Final Fantasy XIV has been around for a long time now; it has been nine years since it first launched, and six years since A Realm Reborn replaced the original. Square Enix has a new strategy to earn back some lapsed players.
From now until June 27, Final Fantasy XIV‘s Heavensward expansion is free on PC, PS4, and Mac. It’s a limited-time event, but anyone who claims it before the deadline will have permanent access. Heavensward was the first of three expansions for the MMO, having released back in 2015.
This coincides with a second promotion, which is called the Free Login Campaign. From now through June 17, anyone can play Final Fantasy XIV for free for seven days. Usually, it carries a $13 per month subscription fee. One free week is a decent trial to determine whether that fee might be worth it.
Of course, there’s an ulterior motive for all this goodwill. These freebies lead right up to the July 2 launch of Shadowbringers, which is the third and last Final Fantasy XIV expansion. As Chris noted last fall, the middle expansion Stormblood and the Version 4.4 patch add up to a game that’s bursting with content and polished as all heck. That will probably continue with Shadowbringers. But right now, with free Heavensward and a week of free logins, is a great time to check out what all the fuss is about.
Space Exploration and vintage 1960s style art? I’m in!
But really, what more do you want?
Oh… more info about the game? Well, I’ve known Chad Elkins of 25th Century Games through social media for about a year now. You may have seen his work recently in the form of Christmas Lights, which should be hitting tables at homes across the world in a couple months! When I saw he had a new project that was a space-themed tableau builder, I was immediately intrigued! Space Explorers is designed by a Russian gentleman by the name of Yuri Zhuravlev.
The best thing about Space Explorers is you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to play!
As far as components, there are 60 Specialist cards, 10 project tiles, and 20 research tokens. Very straightforward. You also get a Hub board (not L. Ron, though) and reference sheet to help keep you organized while playing. Learning the game takes less than 10 minutes. Teaching the game takes less than 5.
For a 2-player game, it should take you roughly 20-30 minutes your first time through, and then depending on how thinky you or your opponent is, the time will either shorten due to familiarity or lengthen due to over-thinking.
The game fits into what I like to call, “The Perfect Balance”. Other games that fall into this category for me are Splendor, Fantastic Factories, Century: Spice Road, and so on. The premise is easy to understand, the component count is low, the learning/teaching time is low, but the strategy is very high.
One thing that’s a LITTLE wonky to grasp initially is the SKILLS versus RECRUITMENT COST. My main piece of advice is to pay attention to the SHAPE of the icon you are looking at, to figure out what purpose it serves. The circular icons are SKILLS and the square icons are the RECRUITMENT COST (and the RESEARCH TOKENS used to pay for them). It “feels” like the SKILLS pay for the RECRUITMENT COST, but they do not, they simply mitigate the costs. Here is a quick How to Play video, as well!
I highly recommend this game to anyone who likes: space, strategy, games that take less than an hour but scratch the “challenge” itch, space exploration, strategic thinking, Russia, America, Space Force, NASA, engineering, science… you get the point.
Here is a mid-game example of my Hub. I have 1 Engineer (blue), 1 Tester (green), 1 Scientist (yellow), 2 Builders (red), and 1 Astronaut (purple). The game ends when a player has 12 Specialists or all of the Projects (satellites/spaceship/interplanetary station) have been built.
The art is also super fun. For each type of Specialist there is only 1 illustration, and rather than complicating the game with a lot of art, they simply zoom in on the more powerful versions of each Specialist type. As you can see above, the green Specialist is zoomed quite close up (they are worth 3 VP, cost 5 and have an ability) while the blue Specialist is zoomed out (they are 0 VP, cost 2, and has a less potent ability).
One cool thing is that if (when) they fund in the first 48 hours EVERY backer will receive a cloth mission patch like the ones NASA used to make!
Space Explorers is a tableau building game for 2-4 players, ages 12+, and plays in about 20-40 mins. It is designed by Yuri Zhuravljov, best known for designing Viceroy, and is illustrated by Alexey Kot.
Players are the head of their own Research and Development Hub in a Space Research Center. Your goal is to gather the best and brightest minds humanity has to offer, and complete large scale space projects.
Space Explorers features 20 different historical spacecrafts, 10 American and 10 Soviet, covering satellites, manned spaceships, and orbital stations. A wide range of spacecrafts can be found in the game from the Golden Age of Astronautics including Sputnik and Apollo 11.
As Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin said aboard the Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961, as he was positioned on the launchpad poised to be the first human in space…“Let’s Go!”About
One sunny day in August Łukasz Woźniak (whom I had never spoken to before) reached out to me via email with a game he had designed. I’ll be honest, when I read the name Valhalla(written in the email) I was unimpressed. Too many games have fallen short in the Viking category, and to be so bold as to have a one-word name that carries so much history and weight behind it didn’t excite me either.
Then I watched his (private) video pitch covering the game: I was instantly hooked.
I responded that I was interested, and eagerly awaited the game’s arrival…
When I opened the box, I got even MORE than what I expected. This is literally the coolest unboxing of any game I’ve ever received. And that’s saying a lot. Lukasz clearly put a LOT of love, design, and business sense into this. It was clear he knows what he’s doing designing games: creating an experience.
I didn’t get the game to the table immediately, but I did have a chance to thumb through the components. The art in this game is STELLAR. This game has variable player powers in the form of Jarls (pronounced YARLs). The base game comes with 25 of them. Below are the 6 recommended for your first game (with the diamond in the upper right corner) and 2 for games with 3+ players. The expansions add even more Jarls, and I assume if the Kickstarter gets overfunded there may be some more as Stretch Goals / Add-ons!
Next, we’ll look at some fierce Warriorcards from the game. They are the Bear Clan, Frost Giant, and Deer Clan (from left to right). The base set also has 2 more clans: Wolf and Boar. The expansions ad Fire Giants, Valkyries, and Dwarves. Plus, there are even more lined up as stretch goals, which you can vote on in the Facebook Group!
The upper left icon is their Strength and Clan color. Beneath that is their Special Features (if any). The framed icons below that are the Weapons (dice) needed to activate the Warrior during an Attack. The bottom left is their Glory Points, which are the victory points you acquire through the game. The Warriors Glory Points are only gained if they make it to Valhalla(your discard pile). This may sound counter-intuitive, racing to get your card in your discard pile, but it is the element that truly makes Valhalla feel like a bloody battle for glory.
Another cool element of the art is their reuse of illustrations between cards of the same Clan and Strength. Below is a Deer clan Warrior of Strength 5, but one wields an axe, sword, and shield while the other carries a bow, spear, and shield.
PRO TIP: DIVERSIFYING YOUR WEAPONS ON YOUR WARRIORS IS THE KEY TO VICTORY!
When you make your first roll, it’s much better to have options as far as activating the Warriors rather than trying to roll all Weapons of one type or another.
Now, this isn’t just some Yahtzee reskin with badass Viking art on it. This is a well thought out game of attrition through strategic decisions. And unlike games that lean too heavily on chance, this one has Tactics cards to help you mitigate bad rolls, or create favorable scenarios for activating your Warriors.
And for those who love their minis, the King of the Hill expansion includes an awesome Frost Giant miniature!
There are even more components to this game, but I wanted to leave SOMETHING for you to discover. Below is an explanation of the game from the publisher, Go On Board, and the history of how Valhalla came to be. I hope you enjoyed my preview / review and look forward to hearing your thoughts in the comments below!
Overview of the game:
Valhalla is a 1-6 players card game with a dice-placement mechanics. Set in the Norse mythology, Valhalla puts You right in the battlefield, where You lead a team of warriors and fight other players.
In Valhalla You manage a hand of cards, build a team on the table, and battle using custom weapon dice. Player turn consists of one each action, followed by drawing 2 cards and picking 1 of them. The game flows smoothly giving players a lot of decisions with a simple set of rules.
The core of the game are the player vs player battles, where players use custom weapons dice. Battles are dynamic, exciting and allow for a lot of tactical decisions. In the battle, the attacking player roll the dice, assign them to the warriors and use rerolls and battle-tactics to help their attack. After the attack, defender has a chance to respond and the battle is over.
Scoring is one of the innovative mechanics, where the winner of the battle sends his activated warriors to Valhalla. They were proven worth of Valhalla and give the player Glory Points. So the players build their team, try to win the battle, and get points for warriors sent to Valhalla. There is no snowball effect and warriors on the table change all the time.
How the game came to life:
Valhalla is a result of a 3-year design and year-and a half of development. Łukasz Woźniak, the author of the game, has 11 games published (King and Assassins being one of the most recognizable), and Valhalla is his second self-published game.
Valhalla was an idea to combine a card game with a dice game, where the player battles will be center point of the game. The design process helped streamline the game to a simple, yet deep and exciting title. It brings a lot of fun and interaction to the table, straying away from a negative player-interaction.
Even though the rules for the game are simple, the game consists of a huge number of cards and vast replayability.
Valhalla had a tremendous success on zagramw.to – a board game crowdfunding website that debuted in Poland this January. The game gathered over 2700 backers, reaching 1055% of the base funding goal. Due to that large community of backers, the game reached around 30 stretch goals, expanding the base game for Polish edition.
The Polish edition of the game is ready, and is being shipped right now to Poland. Now Go on Board is looking for support to publish Valhalla globally. The Kickstarter campaign will launch in October, and all of the expansions unlocked in the Polish campaign will appear as the game content from day 1.
The hit new deckbuilding game is coming to all major digital platforms next year!
PHILADELPHIA, PA – November 30th, 2018 – Stone Blade Entertainment, in collaboration with Temple Gates Games, is bringing the hit deckbuilding game, Shards of Infinity, to iOS, Android, and Steam!
Designed by Justin Gary and Gary Arant, Shards of Infinity combines an unprecedented level of strategy and customization. Stone Blade Entertainment is well known for their depth of strategy and innovation, and Shards of Infinity is their hit follow-up to the award winning deckbuilding game, Ascension. Shards of Infinity introduces the innovative Mastery mechanic, giving players multiple paths to victory in a quick, cutthroat game that always leaves players wanting to play “just one more game.”
Temple Gates Games has a long history of success working with board game publishers. They specialize in digitizing card games including Ascension, making it the first deckbuilding game to take place in virtual reality. Their amazing attention to detail and background in digital gaming make them the ideal partner to develop Shards of Infinity for a digital audience.
The digital version of Shards of Infinity will release in Spring 2019 for $7.99 across all platforms. Players will enjoy local pass-and-play, asynchronous multiplayer, and can take on challenging AI opponents! Temple Gates Games is known for including world-class AI which uses neural network technology to create formidable opponents. As the AI trains it will grow stronger to keep up with advanced Shards of Infinity players.
Gamers wanting to learn more about the progress of the Shards of Infinity digital game are encouraged to sign up for Stone Blade Entertainment newsletter.
For more information, please contact [email protected]. For more information online, please visit stoneblade.com and TempleGatesGames.com.
To say anything less would be an understatement. I grew up playing TCGs and CCGs, hosting tournaments of all kinds and was even an official Magic judge at one point.
I love card games.
When I first heard about Dominion I had been out of the card game world for a few years… and when I played it I was hooked. This new format was just what I needed. An amazing card-driven experience without the need for endless packs being opened chasing cards, or sweating over trades to get that PERFECT card to finish my tournament deck.
Deckbuilders now come in many shapes and sizes. I’ve played quite a few, to say the least… and I have to say that this new kid on the block is FANTASTIC.
I’ve watched Darren Terpstra, founder of Ginger Snap Gaming, post about Ignite in boardgame and design groups for quite a while now. I was initially drawn in (hah) by a post he made asking for critiques on his cover art. It was eye-catching and I’ve been following his progress ever since.
What I like the most about Ignite is that it takes the elements of deck building I love (customizable play experience) and combines it with variable player powers, grid movementand a sprinkling of area control. I’m a big fan of Shining Force, Final Fantasy Tactics, etc!
Dominion, as some know, is the official genesis of the deck building genre. There have been some well-received versions since then that have helped shape the genre and set new standards of design: Star Realms, Ascension, DC, Legendary, Paperback, Clank! and Terrors of London. They all introduced different elements such as a 2-player focus, faction synergy (à la Magic: The Gathering), non-combat win conditions, point-to-point movement, and more.
I BELIEVE IGNITE IS THE NEXT BIG STEP IN DECK BUILDING GAMEPLAY AND DESIGN. IT’S USE OF GRID MOVEMENT, VARIABLE PLAYER POWERS, AND BEAUTIFUL MINIS SETS IT APART FROM ALL OTHERS IN THE GENRE.
Below is the basic prototype board layout for 2-4 players. The 6×12 area in the middle is comprised of random tiles that will contain Plains, Lava, Water, and Forest terrain. The outer brown area is the Village. In the center 4 spots of the board, there is also a Bazaar (not pictured below, as the rules have been updated since I played). To the right is the Market, where all your 16 Battle Decks are located. There are many, many Battle Decks, so each game feels very different.
On the board you’ll also see 6 tokens. Those represent the Races my wife and I chose for that round, however, now 2 player mode allows each player to pick two races each. This both increases strategy as you can synergize your races abilities and increases the tension on the board as you can control and threaten more spaces on the board. In the published version of the game, all races will be minis, not tokens (pictured later).
Below is a screenshot from the updated rulebook, so you can see a clearer—and no glare—version of what I’m saying. The yellow outlines are showing you the shapes of the board pieces and how they interlock.
From afar the Village tiles look like a muddy brown, but they are quite detailed if you look at them more closely.
And the Cards look great. This one is pricey and costs 10 Honor (the number in the middle) and produces 2 Honor (upper left). Why is it so expensive? Well, it’s a Movement card, which allows you to move your units around the board. It also allows you to move through a unit (not normally allowed) and deal 1 damage to them (units have 3 health total)! If the enemy has a Shield, you still get Knocked Down and the controlling player will have to discard a card to stand them back up! Plus, that’s one badass looking unicorn!
Earlier I mentioned the Races. Each race either has a bonus which is economic or card-based, or it is a racial bonus applied to the units themselves. There are 9 races here, but he has more developed for expansions and stretch goals as well!
The race(s) you choose are very important. They are your variable player power for the game, which should then affect your strategic decisions throughout the game along with which Battle Cards you decide to purchase. Those two sets of choices, along with the grid movement and area control make each playthrough quite different creates new puzzles/strategies to unlock for yourself each time.
Plus, there are even more elements to the game that allow you to dive deeper and deeper into the gameplay. For example, Titles:
From the Rulebook, “Title cards are optional cards you can add to the market. Add only 1 or 2 titles cards per game. Title cards do not count toward the 16 battle deck limit. There is only 1 copy of each title card. A title card does not have a cost in the center of the card. Rather, it has multiple costs in the upper left-hand corner. The first player to purchase a title card may purchase it for any of the costs listed. When it is purchased, it is placed in front of that player and stays out on the table. On each subsequent turn after it’s purchased, the card’s owner may use the title card’s effect.
Another player, on their turn, can steal the title card away by purchasing it for a cost higher than what the previous player paid for it. They can purchase it for any listed price, as long as it is a higher price. The new owner places it in front of them and may use its effect on each subsequent turn. If a title card is ever purchased for its maximum cost, other players can continue to steal it by purchasing it at its maximum cost.”
AND there are multiple gameplay variants to apply once you’ve become familiar with the rules. This game alone could provide years of replay. It’s definitely worth checking out, and will be on Kickstarter in less than a week!
Want to win it before people can even back it on Kickstarter? Check out their official launch giveaway!
Issue 192 of Retro Gamer is available to buy now from all good newsagents and My Favourite Magazines, and we’ve teamed up with C64Audio.com to deliver a special package for our readers. Each copy of the magazine comes with a CD full of Rob Hubbard remixes – the best of the game music legend’s Commodore 64 work is represented here, with tunes from the likes of Monty On The Run, Commando, and Dragon’s Lair II remixed and reimagined by the likes of Matt Gray, Uncle And The Bacon and even Rob himself (see the full track listing below). Inside the magazine itself, you’ll also find an interview with Rob talking about Project Hubbard and the upcoming 8-Bit Symphony concert, due to take place on 15th June 2019.
That’s not all though, as you’ll have noticed that our cover story is on Yoshi’s Island, one of the greatest 2D platform games ever made. Nintendo’s Takashi Tezuka and Shigefumi Hino reveal the development process behind the SNES classic, from the initial decision to avoid another Mario game to the game’s beautiful hand-drawn style, and of course the use of the SuperFX 2 enhancement chip.
There’s plenty more to see elsewhere in the issue. Former Ocean Software artist Mark R Jones tells the story of his first month at the company in his own words, with unseen sketches and photographs from the time. Our regular Making Of features examine the cult C64 classic Space Taxi, Lucasarts’ eccentric management sim Afterlife, EA’s dangerous extreme sports title Skitchin’ and the PlayStation ninja classic Tenchu: Stealth Assassins. We also catch up with the Road Runner in an Ultimate Guide, and look back at the evolution of Head Over Heels with Jon Ritman and Bernie Drummond.
That’s not all, either. Rebecca Heineman discusses her decades in the games industry in In The Chair, we take a look at the Amiga CD32 in our Minority Report, and Julian Gollop tells all about the history of his strategy studio Mythos Games. The long-awaited ToeJam & Earl: Back In The Groove is reviewed, and of course the magazine features the usual selection of Retro Revivals, news, columns and guides. And if all of this sounds like something you want to be a part of long-term, we’ve got a great offer of a free mini arcade cabinet for new subscribers.
What makes a videogame feel great? Is it the game itself, the friends you enjoy it playing with, or the machine powering the amazing experience that you’re completely engrossed in?
For most of us, the answer is all three. And if you happened to chance upon a bustling amusement arcade during your youth then you’ll fully understand why.
Games played on a classic arcade cabinet seemed to come alive. They’d pull you in with graphics that would pop from the screen and provide robust, chunky controls that perfectly complemented the game.
Above all else, though, they would entice you with audio that would not only scream to be heard over the sounds from other games but compete with the chatter and laughter filling the room.
That’s because arcades were a destination, a place for you to hang out with your pals and have fun. And if you want to replicate that enjoyment, then how better than a modern arcade cabinet packed with the greatest of hits?
Step forward the Arcade1UP cabinets, a range of amazing machines that bring the arcade home with no quarters or tokens required.
They allow your favorite games from yesteryear to come back to life in the way that they should always be played – with arcade-style joysticks, trackballs and buttons.
At a wallet-friendly introductory rate of $299 they really are a bargain. But if you want to guarantee one, then you’ll need to be quick.
GameStop, which is the only retailer allowing pre-orders in store, expects them to sell as fast as your reactions will need to be to master these games. You can, however, also order at gamestop.com.
But why are they set to be popular? Well, the cabinets will inevitably light up your room thanks to a 17-inch LCD screen that will perfectly showcase the games in their original form, with the same graphics and sounds that made them instantly appealing the first time around.
The machines will also turn heads for their sheer presence since each upright cabinet stands at three-fourths the size of the original machine.
Most crucially, however, are the classic games you’ll be able to enjoy.
GameStop will have a finger-twitching four cabinets in total and each one contains up to four games.
The Asteroids-led cabinet comes with the addition of Major Havoc, Lunar Lander and Tempest;
Rampage is bundled with Gauntlet, Joust and Defender;
Centipede includes Missile Command, Crystal Castles and Atari Millipede; and
Street Fighter II Champion Edition has the addition of Super Street Fighter II Turbo and Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers.
But just as important as the selection of games, is the look of the cabinets, each of which are faithfully decorated with the eye-catching marquee and side artwork of the leading title.
This was no mean feat for Arcade1UP which went to great lengths to find the original art sheets in order to recreate them, helping those memories to come flooding back.
To add to the fun, the cabinets need to be self-assembled so you get a chance to go behind the scenes of the machines and get up close with each of the parts inside and out. This is a very simple process and it has enabled the makers to keep the cost of these impressive cabinets down.
Don’t forget, you need to get your pre-order in to guarantee one or more of the cabinets, though. Ask the staff at your local GameStop for more information or head over to gamestop.com.
Are you a human being of a certain age, whose geographical location and status as a television viewer allowed you to watch Movies Games And Videos on ITV? If so: congratulations, you are old like us, and you evidently had a lot of free time on Saturday afternoons like us too. We remember it because the show had an odd habit of featuring Neo Geo games, and you didn’t often see that outside of an arcade.
But also, you might remember Steve Priestley, the forever unseen narrator of that particular television programme. Well, thanks to Funtenga Video Software, he’s back doing the thing we all remember – narrating footage of game previews. But these are no ordinary games! Instead, you will see men fighting their trusty vessels and the wonders of Thanks Blaster. It really does defy reasonable explanation, so we’d advise you just click the play button and leave the problem of working it out to future you.
Retro Gamer issue 182 has hit the shelves today, and if you’re a fan of the Mega Drive you won’t want to miss it. Our cover feature takes a deep dive into the technology that makes the 30 year old console tick, with key developers including Mark Cerny, Trip Hawkins and Rieko Kodama giving their expert insight. What’s more, we have two added gifts – a fantastic sticker sheet featuring classic Sega sprites and iconography, and a guide to the Mega Drive’s essential games. If all that gets you in the mood for to revisit some 16-bit hits, we’ve also reviewed the new Sega Mega Drive Classics collection.
There’s plenty more inside, too. We have features on the creation of Savage, Rock ‘N’ Roll Racing and EyeToy: Play, an Ultimate Guide to Konami’s arcade racer WEC Le Mans, and a Minority Report focusing on the Atari 8-bit range. Outside of specific games, we’ve got a collector’s guide to Eighties publisher Software Projects, a look back at Brian Howarth’s Digital Fantasia, and an examination of games made using the Build engine. Our sit-down interview for the month is with Matt Gray, the musician behind games such as Last Ninja 2 and Driller. And of course we’ve got all the usual favourites including Retro Revivals, Hardware Heaven and The Unconverted.
The Mixfit Vue mixes nutrients that are stored inside the device and contain a variety of essential vitamins, minerals and protein that are dispensed incrementally, depending on the unique needs of an individual. Then, there are Pods, which are supplementary, single-use mixes formulated to support an individual’s specific fitness or wellness goal such as supporting vision health or workout recovery. To begin using the Mixfit Vue, the consumer fills the back reservoir with water, turns the device on, connects to their home WiFi network and places the Core Pack cartridges inside the device. From there just tap “Mix It” to dispense!
The Mixfit platform has several different levels of personalization which enable more accurate modulation and precision in nutrient delivery. Each level of personalization is dependent upon providing access to different categories of health data, starting with the Mixfit’s Baseline Goals and Lifestyle questionnaire as the first level of personalization. The next level of personalization occurs when an individual logs their diet and meals, and connects their wearable devices and health apps. As new types of bio-sensing wearables become commoditized and digital diagnostic technologies evolve, Mixfit will integrate advanced diagnostics data from connected devices and leverage new data to improve contextual recommendations and more accurately adjust unique mix ingredients and their quantities. Providing drinks as unique as the individual.
Aveine was born out of an encounter between three entrepreneurs with a shared passion for wine and technology.It was naturally over a bottle of wine that they came up with an idea for a device that would reinvent winetasting. Tapping into France’s heritage as a great wine-producing country, and today’s advanced technology, Aveine creates connected objects and services that allow people to embrace authentic French art de vivre, which is all about exploring and sharing new experiences. Crafted as a lifestyle brand, Aveine is presenting its first product – the Aveine Smart Wine Aerator – perfectly calibrated to any bottle, giving everyone the opportunity to enjoy wine at its best.
• Preciselycalculates the ideal aerationof any wine, allowing immediate consumption upon opening of the bottle.
• Uses patented technology to recreate the aeration process in a controlled manner by mixing air into the wine as it flows from the bottle, exposing it to more oxygen.
• The process does not alter the wine’s intrinsic qualities (no chemicals are involved).
• The wine aerator can be used with all types of wine bottles.
Somabar is the world’s first robot bartender created for beer and wine restaurants.
After three years of development, Somabar announced the completion of manufacturing development of its robot bartender at the 2018 Western Foodservice & Hospitality Expo, where it won Best Product of the Year. Originally crowdfunded on Kickstarter in 2015 as a consumer product, Somabar found heavy demand from the foodservice and hospitality industries where bartending has become increasingly regulated and expensive. Somabar made the decision to completely redesign its concept to be robust enough for high volume restaurants and meet sanitation standards required for all restaurants in America. Somabar was officially granted NSF certification in December 2018 allowing it to operate in all restaurants in the U.S. and began shipping its original Kickstarter backers with these commercial robot bartenders.
Why restaurants? Restaurant owners are used to working through endless regulations, but liquor licensing and rules for human bartenders are the most costly and complicated. Regulations vary by state, and costs can be dizzying, especially in areas that strictly limit the supply of licenses, usually through lottery systems. In parts of New Jersey, among the most expensive states, the cost of a restaurant full-liquor license has reached $2million.
Somabar’s goal is to help restaurants navigate this bureaucratic minefield with its robot bartender. Somabar currently operates exclusively in beer and wine licensed restaurants which typically do not have a bartender nor a full liquor license. Beer and wine licenses are unrestricted in number, can be issued in a matter of weeks and cost as little as $500. Somabar helps restaurants make the leap from serving just beer and wine to serving highly profitable cocktails. Operating under a restaurant’s beer and wine license, Somabar uses 24% ABV low-proof spirits like agave wine for traditional tequila cocktails, soju for vodka cocktails and over 20 other varietals of low-proof based spirits. The Somabar robot bartender suggests thousands of low-proof cocktails that can be made with the press of a button by any restaurant employee, including waiters and bussers, automatically and legally from the Somabar robot bartender, with virtually no bartending training required.
Somabar launched this month, following its NSF certification, with a number of restaurants near its headquarters in Los Angeles including the well-known luxury supermarket chain Gelson’s, for their new line of wine and tapas restaurants. What’s the verdict? According to Gelson’s general manager, Tony De Lucrezia, “Somabar’s low-proof cocktails have been a hit with our customers and dramatically improved our per-drink profit margins.”
