Gloomhaven becomes the latest board game to cameo in sci-fi TV show Orphan Black

Isaac Childres’ sprawling fantasy legacy game Gloomhaven is the latest board game to make a surprise appearance in acclaimed sci-fi TV show Orphan Black.

As spotted and uploaded by Reddit user spike77707, the latest episode of the thinky series about human cloning features shots of both the game’s sizeable box and a full dungeon setup on a living room table.

It’s far from the first time that tabletop gaming has made an appearance in the show – Gloomhaven joins Dead of Winter, Agricola, Descent and Runewars in the list of board games to show up on-screen in the show.

Co-creator John Fawcett – who happens to also be a huge tabletop gamer himself – recently told Vulture that the version of Gloomhaven in the show was produced just after the game’s first Kickstarter ended, showing up the morning of the shoot and was set up based on online images of people playing online, as there wasn’t enough time to read the rules.

Another blockbuster release from the last year is due to have a cameo in the current series’ final, too: Scythe. According to an update from creator Jamey Stegmaier, the alternate-history strategy game will have a background appearance in the current series’ finale.

As well as games themselves, Orphan Black features a comic and board game shop, Rabbit Hole, as a major location. There’s also a reference to live-action roleplaying – or LARPing – in season two, with the appearance of a Dystopia Rising T-shirt.

With video games an increasingly common sight in major TV shows, it’s good to see tabletop gaming making its way into the mainstream public consciousness, too.