Surfin’ Meeple is publishing two projects this year, starting with Rudiger Dorn’s Mafiozoo, which released recently, followed by the Studio Bombyx title Catch the Moon, releasing this summer.

Mafiozoo is a board game about the anthropomorphic animal gang led by Wally Longtooth, the walrus.  In this reskin of the classic Louis XIV, players take over neighborhoods and influence important locations in the city in their quest to earn the coveted position of “goodfella” in the gang.  This can be accomplished by bribing members of “The Family” to earn their favor.  This version of the game features reduced randomness compared to the original.

The game includes 1 game board, 12 tiles, 96 tokens, 50 cards, 64 gems, 64 “goon” pawns, and 33 bills.  Mafiozoo was designed for 2 to 4 players, ages 12 and up, and takes about an hour to play.  MSRP is 49.99.  It will be distributed through PSI.

In Catch the Moon, created by Fabien Riffaud and Juan Rodiquez (the designers of The Grizzled), players carefully try to build a tower of ladders in order to reach the moon herself.  But should a player suffer a misstep, the moon will shed a tear, represented in the game by wooden tokens.

This dexterity game comes with a plastic base shaped like a cloud, 30 wooden ladders, 7 moon tears, and 1 die.  It can be played by 2 to 6 players, ages 6 and up, and takes about 20 minutes.  MSRP is $29.00.  Catch the Moon will be distributed through GTS in hobby and PSI at mass.

Surfin’ Meeple also hopes to find US publishers for three Matagot designs this year:  Marc Paquien’s Treasure Island, Bruno Cathala and Charles Chevallier’s Micropolis, and Bruno Faidutti’s Dragons.

The company has had a close relationship with PSI since it began bringing designs from small- and medium-sized publishers to the U.S. in 2016 (see “PSI Announces Deal with Surfin’ Meeple Games”).