Welcome to the Official Zulu’s Board Game Cafe Newsletter!
Winter has come as prophesized and it hasn’t been too bad so far, has it? Nevertheless, this IS the best season to cozy up and get some gaming in, whether at home or at your favorite Zulu’s Board Game Cafe! Rachel, in fact, has many great suggestions on how to introduce your lil’ ones into the fantastic world of board games, including recommended titles you can find in our Bothell location lending library!
Kinney also chips in with a dissertation on the current state of the Pokemon TCGs and how the imminent set rotation is going to impact both the local league meta and the competitive scene at large!
Before we start, though, a reminder that Zulu’s will be at Emerald City Comic Con! If you’re planning on attending, come say hi! Find more info here: https://zulusgames.com/pages/eccc ~
- Fran
Kids Gaming at Zulu’s!
Parents and caregivers, it’s time to explore the fun side of Zulu’s with kids! If you are anything like me, you spent the first three or so years of your kids’ lives getting out of stores as fast as you could to keep tantrums and grabbing hands to a minimum. But once your kids hit that sweet spot at three or four years old, it’s the perfect time to get them excited about board games, and there is no better place to do it than Zulu’s.
If you aren’t sold on the idea of board games and small children, trust me: I was there too. My four year old couldn’t sit still for an episode of Paw Patrol, let alone wait through my turn, their dad’s turn, and their sibling’s! But with a little patience you are going to find the perfect fit for your kid’s interests and you’re going to see magic happen as they lock in and get excited to learn.
Games have so many benefits for kids. Your kiddo is playing while they learn new words, grow their attention span, see parents model how to be a gracious loser or winner, start putting together strategies, and persevere even when they’re not doing well. Most importantly, they’re spending quality time having fun with you, one of their favorite people in the world.
Zulu’s is the perfect place to try out board games with your kids. We’ve got kid games to demo, which is so important when you’re first starting out and don’t know what your kid will really enjoy. We have a kid friendly menu with mac and cheese, french fries, and chicken tenders, too. And coming out to Zulu’s to try a game is the best way to make the whole experience an adventure!
Don’t be afraid to try your kid out on a game that is marked for older children; you know what your kiddo is good at, so you are a good judge of whether they have the skills needed for a new game. Plus, if you are demoing a game at the store you can always put it back on the shelf if it’s too challenging! Check out these demo games on the back shelf the next time you’re in the store:
Kids 4 & Older
5 & Older
Dragomino
6 & Older
Micro Macro Kids
8 & Older
Fairy Tale Inn
Toy Battle
10 & Older
If your kiddo is looking to make friends, we also have a few programs for your family. For adventurers eight years old and up, we have a paid Dungeons & Dragons program that will get your kid at a table with a professional Dungeon Master and kids their age. For neurodivergent kids in 3rd grade or older that could use a little help with socializing, Brandi with Game On Youth offers paid guided gaming groups on Mondays and Tuesday afternoons. For teenagers with some experience with board games looking to expand their knowledge, we have free community board game meetups on Monday and Tuesday evenings.
There are so many ways to play at Zulu’s, both for kids and caregivers. We can’t wait to help you find the games that are going to let you and your family make memories and game together!
- Rachel Seamount
Pokemon's 2026 Rotation is Finally Here!
Hello readers, Zulu’s Pokemon Professor Kinney here!
As you might know, the Pokemon TCG is more than just collecting cards. The Seattle area has a huge concentration of players who compete at various levels, and many of them call Zulu’s their home base. (or Gym). But what you might not know, is that the community is about to be shaken up by the yearly tradition of card rotation!
Pokemon TCG Standard rotation always affects the way the game is played at local competitions to some degree, but this year’s rotation is particularly important, as many of the most powerful decks are going to change dramatically or no longer be viable.
Every card has a rotation letter on the bottom-left corner that indicates if is legal in Standard Constructed play. The current letters allowed when building decks are “G”, “H”, and “I”, but after April 10th, the letters “H”, “I”, and “J” will constitute the new Standard Constructed format. Some notable cards with the “G” regulation letter we will be saying goodbye to are Gardevoir EX, Gholdengo EX, Charizard EX, Iono and Arven. Here’s a quick description of what these cards are about and why they matter(ed) so much.
The Pokemon:
Gardevoir EX, Gholdengo EX, Charizard EX are centerpieces of some of the most popular and powerful deck archetypes seen in Standard in a long time; rotation will eliminate these decks to make room for newer brews. These powerhouses have had their time to shine in the sun and will be missed by some, but trust me when I say that many in the community will be happy when they’re gone. 😉
Gardevoir has been the most successful deck since its debut in 2023 and has continued to change over that time to become the behemoth of the format, winning a large amount of regional competitions and even the 2025 World Championship, not to mention countless Zulu’s league local tournaments, cups and challenges. Many of the complex and intricate interactions caused by this deck forced local tournaments into overtime so that players wouldn’t miss an important step for the win. Fingers crossed that we are about to enter a faster format…
Charizard EX had some success throughout its tenure as a dark type counter to the Gardevoir decks. Its Burning Darkness ability is a great come-from-behind attack to one-hit-knockout most of the opponents in the format. There are a couple other dark type pokemon that can begin taking over the scene post rotation, however none will have quite as much of a late game punch as Charizard.
Gholdengo EX was one of the most consistent card draw engines leading to a powerful Make It Rain attack after filling the hand with a ton of energy cards. After rotation, this type of deck will either need to find another card draw machine or turn into something completely different.
The Supporters:
A lot of the Supporter Trainer cards in the Pokemon TCG provide advantageous effects that draw extra cards, search specific ones or give you extra powerful resources to enhance your plays. Some of the most popular cards in this category that are rotating out include Iono, Professor’s Research, and Arven.
Iono has been one of the most powerful forms of interaction in the Pokemon TCG by disrupting the opponent’s hand after they’ve crafted a perfect hand using Arven. (Un)fortunately both cards are rotating so players won’t have to worry about that interaction anytime soon, to the relief of all judges in the world (Iono causes so many headaches in official tournaments). In theory, this may open up the doors for more combo decks in the future, since players won’t have to worry as much about hand disruption, but you never know…after all, in the previous rotation we were so relieved about Marnie leaving the scene, only to be followed by Iono…
Conclusion:
Rotation will remove some of the most popular decks that have dominated the format for years and pave the way for newer decks to fill in the void. A lot of the decks that “survive” rotation will have to change significatively since many of their engine pieces will be lost.
On to a brighter tomorrow!
For those interested in taking advantage of this big refresh to join our community, we host Pokemon events every Monday at the Event Center. Considering Ascended Heroes (a big staples reprints set) is about to drop, this might just be the perfect time to put a deck together and come hang out with us for some battlin’!
Speaking of which, did you know Seattle will be hosting its first Pokemon regional in a VERY long time this month, February 27 through March 1? We will be there as vendors, so make sure to say hi if you’re there!
- Kinney
40-Foot Robots? Mech Yes!
Hi, board game enthusiasts! I’m Rob, the host of our weekly Battletech meetup and your source for all Battletech knowledge. Never heard of it? I’m here to tell you what it’s all about and to encourage any would-be commanders to give it a try!
Battletech is a tabletop strategy game in which you and another player take on the role of opposing battlefield commanders. In the game your miniatures represent 40-foot-tall humanoid robots designed for warfare, called Battlemechs. Players play in turns to move their models around the map and roll dice to determine the outcome of the combat that is playing out on the tabletop.
Why Battletech, and why now? Despite being launched in 1984, Battletech has recently had a massive resurgence in popularity. In 2019 the publisher, Catalyst Game Labs, had a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to resculpt iconic miniatures and bring the miniatures back to shelves. This campaign raised 2.5 million, and then in 2023 they had a second Kickstarter campaign that raised 7.5 million. So it’s obvious that there is an enthusiastic fanbase excited to play the game.
The game has a dense rule set, and because of this the game offers a deep strategic and tactical challenge. Over the past 40 years, the rule system has stayed true to its core design but has been updated to improve the quality of play and meet the demands of players. You can look forward to selecting a group of Battlemechs and engaging in a thrilling battle between your troops and your opponent’s troops as you both maneuver around the table.
If Battletech sounds like a fun world to play in but too complicated to enjoy, there is an alternative for you! A new game was spun off from the original, called Battletech: Alpha Strike. This version of the game takes the full page of information for a single miniature and condenses it down to a playing card’s worth of information. Both games use the same miniatures, so your collection works for both.
Now if you are thinking that this still sounds way too complicated, I am here to help. On the first Wednesday of every month I run a learn to play game at the Zulu’s Event Center. I have miniatures, record sheets, maps, and dice. All you need to bring is your desire to learn and I’ll walk you through how to play in an easy to understand way at your pace. I would love to see you down here so I can share my love for this fun and complex game.
- Rob Seamount
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