My Game Market Most Anticipated Titles

Posted on October 12, 2018 by xitoliv

I will bring you daily reports from one of the Game Markets in Japan some day, but that is slated for 2022 at the earliest. (And as with my Essen trip last year, would be appended to the end of a family trip, this time to Yakushima.)

There have been a few interesting developments in the Game Markets this year, the majority of publishers are now limited to Saturday or Sunday, with only a few major publishers showing both days, due to the demand for booths, and a European publisher, nestorgames, will have a booth there – in lieu of having one at Spiel.  

I find myself more excited for some of the Game Market releases this year than those at Spiel, and certainly as a percentage of total releases, my heart is with the Japanese convention.

Anyway, here are some of my most anticipated games from the fall Game Market:

ミステリーホームズ (Mystery Homes)
Publisher: Studio GG
Credits: Shun & AYA
Booth Number: 2018大阪 F14 (Sunday only)

I’m an unapologetic stan for The King of Frontier, so new Shun & AYA titles are always of interest to me. Somewhere I got the impression this is a co-op deduction game, though I could be mistaken.

ジャンブルオーダー (Jumble Order)
Publisher: Ayatsurare Ningyoukan
Credits: Muneyuki Yokouchi, 井上 磨 、 長谷川 登鯉
Booth Number: Unknown

With Age of Assassins, The Majority, Road to the Place, and 7 Symbols, and 7 Nations, Muneyuki Yokouchi is one of my favorite card game designers. There is little information available, but Jumble Order appears to report to be a deck building game without a hand of cards.

オペレーションマスター (Operation Master)
Publisher: T.A. Works
Credits: といろ
Booth Number: 2018春 日-F25

Operation Master is a trick-taking game which, in a manner not currently apparent, lets you use dice to alter the value of your cards? Something else? The art direction is stunning.

閻魔裁判 (LAST JUDGEMENT)
Publisher: Asoby Tukoos
Credits: イチダイ　エリサ, カエル　エリサ
Booth Number: Unknown (Saturday only)

LAST JUDGMENT is a stacking-with-tweezers game where you are aiming to better your position in an afterlife.  As with each of these games, further details are limited, but it appears that successful placement allows you to move along the ring of cards in a way that helps you earn cards which show the good deeds you did in life.

ペーターと2匹の牧羊犬 (Peter’s Two Sheep Dogs)
Publisher: Suki Games
Credits:  別府さい, 別府さい
Booth Number: Unknown

Peter’s Two Sheep Dogs is a two-player trick-taking game with a mancala mechanic. That checks a lot of my boxes.

masala magic
Publisher: natriumlamp games
Credits: PRA
Booth Number: Unknown (Saturday only)

Each of the titles above, I anticipate acquiring. This one, well, I just wanted to share. masala magic is an essential-oil based game with a poker mechanic.  Also, it’s gorgeous.

OK, thanks for reading this far.  Just for that, here are some of the Spiel titles that I’m looking forward to that may not be covered elsewhere:

Gads Hill 1874: 2. Expansion – Jesse James; Napoleon 1813; Philadelphia 1895 (Publisher: Clicker Spiele, Credits: Stephan Riedel, Booth Number: 2-A110): This entry is 3 games.  First, an expansion for Gads Hill, which I quite enjoy and have discussed previously here. The other are 2 solo games. As with the Game Market titles above, there is a paucity of additional information.  (Talked to Stephan and Philadelphia 1895 will not be ready in time.)

Blöde Kuh (Publisher: Drei Hasen in der Abendsonne, Credits: Florian Racky, Booth Number: 3-G101): I default to being interested in small box card games, and Drei Hasen is a plus.

Le Dernier Casse (Publisher: Ferti, Credits: Benoît Remy, Booth Number:3-L100): Deduction and simple rules are also my default interest.

First Contact (Publisher: Cosmodrome Games, Credits: Khusnatdinov Damir, Booth Number: 4-G114). Details were light on the Cosmodrome Games last year headed into Spiel, but this one, themed around aliens and Egyptians trying to communicate and figure out each other’s languages using a hodge-podge of Codenames and Zendo looks interesting.

A Pleasant Journey to Neko (Publisher: The Wood Games, Credits: Citie Lo, Booth: 5-E112) I love the throwback to Alea-style box covers, and we’ve got dice drafting to establish penguin site seeing tours? Done.

ヘルトウクン (Helltoken: Remote Control Robot) (Publisher: Ram Clear, Credits: ツムキキョウ(Kyo Tumuki ), 海猫沢めろん (Melon Uminekozawa), Booth Number: 4-D100)  Here’s a nice way to close things out, by looping back to Game Market.  Helltoken is a Game Market release from last year, but will be sold at Spiel through the Japon Brand booth.  It is Battleship of sorts, but with both players controlling the same robot that is attacking things, and you need to deduce the locations of your own bases.  Take-that deduction? Here’s a video.

 

I’ll note that a follow-up game, ダイスニコフ(Daisnikov), is set to be released at Game Market this fall.

 

regards,
James Nathan

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3 Responses to My Game Market Most Anticipated Titles

  1. Alan says:
    November 7, 2018 at 10:31 am

    I have pre-ordered Mystery Homes after reading the rulebook. It is a murder mystery game which is highly themetic (unlike Clue). The game pits the hidden murderer against the other players, who work as a team to try to expose the murderer and the facts (weapon and tricks) about his crime.
    In the night, the murderer sets up the board according to his alibl card (place), weapon used, and two tricks cards. The weapons and tricks have thematic game effects which impact how the deduction plays out. For example, with the pistol, the murderer puts the pistol in the same room as his alibi card, while putting the dead body with a bullet in an adjacent room. The trick cards may move the body or other material evidence, or switch the alibi cards around.
    Then in the morning, the dead body is found and the players begin investigation. They move around the rooms and gather evidence, but they cannot show to other players what they find, though they can talk about it. (Hence the murderer can lie, while the other players should be honest.) By putting together the evidence, the players try to identify the murderer and the facts, while the murderer tries to cover it up.

    Reply
    • Alan says:
      November 7, 2018 at 10:34 am

      One main issue is that, the language barrier can be significant, and it can impact every player. (You probably cannot play smoothly if the game owner is the only player who can read Japanese.)

      Reply
      • xitoliv says:
        November 7, 2018 at 11:19 am

        True, but given my love for the designer, “significant” is closer to “slight hiccup”. I’m happy to adapt my copy as necessary to make it English-language friendly. :)

        Reply

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