V48. Let’s get into it.

The clock is ticking on a packed issue. Wizards of the Coast stole the show at Comic Con New York with a first look at Dungeons & Dragons: Star Wars and Marvel: Darkhold Destiny, an entirely original Marvel story for Magic, with pre-orders open now until 12 February 2027. 🔥

Mariska lights up the dark with Doctor Squish Glow It!, Stefan has the new 13 November date for the Pokémon 30th Celebration, Etienne shares his SPIEL Essen 2026 hotlist, and the Yu-Gi-Oh! Structure Decks and Kemet are on their final pre-order call. Add the last Ooky Spooky Specials, fresh arrivals and our December closure dates, so there is plenty to plan for.

Now Playing: Catch My Cue

Good day everyone! Hope you enjoy this funky, disco-inspired pop track celebrating Hues & Cues, the colourful party game where one clue can send a whole table hunting across 480 shades for the perfect match.

Grab a cone, give your best one-word hint and see who reads the room. 🎶

Pre-Orders Expiring

The countdown is on. ⏳ This round brings two Yu-Gi-Oh! icons back to the table with fresh Structure Decks for Seto Kaiba and Yugi Muto, the refreshed 2026 edition of Kemet: Blood and Sand for fans of big, bold area control, and the Outgunned Adventure Core Rulebook for groups chasing pulp-style action at the table.

New Pre-Orders

The headline opening this week is Magic: The Gathering | Marvel: Darkhold Destiny, the next Universes Beyond set and the first to tell an entirely original Marvel story across its cards and a companion comic series. Pre-orders are open until 12 February, ahead of release on 9 April 2027.

Also newly open: Stonemaier’s Braided Skies, the first game set in the new Smoking Bones world, alongside a fresh edition of Namiji, plus In a Nutshell, RatLand and Dark Kingdoms.

This week's clearance shelf is a treasure chest for strategy fans: cosmic horror in Arkham Horror LCG, political backstabbing in Dune: Betrayal, bazaar trading in Istanbul: Letters and Seals and potion-brewing chaos in Whirling Witchcraft, alongside a Marvel Crisis Protocol duo and a Pokémon playmat for the collectors.

New arrivals bring a little of everything: explosive party chaos with Exploding Kittens: Rage Mode, tunnelling strategy in Drillers and March of the Ants: Evolved Edition, a dark fantasy RPG setting in Herrlof, an easy way into Warhammer roleplay with the Soulbound Starter Set, and a 3D puzzle that is perfectly timed for both Halloween and Christmas. 📦

Doctor Squish Glow It! + Slime Squad Studio

Doctor Squish turns squishies into something kids make themselves. Blow up the balloon to the size you want, fill it with slime powder, colour and sparkle, seal it with a clip and give it a squeeze. Every squishy is different, which is exactly what keeps kids coming back to make the next one. This release brings two lines to your shelves: Glow It! for squishy makers and Slime Squad Studio for slime fans.

Glow It! takes squishy making into the dark. The Squishy Maker Station: Neon Edition comes with bright fluorescent colours, fillings and neon accessories, so kids can build squishies that glow after lights out, and the Neon Squishy Pack Refill keeps the creations coming once the first batch is done.

▶ Watch the video on YouTube

Make it. Mix it. Squish it! Slime Squad Studio gives young makers a slime workstation of their own. Kids mix glue, activator and colour to create squishy slime, customise it with the decoration tools and keep their creations fresh in the storage bottles. In the box: a slime workstation, 2 glue bottles, 2 storage bottles, an activator, 2 coloured inks, a mixing cup and 4 decoration tools.

Pair it with the classic Squishy Maker Station, a complete station for designing, filling and sealing one-of-a-kind squishies at home, and you have everything needed for a screen-free afternoon of sensory, hands-on play.

Update On Expected Arrival Dates

Here are the latest timing updates across Pokémon and Magic: The Gathering to help you plan ahead and keep customers in the loop.

In consultation with our supplier, Solarpop will be moving the local release of the Pokémon TCG 30th Celebration items scheduled for November to the following week. The original release date of 6 November will move to Friday, 13 November.

The four affected Pokémon items are below, each now landing on 13 November. ⚡

News from the Coast: “D&D: Star Wars” First Look and a New Original Marvel Story

It’s been a busy few months for anyone who’s been following the news around both Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: the Gathering lately, but even with all the other announcements going on, Wizards of the Coast still managed to drop some very exclusive news during a panel at Comic Con New York last weekend.

Not much else has been shown (we didn’t even get a hint of how lightsabers will work), but more will be revealed in the coming weeks and months. ⚔️

But as if that wasn’t enough to hype the community up, Wizards also revealed the product details for the next Magic: The Gathering Universes Beyond set, Marvel: Darkhold Destiny. While this isn’t a surprise in itself, the big kicker here is that Wizards and Marvel are working together to create an entirely original storyline for this set. The story will unfold across the cards in the set as well as a series of comics that will be released at the same time. Darkhold Destiny also focuses on the darker side of the Marvel Comics roster, and features characters like Dr Strange, Hela, Blade and the eldritch horror Gargantos.

The product spread itself is about what you’d expect from a Universes Beyond set; there will be a Scene Box with 2 variants, a Gift Bundle called the Arcanum Bundle, and 4 Commander decks that will come in both regular and collector’s edition, all in addition to the regular boosters and bundles. Of course, as a 2027 release the booster packs will be the new-style booster packs, but I’ll talk about those changes in more detail in another article.

Essen 2026: The Must-Play Games Everyone Will Be Talking About!

Howzit, folks! It’s that time of the year again when we gear up for Spiel Essen! I’ve been doing some digging on my end, and I have to say, there are some fantastic new games making their debut at the show this year. Have a read through my picks below, and hopefully, you’ll be just as excited as I am to get these fantastic new titles onto South African tables as soon as possible!

Where It All Began (Recap)

SPIEL began in 1983, when Friedhelm Merz brought publishers, designers, and players together in Essen, Germany. It started as a small hobby gathering and has become the biggest board game fair in the world, with publishers from every continent launching their autumn lineups there. Germany's own game award, the Deutscher Spielepreis, is presented at the fair, and for many publishers a debut at Essen sets up their whole year. SPIEL 2026 runs 22–25 October at Messe Essen, and BoardGameGeek's preview list already has over 1,300 titles.

This is shaping up to be a fantastic year for heavy strategy games, with plenty of lighter, quicker titles to keep family game nights exciting too! Personally, I’m really looking forward to discovering what other exciting new games Essen has in store for us beyond the titles mentioned above. Keep an eye out for pre-orders opening in the coming weeks! We’ll be doing our very best to bring these exciting new releases to the South African market as soon as possible.

Festive Season Closure Dates

What a year of play it has been. 🎄 From blockbuster TCG releases to brand-new ranges landing on your shelves, 2026 has kept us all busy, and none of it happens without our retail partners, players and collectors.

Before the team takes a well-earned break, here is everything you need to plan your final orders of the year. Our warehouse will be working hard to get every order out the door ahead of the closure, so the sooner your festive stock is in, the better.

On 18 December the team will spend the morning on our warehouse clean-up, followed by our team Christmas lunch from 13:00.