There was a strong field of entries for the 3rd annual NZGA Awards!

We are pleased to announce the following winners:

New Game of the Year 2011 – Toppletree by Matthew Lazenby and IQideas

Teacher’s Choice Award 2011 – Kiwi Quiz by Edugames

Children’s Choice Award 2011 – Time Zone by Edugames

Thanks to our independent panels of judges who assessed the games entered for these awards.

More information can be found on the 2011 Awards page.

BattleCry is on Feb 17-20, 2012 at the ASB Arena in Auckland, having run almost continuously since 1984!

Their main focus is roleplaying and wargaming, but they’ve got various boardgaming events happening as well.

“Come along and attend BattleCry, Auckland’s largest all-round weekend gaming convention. On hand will be all manner of roleplaying, wargaming, cardgaming, and live-action tournaments and events, as well as a collection of stalls and displays of gaming materials. We welcome all comers, from experienced gamers to those of you out there that are merely curious as to what it is all about.”

More info at the BattleCry site.

Wellycon, the astonishing weekend of boardgame fun, is back again for 2011. With a new venue and an expanded program, it’s going to be amazing! If you love games, you need to be there.

And note that they’ve a prototype playtesting session on Saturday at 3pm, so if you’ve got a game in development it’s a great opportunity to put it in front people who will give you incisive feedback.

Here’s the spiel, directly from the Wellcon folk themselves:

This year we are located at:
Student Common room, Level 1,
Student Service Trust Building1,
Massey University, Entrance E,
Tasman Street, Wellington

There is plenty of parking right out front of the Tussock bar and cafe which is the ground floor of the Student Service Trust Building, so we strongly advice that you enter from the Tasman Street side unless you are taking public transport.

If you are taking public transport the number 10 bus is the best. It does not run directly down Tasman street, so you can attempt to walk through Massey from the other side or get off near the top of Tasman street and walk to Entrance E or simply walk from Adelaide Road where a bunch of buses such as the number 1 bus travel.
http://www.metlink.org.nz/timetables/bus/010

Food will be available on site over lunch each day (12 – 2 approx). Drink and snacks will be available for the duration of the convention from us or from a bank of vending machines. We will also take prepaid orders (approx $10) for dinner each night. You are welcome to bring your own food to the venue. Food and drink don’t mix with board games, so please don’t eat or drink at the game tables. We have a special breakoutroom for eating.

There will be a number of features:
Trading session (Sunday 12pm): Bring along those unwanted games
Prototype play-test (Saturday 3pm): Open to anyone keen to play or demo prototype games, be sure to bring your latest creation.
Pub quiz (Saturday 7.30pm): Test your gaming and general knowledge in a 30 minute quick fire quiz.
Family session (Sunday 2.30pm): Especially for families with kids ages 5 -10 (discounted admission)

Published designers will be on site during the weekend, as will some of your favourite vendors. We will have more volunteers this year to organise and teach games. This is all in addition to our excellent game library crammed full of gaming goodness.

While stocks last we will be giving away our commemorative dice for free to any first time attendees and anyone that travels from outside of the lower north island. Bring a friend that hasn’t been before and you also receive a free dice. Otherwise you can pick up your dice for $3 each (limit 5).

The Admission fee is $5 a day flat rate with discounts for families. This is effectively nothing. You can’t go to a movie for $5, a 12 year can’t satisfy their hunger at McDonalds for $5, you can’t hire rollerblades or bikes for $5. Nether can you rent a new release video, buy a magazine, or even drive up the coast for $5. It’s scandelous, it’s outrageous, it’s incredibly cheap.

Of course some might say you can sit at home playing games with your mates all day for nothing. But the fact is most of us won’t and can’t and most of us want to play something we don’t already have. You get to immerse yourself in games … if you want.

And really importantly there are prizes galore. Your expected value of prizes is likely to exceed your entry fee, meaning that statistically WE ARE PAYING YOU TO COME AND PLAY GAMES. We have Pixelpark and Seriouslyboard both on board (drum roll please), and we hope to have a presence from our Friendly Local Game Stores too.

To fast track your registration you will want to register by sending an email to our special registration address wellycon2011@gmail.com , with your home town, names of the people attending, which previous Wellycons you have attended and your Boardgamegeek user id if are a member. This will ensure you avoid the queues and can get into gaming as quickly as possible.

We are ready and rearing to go for a fantastic weekend of gaming. Check out the schedule above and be ready for prizes, personalities and plenty of Pandemic. Bring some friends and some games and we’ll see you there.

Full program
Saturday
9am Setup
10am Registration
2pm Tournament
3pm Prototype demo and play test session
5pm Prize giving
6.30pm Pizza dinner (orders confirmed by 5.15pm)
7.30pm Pub quiz

Sunday
10am Registration
12pm Trading
2.30pm Family session
5pm Prize giving

Entries are now open for the 2011 NZ Games Awards.

There are 3 categories
- New Game of the Year 2011 (for games released between 1 Jan 2010 & 31 May 2011)
- Teachers Choice 2011 (open to all games)
- Children’s Choice 2011 (open to all games)

Entries close 8th July 2011. Contact david@edugames.co.nz for entry forms.

Five Men Standing, the official game of Rugby World Cup 2011 that’s a collaboration between Nectarine and IQIdeas, has been getting a bit of coverage lately.

Andrew Baker spoke to Murray Deaker on Newstalk ZB last night about the game, there’s an upcoming Otago Daily Times article and Minty Hunter and Bek Farr chatted to Kerri Bowling of the Wairarapa Midweek in front-page coverage:

As the world counts down to the 2011 Rugby World Cup, a Carterton couple is hoping to bring some of the action into homes. Kerri Bowling reports.

Minty Hunter and Bek Farr have teamed up with Andrew Baker, from Hawke’s Bay company IQ Ideas, to co-produce and co-invent a board game called Five Men Standing – the official game of the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Both have worked on about 15 different board games during the last few years, but this is their first 50/50 production.

A self-confessed board game geek, Minty grew up playing games such as Dungeons and Dragon, while Bek has preferred card games and has fond memories of playing canasta or 500 during school breaks.

The pair came up with the concept for the game – which Minty describes as a combination of Yahtzee and Pass the Pigs “but a lot faster” – about six months ago, and he says they have been working “like the clappers” to be ready for Christmas.

So how do you play? Each player has a five-man rugby team which they must throw on a table. The figures bounce around and will land in one of four stances – standing (best), on their side, on their back or face down (out of play – worst). Players can re-roll any which are not on their back, always trying for the best combination. At any stage a player can yell out “stop”, and combos are compared.

Among the challenges Bek faced was designing the miniature figurines.

“I spent many nights in front of the TV trying to make male figures, and getting the balance right. I had to make sure that they landed on the feet a certain percentage of the time, while still making it the hardest stance to achieve,” she says.

Each game set includes figurines representing the teams that will compete at the World Cup tournament, with information on each.

There is also a wall chart of the draws to enable people to follow their teams’ progress during the tournament.

Extra team packs can be bought separately.

What makes a good game? According to Minty, it is one that is simple to learn, involves strategy and some luck, and is fun for both children and adults- and the pair are hoping their new game sails straight between the uprights.

Wairarapa Midweek, December 7, 2010

2010 Games Award Winners announced

See http://nzgames.org/nzga-awards/

NZ game artists and designers Nectarine have just sent the Happy Sheep game, their collaboration with IQideas, off to the printers.

Happy Sheep’s a fast, fun game of memory, deduction and bluffing. You can find out more about it here and grab a sneak peak at the graphics and rules.

Wellycon is on next weekend, and Ian Anderson has kindly put together a fantastic guide with everything you need to know about gaming at this brilliant convention:

New Zealand designer Shem Phillips’ game Saqqara (previously called Nomarchs and Pharaohs) has been picked up by White Goblin Games.

They plan to publish Saqqara in February 2011, and it sounds they’ve got a quite famous illustrator working on it (hush hush at the moment thought!).

UPDATE: From Shem’s site:

It’s official – White Goblin have now starting working towards the release of Saqqara. So far we have decided to market the game for 3-5 players (although it can be played with 2, it works better with at least 3). They have chosen Matthias Catrein (Dominion, Phoenicia) to illustrate the game. More details to come soon.

This is fabulous news- it’s great to see another NZ game designer having success on a world stage!

Wellycon 2010 sees the return of this fabulous boardgaming convention!

St Pats College
Kilbirnie
Wellington
Saturday August 14, 10am – 10pm
Sunday August 15, 10am – 6pm

Special Events
Game Designers Forum.
Saturday afternoon 2.30 – 4.00 : Kids time, special section and session for the family ($2 only).
Saturday evening 7.30 – 8.30 : Wits and wages team tournament using New Zealand designed questions and the Kids version rules.

Register here!

In part three of an NZ Herald series celebrating entrepreneurial success, Gill South talks to Kiwi game inventors Carl de Visser and Jarratt Gray about their runaway success Endeavor.

“Your Weekend” magazine’s June 26th edition has a cover and lead article on boardgaming in New Zealand.

The cover features the fabulous Andy Rae, of Wellycon fame. Journalist Gill South does an excellent round-up of the scene and it’s well worth a free. You can grab a pdf of the article here (1.4MB), or if JPEG’s more your speed, head over to the post at Seriously Board.

The NZGA AGM will be held on June 10^th 9.30am to 10am, followed by a committee meeting of the newly elected committee (10am to 11.30pm)
Meeting at 2C Handley Ave, Devonport, Auckland

All members may attend the AGM. Only Ordinary members can vote at the AGM.

AGM AGENDA

1. Attendance, Introductions, Apologies

2. Membership update (all ordinary members have the right to vote)

3. Minutes of previous meetings

4. Chairman’s report

5. Treasurer’s report on the finances of the society, and the Statement of Accounts

6. Appointment of Auditor (or not)

7. Election of Committee

8. Motions to be considered

9. General Business

10. Approval of plans for the balance of this calendar year & the next one

Nominations are now open for the NZGA Committee. Each candidate must be proposed and seconded in writing by Ordinary Members and the completed nomination delivered to the Secretary (info@nzgames.org ). Nominations close at 5pm on the fifth day before the Annual General Meeting.

If you have any questions about this, please contact the NZGA Chairman David Allis ph (9) 445 1296

Entries are now open for the 2010 NZ Games Awards.

There are 3 categories
- New Game of the Year 2010 (for games released between 1 Jan 2009 & 31 May 2010)
- Teachers Choice 2010 (open to all games)
- Children’s Choice 2010 (open to all games)

Entries close 25th May 2010. Contact david@edugames.co.nz for entry forms.

The news out of the UK is that Monopoly has beaten out Barbie, Lego and Go-Go Hamsters to be voted the best value toy of the year. Here, The New Zealand Investment Game has topped the lot of the Games Association’s best new games to come out in 2009. Like Monopoly, the object of the game is simple – be the player to make the most money! Jim Mora interviewed Frank Newman about the game, and you can hear it here.

The NZGA has just announced the winners of the 2009 NZGA Awards.

The winners are -

New Game of the Year 2009   -   The New Zealand Investment Game   by Frank Newman

Teacher’s Choice Award 2009   -   The Amazing Moa Hunt Game  by IQideas

Children’s Choice Award 2009   -   The Amazing Mammoth Hunt  by IQideas

Look here for further details.

Organiser Andy Rae has a great roundup of Wellycon on BoardGameGeek, with fabulous pics!

Angie from Seriously Board has posted a great guide to preparing for Wellycon 2009. Get the most out of your Wellycon experience!

Wellycon 2009 is on in Wellington next weekend, the 15th and 16th of August!

This is the second appearance for this annual convention, the brain child of Wellington board gamer Andrew Rae, who has done a fantastic job of seeing a need and ‘making it happen’.

The inaugural convention in 2008 attracted 60 gamers from across the country, and early signs are that it will be even bigger in 2009, with a warm up event in late May drawing almost as many enthusiasts as last year’s major event.

There will be prizes on offer, with retailer Seriously Board offering a brand new copy of BoardGameGeek top 10 title Le Havre, as well as the ever popular New Zealand game Stonewall.

The NZGA will be represented, bringing a selection of NZ games for playing and as prizes.

There’s no need to register, either – just turn up and play!

Wellycon 2009
St. Patrick’s College, Kilbirnie, Wellington
August 15-16th, 2009 (Saturday 10am-10pm, Sunday 10am-4pm)
Only $5 per day, so don’t miss out!

The New Zealand Games Association (NZGA) aims to encourage the development of the boardgame industry in Aotearoa New Zealand, from game design & development, through publishing and sales.

We’re in the process of setting up our website. Check back soon!