Competition success

I’m excited to announce that Uranus! has made it into round 2 of the Board Game Design Lab annual design challenge competition!  All the entries from round 1 were split into 10 groups and each group was assigned three judges. From the videos and one page ‘sell sheets’ submitted for each game, the judges then voted through 3 games out of the 12 or 13 in their group. It’s very exciting that Uranus! has made it through as one of the top games in round 1.

Round 2 involves public voting. So now it’s your turn to help. The 30 games through to round 2 have been split into five groups. To vote for a game in a group you need to provide feedback on at least two videos in that group. Then you have a chance to grade your top three videos.

Uranus! is in Group A. Click the link through to the Group A page, watch some videos, provide some feedback and vote! Only 10 games will make it through to round 3… let’s see if we can get Uranus through. Voting is only open for a week. Vote by the end of Friday 12th June. Thanks in advance.

A review of Doughnut Dash

Tabletop Games Blog has published a great review of Doughnut Dash! Here are some quotes from the review…

“You could easily play Doughnut Dash with very little planning and have a great time and get a great score, which is why the game is also really suitable for players with less experience of modern board games. However, you can also play Doughnut Dash at a much more strategic level. The game is almost a perfect information game, allowing you to plan many steps ahead. It’s often obvious what the others will do on their turn and you know exactly which direction cards they have to play, so you could really just math everything out if you wanted. Of course, it’s not that simple. For one, the other players know that you know what they know and will act accordingly, surprising you with actions that you hadn’t counted on…

The Dark Imp has done a great job with the game. Every game is different and it really changes with different numbers of players and different player groups. I have played games that were quick and fun and mainly consisted of trying to snatch doughnuts from each other, as well as games where every turn was carefully considered and players’ Sugar Rush actions used to great effect.

“The components in Doughnut Dash are amazing as well. You can see that in my unboxing video for BuzzleBox, which is a great collection of games, which includes Doughnut Dash. The sixteen factory tiles which make up the game board are thick and provide a lot of variability. The doughnuts are represented by chunky wooden discs and colourful stickers. The cards are really thick and seem very durable – no sleeving needed.

“I think it’s a great production and will offer you a lot of fun gameplay with the family, as well as some strategic thinking for those people who prefer that sort of thing.”

UkEdChat Online Conference

From Tuesday 9th June to Thursday 11th June the UKEdChat Online Conference is taking place. There are 73 speakers over 3 days and almost 8,000 delegates signed up for this free event so far!

I’m running a 20 minute session on “The Benefits of Board Games for Teachers & Parents” at 1.07pm on Thursday 11th June. I’ll be chatting online while the video runs and I’ll be monitoring and engaging with anyone who posts in the accompanying forum.

The conference has such a buzz about it – check out the brochure. It’s great to be involved. I look forward to seeing lots of you there.

Get your free Dark Imp game!

Exciting news…The Dark Imp has a new mailing list.

When you join the list, you’ll instantly receive a free Dark Imp game…Mini Town.  Mini Town is a roll & write city-building game for 1-101 people that you can download, print and play.
 
As part of the mailing list you will receive weekly emails with resources and ideas to support your board game family. You’ll also be the first to know about new games, special offers, competitions and events.
 
The new mailing list replaces our old one. So you’ll need to sign up again to get Mini Town and start receiving emails.

In case you missed it…

On Monday, we released a new video about Three games that use numbered cards. Featuring: 6 Nimmt, No Thanks and The Mind. 

On Thursday, we published a new blog: Alfie reviews… Panic Lab. Find out what Alfie thinks about this speed game of spotting the right amoebas.


Coming this week…

New video: This is Mini Town!
New blog: Games played during lockdown