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W. Eric Martin
United States
Apex
North Carolina
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French publisher Gigamic has released a number of new games and new editions of old games in mid-2011, enough to merit a call-out post of its own. Here's a summary of what's hit the market, in addition to mention of an award given to a game that had not yet been released at the time it won said award:
• Coyote – a party game of sorts from Spartaco Albertarelli in which players try to determine the sum of all numbers on everyone's head while not being able to see one's own number.
• Fusion – another take on the "play cards quickly onto piles according to specific rules" concept from Speed designer Reinhard Staupe.
• Cubulus – a strategy game for 2-3 players in which you take turns pushing colored marbles into a 3x3x3 grid, or rearranging the order of a row by pushing out a marble and pushing it back in on the other side, with the goal of creating a square of your color on one of the cube's faces. Winner of the "best abstract game" award at the 2011 UK Games Expo.
• Gygès – a new edition of this Claude Leroy design in which each player wants to be the first to land a piece in the opponent's back row while neither of them owns the pieces they are moving.
• Horse Fever – the second edition of this racing game from Italian publisher Cranio Creations, which is being distributed in France by Gigamic.
• Kawumm! – a press-your-luck card game from German publisher HUCH! & friends distributed by Gigamic.
• Compañeros – a trick-taking game for 3-6 players with 3-6 suits in which the winner of a trick is the person who played the highest valued card in the color with the largest sum during that trick. Players need not follow suit, and the game uses no trump. The winner of a trick collects cards played in the previous tricks as points, with the second- and third-highest players in that color possibly collecting cards, too. Another HUCH! & friends release distributed by Gigamic.
• Kabaleo – a 2-4 player game in which each player is secretly assigned one of the six colors and tries through the play of colored pyramids and a simple removal rule to own more of the pyramids in play at the end of the game than anyone else.
La Revue du Jouet, a French trade magazine that covers the toy and game industry in that country, awarded Kabaleo its Grand Prix du Jouet in the strategy game category.
The Gigamic line has been all over the place in terms of U.S. distribution, with Fundex, Family Games and Great American Trading Company all taking a whack at the challenge, with most of their focus on Gigamic's line of chunky wood games such as Quarto! and Quoridor. Currently, the Gigamic line is distributed in the U.S. by Back Alley Traders with that company also carrying titles such as Rök and Wazabi.
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• Kabaleo – a 2-4 player game in which each player is secretly assigned one of the six colors and tries through the play of colored pyramids and a simple removal rule to own more of the pyramids in play at the end of the game than anyone else.
