Hasbro is selling its manufacturing facilities in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts and Waterford, Ireland to the Catamundi Group of Belgium. The two companies have signed a letter of intent and expect the deal to close by the end of September. Cartamundi plans to retain the approximately 500 manufacturing and distribution employees at both locations.

While the move represents a significant divestiture for Hasbro, today’s joint announcement emphasized the company’s continued commitment to the games category:

The divestiture is in line with Hasbro’s mission of Creating the World’s Best Play Experiences and building larger more global brands. Hasbro will continue to invest resources in areas that will maximize the value of the company’s brands globally, including in design, development, storytelling, sales and marketing. The sale of these facilities will have no impact to Hasbro’s commitment to the Games category and the company will continue to invest in gaming.

Chris Van Doorslaer, CEO of Cartamundi, was quoted as saying:

Through this acquisition we will become the world market leader in the manufacturing of board games. Our expanded capabilities in board game manufacturing further our mission to create game products and experiences that connect families and friends of every generation. We welcome Hasbro’s highly dedicated and experienced work force to our team and we look forward to continuing to manufacture Hasbro games at East Longmeadow and Waterford while also adding volume from both our current and new global customers.

Cartamundi, which was established in 1970, currently employs 1,450 and had sales in 2014 of €199 million.

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On Thursday, Asmodee announced that it had acquired the worldwide rights to Spot It!, also known as Dobble. The acquisition represents a consolidation of rights previously held by Divertis Properties Group, Play Factory, and Blue Orange Games.

Spot It! is a game that’s quite simple and fun to play. The idea is to find the one and only one pair of matching images on any two cards. Yet this simple formula has been very profitable for the game’s publishers. According to Asmodee, 7.7 million copies of Spot It! and Dobble have been sold worldwide. Divertis has stated that as of last year, sales had totaled $91 million since 2009.

Before the acquisition, Divertis and its subsidiary, Play Factory, owned the game. Blue Orange was licensed to produce and distribute it in the United States and English-speaking parts of Canada. Elsewhere distribution was through Asmodee.

The acquisition of Spot It! should allow Asmodee to consolidate the game’s diverging product lines and international distribution, as well as pursue a Spot It! app for mobile devices. The announcement quoted Stéphane Carville, Chairman of Asmodee Group, as saying:

We have big ambitions for this game in North America, particularly in its digital version.

Certainly the move makes sense for Asmodee, a company that’s been in acquisition mode recently. But there’s more to this story. Another driver of the consolidation appears to be the settling of a lawsuit filed by Divertis against Blue Orange.

In August 2014, Divertis filed in U.S. District Court a suit against Blue Orange Games for violation of copyright and trademark rights [PDF], seeking a court order to stop any further sales of Spot It! by Blue Orange. In fact, the suit was an effort to enforce in the United States the judgement of a French court that terminated Blue Orange’s license and required it to pay Divertis €70,000 in penalties and legal fees and approximately €500,000 in royalties. Divertis’s complaint alleged that Blue Orange violated its license agreement by registering unauthorized copyrights, failing to pay royalties, removing Play Factory’s name from the packaging, and sublicensing the game to Disney without permission. As of March (when the judge in the case refused Divertis’ request for a preliminary injunction) the lawsuit was ongoing.

Asmodee declined to comment when I reached out to them. However, I think it’s fair to assume that the company would not move forward with the acquisition if rights issues remained in question. The announcement quoted Jean François Andréani, Chairman of Divertis Properties Group:

Turning Spot It! over to Asmodee is certainly the best option for accelerating consolidation and development of the game on a worldwide level and taking the lead in market share in the process.

Thierry Denoual, Chairman of Blue Orange, also said:

It makes sense that we divest the business over to Asmodee Group, which has all the strengths needed to enable Spot It!/Dobble to the long term leadership in the card game market.

In fact, I would suggest that settling the suit and consolidating the rights in one organization should allow Asmodee to take an already very successful product even further.

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We are not talking about the godfather of all tabletop games, here. We are talking about board games that are based on the actual movie, “The Godfather,” directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Marlon Brando.

IDW Games recently announced an agreement with Paramount to release a line of The Godfather tabletop games. The types will include card games, dice, games, and big box strategy games for gamers of all different interests.

“The Godfather is more than a movie, it’s an icon,” says IDW’s Director of Business Development, Jerry Bennington. “We plan to give players as many options as possible when it comes to gaming in this rich environment. From quick dice fun to intense big box strategy this will be a line of games truly worthy of the name The Godfather.”

The first to launch will be a card game, due out this summer. Games will be designed to range in length and complexity and will cover different aspects of The Godfather trilogy timeline.

The Godfather Card Game will be available in August of 2015. Pricing is not available at this time, but you can follow IDW Games on Twitter and Facebook to keep up with the news.

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Breaking games, a new publishing division of AdMagic, had a great booth packed with indie games. I spent a lot of time there checking out each game, talking to the developers, and having a real blast. It’s always great talking to folks from small press, as they’re always so full of enthusiasm and pride for their games.

Hogger Logger – $15 – Ages 7+

I previously previewed Hogger Logger while it was running on Kickstarter. Finally getting to see the finished product was great, as the game has real polish that I didn’t get to see in my prototype version. What really impressed me is how their Kickstarter finished in September and they’re already shipping backers their copies. It was also kinda nice to see a quote from my preview on their table. Currently taking on Pre-Order.

Mobscenity – $15 – Ages 17+

Hot on the tail of games like Cards Against Humanity, Mobscenity is an adult-themed party game with horrible, horrible potential. Not outwardly as crass, the game’s cards are pretty mild. It’s when you combine them with the right group of people that morality takes a nose-dive into the ground. Every round the current Master plays two cards, each with one word on them. Then the rest of the players must come up with a definition. The best definition wins the round. Some combos I quickly saw at the booth were Donkey Crack, Chocolate Spank, and Cream Dragon. Available now.

Funemployed – Ages 13+

Another party game, Funemployed has players using a hand of 3 cards to come up with a resume for a job posting. Cards can be swapped out with face-up cards on the table to help come up with a better story. We played a quick round and the results were pretty amusing. If I recall I had come up with a french-speaking male consort who was currently trying to get a job as a school nurse. The game is currently up for pre-order.

What the Food – Ages 8+

What the Food is a card game about a high-school food fight. Players take the role of different characters, each with their own special ability, in a huge food fight where you’re trying to get out with the least mess on you. The more you’re hit, the more humiliation points you gather. The person with the least humiliation wins. The game has a programming element to it where you’re stacking your moves ahead of time, and seeing how everything plays out. There’s also special cards in the deck that can have positive or negative effects depending on your current standing in the game. Currently available for pre-order.

Letter Tycoon – Ages 10+

A word game with an economy. Building words earns you money. Money you can use to buy letter patents that earn you more money each time other players use those letters. Fast paced, and a really cool idea overall. Players must work get to patents, stocks, and money to come out victorious.

Billionaire Banshee – Ages 18+ (though certain cards can be removed for younger play)

A game about dating with 8-bit art and a sick sense of humor. Combinations of traits are put together, and you need to guess if the other players would actually date the character with that set of traits or not. There’s some strange stuff in there, and most of it is pretty hilarious…and filthy. Available for pre-order.

Poop – $10 – Ages 6+

Ah, Poop. A game about…poop. Developed by the designer and his son, Poop has you doing your business while trying not to clog the toilet. Players play numbered cards under the current toilet card, trying not to go over the number listed. If 3 cards of the same color are played then a courtesy flush is performed, clearing out the current toilet. There’s also cards that have you perform certain actions, like making fart noises. Simple, quick, and a sure-fire hit for any children players. Available now.

49 – $25 – Ages 10+

49 is a game that takes a bit of brain. You start off the game with $49 and some chips. Players need to bid for numbers on the board to try and get 4 of their chips in a row. Of course it’s not as easy as it seems with Payoff cards and other actions to mix things up. Available now.

Twirk – Ages 7+

Twirk, aka The Game I Am Most Bad At, is a word game where you need to quickly spell words using the cards in your hand and a dice rolled on the table. The tricky part is there’s a letter limit, and a time limit. I swear I sat there looking at a hand of cards for like 5 minutes trying to figure out a word while the designer pumped out words and tried to convince me I really wasn’t an idiot. I blame my performance on the heat of the show floow, dehydration, and anything else I can get away blaming it on. This is a game I could see my 9-year-old utterly crushing me at. Available for pre-order.

The Appalachian Trail Game – $25 – Ages 8+

And educational game about hiking the Appalachian Trail. Players learn to identify plants along the trail, low-impact camping skills, and the 10 most important things to have on a hike. The first player to hike the entire trail wins. One of the coolest parts of the game is the board is printed on the same material as trail guides, so it’s super rugged and almost impossible to rip. This is one I’d love to play with my Cub Scout Pack. Available now.

Funny Mix – $16 – Ages 4+

One of my favorite games of the show, Funny Mix is game that helps children read. The game is full of super heroes who’s names are real words, and also describe the power that hero has. Using cards that have a printed piece and transparent sections, kids put together their heroes while sounding out the letters and forming words. There’s a bunch of ways to play, and heroes with both 3 and 4 letter words to use. I’ve got a 4-year-old who’s currently learning to read, and this would be absolutely perfect for him! Available now.

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With The Legend of Zelda Monopoly, GameStop is borrowing strategy from its video game sales, taking preorders and bundling exclusive content. The game is being produced by USAOpoly and will be sold through other retail outlets, however, only the GameStop version will come with an Ocarina of Time token, item power cards, Hyrule map lithograph, and square (instead of rectangular) box.

To be clear, other retailers (such as Target and Walmart) dabble in board game exclusives (including versions of Munchkin and Wits & Wagers). But the move is a significant step for GameStop, where board games are a sideline to a much larger video game business.

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Up until now North Star Games has been known mostly for party titles. The company’s flagship product, Wits & Wagers, is a trivia game where players bet on which one of them has the best answer. Its two most recent releases are Clubs, a trick-taking card game in the same vein as Spades, and Happy Birthday, which has players giving each other strange and silly gifts.

Today, however, North Star is in the process of launching a strategy game division. For the first product of that division, North Star has turned to Kickstarter and chosen a game called Evolution.

I had the opportunity recently to spend an afternoon at North Star Games’ office speaking with company founder Dominic Crapuchettes about the new venture, as well as playtesting Evolution. Dominic shared with me some of the history behind North Star Games, talked about how he sees the company developing in the future, and addressed the role of Kickstarter in those plans. The game I enjoyed a lot. It’s smart, engaging and thought-provoking without being overwhelming. Read the rest of this entry »

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Just 6 months after announcing expansion of its nascent miniature war game efforts, Osprey Publishing has revealed plans to develop a board and card game business. Osprey’s accessible military history books have been popular with gamers for a long time and are sold in many specialty game shops, so expansion in this field is not so much of a stretch.

To support the board and card game endeavor, Osprey is recruiting for a game developer to work out of the company’s Oxford office.

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Counterfeit designer board games, a problem in the Chinese market, are now being marketed for export. According to Cédric Barbé, CEO of French game publisher, Iello:

In the past, the impact of counterfeits has been limited to sales in China, though that impact has been hard to measure with precision. We have experienced situations in which a Chinese publisher interested in one of our games has changed its mind after finding the game already on its market. Or finding that the game was being sold at such a low price as to be even cheaper than the cost of having it manufactured by our printers.

Purple Pawn, though, has confirmed listings of counterfeit games on the website of business-to-business export broker, DHgate.com, including King of Tokyo and Forbidden Island. The games are listed in case lots at wholesale rates, shipping overseas included. Some are pictured with unauthorized translations and expansions or modified packaging. One King of Tokyo listing, for example, includes a limited-release Brockenbar promotional monster and a never-released Ultraman monster.

Nevertheless, Jason Schneider, Director of Product Development and Marketing for Gamewright, says that so far, counterfeits have had minimal impact on sales:

As for the counterfeit Forbidden Island, we’re aware of it but haven’t taken any legal action against it up to this point. In all honesty, it’s just not worth the amount of time and money we’d have to invest to prosecute… It’s a shame that they’re out there, but until we see a significant dent in the sales of the official product, we probably won’t take action. In the mean time, we’ll stand flattered that our games are popular enough that someone would want to knock them off!

Though Purple Pawn was not able to confirm their status (counterfeit or legitimate) in time for this article, other games found on the same website, outside their normal distribution channels, are Cards Against Humanity, Bananagrams, Yu-Gi-Oh, Temple Run Danger Chase, Werewolves of Miller’s Hollow, and Blokus.

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Z-Man Games has successfully returned from Essen, and has put up their schedule for the games they had at Essen.

Week of November 25th

Blueprints:  This dice game centers around making the best building set of three buildings from your dice rolls.   Players draft their dice from a common pool, balancing the need to create your own structures, against stopping your opponents from finishing theirs.

Week of December 9th or 16th

Agricola World Championship deck:  This deck contains four foil Japanese Tarmogoyf’s and four foil Russian Jace the Mind-Sculptor.  Oh, wait, no it doesn’t, that was a Magic: The Gathering world championship deck.  This deck was created for the 2011 Agricola World Championship.  Finally, we can all recreate our favorite moments in Agricola Championship play, like when someone took the wood action, completely leaving the Family Growth spot open.  Crazy!

Bruxelles 1893:  Play as a Belgian architect constructing Art Nouveau buildings.  Not since Pret-A-Porter has a more unlikely topic for boardgames been covered!  I don’t know anything else about this game, but everyone raved about Pret-A-Porter.

Carcassonne South Seas:  Hopefully this means I will finally be able to drown all these meeples that haunt my dreams.

Ginkgopolis: The Experts:  This expansion adds six separate sections that can be added as players like.  Including “Design competitions and advertising campaigns eventually lead to increasingly imposing avant-garde buildings.”  So, finally, a game about building buildings, an area that has been decidedly unexplored, up until this month.

Glass Road:  This game is about war set in a post-apocalyptic Iowa, where transparent aluminum is the material of choice for military vehicles.  The destruction of these vehicles has created a Glass Road to Nebraska.  And you must get to Nebraska as quickly as possible to harvest the corn to fed your people.  Oh, wait… No, it is about managing a glass making business in Bavaria.

Ricochet Robots:  This is a reprint of the game from 1999.  Although at first, I think of Roborally, it really doesn’t sound anything like that.  It is  a brain burning puzzle to get a robot to a goal in the fewest moves.

Russian Railroads:  I love me some train games, although this looks to be more than just deliver, deliver, deliver.  Russian Railroads is a worker placement take on the usual train game.

January 2014

Dungeon Petz:  Dark Alleys: Is an expansion to the orignal Vladda Chvatil (I don’t have the little stress mark above the “a” on my keyboard,) game, Dungeon Petz.  In this expansion we get a new part of town to check out, with six new spaces, all done in classic Dunegon Petz style.

Tash-Kalar: Arena of Legends:  This is a tactical game using cards to bring your units onto the board, in order to destroy your opponent’s pieces.  By moving your units into specific patterns on the board, you will be able to summon more creatures to fight for you.  This looks like an interesting combination of tactical combat, and hand management.

So that gets us up through January!  Make sure to get to your Friendly Local Game Store and put in a pre-order.  All of these games are up on the ‘Geek with more indepth reviews, comments, and lots of pictures.

The official news can be found here.

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On Monday, Hasbro reported its 3rd quarter financial results, revealing continued growth in the games category. The company’s Q3 net revenues were $1.37 billion, an increase of 2 percent compared to last year. These overall positive results were buoyed by a +11 percent performance in international markets.

In terms of product categories, boys continued to slide, while games and girls were up. Within the boys category, though, Beyblade sales grew in the third quarter.

Rising 6 percent, Hasbro’s games business (includes both tabletop and electronic games) posted its fourth straight quarter of revenue growth. The category was again led by Magic: The Gathering, which was up over 30 percent. Also performing well, however, were Jenga, Elefun & Friends, and Telepods. Monopoly and Monopoly Empire revenues were flat in the quarter, though the company considers the news positive as year-to-date numbers were still up.

Regarding Magic: The Gathering, Hasbro revealed in its earnings conference call that 80 percent of sales take place in hobby shops. Also, Magic Online has been receiving significant investment by the company, most going toward expanding capacity for simultaneous games. CEO, Brian Goldner, explained that MtG, with its strong brand and cross-platform gaming options, has been the leading example of how Hasbro now approaches developing immersive experiences in its company-wide brand blueprint strategy.

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