PLAAY Connect 05.25.23

Happy Memorial Day Weekend! We’ve got an exciting summer ahead, filled with games, fun and TRAVEL! It’s time again to get connected…

Remembering Baseball History Makers Who Served

We usually break out History Maker Baseball for Memorial Day Weekend and play a game with our “Baseball in War Time” mini-set. We won’t be streaming it live this year, but we do plan to play it off-line. You can play the game on your own tabletop as well, here's the link to the cards. Navy currently leads our series 4-1, year-by-year results listed below. Here’s the link to the blog post about the cards.

• (2018) Army 5, Navy 3: Warren Spahn gets the win.

• (2019) Navy 8, Army 4: Johnny Pesky hits for the cycle for the Navy.

• (2020) Navy 8, Army 1: Johnny Pesky again the hero with four RBI; the Hometown Airman, though, had a moment to remember for a lifetime, hitting a home run off Bob Feller for the only Army run.

• (2021) Navy 6, Army 1: rain-shortened win, Stan Musial with two-run HR in the third.

• (2022) Navy 1, Army 1: game called for darkness after ten innings. (I finished this game off-stream the next day, went 17 innings, Navy won it 2-1 on a run-scoring single from--who else?--Johnny Pesky.)

So, Navy leads (wins?) the series 4-1, have fun getting it onto your tabletop this weekend!

Binge Week Golf "Rain Check" ENDS tomorrow!

We brought the deal back for a few days to honor the “rain check” we issued when we ran out of golf mats during the original “Binge Week” run. All items EXCEPT the 2010s Golf Stars will continue to be available, but the special $99 package deal won't be--pretty sweet deal, it's like getting the PLAAY mat for FREE! The 2010s Golf Stars will go off-line, since it's the set that now comes with the game, we don't want new gamers accidentally ordering it/ For those who already own the game, the 2010s Stars will be available as a Miscellaneous Purchase.

Score Cards is NOW AVAILABLE!

Seems like forever ago that we introduced the hobby board game world to Mike Fitzgerald's new card game, "Score Cards" at Dice Tower West. Well? The wait is finally over, and you can get your copy of the game on its way to you with a quick click! (Link)

More exciting news about Score Cards: it's looking very much like the game is going to be picked up by a mass-market game publisher/distributor, and will be carried in game stores world wide, possibly in big-box retailers like Wal-Mart or Target. We're currently in talks with a handful of companies who are interested in acquiring the game. Nothing has been finalized, but it's looking very promising. When we know more, we'll get the word out!

The “Summer Of NOW!”

With the onset of Memorial Day weekend, the "Summer of NOW" is ON! Besides Score Cards, our plan was to introduce two OTHER new PLAAY NOW games. Well, largely because of the pre-launch interest in Score Cards, the other two games aren't quite ready for release. HOWEVER, “The Summer of NOW” rolls on anyway! We'll have a Game Lab live stream in a couple of weeks to show you where we're at with the other PLAAY NOW games, as well as some other game ideas we have in the pipeline. We'll also feature PLAAY NOW content in our 06.08.23 and 06.29.23 PLAAY Space YouTube shows, see below.

PLAAY Games at ORIGINS Game Fair, Columbus, OH!

One of our objectives for “The Summer of NOW” was to do a live event somewhere outside of Denver. We’re excited to announce that we’ll be at the iconic ORIGINS Game Fair and Expo in Columbus, OH Thursday 06.22.23 and Friday 06.23.23. We’re planning to demo both Score Cards and a new hobby game we’ve been working on for the past couple of years, “Myth Mash,” which is sort of a collectible trading card game without having to collect the cards. Super cool, and we’re excited to get feedback on it from the ORIGINS crowd. If you’re planning to attend ORIGINS, be sure to look us up! If you hadn’t planned to attend but live in the area, come join us! Reach out to us via e-mail and we’ll share the scoop!

ViDEO ACTiViTY in the PLAAY Space

Here's the PLAAY Games YouTube Channel streaming schedule for the next month or so…

• 06.01.23, 75 Years of Racin' Launch Race: We'll celebrate the launch of our new RWBR card set based on the all-time greatest drivers in stock car racing history with an all-star dirt-track race at Hub City Speedway!

• 06.08.23, PLAAY NOW-a-thon: So here’s the plan: we’ll play a segment with EVERY game from the PLAAY NOW line-up, in ONE non-stop stream. We’ll post a schedule of games before the stream with estimated times so you can tune in for the games you want to watch!

• 06.15.23, “Summer of NOW” Game Lab: We’ll give you a progress report on several games we currently have in the PLAAY NOW pipeline, including some new games on which we’ve just started development!

• 06.22.23, No Stream: Because we’re at ORIGINS!

• 06.29.23, Return of the V-8 Extermi-NATION with Demo Derby Smash-Down: We ran this as a series during COVID, and we’re bringing it back as a one-off live event. Chris Phillips is the defending “Silver Trash Can” champion, who’ll win it THIS time?

75 Years of Racin' Commemorative Set Debuts NEXT week!

We're super excited about this deluxe presentation for RED WHITE & BLUE RACIN', you can read more about it here. The set features bigger, more detailed cards and a special twin bi-fold game boards on which to play! Available 06.01.23! Don’t miss our stream that night featuring the set on our YouTube channel!

NEW vintage HISTORY MAKER BASEBALL Season coming in July!

This will be an all-new card set from a not-yet-published (by us) season, presented in the full-color "express" card format--24 players per team, all on the same sheet so you can play it either as individual cards or "team sheet" play, printed or PDF, your choice! Join us for our "Big Reveal" stream, 07.20.23!

Are You Ready For Some FOOTBALL?

We're running a little behind with work on our 2022 Pro Season release for SECOND SEASON Football (OK, we're running a LOT behind, we've usually finished it by now!), but we are still on-target for our usual mid-July release, just as pro training camps are opening up! Our annual College All-Star Game will signal the start of the new season, champion Kansas City vs. this year's pro draft stars, Thursday 07.13.23! Last year's game was a doozy, as the Los Angeles defense BARELY held off Kenny Pickett and college kids with a first-and-goal from the four-yard line in the final minute of play, protecting a 23-17 lead.

PLAAY-Dot-CON 2023, Just NINE Weeks Away!

We sent out a convention e-mail update last week, let us know if you're signed up for the convention but didn't get it. Deadline for getting your PLAAY pass is June 23rd--last call to join us in Denver for two-PLUS days of sports and board game FUN! (The convention is "officially" scheduled for Friday and Saturday July 28th and 29th, BUT we have nearly two dozen "Super Early Bird" attendees, descending on the Mile High City Wednesday the 26th, or EARLIER!)

Oh Yeah. FREE STUFF!

We've got two super-timely free downloads for you this month, coinciding with two pro sports championship series...

• 2022-23 Pro Hockey Season Final Four: Created by Rob Gallamore, includes Dallas, Vegas, Florida and Carolina. Play the championship cup series with HOCKEY BLAST!

• 2022-23 Pro Basketball Season Final Four: Created by Michael Owens, includes Boston, Miami, Denver and Los Angeles. Of course, Denver is already "in," having swept LA in four games (woo hoo!). (If you didn't like that outcome, you can "PLAAY it again" with these cards...)

Both of these card mini-sets were created using Adobe data-merge technology. We supplied Rob and Michael with a specific, standardized spread sheet into which data could be entered, and then plugged that data directly into Adobe Indesign. This is great for the community, as I'm sure you'll agree once you've downloaded the cards. Our plan is to get those spreadsheets posted someplace so people can download, enter the data for whatever league they want and submit to us so we can create "official" PLAAY cards to share with the community. No design skills required on your part, the just the data!

Coming later this year, we hope...

RWBR Last Turn Duel Tweak

Jerry Minks posted this on DELPHI regarding the DUEL option to challenge the leader on the last turn. It was pointed out that the second place car (1st in Top Group) did not even get a chance to possibly DUEL the Leader on the last turn from the Duel Instigator chart. On the last turn, it certainly makes sense that the 2nd place car should have a chance.

Jerry's suggestion is to use the dice roll "7" on the DUEL chart for the second place driver for the last turn, replacing the FEUD / FUME result. Of course, this is optional--there could be good reasons NOT to duel the leader (e.g. poor ESCAPE range, low gas pedal range, happy with second place for points, etc.). If the driver opts not to DUEL, then just use the FEUD / FUME result as normal on the final turn.

Photo Finish

Doing some straightening up and sorting down in our home's crawl space, I came across the ORIGINAL "decider die," pictured below. My original idea was to add some flavor to the decider, with text rather than just a "bullet" (or "blank"). Inspired, I guess, by the classic "Magic 8 ball" (which, believe it or not, is still being made!). The green-shaded sides read "YES," "Absolutely YES" and "YES, but BARELY!" The red-tinged sides read "NO!," "Definitely Not" and "NO, not this time."

That's all for this month, thanks for being part of our incredible community of people--we love ya!