March 2021 update
Oops, it's been months since I sent my last update. Has time lost all meaning in this pandemic? Maybe. But spring is coming, and there's a light at the end of the pandemic tunnel. Hopefully one of the things in this email will brighten your day in some way, too. In this email:
Game updates
Recent talks and interviews
Bird of the Month: Woodcocks
Game Updates
Wingspan
Since I last wrote:
It was voted #1 Game of All Time in a Dice Tower People's Choice poll. Thanks everyone who voted!
Stonemaier Games has made speckled eggs.
A book of Natalia and Ana's bird art from the base game is coming out next month from HarperCollins, and you can preorder here. See the drawings much closer to their original size, complete with text for each one provided by Cornell Lab of Ornithology. It's gorgeous.
Other Wingspan media to check out:
This spoof how-to-play video made me laugh harder than I had in a very long time.
There was a lovely article in Audubon Magazine about Wingspan helping people find their inner birders.
Mariposas
I just had a great talk with The Monarch Joint Venture about the conservation work they're doing. There will be a signed copy of Mariposas available in their silent auction next month! If you're in North America, and you have a garden, this is a great time of year to check out their planting guide and milkweed vendor map.
Also, Mariposas made several "Best of 2020" lists, including Zee Garcia and Tantrum House.
Tussie Mussie
We've been working on a small expansion for Tussie Mussie, which will be released on Kickstarter sometime this year. Stay tuned!
Several foreign language editions have also come out, which has been fun to see -- some have boxes, and entirely different covers:
in German it's Geschickt Gesteckt, from Frosted Games
in Polish it's Esy Floresy, from Lucky Duck Games
an English version in the Netherlands from Quined Games
Recent Talks and Interviews
If you had told me a year or two ago that one of the things I would do to promote Wingspan would be to play it online with 4 professional wrestlers, I would never have believed you. And yet. Here we are: I played Wingspan Digital with the guys from UpUpDownDown. In two days it's gotten over 28,000 views.
Other miscellaneous board game interviews I've done lately:
Women R Board Game Designers by Felicia Day, with Susan McKinley Ross, Fertessa Allyse, and Victoria Cana; December 2020 (video)
Planet Forward January 2021 (audio)
Board Game BBQ December 14, 2020 (audio)
Dice Tower Dish December 20, 2020 (written)
Board Game BBQ Dec 14, 2020 (podcast)
The Cardboard Herald Dec 3, 2020 (video)
Going Analog November 2, 2020 (audio)
Brettspiele Runde Nov 2020 (podcast, dubbed IN GERMAN)
Play Like a PANK Nov 1, 2020 (video)
And one that's completely not game-related (until it is): I did a Mushrooms 101 talk for my local mushroom club.
Bird of the Month: Woodcocks
I read Aldo Leopold's description of the woodcocks' sky dance years before I ever saw it.
Up and up he goes, the spirals steeper and smaller, the twittering louder and louder, until the performer is only a speck in the sky. Then, without warning, he tumbles like a crippled plane, giving voice in a soft liquid warble that a March bluebird might envy. At a few feet from the ground he levels off and returns to his peenting ground, usually to the exact spot where the performance began, and there resumes his peenting.
They're flying now in Washington DC and it is a sight to behold. This video gives a some sense of it.
May you enjoy all the beauties of spring (or fall),
Search Results
❤️
Elizabeth