Category Archives: Jump Gate

FreeStarter Game Design Community Group Hug Giveway

  May 20, 2013 - 10:00 am | Dicey Curves, Fellow Designers, FreeStarter, Jump Gate, Others' Works, Special Events
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FreeStarter Game Design Community Group Hug Giveway

I’ve been chatting over past couple weeks with a couple of game design friends — namely Grant Rodiek from Hyperbole Games, AJ Porfirio from Van Ryder Games and Chevee Dodd – about how we all met through the online game design community, and that most of  us already have almost 1000 Twitter followers (Chevee is … special ;) ).

FreeStarter GroupWe wanted to have some sort of event to celebrate this and share some of our games with those who are following us on Twitter, Facebook, etc.

So, we came up with the overly silly “FreeStarter Game Design Community Group Hug Giveway,” where each of us are giving away 2 games for two different drawings:

The Serious Gamer Drawing … The entrant who wins this will receive free copies of:

The Casual Gamer Drawing … The entrant who wins this will receive free copies of:

Entering the contest is easy. Follow these 2 Steps!

1. Follow each of us on Twitter:

2. Email Grant at grant@hyperbolegames.com. Tell him which drawing you wish to enter: Serious or Casual.

The drawing for both sets of games will take place on the morning of Friday, May 22nd.  So , make sure you are registered before then!

If you are anti-Twitter for some reason, we can make that work out as well … we each have a website/mailing list and/or Facebook page as well as our Twitter accounts — we just want to spread the online connectedness love in one way or another.  So, if the Twitter thing seriously doesn’t work for you, send me a note and we’ll find a way to go you in.

FINALLY … for those of you that DO follow us on Twitter, you’ll be seeing links to discussions and other silliness as the week unfolds … please join in and help make things even merrier. :)

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Jump Gate, Second Edition, Now Available for $14 via eBay and BGG

  March 23, 2013 - 4:54 pm | Jump Gate
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Box top artwork for 2nd Edition of "Jump Gate"

You can now get Jump Gate, Second Edition, for $14, from either eBay or the BoardGameGeek.com Marketplace.

Order at either of those online shops will be a direct order from me.  So, I’d be happy to add a message inside the box cover if you’d like me to.

Artwork for "Jump Gate" 2nd Edition Box BottomRETAILERS (both online and FLGS): Send me an e-mail if you would like to have Jump Gate available via your store … I think you would like the wholesale pricing!

 

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Thoughts on a Third Edition of Jump Gate

  February 25, 2013 - 9:23 am | Jump Gate
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Early Draft of Sand Resource card for Jump Gate, 3rd EditionI’ve been thinking for a while now of repackaging the TGC edition of Jump Gate.  I’ve been updating the graphics with an eye to getting everything to fit into TGC’s new Small Pro Box (which is their best packaging option at this point, hands down).

But with the new edition, there are a number of other things I am thinking of tweaking in the game.  Here’s a quick list — and I’m looking for feedback and thoughts on these changes … (more…)

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Status Update on New Editions of Castle Danger and Jump Gate

  January 23, 2013 - 9:45 pm | Castle Danger, Jump Gate
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Castle Danger, 10th Anniversary Edition, Rules Booklet CoverIn addition to the new 10th Anniversary edition of Castle Danger that I’ve been mentioning, I am starting to work through a new smaller-box edition of Jump Gate via TGC.

The final proof pieces for Castle Danger have been ordered and should be here by this time next week.  Once I’ve had a chance to see it all together (and probably put together a quick game-play video), I’ll get the shop page updated on TGC and release the new edition.  As part of the launch celebration, I’m thinking of including the King of Danger deck with it for a limited time. :)

In the meantime, I’ve posted a couple of images of updated Jump Gate art on the Facebook page over the past couple of days. My plan is to use the new “Small Pro Box” that TGC announce last month, reduce the max. number of players to 5, tweak a few rules, and use smaller cards for everything … it’ll sort of be a “travel edition” without being called that specifically.  Here’s the early art — some planet examples and resource card examples:

Jump Gate, 3rd Edition, Early Planet Card Examples  Jump Gate, 3rd Edition, Early Resource Card Examples

:)

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Current Happenings

  November 4, 2012 - 9:22 pm | Board Games, Jump Gate, Magistrate, Special Events
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Matt Worden Games LogoWhile this is normally a pretty slow time of year for me (things really crank from Con of the North time in February through GenCon in August, andthen sort of change into a slow-mo through Fall and early Winter) I have been up to a few things.

I’ve been making a few updates on Facebook and Twitter — so, that’s a good place to get daily info on what’s up.

First, I’d like to direct your attention to a copy of Jump Gate that I have entered into the 2012 Jack Vasel Memorial Fund Auction at BoardGameGeek.  I will sign it and write an inside-the-cover message (if the winning bidder wants that sort of thing) … and I’ll ship it to anywhere in the world.  So, if you’re still looking to get a copy of the game and/or want to back a great gamer-focused charity, then put a bid on the thing.

Second, I’m happy to see that FatherGeek has had a chance to play Dicey Curves with the DANGER! Expansion, and really seems to like it, as do his little geeks.  I’d love to play a game with that crew — it has to be a blast!

As for games I am working on right now … lately, my time has been spent working out a simple dice game that recently popped into my brain.  I’ve put up a generic set of rules here: Simple Dice Game (Code Name: SB) (150)

MagistrateI do have a theme planned for the game, along with a specific target market … so, my next steps will be to get a nice prototype put together and get it tested by some folks.

Finally, I am continue to edge Magistrate forward. All of the post-GenCon changes have been worked in, I’ve figured out what would all go into the updated prototype, and I’m slogging my way through an updated rulebook … and, if you know how I work, you know that the rules-writing thing is a bit of a hang-up for me.  So, wish me luck and send me encouragement. ;)

 

 

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Game Stores & Distributors: Half Off Wholesale on Final Sets of Jump Gate (2nd ed.)

  September 26, 2012 - 11:12 am | Jump Gate, Special Events
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Box top artwork for 2nd Edition of "Jump Gate"

It’s time to reclaim my basement!

I have the last sets of Jump Gate (Second Edition) taking up space in my basement … and it’s time for me to get rid of them and convert that space over to something more family-friendly and useful.

To do that, I would like to sell as many of them as quickly as possible.  So, that means I’m quite flexible and willing to negotiate if someone has a great (and reasonable) offer to take a bunch of them off my hands.

To kick it all off, I will be offering them all for half-off the original wholesale pricing for stores (both online & FLGS) and distributors.  If you’ve bought from me in the past, you’ll know what that means.  If you haven’t purchased from me before, send me an e-mail and I’ll give you the full details.

Preliminary Artwork for "Jump Gate" 2nd Edition Box BottomAlso, there will be no shipping costs within the U.S. for orders of 5 or more copies.  Outside the U.S., I will split the actual shipping costs with you 50/50.

I will be e-mailing all of my previous store/distributor customers to let them know of this … but I am always happy and excited to work with new customers as well.

For those of you who aren’t game store buyers or distributors, but would like to get a copy of Jump Gate: START HERE, and then e-mail me if you aren’t finding what you’re looking for. :)

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See My Big Shiny Head in the July 2012 Issue of GAMES Magazine

  April 22, 2012 - 9:07 pm | Conventions, Dicey Curves, Jump Gate, TheGameCrafter.com
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GAMES Magazine July 2012John J. McCallion, the boardgame-centric editor at large for GAMES Magazine, published an interview with me in the July 2012 issue of GAMES.  So, go out and buy a copy (if you aren’t already subscribed), turn to page 75 and look for my big, shiny, disembodied head floating in the middle of the page.

If you’ve read any of his boardgame reviews in the magazine, you know that Mr. McCallion has a way with words … especially an exceptional ability for packing great density of information into a very efficient wordcount.  So, one of the last things I sent to him during our back-and-forth series of e-mails (which was our method for conducting the interview) was that he should feel free to edit my words as needed to fit into the space he had available for the article.  He did that and I think he did a great job of coaxing my original intended meaning out of many fewer words than I originally provided him with.  However, this means that you may notice some phrasing or word choices that you wouldn’t normally hear from me.

Matt's Head

My Head: It floats!

I was quite happy that he was able to include my prompts for a few of my favorite game design related things … namely:

  • Board Game Designers Forum — www.bgdf.com — A very good online community of designers, from absolute beginners through industry vets.  Such a good resource to learn and to share.
  • The Game Crafter — www.TheGameCrafter.com — the publish-your-own-game specialists, where you can buy most of my games.  There is a special paragraph specifically dedicated to discussing the merits of TGC on page 76 of the interview.
  • Protospiel — www.protospiel.org — an annual designer get-together held in July in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  I’ve only attended once, in 2009, and I do plan to be there again this year.  Also, there are a number of these sorts of get-togethers throughout the year and all over the country … but my trip to Protospiel had such an enormously positive impact on my designing that it hold special importance for me.

This is quite an honor and exciting thing … please check it out and let me know what you think!

-Matt :)

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Michael Fox Allows Me to Ramble On and On (Little Metal Dog Show)

  March 30, 2012 - 12:36 pm | Castle Danger, DareBase, Dicey Curves, Jump Gate, Keeps & Moats Chess, Subtilla, TheGameCrafter.com
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Little Metal Dog Show's Jump Gate Ship

Oh, Michael! What has your dog been eating?!

Michael Fox of the Little Metal Dog Show — an always-interesting podcast about board gaming — recently interviewed me via Skype for the show.

That conversation is now part of the latest episode of the LMD Show!  And he lets me ramble on and on about things … for over 20 minutes! :)

I will suggest that you listen to the whole show, because he starts with a very interesting industry topic — board games getting develop for iPhones and iPads — and ends by interviewing Stephen Avery and Tom Vasel about a game they have in the works by the name of Capo.

However, if you really just want to hear *my* nasally monotones counter-point with Michael’s brilliant and lovely pear-shaped lilting, you can start around the 23:15 mark.  And, yes, I was serious about my part being over 20 minutes long … and that was after some skillful editing!

Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

-Matt

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Dicey Curves Reviewed in May Issue of GAMES

  March 22, 2012 - 8:43 am | Dicey Curves, Jump Gate
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Dicey CurvesIf you don’t yet have the May issue of GAMES Magazine, then that is an easy thing to correct … just visit your favorite local bookstore or magazine rack and find a copy of it.  It’s usually tucked in around the Sudoku and crossword puzzle mags, since the majority of GAMES’ pages are fun mind-bending puzzles.

However, near the back of each issue, you can find nicely written game reviews, with Thomas L. McDonald handling the electronic games and John J. McCallion reviewing table top games.

You may remember that GAMES Magazine caused the latter part of 2010 to be quite exciting for me as they selected Jump Gate as their 2011 Traditional Game of the Year.

So, I’m pretty excited to see Dicey Curves get a review in their May issue.  It’s right there on page 72 … go ahead, give it a read and I’ll wait …

Not a whole lot of editorial in these reviews … mostly a straight-forward description of the game.  (The editorial/opinion writing is usually more evident in their end-of-the-year GAMES100 issue in December.)

I did, however, pull out a few happy words, such as “entertaining”.  There’s even a mention that the ability to subtly interfere with your opponents’ progress is “delightful, but not brutal.”  Well, the DANGER! Expansion — which, as I keep promising, will be out soon — will amp-up the “delightful” and completely remove the “not brutal”. ;)

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Space Mission Nominated for Origins Award

  March 21, 2012 - 9:43 pm | Dicey Curves, Jump Gate
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Origins Award Nominee SealThe nominees for the various categories of Origins Awards were announced today.  Space Mission, Schmidt Spiele’s European take on Jump Gate, was named as one of the 5 final nominees for the “Best Family, Party or Children’s Game”!

I find it interesting that Family games, Party games and Children’s games are all smished together into a single category while the various RPG stuff is all broken out into separate categories … but I don’t know much about the history or evolution of how GAMA has conducted these awards.

I do know that we will need to wait until June 2nd for the winners in each category to be announced, at the awards ceremony hosted during the Origins Game Fair held in Columbus, Ohio. (more…)

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