At Gen Con, ICv2 spoke with Lyne Bouthillette, the Manager of Marketing and Communications of Z-Man Games, about the Pandemic Survival tournament program, their Z-Force demo team, and the new edition of Onirim.
Bouthillette shared details for Z-Man’s international Pandemic Survival world championship competition, which was premiering at Gen Con. Two-player teams compete to be the first team to find all four cures, or at least be the last team still alive at the end of the game. After the preliminary rounds, there will be a national finale (for the U.S. at Gen Con 2015), followed by a world finale at Essen in Germany , with a grand prize allowing the winners to choose any location on the Pandemic map to be "Airlifted" for a vacation.
The first preliminaries were held at Gen Con, with another set this weekend at Toronto Fan Expo, with plans for more events to be held at conventions, stores and "any place we can find enough players to do it," Bouthillette said. Scenarios exclusive to the tournament will be designed by Pandemic creator Matt Leacock, with each scenario being unique to the event. Stores can sign up to host a preliminary round event by contacting Kalinda Patton at Z-Man Games.
Z-Man’s "Z-Force" game demo program was revived earlier this year. Z-Man’s philosophy for the Z-Force is for stores “to have the best time ever” if they have Z-Force come to their location for demos. The Z-Force has 70 members in the U.S., according to Bouthillette. Interested stores can contact Z-Man directly.
Bouthillette also shared information on the upcoming new edition of Onirim, planned for Q4 release after an Essen premiere. Onirim, designed by Shadi Torbey, is a new edition of the solo game for one or two players, ages 14 and up. Players work against the game, which is a nightmare, to find the oneiric (dream) doors before cards in their hands run out. The game will release in October or November with an MSRP of $24.99.
Several games were premiering at the show, including Tragedy Looper, Battle at Kemble’s Cascade, Pandemic Contagion (see "'Enigma,' 'North Wind,' 'Battle at Kemble's Cascade'") and Chimera (see "'Chimera'"). Tragedy Looper is already available to the trade, with the other three releasing later this year.
And Other Gen Con Announcements
Posted by ICv2 on August 26, 2014 @ 11:14 pm CT
MORE NEWS
On Market Conditions, BOOM! and Diamond, Direct-to-Consumer Sales, More
April 25, 2024
In Part 1, we talked about market conditions, why BOOM! Studios is with Diamond Comic Distributors, direct-to-consumer sales, and channel mix.
BOOM!'s Plans for 2024, the New Jeff Lemire Series, Ongoings, Variants, More
April 25, 2024
In Part 2, we talked about BOOM! Studios' publishing profile and plans for the year, BOOM! Box, their new Jeff Lemire ongoing, ongoing series in general, variants, and top 2024 releases.
MORE GAMES
'Sound Loaders'
April 24, 2024
Bandai will release One Piece TCG Sound Loaders : card loaders for One Piece TCG with background music and sound effects from the One Piece anime.
Not Even Direct Sales from GW Webstore
April 24, 2024
Games Workshop’s blind pack Warhammer Heroes Series 4 will be available in select Target stores and on the Target website, but not available from Games Workshop’s own webstore.