Handelabra – Stately Play

Aeon’s End releasing next week

September 11, 2019 David Neumann 7

iPad, Android Tablet, PC/Mac/Linux I’ll be the first to admit I have an unhealthy crush on the guys from Handelabra. I’ve met the crew and they’re all incredibly nice–which is great and all–but they also make some pretty kickass card game ports including one that still gets a load of play on my iPad, One Deck Dungeon. Their latest has been in Early Access for a bit now but is ready for prime time. Prepare yourself for Aeon’s End when it releases next Tuesday, September 17.

Handelabra’s latest, Aeon’s End, due for Early Access tomorrow

June 20, 2019 David Neumann 2

PC/Mac/Linux I’m going to admit that, lately, gaming just hasn’t been doing it for me. Oh, I’ve been playing games — older ones, mostly — but there’s very little happening that’s gotten me excited for…well, a long time now. This is changing thanks to our pals at Handelabra. Yet to release a dud, a new Handelabra release is always something to get excited about even if it is just a Steam Early Access launch. So, prepare yourselves for your next Handelabra addiction as Aeon’s End launches tomorrow for PC/Mac/Linux.

One Deck Dungeon getting tiny on Thursday

May 21, 2019 David Neumann 30

iOS, Android, PC/Mac/Linux My top mobile game of 2018 was Handelabra‘s masterful port of the Little Card Game That Could, One Deck Dungeon. It was a perfect blend of quick, roguelike play and oodles of dice-chucking madness. Yes, bad dice rolls can nip you in the backside, but that’s the point of the game: building up your hero(es) to mitigate dicey disaster. I played the hell out of it on my iPad and even sank too much time delving on my laptop. It was nearly as perfect as could be, with one exception: it wasn’t also on my phone. This Thursday, that changes.

One Deck Dungeon heading to the small screen

April 22, 2019 David Neumann 7

iOS, Android, PC/Mac/Linux Coming out of nowhere last year was Handelabra‘s port of the Little Card Game That Could, One Deck Dungeon. No other board game port received nearly as much playtime and, let me remind you, you could only play it on iPad or your laptop. Luckily, it’s less of an addiction now because it’s coming to phones in May which would have killed me had it happened last year.

All the news we missed last week (and maybe even before that)

March 25, 2019 David Neumann 8

It’s been a crazy few months at Stately Play HQ. Work, family, and life in general have been putting up huge detour signs whenever I’d sit down to pen a poorly written screed about the latest Big Thing. You may have noticed. I’m on vacation this week (my kids are on spring break, which seemed as good of an excuse as any) so I’m hoping to have a little more time. I’m hoping this extra time stretches into the future even when I’m not sitting outside in 72 degree weather with a lovely ocean breeze to keep me cool. Work should be dying down a bit and the end of club volleyball is in sight. We’ll see, but I’m hoping for a more energetic front page in the coming weeks and months. A lot of stuff in Gameland has been happening and, instead of forcing you to read one dreck filled post of mine after another, I thought I’d pile all the dreck into one easy-to-digest morsel. See what’s been happening after the break.

Kickstarter for Handelabra’s next game, Aeon’s End, is now live

November 5, 2018 David Neumann 6

PC/Mac/Linux • Since the release of Sentinels of the Multiverse on iPad way back in 2014 Handelabra, has established themselves as one of the top board game devs in the biz, right up there with Playdek and Czech Games. While I get that Sentinels, Bottom of the 9th, and One Deck Dungeon aren’t in everyone’s wheelhouse, you can’t deny that everything they touch is polished to a blinding sheen. Thus, when they announce a new project or, as is the case today, launch a new Kickstarter, we listen. We already knew they’re working on digital versions of both Spirit Island and Aeon’s End, and it’s the latter that is now available on everyone’s favorite crowdfunder.

Tripflare & Torch: A Sunday-Night Feature Approaches

August 13, 2018 Tof Eklund 2

Welcome to what may become a regular SP Sunday-night feature, if you’re in the US (more like second breakfast or elevensies time in NZ). I’ve always fancied myself a decidedly non-prime hours horror host, in the vein of Vampira, Elvira, and Commander USA. Don’t remember Commander USA? Just imagine Watchmen’s The Comedian unconvincingly faking enthusiasm for El Santo movies and “drawing on” his hand with his cigar. I asked editorial for a wardrobe budget, but all I got back was a series of farty noises, so just imagine me in a LBD and a smoking jacket, wearing a wig stolen from a community theatre production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, sitting in a ridiculously oversized Gothic armchair next to a roaring fireplace (burning official strategy guides and AOL diskettes, ‘natch) and cradling a coffee mug bigger than my head in my arms with a degree of tenderness usually reserved for newborn babies and Alpha Edition Magic: the Gathering cards. Got it? Good, let’s go.

Handelabra (kind of) announces their next two projects: Aeon’s End and Spirit Island

August 8, 2018 David Neumann 4

iOS, Android, PC/Mac/Linux • Fresh off the success of One Deck Dungeon you’d think the folks at Handelabra would rest on their laurels and, perhaps, slow down and enjoy the, I’m sure, millions of dollars that come along with being a successful indie developer of niche board games. As you can probably guess from the headline, however, that’s not the case. Instead, Handelabra have announced two new ports that will be heading our way in 2019, Indie Boards & Cards‘ Aeon’s End and Greater Than Games‘ Spirit Island.

Forest of Shadows arrives in One Deck Dungeon

August 6, 2018 David Neumann 1

iPad, Android Tablets, PC/Mac/Linux • One thing I look forward to every year is a Jeremy Handel sighting at Gen Con. He’s incredibly hard to find, but when you do you won’t be disappointed because he’ll be dressed as someone else. Sure, there’s a lot of cosplay at Gen Con, but not many people cosplay as characters from Sentinels of the Multiverse. This year, my son and I ended up getting sick on Saturday and our time in the convention center was nil from Saturday morning on, so I didn’t get a chance to find Jeremy this year [for the record, we did meet up with Jean-Marc Giffin of Handelabra who was affable as always -ed.], but I did get a chance to play a ton of his latest game, One Deck Dungeon. That’s because Handelabra released the major expansion, Forest of Shadows, the Wednesday night before the Con opened.

First glimpse of Forest of Shadows for One Deck Dungeon appears

July 11, 2018 David Neumann 5

iPad, Android tablets, PC/Mac/Linux • Considering that Handelabra‘s digital port of One Deck Dungeon is so damn good, it only stood to reason that we’d eventually be seeing the stand-alone expansion, Forest of Shadows, make its way into the app. Earlier this morning we got a confirmation of the digital expansion from none other than the designer and head of Asmadi himself, Chris Cieslik. Not only that, but he sent us our first image of the expansion in action. Well, almost in action. It’s the selection screen, but it’s still cool.