Asmodee takes Welcome To…, Calculators embraces zero, and Red Tail Pirates races to the crown

The 1–2 September 2026 window is short on volume, but one business move changes the shape of a familiar family-game line. A small design diary also makes the case for testing the rule that creates the decision, rather than protecting every clever idea that came first.

Asmodee has acquired the Welcome To… intellectual property and game range from French publisher Blue Cocker. The deal gives Asmodee control of a flip-and-write series that has sold hundreds of thousands of copies since Benoit Turpin's Welcome To Your Perfect Home arrived in 2018. 1

The range now includes the standalone sequels Welcome to the Moon and Welcome to New Las Vegas. Board Game Arena has recorded more than 3 million plays of the series and averages over 3,000 unique players per day, according to BoardGameWire's report. 1

Asmodee's head of collections Mathieu Aubert said the company sees room to expand the Welcome To… universe and that the team already has ideas for future projects. Asmodee has already distributed Blue Cocker titles in the United Kingdom and the United States; BlackRock, a Hachette subsidiary, currently distributes the line in France. 1

The portfolio logic is clearer than the press language. Asmodee is buying a proven family-game IP with a known sales record, an established digital audience, and existing distribution relationships. The acquisition also follows the company's stated return to buying smaller publishers, studios, and game IP. 1

For designers, the change is a reminder that a successful design can become a line of products rather than a single publication. A publisher assessing a mature game may be looking at sequel space, licensed versions, digital play, and regional reach alongside the base game's sales. Asmodee's next Welcome To… project will show whether the company extends the original's simultaneous-choice structure or mainly extends its setting and audience.

BoardGameWire's news index listed no other news post dated 1 September 2026 or later when checked for this issue. 2

The September entry in d x's Game-a-Month project is Calculators, a three- or four-player trick-taking game played with a standard deck. Players build a mathematical expression across four hands: each hand contributes an integer, while players choose the operators at the start of each round. A final score might read 3 × -1 + 4 - 2. 3

The first prototype already had the central hook: ordinary trick-taking followed by arithmetic that changes the value of later hands. The trouble sat in the trick score. An early version made each trick worth one point and each Jack worth -2. A later version made Jacks multiply the score by -1. Both versions made the operator idea interesting while leaving the card play awkward. 3

The current rule counts tricks as number of tricks minus 3, then adds -3 for each Jack and +2 for each Five. The change makes zero scores easier to reach and simplifies the three-player game: remove one suit and deal. The designer accepted the dangerous zero instead of building more rules to prevent it. 3

The project also shows a sensible production boundary. The game works with a normal deck, a pen, and paper. The designer is developing a custom calculator-themed deck and a box with a dry-erase score sheet through The Game Crafter, while leaving the playable design independent of that custom product. 3

The design question to borrow is precise: when a scoring rule makes the core mechanism hard to explain, can the designer change the score rather than add another exception? Calculators keeps the arithmetic hook and spends its complexity on the decision players came to make.

Jerry Mendheim launched the Red Tail Pirates Kickstarter on 1 September 2026. The announcement describes a 2–4 player pirate strategy game with 60–90-minute sessions, a map of four seas, crew building, exploration, treasure hunting, and dice-driven battles against rival captains. 4

The pitch gives players two routes to the crown. Players can amass 50 powers, or make a fast run for 25 Gum-Drops. A battle winner chooses which rival crewmate leaves the roster. The design therefore places a long engine-building route beside a shorter race that can turn the centre of the map into a pressure point. 4

That is the part to inspect before the art. Ask whether the two victory routes create different play, whether the 25 Gum-Drop dash can end a game before crew building matters, and whether losing a chosen crewmate changes a player's plan or simply removes progress. The launch announcement gives the premise and headline rules; it gives no funding total or pledge comparison to use here. 4

Open Asmodee's Welcome To… deal as a portfolio case: the value sits in a successful line, digital reach, and distribution already in place. Read Calculators for the clean edit from “avoid zero” to “zero is part of the danger.” If Red Tail Pirates fits your table, inspect the two victory routes before the character art and ask whether each route changes the decisions on the map.

The useful prototype test across all three items is small: name the decision, then remove the rule that only decorates the theme, protects a weak score, or repeats a product promise.