PLAAY CONNECT 02.05.26
Our monthly round-about of all things PLAAY…
TONIGHT: Big game Pre-PLAAY, New England and Seattle!
It's our annual "crystal ball" look ahead of pro football's "Big Game!" In the authentic tradition of tabletop sports games, sometimes we get the result eerily correct, sometimes we're waaay off, but it's always fun to watch! We'll start with "express," and will switch to full-play late if the game's close. (That's what happened with last year's Pre-PLAAY, and, well...you had to see it to believe it!)
Join us TONIGHT at 6pm MT (8pm ET) on the PLAAY Games YouTube channel!
• NOTE that our sidekick Aaron is still learning the ins and outs of YouTube live streaming, especially the production side, so please cut us some slack! Thanks!
• The 2025 Pro Season for Second Season Pro Football Game will be released in July, just as real-life pro training camps are opening.
The Green Flag has DROPPED on Red White & Blue Racin' Season!!
We have such a busy release schedule in the weeks ahead that we decided to release our stock car racing card sets a week early. Learn more about the 2025 Pro Season and 2026 SCRAM Season cards, they’re BOTH now available! For SCRAM, we're once again offering the full "Breakthrough Series" driver cards AND there's a separate B-Series race schedule included with the cards.
• On YouTube Next Week: The annual SCRAM Season Opener, The Ice Brew 600, LIVE from the Northern Lights MotorDome! Join us Thursday evening 02.12.26, 6pm MT (8pm ET) on the PLAAY Games YouTube Channel!
Coming Soon: Baseball!
Almost time for pitchers and catchers to report for spring training! We're ready for another baseball season with our annual twin "current stars" card set releases for History Maker Baseball...
• 2025 Pro Season: Once again, we'll offer this set in TWO distinct formats: by popular demand, the XL (baseball trading card size, 2.5" x 3.5") color "express" set is being expanded to 27 players! For the serious hard-core baseball table gamer, there's the standard (extended roster) card set, with over 1200 players presented in our classic black & white card design! Both sets available 03.19.26!
• 2026 Baseball America: Another season begins in our alternate baseball universe, watch our annual "Spring Training Tour" YouTube stream 02.19.26--all twelve teams will be in action with HMB express, 6-inning "exhibition" games. You'll get a first-hand look at the new cards and after the stream we'll publish a spring training camp tour guide to help you track the off-season player movement. The card set itself will be available the following week, 02.26.26.
The ‘61 Continental League Returns!
We've gotten a ton of great feedback about bringing back the 1961 Continental League cards! This set is now live on the website, we'll do our best to keep it in stock. And--check out these sweet '61 Continental League uniforms and ball cap concepts created with AI by PLAAY Gamer John Alexander!
The ‘61 Continental League: (top row) Dallas Rustlers, New York Skyliners, Buffalo Bees, Atlanta Emeralds; (bottom row) Toronto Totems, Denver Grizzlies, Houston Texas Heroes, Montreal Royal Blues.
College Hoops “PLAAY-Down Meet-Up!”
Our massive alternate universe college hoops card set is coming together, it's on-target for an early March release in time for real-life "March Madness." As we've mentioned, the College Hoops PLAAY-Down ‘26 set is probably the most ambitious tabletop project we've ever attempted! Not JUST a 64-team college hoops collection (which is ambitious enough by itself!) this card set will allow you to re-create the entire PLAAY universe of college basketball. Every team (nine players each), every conference, nearly 200 teams in all. We'll be putting samples from the set through their paces with a core group of Denver-area PLAAY gamers, you're welcome to join us! The "PLAAY-Down Meet-UP" will happen Saturday, 02.14.26, 9a to 1p at our "FLGS" Enchanted Grounds, Highlands Ranch, CO. (Note that there’s a second Enchanted Grounds location in Littleton—we won’t be at that one!)
PLAAY Nation Podcast Episode TWO goes live tomorrow!
After a well-received first episode (on which I was privileged to be a guest!) Al, Harvey and James are back for episode TWO, which will touch on a broad range of PLAAY topics. James has created a new 1930s Negro Leagues card set for History Maker Baseball (you can download it in the freebies section below) and there'll be discussion on live events, personal PLAAY projects and more! Listen in, and get the scoop! Available wherever you get your podcasts! Here’s the podcast home page for more information…
Upcoming LIVE On-Location Events
A busy spring and summer awaits...YOU are invited to be part of the fun, IN-person, ON-location! In addition to our afore-mentioned College Hoops "PLAAY-Down Meet-UP," we have these events on our calendar...
• April, IndiCON (04.09.26 through 04.12.26): We're planning to bring the soon-to-be-released boxed version of PLAAY at the Races for an IndCON "sneak peek," including a pre-PLAAY of this year's Kentucky Derby! I'll also continue my 1974 WFL Southern California Sun season play-through (we are currently 8-7, five games left in the season)! Anyone want to play head-to-head, just let me know!
• May, D2D CON (05.15.26 and 05.16.26): We're going to hold our annual PLAAY Gamer Open Golf Tournament in Connecticut this year! Anyone/everyone can play, just let us know in advance so that we have enough tables and chairs (and game books!). More details coming soon!
• June, PLAAY-Fest (06.19.26 and 06.20.26): Something new, this will be fun! Check out the blog post I made last week. The tentative plan is to kick things off with a fishing tournament (hey, it's Wisconsin after all!), and also hold "A League of Their Own" 1944 AAGPBL mini-season, with a fictional (buy historically-based) Eau Claire, WI team! PLUS, live local sports--the Eau Claire Express (Northwoods League Baseball) and Eau Claire Axemen (The Arena League Football)! Be sure to let us know if you're thinking of attending (again, so we can plan better)--it's FREE!
• July, World Boardgaming Championships (07.25.26 through 08.02.26): We are ON for the 2026 WBC Seven Springs Resort outside Pittsburgh, PA. We'll have an exhibitor table, all of the PLAAY titles on-hand, and plenty of time for games. You do NOT have to stay at the resort to attend the WBC! Come for a day, or the weekend, hang out and have fun! We'll have a Fury Sports Festival (of sorts), with WBC sanctioned Fury Hardball and Fury Football tournaments!
Community: XHL Co-Op Update
I know there are a good number of solo and co-op projects happening in the PLAAY Community, but since I am playing in this one (in charge of the British Columbia Breakers) I thought I'd give a shout out. Derek Jones (commissioner) and all of the other coaches have done a tremendous job of keeping our XHL season project on-track for what looks to be a classic "fantastic finish." Here are the standings through the end of January. Who'll win the east is anyone's guess, while the New Orleans Brass and Saskatchewan Prairie Raider are the "best-of-the-west!" We even had our own XHL version of the "Winter Series" (outdoors) Baltimore and Hartford! Well done, everyone!
Yeah, we’re in last place—but there’s still a month left to play!
FREE!
• Big Game Pre-PLAAY team cards for Second Season Football: We'll use these team cards for tonight's stream, you're welcome to download them for your OWN "Big Game Pre-PLAAY!"
• 2026 Winter Olympics Hockey Cards for Hockey Blast: Once again, Rob Gallamore has come through for the PLAAY Community's "Hockey Blast Army" with cards for this year's Olympic hockey tournament! All twelve competing teams are carded here, along with liner notes and a schedule. The actual competition begins next week!
• James Cast's 1934-36 Negro League Cards for History Maker Baseball: James created this set as content for the PLAAY Nation Podcast. "I had an idea to create a Negro League set that could act as a companion set to one of PLAAY's published sets. Originally I was thinking 1940, but I decided to go with 1935, because Josh Gibson was a more complete player in those years. I used player stats from 1934-36 because this gave most teams a chance to have ~165 games, which was close to the big league schedule of 154 games. In this way, their stats were comparable." Also included are a couple of intro pages explaining how James generated some stats and how players were assigned to teams.
Photo Finish
Tabletop sports meets real-life, with PLAAY gamer Stephen Walker and LPGA star Brooke Henderson! Stephen and his wife were on vacation in Florida and got tickets to the LPGA's Hilton Grand Vacations Celebrity Classic. Stephen says "she very graciously said it was OK for me to have my wife take a picture of her and me. She’s truly a class act and Canada nice!"
One of the celebrities golfing was Annika Sorenstam! "I did manage to get a few pictures of her as well, but no signed card. Her teenage son caddied for her and there were some sweet moments between them when I was watching from the gallery. One snippet of his sage advice, 'Hit it hard, mom!'"
That’s all for this month, hope to see you online or check in via e-mail—we’re always happy to hear from you! Thanks for being part of our amazing community of board gamers! (photo credit for football image to Ryan Reinoso, unplash.com)