May: Tussie-Mussie coming to Kickstarter & other events
Greetings all and thanks so much for joining my mailing list.
Quick Summary
New game: Tussie Mussie will be available on Kickstarter on May 28.
Events: I'll be at Stumptown Game Summit in Portland, OR on May 18; at Labyrinth Games in Washington DC on June 1; and a bunch of cons later in the year.
Recent interviews and articles: The Guardian, Science, Board Game Gumbo, Boards Alive, Meeple Syrup
Bird of the month: Baltimore Oriole
Tussie-Mussie Launches May 28
Tussie-Mussie is a light 18-card game I designed last summer, inspired by the Victorian language of flowers. It will be on Kickstarter at the end of this month via Button Shy Games.
The art for Tussie-Mussie was done by Beth Sobel, who also did the Wingspan player mat and the art for so many other beautiful games. Button Shy put out some teasers with her wonderful flowers:
On your turn in Tussie Mussie, you give two flower cards to another player, one face up and one face down. They pick one to keep, and give the other back to you. It's light but very interactive: there's a lot of psychological second-guessing about whether you put that card face-up because you're trying to get me to take it, or because you're hiding something better.
Plus, each flower has its meaning printed on the card, so you can declare things like "You have betrayed me!" as you give someone flowers.
I'll send out a note on the 28th to remind everyone when the Kickstarter is live.
Upcoming Events
May 18 - Portland OR: I'm running focus groups in Portland next week for my day job. It turned out to be perfectly timed for me to also go to Stumptown Game Summit on Saturday, May 18. I'll have a table in Designer Alley for a couple hours and otherwise just want to play lots of games and meet lots of west coast folks!
June 1 - Washington DC: I've been going to International Tabletop Day events at Labyrinth Games in Washington, DC for years, but this will be the first time I'm on the schedule. They're still finalizing things but will post it here.
Summer & Fall Conventions: Also on my agenda for this year are GenCon, WashingCon, Tabletop Network, BGG Con, and Pax Unplugged. Hope to meet you all somewhere along the way!
Recent articles and interviews
Articles
Dan Jolin did a nice piece for the Guardian called The Board Games Turning Science Into Playtime and highlighted Wingspan along with Cytosis, Evolution, Pandemic: Iberia, and Terraforming Mars.
Science magazine published a Wingspan review: When birding meets board games, everybody wins.
Videos
Boardgame Gumbo: A great chat in general, but the game at the end combining bird names with board games was especially fun.
Meeple Syrup: Game design advice, Wingspan and Tussie Mussie, plus random listener questions like, "if you were going to design an edible game, what flavor would it be?"
Podcasts
Boards Alive: I talked about the process for Wingspan and answered some listener questions. My part starts about 50 minutes into the episode.
Bird of the month: Baltimore Oriole
My husband just called me over to the window because there was a Baltimore Oriole gathering fibers from some old plant stalks in our yard. I love everything about these birds: their beautiful colors, their flute-like song, but maybe most of all, their unusual nests.
Orioles use plant fibers to weave truly impressive hanging pouches for their nests. It's why they get a star symbol for their nest type in Wingspan. (Image from Oliver Davie, Nests and Eggs of North American Birds, 1898.)
We see and hear these birds from our yard on a regular basis in the springtime, but we have yet to see a nest near our yard. On a canoe trip down the Shenandoah River a few years ago, though, we saw dozens of nests in the sycamore trees along the river. It was a sight to behold.
I hope you're enjoying spring (or autumn) and all it brings you!
best,
Elizabeth
elizhargrave.com
Twitter: @elizhargrave
Instagram: @elizharg