Belfort is number 2! Wait, that doesn’t sound right…

Seeing as it’s the end of the year, a lot of top ten lists are coming out. Belfort was Dice Hate Me‘s number 1 game of the year; it was the number 3 choice for Ender Wiggins; and now we’ve made Joel Eddy’s number 2 game of the year!. Joel Eddy has been making a name for himself with his thorough review videos entitled Drive Thru Reviews. You can watch the video below to see his entire top ten list – or skip to 7:49 to hear his words about Belfort.

Or you can watch his entire video review of Belfort here.

Actually you can win a copy of his favourite game of the year by entering his contest.

So as this year comes to a close – an amazing year for Sen and I – we’d like to wish you all the best in the new year. We hope you find the playtesters you need, or at the least, you find the gamers you need, when you need them!

-Jay Cormier

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Belfort in the Top 3 and Top 400!

Ender Wiggins, who wrote 6 of the top 15 most viewed* board game reviews (Belfort’s review was the 8th most viewed review of 2011!),  made a list of his favourite games of the year. There are some amazing games in this list and anyone interested in checking out some new titles could hardly do better than those listed here. Oh, did I mention that Belfort is his third favourite strategy game of the year? 🙂 Huzzah!

In other Belfort related news, Belfort has just made it into the top 400 games of all time according to users on boardgamegeek.com. Wow, it’s just amazing to know that Belfort is entertaining so many people! Sen and I couldn’t be happier!

The final bit of Belfort news is that we’re one page away from completing our first Belfort comic! Catch up on it now and check back on Monday for the final page.

* it’s actually the reviews that got the most thumbs – which probably correlates to most viewed as well.

-Jay Cormier

 

Belfort named Game of the Year!

That’s right, Belfort was named Game of the year by popular board game review site, Dice Hate Me. Sen and I are flabbergasted!

“For me, Belfort is a rarity – a box full of magic that scratches multiple gaming itches in one intensely-satisfying sitting.”

Thanks for playing and for naming it your game of the year!

-Jay Cormier

Buzzworthy Review of Belfort

Boards and Bees has reviewed Belfort and has deemed it to be buzzworthy! Like many others, he enjoyed it and identified it not as a gateway game, but a few steps up the complexity ladder. Gateway games are games that are easier to teach and play, with hopes that they’d convert non-gamers into gamers. Carcassonne and Settlers of Catan are probably the two best examples of this – hence why they’re both available at places like Chapters and Toys R Us. I agree that Belfort isn’t a gateway game, but I do think it’s close. One or two games after a gateway game and anyone would be comfortable playing Belfort!

Check out his review here, and while you’re at it, the reviewer also has another blog where he goes by the name The Music Therapy Guy. That blog is a very entertaining collection of videos and thoughts on music as therapy. I spent a good 1-2 hours there when I first discovered it (nothing to do with board game, but worth a call out since it’s so entertaining!).

A Kinda Sorta Review…

In this video review, Ekko tries her best to tell the world how much she loves Belfort while her dad, Errol (the animator for our Belfort video who also happens to be the guy who’s responsible for Jay and I meeting AND playing “Eurogames”) annoys the SPIT out of her at every turn!

Despite her dad’s best efforts to derail this review, Ekko gave Belfort a 4.5 out of 5 – In the world of a 10-year old girl, that’s right up there with rainbows and unicorns!  So, pretty freaking awesome!

Thanks, Ekko!  Don’t let your dad tease you so much 😀  Love the hat!

~ Uncle Sen (It’s easier to say than my whole name, right Eks?)

Expansion for Belfort Announced for 2012…

Lookie lookie!  Michael Mindes, the head honcho over at Tasty Minstrel Games, broke his vow of silence and let the world (well, all the people over at BGG.com) know that we’re hard at work in the game kitchen cookin’ up some expansion goodness for Belfort.

He announced in the “20 Most Anticipated Games of 2012” thread on BGG’s GeekLists.  You can check here to see the progress we’re making.

Exactly what it will be, we can’t say…yet!

But Michael has let it be known that the first expansion will be small and affordable – thing something akin to the expansions that have been released for Days of Wonder’s Small World.  So think some tiles, chits, cards, maybe a die or two.  So keep your eyes peeled and you just might see some of the work in progressed released here!

And if you have an idea you’d love to see implemented in Belfort, let us know your thoughts!

~ Sen-Foong Lim

City TV – EVERYWHERE!

And now we are, too!  In fact, both Belfort and Train of Thought were featured on City TV’s Breakfast Television (Calgary) in a Holiday Gift Guide segment on boardgames.  Jasen Robillard did us proud by showcasing these and other games made by the Game Artisans of Canada (amongst other titles) on the air.

Here’s a link to the video on City TV’s site (I don’t think I can link directly to the actual video) – Check it out!

~ Sen-Foong Lim

Last One!

Train of Thought is almost *SOLD OUT* at the online shop for BestBuy; so if this is on a loved one’s wish list and you wanted to make sure you get it before the Holiday Season, order now! You can also tack on another small item if you want to take advantage of the free shipping (for orders over $20) (some restrictions probably apply…)

~ Sen-Foong Lim

More Belfort comic book pages!

In case you haven’t seen it yet, we’re now 6 pages into our Tales of Belfort comic. The entire story is only 10 pages long so we’re more than half way through! Head on over to Condo of Mystery to check out the lastest pages. To start from page one, just use the Belfort menu at the top.

The general concept is this: have you ever wondered why, in the game of Belfort, it takes an Elf AND a Dwarf to get metal from the mine? Well, here’s your answer!

-Jay Cormier

Free Games from Bamboozle Brothers!

Sen and I have decided to start giving away some of our games for free!

Crazy you say?

Maybe we are Milhouse, maybe we are…

Here’s the deal:  Awhile ago, we got our third game signed entitled But Wait, There’s More! It was a fun party game about matching benefit cards to item cards to come up with brand new inventions that you then had to pitch to the other players. We had a contract signed and everything.  We were ready to get going on development, but then fate stepped in.  Wearing combat boots.

Unfortunately, a few months after our contract was signed, there was another game announced that sounded very similar to our game – eerily similar.  So similar, in fact, that the one line pitch for each game would be near identical!  So the contract was cancelled and we were left with this great game in limbo.

So we’ve decided to give it to our faithful readers as a Holiday Gift from us to you!

All we ask for in return is that  If you do play the game, please let us know your thoughts! We had a blast creating it and playing it.  We hope that it can find its way into more homes through this PnP (Print and Play) release.

Go to this page to download all the printable components for your very own copy of But Wait, There’s More!  It’s also accessible from the top menu under “Free Games”, where it and any other PnP games we release will be housed.

Happy holidays!

-Jay Cormier