April update
I started this update in March, and then hit pause when it became clear that things were changing fast. I'm taking things one day at a time right now. I don't think any of us know what schedules will look like a few months from now. But I thought I'd send out some updates and pass along some of the things that have been keeping me occupied lately.
In this email:
Game updates
What I've been doing
Press and podcasts
Bird of the Month: White Pelican
Game Updates
So far things are on track with my upcoming releases, but I know some games have had their release dates pushed back due to production and shipping issues. Stay tuned.
Mariposas
The plan is still for Mariposas to release straight to retail this August. AEG has announced a bunch of their international partners for the game:
English and German - AEG
French - Gigamic
Spanish - Devir
Dutch - White Goblin
Italian - Ghenos
Hungarian - Reflex
Japanese - Arclight
I hear there are more to come!
Wingspan Oceania expansion
I've been working on the next expansion for Wingspan, for Oceania (Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea). We've been doing blind playtests and they're going well. I think it's very close.
The artists have been working on the art in parallel to my design work, and it is as gorgeous as you would expect. I can't wait for you all to see it.
It still takes a very long time to actually physically make the game and ship it to distributors. So we're looking at sometime much later this year.
What I've Been Doing
I've found it very difficult to focus on creative work while my brain is taking in all the changes to our world right now, though I think that may change soon. Here's a list of some of the things I've been doing instead, in case some are of interest to you as well:
Long walks in non-crowded parks, to look at spring wildflowers and birds. Hunting for morels. Gardening. Doing anything outside with no contact with the news.
Catching up on some classic board games that I have never played that are available on Board Game Arena and Yucata, with some designer friends, and chatting about the designs afterwards. (So far we've tackled Terra Mystica, Egizia, and Keyflower.)
Learning Tabletop Simulator, which a lot of designers have started using to playtest their games online. I don't have anything I'm ready to put up yet, but hoping to help playtest some things there.
Running the kids role-playing game No Thank You Evil for some friends' kids via Zoom
Practicing my bird ID and doing some citizen science with the eBird bird quiz. It gives you a photo or audio clip that someone attached to an eBird observation, and you ID it just for practice. The citizen science part is that you then rate the quality of the photo or audio clip, which will help them improve their media database.
Listening to the short interviews that Five Games for Doomsday has been doing with people from the board game industry about how they're being affected by the pandemic.
Singing and listening to some of my favorite John Prine songs, like Paradise.and That's the Way the World Goes Round. RIP John.
Recent Press and Podcasts
I have been loving the NPR science podcast Short Wave and was so excited they wanted to do an episode about Wingspan: A Board Game Where Birds (and Science) Win
Tom Vasel and Rahdo filmed a conversation together at Dice Tower West on Most Important Games of the Decade, and Wingspan was on both their lists.
I did an interview with Humans of Gaming podcast. They're part of Love Thy Nerd, a Christian outreach organization. So I was pretty surprised they wanted to interview a Unitarian Universalist atheist. But it was a very thoughtful and interesting discussion about my religious upbringing, what nature does for us spiritually, and how it all ties back to my games.
I also did video interviews with Game All Nite and Spaces Between. (I forgot the Spaces Between one was going to be video and took a shower right before -- you'll see my hair is soaking wet! oh well...)
A couple of new board gaming magazines have started up that are just gorgeously produced. Both have interviewed me. Senet is hard-copy only. Board Game Bulletin is online.
Bird of the Month: White Pelican
Way back in the first draft of this email, Matt and I had just gone to Blackwater Wildlife Refuge to catch the tail end of the winter waterfowl that are so prolific there, including snow geese, tundra swans, and white pelicans. At one point we managed to catch this amazing set of birds in our scope: pelicans hanging out, swans swimming by, and a pair of bald eagles in back, eating.
I guess I've never seen pelicans during breeding season, or maybe I've just never had a good enough scope to notice the big hump they grow on their beaks. Some furious on-site Googling was done. Turns out they grow this horn just for breeding season. It falls off and they have to grow a new one the next year. (This article has a picture of shed horns.) Apparently other birds get similar beak growths for breeding season, but white pelicans are the only pelicans who do it. And people don't really understand why.
May the mysteries of spring continually amaze you -- they keep going, while our human world is turned upside down. Elizabeth