Leacock’s Lab: June 2024 Update
It's been lively at the lab.
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:
In This Update:
Daybreak a Finalist for the Games for Change Award
Upcoming Games & Events
Recent Appearances & Releases
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.
Oooh. I want a planter box like that! ;-) Huge Congrats for making the short list for those awards in Germany. Such a huge accomplishment.
Congratulations on your nominations and thanks for sharing what you're working on!