Zenobia Award continues push to lift up underrepresented game designers, reveals nine nominees diversifying historical tabletop design
Plus: Upper Deck lawsuit claiming Lorcana’s designer stole the game from them rumbles on in courts
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It feels like the entire board game industry has been running on overdrive these past couple of week as preparations for Spiel Essen ramp up. BoardGameWire is heading to Germany on Wednesday next week for a host of meetings at the fair, and to check out what publishers are debuting - as such, we’ll be taking a week off from the newsletter, with the next edition due to drop into your inboxes on October 10.
This week’s newsletter highlights the Zenobia Award’s continued drive to find and nurture talented designers from traditionally overlooked backgrounds, working on historical games which explore subjects that have so far failed to gain the attention of tabletop publishers. We also have news that Upper Deck’s lawsuit claiming Lorcana’s designer and Ravensburger stole the game from them could be about to progress after 15 months of legal wrangling, and we highlight the huge success of Go On Board’s Cyberpunk 2077: The Board Game crowdfunding campaign - the second largest raise on the Gamefound platform to date.
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Mike Didymus-True - Editor
Zenobia Award continues push to lift up underrepresented game designers, reveals nine nominees diversifying historical tabletop design
Games grappling with subjects including Indian revolutionaries fighting the British Raj and the moral dilemmas of enslaved textile workers in colonial Mexico are among the nominees for the second Zenobia Award, which looks to shine a light on diverse historical game designs from creators in marginalised groups.
The award aims to showcase games from women, people of colour and the LGBTQ community which explore hitherto overlooked or ignored areas of human history, covering political, social, cultural, scientific, economic or military affairs – with the hope of mentoring their designers and bringing those games towards publication.
Upper Deck lawsuit claiming Lorcana’s designer stole the game from them rumbles on in courts
Upper Deck‘s lawsuit claiming the designer of hit trading card game Disney Lorcana stole the design from them continues to plod its way through the courts, more than a year after the complaint was first lodged. The publisher has accused Lorcana designer Ryan Miller of “premeditated theft”, claiming he took his work on Upper Deck’s previously unannounced game Rush of Ikorr with him when he left the company in 2020 – and transported it to his new employer Ravensburger to create Lorcana.
It’s been 15 months since Upper Deck first brought the lawsuit - but the case could be about to make some progress depending on the outcome of tomorrow’s hearing.
Go On Board plans to stick with Gamefound after record $7.6m Cyberpunk 2077: The Board Game success
Polish board game crowdfunding specialist Go On Board says it plans to stick with Gamefound for its future campaigns in the wake of wrapping up one of the ascendant fundraising platform’s biggest-ever projects on more than $7.6m. The huge fundraise for Cyberpunk 2077: The Board Game is the second-largest recorded on the platform ahead of late pledge capital being added, behind the $12.1m Nemesis: Retaliation campaign from Gamefound CEO Marcin Świerkot’s other company Awaken Realms.
The raise is a record one for Go On Board, pipping its biggest Kickstarter campaign success in The Witcher: The Old World from 2021 by about €45,000.
Codenames publisher Czech Games Edition unveils new logo, calling old design “a little too serious”
Czech Games Edition, the publisher of titles including Codenames and Lost Ruins of Arnak, has revealed a new logo and mascot to “freshen things up” after 17 years under its former brand. CGE’s new logo adds a winking version of an astronaut from Vlaada Chvátil design Galaxy Trucker, one of the first titles published by the company back in 2007.
The rebrand comes ahead of a new website design planned for next year, and follows CGE making the surprise move of expanded into board game manufacturing six months ago by buying the factory it had used almost since its inception.
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Other news:
Shippers scramble for workarounds ahead of looming US East Coast port strike - Reuters
Horizons, a new magazine for TTRPG fans, offers periodical monsters, adventures, and more - Polygon
Cards Against Humanity Just Sued Elon Musk For $15 Million — Here’s Why - Forbes
CEO at DnD rival Kobold Press vows not to use AI “snake oil” - Wargamer
Design Zone
The Ludology Podcast talks with Iron Kitten Games’ Daniel Cunningham about how he transfers his mechanical engineering skills into helping publishers design storage trays, dice towers, and cardboard constructibles for modern tabletop games.
Designer Diary: The Journey of An Age Contrived by Chris Matthews - BoardGameGeek
A short video from Board Game Blueprint discussing whether you should be designing with icons or text
A collection of tips about boosting your board game prototyping collated by indie board game design blog What If?
Designer Diary: Concilium Urbis by Chus Rivel - BoardGameGeek
The always excellent Skeleton Code Machine looks at the mechanics of escalating disaster in crisis management games
The Decision Space podcast explores ‘What We Think About When We Think About Playtesting’
Joe Slack from the Board Game Design Course reveals 12 things to plan for before you even think of launching a Kickstarter board game campaign
The Game Design Unboxed podcast chats with Jacob Jaskov about his design Fog of Love
On the My Favourite Games podcast, Roberto Panetta from Rock, Stone and Dice Games talks up Lost Ruins of Arnak and Little Tavern
Board game design podcast The Tabletop Takeaway discusses why breaks are important in a real-time game, and whether players need an inventory
Designer Diary: The Yellow House by Geonil B - BoardGameGeek
Job Watch
US - Play Communications and Marketing Manager, Wizards of the Coast
US - Associate Growth Marketing Manager, Wizards of the Coast
US - Sr Manager, Brand Publicity, Wizards of the Coast
US - Global Events Manager, Asmodee North America
US - Social Media Coordinator, Atomic Mass Games
India - Game Developer, Bluencore
All these jobs are from the very excellent Tabletop Game Jobs Facebook Group - head there to take a look at all the latest listings
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