News Flash: Board Games that Play Like Apps and American Tabletop Awards

Two New Games Announced by Fisher Heaton
Fisher Heaton Games has announced two new games in their Analog Apps game series: TANGL and WAYK. The goal with these games is to provide gameplay similar to what you mind find on a phone app, played on your table in half an hour or less. "In TANGL, you are using randomly drawn polyomino pieces to build a rectangle-like shape with as few corners as possible[...]WAYK is a 1-2 player abstract strategy game which can be taught and played in about 30 minutes. Players are moving robots around stasis rooms on a generation ship to awaken stasis chambers filled with passengers and get them safely to escape pods before the ship is destroyed."
Source: https://mailchi.mp/599c3e35d6fe/new-line-new-games-more-fun

American Tabletop Awards Announced
Several content creators have come together to create a new annual award. The winners of each category were announced this week. "These awards are being presented to standout games in four categories: Early Gamers, Casual Games, Strategy Games, and Complex Games."
Source: https://americantabletopawards.com/

Icarus Released This Week
Renegade Game Studios has released the GM-less storytelling game Icarus this week. "The city has decided to erect a massive, ever-growing monument in the center of town to display its prestige to the world. During the game, you will be stacking dice to represent the construction of this monument, drawing cards from a story deck to create the escalating events in the city, and influencing the outcome of those events through actions driven by your characters’ motives. And when the dice tower finally falls, your civilization falls with it and the game comes to an end."
Source: https://www.renegadegamestudios.com/icarus

Digital Board for Gaming
VentureBeat has written a piece on the Gameboard-1, a digital board for board gaming. "The Gameboard-1 is like a flat computer with a square display, 16 inches-by-16 inches. It is thin, light, and portable, and you can expand it by connecting it to other Gameboard-1s. You can also connect a private screen, like your smartphone, to it so you can play a game like poker, where you want to hide the cards from other players."
Source: https://venturebeat.com/2019/09/12/gameboard-1-will-be-a-digital-slate-for-your-tabletop-board-games/

Atlas Games Announces Never Bring a Knife
Atlas Games has announced a new thirty minute social deduction game, about a heist gone wrong. "Intended to be a lighter, faster-paced approach to social deduction games. During the game, players use cards to help identify other players, protect their friends, and eliminate their opposition. But, when the first player is eliminated, the game ends and their team loses the game."
Source: https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/44067/never-bring-knife

Deck Builders Ranked
The Gamer has ranked their eight favorite deck-builders. "Not to be confused with collectible card games, players create their decks during the game, not before. There's a lot of them to play and we complied a list that will sure to entertain all manner of guests."
Source: https://www.thegamer.com/tabletop-deck-building-games-ranked/

Reviews
Horrified (Opinionated Gamers): “For that entry level group, this was a really good fit.  There are some decisions to be made, but a lot of the strategy is streamlined.”
Source: https://opinionatedgamers.com/2019/09/17/dale-yu-first-impressions-of-horrified/

Watergate (Board Game Quest): “Excellent, tight gameplay and a great theme make this a must own for those looking for their next two-player game.”
Source: https://www.boardgamequest.com/watergate-review/

Shobu (Space Biff): “There are some tremendously difficult choices to make, in particular once the boards thin out and someone takes a real stab at victory.”
Source: https://spacebiff.com/2019/09/16/shobu/#more-14817