321 – PAX Unplugged 2022
Anitra went to PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia last week. What’s the latest and greatest we can expect to see in the coming year?
Fact: 321 makes us think of the old educational TV show 3-2-1 Contact!
Sponsor: If you want to talk through other ideas to take some of the stress out of the holidays set up a time to talk to First Move by going to firstmovefinancial.com/familygamers today.
What We’ve Been Playing
Sprawlopolis
Green Team Wins (our review) – fun even when we “broke” the game with more players
Joan of Arc: Orleans Draw and Write – fun but hard on the eyes
Ready Set Bet!
Kabuto Sumo – expansion changes it but doesn’t speed it up much
Winter
Mada – a little better with 3 players.
Oh What Fun – review linked below.
Head Spin
Star Trek: Super-Skill Pinball
Castle Panic (new Big Box)
Garden Nation
Turing Machine
Giveaways!
We have four giveaways starting today and running through Dec 24.
Enter to win any of:
The Quest Kids (w/expansion)
Aldabas
Fyfe
Turtle Splash
SNAP Review – Oh What Fun!
Do you like Christmas? Do you like trivia and puzzles? Then you’ll have fun with Oh What Fun! A Christmas-themed party game from Project Genius.
Watch the video or read the transcript for the whole review.
PAX Unplugged Interviews
Resonym with Mary Flanagan
Phantom Ink – seance-themed party game. Can your team guess the secret object with clues from the spirits? Available now.
Retrograde – “Yahtzee dice chaos” with a Space-Invaders theme. Roll doubles to blast invaders and also get special target cards to expand your abilities. Fulfilling to Kickstarter backers now, available in stores soon.
Find out more at Resonym.com. Find them on Twitter @resonym and on Facebook @resonym.
Dolphin Hat Games with Dave Campbell
Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza
Gimme That! – a hot potato game of speedy dice rolling and speedy writing.
Both are available now.
Find out more at DolphinHat.com or on Twitter @DolphinHatGames and Facebook @DolphinHatGames.
Smirk & Laughter Games / Smirk & Dagger Games with Curt Covert
boop is adorable and surprisingly challenging! You might have to wait for the next printing though – it’s sold out almost everywhere.
Find out more at SmirkAndLaughter.com or on Twitter @SmirkAndDagger and Facebook @SmirkAndDagger.
Randall Hampton, The Little Game Master
The Little Game Master is “Dr. Seuss meets Dungeons & Dragons.” A series of illustrated storybooks to introduce kids to tabletop roleplaying.
He’s also working on a game system – a set of rules for roleplaying intended for kids age 4-9. Coming to Kickstarter early 2023!
Find out more at RandallHamptonArt.com or on Twitter @randall_hampton and Instagram @randallhampton and even Twitch @randall_hampton .
Last Night Games with Jake Jenne
The Finest Fish – tile placement on a goldfish! Make patterns and clusters of scales on your personal goldfish – available soon.
Life of a Chameleon – move a chameleon around the board to eat bugs that match your color, in a certain order to complete objective cards. Of course, you’ll need to change your color to eat the right bugs! Available now.
Find out more at LastNightGames.com. Or on Twitter @lastnightgames and Instagram @lastnightgames.
Restoration Games with Matt
Key to the Kingdom – the original game came out in 1990. Roll dice, move around the board… But the board opens up with big flaps to give you new areas to explore!
Find out more at RestorationGames.com.
Flagbearer Games with Collyn Messier
Nations & Cannons is a campaign setting for D&D. This lets you play a completely historic setting using the D&D framework – or combine it with traditional D&D elements for a supernatural campaign. Nations & Cannons walks through the early Revolutionary War in the colonies, with roles such as Officer, Renegade, Pioneer, etc. and pulling in real characters from American history.
Even the items, armor, spells (ie “gambits”), and enemies have been re-imagined to work in a 18th century historical setting.
Keep an eye out for their coming Kickstarter in February for a campaign module covering the first half of the Revolution (seige of Boston through Valley Forge).
Find out more: NationsAndCannons.com or Facebook: @NationsAndCannons or Twitter: @FlagbearerGames.
One Day West Games with Bob & Ryan Craig
Canosa – a two player abstract game. Sirens lure sailors (using “influence rings”) back to their islands.
Find out more about Canosa and all their other games at OneDayWestGames.com, Twitter: @OneDayWestGames, Facebook: @OneDayWestGames, and Instagram: @OneDayWestGames.
More PAX Unplugged with Anitra!
Weird Giraffe Games is coming out with “macro games” (27 cards), most of which are tie-ins with their existing games. Explosion in the Laboratory is the first one. It just finished its Kickstarter and should be available late next year.
Word Wipe Out from Gray Matters Games – a letter-elimination game that reminds us a little of Tapple.
KOSMOS is now the publisher for Karak (our review) and Catch the Moon. And The Crew: Deep Sea has difficulty levels. Switch & Signal is a cooperative game that feels a bit like Ticket to Ride and a bit like Pandemic – a cooperative pick-up-and-deliver game.
Plaid Hat Games is coming out with Hickory Dickory, an adorable (and somewhat complex) pick-up-and-deliver game.
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