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New Game Round-up – Sackson x2 from Gryphon, Reverse Connection in Talpa & Slacking Quakers

W. Eric Martin
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• Grpyhon Games has announced an October 2011 release date for its new edition of Sid Sackson's BuyWord, with the game being packaged in a bag Bananagrams-style instead of the hydrogen bomb proof box used by Face 2 Face Games.

• And further good news for Sackson fans – Gryphon Games will also release its new version of Sid Sackson's Can't Stop in October 2011, with the familiar (at least to U.S. eyes) stop sign game board now bearing thematically appropriate traffic cones.


• Spin Master is giving away a Harrier promotional card for its collectible card game Redakai at the 2011 San Diego Comic Con, which means the press announcement went out a few days too late as the Con is underway as I'm writing this announcement.

Dice Hate Me Games has started a weekly newsletter to provide info on Carnival and other games in development, such as these two new-on-the-BGG-database titles: Soapbox Derby and Take the Bait, both labeled as 2012 releases.

• Spanish publisher nestorgames has released a published version of Artyom Tchebotaryov's Talpa, a reverse connection game of sorts in which each player wants to create a chain of empty spaces that connect his sides of the game board. On a turn, a player must move a piece to capture an opponent's piece in an adjacent space, removing the captured piece and leaving an empty space where he moved from – an empty space effectively owned by both players, which complicates the challenge of winning without allowing your opponent to connect at the same time.

• IELLO has released French rules (PDF) for Uchronia, which has an announced release date of September 2, 2011.

• Minion Games will have four new titles on hand at Gen Con in August 2011: Nitro Dice, Grave Business, Five Fingered Severance (timely in light of Borders closing its final 400 stores in the U.S.), and Nile DeLuxor, which is an expansion of the 2009 release Nile.

• New (and updated) games of interest in the BGG database include:

-----* Leader 1: Hell of the North – Originally tagged an extension of Leader 1, this is now a standalone game with new cobblestone terrain tiles, revised rules and new miniatures.

-----* Loose Cannons – From the prolific Bobby Doran comes a game in which players build a brick wall, then take turns firing cannonballs at the wall, trying to knock out all colors of brinks not their own. This is apparently a print-and-play game, so the game will not have actual bricks and cannonballs, alas. Bobby, I've said it repeatedly – publish more games as physical objects and I'll give you my money! I'm still bummed about missing out on the awesome carpet riders in Rug Amuck...

-----* Trophy Buck – A dice game from Steve Jackson in the same vein as Zombie Dice, but different.

-----* Unable, unwilling – Deserves props in the department of "theme you never previously considered for a game". Here's a description from the BGG page:

Quote:
A light, satirical card game set in a Quaker meeting. Membership has declined so far that you, the players, are all that are left. Unfortunately, the meeting still has over 40 nominated positions, and they all need to be filled by teatime. Can you persuade your Friends to nominate someone else? Or will you be the first to collapse from overwork, resign your membership and write an angry letter to The Friend?

The players each have a handful of cards, comprising nominations for jobs and increasingly-desperate ways of trying to get out of them. The game uses a line mechanic, similar to Family Business or Guillotine, with players eliminated when they succumb to too much work; the winner is the last player standing.
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Subscribe sub options Sat Jul 23, 2011 6:30 pm
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Jason Sugiuchi
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That Can't Stop cover is about as impressive as a generic can of peas. Way to go Gryphon Games. Wasn't there a poll or a design the cover contest? My apologies if you were the winner...
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  • Posted Sat Jul 23, 2011 8:14 pm
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W. Eric Martin
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Sugi wrote:
That Can't Stop cover is about as impressive as a generic can of peas. Way to go Gryphon Games. Wasn't there a poll or a design the cover contest? My apologies if you were the winner...

Yes, poll here with a design similar to this one edging out the graffiti look.
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  • Posted Sat Jul 23, 2011 8:43 pm
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Thomas Chipman
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W Eric Martin wrote:

Yes, poll here with a design similar to this one edging out the graffiti look.


it is too bad they didn't actually use one of the entries from the poll. at least the horrid cover art they actually went with matches the horrid board and pieces.
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  • Edited Sat Jul 23, 2011 9:55 pm
  • Posted Sat Jul 23, 2011 9:54 pm
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Ed Holzman
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nunyabisnas wrote:
W Eric Martin wrote:

Yes, poll here with a design similar to this one edging out the graffiti look.


it is too bad they didn't actually use one of the entries from the poll. at least the horrid cover art they actually went with matches the horrid board and pieces.

Fortunately, it's a really good game. It's too bad you won't be enjoying it.
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  • Posted Sat Jul 23, 2011 10:39 pm
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Patrick C.
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Labyrinth: The War On Terror is historically inaccurate & politically biased. It's the one popular game that violates BGG's requirements to keep politics out of gen. discussion. And yet it receives special treatment =US-centric views of this site.
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Bearcat89 wrote:
nunyabisnas wrote:
W Eric Martin wrote:

Yes, poll here with a design similar to this one edging out the graffiti look.


it is too bad they didn't actually use one of the entries from the poll. at least the horrid cover art they actually went with matches the horrid board and pieces.

Fortunately, it's a really good game. It's too bad you won't be enjoying it.


Not sure how distaste for the new cover art has anything to do with your remark.
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  • Posted Sat Jul 23, 2011 10:58 pm
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Randy Cox
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travvller wrote:
Bearcat89 wrote:
nunyabisnas wrote:
W Eric Martin wrote:

Yes, poll here with a design similar to this one edging out the graffiti look.


it is too bad they didn't actually use one of the entries from the poll. at least the horrid cover art they actually went with matches the horrid board and pieces.

Fortunately, it's a really good game. It's too bad you won't be enjoying it.


Not sure how distaste for the new cover art has anything to do with your remark.
Not sure how cover art, as long as it's not offensive to the general family population, is of a concern at all.
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  • Posted Sun Jul 24, 2011 1:44 am
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I can't say anything bad or good about the cover art - it's fine; nothing more and nothing less. Gryphon's graphics are almost always adequately serviceable, if sometimes slightly bland or amateurish.
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  • Posted Sun Jul 24, 2011 2:04 am
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Patrick C.
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Labyrinth: The War On Terror is historically inaccurate & politically biased. It's the one popular game that violates BGG's requirements to keep politics out of gen. discussion. And yet it receives special treatment =US-centric views of this site.
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Quote:
Not sure how cover art, as long as it's not offensive to the general family population, is of a concern at all.


The reason for the negative reaction to the cover art is that Gryphon took the time to hold a contest here on BGG with people submitting some really great eye catching designs. Then they decide to go with something bland and boring.

I don't have a horse in this race. I already own the game and I plan to keep it. I didn't submit artwork and I don't know anyone who did. But I do have 30 years of photography under my belt as well as professional experience in visual marketing and, in my not so humble opinion, the design they chose is mediocre at best.

Hope the game sells. Just not impressed with how Gryphon handled the situation. Does it matter? Nope, not at all.

Regardless, Ed's remark was snarky for no other reason than he appears to disagree. Seems like he could have just said he liked what they did and left it at that.
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  • Edited Sun Jul 24, 2011 2:22 am
  • Posted Sun Jul 24, 2011 2:13 am
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The fact that Can't Stop is on my wishlist and is now to be republished is good enough for me - - even if they were to simply release it in a brown paper bag.
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  • Posted Sun Jul 24, 2011 3:47 am
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Vinnie Terranova


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Can't Stop is a great game. Its excellent for getting non gamers into the hobby. Rolling dice with a fun push your luck element.
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  • Posted Sun Jul 24, 2011 10:46 am
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Jody Morgan
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Randy Cox wrote:
Not sure how cover art, as long as it's not offensive to the general family population, is of a concern at all.

Appealing, dynamic, fresh cover art has a better chance of grabbing someone's attention in a store than bland, generic cover art. Unfortunately, it looks like Gryphon Games took the basic idea of the contest winner (which, IMHO, was the blandest of the entries) and made it more bland and generic. Still, it does look professional, and I'm not a marketing expert, so maybe I'm way off-base here.

At any rate, I do like the classic board and the new pieces, and I really like the packaging for BuyWord; here's to hoping these games finally break out and achieve the mainstream success they deserve.
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  • Posted Sun Jul 24, 2011 11:28 am
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Larry Welborn
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Well the cover does look better than the one on my copy:

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  • Posted Sun Jul 24, 2011 2:43 pm
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David Me
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W Eric Martin wrote:
Sugi wrote:
That Can't Stop cover is about as impressive as a generic can of peas. Way to go Gryphon Games. Wasn't there a poll or a design the cover contest? My apologies if you were the winner...

Yes, poll here with a design similar to this one edging out the graffiti look.


I bet the ballot box was stuffed.
 
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  • Posted Sun Jul 24, 2011 7:45 pm
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Randy Cox
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FranklinTV wrote:
The fact that Can't Stop is on my wishlist and is now to be republished is good enough for me - - even if they were to simply release it in a brown paper bag.
Interesting you should say that.

I didn't see the original thread or call for cover art, but if I had, I would have submitted my idea of the perfect box art for every game:

[Well, I tried to upload my nice generic black Courier title with smaller courier designer name cover on a stark white background, but the image uploader no longer works]
Finally got the image uploader to sort of work:
 
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  • Edited Tue Jul 26, 2011 3:50 am
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Lee Fisher
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Gryphon Games' Can't Stop cover design contest

Can't Stop Box Design Contest - VOTE NOW! (poll updated!)

Decision not to use those boxes:
Re: Can't Stop Box Design Contest - VOTE NOW! (poll updated!)
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  • Posted Mon Jul 25, 2011 1:16 am
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tom moughan
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ahh....I love the smell of a stack of sketchily placed animals in the morning!
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I enjoy the pulp cover, personally! It's a game I hear is fun that I have yet to try...and I have seen boxes for games that look much worse!
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  • Posted Mon Jul 25, 2011 5:43 pm
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Huzonfirst
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San Antonio, OKC, Miami, and Boston..who will win out?
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I have no feelings one way or the other about the Can't Stop cover, but I will say that using traffic cones for the pieces is sheer genius. Of course, the most important thing is that they went back to the original stop sign, so kudos to Gryphon!
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  • Posted Mon Jul 25, 2011 5:43 pm
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tim Tim TIm TIM TIMMY!!
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all I know is if you own 4 D6 you can make your own Can`t stop game and put it in a box with any art work you think fits the bill. I made one out of Heroscape tiles and another out of a piece of cardboard ( I like the cardboard one better ) - I use roads from Settlers for them.
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  • Posted Mon Jul 25, 2011 7:29 pm
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Clyde Wright
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Crappy art on the cover makes people not want to buy the game, regardless of its great design. If people never try, how will they ever know? The contest ideas were awesome, this one is embarrassing. Stop acting like this stuff doesn't matter. Maybe not to you, but it does matter to me.
 
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  • Posted Tue Jul 26, 2011 8:44 pm
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travvller wrote:
Quote:
Not sure how cover art, as long as it's not offensive to the general family population, is of a concern at all.


The reason for the negative reaction to the cover art is that Gryphon took the time to hold a contest here on BGG with people submitting some really great eye catching designs. Then they decide to go with something bland and boring.



You may want to look at the poll results for the contest. They went with the design that had the most votes and then tweeked it. Are you suggesting that they should have ignored the results from the contest?
 
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  • Posted Wed Jul 27, 2011 11:37 pm
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