by W. Eric Martin

▪️ Since 2019, U.S. publisher 1985 Games has been releasing RPG campaigns and RPG accessories such as maps, terrain, journals, and dice — but it hopes to crowdfund its first board game for release in 2026 with Yanari: The Witches Market, a revised version of Daniel Solis' 2020 Space Battle Lunchtime Card Game.

Here's an overview of this 2-4 player game:

Obijima is a Studio Ghibli-inspired world that's been the setting for two D&D 5E campaign settings — Obojima: Tales From The Tall Grass and Obojima: A Great Offering — with Obojima: Tales From Yatamon being a new setting that's part of the crowdfunding campaign.


▪️ Sometimes new games at Gen Con are only new to me — and possibly to you, too? Such was the case with Fool's Blade, a 2024 release from designer Christian Brantley and YouTube channel (and first-time publisher) CircleToonsHD that comes packaged in a box that looks like a sword!


Fool's Blade was crowdfunded in 2023, and the gist of the game is crafting a unique weapon composed of up to four parts that allows you to better fight monsters, collect loot, and mess with your fellow players.


▪️ The stock of games was so low in the 25th Century Games booth on Sunday that staff took to arranging it in fun ways to make the counter seem fuller:


▪️ One of the titles that had vanished quickly was Grand Central Skyport, with author Dan Germain gamely continuing to demo the design to interested parties days later, then encouraging them to look for it in retail outlets later.

In the game, each player creates their own skyport, which starts with two stations and two airships; airships come in six colors, and each station has different colored ribbons on its left and right sides. Players start with two airship cards in hand.

On a turn, you play a card from your hand, with airships and stations going on either the left or right side of your skyport in a new lane and with tycoons going in an empty space below a station. If you play an airship, you then carry out the depicted action, either moving the airship a certain number of lanes left or right or swapping that airship with a lane of airships of a specified color.

After you move, if you have airships of the same lane next to one another, they merge into a single lane, which is usually a good thing.


To end your turn, move your player token clockwise a number of spaces up to the value on the card you played. The token circles a field of eight available airships as well as spaces that let you grab a station, take a tycoon you don't already have, score a bonus token for collecting sets in your skyport, or carry out a special movement action.

Keep playing one of the two cards in your hand each turn until game's end, then score. Each lane scores points equal to the number of cards in it multiplied by the number of star icons in that lane — but if a lane adjacent to a station matches the ribbon on that side of the station, you add the station's stars to that lane before multiplying the values. Thus, the game challenges you to draft, collect, and move cards efficiently to maximize matches and color collection, as well as endgame tycoon scoring.

▪️ I reviewed Oink Games' Wriggle Roulette in July 2025, but the Japanese publisher had many new releases since its last appearance at Gen Con — Dying Message, TRND, Petiquette — yet these releases, as well as all of its back catalog, are so tiny and so driven by a single concept that they can be displayed like artwork in a museum and accompanied by a placard giving a quick overview or bit of company history.


Other publishers might have enormous banners featuring a game's artwork, but Oink is the only publisher presenting its games as works of art — which is a great idea as passersby continually stopped to check out the displays. (Maybe I'm making too much of this presentation given that many publishers display games in glass cases, but it feels qualitatively different, akin to a museum display of artifacts.)

As is often true for many attendees, Gen Con presents me with many opportunities for side quests. At the booth, Oink's Massimo Zeppetelli mentioned that he hadn't offered games for use in BGG's Hot Games Room at the Hyatt Regency. (All games in the HGR are featured at BGG events in future years, then end up being sold in a charity sale once they're no longer checked out.) I volunteered myself as courier as I also needed a break for food, so I hustled the games over to the HGR and sent back proof of their delivery:

Nine minutes from booth to HGR
▪️ Sometimes plans just don't work out. Brazilian RPG publisher CapyCat Games was represented by two signs and a stack of promotional material for its Skyfall RPG campaign setting. (You can download the material yourself should you be curious.)

Also, CapyCat Games lacks a listing in the RPG Geek database should someone be interested in addressing that absence, which mirrors the publisher's absence in Indianapolis.