July 25, 2004 New
edition of GIPF We are currently
working on a new version of GIPF. The game remains the same, of course,
but it will get a new design, the box will have the same size as ZÈRTZ,
DVONN and YINSH, and the pieces will be manufactured in bakelite,
i.e. the same material as the ZÈRTZ, DVONN and YINSH pieces.
Concerning this last matter, there's a risk: the black pieces will
be OK for sure (after all, black is black, isn't it?), but we have
no idea yet of what the exact color of the ivory pieces will be; that
will depend on the raw material that is used to color the bakelite.
The pigment of the raw material cannot be controled, and as a result
of that it is not possible to know in advance what the shade of the
ivory color will be. This will have no consequences for those who
play straight GIPF (i.e. all the ivory pieces in one and the same
game will have the same shade), but there may be a problem for the
ones amongst you that like to add potentials: if we have bad luck,
the shade of the new ivory pieces may differ quite a bit from the
color of acrylic plastic that is used to manufacture the potentials.
Any way, the decision has been made; after a lot of considerations
we took the risk! The idea behind it is: if also GIPF will have bakelite
pieces, then bakelite will become even more the "standard"
material of Project GIPF. We just *love* the feel, the sound, and
the weight of bakelite pieces!Now, let's just hope that it will turn
out well!
The new version is supposed to be ready by the end of September, and
it will be officially released during Spiel '04 in Essen, Germany.
Distribution
in Canada and the Netherlands
We have found new partners in Canada and the
Netherlands:
- Filosafia Inc. will from now on distribute Project GIPF in
Canada. Filosofia is located in Montreal, Quebeck. That is the French
speaking part of Canada, but Sophie Gravel, the woman behind Filosofia,
will cover the complete country! Filosofia also carries Abacusspiele,
Days of Wonder, Jeux Descartes and Haba, so the games of Project GIPF
are in good company - and in good hands! Contact: Sophie
Gravel.
- Vendetta is a new company in the Netherlands, that was founded
by 8 game-enthusiastics. They were all already active in the Dutch
game scene - some professionally, others as experienced gamers - and
now they have joined forces. Their aim is to promote playing games
in general and to support all kinds of gaming events. Besides that,
they will also start distributing games. To start their activities
as a distributor, they are going to put Project GIPF in the picture!
Contact: Armand Servaes.
Dedicated people, this is what Project GIPF needs. We are very excited
about what is going to happen in Canada and the Netherlands.
YINSH selected for the "Nederlandse
Spellenprijs"
We got the good news that YINSH is nominated for the "Nederlandse
Spellenprijs". That means something like the "Dutch Games
Award". Each year a jury with 7 members makes a selection of
8 games amongst the games that are published the past 12 months. These
8 games are presented to the public - this year the selection was
made public on 19th of July. Now the public has 6 weeks to play the
selected games, and next they may vote, c.q. give, respectively, a
score of 4, 2 and 1 to their 3 favourite games. The voting starts
on September 4, and the winner will be announced one month later,
on October 4. The eventual presentation will take place during "Het
Spellenspektakel", the yearly games fair in Eindhoven.
Those who understand Dutch can find more info about this award on
the site of the "Stichting
Nederlandse Spellenprijs".
DVONN & GIPF WC again in Eindhoven
(NL) There has been very little
tournament activity this year. As already said in a previous news
item: we'll try to get more tournaments scheduled again in the future.
And we have good hope that others will also start to do so. For the
time being we have two big events to announce: there will be a GIPF
and a DVONN World Championship in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, again.
That is, just like last year, during "Het
Spellenspektakel". The GIPF WC will take place on Saturday,
October 30, and the DVONN WC on Sunday, October 31. More details will
follow in due time.
Unfortunately no ZÈRTZ WC in Eindhoven this year. We had planned
to put it on the agenda for Friday, October 29, but almost the entire
competition area will be used for a big Yu-Gi-Oh tournament that day.
The only alternative was to also schedule the ZÈRTZ WC on the
same day as the DVONN WC, but we decided not to do so. But, somehow,
we'll have a ZÈRTZ WC this year. Maybe we'll use the online
facilities on boardspace.net.
We'll keep you informed!
"Boîte à Jeux": turn based
GIPF & DVONN For the moment
things are going quite well in France. The games get very good reviews,
Yinsh got a nomination for "l'As d'Or", and a new French
games portal offers the possibility to play GIPF and DVONN. The site
is called "La boîte à jeux" and so far
they have 4 games going (and a 5th coming up). It is online for already
4 or 5 months; in the beginning there were some bugs, but steadily
play got better and better. Meanwhile the portal counts more than
1000 registered players and there's a lot of gaming going on. So,
if you know how to deal with the french language and if you are looking
for GIPF- and DVONN-opponents, go to Boîte
à Jeux. Good work, *fredm*.
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