Bouquet Drawing

Watch this video on the Quick Magic Gardens FB page for details on how to win the Pikachu bouquet and gift basket on display in the store.  Drawing will take place at 7 p.m. on Jan 23 .

Catan 6th Edition

 A new edition of Catan releases later this year. From the press release, there is no fundamental change to gameplay but has new art and redesigned components and rulebook.

Catan Hawai'i

 Catan Hawai'i arrived today. New scenario for Catan. Requires both the main game and Seafarers of Catan in order to play. Features a much smaller landmass to develop but fishing becomes a very important component of the game

Sold one already so expect to see it show up at a Gaming with Gary session in the near future.

RIP Klaus Teuber

 On a sad note, Klaus Teuber, the creator of Setters of Catan, later Catan, passed away this past week after a short illness (See “RIP Klaus Teuber”). Settlers of Catan was the first of the Eurogames, which relied more on strategic play and less on chance, to sell successfully in the US.  NPR ran an obituary for Teuber this week, replaying part of his 2020 interview with Rob Schmitz. Catan had its roots in the pretend battles Teuber waged as a child with toy solders over fields, woods, and mountains. However, Catan grew out of his boredom with his job as a dental technician. Spending his free time in his basement developing games, his first games won three Spiel des Jahres awards but sales tapered off quickly. Inspired by stories of the Vikings and what they would need as they explored and colonized, he developed the Settlers of Catan, originally a much more sprawling game than the single island in the core set (the other pieces were eventually added as expansions such as Seafarers of Catan and Cities and Knights). Core tenets of the game were that no-one could ever be eliminated from play and players could take actions on every one’s turn, ensuring no one spend time just sitting there. The game worked, and has sold over 30 million copies since its introduction in 1995. 

I remember stocking the game back in 1995, wondering if boardgames would fit into our product mix of RPGs and miniatures since our customers at the time showed no interest in boardgames. It did and we have sold Catan for over 25 years. Thank you, Mr. Teuber for all the fun and sales over the years and yes, I

Catan

 NPR ran a story on the history of the Catan boardgame, sales of which have shot up by 144% this year since the quarantine started.

A Glut of Games

By my estimate, there are some 70-100 new board and card and miniature and role-playing games released every month, meaning some 900 to 1200 new games to compete with the 1000s already on the market. How does a retailer, unless they have unlimited shelf space like Amazon, stock all of them and how does a manufacturer with a new game break through the clutter?  Given that, based on past performance, less than 100 of those games will still be around 5 years from now. it is unlikely that many will. The ones that do will do so by getting people to talk about them, either through secondary brand association through play or creation by a "celebrity"--Exploding Kittens and any of the games featured on Wil Wheaton's TableTop series come to mind- or bypublic awareness through both the  mass media and individual communications. Cards Against Humanity and Catan come to mind as examples of the latter.

Asmodee Acquiring F2Z Entertainment

ICV2 announced today that Asmodee NA will acquire F2Z Entertainment which consists of the gaming studios Z-Man Games, Plaid Hat Games, and Filosofia, which in turn publish the games Pandemic and Dead of Winter, among others. What does this mean to you, the game player? Not much really. However, in the overall gaming industry, it means that every major board game publisher, with the exceptions of WOTC and Iello, is now owned by Asmodee NA. Consider that Asmodee now owns Days of Wonder, which publishes Ticket to Ride and Small World, Fantasy Flight Games, Spot It and Catan Studios, not to mention the games it produces under its own brand.

There are still lots of small game studios out there but this consolidation is typical of a maturing industry. As companies get large, they are unable to grow their sales significantly by selling more product and they find it easier to do so by acquiring other companies, as happened here.

More Thoughts on Catan

Scott's weekly column on ICV2, this week looking further at the creation of Catan Studios

Mayfair Loses Catan

The Catan line of games, which has been licensed and produced by Mayfair Games since time immoral here in the states, or at least since the early 1990s, will move to the newly formed Catan Studios, part of Asmodee NA. What does this mean?

For customers, probably very little, though you might see more discounting of Catan products in the future.  Mayfar Games has a pretty strong MAP program and enforced it pretty consistently, meaning you wouldn't find Catan discounted often below Mayfair's 20% allowed MAP.  The games published by the companies making up Asmodee NA, Days of Wonder, Asmodee and Fantasy Flight, were much less concerned about the discounting of their products to the ultimate consumer. There is no indication yet as to whether this situation will continue under the newly formed Asmodee NA. Customers may see much deeper discount prices on Catan or a tightening up on discounting across all of the lines.

For retailers, it means easier access to the Catan line. For a number of years, Alliance Distribution had an exclusive agreement with Mayfair Games, meaning if a store wanted to carry Catan, it had to have an account with Alliance Distribution.  Now, companies wanting to carry Catan will be able to purchase it from one of 5 distributors, meaning if one has run out of stock, a store can turn to another.

For the five distributors carrying the Asmodee NA lines, it is also good news as Catan is still a very strong game brand. It was out second best selling line in terms of number sold, only bested by Cards Against Humanity. Distributors having access to Catan, as well as the other Asmodee NA games, should see an increase in their bottom lines.

Top 5 Games for Christmas

Based on our sales for 2015, these are 5 most popular games, in terms of numbers sold, for 2015. The list includes both board and card game, but no collectible ones:

1.  Cards Against Humanity--Cards Against Humanity LLC  "A Party Game for Horrible People"

2. Catan (and expansions)--Mayfair Games  The game of exploring and developing the land of Catan.

3.  Munchkin (and expansions)--Steve Jackson Games  "Kick down the door, kill the monster, steal its treasure."
4..Ticket to Ride--Days of Wonder  Collect the cards to build the tracks you need to win.

5.  The Resistance--Indie Boards and Cards  Uncover the spies among you before they sabotage your mission.

New for Catan

December 1^st Street Date

MFG3116

Catan Scenarios: Oil Springs

$5.00 SRP

UPC 029877031160005

Eureka! Oil has been discovered on the island of Catan.

The great engineers of Catan have learned ways to improve production using this valuable new resource, both by converting it into other materials and enabling the upgrade of cities into metropolises. But oil is scarce and its use does not come without cost. Using oil produces pollution, as well as climate changing emissions, which bring with them the threat of coastal flooding-and absolute disaster. With the discovery of oil on Catan, the Settlers face a new challenge: deciding whether the common good is worth limiting oil usage or whether the pursuit of victory is worth the risk of ruin.

Catan Scenarios: Oil Springs™ contains: . 1 tile sheet . 1 rules set

For 3-4 Players

Ages 12+

Playing Time 45-60 + minutes