The happy orange colors of Pandasaurus Games was easy to spot in the exhibit hall but it seemed like there was a dearth of actual dinosaur games there this year. There was the 2-player person-tile drafting game Gatsby with 3 different, concurrent game objectives. Beasts (maybe dinos in there?) is a 2-5 player co-op card game where you play to get a 3 digit number to increase while avoiding the Beast’s interference. Tricky Kids is a trick-taker where you write your own numbers on the cards. It comes with optional rules cards that add a lot of chaos to the mix. The 2-4 player The Mind: Soulmates is very similar to The Mind but you play cards face down but one player gets to see some cards and give a clue. Finally, there is Paper World, a 2-4 player game of drafting tiles to make a 3×3 tableau, racing to meet specific goals along the way.

Gatsby

Gatsby has two players trying to catch the attention of Jay Gatsby, primarily by recruiting varying characters onto your side. The game has three main areas of play: a cabaret, finance center, and a racetrack. The three areas each have a bit of a theme where the cabaret area is playing with cards (trying to make lines), the finance side has players moving tokens around (climbing up tracks), and the racetrack has (surprisingly) a bit of a race aspect to it, which you want to win. Players are also limited in that you cannot also choose the action your opponent just selected. The goal of the game is to get three characters of the same color, one of each color, or have the most “Stars” if any location runs out. The game should be out in September.

Renegade was in strong form, continuing to republish and expand on old classics as well as stir things up with their impressive licensing agreements (see: Transformers, G.I. Joe, Avalon Hill, Heroscape, My Little Pony…) There’s now a two-player Axis & Allies: Stalingrad, an upcoming G.I. Joe RISK, a huge amount of Heroscape (including G.I. Joe again – I’m still waiting for My Little Pony Heroscape) as well as their line of deckbuilders and RPGs based on their licensing.

Axis & Allies: Stalingrad

Axis & Allies: Stalingrad is a 2 player only version of the game played over two maps at the same time. Invade across the map but when it comes time to take the city, units transfer onto a separate map and battle through the city neighborhoods.

I have to give props for Chip Theory Games dedication to a nice table presence that is NOT accomplished simply by throwing a lot of plastic minis onto the table. Known for using nice poker chips and custom dice throughout their games, this year is no different with the area-control Wroth and various Elder Scrolls expansions (now with cheese!).

However, they have been expanding into slightly more modest card-based games like this year’s location battle Fight 5, and another three decks added to their “20-dice and a bunch of cards” game line, 20 Strong. In the 20 Strong Tanglewoods line players navigating the fairytales of Goldilocks, Red Ridinghood, and Snow White.

If you like crowdfunding, hop to the end to see why Chip Theory had all their backers send in their best pet photos for a recent campaign.

Fight 5

Released at Gen Con, Fight 5 is a 2-5 player game of playing cards to locations, with the highest total claiming the cards. Each player has the same deck of 25 cards – duplicates of 2 to 13 and one star card. The game is available in a standard and a deluxe, foiled card version. The game is always set up so that players compete in five areas, two spots directly their right and left hand opponents and one spot in the middle where everyone plays.