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April 29, 2001
Celebrate!
Oh, we people from Don & Co have plenty of reasons
to celebrate! As you may have noticed, the new GIPF-site has been
put on line! A good reason to celebrate. The reason why we have restyled
the site, is a second reason to celebrate: we did it to celebrate
that GIPF was initially released on April 21, 1997. This mean that
GIPF celebrates it's 5th birthday. And to celebrate that, we have
yet another reason to celebrate: Project GIPF goes on! Feel free to
join our euphoric mood!
The name is DVONN…
The Fourth game of Project GIPF is called DVONN.
I assume that quite a few will ask themselves again: why such a name?
The answer is simple: because the previous 3 already had such names.
Don't look for any other explanation. DVONN means absolutely nothing;
it is just the sound you hear when you say it aloud. You don't succeed
in saying it aloud? Come on! Just try a bit harder! Shout: DVONN!
… and it is on its way…
Don & Co, who initially published GIPF as an independent,
is now independent again and shall release DVONN later this year,
most likely in the beginning of September. In North America Jay Tummelson
will publish the game under his own Rio Grande Games brand, just like
he already did with ZČRTZ. There's an agreement with Harald Bilz that
Heidelberg will carry the game as a wholesaler in Germany, and GIPF
and TAMSK, too. Normally Piatnik will do the same in Austria, Swiss
Games in Switzerland, 999 Games in The Netherlands, and Tradition
in Sweden. Concerning ZČRTZ in Germany, a decision will be made in
consultation with Schmidt Spiele later this year.
DVONN is, of course, an abstract strategy game for 2 players. Just
as GIPF did, it picks up the tradition again of just a board and pieces
- no more, no less. So, it must be clear to everybody by now: yet
again a fashionable game that fits perfectly well in the current marketing
and promotion trends! (And there's no room for discussion about this!)
In Europe the advised retail price will probably be around 25 Euro.
… and the DVONN potentials, too!
There's will be no free DVONN-potentials enclosed
in the box. Nonetheless, the potentials will become available as soon
as possible. In spite of the doubts that many have expressed in articles
about the games of the Project, we remain convinced that the potentials
add a lot of value to GIPF, in particular when they are used as pieces
in their own right (i.e. without using them to combine games, since
combining games is only meant for the fanatics). Our first concern
is, of course, the release of DVONN, but meanwhile we're also working
on GIPF Set 2, that will contain 6 white and 6 black ZČRTZ-potentials,
and 6 white and 6 black DVONN-potentials. (And there also might be
a special surprise in it, but it is too soon to say something about
that yet…) We will try to have Set 2 ready by the games fair in Essen,
Germany (that is: the end of October), unfortunately this is not a
firm promise yet. You'll be informed about the definite date of release
in due time.
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