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Blue Orange at Gen Con 2019

Posted on July 26, 2019July 29, 2019 by Corinne Marcot-Jones

Gen-Con-2019 With summer in full swing, this is our favorite time of the year! Gen Con, the convention where we release many of our best board games, is the place we love to connect with our fans. This year is no exception! We have six exciting new titles to share with you: Detective Club, Kingdomino Duel, Pappy Winchester, Dragon Market, Planet, and Slide Quest.

We are also organizing the first ever Kingdomino USA Championship at Gen Con and registrations is officially open! We will crown the USA Champion and send them to France all expenses paid for the World Championship next year.

2019 is a year rich in new games for Blue Orange, and Gen Con will be all the more exciting because of it!

Visit us, Booth # 1813!

Slide Quest

The kingdom is in total chaos! Work together to guide this brave rolling knight through 20 adventures filled with twists and traps. Players each hold on to a lever and guide the moving platform in all directions, sliding the knight to follow the right paths while beating obstacles.

As challenges become more difficult, hold on to your lives to make it to the highest level and win!

Slide Quest turned a video game concept into a board game where dexterity and cooperation are keys to success.

Planet

2019 Mensa Select® winner!

A world is taking shape in the palm of your hands. Take on the role of super beings and compete to create perfect worlds with the ideal conditions for wildlife to flourish. In this very unique game, each player’s board is a 12-sided 3-dimensional planet core. Throughout 12 turns, select landscape tiles representing oceans, deserts, mountains or frozen lands, and arrange them on your planet to create the best ecosystems. Win Animal Cards while fulfilling your own ‘’Natural Habitat’’ objective and create the most populated planet in the universe!

Several events are planned throughout Gen Con to learn how to play the game and participate to tournaments. Register fast, some events are already sold out:

https://www.gencon.com/event_finder?search=blue+orangeus

Detective Club

Detective Club is a social deduction party game featuring beautiful, surreal artwork and intriguing player interactions! Each round, one player secretly writes a word in all-but- one of the other players’ notebooks. The player who does not know the word is the Conspirator this round. All players then take turns playing cards they feel best represent the word. When the word is revealed at the end of the round, each player explains why their cards make sense with the word. The player who didn’t know the word will have to quickly come up with an explication in order to not be detected!

Learn how to play Detective Club in the Event Hall on Thursday afternoon or Friday morning:

https://www.gencon.com/event_finder?search=blue+orange

Kingdomino Duel

Roll the dice, choose the ones you want, and put them together in pairs to create your dominoes. Domino by domino, fill in your map while entrusting the territories of your kingdom to loyal dignitaries. Gather favors from wizards in order to cast powerful spells which will allow you to rule without having to share. Kingdomino Duel is a completely independent game which preserves the essence of the acclaimed original Kingdomino. In this game, instead of adding dominoes to your kingdom, you will choose two dice to combine into a single “domino” which must then be drawn into your kingdom.

Pappy Winchester

Pappy Winchester has kicked the bucket! Poor thing, he was the king of swindlers and everyone knows he was filthy rich! His final wish was that his descendants would share his fortune and the plots of his ranch, with the richest becoming the new head of the family. After all, for him the most important thing was that his money stayed in the family! Pappy thought of everything and left an outline of his belongings. You and the other heirs are now assembled around this map to share out Pappy’s possessions.

Dragon Market

The royal wedding at Dragon’s Bay is set to commence in a few days time, so you have sent your eldest heir on a quest to gather gifts from the Dragon Market. This will be quite a fun adventure: running and jumping from boat to boat, collecting all the best treasures out from under the other families’ grasp!

In Dragon Market, players move river boats around the board in order to gather up the items they wish to present to the princess. On your turn, you will roll 2 dice and then make a number of moves equal to the dice result. Your options for moving are to either move your heir token, collecting any items you pass or to move a boat in straight line, or to rotate a boat 180 degrees. The first player to collect their items and return back to the start is the winner.

Learn how to play Dragon Market in the Event Hall on Sunday at 11am, 12pm or 1pm:

https://www.gencon.com/event_finder?search=dragon+market

Kingdomino USA Championship at Gen Con 2019

Posted on July 11, 2019July 11, 2019 by Corinne Marcot-Jones

Citizens of the domino kingdom! The time has come to show off your prowess. The queen has declared the opening of the US Kingdomino championship!

Enter for your chance to win a trip to the World Championship in France in August, 2020!

Blue Orange Games is hosting the Kingdomino USA Championship at Gen Con, Indianapolis, on Saturday August 3rd, 2019 in the Hall C of the Indiana Convention Center.

Anyone wishing to participate needs to be a Gen Con ticket holder and needs to register for the Kingdomino USA Championship on www.gencon.com in the Event section.

The Kingdomino USA Championship is a free event.

This is a multi-stage tournament. It is limited to 144 participants.

The top two players each hour (3:00-4:00pm, 4:00-5:00pm, 5:00-6:00pm and 6:00-7:00pm) will go on to compete in the Grand Finals (later that evening from 7:00pm to 9:00pm).

During each hour, 36 participants will be divided into 8 groups of either 4 or 5 players. Groups of 5 players will play with the Kingdomino expansion Age of Giants. The winners of each group will be divided in 2 groups of 4 and will play another game. The 2 winners of those groups will have to come back at 7pm for the Grand Finals.

The Grand Finals consists of 2 groups of 4 playing the base game of Kingdomino. The winners of each group will play a final game using the Mighty Duel rule variation (building a 7×7 kingdom).

Each of the 144 participants will receive:

– 1 USA Championship sticker

– 1 Kingdomino Crown

The 8 finalists (participating in the Grand Finals) will also receive:

– 1 Kingdomino Trophy KINGDOMINO-CHAMPIOSHIP-USA_Website_Gif

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The prize for the USA champion includes:

One round trip ticket from the US to Paris, France, plus local transportation around France (from the airport to the hotel and event) the site of Championship location in August 2020 (dates to be determined).
Blue Orange will also offer accommodation for 2 nights (including one night at the Championship castle), lunch and dinner the day of the Championship, and breakfast the following morning.
Additional nights and meals will be the individual’s responsibility.

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*No game purchase necessary.*

The prize cannot be exchanged for monetary value or any other item.

Blue Orange will be responsible for booking an airplane ticket in collaboration with the winner.

In the event that the winner cannot travel to France for any reason, the first prize will be offered to the 2nd place.

ELIGIBILITY

The winner must hold a valid passport for international travel.

This championship is open to legal residents of the 50 states of the United States and D.C. and participants must be 18 years or older by July 31st, 2020 in order to participate.

The participant must be a Gen Con valid ticket holder.

Limit one entry per person.

Additional limitations:

Blue Orange has the right to adjust or shut down the contest at any time, and maintains the right to investigate possible cheating or tampering before determining a winner. Any individual who cheats during the tournament will be penalized by disqualification.

Bannières – King Domino Championship USA – 34x92cm_IMPRESSION Any questions regarding the contest should be directed to Blue Orange Games at info@blueorangegames.comBannières – King Domino Championship USA – 34x92cm_IMPRESSION

Blue Orange sponsors Maths in Jeans: a rich experience for passionate middle school students!

Posted on July 11, 2019September 28, 2020 by Corinne Marcot-Jones

image_mini At Blue Orange, we love to create partnerships that directly benefit children while also promoting the value of play. A few months ago, Math in Jeans reached out to us looking for games for their Treasure Hunt activity, and for downtime play during their annual event. We were happy to say yes and to sponsor the Maths in Jeans conference hosted by the French school in San Francisco (LFSF). During this 3 days event, 270 middle and high school students, 34 teachers and 6 researchers and doctorate students gathered in the beautiful city by the Bay.

Sponsor hard work 2

Maths in Jeans is a project that aims to connect middle and high school students to the world of mathematical research. It is carried out by an association that has existed for hard work 30 years. Back in September, researchers gave Maths in Jeans nearly 50 research topics. Students from 10 French schools in North America and Singapore, chose a topic and worked on it for 6 months. Groups of students working on the same research were matched across schools to promote exchange and discovery. The groups presented their research to all the students during the event.

Matthieu Schavsinski, one of the Math teachers leading the organization, explains the benefits of the event and all the work going into it before the presentations: ‘’For our students, it’s a unique learning experience. This project is a way to learn about the research process, to experience collaboration with peers, overcome difficulties and find solutions when we are faced by very large problem we have to solve. It’s also the opportunity to show them how math relates to real life. For example, they work on modeling traffic jams, how to organize flights in an airport, or also how to identify the shortest road to link 4 cities anywhere on a map.’’

A treasure hunt with a pinpointer was organized to help students discover the area around the school, the perfect team-building activity. A selection of brainy Blue Orange games were set-up as challenges: racing to complete a Dr. Eureka or a Dr. Beaker challenge for example were part of the hunt! Each team was made of 10 students of different ages and backgrounds and a chaperon. The best team was rewarded with board games and calculators!

During the breaks, students had access to more Blue Orange games and we were told they loved the diversion from math to games.

We are glad this event was a big success!

If you are interested by the organization Maths in Jeans, please contact Matthieu Schavsinski: mschavsinski@lelycee.org.

If you organize an event for which Blue Orange could be a key partner by providing games, do not hesitate to present your project by emailing marketing@blueorangegames.com.

Dr. Beaker Challenge!

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If you could make your own Planet, what would you do? Find out on Earth Day, 4/22/2019

Posted on March 8, 2019 by Corinne Marcot-Jones

Our new game, Planet, is a unique board game featuring 3-dimensional playing boards representing the earth, in which you compete to create the most populated planet. Release date will coincide with Earth Day on April 22, 2019.

A year and a half ago we launched Photosynthesis at Gen Con, a visual striking strategic board game in which players plant trees, collect sunlight to grow them and harvest the tallest trees to earn points based on the richness of the soil they grew on. The success of Photosynthesis was unprecedented and one of the reasons why we wanted to expand this line of earthy board games celebrating the beautiful planet we leave on. Just like Photosynthesis, Planet makes a visual statement with an eye-catching graphic on the box which carries over to the uniqueness of its components; making for an impressive accessory on the playing table. Urtis Sulinkas, the game creator is known for his clever mechanics, and surely has stood up to his reputation with this game. Planet is also exceptionally illustrated by Sabrina Miramon.

Photosynthesis was bestowed numerous awards over the last year including the coveted Mensa Select. Following in its steps, Planet has already been selected for the Mensa competition taking place in mid-April and we will be entering Planet into the ring for various other awards including the Spiel des Jahres.

We couldn’t think of a better day to launch our new game than Earth Day 2019 – April 22^nd.

Planet_GameOpen01_Lyrs

In Planet, players take on the role of super beings and compete to create perfect worlds with the ideal conditions for wildlife to flourish. Each player’s board is a unique 12-sided 3-dimensional planet core. Throughout 12 turns, players select landscape tiles representing oceans, deserts, mountains or frozen lands, and arrange them on their magnetic planet core to create the best ecosystems. They win Animal Cards at the end of each turn based on who matches the Animal Card requirements better, and they try to fulfill their own ‘’Natural Habitat’’ objective all throughout the game to win additional points at the end.

Planet is a 30 minute game for ages 8 & Up.

Each box includes:

4 Planet Cores
50 Magnetic Continent Tiles
45 Animal Cards
5 Natural Habitat Objective Cards
1 First Player Token
Illustrated Rules

Planet_GameOpen2_Lyrs

Pre-orders are available through our website or at your local game store.

http://www.blueorangegames.com/index.php/games/planet

Our Very Own Holiday Gift Guide!

Posted on November 20, 2018November 20, 2018 by Corinne Marcot-Jones

Let us help you find the perfect game for everyone on your list!

Our 2018 Collection is full of very good games, so we picked our favorites, broke them down by age and highlighted their theme to help you find the perfect presents!

For 3 Years Old who love bunnies!

BO_NewGames2018_Happy Bunny

Blue Orange launched a collection of cooperative games this year and Happy Bunny is a favorite!

Everyone helps the bunny pick the best carrots to bring home to his family, plucking them from the box just like you would from the ground. The trick with carrots? You need to test them first to find the most delicious ones! Make sure to pick carefully- all the bitten carrots are for the bunny, while the untouched ones are for the farmer who is also working in the fields. Line up the bunny’s carrots at the end of the day and compare them with the farmer’s harvest to see who picked the tastiest bunch!

This adorable game is perfect to teach teamwork and counting.

Check out our Happy Bunny video

For 4 & 5 Years Old

BO_NewGames2018_Kitty Bitty

Kitty Bitty is our new adorable, all wooden memory game.

The game is set-up with all the mommy cats in the middle of the table, and all the yarn balls forming a circle around them. Each turn, roll the dice, look for the mommy cat matching their colors, and lift one of her eye. If there is a kitten underneath the eye, it means the mommy saw you, you have to stay where you are, and it’s the next player’s turn! But if there is nothing underneath the eye, your kitten advances one yarn ball. The first kitten to go all around the circle and back to the basket wins!

Players must correctly identify colors, and remember which mommy cat eyes will catch the kittens so that the fun never stops in this colorful game.

For 6 Years Old who like active play!

SlingBall_Freestyle_Pkg_Flat

Djubi is the ultimate game of catch that allows you to send the ball sailing over 100 feet! It relies on a unique launching system that creates maximum distance and maximum fun! The balls come with a rubber loop attached, allowing players to launch them from a hook on the racket frame.

The Djubi collection also includes Djubi Classic, Djubi Jr., and Dartball.

Check out our Djubi video

For 7 Years Old who like team play!

BO_NewGames2018_Maki Stack

Maki Stack is perfect for an afternoon full of fun and laughs!

Put on your mask and grab your teammate, or prepare to use your fingers as chopsticks. Balance and arrange the sushi, plates, and soy sauce bottles, and make sure to execute the order exactly as shown on the card. But be careful, one wrong move and everything might tumble over! Race a friend or challenge as a team in this sushi stacking extravaganza. High-quality wooden pieces and crazy stacking combinations make Maki Stack a beautiful gift for lasting fun.

Check out our Maki Stack video

For 8 Years Old who are into logic puzzles…

BO_NewGames2018_BrainConnect

Brain Connect is a clever twist on classic sliding puzzles, this game is perfect for solo solving or racing against friends!

Quickly slide and connect your thoughts into the right order (by connecting 2 points with a red line), then, be the first to complete the action illustrated on the card at play to win!

These sliding puzzles have 16 different start and stop points, so creating a clear train of thought is always a new and exciting challenge.

For all board games lovers…

BO_NewGames2018_RoyalCollection

You cannot go wrong when offering Kingdomino. Our Spiel Des Jahres winner is one of the best board game on the market. Children 6 & Up will understand the easy rules, but the truth is, this game is enjoyed and appreciated for its game mechanic (and fun graphics) at any age.

Each turn, connect a new domino to your existing kingdom, making sure at least one of its sides connects to a matching terrain type already in play. The order of who picks a tile first depends on which tile was previously chosen. Make sure to secure tiles with crowns- these royal treasures help to multiply the worth of your kingdom at the end of the game! The game ends when each player has completed a 5×5 grid, and then points are counted based on the number of connecting tiles and crowns.

Queendomino uses the same mechanic, at a more complex level, and Age of Giants is the expansion that was just added to the Collection. It allows for a 5th player to join in and adds interaction between players.The Giants meeples cancel crowns’ value so you do not want to end up with a Giant on your kingdom!

Winner_Photosynth_FB

Photosynthesis is a beautiful gift that will make a huge statement. In this game you take your trees through their life-cycle, from seedling to full bloom to rebirth, and earn points as their leaves collect energy from the revolving sun’s rays. Carefully pick where you sow and when you grow, as trees in the shadows are blocked from light, and from points.

This game features realistic game play and beautiful graphics. Photosynthesis won many Awards including the coveted MENSA Select, and the Toy of the Year Award in the Strategy category, delivered by the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association.

Check out our Photosynthesis animation (viewed over 32,400 times!)

We didn’t forget the Stocking Stuffers!

BO_NewGames2018_WhoDidIt

This little game has been very popular: A poop game in a poop bag! Who did it?

In this hilarious card game, players race to get rid of their cards so they can avoid the blame of owning the animal that pooped! Each game is as funny as it is fast; quickly find your card, be the first to throw it down, and then blame someone else! Was it YOUR cat that pooped in the living room? Because it wasn’t my fish!

We recommend it as a Stocking Stuffer for 6 to 12 years old.

Check out our Who did it? video

BO_NewGames2018_Mindo (1)

Mindo is a collection of 5 clever puzzles: Kitten, Puppy, Robot, Unicorn for younger children, and Zen for older players.

Play solo, or combine them and race your friends. No matter which version you choose the rules are the same: turn and flip the double-sided tiles until you have recreated the color pattern on the challenge card. They only fit one way into a 3×3 or 4×4 grid, so think and plan carefully. 60 different challenge cards and 4 levels of difficulty ensure hours of brain teasing fun!

We recommend the kids’ themes as a Stocking Stuffer for 5 to 8 years old, and the Zen theme for children 8 & Up and adults.

Check out our Mindo video

To take a look at all of our games, please visit our website: www.blueorangegames.com. Happy Holidays from all of us at Blue Orange!

Blue Orange invites you to visit your Neighborhood Toy Store on Saturday November 10th, 2018!

Posted on November 6, 2018November 6, 2018 by Corinne Marcot-Jones

Neighborhood Toy Store Day is held on the second Saturday of November every year and is designed to kick off the holiday season with special events that introduce consumers to the benefits of shopping local.

Neighborhood Toy Store Day was created by the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association (ASTRA), a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting local toy shopping and creative open ended playtime for children.

Independent toy stores around the country participate by hosting fun, free and family friendly events, such as face painting, craft projects, live performances and more.

Independent toy stores offer multiple advantages to shoppers:

A carefully curated selection of toys, selected with local families in mind.
A focus on providing unique selections and the kind of quality not always found at national chains. Local toy stores select from brands both large and small, including little known brands that are not advertised on TV.
Because they observe kids at play day in and day out, independent toy stores can offer the best advice on the right selection for individual kids.
Independent toy store owners are toy experts who understand the value of play and what types of toys encourage the best kind of play.
By offering a personalized approach and additional customer service, local toy stores make holiday shopping easier.

Independent toy stores also provide many benefits to the community as a whole, by:

Creating jobs and preserving neighborhoods.
Compared to chain stores, putting a significantly larger share of revenue back into the local economy in the form of taxes, salaries and more.
Supporting environmental sustainability, by helping to maintain vibrant, walkable town centers, essential to reducing sprawl, automobile use, habitat loss and air and water pollution.

For more information on Neighborhood Toy Store Day and to find a participating retailer near you, visit http://ntsd.astratoy.org.

Content provided by the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association.

Gen Con 2018 may be over…

Posted on August 30, 2018September 26, 2019 by Corinne Marcot-Jones

Arstechnica.com Image from Zimmerman’s article on Sunday, August 7^th, 2018

but the convention will have a long-lasting effect on all of us, between the great memories, the new friendships and contacts, the games discoveries, and so much more. In Indianapolis this year, we saw the early success of our three new releases: Scarabya, Kingdomino Expansion Age of Giants, and Blue Lagoon.

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The energy and enthusiasm of fans and employees alike was overwhelming throughout the four days the convention took place. We were always busy at our 400 sq. ft. booth and so were the six tables in the Event Hall where almost 900 players registered to play and joined in the fun.

Images by Be Bold Games at Gen Con in August 2018

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We could not be more excited about how well fans received the new games, and this was made apparent when we saw the Board Game Geek GeekBuzz list on Sunday, at the end of the convention. Scarabya was in first place, followed by Blue Lagoon, and then Age of Giants.

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Boardgamegeek.com GeekBuzz list screenshot on Sunday, August 5^th, 2018

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Scarabya is a tile-laying puzzle game designed by Bruno Cathala and Ludovic Maublanc.

The game, which includes unique gameplay and intricate components, is played by positioning pentomino tiles on individual boards to create excavation zones of 1 to 4 squares that contain scarabs. The scarabs are then worth the size of the zone they are in.

Age of Giants, designed by Bruno Cathala, was an expected hit following the fame of Kingdomino, Spiels des Jahres winner in 2017. The expansion, to be played with Kingdomino or Queendomino, adds new challenges, brings a new level of player interaction, and includes a domino dispenser tower. It also allows for a fifth player to join.

Blue Lagoon, designed by Reiner Knizia, requires smart placement and anticipation to win. The area control and set collection game is won through the accumulation of points by collecting resources and settling on the islands.

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A special surprise, Bruno Cathala came to the Blue Orange booth each day to meet fans and promote his games. We, along with fans, loved having him there and getting to play his games with him! What a memorable experience to have the game designer sign your copy.

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Image by Be Bold Games at Gen Con in August 2018

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Along with the release of the new games came exclusive collectible pins to match! If you were one of the lucky first 250 to purchase any of the new games, you received a pin to go with it!

Twitter.com Gameosity tweet screenshot on Friday, July 27^th, 2018

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With the closing of Gen Con 2018, we are already looking forward to next year and all it will bring. Thank you immensely to everyone who came out to support us! We could not ask for better fans, and we do all we can to keep you happy and loving our games! Stay tuned in for updates on games and other exclusives we have! Special thank you to Be Bold Games, Ars Technica, and Gameosity for the awesome pictures!

Blue Lagoon, Age of Giants, and Scarabya are all available in stores and online.