Whitewater for Spring 2012

Mayfair Games has announced the 3rd release of one of my games (after Bacchus' Banquet and Nuns on the Run):
Danger and excitement lurk around every bend of the river in White Water.

Race down a deadly river carefully navigate your rafts through the obstacles, trying to keep your paddles and your crew inside the raft.
In the game White Water each player directs the actions of four courageous rafters. Each raft in the race contains four crew, with two crew from you and two from another player. Players control the crew within a raft, but also may use Energy cards to additionally help one raft or the other.

Dice represent the effects of hazards you encounter, and even your best-laid plans can be spoiled by another raft pushing you a direction you don't want to go.

Pirate version of Saboteur

Someone has detected a pirate version of the game Saboteur. Besides the logo of Z-man Games, you see Chinese characters on the box. This proves that the version is a pirate one. Apparently, the rules contain a lot of translation and typing errors and the cards are cheap reproductions.

A friendly game designer has consolated me. Only very popular games are pirated. It's better to consider it as a free promotion than to be sad about it. Let's hope that the more fortunate Chinese custumors will prefer the original game.

Game aid for Ninja

The lantern (painted)

A handy game aid is now available to download. It gives a summary of the game set-up and of the turn order. I hope that it will enlighten your mind (and memory).

Le pont du Rio d'Oro

La règle de jeu est désormais disponible en français sur le site de Ludigaume.
Clickez ici.

Erratum Ninja rules

There is a small printing error in the rulebook. The right illustration should be this one.

The rule mentions that you must note the turn number on EACH zone that you move through.

This is especially important when searching zones. You may only search zones that you have passed.

Back from Spiel in Essen

Each year I go to Essen to meet the publishers. This year was particularly hectic as I had no time to look at other games which were presented. I've read that there were about 750 new games. This means that you must play each day 2 new games in order to know all the new games of the year!

So, let's limit my comments to my own games.
On the fair 2 new games were released and I was very proud with the presentation of it. Amigo Spiele (with the biggest booth on the fair) opened no less than 14 boxes to allow playing "Die Brücke am Rio d'Oro" simultaneously on their numerous playing tables. Above this, they reproduced the bridge to allow playing the game "live".

The bridge (before the fair opened)

The Amigo booth during the day

The other new game was "Ninja" which was presented on the AEG booth. On Saturday afternoon, when I left the fair, only one copy of the game remained. The rest was sold out. The game was already showed in the US on Gencon (in August- and there were a lot of positive comments to read on Board Game Geek. So, I suppose that the game was a little bit expected by the European players who rushed to buy their copy, as they have no patience to wait upon a European release in their own language.

The stock of games on the first day

Demo of Ninja on the booth

About my contacts with publishers, I can announce that there is now a Korean version of Saboteur. A Finnish version is in preparation. The extension will also become available for the German market.  Besides, I signed 2 new license agreements on the fair and I have a good hope that a few other agreements will be concluded after the fair.

So, was the fair succesful for me? Yes, it was very successful.

Dutch rules available

You can download the Dutch rules for "Die Brücke am Rio d'Oro" via this link .

Here you see the original prototype. Notice that the game has been rethemed from Chinese rice farmers to adventurers in South America.

New versions of Saboteur 2

Saboteur 2 is now available in 6 new countries. After France, the Netherlands and the US, you can find the extension of the game in Poland, Baltic Republics, Hungary, Japan, Spain and Belgium. Each of the 9 countries has his own version.

Upcoming release

Amigo Spiele, the German publisher of Saboteur, has announced the launch of: "Die Brücke am Rio d'oro". The purpose of this family game is to cross a dangerous bridge with gold stones. You try to move quickly over the rotten planks and to avoid falling into the water.
You can download the German rules via this link.

Ninja rules online

The publisher AEG has put the rules online on their website .

Besides, demos of the game will be given on Gen Con Indy 2011. Some samples will be available for sale.
European customers, who are not planning to go to Indianapolis, will have to wait for the Essen Fair...

Ninja announced for fall 2011

AEG, from Legend of the Five Rings, has announced the upcoming release of my next game. Once again a game with hidden movements, but in a different setting and with a new game experience.

More info on their website and on Board Game Geek.

Overview clans

Here you find a handy overview of all clans in the game.

As the colours of the clan Cards are less saturated than on the Member cards, this addition can be a great help. Copy the image to print it as a handy extra card.

Variation

According to the rules, all vampires must announce in which direction they flee when leaving a room with a hunter.
To give Dracula and his minions a small advantage, you can agree to skip this rule.

In this way, a vampire can use his last movement point to disappear. The hunters will have to guess where the vampire moves to.

Game aid + extra note pads

On Boardgame Geek, I've posted a handy game aid in order to help Dracula reading the zone numbers secretly without revealing his position. Besides, you find a summary of the most important rules.

You can also download extra movement log sheets to print out.

Saboteur collection

Nearly the whole Saboteur collection:

Lower row: French metal box, versions for Australia, Poland, Spain and Japan.

Second row: Belgian metal box, versions for Baltic States, Germany, China & Greece.

Third row: versions for Singapore, Hungary & Czech Republic.

Upper row: Italian metal box, version for Italy, Extensions for US, Holland & France.

Cherokee

This new card game, published by White Goblin Games will be available end of May.

Here you can see the trailer:

Where is it about?

After the dead of chief Yonaguska, the Cherokee tribe gather together in order to designate a new leader. All clans (the Birds, the Blue, the Wild Potato, the Deer, the Wolf and the Long Hair) compete.

As usual by the Indians, the old and wise members have the most influence (represented by their feathers). However at the top of the hierarchy, they are also vulnerable due to their high age. Young guys are very competitive and will try to move upwards,  tackling their opponents.

Which clan will gather the most feathers and can nominate the new leader?

Players : 2 - 4

Age : 10 and up

Duration : 30 minutes

Game components: Rules of play + 106 cards

Saboteur 2 for Benelux

The Dutch version of Saboteur 2 is ready and on the market (999 Games).
The Belgian version of Saboteur 2 is in preparation and may be expected for this summer (Asmodee Benelux).
Both games are presented as a pure extension and require the basic game.

Two extra cards for Cherokee

Upcoming release

Here is a first sample card for the new game "Cherokee".

New game release

The ink of the Saboteur extension is still drying as I can announce a new release for end of May. The name of the game is Cherokee.
It will be an exiting card game for 2-4 players.

Soon more info.

New sales results

The total sales for Saboteur has now reached 350 000 copies.
France has beaten Germany with 90 000 against 83 000 sold copies.
The third place goes for the Netherlands with 38 000 sold copies, which is not bad for such a small country.

Note that the sales numbers of the extension is not included in this graph (as the extension is just launched). 

To compare: my next best selling game Lari Safari, which is nearly out of stock, has reached 21 000 sold copies since 2005. Nicht zu fassen, which has been launched in 2009, has reached 17 000 sold copies. As the game is only available in Germany and France, this explains the big sales difference with Saboteur.

Clarifications Saboteur 2

English version: 

When a saboteur, boss, geologist or profiteer creates the connection to the gold, he makes the gold-diggers wins the round.

• If there is no blocking door, both teams win together.
• If there is one blocking door, the team of the blocking door, wins.
• If there are 2 blocking doors (green and blue), the boss and profiteer can win (together or alone). All the other gold-diggers have lost. If none of both is present, nobody wins.

If the boss wins alone, he gets 4 points. If the profiteer wins alone, he gets 3 points.

Version française:

Quand un saboteur, boss, géologue ou profiteur atteint la pépite d'or, il fait gagner les chercheurs d'or.

• S'il n'y a aucune porte qui bloque le chemin, les 2 équipes gagnent ensemble.
• S'il y a une porte qui bloque le chemin, l'équipe dont c'est la bonne porte, gagne.
• S'il y a 2 portes de couleur différente qui bloquent le chemin, le boss et le profiteur peuvent gagner (ensemble ou seul). Tous les autres personnages ont perdus. Si aucun des deux est présent, personne ne gagne.

 Si le boss gagne seul, il reçoit 4 points. Si le profiteur gagne seul, il reçoit 3 points.

Nederlandstalige versie: 

Wanneer een saboteur, baas, geoloog of profiteur de verbinding met het goud maakt, doet hij de goudzoekers winnen.

• Als geen enkele deur de weg blokkeert, dan winnen beide teams samen.
• Als er één deur de weg blokkeert, dan wint het team van de betreffende deur.
• Als 2 verschillende gekleurde deuren de weg blokkeren, dan kunnen de baas en de profiteur (samen of alleen) winnen.  Alle anderen hebben verloren. Als geen van beiden aanwezig is, dan wint niemand.

 Als de baas alleen wint, dan krijgt hij 4 punten. Als de profiteur alleen wint, dan krijgt hij 3 punten.

More translations in preparation

Several distribution partners agreed to publish the Saboteur extension, either as a pure extension, either as a stand-alone game or as a collection box including the basic game & the extension.

Here you see the American version.

First peak at the extension

The new French edition of Saboteur is ready and will be launched soon.
The large box (right) contains the basic version and the extension.



In the extension, the game is playable from 2 to 12 players (and always perfectly balanced).
One of the new ideas is to add new roles: from left to right, you see the boss, the profiteer and the geologist.
Besides, the miners are divided in 2 groups: the blue and the green, who compete against each other!




There are a lot of new action cards: you can peak at the role of another player, change your role during a round, put someone in prison, steal gold and more.



There are also new path cards: bridges, ladders providing short-cuts, doors, which blocks the opponent team and cristals for the geologists.

To conclude: a lot of new ideas to add more variety and fun to my best-selling game. My best reference: the playtesters loved the extension.