Ticket To Ride Online: 15 Million Games Played Since 2004

The online version of Ticket to Ride, launched in 2004, reached a new milestone earlier this year, with 15 million games played. The online game has both benefited from and helped grow the boardgame, with strong connections back and forth. Now the relationship between the online and meatspace games is changing, but both TTR games will still feed the other.

From launch until recently, players got full access to the online game either through a Web code included in the board games, or by buying six or twelve month subscriptions. “Guests” were allowed to play free, but couldn’t initiate their own games to track their history or ranking information.

The Web codes in the board games not only helped convert boardgame players to online players, they also allowed Days of Wonder to track the percentage of players that played the online game first who ended up buying boardgames. That percentage has been “in double digits,” according to DoW Vice President Mark Kaufman.

The company recently changed that system; the online subscriptions and related boardgame sales weren’t enough to pay for the number of players that were playing for free as Guests, according to Kaufman. DoW recently started selling one-time subscriptions to the main game for $9.99, and expansions for $4.99 each. Up to four free trial games are offered, but the ability to play on an ongoing basis as a Guest has been eliminated. The conversion from the old system to the new one did provide benefits to past boardgame or online subscription purchasers. Boardgame players do still receive benefits from their Web codes in the form of access to Community Tools and discount coupons.

The number of Ticket to Ride games played daily is now bigger than ever, according to Kaufman, both because of these changes and because the company recently launched upgraded versions of the online games. This unique interaction between the boardgame and online versions of the Ticket to Ride franchise seems poised to continue to build both.

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Fantasy Flight Games July ’09 Releases Announced

Fantasy Flight Games’ July release schedule includes a number of expansions to its existing card and board game lines, including a new expansion for Kingsburg, new cards for A Game of Thrones TCG, and a book of scenarios for Descent, written by some of the top names in gaming.

Kingsburg: To Forge a Realm (MSRP $29.99) expands on the basic game by adding new territories and provinces, as well as governor cards to administer them and soldier tokens to help defend them. To Forge a Realm also adds more buildings, row overlays, and a destiny deck to the game. These new features can be added individually or all at once, allowing players to customize their Kingsburg experience.

Two expansions for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game are also scheduled for release in July. The Kings of the Sea (MSRP $29.99) contains 60 cards and adds House Greyjoy as a playable faction. It also comes with the Arms of the Kraken, a resin crafted house card and a multiplayer variant, “The Kingsmoot.” The Tower of the Hand (MSRP $9.99) is the third Chapter Pack in the King’s Landing series, focusing on the Shadow mechanic and characters and circumstances surrounding the Hand of the King.

The Descent: Quest Compendium, Volume 1 ($29.95) is a 96-page hardcover book containing 16 scenarios for the Descent dungeon-delving board game. Contributors to the book include such notables as Kenneth Hite (Where the Deep Ones Are), Keith Baker (Gloom, Eberron), and John Kovalic (Dork Tower). Each scenario includes notes from and a brief bio of the designer.

Anima: Shadow of Omega (MSRP $24.95) will see a reprint in July, incorporating more durable cards and an overall cleaner graphic design, while Anima: Beyond Good and Evil (MSRP $24.95) is a standalone card game for two to four players that can also be incorporated into Shadow of Omega. Three Anima Tactics figures – Grimorium (MSRP $34.99), Momiji ($9.99), and Empire Agent ($9.99) – will also come out in July.

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‘Age Of Conan’ Board Game – Video Promo

The Age of Conan is coming…

The war has begun, and every nation is sending forth armies. In Age of Conan, you take control of one of four mighty empires. Will you lead the military might of Aquilonia, crushing the forces allied against you? Will you adopt the mantle of the magical Stygians, and use your powers to lay waste to the peoples of the lands?

Each kingdom rules differently, and has unique powers to bring forth in the conquest of the world. In the midst of the war, Conan moves about the land, slaying monsters and claiming plunder. Many leaders have tried to control the awesome power of Conan, but no ruler is ever fully in control of the Cimmerian.

The latest video from Fantasy Flight gives you a glimpse into the world of the thief and reaver, the slayer and barbarian, Conan! Read more

Risk: Halo Wars Edition Coming in July ’09

USAopoly has announced two new licensed games tied to major properties:  Risk: Halo Wars Collector’s Edition and Clue: 24 Edition.

Risk: Halo Wars Collector’s Edition remakes Risk for the Halo Wars videogame world. Halo Wars, the newest release in the videogame series, streets in March; Risk: Halo Wars will street in July.

Risk: Halo Wars will allow players to command one of three factions (the UNSC, the Covenant, or the Flood) and battle for supremacy of Arcadia. The board freatures 42 territories and six sectors; 250 plastic playing pieces represent the three factions. It will use the new Hasbro rules that allow for three levels of game play (basic, advanced, and classic) depending on the skill level and desired playing time of the players. Play can be completed in as little as 60-90 minutes with no decrease in strategy. The game will be appropriate for players 12 and up. MSRP will be $39.95.

Clue: 24 Edition adapts the classic board game to the world of the hit Fox TV show. The board will be a blueprint of the Los Angeles Counter Terrorist Unit office, and the traditional Clue suspects are now represented by CTU agentsw. One of them is a mole that must be uncovered within 24 hours. Eight clock cards, each representing three of the 24 hours, build the suspense–if the eighth card is drawn, time’s up and the mole has won.

Clue: 24 Edition will be appropriate for players 9 and up; MSRP is $34.95. The game will street in March.

Source: icv2.com

Mayfair Plans Expansion For Martin Wallace’s ‘Steam’

Martin Wallace’s Steam, due out from Mayfair on April 2nd, not only includes a number of variations of the game in the core box, it also sets the stage for play with both past and future expansions and variants.

The core game (see “Mayfair to Release New ‘Steam’”), now $55 MSRP, will include a full color, double-sided map board of two different geographic areas at the beginning of the railway age. The map of the northeastern U.S. and adjacent Canada is best used for three to four players; the map of the lower Rhine and Ruhr region is best for four to five players. Pieces for six players are included; a variety of current and future variant and expansion maps can be used for the game.

Other components include:

• 130 double-sided track tiles (of 15 types)
• 8 “New City” tiles
• 24 Wooden player tokens (in six colors)
• 96 wooden goods cubes (in five colors)
• 8 “New City” tiles
• 7 “Action” tiles
• 18 “City Growth” markers
• 52 gold and silver money tokens
• 1 turn marker
• 1 cloth goods bag
• Full color rules booklet covering both the basic and standard games

Source: icv2.com

Upcoming Releases From Fantasy Flight Games

Fantasy Flight Games, the makers of Tide Of Iron, Starcraft The Board Game, World Of Warcraft The Board Game, and a host of other fine products, has an extensive list of projects currently in development. Here is a list of those products with their expected release dates.

Thanks to BoardgameNews’ Gone Cardboard

Tribune	June 2008
World of Warcraft: The Adventure Game	July 2008
Cosmic Encounter (new version)	Q2/Q3 2008
Descent: Tomb of Ice	September 2008
MotoGrandPrix	September 2008
Tannhäuser: Operation Novgorod	Q3 2008
Arkham Horror: The Black Goat of the Woods	October 2008
Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game	October 2008
Red November	October 2008
Talisman (revised 4th edition)	October 2008
Talisman: Death and Glory Expansion	December 2008
Age of Conan: The Board Game	Q4 2008
Aye, Dark Overlord!	Q4 2008
BlackSheep	Q4 2008
Kingsburg	Q4 2008
“Not-Dune”	Q4 2008
Gears of War: The Board Game	Q4 2008
Si, Godfather	Q4 2008
Battles of Napoleon: The Eagle and the Lion	2008?
Blood Royale (new version)	2008?
Constantinopolis	2008?
Runebound: The Frozen Wastes	2008?
Borderlands (new version)	Q2/Q3 2009
Reins of Power	2009

Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game Due In October

Fantasy Flight Games has now pasted an October 2008 release date on Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game. Here’s a detailed description of the game from FFG:

After the Cylon attack on the Colonies, the battered remnants of the human race are on the run, constantly searching for the next signpost on the road to Earth. They face the threat of Cylon attack from without, and treachery and crisis from within. Humanity must work together if they are to have any hope of survival…but how can they, when any of them may, in fact, be a Cylon agent?

Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game is an exciting game of mistrust, intrigue, and the struggle for survival. Based on the epic and widely-acclaimed new Sci Fi Channel series, Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game puts players in the role of one of ten of their favorite characters from the show. Each playable character has their own abilities and weaknesses, and must all work together in order for humanity to have any hope of survival. However, one or more players in every game secretly side with the Cylons. Players must attempt to expose the traitor while fuel shortages, food contaminations, and political unrest threatens to tear the fleet apart.

The game includes 10 character cards, 32 highly-detailed plastic ships, high-quality card board tokens, hundreds of cards and a game board with resource counters. Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game is a semi- cooperative game for 3-6 players ages 10 and up that can be played in 2-3 hours.

This game, which retails for $39.95, has been added to Gone Cardboard.

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EVE Conquests Board Game Based On EVE: Online

Coming Soon – No Exact Release Date Yet

I’m curious to see how this board game is going to translate the world of EVE: Online to a tabletop experience. I play the online game, so I’m looking forward to checking the board game out.

Ruthless, cruel, and cold, EVE is a hard-core sci-fi setting set twenty thousand years in the future, presenting a human race straining at the boundaries of its own nature while massive empires envelop vast areas of space, aiming to shape the universe according to their vision of humanity’s future. EVE: Conquests is a strategy board game set in the EVE Universe where players assume the role of the four major factions in EVE and set out to prove their superiority by means of galactic domination.

Board Game Sale At The TC Games Store – 15% Off

Spring is definitely here and I need to make some room for a ton of new stock coming in soon!

From now until the end of April, Selected board games are on sale for 15% off the listed price at the TC Games Store.

To view the sale, click HERE.

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