Presenting… Ham Helsing! Based on the best-selling graphic novel about a reluctant monster-hunting pig, Ham Helsing is a cooperative adventure board game. Join Ham, Ronin, Malcom, and Lobos as they attempt to save the world! Using a deck-crafting system with transparent cards, you’ll protect locations from endless swarms of minions while improving your skills. Can you power up fast enough to stop the Villain from destroying Mud Canyon and save the day?

• Blaze a path through the world of Ham Helsing, choosing your battles and leveling up your character.
• Transparent upgrade cards let you enhance your deck in real-time. If a symbol fits on your card, you can slip the upgrade into the sleeve, improving your abilities for future turns!
• Triumph together with your team, using card combos and location powers to help each other.
• Fight fiendish foes, including 4 different Villains with their own unique challenges. But if your team hasn’t brought the Villain’s health to 0 by the end of the last player’s turn at Mud Canyon, your bacon is burnt!

More info about release and pre-orders coming soon.

A fearsome dragon is threatening to burn all the villages in the Kingdom! Luckily dragons are greedy, so if you can bribe him with treasures from the battlefield like a Barbarian’s Axe or a Phoenix Feather, you might persuade him to spare your village. Unfortunately, all the other villagers have the same idea!

Bribe with the right treasure at the right time to keep the dragon’s attention while buying treasures at the Black Market and cursing the other villagers’ treasures. When there’s no more treasure left, the dragon will burn all the villages except for one. Will it be yours?

• Fantasy-Filled Fun: This enchanting game for 2 to 5 players features fantastic treasures and the dragon from the world of Castle Panic.
• Simple Rules, Fast Gameplay: With easy-to-learn rules, Please Don’t Burn My Village! can be played in about 20 minutes.
• Accessible Market Game: The simple rules make this market game accessible to players ages 10+ with different experience levels. The choice in card play provides strategic depth.

Ages 10+, 2 to 5 players, 20 minutes, $24.95

In addition, every copy of Please Don’t Burn My Village! is packed with a free new promo card for Castle Panic to help your team defend the castle together!

Please Don’t Burn My Village! is available for preorder and will be demoed at GAMA Expo, Origins, Gen Con, and more to be announced.

Pre-Launch Party at Ravenwood Castle

If bribing a Dragon sounds like an activity best held in a castle, you’d be right! That’s why you’re invited to join Fireside Games for an early celebration of the launch of Please Don’t Burn My Village! with a night at the beautiful Ravenwood Castle May 1–2. 

Tickets for the event are $30 per person and include:

• 1 free game per family before it’s available in stores or online
• Guided demos with the game designer, Simon Weinberg
• Fun with influencers, Dani Standring, Grant Lyon, Beneeta Kaur, and Daniel & Alison Burrell
• Game signing with Simon
• Q&A with Simon, Justin, Dani, Grant, Beneeta, Daniel & Alison
• Free promo for the game
• Playtest new games in development with Simon and Justin
• Buffet-style dinner and breakfast together
• Ticket price does not include the cost of the room

Rooms are limited and accommodations are required to attend, so make your reservation soon!

The hundreds of submitted products that are not chosen by the Academics’ Choice Awards team (and many that are chosen) are donated to a variety of worthy charities and other organizations across the globe.

About Academics’ Choice:

Academics’ Choice helps consumers find exceptional brain-boosting material. Academics’ Choice is the only international awards program designed to bring increased recognition to publishers, manufacturers, independent authors and developers that aim to stimulate cognitive development. A volunteer panel of product-appropriate judges, including parents, educators, scientists, artists, doctors, nurses, librarians, students and children, evaluate submissions based on educational benefits such as higher-order thinking skills, character building, creative play, durability and originality. Only the genuine “mind-builders” are recognized with the coveted Academics’ Choice Award.

Ultimatch is an addictive cooperative twist on matching card games that brings new options for making matches. The goal is to remove all the cards from a pyramid by matching them. You make matches by color, number, addition, subtraction, or even mixing colors, but you want to think through the best cards to use now and which ones to save for later. Single matches give you a rush, Ultimatches feel great, and clearing the pyramid feels amazing.

Ultimatch includes both public and private cards and requires the kind of clever decision making about when to use cards that seasoned card players enjoy. Silently trading 1 card facedown with 1 other player keeps all players engaged throughout, introduces a push-your-luck element, and calls on players to read each other. Will you risk trading a card with another player? If so, who is likely to know what you need? Is your card better to keep for later use? The thinking goes quickly as do the turns. Every match is a mini-win, and win or lose, players keep coming back for more.

Ages 10+, 1 to 5 players, 20 minutes, $9.95

Ultimatch is available for preorder and will be demoed at GAMA Expo, Dice Tower West, UK Games Expo, Origins, Gen Con, and more to be announced.

This fifth annual holiday gift guide is Pop Insider’s biggest one yet, and it’s filled with all sorts of fun stuff. We couldn’t be happier to get picked to part of this collection, and we’re excited to hear from new players that get to experience Castle Panic for the first time!

The Spruce is a prestigious lifestyle website that helps 385 million annual readers find the best products for their homes, from gardening, home improvement, and cleaning products to décor, furniture, and gifts. If you can find it in your home, The Spruce has a review to guide your decision making.

They research, test, and review independently, following a rigorous editorial process. So, readers can depend on an unbiased recommendation from them. Adding to their credibility is their impressive social media presence: 561K Instagram followers, 742K on TikTok, 868K on Pinterest, and 1.3M on Facebook. The Spruce doesn’t sleep on getting the word out about the amazing products they recommend. Check the main page out as well as the article that lists Castle Panic, and start sprucing up your home!

We’re beyond thrilled to be part of Gen Con 2023. As the Castle Panic Deluxe Collection takes center stage, we invite you to join us at booth 2434 and at our large events. Get ready for exclusive editions, amazing discounts, engaging events, and plenty of gaming fun. Let’s dive into the thrilling plans we have in store for you!

Castle Panic Deluxe Collection and More: Prepare for a gaming feast as we present the Castle Panic Deluxe Collection at our booth. This extraordinary collection includes the highly sought-after deluxe versions of the Castle Panic base game, all four expansions (The Wizard’s Tower, The Dark Titan, Engines of War, and Crowns and Quests), a playmat, plus all of the promos ever made for the game. Immerse yourself in the ultimate Castle Panic adventure with the monster minis on rotatable bases, wood tokens, plastic castle pieces, and more.

Deluxe Bundle Offer: Looking for deluxe versions of just the most popular expansions? Our Castle Panic Deluxe Bundle is designed to deliver just what you want. During Gen Con, we’re offering the Castle Panic Deluxe Bundle at a special discounted price. This incredible package includes Castle Panic Deluxe, The Wizard’s Tower Deluxe, Crowns and Quests Deluxe, and an epic playmat. Normally valued at $310, you can snag this exclusive bundle for only $250 (while supplies last). Don’t miss out on this extraordinary opportunity to elevate your Castle Panic gameplay!

Small Games Bundle: Looking for travel-sized gaming adventures? Our Small Games Bundle is here to deliver! Priced at only $75 (a $110 value), this bundle features Here, Kitty, Kitty!, Bears!, Dastardly Dirigibles, and Stringamajig. As a special treat, we’ve included free promos to enhance your gaming experience even further.

Promos Galore: We believe in sharing the love of gaming, which is why we’re thrilled to offer a free promo with every game purchase at Gen Con (while supplies last). These game-enhancing goodies are our way of saying thank you for being part of the Fireside Games family.

Exciting Events: Step into Castle Panic Adventures: Get ready to embark on thrilling Castle Panic adventures with our exclusive Gen Con events:

• The Wizard’s Tower Event: Join us on Thursday at 6:00 PM for an unforgettable event centered around The Wizard’s Tower expansion taught by the designer in rooms 144-145. Cooperate with your team to defend the castle against hordes of monsters. Keep the Wizard’s Tower standing to use magic spells and fire against flying monsters and more. Reserve your spot now at https://www.gencon.com/events/230194.
• Crowns and Quests Event: On Saturday at 8:00 PM, prepare to be part of an exhilarating cooperative adventure with the designer in room Wabash 1. You’ll play as a character with a special ability. And in addition to slaying all of the monsters with at least 1 tower standing to win, you’ll need to complete 2 quests. It really changes up the base game! Secure your spot in this epic event at https://www.gencon.com/events/230195 and prepare for an unforgettable gaming experience.

We can’t wait to see you at Gen Con 2023. Visit us at booth 2434 to immerse yourself in the Castle Panic universe. Discover the Castle Panic Deluxe Collection, take advantage of the Castle Panic Deluxe Bundle and the Small Games Bundle, and collect free promos with your purchases. Don’t miss our thrilling events centered around The Wizard’s Tower and Crowns and Quests expansions. Let’s make Gen Con an unforgettable gaming extravaganza together. See you there!

When Ms. Cardomone saw My First Castle Panic, she recognized the ongoing developmental focus on the game. Her review specifies the way My First Castle Panic helps children sequence information, use temporal words (such as first, next, then, and last), tell stories, and develop language generally. She also notes how the cooperative nature of the game encourages conversation and strategic planning. You can read her full review here.

It’s an honor to be included in such a stellar group of products and to be acknowledged for the language support inherent in My First Castle Panic. We feel seen!

Justin recently sat down (virtually) with Richard for a fun chat on the We’re Not Wizards podcast.

They discussed the thermodynamics of tea, what kind of kid Justin was growing up, selling games in today’s market, and “squeaky bum” moments. It really is all that and a bag of chips, or “crisps” rather.

You can listen to the podcast on the player above, or visit We’re Not Wizards to hear all the shenanigans for yourself.

Engines of War 2e is available now in your favorite stores! We’re so excited to announce that today is the day you can pick up the second edition of Engines of War, the expansion to Castle Panic that adds a simple economic system to the game experience. With a brand-new look for this expansion, players are introduced to the Engineer to build new weapons and defenses. Monsters are always lurking nearby, and this Monster army attacks with new ranks and powerful Siege Engines! Good thing players can order up a barricade or a catapult.

The new Resource deck and Engineer build options provide new interesting choices. Should you set a Spring Trap for that Troll coming into the Red Swordsman area? Or shoot the Ballista at the Breathtaker in the Blue Archer space?

The new Monster abilities and threats also require broader strategy decisions. Should you take out the Shaman, who heals all Monsters in the same color for 1 point of health every turn? Or focus on whittling down the Battering Ram, which takes no damage from Castle structures, before it gets to the Castle ring? Every new Monster affects the conditions of battle differently.

The new Keep, Catapult, and Ballista tokens enhance the 3D look of the game. It’s fun to actually place the defensive weapons on the board as the Monsters approach.

The Second Edition includes not only all new art but also heavier card stock and a few rules updates.

Of course, Engines of War is also available in the Castle Panic Big Box, which is the all-in-one collection! This huge box includes Castle Panic base game and four expansions—Engines of War, The Wizard’s Tower, Crowns and Quests, and The Dark Titan—plus 13 promo items in the new art style of second edition.

Engines of War Second Edition is a great way for fans to deepen and extend their Castle Panic experience. Pick a copy up in stores today!