Z-Man Games heading to Indy

Related Photos

Box cover for Atlantis Rising Submitted photo
Atlantis Rising game in progress Submitted photo
Alcatraz box cover Submitted photo
Alcatraz game board Submitted photo

Discussion

July 12, 2012

Z-Man Games heading to Indy

Rising game company will show at GenCon

By Rick Teverbaugh The Herald Bulletin The Herald Bulletin Thu Jul 12, 2012, 09:48 AM EDT

GenCon is rapidly approaching and most game companies are well on their way in planning a trip to Indianapolis for the biggest gaming convention in this country.

For those who don’t know, GenCon starts Aug. 16 at the Indianapolis Convention Center and runs for four days. Last year over 36,000 different gaming enthusiasts attended and this year the pre-registrations are up significantly from a year ago.

But more about the convention next week in an overall preview.

One of the more interesting companies who will be attending is Z-Man Games.

Zev Shlasinger created Z–Man games from the ground up. He recently sold the company but still serves in a consultant role and can be found most of the convention at the company’s booth talking to customers and answering questions.

GenCon is a ripe time for companies to display new games. Some are available for sale for the first time to the public at this pivotal event and some are merely shown for the first time. Z-Man will be showing Alcatraz: the Scapegoat and Atlantis Rising at GenCon and also possibly Battle Beyond Space.

“Alcatraz is a twist on the co-op genre,” said Shlasinger.” In this case while all players are working together to plan an escape it is known that one person will be left behind to be the scapegoat. So (the idea is to) jockey for position to not be the scapegoat when the plan is hatched.

“Atlantis Rising is the more traditional co-op wherein all players win or lose together. In this game players are trying to save their fabled home from sinking into the ocean by building the parts to a great machine, whose totality will beam Atlantis to another world. The island slowly breaks apart, making it time sensitive and harder to build the machine parts. “

“Battle Beyond Space is a space combat game that is easy to learn and fun to play. Four races with special abilities and cards that move your squadrons around space as you destroy enemy fighters and capital ships and collect alien artifacts.”

Those will be the company’s featured attractions, but not the only things available to try.

“We demo the above games since they are new and we offer some recent and a scant few ‘older’ releases should people want them,” said Shlasinger. “But we mainly like to focus on the new stuff.”

Z-Man is well known in the gaming community for the card game Pocket Battles, the board games Troyes and Pandemic along with the enormously popular Agricola and many other outstanding releases. But GenCon remains a big deal even for a company with such solid footing and a great reputation for quality.

“Well, Gen Con is the biggest game con in the US so it holds much importance to us,” said Shlasinger. “We try to premiere at least one new game at this show, usually a title that is looked-forward to by the players. More people seem to pay attention to the releases at this show. We feel that since there are a handful of large gaming shows in the US, all the shows hold some importance.”

Another newsworthy development for Z-Man was the recent announcement that the company has a new relationship to publish games from the internationally known Hans im Glück. This will bring one of the most popular games in the genre to the fold, Carcassonne.

“I think it will mean greater things for Z-Man and firmly plant the company's brand in players worldwide,” said Shlasinger of the new agreement. “I mean we had much recognition around the world but I think this will raise the recognition significantly.”

Right now no new plans have been announced for Carcassonne beyond continuing to make the product available.

So Z-Man is continuing its path to the top of the tabletop gaming world and GenCon would be a great place to see what it has to offer.

Text Only

Rick's Rec Room

War of Indines takes combat to new level
The biggest reason to stay in tune with the world of tabletop board gaming is that not every great game comes from the giants of the industry like AEG, Mayfair, Fantasy Flight, Asmodee and Rio Grande.

The most recent and best example of this fact is BattleCON: War of Indines from Level 99 Games.

December 16, 2012 8 Photos
Ticket to Ride gathers steam
Ticket to Ride, designed by Alan R. Moon and published by Days of Wonder, has long been considered as one of the best gateway games of all time.

“Gateway” is a term understood by dedicated gamers, but what does it mean to those people who are diving into the modern world of tabletop gaming whose experience in any gaming is mostly limited to classics like Sorry, Monopoly and Yahtzee?

December 6, 2012 5 Photos
Trick taking with a few twists
There often isn’t much of anything new to the trick-taking genre of card games other than different goals and a variety of card appearances.

That isn’t the case with Those Pesky Garden Gnomes from Rio Grande Games. The game was authored by JonMichael Rasmus, John Sams and Sean Weitner. The game is for three to five players 13 years of age and up and a typical game will likely take between 30 and 60 minutes.

November 7, 2012 2 Photos
Only the foolish may apply
For a simple to play game, Gauntlet of Fools is the most innovative and strategic games released this entire year.

Plus, there are more high quality bits in this game than any I know in this price range (less than $30 when offered as a kickstarter project).

October 19, 2012 3 Photos
Milestones an uneasy tweener
It is extremely rare for a new game to appear to great critical reception and for me to not get what all of the fuss is about. Unfortunate this is exactly what has happened with Milestones, a new offering from Stronghold Games.

October 12, 2012 3 Photos
Horse racing game at the starting gate
After covering thoroughbred racing locally for a dozen years, it has been frustrating that no board game I’ve tried has ever done a solid job in all areas of capturing the sport for the tabletop.

That may be about to change.

October 12, 2012 2 Photos
Hot Rod Creeps: Racing at a whole new level
There is nothing typical about Hot Rod Creeps, the new customizable racing game from Cryptozoic Entertainment and designer Matt Hyra.

Back many years ago when I had a group of friends who played Formula De, there were always a few who wanted to be able to mess with their opponents cars, whether it was to put down oil slicks or shoot weapons at them. Formula De had no such mechanic, but Hot Rod Creeps does.

September 14, 2012 6 Photos
Dark Ages portent of Dominion's conclusion?
As Dominion reaches its final stages, at least in terms of new releases, the final full expansion for the game, Dark Ages, carries a most appropriate name.

Everything is falling into Ruins and the cards reflect the calamity and the dire circumstances of the world as you know as a Dominion player.

September 11, 2012 6 Photos
Scripts & Scribes writes winning entry
Scripts & Scribes: The Dice Game is a reimplementation of the card game Scripts & Scribes, which later has come to be known as Biblios. Confused yet?

Well there is nothing confusing about the dice version of S & S, which is being published by Doctor Finn’s Games and has been created by Steve Finn.

September 4, 2012 3 Photos
In just 12 short Seasons, a classic
Some say there is really nothing new under the sun. That may be true.

But for gamers willing to see the larger picture and look at the expanse of Seasons, they will find a game full of variety and strategy while not sacrificing a simple, elegant design.

August 28, 2012 5 Photos
More Rick's Rec Room Headlines

Rick's Rec Room

Search Results

Related Photos

Discussion

Z-Man Games heading to Indy

Rising game company will show at GenCon

What's your favorite thing about Memorial Day weekend?

Site Map

Contact Us