A popular board game series is getting a new home, as Asmodee has announced the acquisition of the Welcome To... game line from French publisher Blue Cocker. First launched in 2018, Welcome To... has become a familiar name among fans of quick, accessible strategy games. Now, with Asmodee taking over the series, there could be plenty more neighbourhood-building, number scribbling and questionable planning on the way!
From suburbs to space
Designed by Benoit Turpin, the original Welcome To... puts players in charge of developing a 1950s American neighbourhood. Players use cards to add houses, build fences, create pools and parks, and ultimately try to develop the most successful community. The clever part is that everyone is working from the same available choices, but deciding how to use them is where the strategy comes in. It is a relatively simple concept that offers plenty of room for clever decisions. The game also helped popularise the modern "flip-and-write" style of board game, where players simultaneously use shared card information to develop their own sheets. The original supports a huge player count, with BoardGameGeek listing it for up to 100 players, while games can typically be wrapped up in around 25 minutes.
Not bad for a game about drawing houses on a piece of paper!
Welcome To The Moon
The series didn't stop at suburban America. Welcome to New Las Vegas took players to the famous casino city, while Welcome to the Moon went considerably further afield. Released in 2021, Welcome to the Moon keeps the core ideas of the original but introduces a much bigger adventure. Players work through eight different adventure sheets, with the game adding campaign elements and new challenges along the way. It gives the series a bit more depth while keeping that easy-to-learn foundation that made the original so popular.
What's next?
So, what does the acquisition actually mean for players? According to Asmodee, the company plans to continue developing the Welcome To... brand and make the games more widely available. It has also confirmed that new Welcome To... releases are planned, although specific details have not yet been revealed. That means this could be the beginning of a new chapter for the series rather than simply a change of publisher. For fans of Welcome To..., the future is looking pretty interesting. We don't know where the next game will take us, but if the series' history is anything to go by, expect another unusual setting, plenty of strategic choices, and a whole lot of writing!
And yes, we're already wondering where they could possibly go next. Mars? Medieval Europe? The bottom of the ocean? We're listening, Asmodee!
