Arcane Tinmen ApS

Summon Your Card Protection!

By Ian Spiegel-Blum

with Dragon Shield Japanese Size Sleeves

Dragon Shield, one of the most trusted brands in card gaming accessories, is excited to present an expanded line of products aimed toward Japanese card gamers! For those that might not know, some card games that originate in Japan, like Yu-Gi-Oh! And Cardfight Vanguard, use cards that are smaller than the standard card size most American gamers know. A typical Magic: the Gathering or Pokémon card, for example, is the standard 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches, the same as a Poker card. Japanese cards have a quarter inch off all the way around making for a more compact experience.

In November 2020, Konami, the parent company of Yu-Gi-Oh!, announced a rule change allowing for decks to be double sleeved. Double sleeving is the practice of taking a regularly sleeved Yu-Gi-Oh! card and placing it inside another sleeve for additional protection. In tournament play, the outer sleeve needs to be clear. We have heard from many Japanese-size card gamers that their outer sleeve of choice is the Dragon Shield Standard Size Classic Clear sleeve. For that, we want to thank you!

And that is one of the reasons why we are redoubling our efforts to offer an expanded line of Japanese-size products. Dragon Shield has seven Classic colors with glossy backs available and a whopping twenty-three colors in Matte. That’s a lot of decks if you want to experience them all.

But the real innovation comes with our latest release: Dragon Shield Matte Art Sleeves, designed specifically for smaller cards. Dragon Shield Art Sleeves are different from many other brands in that the image is not pasted on top of another sleeve. In the past, art sleeves were made by pasting a thin image on a layer over the sleeve. This led to those sleeves cracking and the image peeling off over time. Dragon Shield Art Sleeves, on the other hand, are designed with the art in mind. The sleeve itself has the art infused in the plastic, meaning there will never be peeling, scratching, or breaking. Our art sleeves are one hundred percent tournament legal and feature incredible artwork by a variety of artists. Use standard size classic clear or matte clear Dragon Shield to protect the art even further.

At the time of writing, Dragon Shield offers two Matte Art Sleeves and several Classic Art Sleeves (although the classics are quite rare nowadays). The two sleeves both feature artwork by Ina Wong, depicting a dragon fruit-inspired dragon and a futuristic mecha-like dragonoid.

As with all of Dragon Shield’s products, the packaging features a piece of micro fiction to tell you a little more about the characters shown in the art.

In the future, we have plans to continue to expand our line of Japanese card size sleeve products. While we can’t talk about specifics just yet, we can safely say that if you see an innovation in our standard size sleeves, we are working on a way to bring it to our Japanese size sleeves, too.

See the selection of Dragon Shield Japanese size sleeves at www.dragonshield.com/japanese-sleeves. All sleeves and additional Dragon Shield products are available now from GTS Distribution.

Building Executive Functions

through Board Game Play

by Kendall Newton, Co-Owner of Cape Fear Games

When we opened Cape Fear Games in 2009, my husband and I didn’t know our children would be diagnosed with ADHD. We didn’t know that board games would help our family forge powerful and meaningful connections, or that game night would teach so many learning skills. And we certainly didn’t anticipate a pandemic that would make family time more plentiful and pivotal than ever.

We simply knew that board games could bring loads of laughter. Having two boys, we get the draw of video games. We also know that the right board game can unlock hours of imagination, brain power, and fun! Finding new games — beyond Memory and Battleship — can be quite intimidating. And we hoped that we could help facilitate family connections and build a community in our hometown of Wilmington, North Carolina.

Today we have a treasured collection of favorite board games that help to build skills like working memory, recall, focus, and strategic planning. We have found that exercising these executive functions in game play is an added bonus for a child with ADHD. We hope that sharing our list helps your family build skills — and treasured memories!

The Magic Labyrinth

Playing The Magic Labyrinth, you are transported inside the master’s maze as you attempt to collect lost magical objects more quickly than your competitors. This game builds memory and recall skills as each player works to avoid the labyrinth walls. This game remains a favorite for us because my son with ADHD and dyslexia mastered it easily and happily. There are pictures, not words, guiding game play and a game is usually completed in around 20 minutes.

Ice Cool

How can you possibly go wrong flicking penguins around a 3-D game board? This fast-paced game of dexterity and tactical thinking challenges your ‘penguin’ to move all over the board chasing down fish while the hall monitor works to stop the action. Gathering all of your fish first requires focus, concentration, and planning, but this game will draw in even

the most reluctant player with its unique style of play and eye-catching set up.

Catan Junior

This is an excellent introductory game for children aged 6 to 10 that trains early tactical and strategic-thinking skills. With more simplified rules than the popular adult version, Catan Junior incorporates pirates, hideouts, and gold to create a crowd pleaser we all enjoy.

Pitch Car

An engaging game for all ages, Pitch Car challenges your nimble fingers as you flick race cars around a track. Using safety railings and 16 wooden boards, this game encourages your little engineer to creatively customize a track and apply basic laws of physics in planning their race car trajectory to the finish line. This game has been a huge hit during local elementary school game nights due to the simplicity of its rules and its active play.

No Thank You, Evil!

A great introduction to role-playing games, No Thank You, Evil! encourages adventurous escapades as players create their own characters and set off on quests limited only by their own imaginations. With rules that adapt to players’ individual abilities, this game is flexible enough to earn the love of a wide range of kids and parents. The added bonus is seeing your kids use reasoning, criticalthinking, and problem-solving skills to work cooperatively!

Can’t Stop

Can’t Stop is a classic “press your luck” dice game that is so sneaky your kids won’t even realize they are honing mental math skills! Who will be the first to conquer three of the eleven number columns as quickly as possible? While the rules are simple, this game is tough to put away — you just can’t stop playing!

Unlock! Escape Games

ADHD minds often exhibit excellent out-of-the-box thinking skills, which come in handy while solving these fun, cooperative games. Players work through a deck of cards, carefully combing through details to solve the puzzle at hand. There are multiple versions — from Star Wars themed cards to a mystery treasure hunt — allowing your tween or teen to tap into a specific passion or set a goal to solve them all!

Splendor

Splendor is a strategic card game in which players acquire precious gem tokens to trade for development cards. Using critical thinking and simple tactical maneuvers, you work to be the first to reach the goal of 15 points. With game play lasting about 30 minutes, it’s easy to find the time for a quick game during a busy evening.

The Resistance

Is your child a fan of the wildly popular computer game Among Us? Then they will love The Resistance! Players use deductive reasoning and cooperation to root out the spy among you.

Magic: The Gathering

A collectible, fantasy-themed card game filled with dragons, wizards, goblins, and other fantastical creatures, MTG is very appealing to those who enjoy collecting and building decks. For competitive playing, check out your local game store for tournaments where you can meet other players. Since its introduction in 1993, MTG has gathered quite a following and can be an excellent social outlet for teens looking for connection.

Parent Tip: On YouTube, you can find videos visually explaining how to play tons of games! Trying to navigate the written instructions amid questions and confusion can often shut down a game down before it begins, so do yourself a favor and watch a short tutorial before you call everyone to game night.

www.capefeargamesilm.com https://www.instagram.com/ capefeargamesnc/ https://www.facebook.com/ CapeFearGames

All New Family Brand

by Capstone Games By Jillian Ross

Board games have always been there for us to bring people together; to unplug, unwind, and simply have a good time. Our mission at Capstone Games has always been to bring people together through rich, evolving gameplay, and we have been widely recognized as a premium publisher of complex strategy games. With our experience of many large, complex games such as Pipeline, Maracaibo, and Cooper Island, we had the desire to create a line of games that accommodates a wider audience, but still retains a familiar hint of where we started. The overall market for board games has experienced phenomenal growth, even during a pandemic. With an influx of new gamers each year, we are excited to provide everyone with accessible board games through the introduction of our new Family Brand! Our Family Brand caters to games made for everyone in the family. The idea for the Family Brand logo stemmed from inverting the original Capstone Games logo upside down, so it becomes a house with the word Family as the foundation. In this way, the Family Brand logo becomes a visual representation of itself. Additionally, the shapes of the original Capstone Games logo and Family logos are also opposites, signifying the idea of lower and higher complexity between the two brands. Juicy Fruits is a game designed by Christian Stöhr, who is the co-designer of last year’s Spiel des Jahres winner Pictures. Each of you has a small island paradise, where you make a living growing delicious fruit. Your goal is to gain the most points by fulfilling ships’ orders and by adding businesses to your island. Juicy Fruits incorporates a fun sliding mechanic to gain various types of fruit. However, your island starts off small. As you fulfill orders, your island grows, allowing you to collect more fruit in a shorter amount of time. Clever planning is essential, as fulfilling orders frees valuable space on your island, but you also don’t want to let your opponents take all of the available businesses either! With each play, Juicy Fruits poses new exciting puzzles of how to move your tokens most efficiently and how to balance clearing your island, claiming businesses, and finding the right time to thwart your opponents’ plans.

Rorschach is a fun team game that has the perfect fusion of aesthetics, theme, and gameplay. It can play four to ten players in about twenty minutes, ages ten and up! This game, named after the Swiss psychiatrist Herman Rorschach, uses some of his famous inkblot images to put two teams to the test. The teams earn points by correctly guessing how their members paired randomly selected words with these inkblot images. A player then secretly pairs three words with three inkblot images. That player’s teammates choose one of the images and guess the words. Before the word is revealed, the other team gets a shot at guessing and stealing points!

Savannah Park is a tile laying game that plays 1-4 in about 30 minutes, ages 8 and up! You run a park home to some of the most fascinating wild animals in the world, and you have a lot to do. You must gather each type of animal into large herds, lead them to watering holes, and protect them from brush fires. A tricky task – especially as each animal can only move once, and your opponents have a say in when! Savannah Park’s simple rules offer great variety and countless replays. An engaging gaming experience for both families and advanced play groups. Compete to have the best park!

Each game in our new Family Brand is a great addition to any gamer’s collection because each game offers accessible rules and amazing depth through fun mechanisms and strategy! From us at Capstone to you, we hope you enjoy our new Family Brand!