PLAAY CONNECT: 07.10.25

Jul 10

There’s plenty of news to pass along, and we'll cover much of this in more detail during tonight's News Update YouTube Stream. But let's go ahead and dive right in...

Today: Triple PLAAY Day!

We've been doing this for 25 years now and best I can recall, outside of the Holiday sale, this is the first time we have ever had THREE new releases for DIFFERENT games on the SAME day! Fishing, Mystery Rummy and the return of LEAP baseball!

Keepin' it Reel: Reel-Time Pro Fishin' Game is NOW Available!

We had a GREAT time with this game at PLAAY-Dot-CON, and now you can join the fun! The game includes a base lake on which to learn the game and two custom lakes to add to your fishing experience! Two new collections of custom lakes are also available! Read MORE about Reel-Time Pro Fishin' Game...

Mystery Rummy 6: "The Game is Afoot!"

The newest entry in Mike Fitzgerald's "Mystery Rummy" series is based thematically on the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Can you simultaneously solve BOTH mysteries? Read more about Mystery Rummy 6...

It's BACK: 20xx Baseball LEAP for History Maker Baseball!

Our holiday baseball offering returns for the summer, sending you a decade or so into baseball's future! Some of today's real-life big league young stars are carded in this set as established veterans, and there are a number of as-yet undiscovered players (currently in high school, college or the minor leagues) who have "made the leap!" Read more about Baseball LEAP 20xx...

PLAAY Games at the Football Hall of Fame

YES, we're headed back to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, OH as part of Geoff Giordano's "Gridiron Games" get-together, 8.23.25 and 8.24.25. Last year we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the World Football League, this year we'll celebrate the 40th anniversary of the final season of the USFL! It's $75 for each day, that includes admission to the hall, access to the gaming area and a catered lunch! For more information on the event, please reach out to Geoff at halloffametournaments@gmail.com. FYI: Geoff has reserved a block of discounted hotel rooms at the Hampton Inn & Suites, 5256 Broadmoor Cir NW, Canton, OH.

BGG Con in Dallas--it's ON!

Over the years, PLAAY Games has generated a pretty good presence on Board Game Geek and we're excited to be headed to Dallas this fall for their convention! We'll be going as exhibitors, so we'll have our own booth and are already thinking about PLAAY games events we might conduct during the non-vendor hours! The dates for BGG-CON are 11.19.25 to 11.23.25. More information about the convention can be found here. And, here. Let us know if you're considering attending so we can hang out and play some games!...

PLAAY-Dot-CON Re-Cap

"Thank you!" To everyone who made PLAAY-Dot-CON 2025 such a rousing success! The PLAAY Games community is in a league of its own, we're so grateful for you! You can read our recap of the event here...

Past vs. Future TMT title game

For one reason or another, we didn't get to play the History Maker Baseball Time Machine Tournament "Past vs. Future" Championship Game Saturday night--that's on me, I shouldn't have scheduled it for a different time slot, I guess. (We'd conducted the tournament the day before, with Erik Holdaway winning the "Past" conference with the 1995 Indians and Mike Gingold earning the "Future" conference championship with the 20xx Yankees. So the "championship of all time" remains hanging in the balance! We'll settle it next week on our YouTube channel, 07.17.25. Don't miss it!

Coming Soon: 2024-25 English Pro Season for Soccer Blast

Our annual replica of the just-finished top-tier English league is ready to put on the pitch! All twenty teams, over 400 players presented in team colors. Coming NEXT week (07.14.25)!

Coming Soon: History Maker Baseball’s 2025 Pro In-Season Set

Play tomorrow's baseball, today! We've offered this set every year since the game was introduced in 2013 (except during the COVID seasons), where we rate 24 top players for each team (10 pitchers, 14 batters) based on the ongoing, in-progress 2025 big league season. With these cards you can play along with the pennant races, or play upcoming games before they happen! Available 08.08.25! We'll also use these cards for our annual "Fall Classic Pre-PLAAY" (date TBA).

Coming Soon: 2024 Pro Season for Second Season Football

We're running a bit behind on this card set (usually we have it out in July), but it IS on the schedule, with a projected 08.18.25 release date. All 32 pro teams rated for the 2024 pro season, available in printed and PDF formats. We'll kick off the season as usual with our annual College All-Star game, featuring this year's pro draft class against last year's pro champions, Philadelphia!

Coming Soon: Truckin' '76!

This game has been in the design queue for awhile now, and we're so excited to finally get it on your game table! Loosely based on the classic Burt Reynolds/Sally Field movie "Smokey and the Bandit," Truckin' '76 takes you back to the days of CB radios, truckin' convoys and coast-to-coast over-the-road shenanigans! We've set a release date for 08.28.25, AND in a perfect world we'd hold the launch party at a real-life truck stop somewhere! (Suggestions?) Stay tuned!

Free Stuff!

• Jule Sigall's 2025 College World Series teams for History Maker Baseball: The “Great Eight” from this season’s college baseball championship.

• PLAAY-Dot-CON World Series of Cornhole: This game was part of our ESPN8 “The Ocho” Alt-Sports Festival during PLAAY-Dot-CON 2025. Fun stuff!

• PLAAY-Dot-CON Championship Lake: This is the lake on which the PLAAY-dot-CON Fishin’ Tournament was decided between the final sixteen table champions, Lake Blue Sky, CO! We’ve re-formatted it as a two-piece board so you can try it out (presented as a tri-fold board at the con).

• Extra Tackle Box Scoresheets: I put this on the “free stuff” page, but figured it would be good to put it here as well! Happy fishing!

Here's a Great Read...

...about why we play board games, sent to me by Ron Arnst. The author makes an observation that I had never considered, but really resonates with me: "board games are set apart from movies and books, or other hobbies that can distract you from life's problems, because (board games) give you a level of choice...because (games) are an interactive medium, you do have a different sense of control over what happens (vs. watching something on TV or reading a book)."

Photo Finish!

I happened to see this on TV this past weekend--cornhole! On ESPN! (NOT "The Ocho," or even ESPN2--it was on top-level ESPN!) The thing was, these guys were GOOD--way better than even the "best" level of the "World Series if Cornhole" ESPN8 game I created for the convention. I mean, they never missed. Seriously, I watched for about fifteen minutes and in that time, only ONE bean bag failed to land on the board--and THAT one bounced off after hitting a same-colored bag through the hole! So I may have to revise the PLAAY cornhole game to recreate this level of ability. Anyway, feels like cornhole (and pickle ball!) are the up-and-coming sports "future."

That's it for this edition, hope you can join us tonight for our news show where we'll discuss the above items (and others) in more detail. We'll see you at 6p MDT (8p EDT) on the PLAAY Games YouTube Channel!

Sam Avallone