With a new licensed take on its bestselling card game Dobble leading the charge, Asmodee unveiled its Q4 line-up of games to the media and a raft of influencers in east London on Thursday September 8.
The company, along with its partners, hosted a wealth of experts, journalists, writers, YouTubers and Toys ‘n’ Playthings to show off its key wares for the coming months.
Asmodee is working closely with games-based bar operation Draughts, which has Hackney and Waterloo outlets in the capital, to highlight its titles.
“The series is enjoying another resurgence right now, with new fans discovering it on Netflix.”
marketing manager Jo Shapley
The games on show included old favourites such as Dobble, with a new Friends version due to launch shortly, which, as marketing manager Jo Shapley told TnP: “The series is enjoying another resurgence right now, with new fans discovering it on Netflix.” It will join the original version and licensed SKUs such as Harry Potter, Marvel Emojis, Paw Patrol, Minions and Pixar. Other party fames include another old favourite, Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza (as Asmodee said, “our first licensed version is coming out soon”); Sock Game (“a really good seller for us and is a great stocking filler” and Telestrations, as well as its more mature counterpart Telestrations After Dark, which both continue to be seasonal favourites.
Meanwhile, Asmodee’s new party partners, Format Games, the company started by radio and TV personality Matt Edmondson and his brother-in-law Laurence Emmett, were on hand to show off some of their wares, fresh with a new award for one of their earliest titles, Noggin. The duo have already got 11 games under their belt in a matter of months, with eight now live and a further three in development. The media-friendly pair, hugely enthusiastic and great fun to actually play their games with, were showing off new additions such as Karen (billed as “a game of one-star reviews”) and the excellent Wheels Vs Doors (we did pretty well in this, given we were up against its creators) joining the likes of Ansagrams, So Wrong It’s Right and the aforementioned Noggin.
On to Asmodee board games and there’s a new addition to the Ticket To Ride series in the form of a new San Francisco version, as well a Ghost Train take which will land in time for Halloween.
Elsewhere, CATAN continues to excel, while Yak was proving to be hugely popular with some of the kidfluencers we saw trying it out.
Zombie Kittens is a new development alongside the Exploding Kittens line, while Harry Potter Stupify features lots of spells for gamers to take on board. There were further sneak previews of as yet unannounced games – more on these shortly.
“It has been amazing to see the enthusiasm of the national media (most in attendance), many influencers, family writers and You Tube presenters for our portfolio of games”
marketing director James Arnold
The event kicked off Asmodee’s Q4 marketing and the company’s marketing director James Arnold said: “It has been amazing to see the enthusiasm of the national media (most in attendance), many influencers, family writers and You Tube presenters for our portfolio of games. This is the first time we have presented the full range in one event and the venue we chose, Draughts in Hackney, was perfect. We had a little bit of Christmas today including Turkey tacos and mulled wine – now definitely in the mood for the festive game playing season.”
As for the event, managing director Alex Green noted: “We are planning a series of events for the media, to showcase our range and bring our mantra to life ‘more people playing more games more often’. We have a full programme of activity and promotion to spread the message and introduce more people in to the world of board games.”
