• In 2022, Korean publisher Mandoo Games released a special Eevee edition of the card game Point Salad that focused on the iterations of that Pokémon character.

Now in November 2023 Korea Boardgames has released 스플렌더: Pokémon, a version of Marc André‘s Splendor. Gameplay is mostly the same, with players drafting Pokéballs instead of gems and using them to collect Pokémon, but instead of gaining nobles, at the end of your turn, you can evolve one of the Pokémon in your collection if the next level of that Pokémon is in the display and you have the required Pokéballs on hand. More points for you, and another card in your Pokédex…

Legendary Pokémon require you to use a masterball — that is, a gold Pokéball — in order to catch them, which means your forced to take a reservation action if you want to grab it.

As with Eevee Point Salad, 스플렌더: Pokémon is available only in Korea, presumably due to licensing restrictions. Which game will land this license next? Flamecraft seems too obvious. Pokémon Nemesis?

• And that’s not all: In December 2023, Korea Boardgames will release a Pokémon-themed version of Mathieu Aubert and Théo Rivière‘s Bag of Chips bearing the straightforward name 포켓몬 칩스 (“Pokémon Chips”). (For background on Bag of Chips, read or watch my overview from 2021.)

Gameplay is a scaled-down version of the original. Players have objective cards that score points based on whether a condition is met. Someone draws four Pokéball tokens from a bag, then everyone discards a card, then someone draws three more tokens, and everyone discards again. Eventually everyone locks two of their cards into scoring positive points and one into scoring negative points, so you try to fail the latter objective and achieve the former. Whoever has the highest score wins points, and you play multiple rounds until someone has 10 points — or someone achieves the Mewtwo instant trophy win.

Each player receives a trainer card with a unique power.

• Can we find more games with adorable critters to cover? Of course we can! These days you can hardly swing a stick without hitting an adorable critter, then being ostracized on social media.

At PAX Unplugged 2023, U.S. publisher Allplay demoed the 2024 release River Valley Glassworks from designers Adam Hill, Ben Pinchback, and Matt Riddle. Here’s an overview of this 1-5 player game:

Quote:

Welcome to River Valley! The beautiful pieces of glass that can be found along the river here have attracted the most entrepreneurial of woodland creatures to set up shop.

In River Valley Glassworks, you play as one of these pioneers, drafting glass from the market of river tiles. To do so, you have to play a piece from your inventory into the river. Each river tile can take only a specific shape, and you must play into a space adjacent to where you want to draft from. After you pick up your glass, the river shifts forward, revealing new pieces and new opportunities.

Store the glass you pick up strategically in your shop. Depending on how the glass pieces are placed, your score will change drastically. Fill in rows and columns to gain bonus points, but don’t draft too many of one type to avoid negative points!

• In 2022, U.S. publisher R&R Games released Robert A. Kamp‘s Ferret Out, a party game for 3-7 players that mirrors the concept of A Fake Artist Goes to New York, Spyfall, and The Chameleon — that is, all players but one give clues to the same thing, and folks want to identify the outsider, while the outsider wants to blend in or identify the target thing — with the added detail that no one knows whether they’re part of the ferret family or the lone weasel.

• Folks might differ on whether bugs are adorable, but I’m still going to mention Bug Off!, a card game from Stephen Glenn for 2-5 players in which you want to collect bugs.

Each turn, you draw a card, then play a card. You can place a bug card in front of you, with bugs coming in six types, or you can use a bug to collect matching bugs from other players. However, if someone draws a “bug off” card, then all bugs of the depicted type are squashed and removed from play.

I feel like I’m missing something in this short description, but the rules aren’t online, so this is all I have for now.