What / why / when - dune kwisatz haderach edtion

Back in 2019, Gale Force Nine (GF9) approached Future Pastimes with a proposal to republish our original Dune board game to coincide with Denis Villeneuve’s hotly anticipated new Dune movie. We were excited for the opportunity, as Dune was one of our favorite creations, and it had been out of print for nearly 40 years.

The goal was to polish the core excellence of the original 1979 design (published by Avalon Hill) and get it to market before the other new Dune board games in the works. It was a mad rush to get everything in the box before the movie, which was originally slated for a late 2020 launch. COVID delayed the movie, but the game launched in late 2019.

GF9 had access to fan art by Ilya Baranovsky, who created (several years ago) a downloadable print ‘n play version on Boardgame Geek. This dramatically sped up the redesign process, and created a nice sense of continuity with all the fans who’d been playing PNP Dune for years. We’ve always loved Ilya’s clean, iconic style.

But there were still some sandtrout in the stillsuit, so to speak. After 40 plus years in the hobby gaming sphere, a massive list of fan requests and solutions had cropped up. First,

This edition of Dune will prove to be the biggest, smoothest, and best version ever. Working with the original designers, GF9 and Future Pastimes have streamlined the roughest aspects, clarified the most mind-bending rules, and brought a modicum of balance to all of the factions. Dune will be easier to get to the table, easier to manage while playing, and possible to compete before the spice runs out.  

We would have liked to spend even more time refining the rules, but both Future Pastimes and Gale Force Nine put con.

The original Avalon Hill Dune rules were 8 pages long, densely packed into 3 columns in 9 point font. It was illustriously illustrated with a grand total of 5 black and white line drawings. So considerable effort was expended just to bring the 2019 edition up to modern boardgame production standards.

The basic vs. advanced ruleset irked some players, the argument being “just give us the best way to play, don’t make us ponder which rules are best rules”.

This is the updated version of the classic 1979 Avalon Hill game which was based on Frank Herbert’s epic Dune science fiction novel. The original design team of Peter Olotka, Bill Eberle, and Jack Kittredge overhauled the rules and Future Pastimes member Greg Olotka created a quick-start guide. Check out the official GF9 Dune board game page here.

With the Dune 2021 film firmly established as a tour de force of cinematic sci-fi, Dune: Part Two, directed and produced by Denis Villeneuve, has wrapped. Dune: Part Two will open in theaters March 15, 2024.

In the meantime, you can play all the Future Pastimes / Gale Force Nine Dune board games to keep yourself immersed in Frank Herbert’s world.

Future Pastimes Game Lines

Future Pastimes designed Cosmic Encounter and expansions, the classic Dune board game and expansions, Dune: Conquest & Diplomacy, The Adventures of Conan, Dune Arrakis: Dawn of the Fremen, Firefly Misbehavin', Decipher, and Wordsmith. Learn more about all our games and connect with the designers on the Future Pastimes Discord. Our games are currently published by Gale Force Nine and Fantasy Flight Games.