Riot reveals info on Tellstones: King’s Gambit board game

During Riot’s landmark 10th anniversary celebration, the company unveiled ambitious plans extending far beyond their flagship MOBA. The live stream detailed multiple new gaming ventures including digital card games, fighting titles, and first-person shooters, all meticulously crafted within the expansive League of Legends universe and featuring beloved champions from the franchise.

The announcement generated significant excitement among the gaming community, with many fans expressing surprise at the breadth of Riot’s expansion strategy. The reveals suggested 2020 would bring even more unexpected developments from the gaming giant.

A strategic Twitter communication over the subsequent weekend introduced another surprising addition: Tellstones: King’s Gambit, marking Riot’s official entry into the physical tabletop gaming space. The social media post contained an embedded press release detailing this innovative board game concept.

This move prompted immediate discussion within the gaming community about Riot’s strategic direction and their decision to invest in traditional board games alongside digital offerings.

“We approach game development from a comprehensive gaming perspective,” Riot’s development team clarified. “Our passion extends beyond digital experiences to include physical gaming. The evidence is visible throughout our workspace, where collections of board games, detailed miniatures, and roleplaying materials occupy significant space. Exploring tabletop gaming through Riot’s unique design philosophy felt like a natural evolution, leading to the establishment of our Riot Tabletop division.”

According to the detailed press release documentation, Tellstones represents merely the initial offering in what appears to be a substantial pipeline of tabletop projects currently in development at Riot Games.

For players new to tabletop gaming, understanding the distinction between cooperative and competitive mechanics is crucial. Cooperative games like Mechs vs. Minions emphasize teamwork, while competitive titles like Tellstones focus on strategic confrontation and psychological gameplay.

Prior to developing Tellstones, Riot Games demonstrated their tabletop capabilities with Mechs vs. Minions, a cooperative experience launched in 2016. That game featured extensive miniature components and rich narrative content, including an instructional segment from the champion Rumble that established the game’s distinctive tone and atmosphere.

With Tellstones, Riot has pivoted from collaborative gameplay to competitive interaction. The game is designed as a bluffing experience operating with perfect information mechanics—a design choice that creates intriguing strategic possibilities. Tellstones accommodates two to four participants and is characterized as a Demacian interpretation of a game tradition practiced throughout the Runeterran continent.

Currently, specific gameplay details remain limited beyond confirmation of its fast-paced, competitive nature. Understanding bluffing games with perfect information requires recognizing that all players have access to the same game state information, making psychological reads and strategic deception the primary skills rather than hidden knowledge.

Naturally, Tellstones represents a significant departure from the Mechs vs. Minions experience in both mechanics and player interaction dynamics.

“The two games occupy completely different design spaces, yet share the fundamental commitment to player experience quality that defines our approach. What truly excites us is the opportunity to enhance player enjoyment across the diverse spectrum of gaming experiences available for social tabletop sessions,” the development team emphasized.

For players transitioning from digital to physical gaming, several key differences emerge. Tabletop games typically offer more direct social interaction, tangible components, and often deeper strategic complexity than their digital counterparts. Understanding these distinctions can significantly improve your adaptation to different gaming formats.

Tellstones initially captured player attention in September when attentive community members noticed Riot had secured a trademark for the name. The subsequent League of Legends Public Beta Environment update included loading screen hints referencing the board game. One particularly intriguing tip recounted how King Santon of Demacia successfully averted military conflict through a session of Tellstones gameplay.

This deep integration with established League lore demonstrates Riot’s commitment to maintaining narrative consistency across their expanding gaming ecosystem. For players interested in deeper lore connections, exploring Demacian culture through games like Tellstones offers fascinating insights into the political and social dynamics of Runeterra. Understanding these connections can enhance appreciation for both the board game and the broader League universe, similar to how mastering different class mechanics enhances overall gameplay in other titles.

No reproduction without permission：Game Guides Online » Riot reveals info on Tellstones: King’s Gambit board game Riot Games expands into tabletop gaming with Tellstones: King's Gambit, a strategic bluffing game set in League of Legends lore