Gen Con Must-Have Games List!!!
The time is almost here. With less than a week to Gen Con we are extremely excited to check out as many new games as possible. This list is not just games that are being released as new releases at Gen Con instead this list is simply a collection of games we thought our audience would be excited for! So, we present to you, the Be Bold Games Gen Con 2019 Must-Have List!
Photos by Bebo
Designer: Ondra Skoupý Publisher: Czech Games Edition
Victoria: Letter Jam is a co-operative game for 2-6 plays where players assist each other in creating meaningful words from the letter visible round the table. The trick is to splay your letters so it is only visible to other players but not to yourself. It can be a face paced games or a more relaxed experience based on your game group. It is generally a 30 to 45 minute game in a codenames sized box. At the perfect Price point 20 dollars from the publisher of everyone’s favorite word game Codenames.
Recommended by Victoria (& Bebo too)
MSRP $20
Photos by Jesus Sanchez & Big G Creative
Designer: Prospero Hall Publisher: Big G Creative
Sharise: Take on the day as Kenny G with your friends! As you and Friends all take on the roll of Kenny G and must work together to keep your groove through a stressful day. So this game sounds absurd but that’s because it is and it’s supposed to be. This game is a cooperative light group puzzle game with lots of added humor due to it’s hilarious and ridiculous theme. In it the players must play sound cards in the right order in an effort to clear the stressful events they’re faced with. Think skat sounds on the cards level of hilarious and ridiculous. Why am I excited about this? Well to be frank, being silly around a game table is what I live for so if this game doesn’t get me laughing, I don’t know what will.
Recommended by Sharise
MSRP $19.99
Images provided by Smirk & Laughter Games
Designer: Manolis Vranas, Jamie Sajdak Publisher: Smirk & Laughter Games
Victoria: Shobu is an abstract strategy game with Grid movement for 2 players. The game is played over four wooden boards. Two of the wooden boards are different colors. Each player gets 16 natural river stone tokens in either white or black. It has a checkers/Tash Kalar vibe to it. If you are a fan of Onitama it has some of that head to head combat, While having a calm zen table presence. A rope divide the two player boards in half and then your goal is to capture four of one of the players stones from one of the boards. It is in a small box and at the perfect for travel and game days! Its MSRP is $30.00 which is a great price for a game you can teach to “nongamers”.
Recommended by Victoria
MSRP $30.00
Photos by Eric Yurko of WhatsEricPlaying (Used with Permission.)
Designer: Molly Johnson, Robert Melvin, Shawn Stankewich Publisher: Alderac Entertainment Group
Artist: Dylan Mangini
Bebo: Point Salad is a game that I actually got to play in prototype form! In the game the objective is to have the most points by collecting cards. Each card can be used as either a scoring mechanic or a resource, which is really just a vegetable! With each card being double sided the players can flip them from scoring mechanic to vegetable but not the other way around. It’s a simple but surprisingly engaging and delightful game. The cards are collected through drafting. There are 6 types of veggies and over a hundred ways to score!
Recommended by Eric (& Bebo)
MSRP $19.99
Photo by AnnaMaria Jackson, Images from Gamewright
Designer: Phil Walker-Harding Publisher: Gamewright
Victoria: Sushi Roll is a Dice-based version of the best-selling card game Sushi Go. You are rolling dice with the characters from the original sushi go games to fill up conveyor belts of sushi. On your turn you roll dice and draft one just like in sushi go and then pass your dice. Make sure you save room for the pudding at the end! It is usually worth a lot of points. You score points by making combinations of sushi. The theme of this game is what makes it a must have for me. I am so excited to play it with the kids in my family. The MSPR is $24.00, but can you really put a price on sushi fun?!
Recommended by Victoria
MSRP $24.00
Photos by Eric Yurko of WhatsEricPlaying (Used with Permission.)
Designer: Alex Cutler, Matt Fantastic Publisher: Brain Games Artist: Reinis Pētersons
Bebo: Yet another highly silly and challenging game in Team 3 the players have to work together but the catch is that one can not see, one can not hear and one can not speak. The player who can not see will have to be told what to do by the players in various forms of communication. Each game is played with 3 players and each one takes on one of three specific roles. One can not speak, one can not see and the player in the middle who must help facilitate the communication between the other two players. Each role requires different skills and these help to create a hysterically challenging game of complex communication
Recommended by Bebo & Eric
MSRP $19.99
Photos by Ankama Games
Designer: Antoine Bauza, Corentin Lebrat, Ludovic Maublanc, Théo Rivière Publisher: Ankama
Artist: Jiahui Eva Gao, Vipin Alex Jacob
Victoria: Draftosaurus is a cute little games that is basically a Dino park Roll and Write without the writing. Instead of writing what you do is place the Dino meeples in their pens to attract more visitors to your park. Based on the dice you have rolled. It is another small box game at the price point of $25.00. It is a cute theme and a light filler game that I am really looking forward to breaking out at my next game day. I am a sucker for DnD…. Dice and Dinos. I am not even sorry for the joke.
Recommended by Victoria
MSRP $24.99
Photos and Image provided by Alice Davis
Designer: Alice Davis Publisher: Daily Magic Games Artist: Denis Martynets
Bebo: Thieves Den is a game that we originally played at the very first ever Bebo Con and by that I mean, a party at my house which was deemed Bebo Con. What surprised me the most about this game was how accessible it was. It was very easy to learn but had all of the enjoyment of a heavier card drafting worker placement game. It was all of the mechanics I was familiar with from my favorite euros but with a light, easy and accessible theme set in a world I was already familiar with. (10 minute heist) Alice Davis is a brilliant game designer and if you haven’t already picked up all of her games, I really can not recommend them enough.
Recommended by Bebo
MSRP $50.00
"Atlantis Rising components Origins" is attributed to Angelica Lazary
Designers: Galen Ciscell, Brent Dickman Artist: Vincent Dutrait, Peter Gifford Publisher: Elf Creek Games
Sharise: Atlantis Rising is the perfect example of a remake done well. The new edition uses the best parts of the original, gives it a beautiful makeover from Vincent Dutrait, and adds new features that take it to the next level. On top of that, fantastic components and stellar gameplay not only make it a blast to play, but provide loads of replay-ability. Atlantis Rising will easily become one of my go to cooperative games in the future.
Recommended by Sharise
MSRP $65.00
Photos by Bebo
Designer: Sébastien Pauchon Publisher: Days of Wonder Artist: Julio Cesar, Cyrille Daujean
Bebo: Corinth was the first roll & write that I came across at GAMA this year and I was immediately smitten with the artwork and graphic design. It’s a roll and write with yummy dice which was implemented from a game called Yspahan. Honestly, I know nothing about the game and I’m not going to pretend I do but @425Suzanne has posted about it so many times and her positivity about board games is infectious. To say the least, Suz got me excited for this one and I’m just going to have to trust her on this one.
Recommended by Bebo
MSRP $24.99
Photos by Bebo of Eric from WhatsEricPlaying
Designer: Erica Bouyouris, Daryl Andrews Publisher: Floodgate Games Artist: Kwanchai Moriya, Matt Paquette
Bebo: Bosk is a game I first had the opportunity to play at BGG Con. It’s probably the only area control game that hasn’t stressed me out to the point of discomfort. It’s as fun as it is gorgeous and if you’ve ever enjoyed an area control game, you’re going to love this one with it’s gorgeous table presentation, perfect color palette, ADORABLE Squirrels and charming game play. If you’ve never liked an area control game, I still say give it a try. You might be surprised by how enjoyable it really is.
Recommended by Bebo (& Eric)
MSRP $45.00
Photos by Katie Aidley
Designer: Kevin Russ Publisher: Flatout Games Artist: Beth Sobel
Bebo: Okay, first off. There are cats. Second, patterns. I’m an aesthetic person and I am living for this graphic design here. Perhaps best off all is that Beth Sobel is the artist which explains why the game is just so darn aesthetic. I also recently started following Kevin Russ on Twitter and he seems like a super cool dude not to mention it’s published by Flatout Games who are also the designers of Point Salad. I’ve met them in real life and they’re fantastic humans.The game also seems pretty simple to play. Players take a single patch tile from their hand and sew it into their quilt then draw another patch into their hand from the 3 available on the board. If the players are able to create a color group they may sew a button onto their quilt. If they can create a pattern combination that is attractive to any of the cats, the cat will come over and curl up onto their quilt. The game is scored at the end based on buttons, cats and how well the players were able to finish their quilt.
Katie: Calico is so good that I played it four times in one day, this a prototype version and it is coming to Kickstarter in the fall! It’s labeled as ‘a puzzle-y tile-laying game of quilts and cats’ for two to four players. During the game, players will be completing to make the best quilt that is also cosy enough for the cats. It’s a tile laying game where players must try to match the exact patterns of each quilt, whilst also trying to gain extra points for collecting sets of different coloured tiles and pattern combinations. The aim of the game is to create the most beautiful looking quilts by placing tiles, drawing tiles and creating your unique quilt pattern! It’s quick to learn, fun to play and one of the cutest games you will find at Gen Con this year.
Recommended by Bebo & Katie
MSRP $40 - Demo Only at Gen Con
Photos by Bebo
Designer: Jeppe Norsker Publisher: FoxMind
Sharise: This is a new dexterity game that is so much harder than it looks! Hidden under each of the quadrants of the board are 5 magnets but you won’t know where they are located. Your job as a pirate is to collect all 4 treasures from the center of the table by carefully maneuvering your ship through the dangerous waters. If you ever hit a hidden whirlpool, a magnet, you lose all of your treasures. Any that fall in the sea are up for grabs by any player who can reach them. Players can guide their way by placing a buoy out at the end of each turn up to a total of 3. The first playing to get the 4 treasure colors wins!
Recommended by Sharise
MSRP $30.00
Photos by Jordan Draper
Designer: Jordan Draper Publisher: Jordan Draper Games, Lay Waste Games Artist: Jordan Draper
Bebo: So I love lawn games and Metal is a game designed by Jordan Draper in which there are a handful of lawn games shrunk down to table size to be enjoyed by anyone who might have the slightest interest in dexterity games. The cool part about it? The entire thing is made of metal. Every component, even the box. It’s a lot of quality components with a ton of unique game designs and the best part of all is that if you know the rules, theses games can easily be taught fairly easily to just about anyone speaking any language. This is more than a game, it’s a collectors item andI couldn’t be happier about backing the campaign. This is the first game in the “material series” from Lay Waste games and Jordan. The next two will be Rubber and Paper and they’ll be on their way soon so keep an eye out!
Recommended by Bebo
MSRP $40
Images from Plaid Hat Games
Designer: Dan Blanchett Artists: Mikhail Palamarchuk, Tony Sart Publisher: Plaid Hat Games
Jim: Now that it’s almost Halloween (What? Summer is almost over) it’s time to find games that align with my true passions: digging up bodies to make new friends. Luckily Plaid Hat Games took notice and Abomination: The Heir of Frankenstein will be releasing soon. In this worker placement game you’ll be managing decomposing resources used to make a reanimated friend to the famous Frankenstein’s monster. With a macbe theme heavily used throughout the narative mixed with classic eurogame gameplay elements this looks like something worth spending a night in a graveyard for.
Recommend by Pizza Meeple
MSRP $59.95
Designer: Nikki Valens Artist: Danalyn Reyes Publisher: Plaid Hat Games
Jim: Quirky Circuits is a programing action game where one of the characters is a robot vacuum cleaner with a cat riding on it. Do you seriously need to hear more? FINE
Players are all trying to program adorable robots to complete different tasks outlined by one of 21 included scenarios. The twist is players are all turning in their action cards that govern the actions, but aren’t allowed to communicate what they are playing. Complete the tasks before the robots batteries run out!
Recommend by Pizza Meeple
MSRP $39.95
Image by Oink Games
Designer Jens Merkl, Jean-Claude Pellin Publisher Oink Games
Tiffany: Japanese imprint Oink Games is known for supersized games in small boxes as colorful and portable as a pack of Crayola crayons. Nine Tiles Panic - a fun, real-time, tile-placing puzzle race for 2-5 players - is no exception.
The theme is cute overload: when hamburger-loving aliens (!!!) descend upon Earth, an X-Files-esque squad of agents scamper all over town to catch them.
Players are given identical sets of bite-sized, double-sided tiles and simultaneously build 3-by-3 square “cities” that lean into three scoring cards drawn each round. The first player to complete their grid flips a sand timer that jumpstarts the remaining players - the panicked portion of Nine Tiles Panic.
At round’s end players check which 9-tile grids are “legal” (all roads must connect, etc.). Then scoring cards are resolved. Examples of the 26 possible scoring conditions include “Most Aliens on One Road” or “City With The Most Dogs.” Ties are resolved by the order in which players finished the round.
Nine Tiles Panic is an addictively replayable, fast and furious filler. The eye-popping, emoji artwork enhances the fun factor (Hamburgers! Aliens! Doggos!). Nine Tiles Panic is a kawaii-style, micro-version of Galaxy Trucker that’s destined to be a Gen Con smash!
Recommended by Mx. Tiffany Leigh
MSRP $29.99
Photos from Plaid Hat Games
Designer: Jerry Hawthorne Artist: Tregis, Jimmy Xia Publisher: Plaid Hat Games
Ella: Aftermath is an Adventure Book Game, from the designer who brought us Mice and Mystics. Jerry Hawthorne has provided my son and I hours and hours of fun so it is no surprise that I am keen to see this game launch at GenCon. In Aftermath, players take on the role of small critters struggling to survive in a world where humans have mysteriously vanished. You can play a guinea pig, hamster, small mouse or a vole. You adventure out into the world in order to scavenge for food and supplies but be careful because there are enemies everywhere. Do your job well and your colony will thrive!