Oink Games, the Japanese publisher behind Deep Sea Adventure, A Fake Artist Goes to New York, and Startups, has announced two new titles arriving later this year. Known for packing sharp, inventive designs into boxes small enough to fit in a coat pocket, Oink has built a loyal following among hobby gamers for consistently delivering games that are easy to teach and surprisingly deep.
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Find events near youCompress, designed by Jun Sasaki (co-designer of Deep Sea Adventure and creator of A Fake Artist Goes to New York), is a memory game with a twist. Each player gets just eight cards showing black or white and 0 or 1, and must use them as notes to track a growing sequence of numbers and colours. There are no restrictions on how you arrange your cards, so players develop their own systems to keep up as the sequence grows. Optionally, you can take "penalty cards" that let you compress your notes further. It supports 1 to 7 players, runs about 20 minutes, and is aimed at ages eight and up.
The Frozen Passage, designed by Emi Kuji with artwork by Rie Takahashi and Rie Komatsuzaki, takes a cooperative approach. Inspired by historical expeditions seeking the Northwest Passage, 1 to 4 players navigate an icy sea by arranging three colours of cards numbered 1 to 9 in an inverted pyramid, starting from the bottom and working towards the goal cards at the top. The catch: everyone's hand is hidden, so you need to predict what your teammates are holding. Special item cards like Dog Sled, Wireless Radio, and Inuit Wisdom give your crew extra options when things get tight. The cards feature an aurora-like shimmer finish, and the game plays in about 20 minutes.
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Start organising for freeBoth titles debut at Tokyo Game Market Spring (Japan's largest tabletop gaming convention) on 23 to 24 May, with a Japanese retail release on 29 May. North American copies arrive at Gen Con at the end of July. UK gamers get the best deal of all: Hachette Boardgames UK, who already distribute several Oink titles in Britain, are expected to have both games available around UK Games Expo at the end of May.
Sources: Oink Games - The Frozen Passage | The Toy Book | ICv2
