PLAAY CONNECT 03.12.26
Here’s what’s new in the World of PLAAY as we “Spring Forward…”
World Cup, Classic SCRAM Freebies Showcased TONIGHT!
We're taking a (brief!) breather from College Hoops Craziness to bring you a double-barreled non-hoops free-focused PLAAY Space tonight! We'll highlight the two items in this month's e-newsletter FREE STUFFF section, the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers for Soccer Blast and the 1961 SCRAM Update for Red White & Blue Racin'! Join us tonight (03.12.26) at 6pm MT (8pm ET) on the PLAAY Games YouTube Channel!
More About The World Cup Cards...
The 2026 World Cup will feature 48 competing nations, expanding by 16 teams from the previous format. As of now, 42 nations have officially secured qualification, while 22 additional countries will compete in playoff matches to claim the remaining six berths for this summer’s global soccer showcase. Those final qualifying spots will be decided in a couple of weeks (beginning March 26th), but now you can anticipate that drama on your game table!
Once again we'll offer a projection card set for Soccer Blast (coming in May) so you'll be able to pre-PLAAY the entire tournament, or play along with the real thing as it happens in real-time. THAT card set is DIFFERENT from the one we're debuting in tonight's PLAAY Space. Tonight's set features the 22 nations participating in the "play-in." As he did four years ago, PLAAY Gamer extraordinaire John Bergeron has again pored over the numbers to arrive at a roster reflecting each nation's best players and has translated their abilities into qualities, symbols and ratings for Soccer Blast.
To re-cap: preliminary teams tonight, free download. Full-tournament World Cup projection teams coming in May! Join us tonight in the PLAAY Space as we get underway with the every-four-years world soccer mania that IS the World Cup! 6pm MDT (8pm EDT) on the PLAAY Games YouTube Channel!
THE College Hoops PLAAY-Down!
As we brace for soccer madness, we're in the throes of HOOPS madness, with real-life college tournament and our own alternate universe College Hoops PLAAY-Down! Thanks for being part of the fun! We'll have some sort of "official' PLAAY-down at IndiCON, tailored to attendee interest, utilizing instant, highlight, and full-play "Prime Time" results.
A late-breaking freebie, here's a black and white version of the official PLAAY-Down Tournament Bracket, which you can print on plain paper.
Hoops PLAAY-Down corrections: A handful of the 128 regular-season rosters had duplicate player uniform numbers. (All at the END of the alphabet, which should tell you something, haha!) Of course, it's a fictional set so you're welcome to swap in any uniform number you like for the duplicates. However, if you want to mirror the "official" corrections, here they are...
• Savannah University: Taiwo Strong (2)
• University of the Crossroads: Jakob Vogl (23)
• Washington A&E: Richaun Lymon (41)
• Western Kansas: Kahni James (61)
• Zelda College: Micah Rochelin (22)
And here's a PDF of the corrected cards--(NOTE: we included a printed copy of them in the package once we became aware.)
Highlights Maker Hoops Mats are BACK!
Talking about the original sports center “highlight show” version(see image above), a new supply has arrived! If you were on the wait list, check your e-mail in-box. If not, click here for more information…
PLAAY at the Races Release Date
We're targeting Thursday 04.23.26 as the official release date. This should give enough time for games to arrive in time for the real-life Kentucky Derby, which happens 05.02.26. You can get on the wait list now and receive an e-mail when the game goes live by visiting our website. Meanwhile, here are a few factoids you might be interested to know...
• NEW game boards with more colorful graphics.
• NEW Vintage Season (which we will reveal on a future PLAAY Space stream).
• NEW "Current Stars" Cards (based on 2025 season).
• NEW PLAAY-mat (which we will reveal on a future PLAAY Space stream).
Coming Soon: Baseball!
As if college hoops, World Cup qualifying and the Kentucky Derby weren't enough to get excited about this spring, how about the start of a new baseball season!? It's just a couple weeks away! We'll be ready with TWO versions of the 2025 Pro Season for History Maker Baseball.
• XL "Trading Card" Version: Our full-color baseball trading card-size edition has an all new "retro" design, exclusively for print. The set is also larger this year, 27 players per team (up from 24). Over 800 players get a full-color, full-size card! You can get a "first look" at the cards TOMORROW evening (03.13.26) 6pm CDT (5pm MDT, 7pm EDT) on Kurt Bergland's Baseball World YouTube channel. Kurt will also have an "opening day marathon" with the cards scheduled for Tuesday 03.24.26, starting at 2pm CDT.
• Standard "Extended Roster" Version: This is the set for the in-depth projects, with over 1,000 players carded--every player with 100 at bats or 20 innings pitcher. This set is presented in our classic black-and-white format and will be available as both a printed card set or digital download.
Watch for the product page to go live Saturday morning 03.14.26!
For fans of "vintage" baseball, we'll be re-releasing the 1996 Pro Season set, in both printed and digital formats. We made this set available during the holiday sale, and it's now time to celebrate the 30th anniversary of this memorable season of baseball.
NOTE: Later this summer, we'll have an all-new "vintage" set release--stay tuned!
INDI-CON Update
We're excited to be making our first "road trip" of 2026 next month, to ST Patrick's "IndiCON" 04.09.26 through 04.12.26 in Auburn, IN. Mostly, I'll be "hanging out and playin' games," but as I've mentioned I am planning to do some sort of structured activity with both the College Hoops PLAAY-Down cards and the horse racing game. Let me know if you're planning to attend so that we can connect!
PLAAY Gamer Open Golf Tournament at D2D CON!
Hosted by Al Wilson, the plan is to run this tournament Saturday morning 05.16.26 at 10a (EDT) as Digital 2 Dice CON ‘26 is getting underway. Just find Al, grab a DIY golfer card and plug into a foursome--it's that simple! Everyone plays a full round on the Connecticut River course, and then whoever "makes the cut" plays a second round for all the marbles! For more info on Digital 2 Dice con, click here.
PLAAY-Fest in Eau Claire, 06.20.26!
No "news" to report here this time around, but we DO expect to have a couple of announcements in the next CONNECT, if not before!Please read our PLAAY Fest blog post if you're thinking of attending!
FURY Sports Re-Skin
The new box designs are featured on the front page of our website and the wait-list signups have been steadily growing. As of right now, we're planning to launch both of the new Fury Sport games the week after PLAAY-Fest, June 25th. We'll have a Fury Tourney in Eau Claire (and have copies of the game available for purchase!).
FREE Stuff!
• John Bergeron’s World Cup PLAAY-In Cards: As detailed above, we'll demo these cards on tonight's PLAAY Space! You get cards for all 22 qualifier "play-in" teams, each team gets 20 players and three keepers.
• Pete Adams''61 SCRAM Update for Red White & Blue Racin': If you own the '60 SCRAM cards, you'll enjoy this freebie! Pete has turned the page to 1961, with some new driver ratings and stories that can be implemented with your existing cards to create a whole new season of vintage stock car racin' fun.
PLAAY Nation Podcast
In the latest episode of the PLAAY Nation Podcast, Community ambassador Travis Jansen joins Harvey and Al in a wide-ranging discussion of 3-D printing, play-testing, data-harvesting and game-playing! Download and listen along wherever you get your podcasts!
Photo Finish
PLAAY gamer Kent Gray recently went on "Star Trek: The Cruise," and sent along photos. Yes, that's Kent with none other than Captain Kirk, William Shatner--still actively hanging out with fans at age 94! "Ensign Chekov" Walter Koenig is not far behind at age 89. Sounds like a fun time!
That's the news for this month, hope to see you tonight in the PLAAY Space and in a few weeks at IndiCON! Questions or comments, please reach out!
