10.15.26 PLAAY CONNECT

(meeple thumbnail photo credit to Christopher Paul High, unsplash.com) Here’s the latest from. PLAAY HQ as we head toward the holidays…

TONIGHT: "It's Ladies' Night!"

In past years we've included pro women's hoops and hockey cards as part of our holiday sale, but with the notable increase in interest in women's sports this year, we've decided to release these sets now so you can get them on your game table without having to wait. The women's pro hoops championship series is just about to begin, and you can play along with the real thing! Women's pro hockey starts in about seven weeks with four all-new teams for the 2027 season! It feels like a watershed moment for women's pro sports, and we're excited to be part of it!

We'll introduce these sets TONIGHT--hockey AND hoops--and then we'll release the card sets and PDFs. Join us at 6pm MT (8pm ET) on the PLAAY Games YouTube channel for "Ladies Night" in the PLAAY Space!

NEXT Week: Big, BIG news!

You won't want to miss this. Join us next Thursday 10.22.26 at 6pm MT (8pm ET) for a series of major announcements about what's in store for PLAAY Games in 2027!

2026 Holiday Sale Update

We're busy planning for our annual holiday sale, which will run Friday 11.27.26 thru Monday 11.30.26. We're going to have to scale back the website "pizazz" factor of the past couple years, BUT we're going to stick with our basic recipe of printed products 10% off, PDF downloads 50% off for those four days only.

We'll also have our annual NEW Holiday PDF game, several all-new card sets, special "7-7-7" daily super-deals and some very cool FREEBIES! Please note that order processing could be a bit more sluggish this year, we're expecting it to be a full two weeks before all holiday sale printed orders are in the mail. Thanks for your patience--we DO expect all orders WILL be shipped in time to arrive before Christmas Eve!

• Watch for our upcoming Holiday Sale Preview stream, scheduled for early Thanksgiving week (exact date and time TBA)...

Online Christmas Party

The gifts are starting to roll in for our Online Christmas Party's annual "White Elephant Gift Exchange!" Many thanks to everyone who's already contributed. Remember, the earlier you send in your gift, the later you'll choose in the exchange--this could be beneficial because when it's your turn, you get the option of "stealing" an already-unwrapped gift or picking an unopened one from under the tree.

Now, you don't HAVE to mail a gift to be part of the exchange: we'll add a half-dozen or so gifts to the pile specifically for online party-watchers, participants to be chosen randomly. But to guarantee a spot on Santa's list, please mail your package to the PLAAY home office. We listed complete rules and guidelines in last month's CONNECT, click here (and scroll down) to read them...

“Ho, Ho, Ho!”

Commissioner's Surprise Hockey Blast Tournament Update

Joe Cards is doing an amazing job coordinating this year's tournament, and many thanks to all the PLAAY Gamers who have pitched in with ice time on their game tables. The NY Rangers are this year's Cinderella squad, they've knocked off Buffalo and Washington (both games played at the Garden) to advance to the Elite Eight! You can get a full recap of what's happened so far in our Tournament Tracker post. If you'd like to jump in and play a game, you still can--just let us know, or reach out to Joe directly on the PLAAY Games Community Facebook Page.

History Maker Baseball Fall Classic Pre-PLAAY Update

As real-life baseball gets ready to send its representatives to the Fall Classic, we're wrapping up our own championship "Pre-PLAAY" and it's down to TWO teams. Read more here... PS, We’re looking for community members who’d like to roll games in our Fall Classic, let us know if you’re interested!

FREE Stuff!!

• Travis Jansen's 2026 LCS Team Sheets for History Maker Baseball: These are full-season ratings, in Travis' unique "team sheet" format (no card trimming required). Includes the four real-life LCS teams: Los Angeles (N), Milwaukee, Tampa Bay and Cleveland.

• Severin Heiberg's 1952-53 Western Hockey League cards for Hockey Blast: This is part of a hockey "deep dive" Severin's been enjoying on his game table. Includes eight teams. Over 250 players presented in team colors plus liner notes and traded player guide.

• Steve Whitten's "Bad Golfers" for History Maker Golf: All of our pro golf card sets feature pro-level golf ability, so Steve decided to make some, um...BAD golfer cards. Hey, bad golf can be entertaining as GOOD golf, right? Twelve colorful golfer cards, each aptly named (Yip Allen, Bud Schank, Max Waters, etc.). Steve says, "Each golfer suffered the indignity of being saddled with a reminder of their lack of skills, or where they routinely hit the ball!"

Tabletop Baseball Simulations Book is in PRINT!

Andy Palomino from SABR has teamed up with Derek Bain, Kurt Bergland and Steve Etzel on a new book dedicated to the history of tabletop baseball games, "Hardball Retro’s Compendium of Baseball Tabletop Simulations." Andy's checked in to let me know that that the book has been published! It's available in paperback and Kindle versions. Andy says, "I think anyone who is a fan of simulation baseball will really enjoy this book!"

PLAAY at the Races 1978 Season

Jerry Minks recently alerted me to a typo in the "Epic Horse Option" section of the intro notes for the 1978 Season card set for PLAAY at the Races Tabletop Horse Racing Game. There, I talk about awarding three "epic" chips to Alydar, two to Affirmed and Seattle Slew and one for Spectacular Bid. But it's actually Affirmed (the real-life Triple Crown winner) who should get the third chip, not Alydar. (This is the way it's spelled out in the All-Time Greats set, correctly.)

Interestingly, in his replay of the '78 season Jerry has been using the rule as-printed (Alydar getting three chips, Affirmed two), with Alydar winning two of Jerry's three Triple Crown races. I actually think it's pretty cool that a change of one chip can shift the results, which is exactly what it's intended to do. Apologies for specifying the wrong horse in the liner notes, though--that's on me!

Jerry also proposed an optional rule for determining a lead-challenging chip-spend in an historical race; we'll plan to present that in its own blog post ASAP.

Photo Finish

Karl Schalk sent the above photo along with this note, "My daughter attends Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas and today we went to the Amelia Earhart Museum and spotted Aviatrix ‘37!" It was great to see it 'out in the wild'!"

Thanks for reading, we're glad that you're a part of our incredible community of board gamers! Hang on tight as we blast into the holiday season, it's going to be crazy (and fun)! Hope to see you tonight for "Ladies Night!"