Ulysses Press to publish cookbooks based on Asmodee board games CATAN and Ticket to Ride

Asmodee Entertainment has announced a brand partnership with independent publisher Ulysses Press to create and release cookbooks based on the internationally popular and best selling board games CATAN and Ticket to Ride.

Scheduled for publication in spring and summer 2023 respectively, the hardcover cookbooks will each feature original recipes, full-colour photographs and striking layouts. Expanding on the worlds the gamers already know and love, the official CATAN and Ticket to Ride cookbooks will promise to take players on eating expeditions never before experienced.

Boasting a global fanbase, CATAN is available in 40+ languages and has sold more than 40 million units worldwide since it was first published in 1995. Distributed in 40 countries, Ticket to Ride is the world’s best-selling train game.

Ulysses Press Editorial Director Casie Vogel says: “We’re absolutely thrilled to be working with Asmodee Entertainment, CATAN, and Ticket to Ride. With our experience and track record of creating beautiful, pop culture-themed cookbooks, and the huge fandom behind these games (our staff included), we’re excited to create books that families and friends can enjoy all while bringing their favourite games to life through food.”

“This cooperation is something we wanted to do for a long time and I’m very excited that with the Ulysses team we found such a passionate partner,” says Asmodee Entertainment Licensing Manager Alexander Thieme. “Having seen the first ideas for the books I’m absolutely sure that fans of both gaming brands will love them. With tens of millions of active players in North America alone these books will find themselves in a great many kitchens and on a great many coffee tables before too long.”

The official CATAN cookbook (title and cover to be revealed) will be available for pre-order this autumn, and both books will be distributed by Simon & Schuster.

Rollacrit and Asmodee Entertainment debut first CATAN merchandise collection

Rollacrit and Asmodee Entertainment have launched the first collection in their CATAN merchandise partnership, which celebrates the hit board game.

The collection features a range of apparel and mugs aimed at dedicated and casual CATAN fans alike. Rollacrit will be releasing a full range of merchandise including more apparel designs, accessories, collectables and homewares, available at Rollacrit.com.

Lifestyle brand Rollacrit was recently contracted as the official merchandise supplier for 2021 for GenCon, the largest tabletop game convention in the US. The new range of CATAN merchandise has been developed by Rollacrit’s designers, who are themselves fans, with fellow fans in mind.

“With the ‘Greetings From Catan’ collection, we focused on channelling the natural beauty and rustic feel of the world of CATAN,” says Nick Carr, Creative Director at Rollacrit. “As long-time CATAN players ourselves, partnering with Asmodee Entertainment has given us a fantastic opportunity to create a line we hope will inspire everyone to visit the game world we know and love.”

The ‘Greetings from Catan’ series takes fans on a tour of Catan’s landscapes, one for each of the valuable resources. Visit the Golden Fields for wheat, the Verdant Pastures for sheep, the Lush Forest for wood or the Scenic Mountains for ore, while brick can be found in the Rugged Hills. Each design is available on both mugs and unisex t-shirts.

“Rollacrit came to the table with so many great ideas. You could really tell they are fans,” says Katha Busk, Product Development Coordinator for Asmodee Entertainment. “They did, and continue to do, great work melding their modern and clever sense of design with the beautiful world of CATAN. I’m really excited to share their hard work with CATAN fans!”

This first collection is currently available on Rollacrit.com.

Asmodee Entertainment partners with Trends International for CATAN posters

Asmodee Entertainment has announced a new licensing agreement with Trends International to produce and market a range of CATAN posters, which will be available exclusively from selected online outlets, including Trends’ own ShopTrends.com site and Amazon.

“Trends is excited to help spread the magic of CATAN by providing new merchandise that fans can collect and share,” says Greg Hill, Associate Licensing Manager at Trends International. “CATAN’s charm has never been limited to the tabletop – and is now expanding to your walls with the help of Trends’ poster products.”

Trends is a market leader and household name in posters and the agreement further expands Asmodee Entertainment’s push to establish the world’s best-selling board game as a true lifestyle brand.

“It is fantastic to welcome Trends International to the CATAN lifestyle merchandise family,” says Alexander Thieme, Licensing Manager for Consumer Products at Asmodee Entertainment. “We’re looking forward to the posters their creative team comes up with in the coming months and are sure that a great many CATAN fans’ homes will show even more of their love for CATAN soon. Exciting times!”

The first of this new range of CATAN posters from Trends are expected to launch in November and will be available from ShopTrends.com and Amazon.

Asmodee partners with Blok.Party to bring CATAN to its digital tabletop device TapTop

Asmodee Entertainment is embarking on a new partnership with the social gaming platform, Blok Party, to bring the wildly popular board game title CATAN to its TapTop digital tabletop device in 2021.

TapTop is a tabletop device that allows players to engage with digital versions of popular physical tabletop games, including other Asmodee titles such as Ticket to Ride, Splendor, and Codenames. The device also enables players to create their own tabletop games and card games, as well as interact with NFC figures such as LEGO Dimenstions, Nintendo’s Amiibo, or even Skylanders.

“I started in the video game industry in 1984 and have watched Catan take its place alongside the board game legends over the past 30 years,” said Gilman Louie, partner at Alsop Louie Partners, the lead investor in Blok Party. “Catan proves the value of having a social platform for board games, interacting with other players, making it easier to set up and play games, and allowing the game to merge digital and physical interactions through game play. This is a great partnership for both companies.” 

Since its creation in 1995 by Klaus Teuber, CATAN and its many expansions have sold more than 32 million games around the world. The game is published in more than 40 languages and is sold in more than 70 territories. As the world’s pre-eminent boardgame, CATAN is a truly global phenomenon and enjoys growing success in the digital, lifestyle and entertainment categories through Asmodee’s carefully curated deals.  

“CATAN has long been one of the premier board games so a partnership with the premier digital tabletop gaming platform is a natural fit,” added Christian Dunn, interactive licensing manager at Asmodee Entertainment. “Blok Party’s ambition matches our own and this deal is the first of several over the coming months as many great Asmodee titles will be coming to TapTop in 2021 and beyond.”

CATAN arrives on TapTop devices in early 2021, with more details expected soon.

Asmodee Entertainment’s Catan steps into footwear partnership with Plainview Shoes

Asmodee Entertainment has struck up a partnership with  Plainview Shoes to take its popular Catan brand into the world of fashionable footwear. The new range, spanning flip flops and trainers, is scheduled to launch to the North American market in 2021.

Plainview has made a success of licensed footwear in the past, having previously partnered with Capcom to launch footwear based on its portfolio of video games. Under the Asmodee partnership, the firm will channel the Catan board game’s themes of trading, building, and settling into a new range.

 “We are excited that we can add Catan to our portfolio of gaming footwear,” said Lyndon Tucker, president of Plainview Shoes.

“After partnering with Capcom for footwear based on various videogames, Catan was the logical choice for us to expand into tabletop games and its huge fanbase. Catan is the premier boardgame of our time. It truly is a modern classic and many of us let this quirky German boardgame into our lives in our twenties.

“Catan is both full of nostalgia and very current, with its central element of cooperative competition for the good of all and the stewardship of natural resources. Gaming Properties in the licensed footwear space are greatly underrepresented and we know there are a great many fans out there who look to express themselves with gaming-inspired footwear.”

 David Harris, creative director of Plainview, added: “When Lyndon first talked about adding a boardgame brand to our portfolio, I had one hope: please let it be Catan!

“Catan has a unique design language and within the fan community there are many in-jokes around trading, building and settling. Concept works are already on the way and we are looking forward to the day when we can show more.”

 Since its creation in 1995 by Klaus Teuber, Catan and its many expansions have sold more than 32 million games around the world. The game is published in more than 40 languages and is sold in more than 70 territories.

As the world’s pre-eminent boardgame, Catan is a global phenomenon that enjoys growing success as a lifestyle brand through Asmodee Entertainment’s strategic partnerships with carefully selected premium brand licensees. The collaboration with Plainview is one of several announced in recent months.

“We know how important Catan is for its fans. Trading, building and settling is an integral part of many of their social lives, be it through their regular gaming nights or through Catan tournaments. The game is a regular social anchor for many and with its elegant, nature-focused design elements it has already become a lifestyle brand,” said Alexander Thieme, licensing manager at Asmodee Entertainment.

“It is great to see Plainview coming on board as one of the first apparel licensees in the US, following Hot Topic.”

Asmodee Entertainment brings board game art work to life in Artovision partnership

Asmodee Entertainment has signed a new licensing partnership with Artovision to bring to life several of its tabletop gaming properties through Artovision’s innovative multi-dimensional art collectables. Under the deal, Artovision will develop pieces inspired by the artwork of Catan, Arkham Horror, Twilight Imperium, KeyForge, and Legend of the Five Rings.

Each property is known for their use of high quality illustrations throughout the game. The move is the latest in Asmodee’s ongoing assault on the pop culture licensing space as the board game giant continues to mine its IP portfolio for partnerships in the wider consumer products and entertainment space.

The development is reflective of the growing popularity of the tabletop gaming scene with many of the Asmodee titles going mainstream or finding new audiences throughout the lockdown period.

The partnership with Artovision will see boardgame artwork now produced as shadowbox and desktop artwork, bringing some of the brand’s most iconic pieces of art to life with a three-dimensional depth. Artovision’s shadowbox artwork combines four layers of full-colour art, each printed on optical grade cast acrylic and assembled within a durable frame.

“It is absolutely fantastic to see what Artovision is doing with iconic art pieces from the  worlds of pop culture. Bringing them to a multi-dimensional medium brings out details  and perspectives in a fantastic new way. I can’t wait to see the fans react to some of the  designs that the guys at Artovision are preparing at the moment,” said Alexander  Thieme, licensing manager at Asmodee Entertainment. 

Stuart Sandler, CEO of Artovision, added: “To work with such an immersive artwork portfolio  is truly amazing for us. Through our friends at Asmodee Entertainment, we are currently  working with the renowned Catan Studio and Fantasy Flight Games studios, creators of  the game franchises, to bring all of our experience in the medium to bear and create  some multi-dimensional art pieces to truly delight the fans.”

Klaus Teuber’s Catan is recognised as a highly visual and engaging game, known for the compelling art style of its box covers, board and other game components. Developed by Asmodee’s  Catan Studio, the modern classic celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2020/21 and enjoys a  great and growing audience all over the globe. 

Meanwhile, Twilight Imperium is a genre-defining strategy game set against the backdrop of a  sweeping, epic space opera with awe-inspiring, epic art to match. The cyber-noir setting  of Android sees mega corporations battling for dominance in an AI-enhanced future and  is, like Twilight Imperium, KeyForge and Legend of the Five Rings, a product of Asmodee’s  renowned Fantasy Flight Games studio.

KeyForge is the world’s first Unique Deck Game,  known for its deep, immersive melting-pot universe where anything is possible, with stunning card art central to its appeal.

The world of Rokugan, home to Legend of the Five  Rings, offers an epic fantasy vista and provides the backdrop for a range of beloved tabletop games.

The chosen properties stand out as some of the most beautifully  illustrated brands to be found anywhere in world, traits which make them a perfect fit  for Artovision’s innovate, ultra high-quality shadowbox and desktop artworks.  

The first products of this collaboration are due to launch in fall 2020. 

Asmodee Entertainment brings board game art work to life in Artovision partnership

Asmodee Entertainment has signed a new licensing partnership with Artovision to bring to life several of its tabletop gaming properties through Artovision’s innovative multi-dimensional art collectables. Under the deal, Artovision will develop pieces inspired by the artwork of Catan, Arkham Horror, Twilight Imperium, KeyForge, and Legend of the Five Rings.

Each property is known for their use of high quality illustrations throughout the game. The move is the latest in Asmodee’s ongoing assault on the pop culture licensing space as the board game giant continues to mine its IP portfolio for partnerships in the wider consumer products and entertainment space.

The development is reflective of the growing popularity of the tabletop gaming scene with many of the Asmodee titles going mainstream or finding new audiences throughout the lockdown period.

The partnership with Artovision will see boardgame artwork now produced as shadowbox and desktop artwork, bringing some of the brand’s most iconic pieces of art to life with a three-dimensional depth. Artovision’s shadowbox artwork combines four layers of full-colour art, each printed on optical grade cast acrylic and assembled within a durable frame.

“It is absolutely fantastic to see what Artovision is doing with iconic art pieces from the  worlds of pop culture. Bringing them to a multi-dimensional medium brings out details  and perspectives in a fantastic new way. I can’t wait to see the fans react to some of the  designs that the guys at Artovision are preparing at the moment,” said Alexander  Thieme, licensing manager at Asmodee Entertainment. 

Stuart Sandler, CEO of Artovision, added: “To work with such an immersive artwork portfolio  is truly amazing for us. Through our friends at Asmodee Entertainment, we are currently  working with the renowned Catan Studio and Fantasy Flight Games studios, creators of  the game franchises, to bring all of our experience in the medium to bear and create  some multi-dimensional art pieces to truly delight the fans.”

Klaus Teuber’s Catan is recognised as a highly visual and engaging game, known for the compelling art style of its box covers, board and other game components. Developed by Asmodee’s  Catan Studio, the modern classic celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2020/21 and enjoys a  great and growing audience all over the globe. 

Meanwhile, Twilight Imperium is a genre-defining strategy game set against the backdrop of a  sweeping, epic space opera with awe-inspiring, epic art to match. The cyber-noir setting  of Android sees mega corporations battling for dominance in an AI-enhanced future and  is, like Twilight Imperium, KeyForge and Legend of the Five Rings, a product of Asmodee’s  renowned Fantasy Flight Games studio.

KeyForge is the world’s first Unique Deck Game,  known for its deep, immersive melting-pot universe where anything is possible, with stunning card art central to its appeal.

The world of Rokugan, home to Legend of the Five  Rings, offers an epic fantasy vista and provides the backdrop for a range of beloved tabletop games.

The chosen properties stand out as some of the most beautifully  illustrated brands to be found anywhere in world, traits which make them a perfect fit  for Artovision’s innovate, ultra high-quality shadowbox and desktop artworks.  

The first products of this collaboration are due to launch in fall 2020.