News Digest 155

This is a copy of the “script” we used to organise Brainwaves Episode 155. It is not a full transcript but should give you an overview of the news as we reported it. Quotes are in italics.

Headlines

Has powerboats been taken for a joyride?

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3412685/powerboatspowerships-joyride

Geoff Engelstein

https://gametek.substack.com/p/copy-paste

• On November the 26th, Corne Van Moorsel began a thread on Boardgamegeek. The initial post detailed Corne’s conversation with Rebellion Unplugged staff member Duncan Malloy. Duncan is involved in the board game development side of the business and had expressed interest in Corne’s game powerboats. 
• Corne starts this thread saying
  • It has all the Powerboats movement rules, except in case of damage (which normally doesn’t happen in Powerboats).
  • The last email about the Powerboats contract I got 23 September 2019 from Duncan Molloy, with only this text from Duncan:
    • “I think we’ll work together very well. Give me a little while, as our lawyer is away right now. I will come back to you with confirmation of the contract as soon as possible.“
  • My own last email, to remind Duncan, a week later:
  • “Hi Duncan, Okay, let me know.”.
  • But no emails anymore from Duncan in the last 62 months, and now I get emails from people telling Joyride is Powerboats with some added things. And Duncan’s name as “author”. Which is not right.
• Corne claimed that Duncan initially approached him about rights to Powerboats via email
  • “Hi Corné,
  • Duncan Molloy, head of board games at Rebellion Developments. I was wondering you were open to a discussion about the rights to Powerboats/Powerships? I’m a fan of the game, and would love to have a chat about it.”
• Corne wrote that the Joyride movement system was effectively a copy of Powerboats and the only differences were the change in theme, damage, and powers that the game added. 
• This thread set BGG ablaze and lots of people put their oar in and a heated debate ensued around the difference between copying a design and taking inspiration from one. 
• Duncan posts in the thread on the 27th of November. He says
  • • Corné emailed me last night asking for an explanation, then posted this thread before I had seen his email. As the thread exists I’m including my reply here in the interest of transparency.
  • • I understand the difference between drawing influence from a game and passing off someone else’s work as my own. I hope my reputation as someone who has published and developed a great many games from both new and established designers will grant me the benefit of the doubt in that, and I think most people who play both Powerboats and Joyride are will agree that they are different games. I don’t intend to be drawn into a public argument about the distinction and I bear no ill will towards Corné.
• Duncan goes onto share that email that includes this
  • Before I say anything else, I want to apologise for not communicating further with you after our meeting at Spiel in 2019. It was rude of me not to update you and I am genuinely sorry.
  • When I first got in touch in 2019 I had been at Rebellion for five months and was the sole staff member at Rebellion Unplugged. At that point I was eager to follow the template I had established at Osprey by signing a mix of reprints and new titles, and I thought both Powerboats and Street Soccer could be a good fit. We chatted back and forth for a few months, mostly waiting for you to supply a contract as you did not wish to use ours. In September 2019 I sent that contract to our lawyer for review, he told me it was not suitable for our purposes, you and I met in person at Spiel 2019, then nothing else progressed.
• And ends
  • You do not have a contract or a royalty in this instance because Joyride is not Powerboats, any more than Clank or Legendary is Dominion. It is a new game in the same genre that was influenced by some of your mechanics. I appreciate that this is not what you want to hear but it is the truth. I am happy to send you a copy of the game so you can see for yourself. I have not seen the copy of Powerships you sent me in a very long time, but I will track it down and return it to you should you wish. Please send on the best address for either/both.
• As the debate raged on it spilled out onto other social media sites like Bluesky. 
• Eventually on December the 5th Rebellion Unplugged posted to the thread which was shut down after that post. They said the following which we are quoting in full
  • Since this situation came to light last week, we have investigated the claims made. Our Publishing Director has been in direct email contact with Corné since Friday 29th November.
  • While there are some similar mechanics, Joyride is a different game to Powerboats with many new and unique rules which make the gaming experiences very different. Saying Rebellion Unplugged or any individual intentionally copied the Powerboats system is false. Joyride was developed over several years with many games informing the design. We do acknowledge Powerboats as one influence among many, but not in any way to the extent suggested.
  • In the email on November 29th we sent to Corné, we made the above clear and told him that we will be including an acknowledgements page in the rulebook for Joyride which will detail all of the influences behind the game. It will include the games that inspired Joyride, whether mechanically or in setting, theme or gameplay, including Powerboats. This page will be included in future reprints and we will update the digital edition of the rules.
  • Rebellion apologized several times for the lack of communication Corné received in 2019. Corné should have been told in writing at the time that we didn’t want to pursue reissuing his game. Members of the boardgame media have also reached out to us and we have said the same as here.
  • We recognize the concerns of the community as we at Rebellion Unplugged are all gamers ourselves and members of this community. Since this thread began our customers, reviewers and distribution partners have been contacted, and members of our team have been subject to online harassment. Rebellion will not tolerate harassment in any form. Any and all necessary and relevant steps will be taken in terms of legal considerations.
• Duncan also recently spoke to Boardgamewire about the situation. He says this about his initial response to Corne
  • In my response to Corné on [November 27] I drew a comparison between Clank or Legendary and Dominion, which I no longer think is a good analogue. I don’t think anyone would argue that Clank and Dominion are the same game, but Dominion is well known as the game that effectively invented deckbuilding, and because of that Dominion’s influence on Clank does not feel like something the designers of Clank are trying to hide.
  • Similarly, I don’t think that anyone who has played both can reasonably argue that Joyride and Powerboats are the same game, but because Powerboats is less well known than Dominion its influence is less immediately obvious. That’s reason enough to make it explicit.
• He goes on to break down the differences in the two designs and also apologise for the poor job he did in communicating with Corne. He explains that he was the only employee of Rebellion Unplugged at the time and he was just trying to wear too many hats. He also expresses regret at not crediting Powerboats in the rulebook. He promises that Rebellion Unplugged will change their acknowledgement policy in the future. 
• The game’s rating has taken a dive on BGG as folk review bomb it in reaction to what they perceive as the theft of Powerboats by Duncan and Rebellion Unplugged. 
• Geoff Engelstein, designer of Space Cadets and Super-Skill Pinball, weighed in recently with a post on his Substack. 
• He says that many people have reached out to him as the president of the recently formed Tabletop Game Designers Association. That organisation will put out an official statement on the matter but Geoff dives into the legal situation in the states and mulls the ‘plagiarism vs inspiring’ debate. It’s a great piece that we can’t really pull a quote from without putting it out of context. We would say the TLDR of the piece is that Rebellion legally did nothing wrong, but morally should have really credited Corne and his design in the rulebook from the off. 

Cardboard Edison changes tack

• Cardboard Edison is a site with loads of excellent resources for aspiring game designers from playtest advice, to how to pitch to publishers. 
• Every year they hold the Cardboard Edison Award, a competition designed to highlight new and unpublished games that show promise. It’s an award we greatly admire for lifting up new voices in the scene. 
• The award is ramping up for its 2025 edition and before that is announced the organisation had some information to share on changes coming to its judging procedure
• Last year they ran into some controversy when a game called Crowded Frontier took the top spot. This was a game that had a setting of colonising the American West and many took umbrage at the promotion of yet another game with a colonisation theme. 
• It seems that Cardboard Edison have taken the criticism on board and decided to do something about their process. They have released these on Bluesky
  • We will be asking our judges to suggest additional people to broaden the judging pool, with the aim of bringing in a wider range of perspectives than we can achieve by relying primarily on our personal view of the industry
  • We’ll be updating the language we use on the award page on our website, to note that judges will be paying attention to how each submission handles its theme.
  • In line with the previous point, we have updated the guidance we’ll give to judges, so they know to be mindful of these issues when reviewing games for the award.
  • In the first round of the award, we have added a new field to the judging form, where judges will be asked to flag any thematic or mechanical concerns they have.
  • We have included a similar field to the judging form for the finalist round, to enable judges to flag any thematic concerns that emerge once they’ve played the game.
  • Finally, before we make a public announcement of the winning games, we will review any concerns that were flagged earlier in the process and consult with the designer if needed to give them the opportunity to address any issues.
• In addition to these changes they say this
  • Beyond the above, it also became clear to us in our conversations that there’s a desire out there for more transparency about how the contest is run. Sure, we’ve written and talked about it in various places before, but we haven’t really put it front and center in our communications.
  • So we’re releasing an “Inside the Cardboard Edison Award” article that goes into detail about the process we use for finding judges, promoting the award to the design community, the contest’s scoring criteria, what happens at finalist judging events, and more: 
• We will put links to all of these in the show notes

Sandy Petersen wears no mask

• Back in episode 147, we brought you the news that long-struggling publisher Petersen Games had been saved by a deal with Quimbley Games.
• Petersen Games had been having trouble fulfilling crowdfunding for their Cthulhu Wars series of games. Quimbley stepped in to help with this, effectively turning Petersen Games into a development studio under the Quimbley Games umbrella. 
• Sandy Petersen is the head of Petersen Games and recently he took to social media to say the following:
  • The majority of American school shootings in the last three years were all instigated by a trans person.
• In a separate post on X, he says:
  • Every time I see someone argue against telling unpleasant truths I think of this:
  • “our task is not to make an objective study of the truth … and then set it before the masses with academic fairness; its task is to serve our own right, always and unflinchingly.” Adolf Hitler
• That post also includes a photo of Adolf Hitler smiling. 
• We contacted Quimbleys for comment on the matter and were sent this by Paul Hallett, the president of the company:
  • Hi Iain,
  • I will refer you to our blog post on this subject. https://www.quimbleys.com/blogs/kickstarter-updates/quimbleys-official-inclusion-statement
  • The issue has been addressed with him. Sandy has recognized that he was repeating discredited information, and he has deleted the relevant posts from his Twitter and posted a retraction and an acknowledgment that he was wrong. He is taking a break from social media for a few months and has committed to avoid talking about political subjects in the future.
  • His actions put Quimbley’s Toys and Games in a difficult position. We could either cut ties with Petersen Games which causes the backers of the kickstarter games to lose out, or we continue on with someone who has tarnished his image with the public. 
  • After many discussions, our decision was to forgive and rehabilitate – Sandy at his core is a good person who himself has LGBT children and other extended family, but who has been misinformed by social media. We had some difficult conversations (which frankly many people need to have with their aging parents and loved ones) about the veracity of online information, and how the internet is used as a tool for disinformation for political gain.
  • We are choosing to build bridges and to support the amazingly diverse gaming community, and to support the kickstarter community by publishing the past-due games.
  • Thank you,
  • Paul Hallett
  • President – H.C. Quimbley’s Toys and Games

• The original posts have been taken down but we will share screenshots of them in the show notes. 

Updates

Summit Award for Wargaming winner announced – and Bobby Nunes Memorial Award finalists announced

• A couple of casts ago in episode 153 we took you through the nominations for the Summit award that were announced at SDhist con
• SDHist Con is an organisation that aims to create a diverse and supportive gaming community dedicated to historically-based board games.
• They created the Summit Award to recognise games that have brought new players to the hobby or introduced new subjects and perspectives.
• This year the award went to Land and Freedom: The Spanish Revolution and Civil War, designed by Alex Knight and published by Blue Panther LLC, with art from José Ramón Faura, Ryan Heilman and Alex Knight.
• It is a semi-cooperative game set against the backdrop of the coup in July 1936 that led to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.
• Players take on the roles of leaders of three factions: the Anarchists, Communists and Moderates. The factions are in an alliance against non-player Fascists. Everyone loses if the war is lost, but if the Fascists are defeated, the faction with the most glory drawn from a bag that is slowly filled with tokens during the game is the sole winner. 
• The judges praised Land and Freedom for its unconventional design approach, particularly around the semi-cooperative aspect, its novelty of topic, its approachability to those new to historical gaming, and its playability at a range of player counts.
• Dan Bullock, chair of the Summit Award committee, said:
  • “Alex Knight’s Land and Freedom is a fresh take on the Spanish Civil War that emphasizes factional squabbles over a Republican vs. Nationalist approach with a very accessible system.”
• The other finalists of this year’s award also received praise from the judges.
• The judges praised The British Way for its focus on lesser-gamed conflicts, its novel mechanic to tie the different games in the multipack together, and its ease of teaching and play, especially for those new to GMT’s COIN system.
• Halls of Hegra was commended for its novelty of approach with its bag-building and action selection and its approachability for those used to Euro-style games.
• We Are Coming, Nineveh was commended for its novelty of topic, effectiveness as a historical game, and interesting approach with pre-game capability selection and three dimensions of victory to consider.
• The Summit Award will return in 2025, with games published in 2024 under consideration for that award. A call for public submissions will go out in the spring or summer of 2025. More information can be found on the Summit Award page on the SDHistCon website, a link to which you will find in the show notes.
• Alongside the Summit Award, SDHistCon also launched the Bobby Nunes Memorial Award in memory of Robert “Bobby Factor” Nunes who was central to the recent growth of SDHist Con and hugely popular in historical gaming circles. He died of cancer in March of this year.

• The award recognizes exceptional gaming media, which includes videos, podcast episodes, written articles, etc., that reflect Nune’s enthusiasm for and interest in discussing important cultural issues within the historical gaming hobby.
• After receiving nominations from the public, the SDHistCon board chose the following four finalists:
  • Amabel Holland’s intriguing video essays on YouTube, that challenge commonly-held ideas in gaming. Holland is the designer of games such as Doubt Is Our Product, This Guilty Land, and owns and runs publisher Hollandspiele.
  • Liz Davidson’s YouTube show/podcast Beyond Solitaire, in which her interviews cover a wide range of historical gaming topics and discussion, from the representation of race and sexual orientation in games to approaches to game journalism and conversations around specific games.
  • Dan Thurot’s website Space-Biff was recognised as one of the foremost destinations for board game reviews in the historical space and beyond, as well as insightful essays on different topics in the hobby.
  • We Intend To Move On Your Works is an ongoing series that is a spinoff of Fred Serval’s Homo Ludens podcast and YouTube channel, featuring Stuart Ellis-Gorman and Pierre Vagneur-Jones discussing American Civil War games with one of the hosts Fred Serval or Alexandre Fontaine-Rousseau.
• The winner of the inaugural award will be announced at Conflicts of Interest Online and on SDHistCon’s social media platforms before the end of the year.

Wyrmwood fires staff 

https://www.rascal.news/wyrmwoods-bitter-medicine-is-proving-hard-for-audiences-to-swallow

• Back in episodes 116 and 118 we covered the accusations of sexual assault at game table manufacturer Wyrmwood. 
• The company recently fired around half its workforce, two weeks before christmas. Once more they did it on camera in their ongoing series Wyrm Lyfe that covers the behind the scenes life of the company. 
• We are not going to go into detail on this one but point you towards Rascal who have covered this story in some detail after Lin Codega and Thomas Manuel investigated the company. 
• The rascal story is behind a paywall but we urge you to support them as they are doing excellent work

News

Facebook pulls Fort Circle Games ad. Again. 

• At the start of this year we brought you the news that publisher Fort Circle Games had ads pulled by Facebook over its game Votes for Women. Votes for Women details the struggle faced by women to secure the vote in the United States. The ban was apparently over the games sensitive social issues.
• Well it’s happening again. This time it is to their game First Monday in October, about how the Supreme Court is decided. 
• Fort Circle posted to Bluesky on the 28th of November
  • After running our ads for two days, Facebook has pulled them just like with our campaign for Votes for Women. It’s like a digital advertising Groundhog Day.
• Boardgamewire reported on the takedown, speaking to Kevin Bertram the founder of Fort Circle Games. He said
  • “Facebook’s ad bans do not pose an existential risk to the company – but they do pose an existential risk to our ability to publish games that intersect with the history of the United States and its political system.
  • “When Facebook banned our ads during the Votes for Women Kickstarter campaign, we were thrilled how the community rallied to the campaign – but now we have Votes for Women in stock and we still cannot run Facebook ads for the game.”
  • “For this to happen again would be amusing if it wasn’t so harmful to our company’s prospects. For this campaign we allocated $25,000 for Facebook ads and the very early numbers – before the ads were taken down by Facebook – suggested we would raise $100,000 from those ads.
• Betram also said he was reluctant to try more ads on the platform. 
• The developer of the game, Jason Matthews, was also interviewed by Boardgamewire and said
  • “I mean it’s just incredible. But it is the perfect illustration of a soulless, lifeless corporation making decisions by algorithm.  
  • “…as for my reaction, what can you say about stupid? Is Mark Zuckerberg really so broke that Meta can’t afford to put a human in its decision loops? Is censorship by AI the kind of future we can all look forward to?
  • “Fort Circle is just a little independent game company trying to expose Americans to their history through games. It is literally mom and apple pie. To have Meta reject that on Thanksgiving morning pretty much tells you all you need to know. 
• The designer, Talia Rosen, said she was surprised and disappointed at the ban for her game but had been delighted at the response to the crowdfunding campaign. 
• The campaign for the game runs to December the 21st. 
• Kevin Bertram is a patreon of this cast and Iain has reviewed Votes for Women with a review copy. 

Itch is taken offline by Funko

https://www.polygon.com/gaming/492791/itch-io-funko-takedown

• Indie game site itch.io was recently taken offline by none other than Funko, the maker of plastic toys and for a while some of the best franchise boardgames in existence. 
• Funko partner with a company called Brandshield which describes itself as
  • “AI-powered online anti-counterfeiting solution” that monitors for “trademark infringements, phishing attempts, brand abuse, and counterfeit activity.”
• This piece of software sent a takedown request to itch.io’s domain registrar iwantmyname^.. 
• itch.io owner Leaf Corcoran wrote to gaming site Polygon to detail the interaction.
  • 5 days ago I immediately responded in email to [iwantmyname’s] original abuse notice confirming the removal of the content. No communication after that. I had to proactively message them at the time the domain was taken down to try to get them to respond as well, they didn’t even send a notice that the domain was taken down with a reason why. I attached the support thread I opened when the domain went down where they later confirmed the abuse notification was the reason, claiming they got no response, and my response.
  • Other than the original abuse notification email, and this support thread I opened, there was no other communication from them. No “We haven’t heard from you, we’re about to shut your domain down” or anything like that. ~5 days elapsed since the original notification to when the domain was disabled.
  • I also put some more info about the whole timeline on hacker news: 
• Which will put a link to in the show notes
  • https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42364033
• Funko also contacted the publication
  • At Funko, we hold a deep respect and appreciation for indie games, indie gamers, and indie developers. We’re fans of fans, and we love the creativity and passion that define the indie gaming community.
  • Recently, one of our brand protection partners identified a page on itch.io imitating the Funko Fusion development website. A takedown request was issued to address this specific page. Funko did not request a takedown of the itch.io platform, and we’re happy the site was back up by this morning.
  • We have reached out to itch.io to engage with them on this issue and we deeply appreciate the understanding of the gaming community as the details are determined. Thank you for sharing in our passion for creativity.
• We would like to remind readers that Funko’s deep respect for games recently saw them selling off their game development studio and laying off all the staff involved. 
• Leaf Corcoran also posted a screenshot of a conversation with his mother that read
  • Got a strange call from a company about accusatory statements on your social media account. Call me. 
• The company in question was of course Funko.

GW enters the FTSE 100

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/dec/01/games-workshop-promoted-ftse-100-quarterly-reshuffle?fbclid=IwY2xjawG5fR9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHfpI4qljk5k-fjXOOMOgNiNXzPIQUwHiApvb9oHwY1_zqqmvx12t-fet8Q_aem_h_ZVqr3lvJUDFkDYW9j99w

• Games Workshop, the tabletop miniature model manufacturer known for games such as Warhammer, has been promoted to the FTSE 100
• The publicly listed company has been trading on the London Stock Exchange since 1994.
• Games Workshop entered the FTSE 250 in 2018 and with its share price quadrupling since the start of 2019 and rising by 43% since the start of 2024, it is now valued at £4.6bn, which was enough to make it eligible to upgrade to the FTSE 100.
• The FTSE 250 and 100 are respectively the top 250 and the top 100 companies with the highest stock value listed on the London Stock Exchange.
• By entering the FTSE 100, Games Workshop will be traded alongside other famous companies such as Coca-Cola, Marks & Spencer Group, Rolls Royce Holdings and Tesco.
• The uplift into the FTSE 100 and the confidence by investors in the company’s future may not come as a surprise if you consider that a pack of 10 mounted Chaos Knights sets you back £52.50, while the “ultimate starter set” for its Age of Sigmar game costs £130.
• That is underlined by the company’s announcement last month that pre-tax profits are expected to rise by 25% for the last six months to at least £120m, while licensing revenue is expected to more than double to £30m or more

SUSD becomes a publisher. Sort of 

https://www.shutupandsitdown.com/were-partnering-with-play-to-z-to-launch-exciting-new-games

• Shut Up and Sit Down, one of the worlds’ premier board game review sites has announced a collaboration with publisher Play to Z. 
• Play to Z was founded by Zev Shlasinger after leaving Z-Man games in 2016.
• The company is yet to produce any games but has several forthcoming titles for 2025. 
• These will now include two titles with the Shut Up and Sit Down presents logo on them. 
• From the press release on Play to Z’s site
  • “SU&SD Presents” is a brand new line of titles that places a spotlight on some of the very best titles in modern board games. SU&SD will hand select exciting designs, polish them to perfection, and P2Z will publish these incredible games for worldwide distribution.
• One of these games is a new title from Matt Leacock called Animal Rescue. This will come to crowdfunding in early 2025 with an aim to have it in retail by October of 2025. 
• The second is a reprint of Paolo Mori’s Dogs of War. This is a game that has been out of print for a long time. It should be in retail by the end of 2025, with no mention of a crowdfunding campaign. 

Hachette becomes distributor for Edition Spielwiese

• Hachette Boardgames Group has announced that they have secured a new distribution deal with Edition Spielwiese. Edition Spielwiese are the publishers behind the Spiel des Jahres winner Micromacro amongst other titles. 
• The collaboration will see a bunch of new Micromacro titles coming to market starting with a jigsaw version of the game. The rest of the line will come under Hachette’s distribution in the second half of 2025.
• It will also see titles like Quacks of Quedlinburg, The Mind, and Wavelength be distributed through Hachette.  
• Michael Schmitt, founder of Edition Spielweise said
  • “After working with Hachette’s subsidiary BlackRock as my international partner in France, I am now even more pleased to become a bigger part of the Hachette family.”
• Rob Trounce, Marketing Manager for Hachette Boardgames UK said
  • “Edition Spielewiese are a publisher of the highest calibre, and we are beyond proud to have them (and their amazing titles!) join our catalogue of family-friendly games for UK audiences. Our mission is to get more games on UK tables, and Edition Spielwiese’s amazing titles will make that goal ever more achievable.”
• Thanks very much to Rob Trounce for sending us the press release for this announcement. Iain and Oliver have both reviewed games supplied by Hachette. 

Vallejo workers on strike

https://www.viaempresa.cat/es/empresa/98-plantilla-acrylicos-vallejo-se-suma-primera-jornada-huelga-indefinida_2206222_102.html

https://www.rascal.news/vallejo-factory-workers-go-on-strike/ (public)

• Workers at Acrylicos Vallejo have recently gone on partial indefinite strike. This means that each worker is striking for 2 hours each shift they are working. 
• Vallejo paints are extremely popular amongst the miniatures making community and the strike is partially in reaction to the profits the company is now making that its workers are not seeing enough of. 
• The strike is supported by the Spanish Trade Union Federation (CGT) and 98% of the Acrylicos Vallejo workforce. 
• In a video posted to the CGT’s Youtube channel, the following statement was given. Thanks to the Victor Gondra who translated this piece for Rascal News.
  • “Today we started an indefinite strike at Acrylicos Vallejo. Today we have decided to say ENOUGH for three very important points: 
  • 1. The bad working conditions, the danger that the workers suffer in terms of facilities and machinery.
  • 2. We ask for a wage increase, since the gap between managers and workers is abysmal and we are going through a precarious salary situation in our lives. We are asking for 15% and the company has said no to all negotiations.
  • 3. On the other hand, we are asking for an active harassment protocol to protect us and that works properly. That is why we are here and, until the company decides to sit down with us to negotiate, we will not stop demonstrating and we will continue in the struggle.”
• The strikers have asked for support from the community but as of this time have not made any specific requests. 

Jobs, Opportunities, and Events

https://www.facebook.com/groups/TabletopJobs

Spiel des Jahres Funding Programme 2025

https://www.spiel-des-jahres.de/foerderprogramm-2025-startet-einreichungen-ab-sofort-moeglich

https://www.spiel-des-jahres.de/foerderprogramm

• Spiel des Jahres, the German board association, announced on the 2nd of December that it has opened up its 2025 funding programme for applications.
• The programme is open to associations, public institutions, foundations and organisations that further its goal of enhancing the visibility of board games as a cultural asset in society.
• The programme started in 2012 and has since then supported over 800 projects with nearly €790,000. In 2024 alone, 85 projects received €97,000 in financial support.
• Additionally, the Spiel des Jahres association funds positions for researchers at the University of Konstanz, activities related to many of Nuremberg’s museums and the German Young Game Designers’ Scholarship.
• The submission deadline for the 2025 funding program will be announced later in the year. Eligible applicants need to provide a project plan, including a timeline and objectives, as well as a cost breakdown. Applications may only be submitted for new projects.
• Funding covers the purchases of board games, compensation for volunteer activities and fees, as well as some other expenses, detailed on the application page.
• The outcome of projects will be shared in a written report accompanied by photos, that will be published on the Spiel des Jahres website.
• For more information, please follow the links in the show notes.

Patreon Shoutouts

Kevin Bertram

James Naylor

https://naylorgames.com

Shaun Newan
game-a-lot.fun/en
facebook.com/gamealotboardgames

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Sir Meeple

Outro

Monopoly Toppling Taxi

https://monopoly.fandom.com/wiki/Monopoly_Free_Parking:_The_Toppling_Taxi_Game

For the final episode of the calendar year, we thought about what to give you as a gift. It could’ve been our favourite outro games of 2024, but instead I thought we could give you a last minute game idea for your dear one.

• The masses have been crying out for an expansion for arguably the most popular board game of the 20th century- and in 2009, Hasbro acquiesced.
• Monopoly Free Parking: The Toppling Taxi Game can be either played as its own mini game or added to a “standard” board. It comes with 20 taxis, a custom d8 and a wobbly board.
• If you land on Free Parking, roll the dice and if it comes up  a colour place a taxi in that coloured space on the wobbly board, if it’s a question mark, place it in any space. You keep going until either you topple any taxis from the wobbly board or if you roll a policer officer on the dice. Either way, your turn is over. 
• If you keep 5 cars on the wobbly board you ‘win’ and get a free taxi ride to any space on the board and then do actions as normal (buying houses etc)
• As a standalone game, it’s 20 taxis divided between 4 players and first person to get rid of all their taxis on the wobbly board wins.
• Run, Don’t Walk!, to get this. I honestly don’t know if it’s still available

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