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Dominant Species Find a New Life

U.S. publisher Allplay will re-release this classic Chad Jensen design

A detail of the cover of Allplay's version of Dominant Species

On Friday, July 31, allplay was one of several publishers participating in a "Mega Announcement Showcase" event in which they revealed upcoming games, with the dominant (wink wink) news from this publisher being a new edition of Chad Jensen's 2010 game Dominant Species as part of a new "Masterworks" game line that focuses on heavyweight Eurogames.

Artist Ian O'Toole will be a key partner in the art, graphic design, curation, and
development of this project.

Cover of Dominant Species, which shows a saber-tooth tiger on a rock in a snowstorm.

Allplay also announced two other new game lines, with the "Epics" focusing on large-scale adventure games. The debut title in this line will be Tailor Reiner's Sail Legacy, which was crowdfunded in July 2025 and which a May 2026 crowdfunding update described as "a larger game than any we've done before".

The second "Epics" title will be Crash Landed, which Allplay describes as "an ambitious new game [that] tasks players with surviving on a strange planet". This title will be released in 2027.

The third new Allplay game line is "Creations", which will feature "games for fandoms, sometimes working with IP partners". The debut title in this line will be John D. Clair and Robert Hovakimyan's Have a Magical Day, which "taps into the amusement park crowd, with players riding the best rides, meeting characters, and eating unique food".

Front cover of Have a Magical Day, which features a family walking in an amusement park that looks fantastical.
Art by Eric Hibbeler

In regard to these game lines, Joe Wiggins, COO of Allplay, says:

We've always made games with constraints — on principle. We're proud of what we've been able to make with these constraints. The consistent box sizes, accessible price points, and simpler rulesets are great for families and gamers who want strategy without rules overhead.
Those core products aren't going away, but now that we're eight years into publishing games, we're ready to show what else we can do.

Games will continue to appear in the three box sizes that constitute "core" Allplay designs, including Through the Mountains, a sequel to Reiner Knizia's Through the Desert, which Allplay released in a new edition in 2024.

The front cover of Through the Mountains, which features yaks loaded with packs being led by sherpas.
Art by Hien Le and Damien Mammoliti

Through the Mountains will be featured in a crowdfunding campaign in October 2026, with Dominant Species, Crash Landed, and Have a Magical Day scheduled for crowdfunding in 2027.

Front covers of Sail Legacy and Through the Desert, which are not actually the same size

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