PLAAY CONNECT 04.25.24

Whoa, lots of stuff to talk about this month, so let's get to it!...

Less than a Month until it's “Prime Time!”

Our full-play module for Highlight Maker Hoops is ready to roll. If you want to be notified the instant it's available, just sign up for the "wait list" on the game's product page. Check out our "Highlight Maker Hoops Prime Time: Road Map" blog post, which traces the origins of the game back to 2014.

REVEALED TONIGHT: New Vintage Fictional Baseball Season

The PLAAY baseball universe expands tonight with the launch of our next "vintage" season, to be announced on tonight's PLAAY Space LIVE! Full color, baseball-card-themed cards that align with the PLAAY baseball timeline, with many of the established stars cast in a new season-specific context!

Join us at 6pm MT (8pm ET) on the PLAAY Games YouTube Channel!

Upcoming Stream Schedule...

Here's the tentative plan for the next 30 days of streaming in the PLAAY Space...

• 05.02.24 2025 WAF Impact Show: Our 04.11.24 "Commissioner's Edict" show laid the framework for WAF Impact '25, with about a dozen careers hanging in the balance--"win to stay in, loser is OUT!" The results of this show will determine the make-up of the "Wrestling America Federation 2025 Stars" card set for FACE TO THE MAT.

• 05.09.24 NOW Sports Special: Been awhile since we featured our NOW sports (Fury Hardball, Fury Football, Dodgeball World Tour, Roller Derby, Demo Derby, Jai-Alai, etc.), so we'll devote this show to that theme. Specifics TBA!

• 05.16.24 Hoops Prime Time Launch Stream: Not much more needs to be said about the full-play hoops game, so we'll focus instead on a tutorial for the "Final Minute" mode. We'll officially release of the game after the stream. Woo hoo!

• 05.23.24 "History Makers Who Served" Army/Navy Game: Just ahead of Memorial Day weekend, featuring our collection of big leaguers who served in the military in two World Wars, Korea and Viet Nam. Our schedule didn't allow us to stream this game last year, so we had the community play and post. We'll get the cards back on the table and remember those who traded baseball uniforms for military uniforms and put themselves in harm's way to protect our freedom.

Milwaukee Meet-Up! "WIS-CON '24!"

I posted at length in last month's CONNECT, so I won't re-hash here except to say that it's Saturday (04.27.24) starting at 10am at OddWillows Game Haven in Mukwanago, WI. Many thanks to Travis Jansen for putting this together (and if you have questions, ask Travis! Haha!) The main thing to know is that this is a "pot luck" game event, bring what you want to play and be prepared to play it with someone! There are no event-wide organized tournaments or anything like that. Just a full day of pure, unadulterated board game FUN!

Gridiron Games at the Pro Football Hall of Fame!

Last year, we offered the "bucket list" experience of playing History Maker Baseball at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, NY. It was made even more special with the debut of the "Complete Cooperstown" card set, which made for a memorable afternoon of tabletop baseball fun. Here's a recap of that event!

THIS year, we're headed to Canton, OH and the Pro Football Hall of Fame, where we'll be part of TWO days of football board game thrills! It's Saturday and Sunday, 08.24.24 and 08.25.24. Like last year's baseball event, our participation in this event will be highlighted by the launch of a brand new game release that honors the setting: a newly-revived and re-formatted "Great Teams, Great Games" package for Second Season Football and Second Season "Express!" But wait--there's more! We'll also play the brand new version of Draft Duel, AND have a segment devoted to Canadian Pro Football with Cold Snap and Cold Snap "Express!"

If ever there was a football board game event to be at, THIS is it! APBA Football, Breakaway Football and other tabletop football games will also be in the house! Interested in finding out more? Here's the link to the 2025 Gridiron Games Facebook page, where you can connect withe Geoff Giordano who is spearheading the event. (There’s also information about the event in our “Photo Finish” of this month’s CONNECT!)

Curated Content…

If you haven't checked out the other content we've created this month, be sure to click away once you're finished reading here. Sam posted the backstory to the new "Studio Sp1cy," which will be home to Draft Duel as well as the trick-taking, deck-building, card-battling game Sam's been working on for the last few years, "Myth Mash." There's also an article I put together detailing the history of the full-play hoops game, which started all the way back in 2014. Both of these are under the “blog” heading of this website.

We strive to have fresh content in this section several times every month, so be sure to check it out! You can also travel back to previous blog posts and enjoy even more sports and non-sports board game content (and freebies!)!

And, speaking of "freebies..."

FREE!

• Dan Garlick’s 1981-82 college tournament teams for Highlight Maker Hoops: If you still haven't had enough college hoops, Dan has created this classic hoops cards set to help feed your need! Plenty of well-known pro stars from the '80s, playing for their college alma mater!

• 2024 Commissioner's Edict Deck for Face to the Mat Pro Wrestling: In case you missed the show, here's the deck we used, which you can apply to freshening up your own federation if you like!

And we have not one, but TWO Japanese Baseball card sets for History Maker Baseball...

• 1979 Japanese Pro League from Brien Aronov: You get all six Central League and all six Pacific League teams that made up the 1979 Season, presented in team colors. Also includes lineup cards and stadium/logo cards for each team.

• 2016 Japanese Pro League from Jonathan Conrad: All twelve teams, 40 players per team (20 hitters, 20 pitchers), umpire and stadium cards, plus a new wrinkle: manager cards! Includes a young Shohei Ohtani leading his team to winning the Japan Series. There's a LOT of additional content, too, including lineups, starting pitching frequency, and more!

PLAAY-Dot CON 2024

We're heading down the home stretch toward our annual convention, which happens in just a couple of months! If you've already signed up for the convention, you should have gotten an e-mail update last week. Please reach out to us if you didn't get it! It contains important information about the convention.

We also went live with the official convention "merch," including a very cool soccer-themed jersey to commemorate the launch of Soccer Blast "Express" which will happen at the con! There's also a selection of t-shirts and a convention ball cap. Check out the gear, here!

Now available....

• 2023 Pro Season, History Maker Baseball: For the first time ever, we're offering a choice of formats for the new pro season cards. The classic black-and-white set is the biggest card set we've ever released--nearly 1,300 individual cards! And, NEW this year, a "deluxe" color "express" card set, 24 players per team, team colors, in a baseball trading card-sized format!

Coming Soon...

Here's a few things in the PLAAY pipeline, with tentative release dates in the next few months...

• Soccer Blast Express: Similar in format to our express hockey, football and baseball games, the new "express" soccer game will let you play more games in less time, while still capturing the ebb, flow and essence of a full soccer game!

• 2025 FLOTA for Soccer Blast: "FLOTA" stands for the Football League Of The Americas," a new fictional project we're christening with the launch of our express soccer game. We'll put teams in cities all across North, Central and South America, designed to be a top-tier rival to the Euro leagues! More details soon!

• 2023 Pro Season for Second Season: We started work on this a few days ago, with our usual July release in mind--although, heads-up, it might possibly be a little later than usual this year.

• 2024 Football America for Second Season: The fifteenth anniversary of the re-start of our fictional football league in 2010. We'll again include a four-team spring developmental "X-league" along with updated rosters for all twelve established FA teams. Watch for this in September.

• Draft Duel 2024: Our family-friendly fantasy football card game makes its full-scale production return in all-new packaging, and an updated roster of star players! We will have proof versions to play at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August, with a general release most likely in September.

Photo Finish

Thomas Sigall and friends playing Draft Duel! (from left: Thomas, Liam Hehir, and Eric Lavin) Side note: they have had frequent spirited discussions about whether Brock Purdy’s card reflects his actual performance.

And here's the info about Geoff Giordano's HOF event--please do reach out if you'd like to be part of the fun!

That’s it for this month! THANKS for reading, and thanks for being part of this incredible community! We appreciate you!!