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A few weeks ago, Laura & Brian went to the GAMA Trade Show, the industry show where game manufacturers let us retailers know what’s up and coming over the next year.  We are really excited about a bunch of new games!  In Part 1, we talked about some of the upcoming deeper strategy games.  In this post, we introduce some of the lighter fare coming this year!

NMBR9

NMBR9 is very simple in concept but was a lot of fun to play, already out in Germany and being brought to the US by Asmodee.  We see this as a nice quick game, and one that would go well with having fun beverages.  We will definitely add this to our home collection, and take it with us camping and to friends’ gatherings.

The game consists of a deck of cards – each with a number on it – and number shaped tiles (they’re sort of pixelated).  Each turn, a card is drawn, and each player takes a corresponding tile and stacks it so that no part of the tile is unsupported by either the table or the tile(s) beneath it.  At the end of the game, players collect points for each tile equal to its value multiplied by the level.  So the base level doesn’t score any points.  Each turn you have to decide – do I make the base bigger to support more tiles, or do I build vertical to get more points?  (Bonus:  the game box has the perfect tray, organizing the tiles so that the setup time is about 1 second!)

Braintopia

We got to play Braintopia at GAMA, and now it is on the shelves and in the library at Meeples!  This is another game that’s fun to play while eating/drinking/socializing with friends and families – recommended ages 8+.  From Boardgamegeek.com:

Braintopia is a simple game that will test your skills of observation, quick thinking, and coordination. The game is made up of eight fast-paced challenges that keep you on your toes as you race to refocus your mind and solve each puzzle before your opponents. As you and up to five other players proceed through the challenge deck, you collect the cards you have answered both accurately and most quickly. A correctly identified tactile card or a pair of any other challenge card will earn you a piece of the brain. The first player to four brain pieces wins!

Wizkids

Wizkids has tons of great stuff happening this year!  Below are a few of the cool new games & accessories:

• New pre-primed unpainted miniatures for D&D and Pathfinder (in stock now!)
• Rules revamp and new starter sets for Heroclix coming out in Q3!
• New draft packs for Dice Masters – these will make drafting more balanced and you’ll always have enough dice, so even 2 players will be able to draft (priced at $9.99 – each kit will have 12 characters with 2 dice each, and 2 basic actions)
• The Expanse Boardgame, based on the TV show
• Dicebot Megafun (pronounced:  MEGAFUN!!) – bring the chaos of arena robot fighting to your table!  We played this one and had a blast, er uh, MEGAFUN!!  Each turn you pick from a “junkyard” of dice to assemble and arm your robot (in Galaxy Trucker fashion, where you race to grab components before the other players), after which you will pick which weapons you want to fight with and then throw down!  Interesting characters/bots and simple mechanics.  
• New pieces to customize Agricola (a fabulous game that deserves to have great bling)

Hotshots

By the designer of Castle Panic, a Meeples favorite, in the cooperative game Hotshots, players are wildland forest fighters working to extinguish a wildfire.  Crews of 1 to 4 players take on the roles of wildfire fighters (Crew Boss, Spotter, Swamper, and Sawyer) with special abilities and roll dice on burning terrain tiles to match the combinations shown on the tiles. Flame tokens are added at the end of each player’s turn by the draw of a Fire card, which can bring about wind gusts, strengthen the flames on certain tiles, and start fires. Too many Flame tokens will cause a tile to Scorch and be lost, affecting the game play. The press-your-luck mechanic with ratcheting rewards creates a lot of great tension, and the variety of ways to fight the fire makes for interesting choices. The modular tile layout and Fire cards bring high replayability to the game, and the board and bits look great!

Stay tuned for the next part of our GAMA report, and call Meeples Games at 206.535.7896 if you want to order any of these games!