Tag Archives: arcane wonders

Gen Con 2025: Arcane Wonders and Arclight Games Announce the Upcoming Launch of Cozy and Cooperative Dexterity Game Cat and the Tower

Cat and the Tower

Arcane Wonders has partnered with Arclight Games to announce the upcoming launch of the cooperative dexterity game Cat and the Tower during Gen Con in August 2025. Players will work together to help Toto the Cat climb his way up a perilous tower to reach the stars, where he believes his mother is waiting for him.

Each turn, players will choose options from the cards available to either build the tower ever-higher or test how steady they can keep their hand by performing dexterity challenges that will help Toto climb to his destination. The game may start seemingly easy, but players will soon find it unsurprising to see the tower fall apart once they start building from the 5th floor and beyond. If Toto reaches the 10th floor, he clears the first stage, and players get to see more of his heartwarming story as he journeys to reunite with his mother.

Toto’s feline friends will also come along for the adventure, and their presence can both help and hinder his mission. Adjusting their location will rebalance the tower, but they may also end up in inconvenient spots that get in the way of placing walls to build new floors. When Toto sees his friends making it to the floor above him, it gives him the bravery to climb higher and higher himself. 

Cat and the Tower has cute cats, engaging gameplay, and a storyline that will tear at players’ heartstrings and leave them giving it their all to help Toto reach the top.

Gen Con 2025: Arcane Wonders Announces Onstage, a Gorgeous Vietnamese Trick-Taking Game

Arcane Wonders has announced an exciting partnership with Rolling Wizards to introduce Onstage during Gen Con in August 2025. Onstage is a must-follow trick-taking style game where each player acts as a theater company, competing for the best performers to add to their troupe. 

This colorful, enthralling, and tricky game combines traditional Vietnamese art with engaging gameplay, including a unique twist: the trump suit can (and often will!) change mid-round, keeping players on their toes. Optimally designed for three to five players, each game takes roughly 15-30 minutes, and it is best suited for ages 8 and up.

Onstage joins the prestigious Dice Tower Essentials line, curated by renowned board game reviewer Tom Vasel, who hand-selects games he believes belong in every gamer’s collection. This endorsement speaks volumes about the quality and enjoyment that Onstage offers to players of all ages and at different experience levels.

Arcane Wonders teases its 2025 releases

Arcane Wonders

It’s a new year and we’re looking ahead at the amazing tabletop games we can expect in 2025. Arcane Wonders has pulled back the curtain showing off not just what’s coming out in January, but beyond as well!

Here is a list of what to expect from Arcane Wonders in 2025:

Coming in January:

  • ito – ito is a cooperative game where you and your friends will each get your own secret number you then have to try to put in order as a group based on the clues you give related to the chosen theme. ito became wildly popular in its native country of Japan and Arcane Wonders is bringing it to English-speaking audiences for the first time.
     
  • Mezen – Mezen is a puzzle tile-based game where players will compete to achieve a series of scoring goals by removing tiles from their 5×5 board, flipping them over, sliding the tiles above them down, then adding the newly flipped tiles from the top. The gorgeous Siberian art makes Mezen’s table presence absolutely stunning.

Coming Q3-4 2025:

  • Call of Duty: The Board Game – Call of Duty: The Board Game brings the Call of Duty experience to tabletops, immersing players in intense competitive combat. Play on authentic Call of Duty maps such as Shoot House or Standoff. Choose from operators like Ghost Riley or Captain Price. Select your favorite weapons and items. Build a custom combat deck with your signature tactics. Then, jump into the action.
     
  • Buffet Boss – In Buffet Boss, pick your food from the buffet and gain points by stacking food onto your plate. But beware – the food with the tastiest point values are also the hardest to stack! Players will also have Character cards that give them bonus points for stacking specific types of food. Buffet Boss also comes in many different modes to suit all diets – a solo/cooperative mode as well as a mode for kids aged five and up.
     
  • Aquatica: Duellum – New Aquatica is in a duel format: deeper, meaner, and more intense. Choose a Turtle King or a Squid Queen and improve your underwater realm by playing action cards and assembling locations on three-layered boards. After decades of turbulent times, it is time to unite the underwater world under the fin or tentacle of a single ruler!

     
  • Leylines – Leylines is a re-imagining/update of the classic game Auf Achse by Wolfgang Kramer set in a brand new world with new rules by Daryl Andrews, featuring beautiful acrylic standees and a circular board filled magical leylines and mystical markets! To win, players must collect resources in the forest and bring them back along the leylines to the markets to sell them. Be aware, though, that the magical merchants pay different amounts depending on what they are interested in!
     
  • Raas: A Dance of Love – Raas is a light-medium competitive strategy game for one to six players. The ‘board’ consists of a set of seven discs connected with an intricate gear mechanism. Each disc has six dice as ‘dancers’ specializing in different tempos and styles of this energetic Gujarati dance form. Players draft dancers from the central dance floor to train up their own personal dance troupe. Plan your moves to matchmake amongst the dancers to go up the love track and earn powerful bonuses.
     
  • If/Then – If/Then is a game of cooperative pattern solving. One player is the knower, who reads the hint and tells the other players whether their guesses are right or wrong. Everyone else is a guesser; they take turns choosing a card from a display and placing it in the line as a guess. The guessers win if they successfully guess the hint before running out of cards.
     
  • Freedom Five – Freedom Five: A Sentinel Comics Board Game is a cooperative strategy game in which one to five heroes race to protect their home city and its inhabitants from an onslaught of villainy from Baron Blade and his criminal cohorts. Each player must master their character’s unique abilities to manage multiple crises throughout the city of Megalopolis. Assemble your friends to face standalone challenges, or mix it up and adventure through a series of campaign comics in which you will gain rewards ⁠— and new threats ⁠— each session.
     
  • Millimemory – In Millimemory, players try to remember the length of everyday household items. Each player has an unmarked ruler to estimate the length and begins the game at 100 points. Players lose one point for each millimeter they are off the correct length. Players are eliminated when they run out of points, and the last player in the game wins.

Head back to the 90s with Arcane Wonders’ Video Game Champion

Video Game Champion

Arcane Wonders has launched of the English version of Video Game Champion. The new tabletop title is part of Arcane Wonders’ Dice Tower Essentials line, featuring products hand-selected by renowned board game reviewer Tom Vasel.

In this family-friendly board game for 2-5 players, take a trip down memory lane to the ’90s, when no weekend was complete without a Friday night visit to Blockbuster or your favorite video game rental store. This game is fully localized by Arcane Wonders from the Brazilian Portuguese version known as “O Bom Do Videogame.”

Through savvy resource management, you’ll navigate earning an allowance, convincing your parents to buy you games, and doing chores to save up for renting the hottest 16-bit titles. Actions are taken via an Action Grid, where you can choose to study, read gaming magazines, or tackle household tasks—all to maximize your gaming time.

As you progress, raid the shelves for new game cards and build your collection with fictional classics like the kart racer “Neow Racing” and the fantasy epic “Dragon Scales.” While the games may be fictional, the detailed 16-bit-inspired box art captures the essence of the era, enhancing the nostalgic vibe.

Video Game Champion is available now in English via online and physical retail stores.

Purchase: Miniature MarketGame Nerdz

Protect the Gorgeous Ecosystem of Central Portugal in Floresta

Floresta

Arcane Wonders have announced the online and retail launch of Floresta. In this game, players will figuratively travel to the gorgeous lands of central Portugal, where they’ll plant trees, encourage tourism, care for the native forests, sustainably harvest wood, and restore the lynx to its natural habitat.

Explore the captivating realm of central Portugal in this competitive forest management game! Strategically plant and nurture trees, harvest wood, promote tourism, reintroduce lynx to the forest, and construct watchtowers to control fires. Planning is key, though: while constructing watchtowers to control fires, why not strategically plant trees nearby? 

With every decision shaping the fate of the forest, will you rise above the competition and emerge as the ultimate guardian of this precious ecosystem?

Part of Arcane Wonders’ Dice Tower Essentials line, Floresta is played on several game boards, each depicting mountains, forests, or paths through nature. Each turn, players choose a card from their hand and apply its effect by placing a tree on one of the boards. Players must strategically plant trees to create a sustainable ecosystem while also taking steps to prevent and fight forest fires, all while attempting to bring displaced lynx back to their natural habitat. 

Purchase: Miniature MarketAmazon

Around the Tubes

It was new comic book day yesterday! What’d you all get? What’d you enjoy? What’d you dislike? Sound off in the comments below! While you think about that, here’s some comic news from around the web.

CBR – Japan’s First Black-Owned Anime Studio Should Be on Every Fan’s Radar – Definitely need to check this out.

The Beat – A pair of long-time Seattle-area comic book stores are closing up shop – This isn’t surprising and there’s probably many more to come.

Board Game Today – Freedom Five, A Sentinel Comics Board Game Coming from Arcane Wonders and Greater Than Games – This sounds pretty cool.

Road to Gen Con 2016: Arcane Wonders is Speechless

The fourth Dice Tower Essentials game Speechless is a party game designed by Mike Elliott, and will be pre-releasing at Gen Con! Arcane Wonders will have a limited supply of pre-release copies available, so make it a priority to stop over at the Arcane Wonders purple couch lounge in booth 839!

What is the purple couch lounge? Great question! The company will have two purple couches at the Arcane Wonders booth #839 where weary attendees can take a moment to rest and demo their Gen Con pre-release Speechless!

Speechless

Road to Gen Con 2016: Arcane Wonders: Meet the Designer of Sheriff of Nottingham + the Sheriff!

sheriff of nottinghamWe’re a little over a week away before Gen Con 2016 begins and Arcane Wonders is revealing their plans for the convention. The company has announced that Friday is Sheriff of Nottingham day at the Arcane Wonders booth #839.

Meet Sergio Halaban from 1:00 to 4:00 on Friday!

Hear ye, hear ye! Good merchants take heed! The honorable Sheriff of Nottingham shall be honoring Gen Con on Friday with his presence at the Arcane Wonders booth numbered 839. Not only will their most gracious sheriff be attending, but honored guest Sergio Halaban, designer of the Sheriff of Nottingham board game will be at the booth from 1:00 to 4:00 PM!

Meet the Sheriff Friday 2:00 to 6:00 on Friday!

You heard correctly! Both Sergio Halaban, the designer of the hit game Sheriff of Nottingham AND Kevin Burkhardsmeier of Board Game Theater will be at the Arcane Wonders booth on Friday at Gen Con!

Definitely stop by the booth to take some pictures, have your copy of Sheriff of Nottingham signed, and try out the hit game Sheriff of Nottingham! We’ve even heard rumor that Sergio and the Sheriff may be handing out a hard-to-find promo card while they’re at the booth!

Arcane Wonders Partners with PSI to Boost Distribution

Arcane Wonders and Publisher Services, Inc. (PSI) have announced a partnership regarding the launch of a sales and fulfillment program. PSI is a leading supplier of quality games, toys, books, and collectibles. Through this partnership PSI will be the exclusive sales and operations team responsible for Arcane Wonders sales, warehousing and shipping to all North American markets and International Hobby.

Arcane Wonders product will be available from PSI effective immediately. Arcane Wonders has found success over the past year with their games Sheriff of Nottingham and Mage Wars, and the recent release of Mage Wars Academy.

PSI Arcane Wonders