Castles of Burgundy reprint could kick off a board game arms race

There has been an increase in board game arms races for the past ten years. The weight of products that consumers buy is now being measured in pounds, not in their complexity. But I feel a sea change is on the horizon. Publishers need to start elevating their back catalogues in new ways, as decades-old properties are still standing strong against the flurry. Castles of Burgundy Deluxe Edition seems like the first step in this direction.

Castles of Burgundy, designed by Stefan Feld and first published in 2011, is one of those European-style board games that always comes up in conversation about the genre. It’s an exemplary game, a fluid and engaging city-builder with many different interleaved systems. The game looks great on the table, even though it is rendered in two dimensions using cardboard tiles.

Now Ravensburger has launched a deluxe version through its Alea imprint. The deluxe edition, according to a news release released on Thursday, will feature a revised graphical design as well as a more intuitive user interface that allows for “easier gaming and better readability.” It will also include component upgrades, such as elaborate castle tokens and metal coins.

Component upgrades are often sold as add-ons for boutique board games. For instance, you can pick up a set of resin resources and metal coins for games like Scythe by Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile right on the publisher’s website. But these are relatively recent games, with smaller publishers looking to enhance the margins on the sales of their most profitable titles.

Ravensburger, a multinational company with several lines of business, is a much bigger entity in the tabletop space. It is also an investor in Gamefound in Poland, the largest competitor to Kickstarter in tabletop crowdfunding.

Castles of Burgundy: Deluxe Edition could have been a piecemeal collection filled with a la carte upgrades, plush toys, and t-shirts. Instead it feels like a savvy marketing exercise to reward deep-pocketed fans who have loved the game for years — and also target a wider, more affluent audience looking to try something new. If you are going to invest time in learning the most popular board game, why not make sure that it is the best one?

We’ll be able to share more information once the project launches in May. Until then, you’ll find a preview available online, with an option to get a notification of its launch. More than 15,600 have signed on so far.