July 2022: Who's going to GenCon?
Greetings from the summer world of fireworks and fireflies! The short answer (to my subject line) is, I won’t be at GenCon…but a preview of one of my games will be. In this newsletter:
Game Updates
Upcoming Events
Miscellaneous media
Bird of the month: Atlantic Puffin
Game Updates
The Fox Experiment
Pandasaurus is bringing some copies of this game to GenCon for people to try! You’ll need to sign up for one of these events. These will not be final copies — some of the rough edges still need to be smoothed out with the graphic design and components — but it’s already looking pretty fantastic. I won’t be there, so send me pictures of the foxes if you go!
The Fox Experiment is inspired by an experiment in Russia that bred foxes into something close to domesticated dogs. The game is played over a series of rounds in which you select foxes, breed them by rolling a bunch of dice, and get stuff for the fox pups that you made. Then the pups become the parents for the next round!
Wingspan
Stonemaier Games has announced that the next Wingspan expansion will be Asia. I really enjoyed learning about the birds from this region and I hope you will too.
The expansion will come out sometime this fall (the exact timing is hard to predict due to ongoing turbulence in manufacturing and shipping), along with a big box designed to hold all expansion content along with the base game. You can sign up to be notified when they’re ready via this signup form. For every signup, Stonemaier will donate $1 to a charitable organization that benefits birds in Asia, probably to include BirdLife International, Animals Asia, and Flight.
Mariposas
Museum of Design Atlanta has an exhibition right now called Full Circle: Design Without End, looking at designs that strengthen and replenish natural systems instead of depleting them. As part of the exhibit they’ve set up a game room, and look what’s there!
(photo by MODA)
Upcoming Events
I won’t be there, but you can sign up to play The Fox Experiment at GenCon.
I’ll probably be at Labyrinth’s Celebration of Gaming on August 6 instead.
Miscellaneous media
I was on the Dice Tower’s At the Table with Tom Vasel and Eric Summerer
The charming webcomic Semi Co-op called me out in this strip
I gave a keynote at Unpub on Things I’ve learned about game design and prototyping
I’ve been getting the Brown Alumni Monthly magazine for over 25 years, so it was fun to be in a feature article.
Bird of the month: Atlantic Puffin
Next week I’m headed to New England for a family reunion that’s been postponed for 2 years now. And I have booked a trip to go see puffins! I don’t do great on boats in open water, but I’ve never seen a puffin in the wild and it seems like it might be worth it. And now I’ve just remembered to pack my Dramamine.
(puffin photo by Jon Erickson)
Wishing you smooth sailing —
❤️
Elizabeth