So, I’m already home from Gen Con 2026, and we had some friends over for the day, and it seemed like a great time to look at a few of the new games.  Today, I’ll talk a bit about two of the games from Mattel that we tried out.  Mattel is probably best known for its many different version of UNO, but they do occasionally produce games of interest to hobby players – last year, Spirits of the Wild was a big hit here.  This year, I was happy to see that they had re-done a very cute family game Mr. Diamond – originally done by Ravensburger last century, but most recently done in Japan in 2024 by Jelly Jelly.  I had played that Japanese version a few times, but I was never able to get a copy.  If you’re still at GenCon, you’ll find Mattel in the middle of the dealer hall at Booth 1035.

Deep Sea Diamond Dive

• Designer: Gunter Baars
• Publisher: Mattel
• Players: 2-4
• Age: 6+
• Time: 20 minutes
• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4bJib83
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

Dive into fun with Deep Sea Diamond Dive, the action-Packed, quick to learn kids game where players race to grab gems and score points! Pick a gem. Watch out – some are stuck! Use the gems to complete Treasure Cards for points! Special Steal Cards add another fun twist – take an opponent’s card!

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Super Dice Battle

• Designer: Wade Piche
• Publisher: Ephyrean Games
• Players: 2-4
• Age: 14+
• Time: 5-30 min
• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4w2PLgM
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

Choose your fighter and play your combo cards to KO your opponent before they KO you. Super Dice Battle uses a custom set of dice to mimic a video game controllers D-Pad and Buttons to create your combos. Utilize the Super Die for more powerful attacks and unleash your most powerful combos to become the Super Dice Champion! 

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“What’s next?”  This was the question on everyone’s minds after we had just wrapped up a 10-month campaign of Betrayal Legacy, and it was time for my monthly legacy gaming group to pick our next campaign.  We had already done Ticket to Ride: Legends of the West, Scythe: Rise of Fenris, and Pandemic Legacy over the last several years, and it was time to pick our next year-long endeavor.

We all enjoyed Root and wanted to play it more, but we played legacy/campaign games… what to do?  The answer was obvious: try to turn Root into a year-long campaign.  We wanted to make sure that everyone got to play each faction, so now that there are 13 factions that means 13 games – perfect!  So we developed the following schedule of 13 games to play over the next year or so.

After looking at the schedule, we decided not to actually start with game #1 because we were not really familiar with the new Twilight Council and Lilypad Diaspora factions, so instead we started with game #6 a few weeks ago so we could use slightly more familiar factions.

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Azure

• Designers: Trevor Benjamin and Brett J. Gilbert
• Publisher: Bitewing Games
• Players: 2
• Age: 8+
• Time: 20 minutes
• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3RjFga2
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

The Lung Mei, or dragon paths, are lines of energy that cover the Earth. They are derived from the Four Auspicious Beasts: the Azure Dragon of the East, the Vermilion Bird of the South, the White Tiger of the West, and the Black Tortoise of the North. When a path runs in a straight line, that energy builds in power, but these paths can be broken up by barriers such as mountains, which diffuse the energy. Invoke the power of the Four Auspicious Beasts, carefully channel their energy through the Earth, and triumph in this battle for qi and wisdom that will shape your destiny and intertwine it with the Beasts of legend.

In Azure, players position their stones to gather qi (cards) and wisdom (points) from the realm. They also compete to bring the Auspicious Beasts to their aid. The first player to reach the end of the path of wisdom wins.

Players take turns placing a stone, gathering boons from the space they cover, and gaining the favor of Auspicious Beasts. In order to place a stone in a space, the player must be able to pay the qi cost. The color of the domain (board) tells you the color of qi needed, and the number of boon symbols in the space tells you the amount of qi needed. Through careful management of the qi cards in your hand, you’ll be able to grow in power.

Thanks to the four double-sided boards that can be connected, flipped, and oriented in any way in a 2×2 grid, Azure features over 24,000 different layouts. Azure also includes the Gifted module for experienced players — a variable one-time-use ability that can help turn the tides in your favor.

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Warp 99

• Designer: Reinhard Staupe
• Publisher: Bezier Games
• Players: 2-4
• Age: 14+
• Time: 30 minutes
• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4fEhs9k
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

Zoom through space in the super-fast card game Warp 99!

On your turn, add 1 card to your own growing card row—it has to be a bigger number than the last one, and NO repeating colors!

Then blast as many cards as you can onto the 2 middle piles using cool rules like Same Color, Plus 1, or Total 10. Get Stuck? Change the rules! Match extra rules? Get bonus cards! Empty your hand? Get another turn!

Score big points by making long card rows and get 15 more points every time you use up your Personal Draw Deck. First to reach 99 points wins!

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