spunky k is a dedicated Ticket to Ride Online player from Canada who has played over 3800 games online and is sure to enjoy the grand prize – Apple’s New iPad along with both Ticket to Ride and Small World for iPad!  SherryBeatsYou plays Ticket to Ride Online on an iPad already and wins a runner up prize – any Days of Wonder board game.

Congratulations to both players.  Please make sure you contact us at events@daysofwonder.com to claim your prize.  Also, thanks to all the Days of Wonder Online players through the years for making it so much fun to play our games online!

By the way, if you want to replicate playing 30 million games on your own it might take a while. Assuming you start a new Days of Wonder Online game every 10 minutes and you play 24 hours a day,  it’ll still take you over 570 years to hit the 30 million game mark. Have fun!

These new maps serve as the battlegrounds for a dozen different preset Scenarios created by the game’s designer, Philippe Keyaerts.  You’ll find Scenarios appropriate for both Small World novices and Small World Underground veterans alike, with most of them customized for a varying number of players and many scaling well for up to 6 players!

Perhaps even more exciting… you can become the master of your own Small World universe by combining terrain to build your own custom maps and scenarios. Small World Realms is the definitive world-building toolkit for Small World and Small World Underground fans.

Small World Realms will be available from the Days of Wonder webstore and from better game stores throughout Europe in June and in North America in early July. Pre-order your copy now!

Days of Wonder: Anything special about this scenario?
Philippe Keyaerts: This scenario is my wink to Tolkien fans worldwide. In some regions of this Realm, a few rich veins (of gold, not mithr*l) run deep underground. These veins are unfortunately protected by powerful monsters, the biggest of which will also hold and defend some Relics. At game start, these monsters don’t seem too threatening. But keep digging, and you will see their power rise. And once awaken and bullied, the big ones won’t just be happy sitting alone protecting their precious relic – they will attack!

DoW: So shouldn’t the prudent (wise?) player stop digging?
P.K.: Yes, but each Region can harbor up to 10 Victory points. There are clearly some risks worth digging for, but you’d better be prepared for a fight, not just carrying your pick and shovel around. The thing is that until you start digging that vein, no one quite knows for sure what treasure it will harbor, nor what Monsters will protect it… be careful with that Pick!

DoW: So what advice would you shovel onto the adventurers crazy enough to dig deeper?
P.K.: Monsters have no memory – once awakened, they attack anything within reach. So if you want to have fun at your fellow adventurers expense, you can dig a hole, pick up a relic, and run faster and farther than your hapless friends. But I, for one, won’t be shouldering any responsibility for the mayhem that will ensue…

DoW: Philippe, thank you for this foretaste of the scenarios that make up Realms.

The Small World Realms expansion is expected to be available in better game stores throughout Europe in June and in North America in early July. Retail price will be $35/€33.

This 2-6 player scenario introduces a new rule that lets each player who ventures into these Realms use not 1, but 2 Special Powers! But let’s catch up with Philippe Keyaerts, the game designer of Small World again…

Days of Wonder: Philippe, is there anything special in The Crops of Power?
Philippe Keyaerts: Some regions hold a Special Power. These regions are impassable and can’t be occupied. But the Race occupying the most Regions surrounding it (you must control at least 5 neighboring Regions) immediately gains this Power. Of course, ownership of these Powers is likely to remain quite volatile throughout the game, with many of them hotly contested, and oscillating back and forth under the control of various players.

DoW: With such a combination of Special Powers, these Crops must be quite a bloody sight?
P.K.: Not necessarily. It all depends on the combo and races in play. But yes – if the Dragon Master, Commando and Marauding Powers crop up, the players could go quite berserk…

DoW: Any hint for the brave heros who venture forth?
P.K.: The combos dominate this Realm. The Special Powers that crop up are accessible to all, unlike the Special Power of your own Race. When you pick a new Race, make sure to look at the Special Powers on the map carefully, not just at those already paired up with a Race.

DoW: Thank you for the hints, Philippe. We will look forward to forging new ground next time, when we venture… Underground!

The Small World Realms expansion is expected to be available in better game stores throughout Europe in June and in North America in early July. Retail price will be $35/€33.

That’s the prize we’ll hand out to the winner of the 30 millionth Days of Wonder Online game! Plus we’ll throw in copies of both Ticket to Ride for iPad and Small World for iPad. And each of the other players in that game will receive a copy of the Days of Wonder board game of their choice.

Every registered member of Days of Wonder Online is eligible and while it will take some luck as well as skill,  the only thing you need to do is play any of your favorite Days of Wonder Online games against other live players on the network. These include the online versions of Ticket to Ride on Mac, PC, or iPad; Memoir ‘44 Online, Gang of Four, Fist of Dragonstones or Queen’s Necklace. Your game can only include “live” players (no bots) and your game must be completed. The lucky winners will be announced on the Days of Wonder news blog within 7 days after the 30 Millionth game is completed. Read the complete contest rules here.

Note: Because of the high volume of online games played and the varying speeds of web page updates, the online game counter on the home page does not exactly reflect the current game being started. So trying to time your game is probably not an effective strategy. Just keep playing and good luck!

So what are you waiting for?
Head to the Days of Wonder Play Page, your Memoir ’44 Online game or Ticket to Ride for iPad and get playing!

The Online Team at Days of Wonder

Twelve in total, there are enough to appeal to both expert masters of Small World and novice players alike. Thanks to the geomorphic nature of the Terrain tiles, each scenario can be customized for a varying number of players, with many of the scenarios scaling well up to 6 players!

We asked Philippe Keyaerts, the game’s designer, to share his thinking as he developed the Realms scenarios. Here’s the first installment in a number of posts that discuss some of the various “Realms”.

Days of Wonder: Philippe, what new rules did you implement in the scenario Go East?
Philippe Keyaerts: The board map of this Realm is approximately rectangular, with a river running North – South through its middle. All races must enter this Realm through the Westernmost side of the map. Each time they occupy one of the Easternmost regions, on the other edge of the board, they score 1 bonus point.

DoW: This must feel like a Rat race, with everyone running towards the precious East!
P.K.: Since everyone starts on the Western side, there is a lot of pressure on that side. The Easternmost regions are the richest and the safest (at least initially, since one must cross the entire Realm and the river than runs through it, to reach them). And as always in Small World, there won’t be (enough) room for everyone…

DoW: What advice would you give to the players who venture in this scenario?
P.K.: I won’t give any advice; I think it’s a lot more fun to go East (or not!) on your own and discover things on the way. There are just two things I would suggest players remember: After a Decline, a player’s new Race will always enter the Map through the Western front. So that side is never quiet. And, like always when there are rich Regions on the map, if a player is left alone conquering them, she’ll get a good leg up on her victory!

DoW: Thank you for this first walk through the Realms, Philippe. We look forward to traveling with you again soon.

The Small World Realms expansion is expected to be available in better game stores throughout Europe in June and in North America in early July. Retail price will be $35/€33.

New Mac rail barons will be able to play online against the tens of thousands of opponents around the world who use the current Mac, PC, Linux and iPad versions of Ticket to Ride.

Ticket to Ride is available for download in the Mac app store for $9.99/€ 7.99. Also for a limited time, all in-app maps are available at a special launch price. Get Ticket to Ride for Mac today!

Note: Existing Ticket to Ride Online users can continue to use the older browser and downloadable Macintosh versions.  Unfortunately, we are not able to offer a discounted upgrade to the new Mac App Store version, as Apple’s App Store does not support such sidegrades.

First episode, starring Wil Wheaton as host, debuts today!

TableTop is a brand spanking new show that launched today on Google TV’s Geek & Sundry channel and it’s all about boardgames and being oh so nerdy. Naturally, they chose to feature Small World for their inaugural show. So, set phasers to geek.

Actor, writer, and self-professed tabletop gaming lover Wil Wheaton hosts this lively show where “Celebrity Poker” meets “Dinner for Five” with tabletop board games! Filled with witty banter and cheeky camaraderie, this series brings together notable geek celebrities from film, TV, and YouTube to showcase the best in tabletop gaming. A new game is featured every episode and our favorite geek stars play and get played.

The show airs on Geek & Sundry and on YouTube. Watch the first episode here:

Small World is inhabited by a zany cast of characters such as dwarves, wizards, amazons, giants, orcs and even humans; who use their troops to occupy territory and conquer adjacent lands in order to push the other races off the face of the earth. Check it out for yourself on iPad or in its Tabletop Version.

The new retina display dramatically enhances the Ticket to Ride maps, allowing us for the first time to display the same high-fidelity, finely-detailed paper textures and beautiful background illustrations that are featured in the real world Ticket to Ride board game.

In addition, the increased sharpness of the new iPad’s Retina display enabled us to keep the track symbols on the train routes even when playing in normal (non-zoomed) mode; this helps make it much easier for colorblind players to identify different routes on a map.

Existing Ticket to Ride iPad users can upgrade to the new version for free and new users can purchase it now from the App Store.

To make sure your vote is counted, visit the Pocket Gamer Readers’ Choice Awards page. Ticket to Ride Pocket is nominated in the iPhone/iPod Touch category and Ticket to Ride for iPad is exactly where you would expect it – in the iPad category. So if you love what we’ve done with these games this far, and want to see more of it in the future, go ahead and vote – Let your voice be heard!