Around the Table Q1 2023

Environmental Impacts of Board Gaming

Potholes vs. Peaks

Fan-Favorite Publisher Free League Offers a Wide Range of Award-Winning RPGs

by Tomas Härenstam, CEO and Co-Founder, Free League

It’sa turbulent time in the tabletop roleplaying industry. Many players are looking for new games to play and new systems to try. Free League Publishing has you covered.

A quickly growing independent publisher, Free League has made a name for itself in recent years with a range of award-winning RPG titles. These include officially licensed games like the ALIEN RPG and The One Ring as well as original titles like Vaesen, Symbaroum, Coriolis, Forbidden Lands and indie hits MÖRK BORG and CY_BORG.

Our most recent title is the official Blade Runner Roleplaying Game, based on the iconic films and propelling players into the streets of future Los Angeles as Blade Runners with unique specialties, personalities – and memories. The game pushes the boundaries of investigative gameplay in tabletop RPGs, giving players a range of tools to solve an array of cases far beyond retiring Replicants.

“ The Blade Runner RPG nails Ridley Scott’s vision, and adds pitchperfect investigative mechanics,” Polygon writes in their playtest review, and the

praise has been echoed by Screen Rant, Wargamer, The RPG Academy and others. Upcoming titles this year include the official The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying for 5E, The Walking Dead Universe RPG and Dragonbane – a fun and fast D20based fantasy RPG that is great for long campaigns, but also perfect for a one-shot if you just want to have some quick fun at your table for a night.

Dragonbane is a classic fantasy RPG full of magic, mystery and adventure, designed from the ground up to facilitate fast and furious play, with very little prep time and adventures that are a breeze to run. Dragonbane is a game with room for laughs at the table and even a pinch of silliness at times – while at the same time offering brutal challenges for the adventurers.

No matter if it’s dark and moody science fiction or light-hearted fantasy

swashbuckling, all Free League games are designed to be easy to learn and play, with simple yet effective rulesets that truly support the themes of the game and enhance stories created at the table. Most Free League RPGs use our in-house core game mechanics called the Year Zero Engine.

Based in Stockholm, Sweden, Free League believes strongly in nurturing a close relationship with the players and fans, and it shows – Free League was voted Fans’ Favorite Publisher at the ENNIES both 2020 and 2021, and named Publisher of the Year in the first ever Tabletop Awards 2022.

Equally important is our relationship to hobby stores across the country and the world, and we are working continuously to strengthen our support for all retailers. An organized play program called the League of Free Agents was launched last year, offering free adventures to play in stores or at conventions.

We’re looking forward to seeing you at GAMA Expo this year – or just reach out to us directly at freeleaguepublishing. com.

Babbling Rivers, Rustling Forests, and Wheat Fields Swaying in the Breeze

by Anton Torres, Marketing Manager, Pegasus North America

Aswe gazed towards the setting sun, a solitary train whistle punctuated the early evening birdsong. In every direction lay the fruits of our day’s labor – cascading fields of grain, endless pastoral fields, hearty forest and the red-roofed homes of a quaint but growing town. There was more work to do tomorrow, but tonight we would celebrate…we had finally unlocked Box #2!

Welcome to Dorfromantik the Board Game, a captivating cooperative game for one to six players. Like the popular independent video game on which it is based, Dorfromantik the Board Game is a peaceful building strategy and puzzle game.

Imagine a beautiful countryside composed of dozens of hexagonal tiles, created by the players one piece at a time. The rules for tile placement are generous and we felt no pressure during the first game as the landscape grew.

You may ask, what makes the game play so interesting? It’s the delicious tension arising from three Task tiles sitting in plain view, tugging with gentle urgency, reminding us that there are points to be scored, objectives to complete.

Every Task tile displays a number and a Tile type – Grain, Forest, Village, Track or Stream. If the tile you place creates a matching Territory, an unbroken area of tiles of the same type and size, the tile is claimed and the group scores its points. The next player adds a new Task tile and hex onto the map, and the story continues.

Until the end of that first play, I had not realized how this mechanic would

fuel our ambitions and competitive drive. We scored a measly 71, the absolute lowest tier of accomplishment on the Campaign sheet. We’d therefore only progress a single step on the Campaign track, but every step is meaningful because Dorfromantik the Board Game has five mysterious boxes to unlock.

Inside are additional tiles, tile types and Achievement cards that expand how you score and add even more objectives to the game. While not a traditional legacy game, every choice marked on the Campaign track is meaningful and exciting. Should we try to unlock the Circus tile or Shepherdess card? And what could the Cloud Achievement Card represent?

The allure of Dorfromantik is multilayered and undeniable. As a cooperative game, it’s brilliant: there’s no loss condition, no conflict, combat or even negotiation to be had. Instead, players are motivated to push further and score higher every game. Every game left us eager to play again, immediately!

Whether you find pleasure in casually building the common landscape or you’re deeply committed to completing an achievement that has eluded you for days, Dorfromantik the Board Game is fabulous. It is family friendly, expert inspiring, forgiving for all ages and easily accommodates players joining or leaving a single game session without fuss. It can be played solo (which has been a blast) or with a group of up to six players.

Hope to see you wandering the lands of Dorfromantik the Board Game soon!

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

OFFICERS

PRESIDENT

Grace Collins

Snowbright Studios

Director – Creator

VICE-PRESIDENT

Matt Fantastic

Forever Stoked Creative

TREASURER

Nicole Brady

SAHM Reviews

Director – Media & Events

SECRETARY

Monica Rasso

Meeples at Sea

Director – Media & Events

DIRECTORS

Stephan Brissaud

Funko Games Director – Publisher

Jason Matthews

Fort Circle Games Director – Publisher

John Coviello

Little Shop of Magic Director – Retail

Radek Gronus

FABRYA KART

Director – Production/Manufacturer

Beau Heath

Arcane Tinman Director – Wholesale

Eric Price

Meija Board Game Factory Director – Production/Manufacturer

Sito Sanchez

Peachstate Hobby Distributor Director – Wholesale

Will Niebling

Emeritus Board Member

GAMA STAFF

EXECUTIVE

Adam

TECHNOLOGY AND CREATIVE MANAGER adam.ziegler@gama.org

MEMBER SERVICES COORDINATOR bryan.borgman@gama.org

COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR greg.boisbelaud@gama.org

Dawn

EDUCATION CONTRACTOR dstudebaker@gama.org

THE GAME MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION

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 © 2023 The Game Manufacturers Association

PUBLISHED BY

Fahy-Williams Publishing 171 Reed Street, Geneva, NY 14456 P 800-344-0559 • F 315-789-4263

To advertise, contact Amy Colburn at 315-789-6431 or email amy@fwpi.com.

Chris Materni DEPUTY DIRECTOR chris.materni@gama.org

Paul McGraw EVENTS MANAGER

Cynthia Tuck EVENTS COORDINATOR cynthia.tuck@gama.org

Studebaker

Gregoire Boisbelaud

Bryan Borgman

Ziegler

Julie Yeager EXHIBITOR MANAGER julie.yeager@gama.org

John Stacy

DIRECTOR john.stacy@gama.org

Dorfromantik is a cooperative tile placement game in which you create a beautiful world of hexagonal landscapes while completing tasks requested by its residents.

The more points you score, the more new landscapes you can unlock to add to your world.

These will add new challenges and will help you score even more points in future games. What is the highest score YOU can achieve?

1

Place landscapes to complete tasks requested by the residents.

2

Gain points to improve your high score…

3

...and unlock additional components.

5 4

6

This board game is based on Dorfromantik, the award-winning video game from Germany‘s Toukana Interactive.

FROM THE executive director

Onbehalf of the GAMA team, I would like to wish you all a Happy New Year and thank you for your membership in the association. The staff and I are very excited about the upcoming year as we have a lot of great plans to increase the value of GAMA for our members.

Among the initiatives you will see in the coming weeks is a new online industry directory. While the directory will be industry facing, we are limiting listings to GAMA members. Each member company will receive a complimentary listing ($500 value) for being part of the association. The software platform is very robust and allows members to customize their listing by uploading files, video, and links to increase networking and B2B connections.

Some of the immediate benefits we envision with the directory include:

• Retail members will be able to save time by having a one-stop location for information such as product sell sheets, organized play information, images or video reviews/playthroughs from multiple publishers rather than having to track down each one individually.

• Designers and other creatives will be able to upload pdfs, images or videos of their work portfolio to help potential employers find them.

• Publishers will be able to search for stores filtered by the type of product that store carries, so they can connect with them easier.

• Media members can search for potential content partners as well as upload samples of their work to make it easier for publishers to find them.

We see a lot of potential for the directory to be a hub to connect industry members to do business together. Other projects the team is working on include more networking opportunities, both online and in person at industry events. We will be expanding our educational programs to include pathways for new companies along with sessions for more experienced industry professionals. We are also working to help members save money with our updated business discount program.

In closing, I want to remind everyone that GAMA EXPO is just a few short weeks away and we are hard at work finalizing the schedule of seminars, game nights and special events. The exhibit hall has nearly 200 exhibitors and will be busting at the seams with the latest and hottest games for 2023. It’s going to be a great week. Member companies receive two complimentary badges to the show. Visit our website (gama.org) for more information on how to sign up for your badge.

See you in Reno April 24-28, 2023!

John Stacy Executive Director Game Manufacturers Association

We’re Capital Punishment: a black-owned indie card game maker that’s here to give the world a fresh, up-to-date, and endlessly enjoyable entertainment experience!

We’ve developed a unique card game that people 17+ can enjoy, where they get to engage in heated arguments about which celebrity, pet peeve, or unfortunate situation deserves to get the Capital Punishment! Today, we’re looking for wholesale partners to help us go global.

If you’re interested in bringing new opportunities to your business and partnering with a group of passionate, forward-thinking game makers, then we have a bright future ahead of us!

And to show we’re serious: We’re giving every new partner an exclusive 10% discount with FREE SHIPPING for an order of 24 units or more at the wholesale price of only $17.25 a unit!

OUR contributors

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.

About John Stacy

John Stacy is the executive director of the Game Manufacturers Association. A lifelong learner and gamer, he has worked in the nonprofit, education, and governmental relations arenas for more than thirty years. He holds a master’s degree in Marketing and Communications and was an adjunct instructor for the University of Phoenix for four years facilitating marketing and business classes.

About Justin Spicer

Justin Spicer is an instructional designer by day and a 15-year veteran of entertainment and hobby based journalism in his free time. When not pursuing the newest trends in learning or covering innovative publishers, designers, and musicians, Justin enjoys family activities such as gardening, making music, and visiting museums.

by Capital Punishment Games LLC

Modiphius to Create New Worlds for Tabletop Beyond Licensed Games

Make it more fun to lose with Adventure Wargaming

by Samantha Webb, Head of Brand, Modiphius Entertainment

Modiphius Entertainment has enjoyed 10 years of creating authentic and engaging tabletop games, establishing itself as a publishing powerhouse, starting with Achtung! Cthulhu, it quickly began designing and publishing games for well-known brands Thunderbirds, Conan, Kung Fu Panda and Star Trek, with a huge range of board games and role playing games.

As the company expanded and secured a licensing deal with prominent video game company Bethesda, it invested

its belt, Modiphius is growing its retailer support with direct-to-retail wholesale stores through its U.S. and U.K. web stores and plans to expand this to Europe in the next future, available through modiphius. net/collections/wholesale

Since establishing itself, Modiphius has invested not only in an expanding creative team of talented designers, artists and sculptors, but a management team of industry experts and licensing professionals. Cameron Dicks brings licensing expertise as managing director, from his time at Endemol Shine and ITV. Sophie Williams, one part of design studio Needy Cat Games, joins Modiphius as head of development. Gregoire Boisbelaud joins as event and organized play manager with years of experience in marketing at Dust Studios and GAMA. Samantha Webb moves into a newlycreated brand management team as head of brand to provide aligned creative and marketing leadership.

After finding early success with licensed games, and using that to establish the company, company co-founder Chris Birch is once again spearheading development of exciting original IPs including Cohors Cthulhu, the Roman era historical fantasy RPG and adventure wargaming lines. GAMA EXPO will play

host to the announcement of his second new world, built in conjunction with a diverse, multinational team of writers and artists, that will play host to tabletop role playing games, board games and miniatures games.

Speaking about the development of its own IPs, Samantha Webb said, “We want to have our own franchise that is as big, exciting, immersive and captivating as one of our licensed properties would be – not only for us, but for fans of tabletop gaming everywhere.”

Modiphius has found a great deal of success with its drive to build adventure wargames, as well as publishing indie titles Rangers of Shadow Deep, Five Parsecs from Home and Five Leagues from the Borderlands under its VIA Modiphius imprint.

The new Cohors Cthulhu adventure wargame is being designed purely for solo and cooperative play.

“I want to make games where two people can play together and have an amazing time and it’s actually more fun to lose the game, because I unlock the history of my character or I made a decision that unveils a new storyline,” Birch said. “Cohors Cthulhu will feature an unfolding narrative with players making difficult decisions between ‘winning battles’ and developing their storyline.”

Birch is looking ahead to a future where tournaments are built around shared storytelling and co-op gameplay, “where everyone leaves the event smiling having played together in an event rather than against each other, where they discovered some cool new storyline for their game.”

Cute kittens meet charming cuisine in Bananya

by Mikael Yang

In the adorable world of Bananya: The Card Game, cute kittens and bananas are one. Bananyas come in all shapes, sizes and colors and they all have their own banana. Bananyas are not only delightful, each variation can be surprising and most overwhelmingly cute. Scientists have tried to measure their cuteness but none of their tools can measure such sweetness. Each kitten is adorable in their own way and the banana is an extra layer of fun. The colors used are very endearing and are reminiscent of pastel art. The card game is based on an enchanting little anime available to watch on Crunchyroll. The rules are simple. Each player is given seven playing cards and a reference card. Each Bananya comes with unique art and its very own special power that may come in handy in a pickle. Once the player has collected a set of 10 different Bananyas, they can shout “Nya!” and claim their victory. If they chose to shout “Nya!” without 10 different Bananyas to back up their claim they must shuffle their hand and discard two Bananyas randomly. The discard pile is called the Litter Box and players are able to draw the top card on their turn, unless they play Calico Bananya which lets them choose whichever card they want! Once a

card has been drawn from the Litter Box, the player must wait their next turn to play it. If the draw pile runs out, the Litter Box can be used as a new draw pile until one of the players can claim their adorable victory.

Bananya: The Card Game is quick to pick up and fun for the whole family. If you haven’t found your favorite Bananya in the main game, there are four expansions coming out with many more Bananyas. The expansions follow four different themes each with their own unique variations. The themes include “Elder Wisdom,’’ “Sweet,” “Music” and “Magic.” While Elder Wisdom features an older bearded Banaya, Sweet has dessertthemed Bananyas for those with a sweet tooth. Magic will certainly satisfy those who love the majestic and elusive unicorn. Finally, Music is for those who want to rock and roll in a cute way. But don’t let those themes fool you – random Banayas like the Ninja are present as well. The care that went into making all these beautiful banana kittens is admirable and the art design is certainly delightful.

Bananya: The Card Game ($14.95) and the four expansion packs ($4.95 each) will be available for purchase in March 2023. You can pre-order them now with your favorite distributor.

by Justin Spicer

Whenthe COVID-19 pandemic first gripped the world and essentially shut down the everyday life we had become accustomed to, board games were one of the few safe havens for many. Despite the limitations imposed by lockdowns and limited business, the surge in popularity amidst the hobby continued to grow.

Neat and Tidy Packaging

With the increased interest came companies, FLGS, and publishers beginning to rethink how board games came to consumers. Not only did this entail new points of retail, online shops and curbside pick-ups, it also meant looking to new means of producing and packaging the board games and components therein that gamers have come to love when playing their games.

A recent report from Greenpeace states that less than 5 percent of plastics are recycled, with further investigations stating that many everyday plastics don’t even meet the basic thresholds to be considered recyclable.

One of the fronts where publishers were already reassessing the costs, resources and time were in the components and packaging. During many

Environmental Impacts

of Board Gaming

conversations during Gen Con 2022, one of the bigger issues I discussed with many publishers was the environmental impact of manufacturing and shipping games, not to mention the pieces, chits and packaging involved. Matt Hyland of Devir Games was quick to say that every time he peels off the shrink wrap off of a new game, it bothers him.

So, Hyland and Devir Games decided to do something about it. The first product to avoid any plastic exterior packaging will be Savernake Forest, which will use magnetic clasps to keep the game secured when closed. Minimalizing the impact of the game’s packaging also came with additional caveats. The wardens of Savernake Forest promised to sell the game in their gift shop upon its release if the game avoided packaging and components that were not environmentally friendly.

Safeguarding Components

But what about the contents inside a game? Shrink wrap is often found in card games where the decks are wrapped in the single use, unrecyclable product. Plastic bags are often used to house pieces, and sometimes they are not the reusable kind. However, companies are beginning to

switch toward paper-based packaging that is recyclable and biodegradable. One of the most notable changes has occurred in Stonemaier Game’s popular Wingspan series, where the recent Wingspan Asia expansion uses paper-based storage bags which lessens the environmental impact of plastic manufacturing.

Queen Games has launched its Green Planet series, which aims to create carbon neutral games via lowering emissions by using more plant and paper-based products in pieces and overall manufacturing. The games also aim to reflect this environmental shift, focusing on themes that highlight eco-consciousness and positive environmentalism. Speaking with Travis Reynolds at Gen Con 2022, he is hopeful these practices will soon become the norm at Queen Games, but cautioned change takes time and patience.

Deluxification and the Environment

Of course, the trend in board games – especially in crowdfunding – is providing the highest quality components to not only entice backers to get in early on a game and help in its creation, but also to excite gamers with new ways

to experience board gaming through miniatures, specialty components, highgloss mats and more.

One of the companies that has endured criticism for their high-end production is Chip Theory Games. The Minnesota-based company takes pride in the quality of components and packaging they provide their backers, and though they admit that some of their production decisions do hold some environmental impact (such as water-proof game mats), the greater goal is to create games that don’t feel disposable.

In speaking with Andrew Santoro, he explained that while Chip Theory recognizes the criticism, the idea behind providing high-quality components and games is twofold: an investment made by gamers, and the idea that once a gamer has decided to part with the game they will be inspired to pass it on to other interested gamers rather than toss their investment in the trash.

Granted, this is likely not the intent of all publishers looking to catch the eyes of potential backers nor does it address the overall impacts of plastics being created for games. Yet, the shelf life of a game’s overall presentation – and the desire to make it something treated like an investment, thus lessening the chances of a game being future fodder for a landfill – is admirable. The accountability necessary for this tactic is a complex one, but something worth exploring as games get bigger, more expansive and as more people start to weigh the ecological costs of deluxe games.

Starting from the Ground Up

For many publishers, it will be hard to break the cycle in which they exist. Costs and agreements, the sourcing of materials and the ability to produce a game as the lowest cost for potential

buyers has been vital to the hobby’s growth over the past decade. While some companies are making these internal shifts and working with consumers to make them aware of the decisions to be more environmentally conscious of their manufacturing and shipping choices, other companies coming into the hobby are taking environmentalism as a basis for their whole operation.

Industry veteran T. Caires is doing just that with the launch of their publisher, Cabin Games. “Being plastic and polymer free, as well as using FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified wood-based products are key to making games eco-friendly,” Caires explained. Of course, the actions involved in ensuring and securing these resources are as promised is an uphill climb, especially for entrenched publishers who have established relationships, suppliers and timelines in the manufacturing and shipment of games.

Might, Valor and Wisdom from Dragon Shield

by Simon B. Etches, Narrative Designer, Dragon Shield

“Withmight we protect, in valor we act, by wisdom we prevail.”

Chanting their creed, the knights of the Rowanite Order closed in on the two-headed hydragon. The behemoth had terrorized the kingdom for years, destroying entire villages and indiscriminately butchering hundreds of farm animals and villagers.

“WITH MIGHT WE PROTECT!”

The knights charged forward as one, shields raised against the drake’s fiery breath.

“IN VALOR WE ACT!”

Dozens of honed rapiers, laced with poison, flashed all around the green horror, expertly homing in and hitting their marks.

“BY WISDOM WE PREVAIL!”

The beast lay slain at their feet, its green scales smattered in oozing black blood, its reign of terror forever ended.

A new line of Dragon Shield sleeves is ready to reign. Dragon Shield Matte Dual Sleeves are black inside – charred by real dragon fire!

So far, our Dragon Shield Matte Dual sleeves have been available in 11 stunning colors: snow (white), orchid (violet), lightning (yellow), lagoon (dark blue), eucalyptus (light turquoise), crypt (grey), peach (well… peach), glacier (light blue), ember (orange), fury (pink) and wraith (purple).

Our latest additions to the range are – yes, you guessed it –might, valor and wisdom. Or, if you prefer: green, off-white and blue, respectively.

Might: The hydragon, a terrible hydra creature nigh impossible to slay.

Valor: Rowan, the lion-maned dragon, made the ultimate sacrifice and gave the world time to settle, to heal.

Wisdom: An order of wise and valorous knights, the Rowanites are charged with keeping order, aiding the innocent and defending villages against primal dragons.

All the colors are outstanding and ready for your favorite TCGs. Pick them up in your local game shop or online today!

At 120 microns, Dragon Shield Matte Dual sleeves are the thickest on the market, providing excellent protection for your cards. Combining a colorful back with a welded, fully opaque, black interior design, these sleeves are perfect for double-faced cards or for concealing card backs during gameplay, regardless of lighting conditions. The sleeves also feature the unique silkysmooth shuffle feel you’ve come to expect from Dragon Shield.

Dragon Shield Matte Dual sleeves come in standard size (2.5 inches by 3.5 inches), compatible with card games such as Magic the Gathering, Pokémon, Digimon, Flesh and Blood, and many others.

The smaller, Japanese size (up to 2.31 inches by 3.38 inches) are compatible with trading card games such as Yu-Gi-Oh! and Cardfight!! Vanguard.

For more information about Dragon Shield’s dual sleeves, card gaming accessories, new tabletop roleplaying line and lore, visit www.dragonshield.com.

Craft Your Spell Book with Care

by Curt Covert, Owner, Smirk & Dagger Games

Weall crave magical power, but beware – such energies exact a price and are dangerous to wield. This is the idea at the core of Smirk & Dagger’s new spell-slinging deckbuilder, BEHEXT.

You are all Battlemages with a unique starting set of spells, specialized in one particular type of magic. You may be adept at enhanced damage, forcing discards, countering other magics, healing and the like, but over the course of the game, you will add to your spells strategically. You can lean in harder to your own specialty or branch out and balance your attacks and defenses with other schools of magic. You will never play the same mage twice, even if you start as the same character.

At the outset, I told you this was a deck-building game – but it doesn’t feel like one necessarily. In many deck builders, the act of building the deck and setting up a resource engine is the focus of the game. But here, deck-building is a means to an end. Game play is a highly interactive, free-for-all of magical combat. You aren’t building a resource engine, you are tailoring your attack and defensive strategy on the fly, to shifting opportunities and long-term planning.

Hexes are cast at the start of each round and ricochet from player to player as they deflect the spell and its everincreasing effects to another opponent. When you are targeted, it is your turn to

play. And each card you play is both a defense against being hit by the hex, as well as an attack upon someone else.

The concept that magic is dangerous is threaded throughout, as everything has a double-edged nature. Targeting the leader by sending them the hex is exactly what gives them the opportunity to summon more powerful spells from the Conjuring Wheel. Buying spells adds power to your deck, but requires you to sacrifice cards from your hand to pay for it – and those are the cards that are shielding you from being hit by the hex. You have to constantly weigh your actions and the risks and rewards at stake. Happily, newly acquired cards are placed directly into your hand, where you can use them immediately (and not discarded, where you have to wait until you shuffle and redraw, as in so many deck builders). This means your hand potentially includes any of the four cards on the Conjuring Wheel – if you can afford it.

The concept is taken further by how you earn victory points. A winning score is a combination of your Willpower, which goes up and down through card

play and being Behext, and through the purchase of cards that have Victory points. But the devious thing is that any card worth Victory points has a negative effect on the owner when played. So, buying them is a risk that you have to find a way to mitigate – but not buying them can kill your final score.

Taken together, designers Jonathan Lavallee, Melodee Smith and Greg Millikin shake up a lot of the expectations about what a deck-building game is – or can be. It is definitely a strategic game, but the high level of player interaction makes it feel classically Smirk & Dagger as you thrill to detonating the hex in someone’s face or foil an opponent’s plans.

As a huge bonus that greatly enhances replay value, the game comes with four different Mastery packs – in-box expansions that add a total of four new Battlemages and 72 new cards to the game. Additionally, each adds a new game mechanic, so the game grows with you.

Variable game length, end game scoring bonus cards, multiple hexes in play at once are added to the full game experience, as your players are ready to take on more. Smirk & Dagger could have saved these for another product, but included it all – which makes this game an incredible value and a ton of curse and counter-cursing fun!

BEHEXT, $45, will be available in April 2023.

Vox Link is the Ultimate tabletop gaming community building app. Gamers can find new opponents, book tickets at your events, and browse tabletop gaming content all in one place.

One of the biggest problems you face as a retailer is growing your community and navigating Facebook and Google advertising. With Vox Link, everyone is a tabletop gamer and looking for a great local hangout spot.

Join us as we connect casual and competitive tournament players in one place so we all can find each other and see what’s happening in the community around us. No more checking Discord, Facebook, Instagram, and more. Publish events, advertise, and engage with your community all in one place on your own

store group.

Joining the prelaunch campaign gets you access to become a beta testing community and contribute to the community platform. Vox Link is purpose built to help gamers find new opponents for specific games. Registered stores can be suggested to gamers looking to meet up helping drive more traffic to your store.

B ecome a verified store to publish events to the community calendar, run tournaments, and advertise all in one place. Verified stores also get put on the game play map to help new players find locations to play at. The play map is one of the most powerful tools to attract new community members who are curious about the game or have been playing at

home with their friends and are looking for a new challenge.

Premium stores can send push notifications to their community subscribers to help alert them of events, updates, and sales that are directly relevant to them. Also included is discounted advertising and reduced transaction fees.

Vox Link is co-founded by Constantine The Magnet Baron a tabletop gaming industry professional. Co-founder Michael Dickerson is a professional social media mobile app developer and lifelong gamer. Both Michael and Constantine want to unity and build the gaming community.

S chedule a demo at business.voxlink. app today!

The hit game of passive aggressive cohabitation now has even more scenarios to play! This companion app will add endless hours of home decorating gameplay!

A Core Pack of Turbo Dork Paints from Turbo Dork features 30 bestselling colors. Order TDK3003 for a half-full starter kit, or TDK3006 for a full kit.

Email info@turbodork.com to order directly or GTS, Lightspeed or PHD for distribution.

Onimaru from Penguin and Pandais a fully cooperative and customizable game where players defend a village against otherworldly invaders. E-commerce store goes live in May.

Pre-orders open now at sales@pandp. productions

Capital Punishment from Capital Punishment Games is fun for all ages to play and engage in fiery arguments. Convince the judge that your celebrity, trend or pet peeve is the worst.

info@capitalpunishmentgame. com

Homeworld: Fleet Command from Modiphius Entertainment puts wouldbe admirals in charge of Kushan or Taiidan fleets fighting it out in fast-playing galactic battles featuring 101 plastic models of ships. homeworldfleetcommand.com

Space Jam A New Legacy: Serververse Showdown from Upper Deck brings the story of the blockbuster family film to life. From Looney Tunes characters to world-famous basketball players, recruit your dream team. upperdeckstore.com/space-jam-a-newlegacy-serververse-showdown.html

Key to the Kingdom from Restoration Games features whimsical Andrew Bosley art, tongue-in-cheek humor, charming miniatures and unique whirlpool board mechanism – filling family game night with fun and laughter

Email retailers@restorationgames.com

ASTRO KNIGHTS

A deck building game where timing is everything

by JP Decosse, OffDutyNinja

Itwas just another day in New Atlantis, when suddenly the skies turned dark and an ominous shadow was cast over the planet. Our homeworld is under attack, and the Astro Knights are our first and only line of defense! The battle for the galaxy is about to begin, and we must ask ourselves: will we helplessly hide in the shadows, or join the Astro Knights to defend the very fiber of our civilization?

play and acquire their cards carefully, as the order in which cards are added to a player’s discard pile will be the same order cards are drawn later in the game.

battle on the back foot. No matter which Boss you face, the challenge is immense and victory is never a certainty!

Astro Knights is the latest smash hit cooperative adventure from Indie Boards & Cards, asking one to four players to work together to fight off an intergalactic threat! The game typically lasts about an hour, and is recommended for ages 14 and up.

Following in the footsteps of the critically-acclaimed Aeon’s End series of games, Astro Knights makes use of the same deck-building engine, where players never shuffle their cards. Instead, this tabletop team-up challenges its heroes to

In addition to managing their deck, Astro Knights players also manage their three core tracks: Weapon slots, Power gauge and Health meter. Throughout the game, players will regularly face the difficult decision of whether to improve their deck with powerful new cards, or upgrade their Slot and Power tracks. Both hold value, but timing is everything!

Perfecting your deck will be difficult, however, as each Astro Knights session pits the players against one of the game’s four world-ending Bosses – the villains that we must overcome to win the game. Furion brings a separate deck of Artillery cards to keep our heroes on their toes. Architect 0-815 is accompanied by a swarm of robotic soldiers. Lunaris augments itself with the resources of previously conquered worlds. Continnua harnesses the power of time itself to eliminate cards from the hands of each player, consistently forcing players to

However, it’s not just the Bosses that have tricks up their sleeves! Each Astro Knight in the game brings their own unique abilities and strengths, and certain Knight combinations are likely to perform better against particular foes! Silas is a healer, Gavriil brings big damage early in the game, Christina can arm her allies with an array of epic artillery and Nasma can help hone her teammate’s decks into the perfect fighting team!

Astro Knights manages to thread the needle of being accessible to new players in the deck-building genre, while also offering plenty of appeal to experienced card game enthusiasts.

With a colorful, comic-book art style and straightforward mechanics for making deep strategic decisions, Astro Knights can make anyone feel like a hero. Keep your eyes peeled when it hits retail shelves in the next few weeks; you don’t want to miss what’s sure to become an explosive new hit!

Magpie Games is excited to present AvatarLegends:TheRoleplayingGame , the officially licensed tabletop roleplaying game set in the world of the Avatarverse!

It is a heroic fantasy game set in the universe of Avatar:TheLastAirbenderand The LegendofKorra—featuring elemental bending martial arts, dramatic conflicts between people and nations, and the struggles of an ever-changing world. You and your friends take on the roles of heroes from across the Four Nations to fight for what is right amid complicated and nuanced situations.

Each player creates their own hero using a playbook—an archetype with distinctive options including sets of abilities and story elements. The game offers a chance to create your own tales within five distinct eras—the Kyoshi Era, the Roku Era, the Hundred Year War Era, the Aang Era, and the Korra Era. Each era focuses on distinct themes tied to the challenges the world and its Avatar faces during that time.

Your characters each hail from one of the Four Nations and specialize in a training path: waterbending, earthbending, firebending, airbending, weapons, or technology. Your training serves two main uses in the game: it establishes your abilities so you can plan and execute creative solutions in key moments, and it determines what techniques are available for you to learn and use while in combat. Bending and fighting are iconic hallmarks that make up the Avatarverse, so the game features a robust combat system designed to represent the fluidity of fights seen in the series.

Beyond combat, the game closely models the look and feel of the show in how it handles a character’s journey to achieve or maintain internal balance. Each character possesses a balance track that represents two opposing principles within them, and players are influenced by circumstances and other characters to act in accordance with those ideals. During the course of the game, balance ebbs and flows between the two principles based on how you act, and other characters may shift your balance by affirming how they see you.

It is time for you and your friends to become legends yourselves! The life of an Avatar Legends hero is never easy. Most problems in the Four Nations can’t be fixed by a simple fight—the Avatarverse and the people who live there are too complex for that. You might have to investigate the problem, speak to the people about their needs, and strive to understand the nuances of the situation at hand. Embracing the diversity of the Four Nations and learning to accept others and their unique worldviews are all part of the heroism central to the game. Adventure awaits in Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game, and we hope you and your friends will join us!

LegendofKorra

THEY’RE BACK!

The Best Selling Bug Hunt Returns!

Aliens is a co-operative survival boardgame where you and your team of specialist Colonial Marines will gear up with serious firepower and head into Hadley's Hope to find survivors and answers. But you're not alone. To survive, you'll need to work together, keep your cool, and stay frosty to fight off relentless Xenomorph ambushes and get out of there alive.

• Play iconic characters

•Recreate awesome scenes from the movie

• Quick and easy rules

• Dynamic co-op gameplay

• And all the Aliens you can kill!

RETURNING MAY 2023

PRODUCT CODE: ALIENS11

1-2 hrs 1-6 players Ages 14+

Power Plants Fantastic Flora and Sprite Superiority

by Sean Jacquemain

Awizard is only as good as the potions they make, and for really powerful concoctions you need fresh ingredients. Sure, you can go to the arcane markets and pay a fortune for magical plants and herbs, but why not skip the dealers and grow them yourself? The only problem … there’s only one plot of enchanted land and the competition is fierce! You have to share the garden with some fellow wizards, but don’t worry. You have a secret plan. By deploying your faithful sprites you might be able to control the valuable fields and by harvest time, all of that powerful produce can be yours! That’s assuming your competition doesn’t have a similar sneaky plan in place.

fields and either activate that plant for its strong Sprout ability or activate each plant patch it’s touching for their Grow abilities. Sprout abilities are always more powerful; however, you only get one of them. Grow abilities may be weaker, but depending on the layout of the garden, you might be able to chain together a whole bunch of them for dynamic turns. A wise wizard with a keen eye and a green thumb will be able to identify opportunities and take advantage of them.

Each game of Power Plants, from first seeds to final planting, only lasts about 20 minutes. You win a field by controlling the most plant patches, so be sure to deploy your sprites in valuable areas. The bigger

time you play. Each species also has an alternate name and set of Sprout and Grow powers. This means even more wild, weird and fun combinations to explore in future matches. Combined with the speedy playtime, you’ll get it to the table again and again.

Plants like the Honeyleaf, Tanglethorn and Deeproot allow you deploy many of your sprites into the garden. Starflower, Emberwood and Frightshade give you the opportunity to earn gems during the game or to place gems in the garden to be claimed later. The Wingbean allows you to change the layout of the garden and the Snapjaw allows you to capture rival sprites.

A BATTLE GAME LIKE NO OTHER Tense and unique area-control where you don’t attack your rivals, you outmaneuver them to be the ercest defender against the relentless Gnome invasion.

SATISFYING ACTION ENGINE PLAY IT AGAIN AND AGAIN

A clever connection puzzle you create for yourself drives your capabilities on the battle eld.

AMAZING COMPONENTS

Hundreds of wooden bits and huge Champion cards with fantastic art!

Dozens of intriguing Champions to recruit and a di erently-evolving seige in each game results in a new challenge every time.

Hack & Slash 2 – Whack & Stash from Steve Jackson Games provides new quests, and maybe some treasure. Add to your fame, or even bend a rule in your favor! Not a standalone game.

Email retailers@sjgames

Vox Link is a tabletop gaming community building app designed by gamers, for gamers. Publish and run events, streamline growth, and build your community all in one place.

business.voxlink.app

Might, Valor and Wisdom from Arcane Tinmen provide matte dual sleeves that are perfect for double-faced cards or concealing card backs during gameplay. Now available in green, blue and off-white. arcanetinmen.com

BEHEXT from Smirk & Dagger is an unconventional deck-building game of magical combat, where your hand of spells is your only defense - and your only currency.

smirkanddagger.com/behexed

Manchukuo from Penguin and Panda Productions is a worker placement game with a unique twist. Each round consists of a day phase and a night phase. E-commerce store goes live in May.

Pre-orders open now at sales@pandp.productions

Birds of Prey: TOPGUN from Ad Astra Games goes beyond the movies to explain how the Navy Fighter Weapons School really works, with scenarios covering both movies. adastragames.com/products/topgun

Well, the title is somewhat misleading. Penguin & Panda (P&P) was never dead, but it was close. It is hard for me to imagine multiple facets of a company being operated by a single person, especially when the goal for the company was growth. Before my time with P&P, that was the attempt. Since my time with the company, it is easy to see how being solely responsible for such an endeavour can be overwhelming. It is often a matter of scope, and, although it is not the case for every one or every company, in this case, the scope was unrealistic.

Taking on too much too quickly was the first step toward P&P’s destruction. With both Onimaru and Manchukuo outstanding, their fulfilment dates long passed, the fate of the brand was looking more dire by the month. Like any business, there are recurring expenses that are unavoidable. And with virtually zero revenue coming in, it can be a challenge to stay afloat.

Not all was lost. The first step toward recovery was understanding the downward spiral – a series of out-ofcontrol events, each contributing its own detrimental weight to the pile. Adding individuals to the force was essential, and after doing so, tackling the grim aftermath of those events became more manageable. It is good to have numbers when carrying a heavy load. One became three.

We still have holes to fill and areas that need improvement, but our activities are trending upward. Gaining trust from backers and retailers by showing

the progress of our games’ completion, as well as the progress of our company’s responsible actions has been our top priority.

Now, P&P is in a healthy place and moving slowly, yet steadily, into the future. With Panda’s production of Manchukuo complete, and as Onimaru’s production with LongPack draws to an end, we are moving forward one step at a time. We are excited to bring you Sentō: Ultimate Arcade Fighter, the next game in the Anime Series, with more Asian-themed titles to come.

In this new life, the immediate goal of P&P is the fulfilment of Onimaru and Manchukuo, and once that is complete, the focus will be on the launch of our upcoming e-commerce platform, as well as our next game, Sentō. We have made the decision to offer retailers and customers our games via the new pandp. productions site exclusively, once live. Our games, for the time being, will not be available through traditional distribution channels. We want to build lasting relationships with trusted retailers as an avenue to bring our games to the world. Our goal is to make you our top priority as we build our catalogue, and build our brand.

Join our retailer list for news about upcoming pre-orders and sales, as well as exclusive offers that you will not want to miss. For more information, you may inquire with me at info@pandp.productions, and for sales, you may contact us at sales@pandp.production.

by Steve Conn, Communications Coordinator, Penguin & Panda Productions

Manchukuo placesyouinatroubled�me,whereyouarearespectedteacherandSifuinaManchukuoantown. Underthewatchfuleyeoftheoccupyinggarrison,youmustfighttokeepyourwayoflifealive,leadyour studentstohelpyourcommunity,andcon�nuetosecretlyprac�ceyourarts.

Onlyoneschool'sstylewillemergefromthesetroubled�mesas themostprominent...willitbeyours? sales@pandp.productions

players

1-4 ages 14+ min 60-120

Onimaru isafullycoopera�vegamewhereyouandyouralliestakeuparmstodefendavillageagainst otherworldlyinvaders. Customizeyourherowithcountlessbuildingop�ons. Youwillwinthegameifyouare abletodestroythethreevillainousOni.However,ifyoufailtodosoin�me,theGatewillremainopenforever, andallofJapanwillsuccumbtotheshadow!

Additionalaccessories, ArtCardSleeves,and PromoPacksavailable.

Limitedquantities.

Onimaru HeroesFromFarawayLands Expansion

LegendaryFoes Expansion

1-4 ages 14+ min 60-90

players

PDN1010•$89PDN1011•$25

PDN1012•$25

by Steve Conn, Communications Coordinator, Penguin & Panda Productions

Let’s face it, we have all imagined who we would be and what we would look like as a skilled samurai or a cunning ninja. The hero building engine in Onimaru lets you have fun creating your hero the way you want. And frankly, it is what makes Onimaru a special game for all.

Your Hero has a variety of special abilities and skills. These make up the ways you can interact with components of the game, including dice, Hordelings, and Oni. Every Hero has the same number of ability options available to them, via tray slots, but the abilities you choose will be different. There are a countless number of building combinations! Your Player Tray will house every tile/deck that make up your Hero’s arsenal.

The first thing you will want to choose is the identity of your Hero, which is featured on their Player Board. Player Boards feature Hero art, as well as some important information. Hero Boards indicate the Hero’s combat proficiencies with two Mastery Dice. The Mastery Dice shown will always accompany that Hero. The Dice Allocation Spaces in this same section are of the same type as the Mastery Dice, as well as the Counterattack Type. Your Hero Board also features the number of wounds you can suffer before being defeated, as well as the Skill Disc cost for unlocking skills.

Your Hero will have an innate ability called a talent. Talents are free-to-use abilities with no cost, and usually with no limit. In some cases, talents are passive and require no upkeep. Others may need more attention to maintain.

The most essential abilities in combat to every Hero are their techniques. Each technique is accompanied with an affiliated deck of Yūsha Cards, indicated by the matching Kanji symbol on each. Techniques are powerful manoeuvres learned by your Hero, and can be improved over the course of the battle. Both of your techniques can be upgraded with up to three matching Yūsha Cards, increasing their effectiveness with the abilities on the cards’ sides.

The Lotus Ability on Yūsha Cards are powerful one-time effects that may be used during battle. This ability from either topmost card can be used by allocating dice and/or honor to the Yūsha allocation spaces on your Hero Board.

Each Hero will have access to a set of skills; one Lotus Skill and two Koi Skills. Like each Yūsha Card’s Lotus ability, Lotus Skills are non-recurring one-time abilities, while Koi Skills are ongoing abilities that are always open to you once unlocked. Each skill must be unlocked before their effects become available to you. A Skill is unlocked when honor is spent to move a Skill Disc from the left side of your Player Tray to the right side of the tray, placing it in the slot next to the skill you wish to unlock. Heroes have two Skill Discs in which to unlock skills throughout the game, therefore giving you potential access to two of the three skills in your tray.

Creating your own Hero in Onimaru and then fighting alongside your friends and family is a wonderful experience. It allows you to tailor to your playing style, as well as giving you the agency to make your Hero who you want them to be. The tactile experience of building out your player tray and manipulating its held components is just a bonus, and one that I love.

Starship Captains from Czech Games embarks on an exciting voyage through the depths of space in this euro-style action selection and engine building game for 1–4 players.

czechgames.com/en/ starship-captains/

In Terraforming Mars Ares Expedition: Crisis from Indie Game Studios, players are working together to keep Mars habitable after a natural disaster has landed the planet in crisis.

boardgamegeek.com/ boardgame/358738/terraformingmars-ares-expedition-crisis

Castle Panic: Crowns and Quests from Fireside Games is the newest expansion, featuring 12 characters and 18 quests. Each quest changes up the objective, making each new play a unique adventure.

firesidegames.com/retailers/

bladerunner-rpg.com

Dorfromantik the Board Game from Pegasus NA allows one to six players to work together to build a beautiful landscape; however, they must focus on fulfilling task tiles to achieve the highest score possible.

www.pegasusna.com

Aliens: Another Glorious Day in the Corps from Gale Force Nine brings the return of the bestselling bug hunt. Lead Marines through the base, searching for survivors, tackling the threat and trying to evacuate.

gf9games.com/aliens

The Blade Runner RPG from Free League Publishing propels you into the streets of future Los Angeles as Blade Runners with unique specialties, personalities – and memories.

Potholes vs Peaks

by John Stacy, Executive Director, GAMA

Everyyear during the holidays, my father-in-law asks me what I do, and I tell him that I work with a nonprofit organization that supports the tabletop game industry through advocacy, education and networking. I give him some examples of what my workday is like and some of the projects we are working on. He kind of chuckles and says ok, and I know that he will ask me again the next time I see him.

This conversation got me thinking about a book called “The Power of Moments” by brothers Dan and Chip Heath. They are the New York Times bestselling authors of several books including “Made to Stick,” which I also recommend.

In “The Power of Moments,” they talk about how we engage others to create lasting and memorable moments. While this is not a review of the many interesting points they make, I want to talk about one concept and how it can change the way you approach interacting with others and may improve your business. They present a theory that life is full of potholes and peaks and how you navigate and cultivate them can have a direct impact on your life and business.

Potholes are pretty simple; they are the everyday problems and issues that occur. People tend to focus on the negative and what went wrong, rather than what went right. This is to be expected. Neurologists point out that we are hardwired to look for problems and challenges as a survival instinct. When things go right it’s just background noise. It’s when things do not go according to the script that it cements in our memory.

Many years ago, in my hometown of Columbus, we had a very large sinkhole open in the downtown area that literally swallowed a Mercedes. The car fell 20 feet down into the sewers below. Thankfully no one was hurt and everyone, except the owner of the car and the insurance company, had a laugh about that is just how bad the potholes are here. The city fixed the issue and everyone forgot about it until it happened again a few years later. This time no one was laughing, and the city instituted a largescale inspection of the roads and sewers.

When potholes occur they get patched until the next time. The goal should be to prevent them but that is not realistic in our climate with salt, ice and the freeze and frost of winter. We just live with them and try to keep up with them until they get too bad and we replace the road. The same with our businesses – we tweak and try to maintain our programs and processes until outside forces make us undertake major

changes. But honestly, for the most part potholes are a way of life. People do not give roads a second thought until there is a problem.

This leads us to the second part of the equation: peaks. The Heath brothers say these are moments that are the most memorable because it is the high point of an experience. If we remember an event or moment at all, it is usually the high point (peak) and low point (pothole). If the trains run on time, we do not remember it because it is neither a high nor low, just background noise.

I had a lot of good meetings at Essen Spiel last year, but three months later I only really remember the peak (GAMA’s Saturday night reception where we hosted 200 industry professionals at the Lebanese restaurant) and the pothole (the airline losing my luggage, forcing me to buy two sets of clothes so I would have something to wear to my meetings).

According to the authors, our goal should be to fix potholes so that they are simply background noise, while focusing the majority of our time on creating memorable peak moments for our customers to focus on.

An example they use is a family vacation at Disney World. They go through all the pain points the family might experience such as parking lines, entrance lines, ride lines, food lines – I think I am sensing a pattern. They talk about the effort Disney puts into making waiting in line part of the experience on many of the rides or restaurants, so people do not complain as much about waiting an hour or more for the latest and hottest attraction. They are stimulated and engaged while in line, so it becomes part of the experience. When they get home they remember the high point of the attraction, not the tedious wait in the hot Florida sun.

We took a similar approach for Origins Game Fair last year regarding event ticket fees. The pothole we were experiencing was complaints from attendees who felt that we were nickeling and diming them with $2 event tickets for the 5,000-plus events we run at the convention. Additionally, we charged $20 for a ribbon to use the board game library at the show. We knew we were going to have to raise the badge price as our base cost to run the convention had increased. However, we were price and budget sensitive, so we looked at the data to determine what the impact would be to eliminate these fees.

Looking at the numbers we found that on average, attendees only signed up for three events over the course of the five days of the convention for a gross spend of just under $6. Keep in mind that these numbers included events ranging from $2 to premium events which could be more than $100. So quite a range. We also

looked at the amount of time our team spent servicing these $2 transactions, service fees we paid for our registration platform, credit card fees, cancellations and refund costs. The result was we were netting about $1 per transaction. While it was a lot of transactions, it wasn’t a really good use of our resources and staff time.

We asked ourselves how we could make this a peak experience instead of a pothole. After crunching the numbers and talking with some event organizers, we felt if we made the base event ticket part of the badge while allowing publishers and event organizers to charge a fee for premium events, we could improve the experience and make it more affordable for attendees to try new games and perhaps spend more money in the vendor hall. History tells us that if someone demos or plays a game, they are more likely to buy it.

We increased the badge price by $10 for full show badges and $5 for daily badges while our net costs to service the events went down by eliminating the base event registration fee and the credit card fees. At the end of the day, our net revenue went up and attendees registered for 20 percent more events than before. Complaints went down and we freed up the staff to focus on other important issues. The post-convention survey from attendees was very positive, with many citing including the base tickets with the badge as a positive thing and a reason to return next year.

So next holiday, when my father-inlaw asks me what I do again, I will tell him I fix potholes and build peaks!

CGE Announces

New Online Retailer Portal

by Nathan Meunier, North American Marketing at CGE

Anotheryear has come and gone, and another GAMA is already just around the corner. Alongside the launch of our latest releases Starship Captains and Deal with the Devil, we’ve been spending a lot of time since reconnecting with many of you again at last year’s show, thinking about ways we can best set up our retailer partners for success.

Many of you have been asking us for alternative solutions to help keep CGE titles in stock on your shelves and store displays more reliably. This year we’re excited to have a fresh option for you to explore that we hope will make your lives a little easier.

Our new online retailer portal is live

Having a difficult time getting the CGE titles and quantities you need? Don’t worry. You can now order from us directly through our new online CGE Retailer Portal, which we’re officially rolling out in March, just in time for GAMA 2023! This

project has been a long time coming, and we’re so happy to finally be able to share this with you.

The portal will be stocked with the full catalog of CGE games, including our top sellers and hot new releases. If there are any of our games that you cannot get from your distributor, or if your distributor is out of stock, you can order from us directly. You can also order from us directly at any time, if you prefer not to go through a distributor. Additionally, our retailer portal will feature lower ordering thresholds – you can choose to order one copy of a game or as many as you need – and there will be a lower total order needed for free shipping.

We want to make it easier to keep our titles in stock, while also doing anything we can to support getting CGE games into your customers’ hands.

What’s coming up next?

Our vision is that the CGE Retailer

Portal will also continue expanding over time. As we update our offerings, you will be able to order our launch kits for upcoming new games directly from the site; we also plan to run ongoing retailer promotions, including show specials, from there as well. You can expect even more helpful resources in the future, including information on upcoming shows we’ll be attending, sell sheets to help you pitch our games to your customers and promotional videos you can show in store.

For more details and updates, don’t miss our presentations at GAMA 2023! Be sure to check out the CGE Retailer Portal online at czechgames.markettime.com — As always, we welcome any feedback and input you have that can help us better grow our partnership together and improve on the hard work we’re all doing in this amazing industry.

HAILING ALL STARSHIP CAPTAINS!

Get ready to embark on a maiden voyage through the cosmos! Explore a galaxy full of dangerous pirates and interplanetary missions, as you manage, train, and promote your crew to improve their diverse skills. Then harness the power of cool alien technology to help your crew tackle goofy missions through the stars and beyond.

Do you have what it takes to deftly command your crew and become the best captain in the cosmos?

Age: 14+

Players: 4

Time: 120 MIN

cge.as/dwdbgg

Age: 12+

Players: 1–4

cge.as/scbgg

Time: 25 / MIN AVAILABLE

WILL YOU SELL YOUR SOUL TO BUILD THE GREATEST CITY EVER KNOWN?

Deal with the Devil is a deeply thematical euro-style game – for 4 players – set in a fantasy medieval era where players are competing to construct grand cities. To be a successful ruler, you need resources. To get resources, you need to make smart deals, o ering the other players things they really need. One of the players is secretly the devil and really needs a piece of your soul.

All identities and trades are kept secret, thanks to the simple app, and nobody really knows who is who.

Be Reassured When Your Toys Are Insured

Just as important as toys are to the building blocks of childhood, so too is product liability insurance (PLI), to toy makers. Though far less fun, PLI provides financial stability to toy manufacturers so they can keep creating new and innovative toys for our youngest generation. All major U.S. retailers (including Walmart, Target, Bed Bath & Beyond and Costco), liability insurance.

As careful as you are to ensure the safety and quality of your products, accidents do occur. This is where product liability insurance comes in to play.

What is product liability insurance?

Product liability insurance protects your company against loss due to bodily injury and property damage caused by your products. When an accident does occur and a claim is filed against your company, your product liability insurance policy would cover the legal and financial losses that could otherwise be an out-ofpocket expense.

So, you’re convinced. Now what?

It is time to find an insurance agency! You need an agency that is familiar with the unique demands of the toy industry. A knowledgeable agent can provide a policy that is catered to your company’s specific needs and can also offer quotations for coverages such as ocean cargo insurance, property insurance, cyber insurance,

dedicated insurance or risk management department.

To help ease this process, here is a list of some common insurance policies (other than product liability insurance), for companies in the toy industry.

• Employment Practices Liability (EPL) Insurance: A type of liability insurance covering wrongful acts arising from the employment process (sexual harassment, wrongful termination, discrimination, etc.)

• Ocean Cargo Insurance: This protects against loss of products while in transit internationally or domestically.

• Cyber Liability Insurance: This policy covers liability or loss related to the use of internet (for instance, data breaches, hacking etc.)

• D&O Insurance: A type of liability insurance for directors and senior executives, which reimburses the cost from lawsuits arising out of poor management decisions, shareholder grievances and other acts committed in good faith.

• Commercial Property Insurance: Insurance which covers buildings and property owned by a business.

and directors and officers (D&O) insurance.

Knowing the Lingo

While searching for the right insurance coverage for your company, you will undoubtedly come across dozens of different types of policies, which can be overwhelming.

Insurance terms can seem like another language at times, and it can be hard to determine which type of coverage fits your business needs. The work to find, apply and manage an insurance policy can feeling daunting, especially for small businesses that don’t have a

If you are interested in obtaining a no obligation quotation from an agency with over 50 years of experience in the toy industry, please contact Bob or Jason today.

Jason Welch

President of York-Jersey Underwriters

jawelch@york-jersey.com

732-842-2012 ext. 318

Bob Witkin

Toy Industry & Juvenile Products Specialist

bobwitkin@york-jersey.com 732-842-2012 ext. 331

Serving All Your Insurance Needs Since 1926

Toy

York-Jersey

Underwriters

has been in business since 1926 and has 40 years experience with the Toy Industry. We are licensed in all 50 states and represent many leading insurers as an independent agency. We are successful insurance program managers for speci c industries and are pleased to o er our Liability Insurance Program for the Toy, Hobby & Juvenile Industries.

Jason Welch x318 jawelch@york-jersey.com

Robert Witkin x331 bobwitkin@york-jersey.com

185 Newman Springs Road Tinton Falls, NJ 07724

Available to meet you at the show!

Program Highlights

• A++ rated insurer, $20 Billion in assets.

• Exceeds WalMart and other leading retailers insurance requirements.

• Variable rates based on sales projections.

• Foreign & Domestic liability coverage.

• Blanket additional insured vendors.

• Employee bene ts liability.

• All certi cates and claims handled in house.

• Quick quotation turnaround.

• Product recall expense at no cost from $50,000 to $250,000.

Additional Coverage

• Umbrella up to $50,000,000.

• Ocean Cargo & Property.

• Workers Compensation.

• Commercial Auto.

• Intellectual properties (copyrights, trademarks & patents).

• Cyber, D&O, E&O and EPLI

• US Customs Bond Insurance.

Selling the Castle Panic Line

by Anne-Marie De Witt, Co-owner, Fireside Games

Castle Panic has been a well-loved staple of the board game industry since 2009, and we’re thrilled at the reception the second edition is getting. As customers look for the game and the expansions in your stores, they may have questions about the line we can answer here.

The most common question you may get is “How is the second edition of Castle Panic different than the first edition?”

The game play is the same tense cooperative experience friends and families have been enjoying. The updates are to the art and graphic design, which make the game more inclusive and support color-blind players through enhanced iconography and color.

The likely follow-up question is play the second edition expansions with the first edition base game?”

The answer is yes. Here’s what you need to know about playing each expansion with the first edition base game.

Crowns and Quests: expansion and all of the components are stand alone. Because they don’t intermix in any way with the components of the base game, you can play this expansion without any adjustments.

the monsters and cards in the base game, you’ll want to sleeve the cards so that you can’t see the differences in the backs of the cards if you don’t want any clues about what that card could be. You’ll also want to use the bag that comes in The Wizard’s Tower expansion to mix and draw the monster tokens.

The Dark Titan: Just like The Wizard’s Tower, this expansion includes new monsters and castle cards. You’ll want to sleeve the cards and use the bag from The Wizard’s Tower or mix the tokens in the

bottom of the box and hold it over your head to draw the monster tokens without seeing the backs.

Engines of War: This expansion doesn’t have any new castle cards, so you don’t need sleeves. But it does have new monster tokens, so you’ll want to use one of the methods above so that you don’t see the backs of the tokens.

The next likely question is “What card sleeve size do I need?”

Any brand with a size that’s generally 57 mm x 89 mm will work. The brands we know fit are Orange Mayday Games (57.5 mm x 89 mm) and the Standard American Gamegenic (57 mm x  89 mm).

The best support we offer to sell the games, though, is available in the Marketing Kits for each game on the retailer page of our website. That page can be found at https://firesidegames.com/ retailers/. The kits include sizzle reels and static TV ads, Facebook ads with and without text, printable shelf-talkers, web banners, images of the boxes and game components, and sell sheets.

Theyear was 2010. Kent Displays, a small technology company in Kent, Ohio had just released its first direct-toconsumer product: the Boogie Board LCD Writing Tablet, a distraction-free, battery-powered reusable notepad that featured a liquid crystal writing surface, the likes of which the world had never seen.

On Feb. 9, 2010 an article published by Popular Science catapulted Boogie Board from the depths of the relatively unknown to a national audience of early adopters (don’t call them geeks!) that quickly became intrigued by our newfangled electronic notepad that had the potential to replace paper memo pads and sticky notes.

Since those early days, the gaming community has emerged as an enthusiastic and supportive user group of our products. When featured on numerous YouTube gaming channels, we quickly learned that all types of gamers were using our products to track life totals; write down in-game notes and strategies; and keep score while reducing their paper waste.

Creating Lifetime Partners with Reusable Life Pads

by Ryan Merlene, Sales Manager, Kent Displays

gaming enthusiast himself, takes pride in the fact that people have found Boogie Board to be a useful companion in so many fun and interesting ways.

“We’ve been very pleased to find longstanding interest from the gaming community for a unique, environmentally friendly, reusable and unconnected piece of technology that enables them to jot quick info without turning on and off complex devices,” Khan said.

In the summer of 2022, we further embraced our popularity within the gaming community by introducing an exciting opportunity for local games stores to purchase our best-selling models (Jot, Jot Pocket) imprinted with their store’s branding. The notion of morphing an already popular gaming accessory into

pride to carry these in my store,” Hoffman said. “They’re useful for Magic players, D&D players and pretty much everyone. I’ve sold more than one to someone who just wanted a reusable notepad.”

Jason Garvin, owner of Total Escape Games in Broomfield, Colorado, knew that Boogie Boards would be a hit with competitive Magic players, but he was surprised to find that other types of players found them useful as well.

“We have a lot of Magic players and a good amount of competitive players, so bringing in Boogie Board just made sense,” Garvin stated. “Once we brought them in, we also learned our Commander players love having a doodle-friendly life pad they can mess with during the games. Our staff also love using them

e are happy to share

retail partners. We hope that you’ll Boogie Boards available to the gamers

Jot Reusable Writing Tablet from Kent Displays is perfect for use as a gamer’s life pad, to take down notes or to doodle and draw. Write with the included stylus –even your fingernail – and clear with a button.

Email rmerlene@ kentdisplays.com

Thousand Year Old Vampire from Indie Press Revolution is an award winning solo roleplaying game about remorseless crush of memory over millennia. And vampires. indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/ Thousand-Year-Old-Vampire.html

Block and Key from Inside Up Games helps adventurers excavate 3D blocks and strategically place them on the floor of a long-forgotten temple to fulfill key card objectives. Email sales@insideupgames.com

Bananya: The Card Game and its Expansion Packs from Japanime Games is about collecting many variations of kittens in bananas, each more lovely than the next. New themed expansion packs offer more variations. japanimegames.com/collections/bananya-the-card-game

Outsiders from Legend Story Studios is a standalone booster set that takes fans down into the Pits. This is the first Flesh and Blood draftable set to feature multiple heroes within each class.

fabtcg.com

The Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game Core Book from Magpie Games features full-color art, core rules, guidance for playing in one of five different eras, examples for quick and easy play and 10 playbook archetypes. magpiegames.com

More than 100 hours of seminars and 3 game nights Exhibit hall featuring 200+ game publishers

Receive a free night’s stay per night booked through the GAMA EXPO hotel portal

Participating retailers receive the Retailer Appreciation Box containing more than $1750 in gaming products delivered straight to your store

EXPO Update

Mark your calendars for the 2023 GAMA EXPO which will be held April 24-28, 2023 at the Peppermill Casino & Resort in Reno, Nevada.

GAMA EXPO is the professional trade show of the tabletop games industry featuring four days of peer-to-peer seminars and panel discussions, review and demos of new products. GAMA EXPO provides a welcoming environment to network and build your business with a multitude of professional in our industry. You must be a member of the Game Manufacturers Association to attend the trade show. All member companies receive two complimentary badges to the show as part of your membership. It is the best $300 you will spend this year!

“Ourbusiness model and success was heavily influenced by our experience at GAMA last year. Between the various educational seminars, the vendors, and the networking, we came back from Reno with a new vision! Silver Dragon Games would not be the amazing destination experience it has become where all our customers feel welcome and comfortable without our new friends and experiences we met at GAMA.”

– Scott DeBoard, Silver Dragon Games, Peoria, Arizona

Retailer Room Promotion

We will once again be offering Retailer

“Book A Night, Get A Night”

promo. When a retail store books a night at the Peppermill, GAMA will cover up to $99 towards an additional night –maximum of two additional nights per retail store.

Visit gama.org/page/gamaexpo for more information on the schedule and links to reserve your hotel room.

GAMA Business Book Club

The phrase “Work on It, Not Just In It” has been part of business vernacular for more than 35 years, ever since Michael Gerber coined it “The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It” in 1995. One of the core lesson from this book is that is helpful to surround oneself with others facing the same struggles to support and learn from. There are many ways to do this, and GAMA offers many educational programs throughout the year and at GAMA EXPO and Origins Trade Day focusing on peer-to-peer education.

For 2023 we are looking at other ways to support industry professionals. On method we are exploring is the launch of a new monthly business book club for members to gather via zoom for a focused discussion on a book or report to look for ways to grow our businesses together. These monthly sessions will be moderated by GAMA Executive Director John Stacy, with the reading list curated by the members of the club.

We will be sending out a doodle poll to determine the best day and date for the monthly meeting. The call will be recorded for those unable to attend live. For more information and to sign up, please visit https://bit.ly/GAMABookClub .

Committee Volunteers Needed

While there are many ways to be involved in helping to grow and support the industry, volunteering on one of GAMA’s committees is a great way to be part of the exciting programs we are working on for 2023.

The following committees are looking for members for this year:

Code of Conduct Committee – This committee deals with issues related to the Code of Conduct and the conduct of association members, with rights and responsibilities that shall be set forth in a policy approved by the Board of Directors.

Diversity and Inclusion Committee – The committee is looking for help with its Training Team to create and develop educational material and programs around diversity and inclusion for the industry.

Education Committee – This committee assists the GAMA staff to create workshops and seminars in support of the various membership groups. It also works to generate ideas and recruit presenters for both GAMA EXPO and the Origins Trade Day program. Marketing Expansion – The committee is focused on growing and promoting the tabletop games industry to new markets and players for our member’s products.

Membership Committee – This committee deals with issues of membership applications and definitions, with rights and responsibilities that shall be set forth in a policy approved by the Board of Directors. It serves as a sounding board to GAMA staff regarding new programs and services for the association members.

If you would like more information on serving on one of these committees, contact John Stacy at john.stacy@gama.org or call 614-255-4500 x101.

by Philip Reed, CEO, Steve Jackson Games

The first time I took a playtest copy of Gelatinous to dinner, we interrupted nearby diners every time a die rolled off the table and bounced, landing under someone’s chair. Roll, roll, bounce. “Excuse me. I’m just getting my die.” Trust me, you get some weird looks when you’re almost 50 and crawling under the tables at a steak house.

In Gelatinous, each player is a blob of goo that wishes to acquire enough dice to grow into a cube and win. The game is as fast as silly as they come, and it’s a hit every time I introduce it to kids.

Each player starts the game with seven dice and needs eight to win, but the only results that push you closer to victory are the “threes.” “Ones” and “sixes” are bad – those results help your opponents by giving them your dice – the “threes” are what you’re looking for. The first player to stack eight dice each showing a “three” – in a 2x2x2

Embracing Random, Silly Fun with Gelatinous

arrangement – builds their Gelatinous cube and wins the game!

Gelatinous might be even more ridiculous than I’ve made it sound. As someone who has watched as millions of Munchkin games and expansions have sold in stores across the world, I can guarantee you that silly is a good thing. Silly sells … again and again.

We first introduced Gelatinous to retailers at the GAMA show in 2020. We felt Gelatinous would make a great game to show off at conventions and in stores, so we had a relatively small run of blister-carded games manufactured. We had just started to work up a release plan … and then the world changed. Suddenly, a dice-chucking game of silly nonsense became a much tougher title to promote. We knew the best way to market the game was with demos, and, as you may recall, in-person demos weren’t really a thing after GAMA 2020. But the games were on the way to our warehouse and they needed to be sold, so we rolled up our sleeves and did the best

we could.

How did we do? Not bad at all! As a direct-sales item, we officially sold a few thousand copies of the Gelatinous dice game, and the response was so favorable that we decided to return to the factory for a second run. We upgraded to a window box (to show off the dice), added coasters (that serve as cheat sheets) and kept the custom dice bag. Once you’ve opened the box, the entire game fits in the bag. It’s a great travel game!

Gelatinous is available now, either through our distribution partners or from our online store, Warehouse 23. If you wish to order Gelatinous or our other games and need a direct account, email retailers@sjgames.com for support. We think this one will be a hit with families, and we look forward to teaching the game at conventions this year … and for many years to come!

A Special Look Behind the Development of the House Of X

Therecent House of X storyline in Marvel Comics has completely changed all of Mutantkind we know it. Vs. System 2PCG players will be thrilled to know that these new conflicts, characters and locations can be experienced in the upcoming Heroes of Krakoa Story Arc.

This story arc includes the GiantSized 200-card Vs. System 2PCG: House of X, as well as the 55-card Vs. System 2PCG: The New Brotherhood and Vs. System 2PCG: X-Force. Product Developer Vito Munoz gives us a special look into development and inspiration behind Vs. System 2PCG: House of X, which will be the first issue of the Heroes of Krakoa Story Arc.

“We wanted to highlight the major events of the House of X and Powers of X storylines by revisiting one of the oldest teams in the game,” said Munoz. “We developed this set to both meet the expectations of the existing player base and act as a new player jump on point featuring the major teams in the Mutant struggle.”

The X-Men Team Affiliation hasn’t

by Jade Sigmund, Marketing Coordinator, Entertainment Products

been featured as a primary team in the game since the original base set, Vs. System 2PCG: The Marvel Battles, released seven years ago. We decided now was the best time to reintroduce the X-Men Team Affiliation for a variety of reasons. Notably, the comic storylines of House of X/Powers of X have been very well-received.

It also provided us with an excellent opportunity to pay homage to many updates and changes to both X-Men and Brotherhood teams over the years. All of the stunning card art in this story arc is sourced from the House of X/Powers of X comics, allowing fans of the comic storyline to fully immerse themselves as the Heroes and Villains in the ongoing Mutant world.

Not only does Vs. System 2PCG: House of X return X-Men into the hands of players, it also brings back the first Giant-Sized, 200-card issue since Vs. System 2PCG: The Civil War Battles in 2021. When our product development team started planning and developing our next Giant-Sized issue, they made

good use of the greater card count to fully explore everything that the current X-Men storyline has to offer. Vs. System 2PCG: House of X gives prominence to characters from both Charles Xavier’s X-Men and Magneto’s Brotherhood. The second issue, Vs. System 2PCG: The New Brotherhood is a supplementary expansion for Magneto’s Brotherhood, and the third issue, Vs. System 2PCG: X-Force, is a supplementary expansion for Professor X’s newest team.

The Heroes of Krakoa Story Arc, especially the Vs. System 2PCG: House of X, is a perfect issue for new players to jump into Vs. System 2PCG. All three issues bring returning mechanics and keywords, and the Giant-Sized makes an ideal entry point into the trading card game. Experienced and competitive players won’t want to miss House of X either because our upcoming organized play materials and promos will be themed to this issue. Look forward to House of X and the rest of the Heroes of Krakoa Story Arc as it will change the world of Vs. System 2PCG as we know it!

From the makers of Munchkin® come two more silly ways to spend your time!

Grocery store frozen pizza. Ignore the inner dice. e closest pizza parlor that o ers delivery. A national pizza chain, youngest player’s choice. A national pizza chain, oldest player’s choice.

Unsure of which pizza to order for game night? Roll the die and let the dice decide your fate. Need more than one pie? Roll again, disregarding the outer die. (Unless you don’t mind ordering from more than one restaurant.) Flip

mound

is is a great game to play BEFORE the game you play before you start the real game.