Leacock’s Lab: Giant Pandemics and More

Plus: Updates on Forbidden Legacy and Flickering Stars, Remembering Ken Tidwell

Two students stand in for yellow disease cubes in Gulu, Uganda

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

Considerably bigger than my first apartment.

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.

The oversized Pandemic board, made by Daniel Ducu, a student!

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.

1. A study published in The Lancet journal in February found that previous global aid cuts could lead to at least 9.4 million additional deaths by 2030, if the current trend of funding reductions continues. (Source: CNN, The Lancet)

2. According to Ken, the first version of The Game Cabinet was one of the first 1000 websites on the internet. It bounced from server to server before he eventually secured the domain and a more permanent hosting service in 1994.