Future Unmatched expansions will include Rosie the Riveter and Shakespeare following design contest
Is the quill mightier than the wrench?
Feminist icon Rosie the Riveter and playwright William Shakespeare will both feature in upcoming releases for deck-battling board game Unmatched.
The series’ publisher, Restoration Games, announced the new expansions via a tweet in which it congratulated the winners of the Unmatched Deck Design Contest. The competition saw contestants submitting their concepts for new characters and decks, with four winning entries selected out of those entered.
The winning decks include The Genie of the Lamp - by Adil M Geresu - renowned magician Harry Houdini, designed by Sam Crane; Jonathan Guberman’s William Shakespeare deck; and Rosie the Riveter, which was created by Chet Dudick and Charles Peters.
The first of the winning submissions will be released in a set called Unmatched: Houdini vs. The Genie, with the two magical titans of fiction and history going head-to-head. The sets featuring Shakespeare and Rosie the Riveter are yet to be confirmed by Restoration.
Despite Restoration’s original intention to select just four submissions to develop for publishing, the studio decided to choose eight additional entries to be “unofficial runners-up” that it will also be developing for future release. Yet to be announced by Restoration, one of these runner-up selections was co-created by Dudick and Peters. Geresu and Crane have been working with the creators behind the runner-up decks to further develop their designs alongside members of the Restoration publishing team.
Unmatched is a skirmish board game for two to four players that presents various scenarios for famous historical and fictional characters to butt heads with one another. An asymmetric game - meaning that players have access to different abilities depending on which character they play - Unmatched has players controlling their chosen figure using a deck of cards, moving them across the board and attacking or defending against the other characters in play. In our review of Unmatched, Matt Thrower praised the “creativity” behind the characters’ decks and how they work to represent their personalities as well as provide opportunities for exciting action.
The initial release for the series - Unmatched: Battle of Legends, Volume One - was co-created by Rob Daviau, the co-designer behind Pandemic Legacy and horror board games Betrayal at House on the Hill and Cthulhu: Dead May Die, and Restoration founder Justin D. Jacobson, who also worked with Daviau on racing title reboot Downforce.
Since the series’ first entry, Unmatched has released standalone titles featuring characters such as Robin Hood, Bigfoot, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sherlock Holmes, Dracula and the velociraptors from Jurassic Park.
The release date and retail price for Unmatched: Houdini vs. The Genie are yet to be confirmed by Restoration.