Wingspan European Expansion and other news
In this email:
Game news (Wingspan European expansion announced!)
Upcoming travel (Essen, Tabletop Network, BGG)
Playtesting
Recent press and podcasts
Bird of the month: Snowy owl
Game News
Wingspan European Expansion Announced:This expansion focuses on 81 birds from Europe. They all have new abilities, including a set with round-end abilities. It's all Also: purple eggs, extra food tokens, and a new scorepad!
You can preorder from Stonemaier Games starting November 6, or preorder from your favorite retailer for the retail release on November 22. There will also be a limited number of copies at Essen.
Check out these videos for more details:
Tussie Mussie: Kickstarter orders have been arriving and it's so fun to see people posting pictures with their new games! You can still order a copy here.
Essen and other upcoming cons
Essen SPIEL: This will be my first trip to Essen. If you'll be there, you can find me:
Wednesday evening preview (7pm): with Feuerland in booth 4C116
Thursday and Saturday mornings (10am to noon): with Matagot in booth 3E102
Thursday and Saturday afternoons (3pm to 5pm): with Feuerland in booth 4C116
Thursday night: at the Deutscher SpielPreis event!
Tabletop Network: This is a game designer conference Nov 18-19, tacking 2 days onto the beginning of BGG.con. I've been working on slides for my talk, which is about women playing Wingspan, what we know about what women seek in games, and what we can do about it as designers.
BGG.con: I'm a "Special Guest" -- I'm sure there will be a way for you to find me!
Unpub X: I've committed to be at Unpub again next year, Memorial Day weekend in Baltimore. I love this weekend of playtesting and hanging out with other designers. Designer tables go on sale tonight.
Playtesting
Speaking of playtesting, if you're local to the Washington, DC area, want to get involved in playtesting my upcoming games, and are willing to be sworn to secrecy about their content, let me know. At some point after I get back from Essen I'll start playtesting the second Wingspan expansion!
Recent Interviews, etc.
I made a video of some Wingspan strategy tips for Meeple University
I was on the Game Design Roundtable podcast
Here's a print interview with Meeple Mountain
and a short Women in Games profile
Bird of the Month
Bird of the month has to be the expansion cover bird, right? Snowy owls generally have a very northern range. But I have had the thrill of seeing this bird near home, because a few years ago there was one hanging out at Reagan National Airport for the winter. Apparently this happens sometimes when there's a summer explosion of lemmings in the arctic: with more food, the owls have more successful babies, and then they disperse more in the winter. There's a great episode of Nature about them.
But many of us have a very specific bird in mind when we think of snowy owls.
I hope you enjoy the expansion!
best,
Elizabeth