In this newsletter

1. Giant Pandemics Spotted Around the World

2. Pandemic in Real Life

3. Upcoming Releases

4. Upcoming Appearances

5. Recent Awards

6. Call for Playtesters

7. Remembering Ken Tidwell

Giant Pandemics Spotted Around the World

Giant Pandemics appeared to be spreading this month. This oversized version of Pandemic was spotted in a Reddit thread by W. Eric Martin of Board Game Beat.

Eric writes:

Diirge, who’s real name is Justin, noted that he bought this set “from a fellow gamer who couldn’t find space for it in her apartment anymore”. I reached out for details, and Justin said that the game board — which is made of interlocking foam tiles — is 22 x 30 feet, with the cubes being cut from foam. The cards aren’t to scale with the game board, but you couldn’t hold them if they were, so that’s understandable.

Justin says the original owner spent US$2,000 on this set, and it comes with accessories for the player roles.

Meanwhile, Ben Parkinson of Chrysalis shared these photos of an oversized version being played in the Gulu district of Uganda as part of their lessons. The students represented the disease cubes in their game. (He writes that this proved to be more fun than practical. I imagine it’d be tricky to simulate an outbreak!) Our family visited Gulu in 2016, so it was especially fun to see this happening there.

Ben helps run the Uganda Village Boardgame Convention each year—an incredible event that brings kids from around the area together for boardgames, roleplaying games, indigenous games, and more. I’ll have more information about the 2026 event in the coming weeks.

Pandemic in Real Life

Speaking of Uganda, I’ve been keeping an eye on the recent Ebola outbreak in the neighboring DRC. The Economist reports it could be the worst in a decade. MSF reports:

As of May 19, DRC has officially reported 575 patients with suspected cases, 51 confirmed cases, and 148 suspected deaths. Eight patients with confirmed cases have died, as of May 18. Across the border in Uganda, there have been two patients with confirmed cases in Kampala, including one who died.

Reading this, I can’t help but remember the 2013–16 Ebola outbreak which killed over 11,000 people. Jos Becker and I kicked off a Pandemic Parties fundraising campaign at the time which raised over $50,000 to help MSF. Since that time, the Trump administration has dramatically cut back on USAID funding and pandemic preparedness programs which will cost the lives of millions,1 many of them children.

Folks, this may be legal, but it’s immoral. It is one more important reason to use your vote this November to oust members of congress who are supporting the current administration. We need to elect people that will enact sound policies.

Upcoming Releases

In lighter news—new games are coming!

Forbidden Legacy

A reminder that Forbidden Legacy will be premiering at Gen Con on July 30th, booth 1807. The retail launch will follow in the fall. Hope you can check it out.

Flickering Stars

Josh Cappel and I are happy to share that Flickering Stars has a new publisher! We’re very excited and will be sharing more info in the fall. Psst: it’s going to be great.

Upcoming Appearances

I’ll be attending the following conferences, with more to announce later in the year. If you’re attending, please come by and say hello!

• RAGE Con, Reno, Nevada
  July 10–12. Note that RAGE stands for Reno Area Gaming Expo (not righteous anger). This will be my first time at this regional con and I’ll be a special guest!

• PNW Climate Week, Location TBA
  July 15, 6:00–7:00 PM. I’ll be interviewed by Game Designer/Producer Korby Sears and co-host about Daybreak.

• Gen Con, Indianapolis, Indiana

  • July 31, 1:00–2:00 PM – Gamewright (Booth 1807) – Meet and greet, signing Forbidden Legacy and other games

  • August 1, 1:00–2:00 PM – Asmodee (Booth TBA) – Meet and greet, signing The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship and other games

  • August 1, 6:00–10:00 PM – JW Marriott, White River A & B –
    I’ll be one of the hosts for the Tabletop Game Design Association mixer.
    Interested in game design? Come join your fellow creatives for an evening of networking, sharing, and trading war stories. While not the emphasis, space for playtesting will be available.

Recent Awards

• Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 was just inducted into the Dice Tower Hall of Fame.

• The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship just picked up a slew of awards and nominations:

  • Winner of a Golden Geek in three categories: Best Cooperative Game, Best Thematic Game, and Best Medium-weight Game. It was also the runner-up in two categories: Best Graphics and Best Solitaire Game

  • Currently nominated in the Dice Tower Awards in four categories: Best Cooperative Game, Best Artwork, Best Theme in Game, and Game of the Year. Awards will be announced at Gen Con on July 30th at 7:00 PM CT.

I’d like to extend congratulations to the whole team that worked on Fate of the Fellowship. And thanks also to everyone who voted in the Golden Geek and Dice Tower awards. I’m so happy that the game is continuing to resonate with players.

Calling for Playtesters

I’ve finally put together a form to collect information from people who are interested in playtesting my games. If this sounds like you, let me know!

Remembering Ken Tidwell

My good friend Ken Tidwell passed away on Wednesday, May 6th.

Ken helped popularize the modern board gaming hobby in the 1990s with his website, The Game Cabinet.2 He set the site up like a magazine, publishing rules translations, reviews, and letters each month. In the years before BoardGameGeek, this was the place to go if you were interested in the hobby. In the days before smartphones, I printed scores of pages from the site and some of Ken’s translations are still stuffed into the older German games on my shelf. I started corresponding with him in 1996; shortly after I happened to move near him in California and we soon became friends.

Ken encouraged game creators in the area, hosted early “protospiel” events in his backyard in the late 90s and early 00s, and designed some prototypes of his own. He encouraged Rick Heli and myself to attend Essen Spiel in 2000, the event that launched my career as a game designer. There, he introduced me to famed game designer, Alan Moon and helped me make other industry connections. He also playtested most of my games and offered expert feedback.

Ken had an infectious enthusiasm for so many things but chiefly for novel creative and artistic endeavors. In the 90s that meant all the new games coming out of Germany. More recently he championed the new crop of trick-taking games and all the fresh stuff coming out of the indie markets in Japan.

While I could go on and on about his contributions to the hobby, the thing about Ken was that he was such a lovely and intelligent person with a welcoming smile and a warm heart. I’ll miss his conversations, his sharp wit, and most of all, his company.

Eric Martin shared more coverage on Ken, including a link to his memorial on BGG.

In this Update

1. Forbidden Legacy Premiering at Gen Con 2026

2. The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship Due to Return to Retail in March

3. The Four Doors Design Diary Posted

4. Flickering Stars Update

5. Upcoming Conferences and Appearances

6. Recent Media

7. Daybreak in Real Life

Forbidden Legacy Premiering at Gen Con 2026

On the tail of a mysterious, ancient people, you and your band of adventurers have escaped Forbidden Island, crashed in Forbidden Desert, and blasted off from Forbidden Sky, only to step into a mysterious portal in Forbidden Jungle. This fall, you emerge from that portal—back in time—into the ancient floating city that is the setting for Forbidden Legacy. Will you be able to finally meet the people you’ve been seeking?

Rob Daviau and I have teamed up again to deliver the latest installment in the Forbidden series. The game includes an innovative chronicle—a sturdy comic book that tells a seven-episode story that has you traveling through time as it unveils new surprises, hidden panels, stickers, and more.

The game will premier at Gen Con 2026 with retail availability slated for September 30th.

The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship Due to Return to Retail in March

“A product is never late... it arrives precisely when it means to.”

Due to high demand, Fate of the Fellowship has been out of stock since late 2025. I’m happy to report that it will be returning to retail in late March!

The Four Doors Design Diary Posted

Matt Riddle and I take a trip down memory lane and recount the long, strange journey that The Four Doors took prior to its publication. Depending on how you count, the game had five different themes, four different potential publishers, and four different designers. Read more about it in the diary.

Flickering Stars Update

It’s with a heavy heart that I share that Flickering Stars has been canceled by Friendly Skeleton due to the publisher’s financial troubles. Friendly Skeleton assures co-designer, Josh Cappel and myself that they will be working to get refunds to everyone who pre-ordered the game.

Josh and I will be looking for a new partner to publish the game in the coming months. This game is a favorite in our household and I’d love for you all to get a chance to try it somehow. If you’re a game publisher (or know of one) looking for a fully-developed, toyetic, joy-generator, please get in touch!

Upcoming Conferences and Appearances

• Game Market West, San Jose, March 22
  I’m a special guest and will be signing games from 10am–12pm.

• Minicon 59, Minneapolis, April 2–5
  I’m a guest of honor, attending panels and playing and signing games.

• The Gathering of Friends, Niagara Falls, April 17–26
  Pitching, playing, and playtesting.

• Gen Con, July 30–August 2
  I’ll be signing Forbidden Legacy at the Gamewright booth, Friday 1pm–2pm.
  (More Gen Con events to come.)

Recent Media

• I gave an interview with BoardGameWire where I talked about Pandemic, game development, and the Tabletop Game Designers Association.

• I spoke with Danielle Reynolds on Game Design Unboxed about game development.

• Lisa Towell recounted her story of becoming an animal rescuer and her experience with Animal Rescue Team on PETA’s website.

Daybreak in Real Life

I often check climate news against Daybreak’s simple model to see how things are progressing in the real world. It’s imperfect to be sure, but it does help bring a sense of scale and a framework for understanding all the disparate pieces of news.

Daybreak has two opposing dynamics that gave the game its core tension. First, it shows how the accumulation of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere leads to an increase in global temperatures and how this increase leads to tipping points that further accelerate heating in a vicious cycle.

But we also showed how various technologies and policies can feed into each other to create virtuous cycles. For example, as the price of solar and batteries goes down it becomes more attractive solution. This drives more adoption, which in turn, makes it easier to roll out more solar and batteries which further reduces costs, and so on.

These two cycles: vicious and virtuous are playing out right now before our eyes. They’re evident in two dramatic graphs that I came across recently. Each of them illustrates one of these dynamics.

I encountered the first in Bill McKibben’s substack, The Crucial Years:

The slope in this graph showing global temperature is continuing to rise… and I don’t like that it’s headed well past 2.0°F. It’s not bending in the other direction; it’s getting worse at an increasing rate. If we started our game of Daybreak in 2020 and each round took about five years, the above graph has us losing the game at the end of round four.

But while you hold that in your mind, also check out the following:

This graph, based on data from the IEA and BloombergNEF, is all the more stunning, largely due to all the investments made by China. It shows the number of solar installations each year and how they’ve consistently beat expectations. In Daybreak terms, you could achieve this effect by rolling out a Major Solar Program with a lot of supporting solar tags.

Meanwhile, the US player has decided not to play anymore and has stepped away from the table.

“President Trump on Thursday announced he was erasing the scientific finding that climate change endangers human health and the environment, ending the federal government’s legal authority to control the pollution that is dangerously heating the planet.” — The New York Times

There’s so much going on right now in our news cycle. But I’d like to encourage you to see how so much of it is connected. The fossil fuel industry is working very, very hard to ensure that the US player stops playing the game.

If you’re in the US, every little bit you can do to help defend our democracy will help get us back to the table and playing our turn. It’s very hard to win a 4-player game of Daybreak when one of the players is sitting out.

In this update:

1. Animal Rescue Team Available – TODAY

2. Animal Rescue Team Design Diary Posted

3. Spiel and DAU Report

4. Daybreak Coverage

Animal Rescue Team Available – TODAY

Animal Rescue Team is coming to retail stores today (November 26th). You can pick it up at your fine local game store or look for it online from Play to Z, Amazon, or other retailers.

I got my copies this week and they look great! You can also check out early impressions and reviews coming in from the game’s prerelease at Spiel and PAXU.

Animal Rescue Team Design Diary Posted

Lisa and I have posted a design diary for Animal Rescue Team. If you’d like to know more about what went into the creation of the game, here’s your chance to read all about it. Here’s a short excerpt:

Goal 1: Spotlight the Animals

We favored showing the animals in a naturalistic way (no exaggerated, Disney-like treatments to their eyes, faces, or proportions), give each of them their own names, and treat them – even the chickens and lab mice – as individuals worthy of being rescued. Lisa spent a lot of time directing the illustrators. She favored the depiction of animals of mixed breeds and wanted to make sure the little details were rendered appropriately. (Examples that I recall: “a goat’s tail points up!” and “OMG, you’d never hold a lead rope like that when handling a horse!”)

Continue reading…

Spiel Essen and DAU Report

This year marks 25 years since the first time I attended Spiel in Essen, and I had a fantastic time. I was on hand to help promote my new games, The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship, Animal Rescue Team, and The Four Doors. I find meeting with fans and demoing my new games really energizing. And these shows are also an opportunity to catch up with a lot of old friends.

Devir, the largest publisher of games in Spanish, Portuguese, and Catalan, also had a 25th Anniversary this year. To celebrate, they invited 25 game designers to join them at DAU, the big game festival in Barcelona. Donna and I took advantage of this and stitched Spiel and DAU together into a road trip across Europe. Our friends and fellow game designers, Elizabeth Hargrave and Danielle Reynolds joined us. We had a great time together exploring cathedrals, castles, cemeteries, neolithic structures, Roman ruins, and did some hiking and birding. We even played Carcassonne in Carcassonne.

At DAU we had a great opportunity to meet and hang out with a fun crew of game designers for an extended weekend and made a lot of new friends. In addition to the big show, we all got to explore Barcelona together, tour Gaudi’s works, and eat loads of tapas. Many thanks go out to the Devir team for being such wonderful hosts.

DAU is a pretty remarkable event. It’s free to the public and more family-oriented than most of the conventions in the US. There was an enormous area for children chock full of games and activities. There was even a big outdoor area for kids to take a spin in wheelchairs of all shapes and sizes. But there was also plenty of room for gaming, and this convention prides itself in having a person explaining games at every table. The whole event seemed like a great way to welcome new folks into the hobby. It was far less commercial and more focused on play.

Daybreak Coverage

Outside/In did an excellent, extended piece covering Daybreak called, How to solve the climate crisis in 60–90 minutes. The piece briefly covers hobby games and cooperative games and then dives deeply into Daybreak and the goals Matteo and I had when we developed it. I especially enjoyed the reactions the staff had when examining and then playing the game. Their tension was palpable.

Daybreak is also appearing in more and more course curricula. LSE, the London School of Economics and Political Science now uses it in HP437 - Health equity, climate change and the common good and it was recently used at Purdue University by a climate professor in a classroom activity. And in the last few years, I’ve been to speak at more and more classes where students not only play games but also design games to understand topics more deeply. I’m eager to see what happens as all these new students venture out into the world with these skills.

Until next time

I’m nearly over my jet lag now. I hope you all enjoy the upcoming holiday season and get a chance to break something out on the table, whether it’s a meal to share with others, a new game, or an old favorite.

1. Fate of the Fellowship Update

2. Recent & Upcoming Releases

3. Upcoming Appearances

4. Our Trip to Middle-earth

5. Daybreak in Real Life

Fate of the Fellowship Hits #1!

I’ve been so encouraged by the game’s reception. Even people who are not fans of Pandemic have been enjoying the game and it’s been riding high on the Boardgamegeek bestseller and hotness lists for many days since its release.

Trivia Results

I’ve compiled the results from my Fate of the Fellowship Trivia Quiz. Many of you could pick out the islands of the Anduin but the vast majority of you were, let’s say overconfident when it came to the imaginary river deltas that I threw your way. Here are the results as of 1 September 2025. (Warning: spoilers, obviously.)

Recent & Upcoming Releases

The Four Doors is available direct from Happy Camper and will be at your fine local game store this fall. This is a cooperative game for 1–5 players where you race to collect four artifacts to banish the Shadow Veil which threatens to cover the land in darkness. The game plays in about 30 minutes, is quite portable, features nice touches like foil cards and a magnetic enclosure, and also has a pretty great solo mode.

Animal Rescue Team will be available at Spiel Essen this October (booth 5-F115) and for sale at your local game store in late 2025. This is a cooperative game for 1–4 players where you test your skills against the worst disasters that nature has to offer. Can you free a cat trapped in a collapsed building, rescue a goat from a rushing river, or save a pair of dogs caught behind a fire line? I designed this title with real life animal rescuer, Lisa Towell. Come for the thrills but stay because it features adorable wooden animals who sit neatly inside your vehicles as you rescue them.

Finally an updated on Flickering Stars. Unfortunately, due to tariffs and several other complications, this title has been delayed again, until 2026. I’ll share more news as I receive it from Friendly Skeleton.

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Upcoming Appearances

• Meet Your Maker with Matt Leacock – Fate of the Fellowship Demo
  18 September, 5:30 pm. Gamelandia, Palo Alto, CA.

• Fate of the Fellowship Q&A and Demo
  15 October, 6:30–9:00 pm. Next Level Board Game Café, Mountain View, CA.

• Spiel Essen, Essen Germany
  Signing Fate of the Fellowship and other games:
  24 October, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm. Asmodee (Booth 7 - C111)
  Demoing Animal Rescue Team and signing games:
  24 October, 11:00 am–12:30 pm. PlayToZ (Booth 5-F115)
  25 October, 2:00–3:30 pm. PlayToZ (Booth 5-F115)
  26 October 11:00 am–12:30 pm. PlayToZ (Booth 5-F115)

• DAU, Barcelona
  13–16 November. I’ll be a special guest.

Our Trip to Middle-earth

Donna and I traveled to New Zealand to celebrate our 25th Anniversary this summer. We zorbed, shweebed, gondola-ed, luged, kayaked, spelunked, Hägglund-ed, and rode several other crazy conveyances. There were mud baths, glow worms, ice bars, geysers, and more. Our friend Beth put together the amazing itinerary and did all the driving. Donna and I got to feel like two kids who could just jump into the back seat each morning to take on whatever the day would throw at us.

We also visited Hobbiton, WETA Workshop, and several of the filming locations for The Lord of the Rings movies. Throughout our journeys, we played The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick Taking Game and very nearly finished it, tragically losing last chapter in the airport right before boarding. We also found copies of The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship in the gift shop at Hobbiton. Our guide took great delight in embarrassing me as he repeatedly plugged it to the rest of our tour group.

Daybreak in Real Life

Meanwhile, back here in the US, it’s tough out there. I’ve found (like Frodo) taking actions is the best antidote to despair. And keeping informed, though it can be difficult and maddening these days, is an important component of that. On the climate side of things, I’ve found the following people and their newsletters both informative and inspiring:

Bill McKibben, The Crucial Years

Bill McKibben is an environmentalist, author, and journalist. He started 350.org and wrote The End of Nature, about climate change, way back in 1989. His newsletter is chock full of insights and information.

Emily Atkin, HEATED

Emily is an investigative reporter on the climate beat. She’s also rightly pissed off about the current situation and doing a lot of the necessary, hard reporting on it.

Saul Griffith, Energy & Stuff and The Shameless Plug podcast

You won’t find anyone more passionate about electrification than Saul Griffith. He brings both incredible energy and real world nuts-and-bolts, down-to-the-metal information about how to bring about change in the electrification space.

Each of these folks, in different ways also helped shape the Daybreak board game either directly or indirectly. I’d encourage you to check them out.

This new cooperative card game from Happy Camper was designed by me, Matt Riddle, and Ben Pinchback and will premier at Gen Con this summer.

In The Four Doors, you’re adventurers attempting collect the four relics needed to light a magical beacon. Lighting it will forever banish your foe, the Shadow Veil.

It’s a tight little package: the game consists of 60 cards and 6 pawns.

The cards in the game are used in numerous ways: you’ll collect and share them to recover the relics, discard them to illuminate shadows, or use them as spells. At the end of each turn, this same deck of cards adds shadows that threaten to close the four doors – cutting off your access to the relics. As the game progresses, the deck will get smaller and smaller, and each time you shuffle it, the threat increases, further escalating tension. You’ll need to cleverly use your special abilities and the game’s spells in order to light the beacon in time.

More images of the game are available on BoardGameGeek. Look for it in August!

Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship Design Diary

I’ve posted a full design diary for The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship on my blog. It covers the history of the game’s creation, including its origins, the trickier problems that cropped up, some abandoned concepts, and thoughts on staying true to the themes of the novel. I also included two time-lapse videos that show the evolution of the game’s board and its reference cards as they changed over many, many iterations.

You’ll also find some bonus materials, including a trivia quiz and a Middle Earth Tube Map, which was inspired by my recent trip to London.

UK Games Expo

I had an enjoyable stay in London and trip up to Birmingham for UK Games Expo to attend demo The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship for its pre-release there. The conference has grown tremendously in the ten years since my last visit.

The game sold out very quickly at the show. I’m told that Z-man currently expects it to be available “late summer.”

Daybreak Nominated for the Diana Jones Award

Yesterday, Daybreak was nominated for the Diana Jones Award along with Charlie Hall (a journalist and editor covering tabletop games) Rascal News (a website dedicated to tabletop games, founded by Lin Codega, Rowan Zeoli, and Chase Carter), and Rose Estes (a novelist and gamebook designer).

The award celebrates excellence in gaming and will be presented July 30th in Indianapolis, the night before Gen Con starts.

Remembering Pablo Suarez

Finally, I wanted to leave you with this tribute to the extraordinary Pablo Suarez who (among his countless achievements) happened also to be a major supporter and advisor of our work on Daybreak. Pablo passed away unexpectedly in July 2024. The piece is called 10% More Courageous and I found it both deeply touching and inspiring.

The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship is now on Board Game Arena

Z-man just released the game to Board Game Arena on Monday so you can now try it out for free. Due to licensing constraints, the game will only be available online for a limited time.

This can be a fun way to kick the tires since all the setup is done for you and it’s impossible to get the rules wrong. And speaking of rules, Z-man has made a PDF of the rules available for those who’d like an advanced look.

Note that the BGA version will only feature the intro and standard difficulty levels, and only 10 of the 13 characters and 4 of the 24 objective cards that ship with the tabletop version.

US Availability Update

Z-man recently posted an update about availability of the game in the United States. Suffice to say with the “ever-changing landscape of international trade in this region,” there’s a degree of uncertainty with the US launch date. To the best of my knowledge, release dates for all the other territories are unaffected. I’ll share more info as I have it.

These tariffs have been extremely disruptive—and destructive—to the tabletop games industry and many other small businesses. ABC News did a good spot on this, interviewing Price Johnson, COO of Cephalofair. If you’re in the US and have the energy, I encourage you to help speak out against this madness.

Nerd of the Rings Livestream

I’ll be playing Fate of the Fellowship with The Nerd of the Rings and the game’s developer Kevin Ellenburg this Friday, 16 May at 12pm EDT // 9:00 am PDT. We’ll chat about the the development of the game as we guide Frodo to Mount Doom (and try not to succumb to despair). You can catch the livestream here:

UK Games Expo Info

If you’re lucky enough to be going to the Expo, I’ll be helping to demo the game in Booth 3A-202 and I’ll be signing games there on Saturday from 10–11:30am. Stop by and say hi!

Coming Soon

Finally, I’ve nearly finished the design diary for Fate of the Fellowship. Expect that in my next update, along with more information on my other upcoming games for 2025 including Animal Rescue Team, Flickering Stars, and more.

Hey all. I’ve been heads down over the last couple of months, working on some future (unannounced) projects. While I’m busy with all of those goodies, here’s a quick April update with a preview of what to expect in 2025.

In this update…

1. Upcoming Releases

2. Upcoming Appearances

3. Recent Awards

4. Daybreak in Real Life

Upcoming Releases for 2025

The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship

The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship™ is a cooperative game for 1-5 players where each player controls 2 characters, lending their unique abilities to protect Frodo, battle enemies in pivotal locations, and evade the menacing Nazgûl and Sauron’s searching Eye.

Three years in the making, this new Pandemic System game will premiere at UK Games Expo, May 30–June 1st and I’ll be on hand to sign copies! The game will be available at your fine local game store in June or you can preorder it on the Z-man website.

I’m working on the design diary now. If there’s something you’d like me to cover, leave a comment for this update and I’ll try to include it.

The introductory scenario of the game will also be available to try out on BoardGameArena soon. We’re expecting this to launch in late April.

Animal Rescue Team

Calling all animal rescuers! When disaster strikes, animals will need your help to escape from floods, fires, and earthquakes in this new cooperative game that I designed with Lisa Towell, a real life animal rescuer. If you like cooperative games, logistical puzzles, and animals (and being able to drive animals around in toylike vehicles!) then you’ve got to check this one out.

This is the first title in the Shut Up & Sit Down Presents line. They’re aiming to spotlight the very best modern board games. And an update: Play to Z will not be crowdfunding this one; they’ll be bringing it directly to retail. Expect to find it at your friendly local game store this fall.

Flickering Stars

Transform your tabletop into a galaxy at your fingertips in Flickering Stars! This is a new punchy, toyetic, and thinky dexterity game that I designed with Josh Cappel.

We still don’t have a set street date for this one, but I’m expecting it to release later this year. Friendly Skeleton has done a stellar job on the product design and I’m looking forward to sharing more as soon as I can.

2025 Appearances

My conference schedule will be a bit lighter than usual this year. I’m currently planning on attending:

• The Gathering of Friends, Niagara Falls, New York, April 21–27

• UK Games Expo, Birmingham, United Kingdom, May 30–June 1. I’ll be signing games Saturday, May 31 from 10am–11:30am and will be on the show floor, playing The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship each day. Feel free to drop by, check it out, and say hello.

• Essen Spiel, Essen, Germany, October 23–26

• Likely: DAU, Barcelona, Spain, dates TBA

Recent Awards

Since the my last update, some pretty amazing awards have rolled in:

• Pandemic was listed in The BoardGameGeek Hall of Fame. It honors 25 games that have made meaningful contributions to the board game hobby in the areas of innovation, artistry, and impact.

• Daybreak received the Lizzie Magie Award for 2025. The award seeks to highlight the cultural contributions of board games to society.

• Daybreak was also nominated for the As d'Or-Jeu de l'Année (Ace of Gold) for expert game of the year, 2025 at Cannes. It rewards the best board games of the French market published in the last 15 months.

Daybreak in Real Life

The past three months have been a lot. If you want to reflect some of this in your kit, try adding this crisis card to your set. It loosely models what’s going on in the United States as it pulls out of international agreements and institutions and defunds government funding for climate science and other social programs.

On this same topic, I’d like to encourage everyone who can to actively protest the policies that are halting, deleting, and silencing research into climate change and the federal spending cuts gutting critical programs in climate, healthcare, education, and the sciences. It’s reckless, cruel, and illegal.

If you’re able to, stand up and be heard—while you still can.

There’s a big Day of Action on April 5th and Donna and I will also be hosting a boardgaming event to raise funds for Sister District’s State Bridges Program that day. If you’re in the SF Bay Area and would like to find out more, simply reply to this message.

I’m excited to announce that the newest game in the Pandemic System line is coming this June!

The Lord of the Rings™: Fate of the Fellowship will feature thematically rich cooperative gameplay. Players take on the role of heroes to defend the havens of Middle-earth from advancing shadow troops while helping Frodo evade the hunting Nazgûl as he travels to Mount Doom to destroy The One Ring.

Three years in the making, the game will include 13 playable characters, 14 event cards, and 24 objectives, providing an enormous variety of play experiences. The game will also come with an 11-inch constructible Barad-dûr Dice Tower, Nazgûl miniatures, original artwork of iconic characters, and more.

This feels like things coming full circle for me. I started my cooperative games journey after playing Reiner Knizia’s The Lord of the Rings game in 2000 and that game was a major influence on the design of Pandemic. Now, 25 years later, I’m honored to be able to offer my own take on Tolkien’s masterpiece of fantasy literature.

UK Games Expo attendees will have the first opportunity to pick up the game as early as May 30th and I’ll be at the show to sign copies.

I’ll be sharing more over the coming months as well as pulling together a design diary. I can’t wait to tell you more about it!

Daybreak Wins the 2024 Spiel of Approval Award

I was honored to learn that Daybreak was the recipient of the Spiel of Approval Award for 2024. The Spiel writes, “This year of all years, Daybreak is such a worthy recipient of our meeple crown for the way it pairs complex strategy and communication with a sense of relentless optimism.”

The organization behind the award also runs the remarkable Spiel Foundation which has delivered thousands of bundles of games to millions of recipients, including those in hospitals, senior and community centers, boys and girls clubs, domestic violence and homeless shelter, halfway houses, libraries, schools, and prisons.

Coverage on NPR’s Here and Now

Running up to the holiday, James Mastromarino talked about some of his favorite games from the past year and Daybreak got some good coverage (around the 26:50 mark). They also covered Wilmot’s Warehouse in the segment. That game (also from CMYK!) is like building a memory palace cooperatively and feels like a magic trick. Each time I play, I’m amazed at what storytelling brains can accomplish together.

Daybreak in Real Life

The devastating fires in Los Angeles are fueled in large part by climate change. I’d encourage folks to help by donating to a relief organization if they can. Global Citizen has a list of organizations you can support—as well as information on better understanding how wildfires and climate change are linked.

And I’ll leave you with this photo of Donna and me from yesterday in New Orleans! The city largely shut down yesterday as it saw 10” of snow—tying the record set 130 years ago. Climate change is mostly heating up the planet, but it’s also weirding our winters. Looks like my winter beard came in just in time.

1. Animal Rescue Team!

2. Recent Appearances

3. Winning Daybreak in Real Life

Animal Rescue Team – Coming in 2025

Play to Z Games and Shut Up & Sit Down have just announced two new games for next year, one of which is Animal Rescue Team – a new cooperative game that I designed with friend and real life animal rescuer, Lisa Towell.

They write, “You and your friends will puzzle out the perfect rescues of creatures big and small. One game might have you arriving just in time to save a coop of distressed chickens, and another may have you fruitlessly trying to rescue a cow with a motorcycle, or cursing yourselves for ‘unfortunate horse logistics’.”

I can confirm that this is true – you can’t rescue a cow with (only) a motorcycle in this game. (This is one of those “insider bits” you can share with your friends because you’re a faithful subscriber to this newsletter.)

I’ll add that if you’re into cooperative games, like logistics puzzles, and love animals, then you should definitely give this one a look. The game will be crowdfunded in early 2025, and should find its way to your local game shop by October 2025.

Here’s a draft cover for the game (which is a work in progress):

Watch this space for more information on the game!

More in 2025

I’m still waiting on street dates for Flickering Stars and The Problem with Purrballs. I promise to share those with you all as soon as I know.

Recent Appearances

Con season has come to a close. I had a great time at BoardGameGeek in Dallas, Essen Spiel in Germany, Festival Internacional de Juegos in Cordoba, and locally at Game Market West. If you’re an indy game maker you should check that one out.

These conventions are super energizing for me. I’ll spare you the photos of the large crowds. Spiel in particular boasted 204,000 people this year! Perhaps one of them gave me Covid (the only hiccup in our travels) but even that was mercifully mild. While recovering, Donna and I played Alhambra in our hotel room after visiting Alhambra.

I also attended the Verge Conference in San Jose where I got to speak on a panel with Guido Teuber, Jane McGonigal, Rob Davis, and Nathan Cummins about the intersection of climate communications and board games. Guido and the team from Catan Studios taught attendees how to play Catan: New Energies, while I taught them how to play Daybreak. I also got to meet one of my climate heroes, Saul Griffith who inspired me when researching that game.

I also got a chance to teach Daybreak to a room full of people at the 9Zero Climate Innovation Hub in San Francisco. Thanks to Pooja Paul for the invitation!

Winning Daybreak in Real Life

When Matteo and I designed Daybreak, we wanted the game to focus on collective action because we both understood it to be the most effective way to stop climate change. But there are important actions we can all do individually that add up and make a difference. (Hint: it’s not recycling plastic.)

This month I wanted to call out advice from Saul Griffith of Electrify America. His basic take is that when it’s time to replace something—a car, an HVAC system, a stove, and so on—we can’t afford to replace it with a version that’s burning stuff since that will lock in years of additional emissions. We need go electric instead.

Recently we made the jump and replaced Donna’s venerable Honda Accord with an EV and picked up an inexpensive, portable induction cooktop to try out. This year, we’re investigating heat pump water heaters. One thing we’ve learned is that these don’t need to be sacrifices! We love our EV and cooktop.

So all that in mind, I’d invite you to check out Rewiring America the next time you have something to upgrade or replace. It’ll help you put together an electrification plan, find contractors in your area, as well as tax incentives and rebates.

Ziggurat is now rolling out to a fine local game store near you!

In This Update:

1. Gen Con Report

2. Upcoming Appearances

3. 10-year Anniversary Game Results

4. Getting Crafty

Gen Con Report

Ziggurat Premieres!

Mindware threw a big pancake breakfast at Gen Con for the premier of Ziggurat. Rob Daviau and I taught the game to a ballroom filled with heroes, bellies full, all attempting to scale the ziggurat and learn its secrets. Corey Godbey, who did the fabulous artwork for the game, was also on hand to sign copies.

By the time you’re reading this, Ziggurat should be available at your friendly local game store or you can order it directly from Mindware.

Flickering Stars Previews

Friendly Skeleton held all-day demonstrations of Flickering Stars at Gen Con in an amazing, fully decked-out demo room and took pre-orders. (Note: If you pre-order the game, they’ll throw in a free playmat.)

I don’t have a street date for the game yet, but it’ll likely be in early 2025. While you’re waiting, please enjoy this 4-second video clip from a playtest session from 2019:

I’m planning on putting together a design diary that charts the eight ( ! ) years Josh Cappel and I spent developing this game. I’ll try to give all you faithful newsletter subscribers an advanced look.

Pandemic Survival Returns

I was also happy to preside over a Pandemic Survival Charity Tournament benefitting Doctors Without Borders at Gen Con. We had a great turnout with nearly two dozen teams competing. The Pandemic Survival World Championships haven’t yet returned, but I hope to see them in the coming years.

Upcoming Appearances

• Daybreak at the 9Zero Climate Innovation Hub; San Francisco, California; Tonight! (September 18).

• Signing Ziggurat at Gamelandia; Palo Alto, California; September 22.

• Essen Spiel; Essen, Germany; October 3–6.

  • Schmidt-Spiele (3F410), signing Daybreak, 2–3pm on Saturday

  • Spiel.talks: Sustainability, Saal Ruhr, Congress Center East, October 4

• Festival Internacional de Juegos (guest of honor); Córdoba, Spain; October 11–13.

• Game Market West; Fremont, California; October 19.

• BoardGameGeek.con (guest of honor); Dallas Texas; November 13–17.

10 Year Anniversary Trivia Game Results

Looks like I made the trivia game a little too hard—the best score was 8 out of 10. You can still give it a go if you missed it the first time around. (But skip the next bit if you do: spoilers!)

Most Missed Question

For a many years, every game I designed had a skull depicted in it somewhere—even the party game, Knit Wit. (Jean-François Gagne hid one on the side of the box without me even knowing at the time.) I wonder if he was the person who got this one correct…

Not Fooled By Owlbears

In contrast, a clear majority of you are pretty sure I haven’t put an Owlbear in a game yet. (Although, interestingly Donna very nearly got this one wrong.)

Getting Crafty

Finally, I powered up the laser cutter this month and made two sets of wine charms to auction off in support of Michigan House of Representatives candidate, Shadia Martini and Arizona House of Representatives candidate, Karen Gresham. States matter! Find out more about how you can help.

Daybreak takes home the Kennerspiel des Jahres!

Daybreak (known as e-Mission in Germany) was awarded the Kennerspiel des Jahres, or “Connoisseur’s” prize in Berlin on July 21. You can still catch an English version of the ceremony. Thanks to CMYK, Schmidt Spiele, and all of our wonderful playtesters and advisors for helping make this game a reality.

In This Update:

1. Awards

2. 10th Anniversary of Matt Leacock Games

3. Upcoming Games

4. Upcoming Appearances

5. Recent Appearances

6. Uganda Village Boardgame Convention & Science Camp

Awards

On June 22, before the Berlin trip, I was inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design Hall of Fame at Origins in Columbus, Ohio. I was incredibly honored to join the ranks of many of my heroes including Sid Sackson, Gary Gygax, Klaus Teuber, Reiner Knizia, Alan Moon, among others.

Finally, Daybreak took home the award for The Best Board or Tabletop Game for Impact at the 2024 Games for Change Festival. This was the first year this twenty-year old organization awarded a prize for a tabletop game.

10th Anniversary of Matt Leacock Games

On July 4, 2014, I left my job at a Silicon Valley startup to pursue a career as a full time game designer. I’ve never looked back. In celebration of this milestone, I offer you the Matt Leacock Games 10th Anniversary Trivia Game. If you score a 10 (first try only!) let me know; I’ll have a prize for you.

Thanks to all the co-designers, collaborators, developers, graphic designers, producers, creative directors, product designers, illustrators, sculptors, marketers, and the many playtesters who have helped me on this journey.

Upcoming Games

Flickering Stars will preview at Gen Con. You’ll be able to demo and preorder the game there from 9am – 10pm in ICC Room 136.

Ziggurat will premiere at Gen Con! Be sure to drop by Mindware in Booth 2304 to check it out. You can also sign up for an event to learn the game or play the campaign.

The Problem with Purrballs – still coming! More info to come.

Upcoming Appearances

Gen Con

Signing Games in the Flickering Stars Demo Room
with Friendly Skeleton, ICC Room 136
Fri 2–4, Sat 2–4
Signing Ticket to Ride Legacy and Other Games
with Days of Wonder, Booth 817
Thu 2–2:30, Fri 4–4:30, Sat 4–4:30, Sun 11–11:30
Signing Ziggurat and Other Games
with Mindware, Booth 2304
Fri 10–11
Presiding Over the Pandemic Survival Charity Tournament
with Asmodee in ICE Hall E
Fri 7–9 – Sign up or come watch!

Essen Spiel

I’ll be there! (Detailed schedule to come.)

Recent Appearances

The World Bank

Matteo and I had the opportunity to do a panel Q&A session and to teach Daybreak to members of the World Bank on July 1st. We had 80 remote World Bank attendees and I was able to teach and run the game for over a dozen people in person.

The World Bank has experts in all of the areas covered by the game including decarbonization across the economy, building adaptation and resilience, and other policies; it was great to hear their questions and run them through the game.

Crowdfunding Now: The Uganda Village Boardgame Convention & Science Camp

This is the sixth year for this remarkable, youth-organized convention. A team of 80 youth and teachers will run the event and it will host 400 children from ages 11–20 from the surrounding rural areas of Uganda.

They could use some help raising funds for some basic needs: chairs, tables, water, and so on—your contributions really go far toward providing excellent opportunities for these kids to experience these games that build teamwork, confidence, as well as reading, math, science and social skills.

I’ll match up to £1,000 of the donations made from this newsletter – add “LL” to the comment made with your donation. We’ll also be raffling off a copy of Daybreak, signed by both Matteo and me, for one of the donors to the crowdfunder. Check it out!

Daybreak and Ticket to Ride Legacy Nominated for the Kennerspiel des Jahres!

I woke Donna early yesterday morning when I gasped out loud: both Daybreak and Ticket to Ride: Legacy had made the shortlist for the Kennerspiel prize, the big award in Germany for the best hobby game of the year. I’ll be headed to Berlin in July for the announcement of the winner! I couldn’t be more excited.

Welcome to The First Issue of Leacock’s Lab!

I’ll be sharing information about my upcoming games, future appearances, and some behind the scenes bits on design or a crafty thing or two here. Expect about six updates per year if you subscribe. Here’s that button:

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In This Update:

1. Daybreak a Finalist for the Games for Change Award

2. Upcoming Games & Events

3. Recent Appearances & Releases

4. Getting Crafty

Daybreak a Finalist for the Games for Change Award

Daybreak was also one of three finalists for the Best Board or Tabletop Game for Impact Award. The winner will be announced at the Games for Change Festival in New York on June 27–28. The festival invites game makers, educators, members of non-profits and researchers to collaborate and learn from each other through three days of panels and keynote speeches, all centered around the empathetic, educational and empowering games helping social causes.

Upcoming Games

Ziggurat

Premiering at Gen Con in August, Ziggurat is a cooperative legacy adventure game. Players take on the roles of heroes investigating an ancient ziggurat where a dragon was once rumored to dwell. And now, something is stirring within…

I designed this with Rob Daviau and we had a ton of fun with it. It features a 3D board, an innovative storybook, and lots of surprises. It’s a great introduction to both cooperative games and legacy games for kids and families.

Flickering Stars

Flickering Stars is a new strategy and action game where you flick spaceships across the table, shoot disruption missiles and plasma balls, mine asteroids, and explore unknown planets to complete objectives.

I started working on this game nearly eight years ago with talented co-designer, Josh Cappel and it’s only gotten better with age and development. Josh and I first teamed up on Pandemic seventeen years ago; he did the graphic design of the first edition.

I don't have a firm release date for retail yet, but Friendly Skeleton will be showcasing the game at Gen Con and I’m excited that I’ll get a chance to demo it.

This is my kids’ favorite game and I can’t wait to share more about this one with you all. In the meantime, here are some shots of some prototypes.

The Problem with Purrballs

This is an upcoming cooperative title that I co-designed with Tom Lehmann (release date TBD). We’ve only shared the title so far; I’ll share more as soon as I can. Until then, you’ll just have to speculate about what a purrball is and why they’re such a problem.

More to Come…

Next year may bring as many as four new titles. Watch this space!

Upcoming Events

• June 20: Origins. I’ll be there on Friday as a special guest.

• July 1: The World Bank. Matteo Menapace and I will be doing a Q&A session about Daybreak then teaching the game to attendees.

• July 20: Berlin Brettspiel Con, Germany.

• August 1–4: Gen Con, Indianapolis, Indiana.

• October 3–6: Essen Spiel, Germany.

• More to come in October…

Recent Appearances

KublaCon – Special Guest

In May, I was a special guest at KublaCon in Burlingame, California. The Protospiel room was incredibly lively with people testing new prototypes. And I was happy to call out infections for an exhibition-only Pandemic Survival tournament—the first one I’ve been at since 2019! I’m still hoping we can spin this program up again.

MEGA XP – Special Guest

Donna and I had a blast at Mega XP—Latin America’s biggest convention—in Mexico City on June 1–2. Highlights included visiting Museo Nacional de Antropología, walking around Coyoacán, and attending la Lucha libre. Excellent tacos were also consumed. Our hosts and the players we met there were incredibly warm and welcoming.

Daybreak at the Exploratorium

In early June, I drove up to meet with the crew of the Exploratorium in San Francisco to present Daybreak and do a Q&A session about its development process. Afterwards I got to nerd out with one of the design teams working on some exhibits about climate change. I love seeing the backstage of museums and the Exploratorium’s maker spaces are incredible.

Recent Releases

• Daybreak is currently available in English and German with more localized versions due this year.

• Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West is now back in stock!

• Forbidden Jungle is available in English, with more languages coming soon.

Getting Crafty

Just for fun, I thought I might end these newsletters with a craft project. My latest obsession has been creating laser cut succulent planters with architectural elements. Here’s my favorite one so far.

I expect to send these out about every other month and promise not to fill up your inbox with useless junk. If that sounds good, now’s a great time to subscribe!

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