Welcome to Launceston Games!

In this site you will find information about a whole new range of boardgames. Actually they are not just boardgames, but also card games, dice games, tile-based games and many other games that are played on a table -and as you will see, that is probably the only thing they have got in common!

Check out the links above (on the top right corner of the page) to read more details about our games, where to find us or how to  contact us. And if you want to be updated on our next activities, the pictures and the latest news, don’t forget to follow us on Facebook!!

UK Games Expo 2013 :)

Hey! We’re finally back from our holidays and we brought lots of energy back to carry on with our boardgame sessions! Don’t forget- the next one is this Thursday!

We spent an awesome weekend at UK Games Expo in Birmingham, the greatest boardgame convention in the UK -although it is not only about boardgames, but also miniature games, rol playing games and other kind of games.

The greatest thing about UK Games Expo is to see so many people sharing our hobbie and playing boardgames at the same time.  Just imagine one of our sessions in which everybody goes there to play and try new games and meet people… but with thousands of people, and stands and demos!  Everybody is there to play -and also, but not necessarily, to buy some games- and definitely everybody is there to have a good time.

The event was hold in a huge hotel close to the airport. There were two big rooms with the traders – a lot of very small stands and a lot of rather big ones too.  We met a bunch of interesting people:

– Cornish Smugglers: These guys are looking for people to back their project about a new boardgame based in Cornwall called “Cornish Smugglers”. Check it out (and back this project)!

– Imagination gaming: is a company who is specialised in using modern board and card games to engage and educate both children and adults in a fun and entertaining environment. A really beautiful idea!

– Cycling party: a board game with digital support made by Spaniards where you can be the manager of your own cycling team!

And much more!! We really had a great time and are already looking forward to the next one next year!!

We leave you with some pictures so you can have a better idea!

                       

Spiel des Jahres, the Oscars of boardgames.

Today we want to talk about the “Spiel des Jahres” , translated from German as “The game of the year”.

This is the greatest award for board and card games. It is sort of the Oscar for movies or the Grammy for songs. If a game wins the Spiel des Jahres (SdJ), it is almost guaranteed that the game will be fun to play, with plenty of strategy to interest adults and rules simple enough for children 10 and older.

The nominees of 2013 have been announced today, and are: Hanabi, Augustus and Qwixx. We’ll bring Hanabi tomorrow to our session at The White Horse Inn at 6:30, so don’t miss out the chance to play it! 

 The SdJ was created 1978 and  is awarded every year since then. The aim of this award is to promote the cultural value of games, to encourage family and friends to play together and to help selecting the best games from a wide range of products on offer. However it doesn’t mean that it is the “best” game produced that year. The target group of this award is a very varied group where hobby gamers and games specialists are only a very small part. So what could be an excellent game for the expert players, could easily overwhelm the average consumer, keeping him from playing and somehow do damage to the idea of playing games.

Since 1989 there is also a “Kinderspiel des Jahres” (Children’s game of the Year) and since 2011, the “Kennerspiel des Jahres” for more complex games. Besides, similar awards are given in many other countries like Spain, France..  or the  UK Games Expo Awards  in United Kingdom! We’ll be there this weekend, so we’ll tell you all about it when we come back!

Shooting at Jericho’s last Thursday!!

Howdy partners!

Once again, we met last Thursday to play some games at Jericho’s. We kicked off the afternoon with a fun card game called Formissimo and we had really fun playing this game -despite the occasional cheating! As we got too excited, after a couple of rounds we decided to change to a quieter but not less fun new game called “Bang!”

Bang! is a western-based card game in which each player has a secret role. As the back of this game box says: “The Outlaws hunt the Sheriff. The Sheriff hunts the Outlaws. The Renegade plots secretly, ready to take one side or the other. Bullets fly. Who among the gunmen is a Deputy, ready to sacrifice himself for the Sheriff? And who is a merciless Outlaw, willing to kill him? If you want to find out, just draw (your cards)!”  . If you want to know more, we’ll publish a short review of the game in the website shortly. So don’t miss it out to become the best gunman next Wednesday at The White horse Inn!!

And now, a short review of the game in pictures! :

Starring: “Ross Doolan” as The Deputy, “Jesse John”, Cherry Ramirez, “Marina Laffayete” as The Outlaws. “Belinda The Renegade” as herself and “Calamity Vero” as The Sheriff!

2nd session @ WhiteHorse Inn!!

We really enjoyed another session of boardgames and good company on our last meeting!

To start with, Ross and John played a new game called “Shangaien“, a card game in which players try to claim the stronger crews in their respective nationalities. They take turns rolling dice and assigning them to the sailors. There’s quite a lot of chance but also some strategy in this game, which can be played in only 15 minutes!.

Cherry joined us a bit later and we all played a game of  “Oregon“, a proper modern boardgame (or eurogame) which they’re starting to master after the last session. 🙂

Finally we played “Take 6” (by Wolfgang Kramer) a fun and unpredictable card game in which you want to score as few points as possible.

We hope you enjoyed the session and join us next Thursday at Jericho’s Brasserie!!

Take 6

Shanghaien

Oregon

May the 4th be with you…

We couldn’t resist the chance to use this picture today to commemorate the Star Wars day.

I bet some of you may already know how Luke’s shadow is related to modern boardgames. However, we are going to take the chance to explain it, as you are going to see that shape quite often if you like this kind of games!

That man-shaped form in the shadow is called Meeple. It is believed that its origin comes from the wooden pawns used in a very popular modern boardgame called Carcassone* which, as you can see here, have the same shape. Apparently, the term was first used by Alison Hansel as an abbreviation for “my people”.

Nowadays it is more broadly used to refer to nearly any pawn or figure in a game which resembles to a person. And more importantly, it has become a symbol to identify what we call “modern boardgames”, “Eurogames” or “German-style boardgames” (as the great majority of them is made in Germany).

Well, this has been our boardgame lesson for this week!  Now you are a bit closer to become a boardgame expert!

*Carcassone is a German game designed in 2000 that has become one of the most popular gateway games due to its ease of play, and its fun concept.