Every year over 1,000 toy and game publishers gather in New York for the annual New York Toy and Game Fair. While closed to the consumer public, it’s an opportunity for retailers to get first looks at the year’s hottest toys. We’ve kept a close eye on this year’s announcements and are here to share what we’re excited about!
Horrified
Dracula, the Wolfman, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and others scared the pants off of moviegoers in the 30s, 40s, and 50s, and now they’re back to terrorize your table. Horrified is a cooperative strategy game from Ravensburger that will arm you and your friends with pitchforks and torches and send you out against creatures from your nightmares.
Horrified features varying difficulty levels giving gamers new and experienced a fighting chance against the monsters. Each monster is realized in detailed plastic and will require different strategies to defeat them. It will release in early August, giving us all the opportunity to prepare for Halloween game nights against Frankenstein, The Mummy, and more!
Jaws
Duh-dun. Duh-dun. Duh-dun-duh-dun-duh-dun. Chomp. Those 2 notes make up one of the most iconic movie-monster themes in history. Jaws remains a movie classic and is another upcoming title from Ravensburger that we’re looking forward to. Unlike Horrified, Jaws will be a “one vs many” game. One player will play as that titular great white shark, terrorizing the shores of Amity Island. The rest of the table will play as Brady, Hooper, and Quint as they try to locate the shark and ultimately eliminate it.
Jaws will come packaged with a double-sided board used to represent two phases of play. The first side of the board shows Amity Island. The human players will attempt to save swimmers and track the shark while the shark player secretly navigates the board and tries to-well-eat those swimmers. Once located, the board is flipped over and the humans have to race against a rapidly sinking ship. Again the shark player will be secretly circling the boat, attacking the players and the boat itself. Can Brady, Hooper, and Quint take out the 3-ton terror of Amity Island? Or will they fall victim to that mouth of teeth? We’ll find out in June when the game releases.
Harry Potter Games (x2!)
Ok so technically I’m cheating and listing multiple games under 1 entry – 10 points from Geek & Sundry – but given how fun USAopoly’s previous Harry Potter games are, we can’t ignore either announcement. Scrabble is getting a magical twist this year with the Harry Potter edition of this classic game. In addition to normal words, you can use words from the Harry Potter universe. Lumos, Alohamora, Polyjuice, and Hogsmeade are legal if you can pull them off. Additionally, special cards will provide bonus points if you can meet their goals.
Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle is getting a dueling twist with Harry Potter Defense Against the Dark Arts. This two-player competitive card game is inspired by Hogwarts Battle, but rather than working together to save the school you’ll be squaring off in the dueling ring! You’ll have to balance acquiring defensive and offensive spells to block and stun your opponents. A third game was teased but details are sparse; we’ll let you know as soon as we have some!
Villainous: Wicked to the Core
We loved Villainous last year, so it’s no surprise to us that it won Game of the Year at this year’s Toy Fair! Wonder Forge took the opportunity to show the world Wicked to the Core, the upcoming expansion. It features 3 new classic Disney villains; Hades from Hercules, the Evil Queen from Snow White, and Dr. Facilier from The Princess and the Frog Because there are no central boards or pieces, you can actually play Wicked to the Core even if you don’t have the original. Wicked to the Core will be available March 3rd so you don’t need to wait long to get your hands on this one.
BONUS: Warhammer 40k Funko Pops
Just. Look. At. These. Pops. Our favorite heroes of the dark millennium are getting a little big-headed as the first — and hopefully not last — collaboration between Funko and Games Workshop was revealed.
Featuring units from the Space Wolves, Ultramarines, Blood Angels, and Dark Angels chapters, these new Pops are ready to bring the grimdark war to your office or game room shelf. Now, how many WAAGHs does a guy need to launch to get an Ork one?
What other upcoming games are you excited about?
- Our 19 Most Anticipated Board Games for 2019, Part 1
- Our 19 Most Anticipated Board Games for 2019, Part 2
- 6 RPGs We’re Looking Forward To In 2019
Image Credits: Ravensburger, Games Workshop, USAopoly, Teri Litorco
In addition to Geek & Sundry, Raf Cordero co-hosts the gaming podcast Ding & Dent. Chat with him on Twitter @captainraffi.