Modern board games are games created after 1900 or so, including early games such as Monopoly and Scrabble, to the latest games from Europe and around the world.


Founders Paul and Eden Dedrick have sold Buffalo Games to a group of current management led by CEO Nagendra Raina and backed by private equity firm Mason Wells. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Buffalo Games makes Watch Ya’ Mouth, Brain Games, and a variety of party games. The company is also a major producer of jigsaw puzzles.

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Hasbro is partnering with Epic Games to produce Fortnite-based toys and games. Of course, there’s to be a Fortnite Monopoly (due this fall) but also other unspecified games.

Shinobi 7 announced acquisition of the Conan license for tabletop games. Two products are planned. The first, a miniatures game via Kickstarter project. The second, a direct-to-retail card game.

With a license from Sony Interactive, Steamforged Games is pursuing plans for a miniatures-heavy Horizon Zero Dawn board game via Kickstarter. Pledges already total more than $1 million, though Steamforged estimates delivery not until March 2020.

Things from the Flood is a just-launched Kickstarter RPG project that’s a sequel to Tales from the Loop and based on another of Simon Stålenhag’s art books. The new one from Free League Publishing is more grim and bleak than its predecessor.

Coming to Kickstarter on the 1st of October is The Hunger Games: Mockingjay from River Horse.

Then scheduled for November 13th is Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood of Venice from Triton Noir. The company promises a cooperative miniatures game focused on stealth mechanisms.

WizKids recently announced a licensing arrangement with WWE. The company will add WWE wrestling personalities to HeroClix and Dice Masters and create WWE board games.

Available now from WizKids is Star Trek Galactic Enterprises, a game in which you play as Ferengi.

Also available now at retail is Munchkin Starfinder. It’s the Munchkin grab-the-loot card game from Steve Jackson Games, based on the Starfinder sci-fi RPG from Paizo Publishing.

Next up for Munchkin is Munchkin Warhammer 40,000 based on the property from Games Workshop. I love the meta of this previewed card, Unpainted.

But Steve Jackson isn’t the only company with a new Warhammer 40,000 license. Devir has made a racing game, Gretchinz, out of the property. WizKids has adapted Warhammer 40K to Dice Masters in Battle for Ultramar. Ulisses did Wrath & Glory, a Warhammer 40,000 roleplaying game. And USAopoly has made Warhammer 40,000 Monopoly.

Based on Warhammer Age of Sigmar, PlayFusion recently launched Champions, a collectible card game with an online play option. A non-collectible card game, Warhammer Doomseeker is available from Ninja Division.

EN Publishing, under license from Rebellion, is launching a Judge Dredd and the Worlds of 2000AD roleplaying game on Kickstarter.

IDW will ship to retail this coming February Nickelodeon Splat Attack!, as well as an expansion, Reptar Rampage. The game represents a food fight between teams of characters from various Nickelodeon shows, including Spongebob Squarepants, Hey Arnold!, Rugrats, and Invader Zim.

IDW also signed on with Toei Animation for a series of Dragon Ball games. The first two are due in stores this holiday season. Dragon Ball Super: Heroic Battle has players flicking tokens at each other, while Dragon Ball Z: Over 9000 is supposed to provide a more strategic gameplay experience. In 2019 (after a planned Kickstarter campaign), IDW will release a Dragon Ball Z miniatures game.

Coming this fall from USAopoly is the Dragon Ball Z Power Up Board Game in 3D. Also scheduled to deliver soon is a new Disney Chess Set celebrating 90 years of Mickey Mouse. Available now is one celebrating 25 years of Tim Burton’s A Nightmare Before Christmas. The company’s latest Monopoly games include Five Nights at Freddy’s Monopoly, Ren & Stimpy Monopoly, and BoJack Horseman Monopoly.

Looney Labs recently released Mary Engelbreit Loonacy, a matching card game with the artwork of Mary Engelbreit.

Dog Might Games is now making officially licensed Vampire: The Masquerade dice trays, storyteller screens, and storage boxes, each with a choice of clan symbol. Orders ship with exclusive V5 loresheets tied to the new Geek & Sundry show, LA by Night.

Elderwood Academy is taking preorders for a Vampire: The Masquerade Spellbook gaming box made from walnut and leather. It also ships with LA by Night loresheets.

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Game Bandit

Game Bandit - Scouring the net to find the cheapest discount boardgames and best free boardgame prizesSave 20% on select games in Victory Point Games’ Back to Cool Sale, now through the 17th.

100 Amazon board game deals:

World of Darkness products (all editions) are on sale at DriveThruRPG. Official products are 75% off. Community products are 25% off.

Brawlin’ Brothers is giving away Bunny Kingdom from Iello.

Hubby Helps (UK) is giving away Lowlands from Asmodee.

Board Game Revolution is giving away 40 games, 25 in one grand prize. All entries require membership in a Facebook group.

Miniature Market asks what game you’d like to give to someone else. Answer and maybe they’ll give it for you.

Two bundles covering the King Arthur Pendragon RPG are available now at Bundle of Holding. One includes the core rulebook and essential supplements. The other adds location sourcebooks and scenarios.

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On Wednesday, The Strong in Rochester, New York announced its list of finalists for this year’s induction in to the National Toy Hall of Fame. The group includes four games, as well as a variety of toys, branded and generic:

  • American Girl dolls
  • chalk
  • Chutes & Ladders
  • Magic 8 Ball
  • Fisher-Price Corn Popper
  • Masters of the Universe
  • pinball
  • sled
  • Tic-Tac-Toe
  • Tickle Me Elmo
  • Tudor Electric Football
  • Uno

Final inductees will be announced November 8th but through the 19th of this month, the public can contribute to the selection by voting online collectively one of the 23 member committee.

Among the previous 65 inductees are playing cards, jump rope, Dungeons & Dragons, Monopoly, Mr. Potato Head, roller skates, Barbie, and Scrabble.

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More Hot Jobs in Board Games

A few of the companies that I mentioned recently have posted additional openings.

Goliath Games in Plano, Texas is looking for a Product Coordinator, whose job it will be to help move new game projects through the process, including development and fabrication.

Southern Hobby Supply in Nashville, Tennessee has an opening for a Data Analyst with skills in Excel, ERP systems, and SQL.

With Brilliant PR there are opportunities for an Account Coordinator and Account Executive. Both require some experience pitching consumer products and both are remote work-at-home opportunities.

Forrest-Pruzan Creative in Seattle, Washington is recruiting for a Game Designer, a Senior Graphic Designer, and a Game Producer. The first will develop new game concepts. The second will design print components and packaging. And the last will oversee the whole team.

Contract recruiter Creative Circle also has an opening for a Graphic Designer for board game packaging in Seattle.

The newly combined Stronghold Games and Indie Game Studios is looking for a Director of Marketing and a Product Development Manager. Both positions are to be located in Indianapolis.

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Game Bandit

Game Bandit - Scouring the net to find the cheapest discount boardgames and best free boardgame prizesThe Today show is giving away five copies of Relative Insanity from Play Monster.

To save 20% in Rebel Minis Birthday Sale, use coupon code “Birthday1”.

Pending release of Black Powder Second Edition, order a starter army from Warlord Games and get a copy of the first edition Black Powder rules for free.

Brave Little Belgium is giving away Reinforce the Right, out of a Strategy & Tactics magazine.

Z-Man is giving away 10 sets of promo tiles for Number 9. Enter today with a photo of the game in play.

During the month of September, Osprey Publishing is discounting Vanguard, Air Vanguard, Weapon, and Aviation Elite Unit titles 20%.

Table of Ultimate Gaming is giving away a gaming table or table topper.

A bundle deal for GDW’s 2300 AD is available at Bundle of Holding. Get the first edition rulebook, supplements, and adventures in the Starter Collection for $16.95. Add second edition material with the Bonus Collection at $30.77.

Use code “ENDOFSUMMER” for 10-20% off orders of $75 or more at HasbroToyShop.com.

Like and follow University Games on Twitter for a chance to win Jukem Football and Indoor Cornhole.

Jon Sawatsky will give away a Creature Codex from Kobold Press when he reaches 1,000 followers on Twitter.

Five Little Doves is giving away Paddington Spot the Difference and Paddington Sightseeing Adventures from University Games (UK).

Serenity You is giving away Frenetic from Accentuate Games (UK only).

Rolling Solo is giving away Set a Watch from Rock Manor Games.

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Illuminati, Steve Jackson’s 36 year old card game that satirizes conspiracy theories—and still sometimes inspires them!—is out in a second edition. While gameplay remains pretty much the same, the updated Illuminati features a variety of new cards, as well as new art by Lar deSouza.

In Illuminati, players build networks of organizations designed to control society. Cards represent the well-known and secret groups, artifacts, and intrigues popular with conspiracy theorists. The update replaces some from the cold war-focused first edition to better represent the internet age.

Orders direct from SJ Games’ Warehouse 23 come with a Fake News promo card.

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Gen Con 2018—AEG

Debuting at the show for AEG was War Chest ($50), a war-themed abstract strategy game with what they call a bag-building element. Like the quintessential game in this category, Chess, each type of piece moves and fights in a different way. But rather than trying to capture opposing pieces, the goal here is to control a set of board spaces. Also, the pieces themselves are Poker chips (nice heavy, solid ones too). An important part of the game is choosing which pieces to put in the bag, because only those drawn from the bag can be activated and moved on the board.

Hitting retail later this month will be Greedy Kingdoms ($25), a bluffing and resource collection game for AEG’s Big in Japan line. The goal in Greedy Kingdoms is to build palaces. Each turn, players select and reveal three of nine character cards simultaneously. Any that match are blocked. Those that aren’t produce resources, which can be used to build, buy upgrades, and even upgrade character cards.

Planned for an Essen release is Scorpius Freighter. This one’s about smuggling in a science-fiction setting and has players upgrading their ships, hiring crew, and taking on contracts. Moving one of the central ship pieces is what allows a player to do something with their own ship. But for each rotation that central ship makes, a cargo piece is added to its hold, and when that hold is full, the government will clamp down on smuggling and the game is over.

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This fall, Ares Games will begin shipping Tripods & Triplanes, an alternate-history miniatures game compatible with Wings of Glory. The game supposes an alien invasion of Earth during the waning days of World War I. The airplanes (same as those from Wings of Glory) are more agile but the alien mechs have powerful lasers. Starter sets will retail for $50.

Later this winter, Ares will launch Battlestar Galactica Starship Battles. Starter sets with two Colonial Vipers (painted for individual pilots) and two Cylon Raiders should retail for $50-60. Of course, additional ships, including Basestars and Battlestars will come later. For each ship, there’s also a small plastic “controller” to track altitude, kinetic energy, and speed. Space combat in this game includes momentum.

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Gen Con 2018—Iello

Highlights from Iello’s booth at Gen Con include Nessos and 8 Bit Box.

Nessos ($15, Q4) is a bluffing card game for up to six players with a Greek mythology theme. One player passes to the next a single card face down. If it’s a red creature card, they must correctly name the creature and card value. If it’s a green Charon card, though, they have to lie. The receiving player, then, has three choices (before looking). They can accept the card (and flip it over); they can return it (in which case, the first player flips it over); or they can pass it, along with a card of their own. The first player to 30 points is the winner but a player with three green cards is out.

8 Bit Box ($40, Q4) is something Iello is calling a “board game console.” Inspired by early video games, 8 Bit Box provides a set of “controllers” (dual cardboard dials) for use with a series of individual games. Included with the base box are the game modules Outspeed (a racing game), Pixoid (similar to Pac Man), and Stadium (team racing). There’s also room in there for seven additional games.

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