Flickering Stars Update
Coming at you in 2027!
We have a new publisher for Flickering Stars! Josh Cappel and I are happy to announce that PIKA has picked up the game and Vincent Dutrait will be illustrating it. (You can already see some of his work above.) PIKA writes:
More than a decade in the making, Flickering Stars elevates the classic flicking experience with streamlined gameplay, meaningful decisions, and beautiful wooden components. The perfect blend of skill, strategy, and pure tabletop fun.
PIKA will be bringing the game to Kickstarter this fall and they’re expecting to release it in 2027.
Interested? One of the best ways to support the game is to sign up to be notified when the game goes live on Kickstarter.
More News
Ask Me Anything
I’m going to try out Substack’s chat feature to do an AMA at 1:00 PM EDT / 10:00 AM PDT today. That’s about 30 minutes after I sent this email if all goes to plan! Pop in and ask me a question if you have one.
PNW Climate Week Appearance Tonight
Ruth Meza (who did sustainability consulting on Daybreak) and I will be talking about the art, science, and sustainability behind the making of Daybreak.
I’ll be joined by co-hosts, game designer Korby Sears (Cranium, Forrest-Pruzan Creative, FUNKO Games, Tempest Workshop) and Climate Journalist Syris Valentine (JustProgress, Grist, Scientific American, YES! Magazine).
The event is from 6:00–7:00 PM PDT (9:00–10:00 PM EDT) and will be free over YouTube. You can still register and attend.
Forbidden Legacy – Premiering at Gen Con!
You and your fellow adventurers have landed on an empty crumbling city floating high above the Earth. You must repair the portal, travel in time, all the while keeping the city afloat.
Will you survive long enough to uncover the secrets of the ancient city?
Forbidden Legacy will be on sale at Gen Con as soon as the exhibitor hall opens on July 30 at the Gamewright booth (#1807).
My Gen Con Schedule
Speaking of Gen Con, I’ll be at the following events. Stop by and say hi!
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 #1109) – 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. No signup or ticket is required to attend.
Life Imitating Art
After Covid hit, I often got asked “how did you know?” a lot. The answer of course, is that I didn’t. Pandemics were still largely science fiction to me when I started developing Pandemic. Despite not having any foreknowledge, I couldn’t help but notice some uncanny coincidences over the years. Here are a few that stood out to me:
Coronavirus (Covid) has a name that is eerily similar to the name that Rob Daviau and I picked out for our disease in Pandemic Legacy (Coda).
The timelines for Covid and Coda are incredibly similar.
The start:
WHO announced a mysterious Coronavirus-Related Pneumonia in Wuhan, China on January 9th.1
Pandemic Legacy starts at the beginning of January.
The beginning of the end:
Vaccines arrived in our world in December (Pfizer: December 11, 2020 and Moderna: December 21, 2020).
Pandemic Legacy wraps in December after vaccines are manufactured and delivered.
And as for disease origins…
The Economist reported last month that the earliest evidence of plague that has been discovered to date was found near Lake Baikal.
Warning: spoiler Lake Baikal was where Coda was originally bio-engineered. 2
Congrats Betsy and Chuck!
A special shout out to Betsy and Chuck who wrote to tell me that they have played Pandemic Legacy 50 times. That’s 50 Pandemic Legacy campaigns. I figure that must be somewhere between 700–800 games. I’m certain they must know the game much better than Rob and myself by now and I daresay they must be better at it than us.
Uganda Village Boardgame Convention Crowdfunder Status
They’re close! As of this writing, the Uganda Village Boardgame Convention has raised about 75% of what they need to hold their event. If you can manage it, please consider tossing them a few bucks. Your donation goes incredibly far toward providing some rural kids a transformative experience.
A Timeline of COVID-19 Developments in 2020. The American Journal of Managed Care,
1 January 2021.
Ancient DNA is rewriting the history of plague. The Economist, 17 June 2026. (Gift link)