be available in two flavors this October and will play exactly the same as the online game, in the standard, $19.99 edition and a deluxe $39.99 edition with a rotating board. Not much is known on the fourth and final game, an adaptation of OMGPOP's Draw Something, which Zynga acquired for $200 million back in March. The board game adaptation of Draw Something is planned for late October/early November and will likely play a lot like Pictionary.
