VOTES FOR WOMEN
Hello friends of Fort Circle - it has been a great year for Votes for Women! Votes for Women was named one of the best games of the year by Smithsonian magazine, New York magazine (Vulture), Polygon. and was NPR's top pick for games to gift in 2023. There were great features in both Senet and Wyrd Science and a lovely write-up in Washingtonian magazine. Votes for Women was honored by the Spiel Foundation as "2023 Spiel of Approval Meeple Crown Winner" - my understanding is that Tory and I will both be receiving appropriate crowns.
But perhaps the best award of all was the Summit Award, awarded by the San Diego Historical Games Convention, for the design that "broadened the hobby through the ease of teaching, ease of play, uniqueness of topic, novelty of approach, and/or effectiveness as a historical game." The other nominees were outstanding - Cole Wehrle's John Company: Second Edition, Robert DeLeskie's Fire & Stone and Taylor Shuss's Stonewall Uprising - even in being in the same company was an honor.
But the excitement for Votes for Women is not complete! After quickly selling our of our first printing, we have launched a Kickstarter campaign for the second printing. If you are outside of the United States, this is probably the best way to get your hands on a copy. And for those of you who have pre-ordered on our website, you're all good. For those of you who already own a copy, there is no need to get the second printing - the only real change is we added a state abbreviation guide for those not familiar with the US state postal codes. But, please, even if you already have a copy, share the URL www.votesforwomen.com with your friends who might be interested in a copy of their own!
One final note about Votes for Women - on Thursday, December 28, at 2pm EST, we will be live streaming a game between Liz Davidson of Beyond Solitaire as the Suffragists and Kevin Bertram (me) as the Opposition, with Tory Brown offering commentary. This should be quite fun - the link is: https://youtu.be/ZJvZjquzctU - and should you want to play Votes for Women online, all you have to do is visit the wonderful Rally the Troops site - it is free!
2024 SCHEDULE
For those of you looking forward to our 2024 publishing schedule, you are in luck! We have a very aggressive publishing schedule for 2024.
We have two reprintings scheduled for 2024: Obviously, Votes for Women, but we will also be reprinting The Shores of Tripoli. We have less than 150 copies left, so we have a second printing in process. There will be some minor changes - the T-bot will use its own separate deck and we will include the Fortress Tripoli piece and rules. We may also add a few more variations and we will definitely be adding more historical documents.
We have two games scheduled to arrive in Spring 2024: The Halls of Montezuma and Shakespeare's First Folio. Most of you should be familiar with The Halls of Montezuma - it builds on the 27-card separate deck system of The Shores of Tripoli, but adds an additional layer of political wrangling on top. The Halls of Montezuma is still available for pre-order - if you are in the US, use this link, but if you are overseas, send me an email. Shakespeare's First Folio is a game about publishing the first collection of Shakespeare's plays that we designed in partnership with the Folger Shakespeare Library for their grand reopening. Although the game will not be on Kickstarter, we will make it available for sale after the Folger's reopening. We have also developed an in-museum game for the Folger, so everyone should come and visit us in Washington, DC!
We have four games scheduled to go to Kickstarter in 2024 and we would like to deliver them in 2024 if possible. The games are listed here in no particular order:
First Monday in October. Designed by Talia Rosen and developed by Jason Matthews, First Monday covers the history of the Supreme Court. I am very pleased that we are partnering with the Supreme Court Historical Society to develop the historical content. The artwork is taking a little longer on this one, but I really want to get it right.
Hunt for Blackbeard. This is Volko Ruhnke’s game of hidden movement on the hunt for Blackbeard. I was able to play a prototype against Jason Matthews and we were both blown away by the design. GMT had passed on this design because of no solo mode, so we were thrilled to be able to publish this gem. Marc Rodridgue is working on the graphic design as I type this and I think this is going to be a real solid entry in the pirate game genre.
Peace 1905. The winner of the ConSim GameJam, designed by a four-person team headed up by Maurice Suckling, Peace 1905 is about the peace negotiations that ended the Russo-Japanese War. I played the two-player version at Circle DC 2023 and knew it would be the perfect title for Fort Circle. The design team is now working on both a solo mode (where you play as Teddy Roosevelt) and a three-player mode (with Teddy, Russia and Japan).
Night Witches. Co-designed by prolific designer David Thompson and rock star Liz Davidson, with art and graphic design from Ian O’Toole, Night Witches has an amazing pedigree. As a bonus, the game is outstanding. David and Liz have been demoing the prototype at a number of conventions and the reception is always the same - FANTASTIC!
Of course, we have plenty more planned for 2024. Our convention, Circle DC, will be April 4-7 here in Washington, DC - more details to come in the new year. We are putting together an online tournament for Votes for Women on Rally the Troops that should be quite fun. And, of course, we are looking at and working on designs for 2025 and beyond.
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