Riot Teases a New Physical Board Game Set in Runeterra

Riot Games announced a new physical tabletop game that is said to be played in the land of Runeterra where League of Legends takes place. The game, known as Tellstones, is a set of physical game tokens that facilitate a back and forth game of deception, misdirection, bluffing, and reading your opponent. 

Riot has made Tellstones as an ancient game played in the land of Damacia, not unlike mancala or chess in our world. By creating a game within a game, Riot is really capitalizing on the lore that they've cultivated in the League of Legends space. With the advent of Teamfight Tactics and the card battler Legends of Runeterra, Riot is fleshing out the already vast League universe. The announcement of Tellstones was hot on the heels of the other Riot announcement this week of a new EP from League of Legends virtual K-Pop band K/DA which features four of the League champion characters singing and dancing in animated music videos. 

With these new additions, it is even more clear that Riot is directly taking on Blizzard in the one-stop-shop of universe building. League of Legends is one of the most popular games in the world, but it's unclear if any of the other Riot games have the kind of staying power that League commands.