As part of a major investment in the growth of its UK games business, Ravensburger is recruiting for a Games Product and Development Manager in Bicester, Oxfordshire. The focus of the position will be on working with inventors to develop new products for the local market, as well as adapting games from the company’s international portfolio. Familiarity with licensed products will be helpful but the work will cover family games, children’s games, strategy board games, action games, card games, and brainteasers.

The Strong and National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York needs a Vice President for Marketing and Communications. A minimum of 10 years experience is required. Responsibilities include working with senior leadership on marketing initiatives, public relations, admissions pricing, membership programs, digital strategy, and managing the museum’s portfolio of trademarks. The selected candidate will also work on the National Toy Hall of Fame and World Video Game Hall of Fame induction programs.

A European Sales Associate is wanted by Pegasus Spiele. Previous experience in sales is required. The focus will be on the Italian market, so fluency in Italian is also important.

Among other open positions at Asmodee North America in Roseville, Minnesota are Mass Market Specialist and Amazon Account Manager. For the former, the job is to develop marketing plans, manage the website editorial calendar, and oversee a staff of writers and graphic designers. For the latter, the job is to maintain relationships with Amazon and Amazon Marketplace 3rd party sellers, place orders and track inventory, forecast and monitor sales, and manage new product launches.

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Asmodee Group announced that it is in talks to acquire Rebel, the publisher and distributor of games in Poland. Rebel already distributes many of Asmodee’s games, including Ticket to Ride and Dobble.

Asmodee UK, formerly Esdevium Games, will be taking over distribution of Bananagrams and other games from the Bananagrams company in the U.K. as of April 1st.

Van Ryder Games has acquired the U.S. and Canadian distribution rights for English-language versions of Makaka Editions’ series of French graphic novel game books. Expect a Kickstarter project for these in March.

Pegasus Spiele is partnering with Frosted Games to distribute some of the latter’s titles on an exclusive basis and other titles on a non-exclusive basis. Those games under the exclusive arrangement will get a Pegasus Spiele logo on the box. Among these is Augespielt! (“Game Over!” in English), a murder-mystery game set at the annual German SPIEL game convention.

Pegasus Spiele is also expanding its relationship with Portal Games, taking over exclusive distribution of the latter’s products in Germany.

Renegade Game Studios and Hunter’s Books are partnering to copublish the latter’s roleplaying games, including the upcoming titles Kids on Bikes and Outbreak Undead. Renegade will handle marketing and distribution to hobby retailers.

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Expect a Sonic the Hedgehog board game on Kickstarter soon. The game was announced by Shinobi 7, previously a joint venture with Ninja Division Publishing but recently acquired in its entirety by Seven Seas Entertainment. Sonic the Hedgehog: Battle Racers, based on the SEGA video game series, will allow players to choose between Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, Tails, and Dr. Eggman, each represented with 40 mm painted figures.

Up on Kickstarter now is Highlander: The Board Game from River Horse. This one naturally comes with a 32 mm figure for each immortal and has players dueling to the last.

All Things Equal, publisher of Loaded Questions, has acquired a license from NBC Universal to produce The Big Lebowski board games. At least two are planned, with details expected around New York Toy Fair.

Billing it as the first in a series of X-Files games (even though the company previously published one in 2015), IDW recently announced Everything is Connected: The X-Files Conspiracy Theory. As a story-telling party game, Everything is Connected has players inventing theories to explain case evidence and then attempting to convince the others of their theory’s plausibility. It’ll also include an alternative game mode, based on the episode “From Outer Space”, in which the players take turns trying to weave together in to a sensible narrative the invented eyewitness testimony provided by the other players. Everything is Connected is supposed to ship in March.

Pegasus Spiele has announced plans for a series of four new games based on Games Workshop’s classic title, Talisman. The first, due later this year, will be a children’s game. Following that, are planned an expandable card game, a roleplaying game, and a dice game.

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Passport Game Studios announced this week a partnership arrangement with Pegasus Spiele and eggertspiele through which it would bring some of the German companies’ games to the United States. The first two products under the deal, Hospital Rush and Grog Island, should arrive as early as July. Both are already available in Europe.

Hospital Rush has players take on the role of interns competing for hospital positions with cures, sound medical care, and a healthy dose of dirty tricks. It’s a worker-placement game for 3-5 players.

In Grog Island the players are retired pirates investing their saved loot in businesses and ventures close to a pirate’s heart: peg-leg shops, voodoo dolls, parrots, and treasure chests. Central to the game is an auction where players bid their dice.

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Camel Up!

A big congratulations are in order for designer Steffen Bogen as Camel Up takes the 2014 Spiel des Jahres!

Camel Up sees 2-8 players betting on camels during a camel race. The game uses a pretty awesome pyramid dice shaker to release dice one at a time to move camels. Players can bid early to reap in huge rewards, or try to see how the race is playing out and play things a bit safer. Wacky hijinks ensue.

Camel Up is for players 8+, and plays in about 30 minutes.

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At the Nuremberg International Toy Fair, Pegasus Spiele is debuting three new board games.

One is Camel Up, a camel racing game where the players bet on the winners and losers, the wood camel pieces stack on each other, and a pyramid device determines how the camels run.

Another of the games is Hospital Rush. In this one, the players are medical interns competing for the position of senior physician.

And finally, there’s Hook!, where bored pirates pass the time by shooting each other with cannon balls.

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