Hey PI – Fans,
This week has been a huge week in board gaming, with multiple huge announcements from many game publishers. Without further ado, here are PI picks for the top news of the week!
Finspan Announced
With the success of Wingspan and Wyrmspan, Stonemaier games has designed another game set in the Wingspan universe, Finspan! Instead of birds or dragons, you are now a marine researcher seeking to find and observe an array of aquatic life in the colorful Sunlight Zone, ghostly Twilight Zone, and pitch-black Midnight Zone of the world’s seas and oceans.
From early information and photos taken from Stonemaier games official website, Finspan will primarily work around the same mechanics as Wingspan and Wyrmspan, with the objective of the game being to grow your collection of fish, discover freshly laid eggs, and hatch eggs into young and consolidate young to form schools. The same engine building mechanic of putting fishes into different habitats to boost certain actions seem to be present as well, and we are very excited to see what new mechanics Stonemaier has developed and added into an already vibrant game and playstyle!
HEAT Tunnel Vision
Days of Wonder has also confirmed, via their facebook, that HEAT Tunnel Vision expansion will be available soon! With two brand-new circuits, fresh rules, and space for a new additional player, HEAT Tunnel Vision revs up for even more competitive and memorable races.
While not officially confirmed, it seems very likely that the two new tracks being introduced in this expansion are the Spanish Grand Prix and the Netherlands track, and the new mechanic introduced being drafting. In real life racing, drafting is the act of following behind another car to reduce the amount of wind resistance pulling your car back, allowing you to hit much higher speeds on the straights. It will be interesting to see how Days of Wonder have managed to incorporate this into their racing game.
Catan Refresh
Finally, CATAN has announced a 6th Edition refresh of their game for their 30th anniversary.
From CATAN’s website:
While CATAN’s 6th edition maintains its essential mechanics, many of the game’s creative components have been re-envisioned to provide additional ease and functionality. The game’s rulebook now features more imagery, and easy graphic examples that simplify the learning process.
The game also features revamped art, from updated packaging to enhanced game components. The new premium square format box is finished with updated lid art, which paints a richer picture of the settings, immersing the player in the adventure they are about to embark on.
As part of the new edition, the following popular expansions will be released in 2025: Seafarers, Cities & Knights, and later, Traders & Barbarians as well as Explorers & Pirates. In addition all 5-6 player extensions for these games will be released as well.
CATAN themselves have also stated in interviews and their Instagram post that CATAN 6th Edition will be fully backwards compatible with CATAN 5th Edition, which is great news for anyone who already owns a copy of CATAN, and are looking to get expansions.
While we here at PI do like the new art, we are not fans of CATAN changing the colour of the Cities and Knights from Green to Orange 🙁
