This November will mark the 10th anniversary of Brotherwise Games’ entry into the world of tabletop. In 2012, we (brothers Chris and Johnny) launched Boss Monster on Kickstarter. With eight expansions and last year’s Overboss spin-off, the franchise is still going strong as a game store evergreen.
Boss Monster’s success allowed Brotherwise to publish games from outside designers and to invest in new internallydesigned projects. And as the company has grown, we’ve had the chance to work with creators and IPs we admire. It’s been a dream come true for two lifelong gaming geeks, and the dream just keeps getting bigger.
Brotherwise has given us the perfect career, but it’s also given us a purpose. While we didn’t start Brotherwise with a mission, we quickly realized that we wanted to make “games that bring everyone to the table.” It’s a mission that was inspired by the welcome we received when we first entered the industry. From players, to store owners, to other publishers, it felt like everyone was
rooting for us to succeed and we really felt welcome at that “table.” But it’s a mission that was also informed by our vision of what a tabletop publisher could do to broaden the reach and approachability of our hobby. We realized we wanted to make games that included everyone, from hardcore hobbyists to those who don’t normally see gaming as their thing. The “table” in tabletop is a wonderful metaphor for a place where we can all come together.
During this year and the next we’ll be releasing an exciting lineup that we think brings our mission to life.
Epic Origins, the next release in the hit Call to Adventure game series hits stores this fall. It’s a true cross-over game, meant to unite boardgamers, RPG players, and fantasy literature lovers in a hero-crafting game like no other.
The Stormlight Archive Premium Miniatures are coming to Kickstarter this September and stores in 2023. Brandon Sanderson’s epic fantasy series has inspired an incredibly devoted fan base, as we saw with his last record-shattering Kickstarter.
We can’t wait for those fans to see our lineup of more than 20 gorgeous miniatures.
Castles by the Sea hits in early 2023. It’s a charming sandcastle-building game that is perfect for fans of spatial puzzlers. Its theme is inspired by Studio Ghibli films, and it was designed from the ground up as a game for both serious and casual gamers alike.
Empire’s End, also releasing in early 2023, is our crunchiest game yet. Designer John D. Clair brings his own unique take to the civilization genre, with a reverse-bidding twist. You’ve built empires before, but do you have what it takes to save one?
And of course, we also have some exciting plans to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Boss Monster in 2023. We’re working on the long-awaited Super Boss Monster, a sequel to Overboss, and an all-new title set in the Boss Monster universe. The Kingdom that Croak built will continue to flourish and grow, bringing new players into your store and making sure there’s always room for one more at your game table.
PRESIDENT
Stephan Brissaud
Director - Publisher Membership Group
VICE-PRESIDENT
Andrew Chesney
Chip Theory Games
TREASURER
Gary Alaka
Gap Closer Games
SECRETARY
Julie Ahern
Greenbrier Games
DISTRIBUTOR DIVISION CHAIR
Sito Sanchez
Peachstate Hobby Distribution
DIRECTOR - WHOLESALE MEMBERSHIP GROUP
Beau Heath Southern Hobby Distribution
GAMA RETAIL DIVISION CHAIR
Jennifer Ward Crazy Squirrel Games & Toys
GAMA RETAIL DIVISION VICE-CHAIR
Kylie Prymus
Games Unlimited
DIRECTOR - CREATOR MEMBERSHIP GROUP
Grace Collins Snowbright Studio
DIRECTOR - MEDIA & EVENTS MEMBERSHIP GROUP
Monica Rasso
Meeples At Sea
DIRECTOR - MANUFACTURERS
MEMBERSHIP GROUP
Eric Price
Japanime Games
DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE
Jeff Pinsker
EMERITUS BOARD MEMBER
Will Niebling
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR john.stacy@gama.org
DEPUTY DIRECTOR chris.materni@gama.org
Gregoire Boisbelaud COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR greg.boisbelaud@gama.org
TECHNOLOGY AND CREATIVE MANAGER adam.ziegler@gama.org
Cynthia Tuck EVENTS COORDINATOR cynthia.tuck@gama.org
258 East Campus View Blvd Columbus, OH 43235
Phone: 614-255-4500 Fax: 614-255-4499 www.gama.org • media@gama.org
Around the Table © 2022
The Game Manufacturers Association
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Wealth and opportunity await in space!
Adventurous companies and private investors willing to take the risk for great reward have rocketed upward to revive the mining network on the moon and asteroids. As competitive investors, players will need to choose their actions carefully to try to earn the most CrypCoin. Invest mined resources in companies and spread outposts from the stations across the Moon to increase their value and rake in the profit. Support the research of scientists to boost earnings even further. Featuring a double-sided game board and variable gameplay content, this strategic game for 1-4 players will bring an exciting new challenge to game night!
Andrew Long’s infographic presents the association’s
Tips and tricks to help retail stores sell games, written by the following companies
Arcane Tinmen ApS 42
in a variety of ways to give
the full picture of where they are, what they do, and even how many employees they have.
When this group of passionate gamers who prepare written and video game reviews was invited to GAMA Expo, author Justin Bell jumped at the chance to attend. Here’s his take on the show.
Retailer Lynn Potyen from The Gameboard discusses retailer/publisher interactions and the importance of listening.
Ares Games SRL 54
Bezier Games 32
Brotherwise Games, LLC 4
ENHANCE Gaming 3
Floodgate Games 16
Imagining Games 66
Indie Game Studios 70
Japanime Games 18
Lucky Duck Games 69
Magpie Games 12
Pegasus North America 8
Puppet Master’s Projects 52
Restoration Games LLC 50
KTBG/Burnt Island Games 14
Seajay Games 46
Smirk & Dagger Games 38
Steve Jackson Games 34
Upper Deck 48
Van Ryder Games LLC 28
Originally published in 2015, Mombasa challenged players to strategically acquire shares of companies and spread their trading posts. Now, award-winning designer Alexander Pfister has partnered with Viktor Kobilke to take the core gameplay of that strategic game and give it new life in space with Skymines!
For decades, the World Government and its contractors mined the Moon and the surrounding asteroid belt. Recent unrest collapsed this enterprise, leaving an open opportunity for adventurous companies and private investors willing to take the risk and revive the mining network to claim the profit.
In Skymines, a 1-4 player Euro game, players will need to plan ahead and carefully program cards into an action system. Four different company tracks will be available to invest in, each with different abilities. With five double-sided tracks to choose from during setup, each game can present different strategic choices. All players can invest in any of the four companies, spreading outposts from the stations out across the Moon to increase the value of shares. Players will need to be strategic with their funds, diversifying
their investments for maximum profit.
Over the course of 7 rounds, players will program their plans and activate their actions. During the planning phase, players will simultaneously choose cards from their hands and place them face down in the action spaces on their own player board. Only three actions slots are open at the beginning of the game, but more can be unlocked later. Once everyone has placed their planned actions, the cards are flipped and players will activate one action at a time on their turn, going clockwise until all actions have been completed.
There are multiple actions players can choose to activate. Resource cards played to the action area can be added up for a total value to purchase new cards from the display on the main game board. The resource value can also be used to advance on company tracks. Units can be divided among multiple companies, but each resource unit spent will move that player’s track marker forward. Energy cards enable company expansion, spreading outposts in different sectors of the Moon. The 24 sectors on the Moon are separated with single or double lines, indicating the energy cost to enter. Adding up
all the energy cards placed in the action area gives a total expansion value. Once the full value has been spent spreading the outposts, that player will receive rewards from any sectors entered that turn.
Activating research and field scientists will affect the research and tank tracks on a player’s personal board. Advancing along the research track will complete research plans and give rewards. Activating the field scientist will store up helium-3, advancing the marker on the tank track and paying out CrypCoin. Placing a bonus marker will allow a player to claim a special ability or reward from one of the open bonus spaces. Once a bonus marker is placed, it stays on that space and blocks it for the rest of the round, enabling some key strategic choices to block opponents and get ahead.
Use your resources wisely, expand and invest strategically, and earn the most CrypCoin to win! In addition to the brand-new theme, Skymines also features a double-sided game board, variable gameplay content, a campaign mode, and two special modules, making it an exciting new challenge for players to add to their game night.
Welcome to the Spring 2022 issue of Around the Table. It’s been a very busy first quarter as we prepared to host almost 1,400 attendees of the GAMA EXPO 2022 in Reno. It was a wildly successful show, bringing forth the first gathering of the newly adopted six membership type structure. Also, a groundbreaking new initiative was launched by hosting members of the board game media community, drastically increasing visibility of our B2B event.
Just before EXPO, we welcomed Rachael Blaske to the team at GAMA. As Marketing Manager, Rachael will head up our communications team to promote and support GAMA’s programs and events. She will also help grow the tabletop marketplace with the help of GAMA’s Market Expansion Committee efforts. She is uniquely qualified for the position having worked as a Publisher, worked in Sales and Marketing, and as a Brand Consultant. Her communication skills and passion for tabletop games will be of great benefit for our members and the industry. Many of you saw her smiling face in Reno and I know she loves our organization and wants to connect with you! Feel free to reach out to her if she can be of assistance at rachael.blaske@gama.org.
Finally, we have had the opportunity to enter the second phase of bringing the board of directors in line with our new membership structure. The board elections were held following EXPO and announced on April 1. We welcome these highly qualified new board members to our organization and feel confident in the diverse skills and backgrounds steering this ship. We are celebrating the fact that our board is now comprised of several international representatives as well which has aligned with our ambition to increase the global reach and influence of GAMA.
Looking ahead, we are excited for the return to Columbus in June. Origins Game Fair has such an exciting vibe this year as we return to routine and build out new ways to spread the love of tabletop gaming to thousands of gamers, new and old. Are you involved yet? Exhibiting? Running events? Attending Trade Days? Shopping? We are ready for you!
Regards, John Stacy Executive Director
Thank you to the following industry professionals for contributing their time and expertise to Around the Table! Please enjoy their articles throughout this issue. If you would like to contribute to future issues of Around the Table by suggesting a topic or writing your own article, please email media@gama.org.
Gamer / husband / dad / DEI champion / foodie / hoop head / cinephile / travel enthusiast. If you’re in Chicago, let’s meet up and roll some dice!
Lynn Potyen is the sole owner of The GameBoard. She loves people and games and magically brings the two together harmoniously. Lynn has successfully built a safe “community” for all ages in Sheboygan through The GameBoard. Besides running the store she travels the world speaking at many conferences/seminars about brain games and building community.
It was great to be back in Reno for GAMA Expo 2022 and see so many of you. After a hiatus of almost two years, the industry was in dear need of connection, networking, and just seeing people to get a sense of normalcy. As in the past years, the Peppermill rolled the red carpet for us, and we had a fantastic show with excellent attendance.
Our new initiatives, such as the First Look room for our Media and Publishers members, were well received.
The first promotion of our Horizons Fellowship was recognized and celebrated by all. This project is very dear to me: my principal motivation for joining the Board of GAMA was to give back to this industry, which had given me so much over the years, as well as helping and supporting young entrepreneurs in their venturing into the game industry. I want to thank all the volunteers and mentors who gave their time to help the fellows achieve their dreams. You can read more about the Fellowship at https://www.gama.org/page/ Horizons
We recently elected our new Board of Directors. Please join me in thanking Julie Ahern, Gary Alaka, Andrew Chesney, and Jeff Pinsker for their tenure as directors of the association; welcoming Nicole Brady, Matt Fantastic, Radek Gronus, and Frank West as new Directors; and finally, thanking Sito Sanchez and Jennifer Ward for their reelection.
Remember: this is your association, and you too can make a difference, so don’t hesitate to reach out if you want to help: there is always a committee or a workgroup looking for creative people.
Until next time, Be Excellent to Each Other,
Stephan Brissaud, President of the Board
You might notice that our old acronym (GRD) is being replaced by the term Team Retail. That’s because under the new bylaws, we’re officially the Retail Voting Membership Group. Since that’s a mouthful, as is RVMG, we decided to shorten it up for ease of use.
The Team had some great success last year – promoting the Power Retail Awards, Trade Days at Origins and the Peer-toPeer seminars at Expo, among them – and now that our annual elections are done, we’re looking forward to continuing to improve those as well as tackle a couple of other projects.
First, we’d love for you to have a voice on our committees! Regular committees include education (help plan the seminars and online educational opportunities), the communications committee (coordinating responses to members, sending out the minutes, etc), and the Power Retail Awards committee.
Next, Courtney Hartley from Bonus Round Game Cafe in Chicao has joined the officers and is looking forward to representing cafes and the related business plans.
Dee Connell from Main Street Fun & Games in Invermere, Canada, also joined the officers. Her store (which won a Power Retail Award this year) focuses on her small town as well as the vacationers, which brings another viewpoint to your officers.
I’m back for another year as your chairperson and I couldn’t be happier. I’ll be focusing on putting together a process and timeline book for future Team Retail groups. And I’m eager to further improve the Power Retail Awards through prize support, expanding the judging committee, and more.
Enjoy this issue of Around the Table!
Jennifer M. Ward Retail Membership Group Chairperson
In 2019, Magpie Games launched on Kickstarter Root: The Roleplaying Game - an officially licensed tabletop RPG based on the award winning board game by Leder Games. The project raised over $750,000 in crowdfunding, including post-Kickstarter preorders. Since then, Root: The RPG’s street release date of March 9th, 2022 arrived, and the book is now finally available to retailers & fans. The product line includes a core rulebook plus supplementary retail friendly items, including the Travelers & Outsiders sourcebook, a dice set, card decks, and a GM accessory kit.
The team at Magpie Games was overwhelmed by the positive response Root: The RPG has received. When we released the product line for direct online consumer preorders, we sold more than $75,000, with an additional $125,000+ in retail and distribution. Some of this success is certainly the result of the strength of the license;
Leder Games’ Root: A Woodland Game of Might and Right has a strong following in the tabletop board game community. In addition, Root: The RPG is fully illustrated with brand new pieces by the series’s artist Kyle Ferrin. Beyond that strong foundation, Root: The RPG offers new and unique experiences for independent and traditional players alike. Furthermore, the game is quite easy to learn for both beginners and veteran players sporting mechanics based on the robust Powered by the Apocalypse systemwith aesthetics similar to Redwall, Warriors, Wanderhome, or Mouse Guard.
To see the game in action, check out the Good Time Society YouTube channel featuring a How To Play and an actual play one shot video featuring Becca Scott!
We have some exciting news to announce as well!
Based on the incredible response and demand on certain products, the Deluxe
Edition of Root: The Roleplaying Game, and the Clearing Booklet, will be made available to retailers and distributors later this year.
This year, Free RPG Day is scheduled for June 25th, 2002 in North America and July 23rd worldwide. Following our previous Free RPG Day Quickstart releases of Pellenicky Glade and Bertram’s Cove, this year we are proud to announce that we are releasing the Talon Hill Quickstart for Free RPG Day. This will be an 8.5 x 11” full color, 8.5” x 11 softcover booklet featuring all the rules necessary to play Root: The RPG, pregenerated characters, and an entirely new prewritten clearing for one or two sessions of play.
We’re so excited to bring players new and old into the Woodlands, and we hope this game finds a way onto your shelves this year! For more information and inquiries about Root: The RPG, please don’t hesitate to contact us at info@magpiegames.com.
the Roleplaying Game
for
from
on the Root: A Game of Woodland
& Right board game
by Leder Games, Root: The
the tales of the Woodland
At Kids Table Board Gaming (KTBG)
we walk a very fine line, making games that appeal to a widest audience possible. The company started when Helaina Cappel, an avid gamer and parent, realized that there were no games out there she could play with her kids that also engaged her strategic mind. Teaming with her game designer husband Josh, they set out to fix that. Starting with Foodfighters, they collaborated with many different designers and artists to create a catalogue of games with something for everyone.
To become a KTBG game, a design has to have some specific criteria. The core concepts have to be simple enough to attract younger gamers or those new to the hobby, however, it should also have enough interesting decisions and depth of strategy to bring in more experienced gamers. It’s a delicate balance of accessibility and layered complexity.
We approach each design with a few core rules. First, we always try to follow the fun. We want to identify what it is about
the game that will make people want to play it again and again. Second, we want to identify our audience. Some games are made specifically for kids. Instead of this approach, we try to make games that kids CAN play, but not at the sacrifice of strategic depth. We want to make games that we, as gamers, want to play. Finally, we look for the hook. What is different about this game? What can players find here that they won’t see anywhere else?
With these core principles as a guiding philosophy, we can more easily find designs that would be a good fit in the KTBG library.
Often a KTBG game will introduce a new mechanism for people discovering the hobby for the first time. For example, Haunt the House teaches the concept of bluffing (and when kids learn they can ‘lie’ within the context of a game, they get pretty excited), Wreck Raiders helps players learn the idea of worker placement, and Fossilis is a great example of set collection. When we’re developing a new game, tackling a mechanism we haven’t
used before in previous designs is really important to us.
Layering our rules is another important part of the design process. In our experience, kids pick up rules very quickly. In fact, they’re often better at learning new games than their parents. Having said that, it’s really helpful for anyone learning a game to do it in stages. As we’re developing a game, we look for the tiers of complexity and layer them, so that players can choose how much to add each time they play. Providing this sort of option allows you to customize the gaming experience you want. It means you can learn games quicker and add rules at your own pace.
‘Kids’ might be part of our brand name, but there’s nothing childish about our process. We bake strategy and complexity into an easily digestible package. Not every game is going to be for everyone, but by following our design principles, we aim to capture the imagination of as many gamers as we can!
Learn more about KTBG and their games at kidstablebg.com.
What makes a memorable gaming experience? Is it when your combos create a huge point-swing that gets you the win? Is it gathering with friends for a shared activity over some snacks? How much of these experiences are the games themselves versus the interactions and stories that we come together to tell?
Ben Harkins, Floodgate Games founder, would tell you that he loves making games that give people that “aha!” moment. For some, that’s figuring out the puzzle to find the best scoring opportunities. Others find the player engagement around the table to be the high point of their gaming sessions. Moments that make the best stories are crafted from these shared experiences –often, what’s happening above the game on the table is just as important as the rules to the game itself.
Floodgate Games has been expanding its catalog to include games that ease players into crafting a story of their own. They’ll have their own a-ha moments while solving a tricky puzzle together. With the launch of the brand new game Décorum, and recently bringing FogofLove back to shelves, these engrossing games ask players to take a small step away from the game on the table and throw themselves into the experience. Instead of putting it front-and-center, any roleplaying becomes emergent as players become more comfortable with the core gameplay and settle into the characters’ motivations.
Fog of Love, originally published by Hush Hush Projects and acquired by Floodgate in 2021, has been reprinted along with all new expansions to explore in this “romantic comedy as a
board game.” Players create characters and run them through the wringer of crazy yet familiar situations and attempt to figure out their respective destinies as they emerge from the other side. Will they stay together? Will they grow apart? It’s up to the players to decide as they work through the love stories.
The newest expansion, Love on Lockdown, offers a tongue-in-cheek look at the situations that arise in a relationship when you’re stuck spending every single moment together because you can’t leave the house. Will you become apathetic and just decide to watch the same movie every night, or will you explore your reckless side and throw caution to the wind for some excitement?
Speaking of being stuck inside, how would your partner feel if you painted the kitchen green? Maybe threw out your favorite blacklight poster? In Décorum, you’ll find out… passive-aggressively, of course. Décorum is a cooperative game that simply asks the players to decorate the house so everyone is happy. The trouble is, different things make each of these characters happy and they’re not exactly the best communicators. Each player has secret objectives that they cannot share but must fulfill, along with everyone else because you win or lose as a team! Other players can react, but without giving away details of why they felt that way.
Décorum will have you loudly exclaiming “I hate that lamp” by round five, pulling your hair out as you try to figure out a way to solve the puzzle of satisfying each player’s objectives, and high-fiving across the table when it finally comes together!
Fog of Love and Décorum are both available now at ACD, Alliance and GTS. Striking box covers and straightforward gameplay easily guide your gamers into creating their own everlasting experiences at the table.
Return to the famous Sagrada
Familia cathedral in Sagrada: Glory , the third and final of the Great Facades expansions.
This modular expansion explores the thrill of competition and rivalry. Sagrada: Glory introduces new options to test your artisanal skills!
• All New Strife dice with placement restrictions.
• Pioneer Objectives reward the first to achieve their goals.
• The Flourish Module encourages specific and unique placement.
With Puppet Masters, pick one of 27 playable characters, two of 18 thematic decks that fit your play style, shuffle them with your opponent’s and play! Bid on powerful minions, slay the unclaimed for gold! Equip items and powerful spells. Dominate, manipulate and destroy! Be the last Puppet Master Standing.
Austin Koepp, ackoepp@gmail.com puppetmastersprojects.com
Décorum from Floodgate Games is a passive-aggressive game of cohabitation, where you and your partner decorate your home in a way that makes you both happy. But different things make each of you happy, and nobody says exactly what they need. Can you compromise, or is it time to move out? MSRP: $44.95 rich@floodgategames.com
Galactic Era from Seajay Games is an epic space empire builder for 1 to 6 players, playable in 3 hours. It brings some innovative features to the genre: choice of alignment (darkness or light), diceless combat, and technology trading. Also included is a rich background story inspired by UFO and ET witness accounts.
galacticera.net
Key of the Kingdom is a hilarious family game-night adventure featuring a giant folding double board, whimsical characters, and diabolical challenges. Fantastic illustrations by Andrew Bosley. Available now. “With kids, I found this game to be a blast,” said Tom Vasel, The Dice Tower. retailers@restorationgames.com
Cat in the Box: Deluxe Edition from Bezier Games is the quintessential quantum trick-taking card game for 2 to 5 cool cats, and where your card’s color isn’t defined until you play it! Hypothesize how many tricks you will win, and plan them carefully so you don’t create a pawsitively catastrophic paradox!
beziergames.com
When our fearless leader, Andy Matthews, reached out to see if I would be willing to go to GAMA Expo in mid-March, I jumped at the chance.
GAMA (The Game Manufacturers Association) runs a trade show every spring to give approximately 300 retailers the chance to meet with publishers and learn more about the games retailers want to stock on their shelves. GAMA also runs the Origins Board Game Convention.
For the first time, GAMA extended invitations to about 25 media outlets, including Meeple Mountain. It was a fantastic opportunity to see the industry up close.
What kinds of games will retailers look to stock? What games will publishers push to the retail channel? How will publishers connect with the media to ensure their newest games see the light?
I spent three days in Reno; one day was spent mainly in seminars and industry sessions, while the next two days were a mix of meetings with publishers about their newest games and the games which will hit shelves later this year.
Sound interesting? Come behind the curtain with me as I tell all!
Meeple Mountain was given the opportunity to attend this year’s GAMA Expo in Reno, Nevada. Justin offers his thoughts on the biggest annual tabletop trade show in North America.Oak looks magnificent on the table
That’s the line I heard more than any other from various publishers and media walking the expo hall floor during the show. And in this case: quiet is a beautiful thing.
You see, GAMA Expo has the look of a big convention: publishers with booths, people wearing badges, lots of large, colorful ads for upcoming games.
Except there are only about 1,400 people at the event. Spread across a massive trade show floor, and with only two days of expo hall time (as opposed to three or four days like many other conventions), this gives the entire affair a much more leisurely feel.
Retailers have lots of space to stroll each aisle and take in the products on display. Publishers get lots of quality time, by sending plenty of staff (marketing, sales, executives, volunteers, game designers) to chat with retailers about their products. Media can comfortably interact with publishers to chat about current and upcoming games.
Win, win, win.
This is in no way a sign of disrespect for fans. As a guy who loves crowds, I still enjoy going to shows like PAX Unplugged and Gen Con to demo more games, take cosplay pictures, and soak in the raucous, almost party-like atmosphere.
But GAMA Expo was different. Intimate. A great opportunity, between the daytime expo hall events and the evening networking events, for media to have more casual conversations about not just the tabletop hobby, but life in general.
Take, for example, a few of the conversations I stumbled into while at the show. I had the chance to chat with AJ Porfirio of Van Ryder Games (Final Girl) and Keith Matejka of Thunderworks Games (Cape May, Roll Player) about the success of some of their recent games, in between joking about lots of other random topics.
I spent time speaking with Conor McGoey of Inside Up Games about the success of their recent Kickstarter for Earth, and how the mix of content creator coverage for the game gave audiences a wide array of opinions on the game. And I had the chance to chat with many of the other hosted media at GAMA Expo about how we differ in covering the biggest games, all while socializing in a room called The Safari (a hotel suite complete with a large elephant overlooking a hot tub, with tusks on the entrance).
These types of random meetups popped up a dozen or more times over the 3 days I was in Reno.
GAMA, like other member associations, had its share of honest conversations about inclusion over the last few years, particularly as it relates to the lack of diversity in the gaming industry.
In the wake of this, GAMA created the Horizons Fellowship program, aimed to create more diversity in both the publishing/design and retailer space. I had the chance to attend the graduation program on the third night of the show and it was an amazing display.
GAMA, through sponsors such as Chip Theory Games (Too Many Bones), was able to sponsor 4 retailers and 5 publishers at the trade show to give chances to BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) that wouldn’t otherwise have been available.
GAMA received 40 submissions for the 9 spots that were covered by sponsors. It’s a great program and one that inspired me to not only join GAMA but also offer my expertise in the DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) training space for future initiatives with member organizations. Kudos to GAMA for taking steps in the right direction to bring more inclusion to the tabletop industry.
such a big hit? (A two-part article)
InQ4 of 2021 we released Final Girl into the world. The Kickstarter backers were excited and were all sharing their experiences. The game was getting rave reviews and you practically couldn’t scroll your social feed without seeing something about it. Van Ryder Games has had hits before, but something about this seemed different. In just a few short weeks, the first printing had sold out. Retailers that backed our Kickstarter had the advantage of seeing the sales first, and some of them were able to get in reorders before everything was sold out. Others, both retailers and distributors, were too late to get any by the time the buzz had found its way to them.
We are always a bit cautious to “declare victory” so to speak, but it seemed that what everyone was telling us was true: Final Girl was a certified hit.
This would be solidified in early 2022 when we ran our KS campaign for Series 2 of the game. We’d been working on S2 for
about a year in anticipation of the game being a success and before we knew it, launch day was here. After hours, days, and months of prep, we hit the button to launch the project. That moment is the moment that everything for VRG changed. On day 3 we hit the $1 Million dollar mark and by the end of the campaign the funding settled in at over $2 Million dollars. It was a truly humbling and rewarding experience.
What’s the secret? How did we make Final Girl such a huge hit? I can tell you what we did, but it is very important to understand that there is no silver bullet, no guaranteed hits. No one truly knows what makes a hit. But what I can tell you, is that you have to do something DIFFERENT, something no one else is doing. And that thing can be subtle… or incredibly obvious, but you show me a hit game and I bet I can find something it did differently than everything else.
Our first evergreen title was Hostage Negotiator. I can almost guarantee you that at the time most anyone (myself included)
would have said that a solo-only game would never sell well in retail. And that it wouldn’t probably sell well anywhere. But as we know now, it did. Solo gaming was on the rise, there was a demand and a gap in the market that wasn’t being filled, solo modes were uncommon and solo-only games were exceedingly rare. Additionally, the theme of the game was unique, and more than that, perfectly suited for a solo only game. Despite its success you still don’t see other games using this theme. Why? Because who wants to play a multiplayer game where someone has to be a hostage taker and kill hostages? Very, very few people would be ok with that. But when the game makes those decisions through AI, and the player is in the seat opposing the evil forces, such a theme becomes much more palatable and it works.
But what about Final Girl? What is different about that? From gameplay to product engineering, Final Girl is a unique… not just product, but product line. Check out the next issue of Around the Table and find out what we did, despite being told before and even after release that “That will never work!”
Keepers is an interactive card game where players will try to outwit their opponents by playing a card from their hand after hearing only a single word. Players all vote on which card aligns the most (or the least!) with the word and whichever card gets the most votes is a KEEPER!
Keepers features the amazing photography of VRG Sales Director, Byron Jorjorian. Byron has been a professional nature photographer for over 40 years and has sold thousands of his pictures. You can find out more about Byron’s photography at byronjorjorian.com
VAN RYDER GAMES AND BYRON JORJORIAN
The Thing – The Board Game from Ares Games is an intense game experience based on the 1982 cult movie by John Carpenter. In this “hidden role” game, one player is initially the Thing and the other players are humans. They must cooperate to survive – but who is really on their side?
aresgames.eu
Dragon Shield Matte Dual Sleeves from Arcane Tinmen offer the same incredible quality players expect from Dragon Shield, but with a fully opaque, black interior design. These sleeves are perfect for double-faced cards or for perfectly concealing card backs during gameplay, regardless of lighting conditions.
Order from GTS Distribution now
mystery! That makes a total of 20 books in the GNA line.
byron@vanrydergames.com
Travel, make money, and provide a unique experience for your customers without any financial commitment! RPGTravel creates custom tours to real world locations themed towards your games. This experience can be RPGs in 15th-century castles, board games overlooking steaming volcanoes, or card games at the base of ancient ruins. rpgtravel.com, or stop by our booth #839 at Origins.
After half-a-year of daylight, we must prepare for the dark season. The roads will be treacherous but they will need to be braved to keep our cities thriving. In Merchants of the Dark Road from Elf Creek Games, 1 to 4 players assume the role of those courageous merchants. While the job is perilous, fame and fortune await!
ByTedAlspach-Founder&CEO Bezier Games, Inc.
Rarely does a game come along with a theme that’s so perfectly intertwined with the gameplay as you’ll find in Cat in the Box Deluxe Edition. The game is inspired by the Schrödinger’s Cat thought experiment, where a cat is placed in a sealed box with poison, and quantum mechanics implies that the cat is both alive and dead until the box is opened and you view the results, at which time it is one or the other.
Fortunately, Cat in the Box takes a less grim interpretation of this, and assumes that the cat is in a vat with a variety of dyes, and the cat is all colors until it is observed. In the game, you have a hand of numbered cat cards that are both all colors and no colors…until you play them according to standard tricktaking rules and declare what color (suit) they are.
The color of each played cat is marked on a central “experiment” board, which lets all players know which numbers of each color have been played. For instance, if you played a blue 8 card, because it has been played no one else can play it. Eventually some of the colors will run out of numbers that can be played, or you might declare that you are out of a certain color by removing a token from that color on your personal player board. When either of those happen, you can no long play cards of that color.
your hand that can’t be played, either because those spots are taken up on the Experiment board, or because you’ve declared you’re out of a color that that number might be available on. If it happens that you can’t play any of the cards in your hand, the round instantly ends before you play a card (doing so would create a paradox, and be disastrous for the spacetime continuum).
In addition to managing your hand to avoid a paradox, you’ll be trying to take tricks for points. If you accurately predict a bid of how many tricks you take each round, you’ll receive points from the largest contiguous area of your tokens on the central experiment board. However, you have to stop the game due to a paradox, you’ll get negative points for any tricks taken, and forfeit your trick prediction bonus.
Cat in the Box Deluxe Edition plays out in less than 30 minutes, and supports 2-5 players. It comes with gorgeously illustrated cat cards, a recessed thought experiment central board, 5 recessed player boards, and more than 60 custom designed translucent tokens.
Babies is a new stand-alone Munchkin game for the young and young at heart. It was the brainchild of the late, great Andrew Hackard, Munchkin Czar and punster extraordinaire. Alain H. Dawson (Chez Geek, Chez Grunt) stepped in to do the finishing work. The result is a fun, fresh new face for the Munchkin mechanics. The rules are the same (except the babies don’t suffer Death – we aren’t that dark): loot, cheat, steal, and defeat monsters to reach Level 10 first.
Munchkin Babies replaces classic Munchkin Races with their (much) younger versions: Elflings, Dwarflings, Orclings, Quarterlings (half a Halfing). The Classes are also aged down; players can choose to be Wiz Kids (Wizards), Holy Terrors (Clerics), Crumb Snatchers (Thieves), or Ankle Biters (Fighters). Though the names have changed, the advantages and disadvantages of each Race and Class are the same as those of their more mature versions, making Munchkin Babies fully compatible with other Munchkin titles.
The monsters that lurk under the babies’ cribs are a mix of the familiar and the new. There are some younger siblings of original monsters, such as Princess Tut, Squidzilla Jr., and the Maul Rat’s little sister . New monsters include the Hootin’ and the horrific Pediatrician (horrific to babies, anyway). Players can vanquish these creatures using age-appropriate Items such as Kinderarmor, the Kid-Safe Stabbinator, and Unicorn Booties, or if necessary, Run Away in the Footie Pajamas of Silence.
The appearance of the game is very kid-friendly, with its pastel color scheme and cute Katie Cook illustrations. Katie is an illustrator, comic artist, and writer for Star Wars, My Little Pony, Marvel, IDW, DC, and others. She brought the babies to life, and now they are ready to join family game nights everywhere!
After we finished Munchkin Babies, we got a case of baby fever and conceived a little sibling: Munchkin Babies 2 – Stork Naked, due in late summer 2022! This 56card expansion deck is also illustrated by Katie Cook, and provides more monsters, more loot, and more cuddles in every game! Like its older sibling, this expansion is fully compatible with other Munchkin games.
In the Stork Naked deck, players will face new young monsters such as Billy the Kid, the Baby Buggy, and Ice Ice Baby. When Kicking Down
The Doors,
babies must avoid Curses and other dangers like getting Tuckered Out or trapped by the Babe Magnet. Never fear, there are plenty of Items to loot – armed with their Crabby Pants, Baby Got Tack, My First Crossbow, and the Binky, the infants are sure to prevail. We made certain that all of the Items are Developmentally Appropriate – we wouldn’t want the babies to hurt themselves while they are dungeon crawling (literally)!
Munchkin fans: pick up these two cute Munchkin games and get ready to toddle to victory!
SND 1009, $39.99, Sept 2022.
There were plenty of interesting and exciting new titles on display at this year’s GAMA Expo, but none quite so adorable – and smart – as “boop,” from Smirk and Dagger Games.
This clever two-player strategy game features a quilted cloth playing board and 32 colorful cat and kitten playing pieces. The cloth board sits ingeniously atop the back of the box, giving it the look of a miniature bed, complete with dust ruffle and comforter. Thematically, it is a game about kittens jumping onto the bed and bouncing other cats off in the process. If I said nothing more, you’d probably have 10 customers instantly in mind who would buy it on the premise alone. But it is the compelling game play that will keep people coming back.
For all its cuteness, boop is a deceivingly challenging strategy game with a unique interaction between the pieces that tantalizes and confounds the mind. The rules themselves are simple. Each player begins the game with 8 Kittens of their color. On your turn, you can place a kitten onto any open space on the board, with the goal of lining up three kittens in a row, either vertically, horizontally or diagonally. Once you do,
those Kittens are removed from the board and replaced in your pool by three adult Cats. Then just line up three Cats in a row to win –but of course it isn’t that easy.
That’s because every time you place a Kitten on the bed, it goes “boop,” and pushes every other Kitten next to it one space away. The pieces repel each other, even your own pieces, making a line-up of three incredibly difficult to achieve. Particularly with both you AND your opponent constantly “booping” kittens around. It’s like… herding cats!
Naturally, adult Cats can’t be booped by little Kittens, so there is a tactical advantage to graduating them early. But once you have them, you may not want to place all of them on the bed too early. Since Kittens can’t push them, Cats could be locked into position for a while. Careful planning, timing and keen observation will make the difference in forming a winning strategy.
This game is a very worthy follow-up to Smirk and Dagger’s successful abstract game, SHOBU, requiring a similar type of spatial reasoning. Yet, on the whole, boop is an even more approachable title. Perhaps this is the reason Scott Brady, designer of boop and Hues and Cues, chose such a light and delightful theme for the game.
But neither he nor Smirk and Dagger were entirely prepared for the reaction the game received at GAMA. “It was
overwhelming,” said Curt Covert, owner of Smirk and Dagger, “The game just naturally pulls people in. Everywhere we went, we had a crowd. All our demo nights were stacked with people waiting for their chance to play – and I can’t tell you how many times we were stopped in the halls so a retailer could grab our box to show a friend. The amount of pre-orders we got was unprecedented.”
Retailers talked a lot about the broad appeal, and the game’s ability to hit so many different consumers, from cat lovers to strategy game enthusiasts, couples looking for two-player games, families, kids, and gift buyers. It checked a lot of boxes, with a box cover that invites you from across the store, the tactile nature of the components that just beg to be played with, and surprisingly deep and compelling gameplay that can be learned in moments. Their excitement to get it on shelf escalated our own (and had us increasing our print run before we got home).
So get YOUR pre-order in today so you can hear your register go, “boop. Boop, boop.”
in Pieces, a no-prep dark comedy RPG inspired by the misadventures, cartoon logic, and over-the-top characters of slacker sitcoms like “Regular Show,” “Rick & Morty,” and “Invader Zim.” Plays with a Two-Color Block Tower that paces short scenarios and spotlights selfish actions. Mature themes for immature play!
contact Pete@imagininggames.com for details; ACD, Diamond, Universal, or IPR for distribution.
Sherlock Files: Devilish Details from Indie Game Studios includes three new confounding cases to solve! For each case, you will follow the clues, piece together the evidence, and then identify who did it, how, and why! This is a completely standalone game and does not require any other Sherlock Files games to play.
Available through local distributors or PSI
Point of Contact: Christopher Samson
Root: The RPG’s Core Rulebook from Magpie Games includes the playbooks and basic movies you need to play as vagabonds of the Woodland. You will also find inside: three factions, a map creation system to procedurally generate your own Woodland, and additional tables and randomized generators to make running the game even easier!
Christopher Samson christopher@magpiegames.com
With a 30-minute play time and 120 tiles to cycle through, Framework from Pegasus North America is a new 1- to 4-player game from award-winning designer Uwe Rosenburg. It has easy-to-understand rules but deep layers of strategy. Cleverly draft and place tiles to create connections with colored frames. Be the first to complete 22 tasks to win!
pegasusna.com
A unique 4-way dice tower stands at the center of The SPILL, a suspenseful cooperative game for 1 to 4 players. Players work together to contain an oil spill, remove what oil they can from the water and save the sea life. An exciting “reverse tower defense” challenge from Smirk and Dagger Games!
dizneysmirkanddagger@gmail.com
You may have already heard a little something about Dragon Shield Matte Dual sleeves. But in case you haven’t, allow me to fill you in. In late 2021, we released five brand new colors of sleeves for both standard and small-size cards. These colors had a crisp, clean pastel palette, with a slightly softer color profile than alternatives of the same color variety. We called them Lightning, Snow, Eucalyptus, Lagoon, and Orchid (available at your local game store now).
But these sleeves had something different about them other than the beautiful shades of yellow, white, green, blue, and purple that gave them their names. These sleeves were special. So special, in fact, that The Professor of Tolarian Community College fame said that these “…sleeves are actually flawless,” awarding the line an A+ as the gold standard for sleeves in his October 7, 2021 review. They have… a secret, shall we say?
A dark secret.
Hiding underneath the pastel palette is an innovation our customers have been
asking about for a long time. Instead of the typical plastic front and two-sided color back of normal sleeves, the Dragon Shield Matte Dual is welded with a one hundred percent opaque black interior. No matter the lighting conditions, whether you are gaming underneath hot streaming lamps or in a feature match at a Pro Tour, you will never see the back of your cards through our Dual sleeves.
That’s a promise.
And now, we have another secret to share with you. The Dual line of sleeves is expanding with three brand new colors, each with its own original story and characters to go with them.
In the lore universe of Dragon Shield, the first five Dual dragons existed on both sides of an interdimensional gateway called The Wyrm Gate, functioning as demi-gods and overseeing the laws of existence. The three new dual dragons are their warders, or assistants, helping to ensure the barrier between these dual worlds is kept safe.
Peach is our new pastel shade of orange, featuring the dragon Piip on the front of the box, with artwork by Godfrey Escota for both the standard and small size versions. Piip helps Emme, our Orchid dragon, protect the sanctity of time.
Crypt, a light gray color, features artwork by Sabine van Apeldoorn, and the dragon Neonen, warder of the Eucalyptus dragon Lehel, the god of life and death.
Finally, Raul Cruz brings us depictions of the glacier dragon Miniom, warder to Saras, god of sea and sky. Together, the warder dragons keep the peace between the two worlds as best they can.
Pick up these brand new dual colors in your local game shop or online today!
The week leading up to GAMA
EXPO, retailers receive many solicitations to stop at booths, hear about special deals, and offers to have meetings with publishers. After being in business for over 15 years, the amount of time I have to spend in booths, meetings, and seminars is limited. I have found over the years that one of my favorite tools is to listen to the expectations and first impressions of fellow retailers.
For this to work best, I work with retailers who don’t always agree with my choices but always respect my voice. I have 2 to 3 groups that I regularly connect with on social media and I make sure to reach out to them during trade shows. We like to gather for a meal or coffee and share products we are interested in.
This year Stonemaier Games contacted me for a private meeting. I asked if a few people from these groups would want to listen to what they had to say. It’s important to have a small group for this kind of discussion. If it had only been my voice or perspective, the reps
wouldn’t get an understanding of the greater concerns for the business and if it was a premier presentation they would be focused completely on selling a product.
What retailers needed to talk about was past service and experiences with this publisher. Retailer’s opinions of Stonemaier’s company were not generally favorable, the perception being that they did not care about what the retailers needed for the relationship to be successful.
With Alex and Susannah from Stonemaier up for the challenge, a small group of us gathered and had a heartfelt discussion. It refreshingly began with an apology to us retailers. That first sentence was so very important to create an open dialog of respect. I could feel the tension dissipate and conversation began.
I have been proud to create moments like this throughout the years with many publishers. We’ve even hosted multiple publishers at one time, just to go over the next releases. By creating genuine relationships that center on honesty and
respect, we have been able to build a stronger Industry, one that values each other and listens with intent.
Stonemaier took a big leap of faith this year by sending reps to listen, take notes, and be in the moment. I look forward to the next steps that their company will be taking. I hope that they will continue to be a good partner and will honor their retailer sales force.
When you have a chance to sit and listen to a publisher or a retailer, remember that they are important to your business. This Industry has changed so much in the last 15 years and without each other we cannot continue to grow.
Retailers have strong opinions because they work the front lines and see what the consumer is saying. When they tell a publisher something isn’t working for them, it’s important to consider that
feedback.
During the exhibit hall, I told a publisher that their packaging wasn’t working for their product. They replied that they had never heard that before and said I was obviously wrong. Ten minutes later I ran into a fellow retailer and explained what had just happened. They had the same experience. This tells me that that publisher is no longer a partner we can work with.
On the other hand, Stonemaier’s product has a polished feel and the art stylings are lovely and charming. Games of today are a piece of art; they are an investment. They are beautiful, elegant, great for critical thinking, mental health, and socialization. It’s a different world and the tabletop scene is where it’s at. Come join the conversation and take a seat at our table.
Yanashi, we have completed the scans of the planetary defenses. The only effective weapon, we can use against them are tachyon bombs. Unfortunately, we cannot prevent the loss of life of about ten to thirty of the installation operators, if we use them.” Yanashi stared down at the planet through the large window of the bridge. She marveled at the swirling purple clouds and the occasional gap where the brown surface beneath them peeked through.
“It’s a beautiful planet despite all the pollution. Two billion people will be very happy to be liberated. What do the psychics predict?”
“Nothing. There’s too much interference. Though one of the empaths claims to feel ‘bright light.’”
Yanashi was silent. Colonel Ajena placed her hand on Yanashi’s arm and spoke softly: “It is for the best this way. The High Council has decided this is important. It will be a decisive blow to the Orion Empire.”
“Well, it’s easy for them. The karmic consequences of those deaths will be on me.”
“So you’ll give the command?”
A young ensign suddenly rushed in: “Sir! We just received communication from the Orion home world. Apparently the situation has changed. The Emperor has been overthrown and the Orion Republic reinstated. Their military and other leaders have also switched over to the Light.”
Yanashi smiled: “I guess thirty operators got really lucky today.”
My aim in designing Galactic Era was to bring something new and innovative to the genre of heavy
space strategy games, and also provide for deep strategic play within an afternoon or evening. After six years of work, this is the result: a space empire builder for 1-6 players, playable in about 3 hours. Many of the important decisions you make in this game, as well as the negotiations for trading, happen simultaneously. This significantly shortens the downtime.
The level of randomness is quite low in this game. You don’t use dice for combat. Some players have termed it “chess in space.” I like it because it rewards strategic planning. Combat is still uncertain though, because there is “fog of war.” You can hide the size of your fleets. This leads to interesting possibilities of bluffing and misdirection.
New to this genre, though, is the concept of alignment. Each faction, termed “star people”, can be played either on the “light” or the “dark” side with the appropriate consequences. You can be a beacon of morality in the galaxy, keeping the peace with like-minded people and not fighting unless attacked first. Alternatively, you can forgo all constraints and strive for infamy, attacking whomever you like whenever needed. You can also change your alignment during the game. Both sides play equally well.
The five technology tracks present an interesting dilemma. The highest levels are extremely powerful, but also hard to reach. You can usually only do it in one technology. Using the synergies between multiple technologies at medium levels can also be effective.
Everything in the game is woven into a detailed backstory, inspired by my research into the many claims of those who supposedly have interacted with UFOs and extraterrestrials.
Galactic Era is available in North America through our distributor, Bridge Distribution (bridgedist.com).
JadeSigmund,MarketingCoordinatorofEntertainmentProducts
Thanks to his recent main role in Spider-Man: No Way Home and anticipated blockbuster Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, Doctor Stephen Strange has risen to be one of the most prevalent heroes in the MCU. It is not only his high-level magic that makes him a powerful hero, but his amazing control over the mystic arts. The Sorcerer Supreme has even more incredible allies, villains, and stories to tell than what is shown on the big screen – and many of these long-awaited characters are now a part of Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game.
Before we get into new character debuts in Legendary: Doctor Strange and the Shadows of Nightmare, what about the Doctor himself? He first debuted in Legendary®: Secret Wars Volume 1, under the Marvel Knights affiliation. Now, Doctor Strange returns to defend Earth as an Avenger. Comic fans and especially MCU fans will appreciate this updated team affiliation. As an Avenger, Doctor Strange will now have greater synergy with other Avengers in Legendary, expanding more set-
up opportunities!
Doctor Strange isn’t the only powerful sorcerer M.D. in this expansion. A new hero that Legendary fans will be excited to see is Doctor Voodoo. Doctor Voodoo, aka Jericho Drumm, was once a skeptic of the local Voodoo he was raised with, but later learned the ancient ways and became Lord of the Loa. He and other sorcerers in this expansion invoke Rituals of awesome power through mystic talismans. These magic users put a new twist on the past keyword Artifacts: Ritual Artifacts.
Marvel’s sorcerers invoke Rituals of awesome power, anchored by mystic talismans. For Ritual Artifacts, you must fulfill the listed Ritual condition before using its effects - however, you don’t have to use it even if you fulfill the Ritual condition. You might want to save it for a future turn instead of discarding it, channeling its otherworldly capabilities at a more opportune moment. You can use as many Ritual Artifacts as you
wish in a turn, including using multiple Ritual Artifacts with the same name. Using these sorcerous objects of staggering ability, Ritual Artifacts will come in handy turn after turn!
Your heroes best be well-armed with Artifacts to face the villains in Legendary: Doctor Strange and the Shadows of Nightmare. The long-anticipated Mastermind Dormammu debuts! He rules the Dark Dimension with apocalyptic power and seeks to conquer every universe of the Multiverse. Dormammu will force your heroes to make a Demonic Bargain. Demons offer gifts of power with a dark price, hoping to corrupt the souls of mortals. These deals with the devil are especially corrupting to the powerful and arrogant - the humble are more likely to escape with their souls intact…
Recruit multiple masters of the mystic arts from this talented cauldron of heroes, like Doctor Strange and Doctor Voodoo. Utilizing Ritual Artifacts, make stand against the denizens of darkness like Nightmare and Dormammu, in this terrifying expansion to Legendary: A Marvel Building Game.
KeytotheKingdom debuted in 1990 with a cool new hook never seen before or since: a giant, folding, double board with a teleporting whirlpool in the middle of it!
Fully restored with core game design by Ben Rosset and Matthew O’Malley, Restoration’s version of KeytotheKingdom features the classic “hole-in-the-board” mechanism to hop through whirlpool portals and explore the realm. Perfect for a family game night. As the kingdom’s not-so-mightiest heroes — Pitiless Pixie, Knovice Knight, Unique Unicorn, Menacing Mercenary, and Gnarled Gnome — you’ll go on all sorts of adventures. Gather the three pieces of the magic key, then hop to the Demon King’s Castle to defeat him once and for all. Along the way, you’ll meet kooky companions like the Ginormous Giant, find wondrous items like the Bee Cannon, and go on challenging adventures like sneaking past the snorkeling Cyclops. All in a whimsical world brought to life by art from the award-winning Andrew Bosley (Everdell,Tapestry).
As Rob Daviau says, “If Return to Dark Tower is our Lord of the Rings, Keytothe Kingdom is our Princess Bride.”
While keeping the whimsical spirit of the original game, this restoration gives players greater control over the whims of the dice. You’ll use your collection of items to adjust your rolls as you tackle challenges. But make sure you have the right item ready when you go on an adventure
lest you fall to the perils of the Evil Tower or Ice Caves. Gather powerful magic items and companions along the way to prepare you for the Demon King’s final challenge. Do you have what it takes to take him down?
KeytotheKingdom plays 2-5 adventurers. Vibrant art, tongue-in-cheek humor, and charming miniatures will fill your family game night with fun and
Ever sit down to duel your friend and on the first draw realize you’ve lost? Ever brought the wrong deck to a tournament? Ever been just one or two expansions behind and felt out of the game? Me too. And I was sick of it.
This brought me to making Puppet Masters! It is a dueling card game entirely and completely designed around the concept of always having a move to make. How is that possible?
• Players each choose up to 2 decks of Puppets from the 18 available in the box. Then all chosen decks are shuffled together and placed in the middle of the table. This is a single draw deck. If there is ever an issue where one deck is considered too strong, well both players have access to it all game.
• Puppets are drawn into the center and bid upon by players from a finite pool of power called Strings, unique to each character. If someone is going after a Puppet you know is key to their victory, you can counter bid on it and make it more expensive for them, maybe shoving them out entirely.
Enough about balance and big ideas!
What is this game? Fair enough.
Puppet Masters is a character-based dueling card game where each player chooses from 27 unique characters, each with their own health, string pools, initiative and abilities. Players then take up to two thematic decks of minions, Puppets in this case, that range from undead that shamble and defend with massive health pools to angels who can fly over the front line and hit specific targets to demons that tear each other apart as they deal massive damage to enemies. As stated above, these decks from all players are pooled together and drawn into the center of the table, called the arena, where they can be taken over by players using strings or hunted for money to buy spells and items.
The key to Puppet Masters is the replayability inherent to combination-based gameplay. Between the massive amount of characters and decks, there are also the variety of playstyles; do you want to get a legion of terrible minions to weigh down your foe in bodies or do you want to grab one epic monster and equip it with every item imaginable? Do you want to take puppets and trade them out whenever they get injured, or do you want to sling spells at your
foes instead of committing to minions?
Austin Koepp made Puppet Masters over five long years, working on it nights and weekends. It is a passion project from one gamer who aspired to make his own games through the indie board game scene. Is it perfect? No. Is it filled with bang for your buck and fun for many, many nights to come? You bet it is. Pick up a
A flexible game, addictive, easy to learn but hard to master and fits up to 4 players in free for all or 2v2 formats.
It Has Come!
world trembles at your power! Go now! Show them all
Acclaimed as one of the best “dungeon crawlers” on the market, Sword & Sorcery is a solo and cooperative boardgame, published by Ares Games, where players control legendary Heroes with unique powers, fighting together against the forces of evil. The Heroes grow stronger during their story-driven Quests, acquiring Soul Points, new magic and skills, and powerful artifacts.
Sword & Sorcery uses beautiful 32mm miniatures and modular tiles to create endless scenarios. Fans love its rich and detailed combat system which, together with the narrative elements and the advanced AI system of the monsters, creates an immersive and enjoyable game experience. Translated into 8 languages, Sword & Sorcery has sold more than 200,000 copies. There are many products in the product line to choose from, and here we offer a short “buyer’s guide” to navigate all these offerings.
Sword & Sorcery debuted in 2017 with the first core set, Immortal Souls. Additional Campaign Sets (Arcane Portal, Darkness Falls, and Vastaryous’ Lair) allow players to level up their Heroes to epic stature and to unfold a thrilling storyline. Eight different Hero Packs offer a wide range of characters to choose from, and five Accessory Packs can be used to visually enhance the game.
A new stand-alone core set, Ancient Chronicles, released last year, offers a new entry point: a new campaign and Quests, 5
new Heroes and 2 Companions (NPC allies), 12 new and different Enemies, tiles, cards, and rules. The Heroes journey on a kingdom map to explore the world outside of (and inside!) the dungeons, and players experience a deep storyline with the help of the Book of Secrets, a 100-page “choose your own adventure”-type volume.
From a retailer’s perspective, Ancient Chronicles is a great gateway for retailers who want to start offering this product line to their customers. For less than $100, players get a content-rich box with everything they need.
Retailers do not need to carry the whole line to get new players into the game, but they have a rich range of expansions and accessories to offer afterwards.
• The Sword & Sorcery Ancient Chronicles cycle is fully compatible with Immortal Souls – all Heroes and Accessories can cross over from one campaign to another.
• Several smaller expansions are already available: Chaotic Familiars and Lawful Familiars feature the miniatures and cards for small fantasy creatures which can help Heroes during their adventures. The Ancient Chronicles Challenge Set includes variants of all rank-and-file Enemies, while the Nemeses expansion introduces a new type of Enemies –“dark twins” of the Heroes.
• New Accessory Packs further enhance the visuals of the game. Spawn Gates and Gods’ Shrines includes 7 highquality, ready to use “dungeon dressing” miniatures; Minions replace some of the monster tokens inside Ancient Chronicles with miniatures; and Ghost Soul Form Heroes is a set with 5 miniatures to replace the core set Heroes when they “die,” and it also includes two card expansions to enhance characters’ backstories and customization.
• Two large campaign sets are in the pipeline, Myths of the Arena and Northwind Tales.
• Also in the pipeline are Alternate Heroes – a set with 5 playable characters –, and two new Hero Packs to bring new “character classes” into the gameWhite/Black Monk (Genryu/Shakiko) and Thane/Skald (Sigrid/Sigurd)
Each pack will include two Heroes with similar abilities.
There’s no better time to discover Sword & Sorcery and become part of its Legend!
© 2016, 2022 Gremlin Project/Ares Games Srl. Sword & Sorcery ® is a registered trademark of Simone Romano. All rights reserved.
Your mission is to kill the leader of your enemy’s ninja house ... if you can figure out who they are! Night of the Ninja from Brotherwise is a lightning-fast social deduction game for 4 to 11 players. No moderator required, so everyone can play. “It’s simple, it’s fast, and it’s FUN!” says Tom Vasel, The Dice Tower. brotherwisegames.com/retailers
Excavate ruins and unlock the mysteries of a forgotten temple in puzzling game from Inside Up Games for 1-4 adventurers. Collect blocks from the excavation site to place strategically on the shared temple floor, completing the most key cards from your unique perspective to
Birds of Prey: TOPGUN from Ad Astra covers the engagements from both movies and contrasts them with the real Naval Fighter Weapon School (TOPGUN) program. Like the real TOPGUN program, this product aims to “teach the teachers,” to help drive community growth in the air-combat gaming community!
608-232-7872
Munchkin Petting Zoo from Steve Jackson Games lets you add a menagerie of surprisingly friendly fauna to your arsenal! But you should probably still wash your hands after you pet that … giraffe? This is an expansion for Munchkin, it is not a standalone game.
Store and organize all your favorite card games including deck boxes or up to 7,600 cards in the ENHANCE Card Backpack
Adjustable reinforced dividers keep your cards protected from impacts. Lock your deck boxes into position using the see-through Card Defender Screen, which prevents cards from shifting around during travel.
on June 7th and 8th. We will have two days of education with brand new, never-before-seen, hands-on education seminars. Topics include sublimation printing, 3D printing, vinyl cutting for retail stores and more. We will bring back two full game nights emphasizing demos that support your purchasing decisions, and early access to the vendor hall.
Special
Andrew
GAMA has hired Rachael Blaske as marketing manager. In that role, she will lead the association’s communications team to promote and support GAMA’s programs and events, as well as help grow the tabletop marketplace through GAMA’s Market Expansion Committee efforts.
“We are excited to have Rachael as part of our team,” said GAMA Executive Director John Stacy. “She is uniquely qualified for the position having worked as a publisher, worked in sales and marketing, and as
brand consultant. Her communication skills and passion for tabletop games will be of great benefit for our members and the industry.”
Blaske has 17 years of experience as a marketing and brand consultant in a variety of industries. In the board-game industry, she was director of sales for XYZ Game Labs, vice president of channel marketing for Wise Wizard Games, CEO of Five24Labs, and the volunteer vice president of the nonprofit Great Plains Gaming Project. She is also the co-host of the popular podcast, “Your Invited!”
“ The last several years have been a journey to find my space in the boardgame industry. I am so happy to accept the challenge of GAMA’s marketing manager,” Blaske commented. “This opportunity will allow me to grow and learn as I dive into the behind-the-scenes of Origins Game Fair and GAMA EXPO, and further develop the communications that GAMA shares with its membership. I am ready for an epic ‘game’ of resource management. Let’s do this!”
has elected the following new officers.
Kylie T Prymus
Grace Collins
Jennifer Ward
Stephan Brissaud
Travel, make money, and provide a unique experience for your customers without any financial commitment!
RPGTravel creates custom tours to real world locations themed towards your games. This experience can be RPGs in 15th century castles, board games overlooking steaming volcanoes or card games at the base of ancient ruins. We can make your vision of #experiencegaming a reality! Contact us for your custom adventure.
They receive a complimentary one-year GAMA membership, a plaque for their business, and a small cash prize. GAMA and the Retail Division take great pride in honoring the best in retail innovation and creativity each year in a variety of different categories.
Goblin Bros. Petaluma, California
Runners Up
Mox Boarding House in Portland, Oregon Main Street Fun and Games in Invermere, BC, Canada
Zia Comics in Las Cruces, New Mexico
Game Train USA, Highlands Ranch, Colorado
Runners Up
Modern Games in Bend, Oregon Goblin Bros
Zia Comics
Just Games in Rochester, New York
Runners Up Good Times Games
Goblin Bros.
Iron Buffalo Gaming in Amherst, New York
Main Street Fun and Games
Runners Up
3 Gear Games/3 Gear Studios in Laurel, Maryland
Good Times Games
The GameBoard LLC in Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Nelson Brown, Wizards of the Coast
Stop by booth #839 at Origins
“We are a small community, and as a community we are horrified at the violence that is happening, and are opposed to all acts of war,” said GAMA’s board, in a statement. There’s more:
“ The goal of the non-profit trade organization dedicated to serving the hobby game industry is to strengthen and support fellow industry professionals and encourage the sharing of best practices and resources. While many of our industry professionals are making decisions that affect them financially, it is also important to acknowledge that this war reaches us personally, as well as professionally.
“ To sum up how this war is affecting GAMA companies, Russian sanctions have caused our members to make some difficult business decisions. The choices over the next few months will become even more complex as we adjust to the ripple effects from the conflict. GAMA brought experts to the virtual table last week to discuss the potential implications to our industry. This panel includes an amazing grouping of individuals with first-hand knowledge.
• Maxim Istomin of CrowD Games, a Russian-American publisher and distributor, and an attorney in both countries
• Dr. Laszlo Korossy, adjunct professor of political science at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County
• Alex Schmidt, director of sales, Stonemaier Games, a top 3 industry volume board-game producer with global distribution.
“Please take time to view the entire informative discussion at http://ow.ly/WGiT50IaRMS. GAMA plans to keep the discussion going and to support our members.”
GAMA member Lucky Duck Games, headquartered in Poland, has created a fundraiser. It is matching all funds donated to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) through this link (up to $12k):
is a link to other organizations that are raising funds to support the injured and displaced citizens. We encourage our member organizations to thoroughly research
organizations that they choose to support.
“Please let us know if your company is in need of assistance during this time. If the need is great, we would be glad to host a Spatial Chat in which business leaders in our community can connect with those in need to provide advice on making it through this crisis in your business. If you are personally struggling with the emotional aspects, leading to life-interrupting anxiety or depression, we strongly encourage you to get professional help through online counseling companies such as Better Help or Talk Space.”
is a program to support publishers’ sales via the retail channel.
Each month, we will be livestreaming interviews with local game store owners who will be sharing information about their store, offering tips and suggestions for other retailers as well spotlighting new games and encouraging viewers to shop their local game stores.
While this new monthly program is aimed for a consumer audience and will be promoted to Origins Game Fair’s attendees, it’s a great resource for retail members to learn from other stores around the world and see other game related content.
Draft keys and clay block from the lower excavation site.
Strategically place the blocks on the upper temple floor. Claim key cards from your unique perspective to score points. Pull ahead of your fellow explorers with your secret engima card.
The cleverest adventurer will unlock the secrets of block and key!
GAMA Expo did a great job integrating the media for the first time with a couple of opportunities for publishers to interact directly with the content creator community. Fir a “first look” room to allow content creators the chance to preview games that were hitting shelves later this year. These games included Tenpenny Parks, from Thunderworks Games; Block and Key, from Inside Up Games; Long Shot: The Dice Game, and a Batman game from Steve Jackson Games, which is being given the Munchkin treatment.
Wednesday featured my favorite moments of chaos during GAMA Expo: a media “speed networking” event that had more
media than publishers. We were taken to a large suite with about 15 games on display. Publishers made a 5-minute pitch for each game followed by content creators giving publishers an overview of that media member’s outlet.
It was a blast, and a great chance to work on the elevator pitch for how we talk about Meeple Mountain to the publishers who didn’t know us. We also got to see a few games that at least I was less familiar with: Distilled, from Paverson Games; Batman: Everybody Lies, a game based on the mechanics of the Detective series from Portal Games; Bigfoot: Roll & Smash, from XYZ Game Labs; plus, a game we just reviewed, Creature Comforts, from KTBG.
or the media, I don’t think there is a better way to connect with publishers like GAMA Expo. The mix of people on hand: the wide variety of publishers, from first-timers up through the biggest players in the industry, such as Asmodee, Games Workshop, CGE, Ultra Pro, WizKids and Funko, all make attending next year’s GAMA Expo a no-brainer. e atmosphere is also one that is ripe for networking and relationship building. GAMA did a great job of creating a schedule that pushed people into spending time with other people. There was a game night every night, hosted in the largest ballroom (bar service and snacks didn’t hurt!) and evening receptions on 3 of the expo nights. hink some of the best things about being a contributor in this industry are on display at events like GAMA Expo. Spending time with other people, in person, was fantastic. Laughing about games and the business of gaming was amazing. Spending time with so many interesting creatives is always a joy and talking shop with other experts brings the entire experience home. t was a treat, and one that I know I was privileged to attend. I am looking forward to future GAMA trade shows.
riginally published at https://www.meeplemountain.com/articles/ justin-goes-to-gama-expo-2022/
If you love RPGs like I love RPGs, it’s magic to your ears when someone new wants to play. Immersing yourself into character, the thrill of each dire die roll, and the shared memories that tickle your brain with amusement every time they cross your mind…
Do you want more RPGs played at your store? Want a friend or loved one to experience a roleplaying game? Just want to diversify the RPGs being played at your table? Let’s consider how we can make them more attractive!
Unlike the colorful playmats and gameboard centerpieces of a board game, most roleplaying games just don’t command the same table presence. You’re more likely to see black and white character sheets and a single core book circulating an RPG table. Depending on the venue, you could mistake an RPG for a study group if it wasn’t for all the dice. And, who‘s interested in more homework?
If you want to win the curiosity of onlookers, try involving more visual aids. Pass out color character sheets, create handouts for clues, consider props, or map the layout of locations so players can physically see them. It’s easy to forget that new people don’t necessarily understand how you play an RPG. We’re trained to look for player tokens, cards, or a game box when playing a game. Not only do onlookers need to know you’re playing a game, they need to think they could figure it out too. Out of character, no one wants to look stupid.
Want new players? Make them feel welcome! Have an open chair at the table where someone can watch or jump in. Keep a pregenerated character handy. Tell significant others they have an open invitation anytime they’d like to join. If you’re in public, standing up a game book or box lets people know what you’re up to. Greeting people who show interest is a friendly way of saying, “I see you, and you’re not a bother.” Most people don’t
want to interrupt, so invite them to, and let them come and go as they please.
With our new release, we’ve spawned a lovechild of Dread and Fiasco that is sure to entice new players to the hobby. Rest in Pieces is a dark comedy RPG inspired by the misadventures, cartoon logic, and over-thetop characters of slacker sitcoms like The GrimAdventuresofBilly&Mandy,The RegularShow,Rick&Morty, and It’sAlways SunnyinPhiladelphia. You play deadbeat roommates characterized by their dead-end jobs, odd hobbies, and deadly objects, using colorful dry-erase character sheets and cards to create characters in minutes. It plays in short sessions of about an hour, paced by a two-color block tower highlighting selfish actions versus selfless ones. Whatcango wrong,doesgowrong in the hilarious hijinks of Rest in Pieces.
Now available at ACD, Diamond, Universal, and IPR!
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In Sherlock: Case Connection you are a detective investigating a crime. Collect proof, make connections between threads, and use this evidence to reconstruct the leads that you are pursuing. Solve the nefarious plots that Sherlock has discovered as you strive to become the world’s next greatest detective. Stay determined, and you might even overcome the master himself!
Sherlock: Case Connection is a competitive puzzle game designed by Radosław Ignatów and based on thea hit television show starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman.
Lucky Duck Games has partnered with BBC Studios and Hartswood Films to bring the enigmatic detective to life through board games. This is the first title published under this partnership.
For this first game in the Sherlock partnership, the goal was to deliver a mass-
market focused product that provided quick, easy-to-learn gameplay while incorporating recognizable characters and locations from the TV show.
The gameplay is a light, competitive puzzle where players aim to form connections between their Plot card and various Thread cards through the use of matching colored Proof tokens. By forming these connections for every symbol on the edge of their Plot card, a player can solve that Plot and score points for it. Forming shorter, more efficient connections will score more points.
You are allowed to rearrange your “crime board” at any time, so you are never locked in to one theory of the crime – you can always have an “aha!” moment and move things around to suit your new ideas.
The rules of Sherlock: Case Connection are straightforward – pick a location, choose
two items from that location to pick up (any combination of Proof tokens and Thread cards), then refill locations if certain conditions have been met.
You can place your Thread cards and Proof tokens on your crime board at any time, even when it’s not your turn, and you can rearrange them freely throughout the game. When you complete a Plot card on your turn, you score it and get a new one. The first player to score 9 points is the winner!
By pairing straightforward but intriguing gameplay with the Sherlock IP, which already has strong mass appeal, Lucky Duck Games hopes to reach a mass-market audience with a quick, light game that still connects strongly with the brand.
Sherlock: Case Connection is a competitive puzzle game for 2-4 players. It will appeal to light puzzle gamers, fans of the Sherlock TV show, and anyone looking for a quick competitive game that will get your brain working.
Throughout the landscape of today’s board game industry, most professionals are wearing multiple hats to keep their gears spinning as part of the larger engine. One of the most prominent examples of this multi-tasking mayhem is Sydney Engelstein, who is celebrating a full decade of game design experience. Sydney’s design debut was the cooperative mini-game starship adventure from 2012, Space Cadets. Ten years after publishing this title with Stronghold Games, Engelstein now holds the position of Director of Game Development for Indie Game Studios, the umbrella company the houses both Stronghold and Indie Boards & Cards.
In speaking with the Board Game BBQ Podcast, Sydney describes her role with Indie Game Studios primarily as one that is “making sure to look over all the projects from conception to the factory.” No small feat on its own, Engelstein has also kept her game design tools sharp by working on the Aeon’s End line of products, in addition to the wildly popular Terraforming Mars: Ares
Based on the original Terraforming Mars game by Jacob Fryxelius, Sydney codesigned this card-driven sequel with Nick Little, Indie Game Studios’ Vice President of Game Development and Manufacturing. Ares Expedition offers players a more compact and time-efficient opportunity to transform Mars into a habitable planet for humankind, and much like its older sibling,
Ares Expedition casts players as corporate executives looking to manipulate the environment (altering the temperature as well raising the levels of oxygen and water) to create the perfect conditions to sustain life. Only one corporation will make it into the headlines as the one that broke the code and brought new hope to our species!
In a recent visit with The Game Design Roundtable podcast, Sydney describes Ares Expedition as “a simultaneous phased structure, where the players decide which phases they’re going to play that generation,” and in explaining the differences between it and the original Terraforming Mars game, she says “we took out the board and focused on the engine building between the cards!”
The new Collector’s Edition of Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition borrows a handful of elements from the wildly successful Kickstarter campaign (dual-layered boards, cube trays, and spot UV coating), offering hobby retailers the opportunity to provide customers with a deluxe product at an affordable price!
Starting with her first design of Space Cadets, carrying through to today’s smash hits for Stronghold Games and Indie Boards & Cards, Sydney Engelstein brings a creative spirit and years of experience to every product she touches. Retailers and customers alike can know they are holding a quality product when the see Sydney’s name on the box!
