Filler games
There are board games that can be played for hours or even days. Finding time for those could be difficult in today's busy world, but that doesn't mean that we should give up on our favorite hobby. Our lunch breaks, short free periods, heck even the pause between long games can be spent by playing shorter games called fillers.
Filler games are usually cheap, portable, quick to setup and play and easy to teach. They don't require a lot of table space so they can be played anywhere. But be warned. They can be pretty addictive and take up the whole gaming night if you are not careful :)
Some of the most popular ones are Love Letter, Coup, Zombie Dice, Sushi Go! and a more recent one Codenames which is at the moment the #1 party game on BGG.
Check out 6 Great Filler Games and Why You Should Play More Filler Games by Gray Cat Games, Top Ten Filler Games by iSlaytheDragon, 15 of the Best Filler Games by Matt M. Casey of Clever Move Games and of course Rahdo's Top 10 Filler Games.
P.S. I am going on a vacation. Play some games to fill the time while waiting for the next BGW issue :)
News
CMON Limited Hires Eric M. Lang as Director of Game Design, Announces A Song of Ice & Fire: Tabletop Miniatures Game
At the 2017 GAMA Trade Show, CMON Limited has made several announcements of note, starting with the news that designer Eric M. Lang has been hired as Director of Game Design.
Renegade Announces Two New Games for Summer 2017
Renegade Game Studios, publishers of the hit games Apotheca, Clank!, Lanterns: The Harvest Festival, Lotus, and World’s Fair 1893, has recently announced two new games coming to your friendly local gaming store in Summer 2017.
Board Game News Brief: March 15 2017
A raft of hot new games announcements in this week’s News Brief plus some absolutely gorgeous looking Kickstarters, as well as the latest Community Centerpiece.
Lumen Fidei
Asmodee announces 5th expansion for Time Stories, Lumen Fidei. It invites you and your friends to travel back to Medieval Spain near the end of the Reconquista.
New Game Round-up: Become an Online Detective, Blueprint a Palace, and Build a Roman City
With the 2017 GAMA Trade Show kicking off this week, several publishers have announced new games in their line-ups. W. Eric Martin of BGG shares some with us.
Games News! 13/03/2017
Shut Up & Sit Down share the latest news for the last week. Hidden royalty, leverage your swans, sonar talents, Jamiroquai, Verdun...
Articles and Videos
Top 10 Games That Should Have Legacy Versions
Join Tom, Sam, and Zee from The Dice Tower as they discuss what games they'd like to see get the "legacy treatment".
Women Game Designers Kick Butt!
Jessica Fisher of Gameosity.com writes about awesome female board game designers on International Women’s Day.
How to Host a Game Night
My experience isn’t necessarily a blueprint for what you’ll want to do–everyone’s situation is unique, and my approach is less open to serendipity - but here are some things I’ve learned from running different groups that meet consistently.
Mr. Board Games: Interview with Dale Yu, Editor, Reviewer, Designer and Developer
Scott Caputo spoke with Dale Yu by phone to talk about Opinionated Gamers, being a developer for Dominion and to hear his perspective on the board game industry.
Let's talk about money, Eric Lang!
“Board games are the best social lubricant.” Eric Lang must know best, because inventing them is his job. An interview with one of the most prolific board game designers.
Have you ever wanted to make a game?
Making a game is hard work, it’s like a roller coaster of emotions and sometimes you are going to want to give up. Yet other times you are going to have highs, like when you see the first group of players laughing and having fun all because of something you made.
Crowdfunding
Cytosis: A Cell Biology Board Game by John Coveyou (Genius Games)
A board game taking place inside a human cell! Players compete to build enzymes, hormones and receptors and fend off attacking Viruses!
Tortuga 1667
A Pirate Game of Mutiny, Plunder, and Deceit for 2-9 players. Now on IndieGoGo if you have missed the Kickstarter campaign.
Castle Dukes: Medieval Fun In 3D by Medieval Lords
A visually beautiful 3D castle building game that requires smart purchasing decisions, good planning of structure and stable hands.
ENTROPY – Worlds Collide by Allen Chang
Piece together the shards of your reality and save your world from a multiverse collision in this competitive game of risk & deception.
Stop Thief! - The Classic 1979 Board Game Restored! by Restoration Games
We're bringing back this classic board game of elusive suspects and audio deduction with modern play and upgraded components.
Grimslingers: The Northern Territory by Greenbrier Games INC
A weird-western card dueling game for 2-6 players that doubles as an RPG-like, campaign driven, solo / co-op for 1-4 players.
Reviews and Playthroughs
TDG: Assault of the Giants
Have you ever wanted to play a game that was all Goliath and no David? Well look no further! Cody takes a look at this game from WizKids that boast biggish miniatures. Will it live up to its giant expectations? Or will it assault your sense of fun? Cody takes a look.
Buzzworthiness: Takenoko
Takenoko is a game that was designed by Antoine Bauza and published by Bombyx and Matagot. It’s for 2-4 players and takes about 45 minutes to play.
Reviews: 7 Wonders Duel + Pantheon, Raise Your Goblets, Tiefe Taschen, Karibou Camp etc.
Actualol reviews five board games - 7 Wonders Duel and its Pantheon expansion, Raise Your Goblets, Tiefe Taschen, Karibou Camp and Checkpoint Charlie.
Review: Dawn of the Zeds by Victory Point Games
Dawn of the Zeds is a very versatile game from the States of Siege series, in that it can be played fully co-op, competative, or solo. There’s also 6 or 7 game modes (difficulties) within that, so you can taylor the game to what you want it to be.
GameWire: Century: Spice Road
Century: Spice Road by Plan B Games is the first in a series of games designed by Emerson Matsuuchi. Join Bebo as she gives you a brief game overview! This game will be available June in friendly local games stores everywhere!
Reaping the Rewards: 'Roll Player' - Character Creation as a Game
Roll Player is for 1 to 4 players, ages 10 and up, and takes 60-90 minutes to play. The game uses a lot of typical material for role-playing games, so there isn’t much that would be inappropriate for younger players, but there is a lot to keep track of.
Unlock! Review - Key to Our Hearts (SPOILER FREE)
Elaine and Efka find their way out of a box of escape the room adventures to deliver you the skinny on this very clever game.
Influencers
Stefan Feld
Stefan is one of the most prominent euro-game designers. All his designs are pretty unique, with a unique mechanic, almost always using dice to add variety and different options without too much randomness.
His most popular game is The Castles of Burgundy which is currently ranked #9 overall on BGG. He had a bunch of other hits like Trajan, Bora Bora, Bruges, Notre Dame, In the Year of the Dragon, Macao, Amerigo, AquaSphere... His latest game is The Oracle of Delphi, a nominee for the Golden Geek 2016 best strategy game.
To learn more about Stefan and his games, check out his BGG designer page and The Dice Tower designer spotlight interview. Also, take a look at Rahdo's Top 10 Stefan Feld Games.
That's it for this week. I hope you have enjoyed reading this issue. Please share with your friends, subscribe if you have not already and follow BGW on Twitter and Facebook.
Thanks for reading and until next week,
Miro
Title image created from the following BGG images by Jerome Lapointe, Henk Rolleman, W. Eric Martin and W. Eric Martin.
Influencer image: Stefan Feld collection from James Mustafa (BGG).