Announcing My First Castle Panic!

Posted on Tuesday, Dec 18 2018 11:43AMFriday, Aug 16 2019 9:58PM by Justin De Witt — 1 Comment

MSRP $19.95 | Ages 4+ | 1-4 Players | 20 minutes

Fireside Games is excited to announce My First Castle Panic, a new preschool version of Castle Panic, the classic tower defense board game. Like its predecessor, My First Castle Panic is a cooperative game in which players work together to defend their castle. However, the game play has been simplified in the preschool version to allow children ages 4 and up to play independently. While Castle Panic has won many awards and is a great family game, younger players can have difficulty participating because of the reading required. My First Castle Panic removes the reading requirement and fosters the development of educational skills, such as identifying colors and shapes, problem solving, and turn taking.

The edge-of-your-seat excitement has been maintained even with the preschool-friendly rules. Monsters follow a single path toward a single, large, eye-catching castle, protected by one wall. Each step toward the castle is identified by a color and a shape. Players hold cards in their hands with cute defenders who also have a color and shape. When a card is played that matches the location of the monster, that monster is captured and thrown in the dungeon. Tension builds as more monsters are placed and move along the path toward the castle. If the castle is destroyed, the players lose. But if it stands when all the monsters are in the dungeon, the players win.

My First Castle Panic features gorgeous art by Cam Kendell and is a great way to introduce children to the fun and challenge of board games. Look for it in stores worldwide March 6, 2019.

International Games Week

Posted on Monday, Nov 05 2018 12:31PM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

For a few years now the American Library Association has put together a huge gaming event called International Games Week. The idea is simple. Get people to play games and use the local library as a great community space to do it! This year, Fireside Games is going to be participating here in our great town of Austin.

The event runs from November 4th through the 10th, but Justin and Anne-Marie will be spending this Saturday, November 10th at the Austin Central Library (the one with the 37 foot tall Grackle inspired sculpture!) running free demos of a bunch of games.

The Library is at 710 W. César Chávez St. and the gaming will be all the way up on the 6th floor. The event goes from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and our friends from Steve Jackson Games will be there as well, so there’s really no reason not to come join the fun.

If you’re looking for an event in your neck of the woods, check out the ALA’s website, where they have information about all the goings on. In addition, here’s a great map that shows all the libraries around the world that will be participating in IGW!

Can’t make it out to a library, or there isn’t an event near you? Not to worry. ALA has you covered with an entire page full of links to FREE Print-and-play games! Give your printer and your scissors a workout and you can get in on the fun as well.

No matter how you celebrate it, we hope you have a great time spreading the awesomeness that is board gaming during International Games Week!

Grackles Demos Perching Near You!

Posted on Sunday, Sep 02 2018 6:26PMWednesday, Sep 19 2018 3:23PM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

Love pretty abstract games? You’ll want to play Grackles. On your turn, you take one of four actions and plot to have the most birds on telephone lines. Game stores across North America will be hosting free Grackles demos September 22–23.

Find a participating store near you from the list below and compete to line up your birds!

UPDATED 9/19

John and Sarah, the designers of Grackles will be running some very special demo events this weekend in their home state of California! If you’re in the area, come by for a unique chance to play the game and meet the very nice folks that designed it! (Click here for details)

Arizona

Imperial Outpost Games (Glendale), 602-978-0467

Arkansas

Dragon’s Keep Gaming Room (Fayetteville), 479-249-8888

California – NEW!

The Game Getaway (Folsom), 916-234-7541 Saturday 12pm – 3pm

Great Escape Games (Sacremento), 916-927-0810 Sunday 3pm – 6pm

Colorado

Crit Castle Games (Aurora), 303-745-4140

Petrie’s Family Games (Colorado Springs), 719-522-1099

Connecticut

The Board Room (Middletown), 860-788-7824

Connecticut Gaming Center (Waterbury), 203-527-3918

Georgia

Tyche’s (Athens), 706-354-4500

Dice Drop Games (Macon), 478-737-1192

Hawaii

The Armchair Adventurer (Honolulu), 808-843-1250

Other Realms Ltd. (Honolulu), 808-596-8236

Idaho

Gameopolis (Idaho Falls), 208-529-8026

Safari Pearl Comics (Moscow), 208-882-9499

Gaming Adventures (New Plymouth), 208-649-4244

Illinois

AlleyCat Comics (Chicago), 773-907-3404

Bonus Round Games Cafe (Chicago), 773-857-1037

Indiana

Power Nine Gaming (Fort Wayne), 260-387-6136

Better World Books (Goshen), 574-534-1984

Good Games (Indianapolis), 317-493-1423

Saltire Games (Indianapolis), 317-823-1645

Kansas

Mission: Board Games (Mission), 913-242-7970

Sente (Wichita), 316-640-5344

Louisiana

Anubis Game & Hobby (Broussard), 337-330-6096

Maryland

Play More Games! Store (Gaithersburg), 240-801-9375

Dream Wizards (Rockville), 301-881-3530

Dice City Games (Silver Spring), 443-424-2637

Michigan

Acropolis Games (Adrian), 517-577-6192

Destiny Games (Canton), 734-404-5548

Nostalgia, Ink (Jackson), 517-784-8955

Minnesota

The Gaming Goat (Saint Paul), 651-690-4628

Mississippi

maCnarB Gaming (Gautier), 228-497-0303

Missouri

Pawn and Pint (Kansas City), 415-613-0476

Nebraska

Gauntlet Games (Lincoln), 402-420-5060

The Game Shoppe (Omaha), 402-991-8699

Sparta Games (Omaha), 402-934-8330

Nevada

The Glass Die (Reno), 775-384-1456

New Mexico

Zia Comics and Games (Las Cruces), 575-405-0461

New York

The Brooklyn Strategist (Brooklyn), 718-576-3035

Just Games Rochester (Rochester), 585-586-0586

North Carolina

Rocket City Games and More (Jacksonville), 910-577-5556

Event Horizon Games (Raleigh), 919-977-4009

Gamers Guild (Spring Lake), 910-497-2354

Ohio

The Guardtower (Columbus), 614-488-4311

Tabletop Game Cafe (Columbus), 614-725-0328

Bell, Book & Comic (Dayton), 937-643-9006

Beyond the Board (Dublin), 614-553-7677

Barnes & Noble (Pickerington), 614-751-0927

Oregon

Borderlands Games (Salem), 503-485-2554

Pennsylvania

Deal Me in Games (Boyertown), 484-415-0058

The Games Keep (West Chester), 484-905-5533

Caffeinated Gaming (Zieglerville), 610-287-1624

Rhode Island

Reality A Games (West Warwick), 401-500-1545

Tennessee

901 Comics (Memphis), 901-421-8819

Texas

Mage’s Sanctum (Austin), 512-428-4402

Brickhouse Games (Garland), 972-926-3398

Dragon’s Lair (Houston), 832-761-0072

Flash Candy and Toys (Lockhart), 512-668-5075

Mad Hatter’s House of Games (Lubbock), 806-763-4054

Stormcrow Games (Lubbock), 806-778-4281

Darkhound Game Center (Mansfield), 817-225-6145

Sockmonkey Junction (Mansfield), 682-999-8697

Madness Games & Comics (Plano), 972-943-8135

Utah

Blackfyre Games (Pleasant Grove), 801-785-9713

Game Haven (St. George), 435-627-0616

Demolition Games (Salt Lake City), 385-229-4739

Virginia

The Island Games (Centreville), 515-599-0360

Crossroads Tabletop Tavern (Manassas), 571-364-8885

Wisconsin

Lake Geneva Games (Lake Geneva), 262-885-1515

TK Games (Menomonee Falls), 262-257-0800

I’m Board! Games and Family Fun (Middleton), 608-831-6631

The GameBoard (Sheboygan), 920-453-4263

West Virginia

Four Horsemen Comics (Bridgeport), 304-848-9210

Wyoming

Games Gauntlet (Laramie), 307-299-7976

INTERNATIONAL

Canada

North of Exile Games (Penetanguishene, Ontario), 705-614-2801

Mexico

Mana Screw (Costa Azul), 52-1-646-176-4406

Read all about the game here.

Remnants Demos Across the Land!

Posted on Sunday, Sep 02 2018 6:25PM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

Remnants-Splash-Red

Be ready for the post-apocalypse! Or at least have fun with real-time dice-rolling to scavenge for resources, building your compound, and fighting over Raiders and Mutant Creatures. Game stores across North America will be hosting free Remnants demos September 15–16.

Find a participating store near you from the list below and compete to become the lone survivor!

Arizona

Imperial Outpost Games (Glendale), 602-978-0467

Arkansas

Dragon’s Keep Gaming Room (Fayetteville), 479-249-8888

Colorado

Crit Castle Games (Aurora), 303-745-4140

Petrie’s Family Games (Colorado Springs), 719-522-1099

Connecticut

The Board Room (Middletown), 860-788-7824

Connecticut Gaming Center (Waterbury), 203-527-3918

Georgia

Dice Drop Games (Macon), 478-737-1192

Hawaii

The Armchair Adventurer (Honolulu), 808-843-1250

Other Realms Ltd. (Honolulu), 808-596-8236

Idaho

Safari Pearl Comics (Moscow), 208-882-9499

Gaming Adventures (New Plymouth), 208-649-4244

Illinois

AlleyCat Comics (Chicago), 773-907-3404

Bonus Round Games Cafe (Chicago), 773-857-1037

Indiana

Power Nine Gaming (Fort Wayne), 260-387-6136

Better World Books (Goshen), 574-534-1984

Good Games (Indianapolis), 317-493-1423

Kansas

Game Nut Entertainment (Lawrence), 785-856-1540

Mission: Board Games (Mission), 913-242-7970

Gatekeeper Hobbies (Topeka), 785-232-3429

Sente (Wichita), 316-640-5344

Louisiana

Anubis Game & Hobby (Broussard), 337-330-6096

Maryland

Play More Games! Store (Gaithersburg), 240-801-9375

Dream Wizards (Rockville), 301-881-3530

Dice City Games (Silver Spring), 443-424-2637

Michigan

Acropolis Games (Adrian), 517-577-6192

Pandemonium Games and Hobbies (Garden City), 734-427-2451

Nostalgia, Ink (Jackson), 517-784-8955

Minnesota

The Gaming Goat (Saint Paul), 651-690-4628

Missouri

Pawn and Pint (Kansas City), 415-613-0476

Nebraska

Gauntlet Games (Lincoln), 402-420-5060

The Game Shoppe (Omaha), 402-991-8699

Sparta Games (Omaha), 402-934-8330

Nevada

The Glass Die (Reno), 775-384-1456

New Mexico

Zia Comics and Games (Las Cruces), 575-405-0461

New York

The Brooklyn Strategist (Brooklyn), 718-576-3035

Just Games Rochester (Rochester), 585-586-0586

North Carolina

Rocket City Games and More (Jacksonville), 910-577-5556

Scott’s Collectibles (Kannapolis), 704-784-2277

Event Horizon Games (Raleigh), 919-977-4009

Gamers Guild (Spring Lake), 910-497-2354

Ohio

The Guardtower (Columbus), 614-488-4311

Tabletop Game Cafe (Columbus), 614-725-0328

Beyond the Board (Dublin), 614-553-7677

Barnes & Noble (Pickerington), 614-751-0927

Oregon

Borderlands Games (Salem), 503-485-2554

Pennsylvania

Deal Me in Games (Boyertown), 484-415-0058

Caffeinated Gaming (Zieglerville), 610-287-1624

Rhode Island

Reality A Games (West Warwick), 401-500-1545

South Carolina

Firefly Toys and Games (Columbia), 803-764-0596

Tennessee

901 Comics (Memphis), 901-421-8819

Texas

Dragon’s Lair (Austin), 512-454-2399

Mage’s Sanctum (Austin), 512-428-4402

Brickhouse Games (Garland), 972-926-3398

Dragon’s Lair (Houston), 832-761-0072

Flash Candy and Toys (Lockhart), 512-668-5075

Mad Hatter’s House of Games (Lubbock), 806-763-4054

Stormcrow Games (Lubbock), 806-778-4281

Darkhound Game Center (Mansfield), 817-225-6145

Sockmonkey Junction (Mansfield), 682-999-8697

Madness Games & Comics (Plano), 972-943-8135

Utah

Noggin Games (Cedar City), 435-586-3423

Blackfyre Games (Pleasant Grove), 801-785-9713

Game Haven (St. George), 435-627-0616

Demolition Games (Salt Lake City), 385-229-4739

Virginia

The Island Games (Centreville), 515-599-0360

Crossroads Tabletop Tavern (Manassas), 571-364-8885

Washington

Krampus Kave (Leavenworth), 509-888-2422

Wisconsin

Planet Chaos (Fort Atkinson), 920-563-2664

I’m Board! Games and Family Fun (Middleton), 608-831-6631

The GameBoard (Sheboygan), 920-453-4263

Wyoming

Games Gauntlet (Laramie), 307-299-7976

INTERNATIONAL

Canada

North of Exile Games (Penetanguishene, Ontario), 705-614-2801

Mexico

Mana Screw (Costa Azul), 52-1-646-176-4406

Read all about the game here.

Grackles Flying to a Store Near You

Posted on Tuesday, Aug 14 2018 1:30PMMonday, Aug 13 2018 6:26PM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

We’re thrilled with the reception that Grackles has received at Origins and Gen Con and can’t wait for everyone to have it in hand! Grackles releases September 5! Ask your local game store if you can grab a copy.

In a Nutshell Video

To learn a bit about the game before you pick up your copy, check out this video.

How-to-Play Video

To learn how to play before you pick up your copy, check out this video.

******

For retailers, we have our marketing kit for Grackles as well as all our other games on our retailer page.

Gen Con 2018: Booth 2455

Posted on Monday, Jul 23 2018 11:55AMWednesday, Aug 08 2018 4:10PM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

Planning for Gen Con always feels a little bit like planning for a wedding. You worry about every little detail, but at the end as long as you marry up happy gamers with fun games that you’ve proudly raised and sent off into the world, you’ve done your job.

This year is no exception. We are excited this year to show you Remnants and Grackles. Drop by and hang out with us in booth 2455. We’ll have fun showing you our new games, showing you the promo for Remnants, and offering you some special convention deals. We’ll even have limited quantities of both Remnants and Grackles available for sale.

Demos: If you are looking to try out our new games, Remnants and Grackles, we can set you up. We’ll also have demos of Hotshots, Kaiju Crush, Castle Panic with The Wizard’s Tower, and Here, Kitty, Kitty! going.

Promos: With a purchase of any game, you’ll receive a free promo. We have the special Giant Scorpion promo card for Remnants. You can also simply buy a promo if you already own the game.

Pin Bazaar: This year we’re participating in the Pin Bazaar! Fans of Castle Panic will love the Monster Face pin we’ve designed. We do have limited quantities, so make sure you get yours early.

Deals: In addition to all of the games in our catalog, we will have a special discount bin where you can pick up games before they go out of stock.

We’re so excited to see you there! Safe travels!

Remnants Review Roundup

Posted on Thursday, Jul 05 2018 10:41AM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

Early-Reviews-Remnants

The reviews for Remnants are coming in, and people are really enjoying the real-time dice-rolling in this post-apocalyptic world! But we’ll let them do the talking. We’ve pulled out a summary quote from each review and followed it up with a link to the full review for your perusal. Enjoy!

“Remnants provides an excellent tabletop experience. Looting and scavenging are well designed, and the addition of managing and recruiting specialist survivors is very welcome. There’s enough here to feel crunchy and deep without being overwhelming.”

–Everything Board Games

http://www.everythingboardgames.com/2018/06/remnants-review.html

“For fans of delicious decisions, there is a lot of thought and planning required. [. . .] It is still early in our plays, but Remnants is my favorite Fireside Game so far. Remnants has a great theme, good artwork, and two of my favorite mechanisms (real time dice-rolling and card purchase from a market) done well. The tension from building up your compound to withstand the attacks every other round is palpable, and the end game is very satisfying. Throw in the competitive point scoring, and this hits a lot of marks for me.”

–Board Game Gumbo

https://www.punchboardmedia.com/home/2018/6/26/board-game-gumbo-inside-look-at-remnants-from-fireside-games

“You go from frantic dice rolling to calm tactical decision making regularly, which was thrilling to me and actually made the theme a little more immersive.”

–Gaming With Swag

http://www.gamingwithswag.com/blog/2018/6/1/remnants-board-game-review-the-post-apocalypse-meets-dice

“Remnants is a very good game that I absolutely can recommend if you hit 2 to 4 players routinely. [. . .] I’m going to be keeping it, it’s going to be going onto my shelf. Easy to learn, easy to teach, overall, very good game.”

– Bower’s Game Corner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKCQlCikS8I

“I enjoyed this game. It was easy enough rules wise that I could pick it up on the run, but it was challenging enough that I had to take some serious moments considering my actions. I’m pretty happy to play this game and I think that Fireside has done a good job at making a more serious game. [. . .] I think with the mechanic additions, and the great post-apocalyptic setting it’ll be a great addition to anyone’s board game closet.”

–The Nblogcollective

https://nblogcollective.com/2018/04/09/why-remnants-will-be-on-my-board-game-shelf/

“I dig the juggling of trying to grab VPs while doing your best to build a compound which will withstand and take down the baddies. 8.5”

–Jeff McAleer, The Gaming Gang

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2355&v=aMPLvDI2R5U

“Remnants is fun to play. I enjoyed the tension of trying to scavenge the materials I needed to pursue my strategy, and alternating between building up my outpost and preparing for the next attack (with those attacks getting stronger as the game goes on) kept things interesting.”

–ICv2.com

https://icv2.com/articles/reviews/view/40528/review-remnants-board-game

Unboxing video by the Dice Tower:

http://www.dicetower.com/game/248224/remnants

Remnants & Grackles Date Change

Posted on Tuesday, Jun 05 2018 11:09AMWednesday, Aug 08 2018 4:11PM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

We’ve been excitedly anticipating the release of Remnants and happily sharing what we’ve received from the printer. Sadly, we now have to share a disappointing bit of news from the printer. There has been an unforseen shipping delay getting Remnants on the boat, which has caused a ripple effect and pushed the street date to July 25. We’ll have demos and pre-orders available at Origins Game Fair, and we’ll get those copies shipped out as soon as they hit the warehouse. We’ll continue to share bits about Remnants on social media and post the how-to-play video soon, so stay tuned!

Remnants

Don’t forget, if you buy from us or from retailers with Launch Kits, you’ll get the Giant Scorpion promo card.

Remnants-Giant-Scorpion

Here some early reviews of Remnants to give you a hint of all of the post-apocalyptic fun you’re in for.

The Gaming Gang

https://youtu.be/IF0XqDmHJBc?t=26m50s

Bower’s Game Corner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKCQlCikS8I

We’re also pushing back the street date for Grackles, which will now hit stores September 5, to allow for more time to manufacture the cool bird tokens. We’ll have demos and pre-orders at Origins and Gen Con and will ship those out as soon as possible as well.

Grackles

Hotshots Nominated for Origins Award!

Posted on Tuesday, May 15 2018 9:05AMFriday, Jun 08 2018 10:32AM by Justin De Witt — 1 Comment

The Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design has just announced the nominees for the 2018 Origins Awards and we are incredibly excited to say that Hotshots has been nominated in the Family Games category!

It’s an honor to have our game recognized and we couldn’t be more proud of those brave, little, cardboard, firefighting heroes! They’re in some good company too. It turns out several of our games have also been nominated for the Origins Award including: Castle Panic, Bears!, The Wizard’s Tower, and The Dark Titan (which won the fan favorite award in 2016!)

We’ll see how it all works out at the Origins Game Fair coming up in June, and don’t forget, attendees to the show can vote for their Fan Favorite in each category!

Congratulations to all the nominees! You can see all of them in every category here.

The 3rd Annual International Panic Day

Posted on Thursday, Mar 08 2018 5:33PMFriday, Jun 08 2018 10:38AM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

We’re thrilled to be celebrating our 3rd annual International Panic Day! What started out as a funny way of observing a silly holiday has turned into a great way of sharing the love of Castle Panic.

This year, we are celebrating on June 2 with new Castle Panic Event Kits. Each kit supports 16 players and offers 3 different game formats: casual play, team play, and scenario play.

Casual play is noncompetitive and offers new players the opportunity to learn this evergreen, cooperative game.
Team play provides a group competitive experience in which teams add up slain monsters to win prizes.
Scenario play offers a unique, exclusive way to play Castle Panic. In this format, 2 teams play head-to-head in Nightmare Mode, throwing their slain monsters into the forest of the competing team. The goal is to have the last tower standing. And it is a fast blast!

Each participant receives a new promo card. Team and scenario play winners receive exclusive suede Monster bags (as does the Event Coordinator). Runners up go home with Monster-eye game totes. And the person who most contributes to the spirit of the event is awarded the Defender of the Realm pin.

Kits include the rewards listed above as well as event instructions, an event sign-up sheet, and 2 demo copies of Castle Panic. An Add-On Kit is also available without the demo copies. Retailers may contact distributors for pricing and to place orders.

For retailers and distributors, we also have the following marketing assets here.

images of the kit contents
web banners
shelf-talker (to place below Castle Panic)
Facebook ads (with and without text)
1920×1080 in-store TV ads

Hope to see you at your local game store this June 2 to celebrate!

Castle Panic Event Kit

Stock number: FSD 1001EK1

Castle Panic Event Kit Add-On

Stock number: FSD 1001EK2

Rhado Runs Through . . . A Burning Forest!

Posted on Thursday, Jan 25 2018 12:32PM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

If you’re not familiar with “Rhado Runs Through” it’s a video series created by Rhado that takes a look at a board game from the player’s point of view and tries to really capture the feel of what it’s like to play the game. He talks through what choices he’s making and why, so it goes a bit beyond just a rules overview.

Recently, he sat down and played a rousing game of Hotshots, and you can watch that playthrough right here:

He then made a second video where he gives his final thoughts, and not to spoil anything, but he starts his video by calling it a “fun, very solid, cooperative, push your luck game.”

We’re thrilled that Rhado enjoyed the game, and we hope this gives you a fun peek at what it’s like to try to fight the fire!