Here is the latest periodic round-up of board games news and reviews, for September, 2013:
How Forbidding is the Forbidden Desert?
The Opinionated Gamers brings us an in-depth review of Mensa Select award winner Forbidden Desert, from Gamewright:
Forbidden Desert is the much-anticipated "sequel" to Matt Leacock's family-oriented cooperative game hit, Forbidden Island. Evidently, your success at rescuing the treasures has inspired you and your team to travel into the deepest desert to find a fabled lost city – and a marvelous flying ship. Forbidden Desert is a fresh game with it's own personality and style. I highly recommend Forbidden Desert to you as a great 30-45 minute cooperative game. [link]
Mobile Suburbia Announced
PocketGamer tells us about upcoming mobile versions of the board game Suburbia:
Bézier Games is bringing its 2013 Mensa-select winning city-builder Suburbia to iOS and Android soon. The latest cerebral board game to make its way to mobile is set to be unveiled at GenCon in August and will come out for iOS before it sees a release on Android. Suburbia plays a bit like a cross between Sim City and Settlers of Catan, as each player's goal is to transform a small city into a thriving metropolis using hex-shaped building tiles. [link]
No monkeying around: board game designer scores a success
The St. Louis Beacon shares the story of a local game designer's rise to prominence in the world of board games:
Mark Sellmeyer, a 49-year-old graphic designer and St. Louis native, has earned international recognition as a board game designer. Inspired by childhood favorite RoboRally, Sellmeyer produced Spin Monkeys, a game that has proven successful, receiving international success. "After play testing it for a few years, I decided to enter it into the 2009 Rio Grande Games Design Contest," said Sellmeyer. Spin Monkeys, in which a monkey-driven bumper car drives around on a fruit-hunting expedition, beat out hundreds of competitors from across the country. [link]
Pure Chess Launches On Android
From Stephen Yuen at AndroidSPIN :
One of the best looking chess games ever, Pure Chess, has just made its way to Android today. Coming to you courtesy of VooFoo Studies and Ripstone, Pure Chess is a marriage of amazing graphics with the age-old classic boardgame, and adds cross-platform play. Pure Chess was originally released on the Playstation Network last year, so with this port to mobile devices, you know you'll be getting console quality graphics. [link]
Download from Google Play.
Panic Station Review
From Fearnet.com comes a review of "Panic Station", a horror/thriller/monster tabletop game by Dangerous Games:
In Panic Station, four to six players take on the role of two characters each (a space exterminator and an android) as they try to investigate and root out a parasitic race of aliens that have taken over a space station. But there's a classic Sci-fi horror twist! One of the players randomly begins the game with their human character as a "Host." The Host keeps his or her identity secret, and tries to infect as many other team members as possible. In the end, any uninfected must use their flame throwers to destroy the alien hive, or everyone dies. [link]
World's Oldest Board Game Pieces Unearthed in Turkey
IGN brings us news of a discovery of an ancient board game culture:
The little dog figurine in your grandmother's Monopoly game may seem kind of old, but a group of archaeologists have uncovered a 5,000-year old gaming set in Turkey. The 49 astonishingly well-preserved tokens and dice are providing further evidence that board games may have come into existence in the Middle East ages ago. [link]
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Board Game Buzz is a periodical roundup of news and notes from the board gaming blogosphere, featuring board game news, board game game releases, board game reviews, and opinion from the people who live and breathe board games and gaming!
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Posted Wednesday September 11th, 2013 at 6:12pm, Filed under:
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