The American arm of high IQ society Mensa has unveiled the latest crop of board games winning its Mensa Select seal, which are voted on by hundreds of organisation members during an annual four-day gaming marathon.

Alex Cutler and Peter C Hayward both saw two of their creations win the seal this year, including their co-design Critter Kitchen, Hayward’s Things in Rings and Cutler’s A Place for All My Books – which he co-created with Michael Mihealsick.

Things in Rings publisher Allplay also saw its title Twinkle Twinkle, designed by Ammon Anderson, pick up a Select seal, while other winners this year included Matthew O’Malley and Ben Rosset’s Fromage, Yoann Levet’s Got Five and Tomáš Holek design Galileo Galilei.

Entries to the annual Mensa Mind Games are judged on aesthetics, instructions, originality, play appeal and play value, Mensa says, with the award aiming to highlight games that are original in concept, challenging and well-designed.

Not all games released during the past year are eligible for the award, however – entries carry a fee of several hundred dollars each, and games up for consideration need to have an average play time of 90 minutes or less.

Barnes & Noble and other major retailers have previously given special consideration to games bearing the Mensa Select seal, while winning games are also featured by American Mensa’s official online retailers and on its website.

Fromage is the most decorated of this year’s seal winners, having previously won the Origins Award for best light strategy game, as well as picking up nominations for medium game of the year, most innovative game and best artwork in the 2024 Golden Geek Awards.

Things in Rings was previously nominated in both the Golden Geeks and Origins Awards in the best party game category.

Last year’s Mensa Select seal winners included Agueda: City of Umbrellas, Diatoms, Hutan, In the Footsteps of Marie Curie and Farms Race: Deluxe Edition.

This year’s Mensa Select seal winners in full:

• A Place for All My Books – designed by Alex Cutler and Michael Mihealsick (published by Smirk & Dagger Games)
• Critter Kitchen – Alex Cutler and Peter C Hayward (Cardboard Alchemy)
• Fromage – Matthew O’Malley and Ben Rosset (R2i Games)
• Galileo Galilei – Tomáš Holek (Capstone Games)
• Got Five – Yoann Levet (Blue Orange Games)
• Things in Rings – Peter C Hayward (Allplay)
• Twinkle Twinkle – Ammon Anderson (Allplay)

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Lucky Duck Games, the board game publisher behind European localisations of major hits such as Dune Imperium and Cascadia, is scaling back that side of its operations to prioritise development of its own designs.

Scott Morris, the company’s global brand director, told BoardGameWire that while localisation had been an important part of the business over the years it was “resource intensive” and dependent on external factors – adding that developing in-house titles provided “more opportunity for long-term value”.

Lucky Duck has become a varied operator in the modern hobby games industry since it was founded in 2016, growing from a small design studio running Kickstarter campaigns into a global publisher, localiser and distributor with offices across Poland, the US, France, Italy and the UK.

That localisation activity has been centred most heavily around Lucky Duck’s home of Poland and early expansion country France, with the company becoming known for local language version of strategy titles and big-selling games such as Too Many Bones, Flamecraft and The Isle of Cats.

But Lucky Duck has a big hitter of its own in the Chronicles of Crime series of games, which have sold more than one million copies worldwide, and Morris told BoardGameWire the company was also “very confident” in its other recent releases Borealis: Arctic Expeditions, Purrramid and Oakspire.

He said, “We also have several games in development we have not announced yet, but we are very excited about. The team knows how to make fun and engaging games, which, at the end of the day, focus on our goal: bringing smiles to gamers everywhere.”

Lucky Duck was bought by Rummikub manufacturer Goliath two years ago – and Morris said the global distribution opportunity offered by such a high-profile mass market player was part of the reason behind the strategy shift.

He said, “Since the acquisition, there has been a focus on leveraging Goliath’s global distribution network and operational scale. This includes expanding access to new retail channels and improving production and logistics capabilities.

“These changes are ongoing, but they are already opening new opportunities for our titles to reach wider audiences. We have seen significant growth in these new channels and are excited to continue to introduce our games to new retailers and customers.”

Morris was at pains to clarify that Lucky Duck is not ceasing all localisation activities, which was the impression given to some readers of a recent announcement about the changes on its French Facebook page.

He said, “I can understand how the announcement was received that way and we will work to make our announcements clearer in the future.

“We have decided to not localize some items we originally planned to, and we’re working with those partners to find the best solutions for everyone, in those situations. The decision is part of a broader strategic evolution, rather, and is not a France-specific decision.

“We are refining how we approach the different markets, with a greater emphasis on publishing and developing our own titles globally, while continuing to work with partners where the right opportunities exist.”

Some of those planned localisations which will now not go ahead include the French localisation of Cascadia Alpine Lakes, published by Flatout Games, which was only announced by Lucky Duck a few weeks ago.

Morris said the strategic shift did not affect the company’s Global Publishing Network operation, which is a separate business unit that acts as a localisation agency, connecting publishers and distribution buyers who localize in their regions.

He said, “Matt Goldrick leads this initiative for us and it has continued to be a stable, growing, and exciting part of the industry.”

It might appear that developing and publishing home-grown designs is a much riskier proposition than localising already popular titles which gamers are keen to get hold of in their language – but Morris said both approaches carry different types of risk.

He told BoardGameWire, “With the support of Goliath’s global infrastructure, we are in a stronger position to manage risks effectively. While localization benefits from existing demand, original publishing allows us to build long-term value, strengthen our own brand identity, and deeper our engagement with the players.

“We have a very talented design and development team in Poland, led by Michal Szewczyk, that has produced award winning games.

“Toriki: Castaway Island has won several European gaming awards, [the recently-released] Purrramid was just names as a finalist for ASTRA’s best family game in their Play Awards, and of course, the highly successful and touted Chronicles of Crime series is continuing with our recent successful Kickstarter for the Beyond Doubt series of new games.”

He added, “By prioritizing internally developed titles, we have greater control over product development, timelines, and long-term brand building.”

Goliath CEO Jochanan Golad said at the time of the Lucky Duck takeover that it saw two major growth areas in games: adult party games and strategy games – but some publishers have begun to move away from larger box, complex titles and towards lighter, smaller games recently amid the fallout from last year’s US tariffs chaos.

Morris confirmed to BoardGameWire that strategy games “remain a key area of growth”, saying, “Our strategy reflects confidence in that segment, alongside opportunities in other categories.

“The Lucky Duck brand is focused primarily on strategy games… we’re both very happy with our recent releases, the reception they have seen, and our upcoming titles to announce soon!”

He added, “Tariffs have added significant pressure across the entire industry, affecting production costs and pricing strategies. It has been extremely hard to see our industry hit so negatively, and see so many people’s livelihoods, and in some cases, life’s work, stretched to, and beyond their breaking points.

“Like many publishers, we’ve had to adapt by optimizing supply chains and planning more carefully around manufacturing and distribution decisions.

“I strongly believe that our acquisition by Goliath could not have been timed better with regards to the tariff situation. Their global supply chain and logistics management helped us navigate the waters better than we could have prior to the acquisition.”

Lucky Duck continues to run Kickstarter campaigns for its own designs – most recently with Oakspire, which has raised just over €133,000 with about seven days of the campaign left to run, and Chronicles of Crime: Beyond Doubt, which pulled in about €373,500 last November.

The company has hit choppy water with some of its unfulfilled Kickstarter campaigns, however, with heavy delays for €1m-raising The Dark Quarter – which was initially expected to deliver to backers in October 2023 – and Into the Godsgrave, which was slated for fulfillment in December 2024.

Morris said of Into The Godsgrave, “As with many large-scale projects, with unique designs, timelines can shift due to the complexity of production, logistics, and ensuring the final product meets expectations.

“The team has prioritized quality and delivery experience, which has contributed to the revised timeline. Our team, specifically Ben Poole our community manager, has worked hard to keep everyone updated through our project updates as to the status and milestones.

“We’re excited to get that game into players hands and on their tables. It’s a very fun and unique experience that I believe will impress.”

Regarding The Dark Quarter, he added, “Similar factors applied here, particularly around production and app development, plus global logistics challenges. Goliath’s strengths here will help us mitigate those risks in the future.

“We’ve worked hard to ensure the final product met the standard expected by backers, even if that required additional time and we have seen many positive responses as fulfillment progressed.

“I’m paraphrasing a famous quote, but as a wise man once said, a delayed game can be eventually good but a rushed game can be forever bad.”

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The president of hobby games trade organisation GAMA, Nicole Brady, has failed in her bid to be re-elected to the role, with vice president Meredith Placko instead being voted in by the board of directors.

Brady, who spent two years as president of GAMA, had been a key driver of a plan for the organisation to become the “epicentre” of global tabletop gaming, underpinned by the unveiling of its first-ever 10-year plan last October.

She was also the organisation’s first female president on her May 2024 election, which at the time also saw the first all-women lineup for GAMA’s board officers in its then 47-year history.

New president Placko is the co-founder of hobby paint company Turbo Dork, and spent two years as CEO of Munchkin publisher Steve Jackson Games before resigning in April last year.

She began a two-year term representing publishers on the non-profit organisation’s board in March 2025, and was elected as GAMA vice president by the board of directors a month later.

Critical Role marketing manager Ross Thompson was elected as the new vice president at yesterday’s board of directors meeting, while Southern Hobby Distribution‘s Tiffany Reid and Red Racoon Games‘ Jamie Mathy were both re-elected as secretary and treasurer respectively.

Speaking to BoardGameWire about her win, Placko said, “I want to thank Nicole Brady for her work as president over the last few years, especially for establishing the strategic vision.

“I applaud the work that has been done on that 10-year vision. The next step is to turn it into a strategic plan. I do believe it will need evaluation and tweaking, as it very much is a living vision. As GAMA’s needs change, we must be prepared to adapt. 

She added “As a trade organization, we should focus on strengthening and expanding the core elements that benefit our industry.

“GAMA is at a critical juncture: we’ve seen turnover in the last year, we’re about to start the executive director search, and our industry has endured more than its share of crises, including tariffs and economic uncertainty.

“When I pitched myself to my fellow board members, and now to the membership at large, my experiences as an executive and leader in business and the news industry have prepared me to help turn our goals into a solid foundation for which the organization can continue to grow.”

She added, “Another important issue for me is that as a trade organization, we must lead the way on critical industry matters. Everything from timely updates and actionable measures regarding tariffs and related issues.

“To keep our members informed about domestic and international regulatory changes. And educating and organizing membership on how to advocate for the issues we face at local and federal levels.

“But, none of this can be done by one person alone. It’s imperative that the board works together on all of this. And we work with our committees and leadership at GAMA to turn these ideas and needs into actionable items.

“While I may have a strong vision for what GAMA should be as a trade organization, the decision is not mine alone. The board, the staff, and most importantly the membership drive this organization and make it great.

“Ultimately, one of my most important jobs is ensuring the board is part of the process every step of the way.”

Brady told BoardGameWire she was proud to have created “a strong foundation that future leadership will be able to build on”, despite “people throwing tack strips on the road in front of me”.

She said, “I am proud of the many things I have done to help advance the organization, including making history as GAMA’s first female president.

“My greatest accomplishment as president was spearheading GAMA Vision 2035 at the fall 2024 strategic planning session. We put together a big picture of what we wanted for the future and that focused on becoming the epicenter for tabletop gaming.

“It included expanding internationally and domestically in a meaningful way, creating large scale marketing initiatives (think ‘Got Milk?’), building partnerships, launching a speaker’s bureau, establishing a 501(c)(3) for charitable work, providing educational certification and so much more.”

Brady told BoardGameWire last year that the Vision 2035 ten-year plan was an attempt to get the organisation away from “playing whack-a-mole” on important issues rather than managing them in a long-term strategy.

The array of plans spread across the next decade include boosting its membership within both hobby games and the mass market, expanding itself into a global organisation, shifting its finances away from the current heavy reliance on the annual GAMA Expo and Origins shows, and leading the conversation on sustainability within the industry.

Brady also highlighted her work push GAMA towards global lobbying, legislation and advocacy, over and above initiatives such as the organisation’s trip to DC last year to lobby against the US tariffs situation.

She added, “As treasurer, I called for an audit to address concerns I witnessed. That audit has finally wrapped up thanks to our current Treasurer taking over the project when it stalled and will result in changes that improve the record keeping and financial practices.

“Even with people throwing tack strips on the road in front of me, I was able to create a strong foundation that future leadership will be able to build on.

“I know I have made a lasting positive difference. Many people have shared publicly that my leadership is the reason they joined GAMA, renewed their memberships or have renewed faith in the future of GAMA.

“I did a lot of relationship repair behind the scenes. Seeing positive news instead of constant negativity is a testament to that hard work.”

The GAMA Board of Directors is comprised of twelve individuals elected to represent the six voting membership groups – publishers, retailers, wholesalers, production, media and events, and creators – with half of the cohort up for election each year.

That board in turn elects GAMA’s four officers – president, vice-president, treasurer and secretary – from among themselves each year, with the winner requiring a majority of the 12 votes available.

The current board of directors also includes John Stephens from Total Escape Games, Drew Wehrle from Wehrlegig Games, Heather O’Neill from 9th Level Games, former president Eric Price from Meijia Board Game Factory, Michael Maggiotto Jr from BEST Human Capital & Advisory Group, LegalWATCH’s Eartha Johnson, and Danny O’Neill from Mood Publishing.

GAMA is currently working to secure a permanent replacement for its previous executive director John Stacy, who left the association last October just after the ten-year plan had been revealed.

Leadership consultant Zaria Davis was named as interim executive director last November, while GAMA hired its first COO last September in Melinda Prickett.

Placko told BoardGameWire, “I want to give credit and thanks to Melinda Prickett, GAMA’s COO, who has stepped up in so many ways since John Stacy’s departure. She and the GAMA staff are doing an incredible job.

“Many changes have occurred at the operational level and much work is happening behind the scenes. Melinda and the staff have taken to it all with such earnestness and gusto.

“While the board may have seen a change in leadership, we are a small piece of the GAMA puzzle. I want to make sure Melinda, and the staff who are doing the heavy lifting of this organization, get the recognition they deserve.”

Last month GAMA’s board of directors apologised for some of its elected leaders being “rude and disrespectful” during a “heated” annual general meeting at the recent GAMA Expo trade show.

This year’s GAMA Expo sealed another record attendance, ahead of its planned move to Baltimore in 2027 to contend with rapidly growing demand.

More than 3,820 attendees showed up to this year’s event in Louisville, Kentucky, up almost 12% on last year’s previous record of 3,425 – which had already left the show pressed for space across the exhibition hall and its extensive programme of seminars.

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French board game designer association SAJ has renamed itself to make its title more inclusive to women and non-binary people, as well as to better underscore its status as a union.

The Société des Auteurs de Jeux – which translates as society of game designers – was formed in 2017 through the merger of three separate groups, and currently represents more than 800 individual designers.

The organisation has now been rebranded as the Syndicat des Auteurices de Jeux – the Union of Game Designers – following a vote at its annual general meeting at the Festival International des Jeux in Cannes.

SAJ president Audrey Bondurand told BoardGameWire, “We wanted to change this name for two reasons: first, we have officially been a union for several years now, and we wanted our name to reflect that.

“Second, in French, ‘auteur’ is not a gender-neutral word, but a masculine one. ‘Auteurice’ is a contraction of ‘auteur’ and ‘autrice’ (the feminine form). We chose this neologism to include women and non-binary people.”

Bondurand, who worked in a board game cafe and in distribution before publishing her first game, Draky, said part of SAJ’s remit was advocating for the recognition of board games as cultural works, something which is “unfortunately still not the case today in France or in Europe”.

The organisation also offers contract reviews, mediation, accounting advice sessions and general support for designers in the industry, much like its US-based peer the Tabletop Game Designers Association and Germany’s SAZ.

Bondurand added, “Regarding the use of AI, we openly support the position of the CIL (our illustrator colleagues) in opposing generative AI in our published games.”

SAJ said a new website featuring its rebranded title is currently under construction, with the organisation’s existing email addresses currently operating as normal.

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Almost a year of uncertainty over the future of board game publisher Greater than Games has been partially resolved, with Flat River Group selling the brand name, and the rights for the Sentinels of the Multiverse titles, to Handelabra Games.

Video game developer Handelabra has a long history with the comics-themed cooperative card game, having spent more than a decade creating digital versions of the title and its expansions – as well as for Greater than Games’ best known release, Spirit Island.

Spirit Island is not part of Handelabra’s deal, however, which the company said only covers the Sentinels of the Multiverse games, the Sentinel Tactics range, the Sentinel Comics RPG, Sentinels miniatures and the cooperative deck-builder Galactic Strike Force.

Flat River laid off the vast majority of staff and suspended new projects at Spirit Island publisher Greater than Games in April last year, blaming “ongoing economic pressures resulting from the international tariff crisis”.

The distribution and e-commerce specialist was bought six years ago by private equity investor Guardian Capital Partners, which provided capital for a string of tabletop industry acquisitions.

They included an expansion into board game publishing in 2021 with the buyout of Greater than Games, which it followed a year later with deals for Canadian publisher Synapses Games and hobby game distributor Luma Imports.

Flat River sold Synapses Games to ACD Distribution last summer, at the same time as industry veterans Jules Vautour, Colin Young and Danni Loe left Flat River to revive Luma as part of ACD.

A statement from Handelabra president and CEO Jaye Handel said the company had made the GtG and Sentinels deal to protect its ability to make digital games in that IP, adding that it was “not interested in becoming a tabletop publisher”.

But the statement added, “But lucky for us, we know a lot of good people who are good at exactly that type of business…”

That is believed to refer to Greater than Games trio Christopher Badell, Paul Bender and Adam Rebottaro, who founded the company in 2011 and were the last remaining employees following Flat River’s downsizing of GtG last year.

Handelabra CEO Handel told BoardGameWire he was unable to share further details, but said that his company was “very excited about the future of Sentinel Comics on digital and analog tabletops and beyond”.

He added, “Handelabra Games’ and Flat River Group’s relationship with regards to Spirit Island has not changed.”

The company’s recent statement from Handel indicated it would be able to provide more information about Greater than Games’ future by April 28, which is National Super Hero Day in the US.

It said, “For your ongoing support and excitement, we remain eternally grateful. We just ask for a little more patience over the coming weeks as we have lots to share, and we can’t wait to embark on the next phase of this journey with you!”

Flat River did not respond to BoardGameWire’s request for comment on the future of Spirit Island or other former Greater than Games-published titles.

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The American Tabletop Awards, an awards scheme launched seven years ago with the aim of being the US equivalent of Germany’s Spiel des Jahres, has unveiled its 2026 winners.

Racing games published by CMYK triumphed in both the Early Gamers and Casual Games awards this year, with Richard Garfield’s new implementation of Takashi Ishida’s 2003 design Magical Athlete scooping the former, and Jon Perry’s chaotic mascot racer Hot Streak the latter.

ATTA’s Early Gamers award is focused on titles suitable for younger gamers and players new to modern board gaming, while the Casual Games awards looks at games suitable for all experience levels that can be played in 30 to 60 minutes.

This year’s Strategy Games prize went to Matt Leacock’s pandemic spinoff The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship, while the Complex Games title went to Jo Kelly’s and Cole Wehrle’s design Molly House, which explores the joy and fear experienced by gender-defying Londoners in 18th century society.

CMYK was the standout publisher with two wins out of the four categories. Asmodee studios won one award and picked up three other nominations, while Flatout Games picked up recommendations for both Cascadia Junior and Knitting Circle.

Alex Cutler was the only designer to appear twice among the finalists, scoring a nomination for his co-design Critter Kitchen and a recommendation for co-design A Place For All My Books.

The ATTAs are voted on by members of the US board game media, who each submit up to five games from the previous calendar year, which are then ordered according to ranked-choice vote.

ATTA’s committee includes GAMA president and SAHMReviews.com founder and owner Nicole Brady, Jessica Fisher, the co-founder of Gameosity and the Tabletop Game Jobs Facebook group, and Good Time Society pair Ruel Gaviola and Becca Scott.

Awards co-founder Eric Yurko, who runs board game review site What’s Eric Playing?, said, “The past few years have been great for games, and 2025 was no exception.

“There were great moments and releases throughout, so we’re very excited to present these awards to the best games we played in 2025.”

Last year’s ATTA winners were Captain Flip, The Gang, Let’s Go! To Japan and Fromage.

The 2026 American Tabletop Awards finalists

Early Gamers
Winner: Magical Athlete – designed by Richard Garfield and Takashi Ishida (published by CMYK Games)
Nominated: The Sandcastles of Burgundy – Stefan Feld and Susanne Feld (Ravensburger)
Nominated: Splendor Kids – Marc André and Catherine André (Space Cowboys / Asmodee)
Recommended: Cascadia Junior – Fertessa Allyse and Randy Flynn (Flatout Games)
Recommended: Duck and Cover – Oussama Khelifati (Captain Games)

Casual Games
Winner: Hot Streak – Jon Perry (CMYK Games)
Nominated: The Fellowship of the Ring – Trick-Taking Game – Bryan Bornmueller (Office Dog / Asmodee)
Nominated: 7 Wonders Dice – Antoine Bauza (Repos Production / Asmodee)
Recommended: FlipToons – Jordy Adan and Renato Simões (Thunderworks Games)
Recommended: A Place For All My Books – Alex Cutler and Michael Mihealsick (Smirk and Dagger Games)

Strategy Games
Winner: The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship – Matt Leacock (Z-Man Games / Asmodee)
Nominated: Critter Kitchen – Alex Cutler and Peter C. Hayward (Cardboard Alchemy)
Nominated: Kinfire Council – Kevin Wilson (Incredible Dream)
Recommended: Knitting Circle – Emily Vincent (Flatout Games)
Recommended: Moon Colony Bloodbath – Donald X Vaccarino (Rio Grande Games)

Complex Games
Winner: Molly House – Jo Kelly and Cole Wehrle (Wehrlegig Games)
Nominated: Tidal Blades 2: Rise of the Unfolders – Tim Eisner and Ben Eisner (Druid City Games)
Nominated: Covenant – Germán P Millán (Devir)
Recommended: Above and Below: Haunted – Ryan Laukat (Red Raven Games)
Recommended: Galactic Cruise – TK King, Dennis Northcott and Koltin Thompson (Kinson Key Games)

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Asmodee arm Fantasy Flight Games is discontinuing the latest iteration of its veteran dungeon crawler Descent, citing rising manufacturing costs, “global economic shifts” and the expense of developing the game’s companion app.

FFG launched Descent: Legends of the Dark five years ago as the successor to its popular 2005 release, Descent: Journeys in the Dark, and a more streamlined second edition from 2012.

All three games featured large amounts of plastic miniatures, cardboard terrain pieces and map tiles, while Legends of the Dark also leaned into an integrated companion app to help manage campaigns and individual scenarios.

A statement from FFG announcing the end of the game said, “Simply put, the game is too expensive to make. Between ever-increasing manufacturing costs, lengthy and pricey app development timelines, and global economic shifts making everything more expensive to produce, it became abundantly clear that continuing to make this game is just not feasible.

“This is far from the outcome we wanted – again, we all love this game and hoped to see it grow for years to come – but even if we were to sell every last copy, we would still ultimately be doing so at a loss.

“In a fiercely-competitive board game industry, that simply isn’t sustainable, and because of circumstances outside of FFG’s control, there are no adjustments we could make that could lower costs enough to continue printing the game.”

That competition for Descent has come in the form of huge crowdfunding successes for titles such as Gloomhaven and Frosthaven – the latter of which sealed one of the biggest Kickstarter campaigns of all time by raising almost $13m in 2020.

Other competitors in the space have included CMON’s Massive Darkness series – based on its huge-selling Zombicide system – which has raised more than $10m across a trio of crowdfunds since 2017.

Using crowdfunding for those large-scale, component-heavy games has helped publishers Cephalofair and CMON reduce the risk of developing expensive titles by being able to accurately gauge demand, as well as receiving financial backing for the projects up front.

Even with that data, however, both publishers have run into problems amid the heavy global economic uncertainty over the last couple of years – especially around volatile US tariff policy aimed at countries such as China, where the vast majority of board games are manufactured.

CMON is currently battling enormous losses from the past two years, while Cephalofair has had to navigate significant delivery delays alongside the frequently shifting import taxes situation, which last year saw US tariffs on China whipsaw as high as 145% before being reduced to a still significant 30%.

Asmodee has almost entirely avoided crowdfunding for its own games to date, with its only launched campaign believed to be Lookout Games’ Kickstarter for the Grand Austria Hotel: Let’s Waltz! Expansion & Deluxe Upgrade, which raised about €383,000 during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

Its only other prior exposure to crowdfunding is thought to be via the company Exploding Kittens, in which it made a strategic investment short of a buyout in 2021. That business has since raised more than $977,000 in a Kickstarter campaign for Hand to Hand Wombat the following year.

But the board game giant is currently preparing to dip its toes into crowdfunding proper through a Gamefound campaign for Zombicide: Dead Men Tales, having picked up the IP from financially-troubled CMON last summer.

The campaign follows Asmodee bringing in David Preti, the former COO of CMON, in May last year to head up a newly-launched crowdfunding and miniatures operation.

Both Zombicide and fellow CMON acquisition Cthulhu: Death May Die – a series which has raised almost $10m via crowdfunding – are now part of Fantasy Flight alongside Descent, although Asmodee is yet to reveal if the future of the latter title revolves around crowdfunding campaigns.

Its statement about the end of Descent: Legends of the Dark said, “While we don’t have anything to share at this time, there is always a possibility that we will revisit Descent in the future.

“It would take a different form and would not be Legends of the Dark, but this game universe is near and dear to FFG’s heart.

“The future is always uncertain, and even though we have to close the book on Descent today, we hope that, someday, we’ll be able to dream big with it again.”

FFG’s other major titles currently include collectible card game Star Wars Unlimited, ‘living card games’ Marvel Champions and Arkham Horror: The Card Game, heavyweight space opera board game Twilight Imperium and veteran bluffing and negotiation game Cosmic Encounter.

The company said that although Act III of Descent: Legends of the Dark is no longer in development, the company would continue to support the game’s companion app for the first two acts of the game, albeit without any new content being added.

In February Artefacts Studio unveiled Terrinoth: Heroes of Descent, a video game set in the Descent universe which FFG said “captures the classic dungeon-crawl feeling of the Descent board games in a whole new medium”.

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French board game publisher Fentasy Games has launched a new platform aimed at providing publishers with a more affordable way to get their higher complexity titles into the hands of retailers and gamers.

Company founder and CEO Florian Gigot told BoardGameWire Fentasy had scored several successes since launching towards the end of 2024, including localisations of complex titles El Burro and Stephens – but said its major challenge in that time had been “the structural reality of the traditional distribution model”.

He said, “We realised that for a small publisher, a ‘critical success’ doesn’t always translate to a ‘financial success’ once the middlemen take their cut. The same applies to many of my partners around the world.

“…between squeezed margins, production costs, and trade discounts, even a popular game can become a financial failure. For an independent publisher, this means increasing difficulty in funding subsequent projects – and ultimately, a real risk of going out of business.

“In this context, profitability is no longer a secondary objective, but a condition for survival.”

He added, “This might seem counterintuitive, especially at a time when a game like [Brass: Pittsburgh] is thriving on Gamefound. But that is the exception. So many other expert ‘hidden gems’ deserve a chance to exist.”

Gigot hopes newly launched platform BoardGameCommerce will give publishers of higher complexity games with smaller print runs – of between 500 and 1,000 units – a more sustainable financial option than the traditional board game industry distribution model.

He described BGC as an ‘evolution’ of the P500 scheme successfully employed by wargame and strategy game specialist GMT for more than 20 years, which allows gamers to pre-order still-in-development titles, which then begin final art and development once they reach 500 orders.

Gigot said BGC differs, however, in that Fentasy commits to producing the game the moment it goes onto the platform, saying, “We don’t ask the community to carry the industrial risk – we carry it ourselves because we believe in the project.”

He said that model helps Fentasy and other publishers measure real demand for their titles, as well as giving visibility to game makers that might not be possible amid the plethora of new games battling it out through traditional distribution.

Gigot added that BGC also offers retailers “a professional interface to secure limited stock with high margins of up to 55%”, with no payment required until the game is ready to ship.

He told BoardGameWire, “I absolutely see this growing. In fact, BGC is designed to be an agnostic platform. We are already in talks with other small publishers who face the same ‘strangulation’ within traditional distribution.

“We want to offer them the same resilience we built for ourselves – bringing everyone together on a single, global platform. It makes it much easier for gamers and retailers to find exactly what they are looking for in one place.

“The icing on the cake is that all publishers using the BGC platform have access to a shared licensing ecosystem. For example, if Publisher A adds a game to BGC and is looking for a partner to localise it, Publisher B can check the available licenses for their country and initiate a business discussion immediately.

“BGC takes 0% commission on these deals – the goal is simply to be stronger together.”

Gigot said Fentasy aims to release between three and five titles each year, with about half going through BGC and half, such as its localisation of Animal Rescue Team and upcoming strategy title Microlonies, through traditional distribution.

The publisher’s first release through BGC is Iron Games’ Mesopotamia-themed territory builder Papyria, with future titles set to arrive on the platform before the end of next year including Martin Wallace space exploration design Casus Belli and Masaki Suga’s chocolate industry strategy title Bean to Bar.

Other Iron Games releases available through BGC include Discordia and its Magna expansion, Pandoria and Ploc, while Fentasy’s French localisation of Uwe Rosenberg design Kanal – previously Oranienburger Kanal – is also present on the platform.

But Gigot added, “Titles like Animal Rescue Team and Microlonies will still follow the traditional distribution model. We aren’t abandoning big distribution – we are simply choosing the right tool for the right game.

“There is no ‘hostility’ toward the traditional model – it just isn’t built to sustain niche titles effectively.”

Gigot said Fentasy’s biggest successes since its late 2024 launch have included Kikai – Bricolage Heads, which he said moved more than 4,000 copies “in a short window for a game of its complexity”.

He added that 2026 release Microlonies “is following the same successful path. It proved that a hungry audience exists for deep, high-production-value games”.

Fentasy’s success to date has persuaded Gigot – who runs the company as “a small, agile core team of one person” – to expand its scope internationally, with him telling BoardGameWire the business is moving towards a 60% international / 40% France split.

He said, “We are always looking for new partners to localize our games in their countries and to localise their games into French.

“Our goal for 2027 is to achieve a synchronized BGC launch for our expert line across Europe (Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain) and Canada, China, allowing local publishers / retailers to bypass the heavy costs of international imports.”

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The German branch of high IQ society Mensa has unveiled its full slate of nominees for this year’s MinD Spielepreis.

Mensa in Deutschland has run the awards contest since 2009, and has operated a ‘shorter games’ category for more than a decade and lighter two-player games prize since 2019.

This year’s ‘shorter games’ category will be fought over by titles including 2025 Spiel des Jahres nominee Krakel Orakel, as well as Grégory Grard and Mathieu Roussel’s design Zenith and Take Time from Alexi Piovesan and Julien Prothière.

Word chaining game Next by Verena Wiechens and Lukas Setzke is also up for the shorter game prize – which focuses on titles that play in well under an hour – as is Maldón’s design El Camarero (published in Germany as Chaosteria), and Wilmot’s Warehouse from David King, Ricky Haggett and Richard Hogg.

In the two-player games category, Bruno Cathala’s design Kamon is up against Niwashi, from Gautier de Cottreau and Baptiste Laurent, Junghee Choi’s Orapa and Tobias Tesar’s Perfect Murder.

Playball, designed by David Florsch, will also compete in that category, as will Strategeti by Ignasi Ferré and Suna Valo, designed by Andreas Odendahl (who goes by ode.).

Mensa Deutschland revealed in January that it was changing up the ‘complex games’ category of the awards to focus entirely on expert-level titles, in order to fill what the organisers saw as a gap in the industry.

Jochen Tierbach, who has been organising the MinD Game Award for 16 years, said at the time, “There are already various awards and prizes for family and connoisseur games.

“But for expert games, the really tough ones, there is no such thing in Germany yet. And we feel that the industry wants it.”

The long list of more than 20 expert-level titles was whittled down to six challengers for the complex games award this year: Galactic Cruise, Luthier, Shackleton Base, Speakeasy, Thebai and Thesauros, all of which have been released in Germany since Spiel Essen last October.

Last year’s MinD award for complex games saw Tomáš Holek’s space exploration eurogame SETI add to its array of prizes, while Simone Luciani and Dávid Turczi’s Nucleum triumphed in 2024.

The most recent holder of the MinD shorter game award was 2025 Spiel des Jahres winner Bomb Busters, while 2024 SdJ champion Sky Team was last year’s winner of the best two-player game prize.

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Financially-troubled board game publisher CMON says it plans to relaunch its halted crowdfunding operations later this year, after seeing its annual losses soar to almost $20m in 2025.

CMON pulled the plug on crowdfunding launches and new game development 12 months ago, citing the economic uncertainty created by US tariff hikes – which at the time had reached 145% for China, where the vast majority of hobby board games are manufactured.

But a month later it emerged that CMON’s financial problems had been growing long before the tariffs, with the company announcing it had slumped to a loss of more than $3m in 2024 due to falling sales for its crowdfunding campaigns.

That loss was almost double CMON’s total profits from the prior three years – but the figure is dwarfed by the $19.9m annual loss the company just announced in its 2025 financial results.

CMON’s $23m losses across 2024 and 2025 are now almost 5.5-times larger than its profits from the preceding nine years combined – and have led an independent auditor hired by the company to question whether it has the resources to stay in business for the foreseeable future.

An extract of a report from auditor Zhonghui Anda shared by CMON, which is set to appear in the company’s 2025 annual report next month, considered the publisher’s $19.9m annual loss, its net liabilities of more than $3.5m and contract liabilities of over $7.5m, saying, “These conditions indicate a material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt about the Group’s ability to continue as a going concern.”

CMON’s directors have a different view, however, saying in the 2025 financial report that the company “should be able to continue as a going concern” thanks to a trio of factors.

They include financial support from some of the directors “sufficient to finance CMON’s working capital requirements”, the roughly $2.4m proceeds from selling its Singapore office that it received in January, and the roughly $1.25m gross proceeds from a successful share sale last month.

CMON’s hefty liabilities are largely due to its eight undelivered crowdfunding campaigns, which are not recognised as revenue on the company’s books until they are fulfilled to backers.

They include DC Super Heroes United, which raised more than $4.4m, and DCeased, which brought in over $2.5m. Both campaigns were initially due to be delivered last year, but are now expected to be delivered in Q4 of 2026, according to CMON’s latest estimates.

CMON also has five undelivered pre-order campaigns on its books, including Dune Desert War and the Assassin’s Creed Role Playing Game.

The company said that delivering crowdfunding projects in 2024 contributed about $20m in revenue – a figure which had sunk to just $200,000 last year according to its latest financial report.

CMON said the 2025 losses were driven by a “significant decline in revenue”, which fell more than 73% to $9.9m last year, compared to the $37.3m total from 2024.

It also cited impairment losses on property, plant and equipment, right of-use assets and intangible assets, and a loss it made disposing intellectual properties and related assets as part of its “strategic portfolio restructuring”.

Those IP sales included parting with its most famous and profitable title Zombicide – which has raised more than $40m on Kickstarter since its 2012 launch – to Asmodee, as well as Blood Rage, Rising Sun and Ankh to Tycoon Games.

It followed those by selling the IP for former Mythic Games titles Anastyr and Hel: The Last Saga to Don’t Panic Games in September, and parting with the lucrative Cthulhu: Death May Die IP to Asmodee a month later – the latter a series which has raised almost $10m from backers to date.

CMON said all those sales combined amounted to about $5.1m, but added that it actually made an overall $2.4m loss on disposal of intellectual properties and related assets across 2025.

It also made a $5.7m loss due to undertaking an impairment assessment on some of its property, plant and equipment, right-of-use assets and intangible assets “with finite useful lives”.

CMON said in the financial report, “These actions, while negatively impacting short-term results, were undertaken to strengthen the Group’s operational focus and reduce future cost burden.”

The company’s remaining significant IP includes the Massive Darkness series, with the most recent installment, Massive Darkness: Dungeons of Shadowreach, completing a $2.85m crowdfund on Gamefound early last year – a figure which rose to more than $3.7m including late pledges.

That campaign was CMON’s last before it scrapped its future crowdfunding plans two months later. The company has pivoted in the interim to releasing several small-box games direct to retail, including Collect!, Peanuts Talent Show, Fairy Perfume, Rocket Punch and Yokai Carnival.

Discussing its current strategy in the report, the company said, “In light of the continued uncertainty in the global market, particularly the instability arising from US import tariffs on certain products since the first half of 2025, the Group has taken decisive steps to restructure its operations and strengthen its financial position.

“Our current strategy is to:

• 1) reduce exposure to large-scale crowd-funding launches in the near term, focusing on fulfilment of games already committed to backers, with plans to resume crowdfunding activities in the second half of 2026 with new titles from current game lines;
  
• 2) grow distribution in Asia as a primary strategic market;
  
• 3) maintain a streamlined operational structure with reduced headcount and a smaller office footprint in line with the Group’s current scale of operations; and
  
• 4) maintain a debt-free position following the full repayment of bank borrowings, significantly reducing the Group’s financial liabilities and improving its financial resilience.

“We remain committed to becoming a quality developer and publisher of tabletop games and believe the strategic refocus toward Asia and selective game development will position the Group more sustainably for the future.”

CMON said it had reduced its revenue exposure to the US to about 21.4% of its total across 2025, compared to around 42% for the previous year, through what it described as a “deliberate strategic pivot toward Asia”.

The report showed CMON’s combined North and South America revenue fell more than 86% last year to about $2.1m, from around $15.7m in 2024.

European revenue also fell more than 81% year-on-year, from about $12.7m to around $2.4m. Asia revenue fell too, but much less sharply, down about 33% in 2025 from $8m to around $5.3m.

CMON said in the report, “Notwithstanding this reduced exposure, tariff-related uncertainties may continue to affect future export sales, revenue and gross margin performance in the US market.

“The Group intends to maintain its current reduced focus on the US market until the trade environment stabilises and market conditions improve.”

CMON also revealed the scale of its staffing cuts in the latest report, with headcount falling from 81 at the start of 2025 to just 41 at the beginning of this year.

The report said total staff costs had fallen in that time from about $4m to around $2.8m, including pay for its directors and their pension fund contributions, but it did not provide a breakdown of those numbers.

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Petiquette, Thomas Sellner’s card game of picking out patterns among hat-wearing animals, has been named game of the year at this year’s Golden Box Awards.

The Oink Games-published design fought off competition from 2025 winner Isao Mukai, who was nominated for Banana Governance – a card-based drafting and bidding game which sees players attempt to satisfy the needs of hungry monkeys better than their opponents.

A comment from the selection committee about Petiquette called the title “a brilliant and sharp work typical of Oink”.

It said, “I’ll never forget the shock I felt the first time I played it. The rules are simple: just give the answer that fits in the single ‘?’ on the cards laid out.

“But… the eyes of those who give the same answer feel friendly. The mouths of those who give a different answer seem to twist. The loneliness of desperately trying to explain when you’re the only one who gives a different answer.

“A mix of various emotions. The unique experience of this game really stands out.”

The annual Golden Box contest was launched four years ago, modelled on the American film industry’s Academy Awards. More than 40 industry professionals from within the Japanese board game sphere voted on this year’s award.

In addition to ‘Best Picture’ for the overall game of the year, the awards also celebrate the best in game design, art, graphic design, production and rulebook work through individual awards.

Eve Inc-designed Nusutto Cat – also known as Meow Heist – triumphed in this year’s Game Design Award, while best art went to Totsuca Chuo’s Sweet Lands, which was illustrated by Tatsuki Asano and Broni120.

Moyuki Adisawa’s animal jet ski racing game Tornado Splash picked up the Graphic Design Award thanks to the work of iD Creative Co, while the Production Award went to National Economy and Toshinori Iwai.

The selection committee said of the Production Award win: “It’s great when a great game is revived. It’s even better when a great game is revived in the best possible form.

“This new edition not only makes the seemingly impossible revival of this masterpiece a reality, but also reinterprets it in a more refined way.

“The ‘box within a box’ structure, combining the three parts, is exciting even before you start playing, and the ‘household budget’ mechanism that characterizes this game is implemented clearly and beautifully as a ‘safe’.

“This masterpiece hasn’t lost its appeal even after ten years, and this new edition will be loved for even longer.”

The Rulebook Award, meanwhile, was bestowed upon ForGames-published Down Down Dungeon – a reimplementation of Reiner Knizia’s Cucina Curiosa/Mysterious Dungeons.

Yoshihiko Koriyama worked on the rulebook for that title, with proofreading from Shota Okano and DTP work from Makoto Takami. The selection committee said, “The fact that you can essentially understand the game rules by reading just one page is excellent.” 

A special award was also presented this year to Hisashi Hayashi, after his co-operative bomb disposal game Bomb Busters won last year’s Spiel des Jahres – beating the much-fancied push-your-luck card game Flip 7 to the high-profile award.

The win marked the first Spiel des Jahres triumph for an Asian designer in the prize’s 46-year history, and underscored the huge rise in tabletop designs making their way across from Asia to Europe and North America in the past decade.

Each winner will receive a golden board game box as a trophy.

Last year’s Golden Box Award game of the year prize was won by Isao Mukai and Napopora’s design Umataka, a worker placement game centred around hunter-gatherers making traditional pottery in ancient Japan.

The 2025 Golden Box Board Game Awards in full:

Best Picture

Winner: Petiquette, designed by Thomas Sellner (Published by Oink Games)
Banana Governance, Mukai (Mukai)
The Match Girl Millionaire (Hey!)

Outstanding Game Design

Winner: Nusutto Cat, Eve Inc (Ibuink)
Storm in a Teacup, Kyashi/Ikumo Tasaka (Gomi Kokusai/Waste International)
Switch To: mor! (Yontousei)

Art Award

Winner: Sweet Lands, Totsuca Chuo (Uchibacoya) – art by Tatsuki Asano and Broni120
A Boar, Crab, Dung Beatle, Takuya Iwamura (Kyuhachi Dog) – art by Takuya Iwamura
Ghost Lift, Onegear (Engames) – art by Sai Beppu

Graphic Design Award

Winner: Tornado Splash, Moyuki Adisawa (ArcLight Games) – graphic design by iD Creative
Vidro, Keita Kasagi (Bamboo Games) – graphic design by Kakuzato
Shady Lady, Kaya Miyano (Mob+) – graphic design by Sai Beppu

Best Production

Winner: National Economy, Hiroshi Nishimura (Korokorodou)
Down Down Dungeon, Reiner Knizia (ForGames)
Pose Mania!, Suitashi (Avignon Games)

Best Rulebook

Winner: Down Down Dungeon, Reiner Knizia (ForGames)
Electra Select (The Society for Appreciating Swaying Buds)
Snowp, Eisuke Fujinawa, Kazunori Hori (SzpiLAB)

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French board game publisher Don’t Panic Games has continued its expansion into the North American market, telling BoardGameWire the success of several recent titles had reinforced its confidence in the strategy.

The company has made a name for itself providing French localisations of games including Final Girl, Champions of Midgard and Fantasy Realms since it was co-founded by current director Cédric Littardi in 2013.

But Don’t Panic has also found success publishing its own titles such as Chess-like abstract game Above – and said the performance of that, and several other recent games, had persuaded it to bring more of its titles to North America.

Emma Recher, who will head up a three-person team at Don’t Panic’s new US office in California, told BoardGameWire, “Several recent titles have reinforced our confidence in expanding more directly into the US market.

“Games such as Don’t Wake Up Cthulhu!, Red Panda, Luminis, Maiko, and Above have been especially encouraging for us, and the early response to Spyworld has also been very promising.

“That is one of the reasons we are beginning this US expansion with titles such as Spyworld, Luminis, Above, and Maiko, which are also the titles highlighted in our North American launch announcement.

“We also have additional releases planned each quarter this year, including Don’t Drop the Soap! toward the end of the year.”

Recher also works with Japanime Games, which has distributed licensed Don’t Panic titles such as Attack on Titan: The Last Stand and Cowboy Bebop: Space Serenade into North America.

Don’t Panic said those licensed titles would continue to be distributed by Japanime, while the French company’s historical and war line, including Fighters of the Pacific and Fighters of Europe, will continue to be distributed by Ares Games in the US.

Recher said, “What the new US office changes is that Don’t Panic can now directly support additional English-language titles that were not previously represented in the market in the same way.

“For retailers, that means broader access to the catalog, closer communication, more direct follow-up, and stronger on-the-ground marketing support.”

Don’t Panic added that it would be supported in the US by Double Exposure, which will represent the company at both major and smaller conventions – adding that it had a “robust demo schedule” planned over the next few months.

When asked about Don’t Panic’s decision to expand further in the US despite ongoing uncertainty over the country’s tariffs policy – and its effect on board game publishers working in the country – Recher said, “Like many publishers in tabletop gaming, we are watching the tariff situation very carefully. It creates uncertainty across the supply chain, from manufacturing and freight planning to wholesale pricing and retailer margins.

“Our approach is to stay flexible: planning conservatively, reviewing sourcing and logistics options on an ongoing basis, and working closely with our partners to protect continuity of supply as much as possible.

“The current environment is challenging for everyone in the industry, but we believe the best response is to remain pragmatic, adaptable, and transparent with our partners.”

Last summer Don’t Panic bought the IP for Anastyr and Hel: The Last Saga from board game crowdfunding major CMON, which has been selling off its portfolio of games as part of a fightback against heavy losses.

That deal came just 18 months after CMON had itself acquired the pair of titles from financially-devastated board game crowdfunding specialist Mythic Games, which gave up on fulfilling the two Kickstarter campaigns worth a combined $3.2m.

Don’t Panic has offered backers of Mythic’s Anastyr crowdfund “preferential pricing” on pre-orders of its own version of the game, Anastyr Chronicles, and said in a comment shared on Mythic’s Hel: The Last Sage Kickstarter page that it would make a similar offer when it releases its version of that title.

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Editor’s note: GAMA is one of the sponsors of the BoardGameWire newsletter

Hobby games trade organisation GAMA has revealed the winning candidates in its latest board of directors election, with the organisation’s current president and secretary both retaining their board seats.

President Nicole Brady, who runs review site SAHM Reviews, was re-elected to the board by GAMA’s media and events member group, while treasurer Tiffany Reid from Southern Hobby Distribution won re-election from the wholesale group.

Current GAMA secretary Jamie Mathy – who runs game store Red Racoon Games – was re-elected by the organisation’s ‘Team Retail’ group alongside Red Claw Gaming’s Lea-Anne Welter, while David Wheeler from Dragon’s Lair and Boyd Stephenson from Game Kastle were also voted in as retailer representatives.

One of those four will be selected by Team Retail to fill a retailer seat on the GAMA board of directors, with all successful board candidates working for a two-year term.

The other newly elected members of the GAMA board are Michael Maggiotto Jr, who was selected by GAMA’s production members, Heather O’Neill from 9th Level Games representing publishers, and LegalWATCH’s Eartha Johnson from the creator membership group.

The GAMA Board of Directors is comprised of twelve individuals elected to represent the six voting membership groups, with half of the cohort up for election each year.

That board in turn elects GAMA’s four officers – president, vice-president, treasurer and secretary – each year.

Current GAMA president Brady has been in her current officer role since May 2024, having previously been treasurer of the organisation from the end of 2022.

Brady has been a key driver of GAMA’s current plan to become the “epicentre” of global tabletop gaming, underpinned by the organisation unveiling its first-ever 10-year plan last October.

The array of plans spread across the next decade include boosting its membership within both hobby games and the mass market, expanding itself into a global organisation, shifting its finances away from the current heavy reliance on the annual GAMA Expo and Origins shows, and leading the conversation on sustainability within the industry.

Advocacy and brand protection is also one of its near-term priorities – underscored by the organisation’s recent intensive lobbying and awareness efforts around the impact on the industry of US tariffs.

Those efforts included multiple trips to Washington DC to lobby politicians, conducting dozens of media interviews to highlight the devastating impact of tariffs on the hobby, and supporting two lawsuits disputing Trump’s power to set the tariffs without agreement from the US Congress.

Brady told BoardGameWire earlier last year that the move was an attempt to get the organisation away from “playing whack-a-mole” on important issues rather than managing them in a long-term strategy.

GAMA is currently working to secure a permanent replacement for its previous executive director John Stacy, who left the association last October just after the 10-year plan had been revealed.

Leadership consultant Zaria Davis was named as interim executive director last November.

Earlier this month GAMA’s board of directors apologised for some of its elected leaders being “rude and disrespectful” during a “heated” annual general meeting at the recent GAMA Expo trade show.

This year’s GAMA Expo sealed another record attendance, ahead of its planned move to Baltimore in 2027 to contend with rapidly growing demand.

More than 3,820 attendees showed up to this year’s event in Louisville, Kentucky, up almost 12% on last year’s previous record of 3,425 – which had already left the show pressed for space across the exhibition hall and its extensive programme of seminars.

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Asmodee has sealed its second major acquisition in a week by agreeing to pay up to €250m for French social and party game publisher ATM Gaming.

The board game giant said buying ATM, the publisher of titles including Speed Bac/Quickstop, Mouton Mouton and Pili Pili, was predicated on social games being “the fastest growing category of the board games market”.

Asmodee expects a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for social games of between 4% and 8% between 2025 and 2030, compared to about 4% for the wider board games market, citing mass market sales research for the US and ‘main European countries’ conducted by Arthur D Little.

ATM has scored rapid success since it was launched in 2018, with Asmodee saying the company has shown particular strength in building an “e-retailer distribution engine”, using advertising, advanced SEO and real-time analytics to help its titles rank highly in online stores such as Amazon.

The company’s standout title, Speed Bac from designer Rémy Wannerbroucq, has sold more than 3 million copies since it was launched in 2024, with about 2 million of those sales coming in 2025 alone.

Speaking in a press conference about the acquisition, Asmodee CEO Thomas Koegler said the fast-paced word game, which has also been published as Slingz, “shows clear potential to become an evergreen”.

Asmodee said the game managed to hold the number one spot in Amazon’s Toys & Games category across four different European countries during both Christmas 2024 and 2025, while other ATM games have also managed to seal high rankings.

Pili Pili, which has sold more than 300,000 copies since its July 2025 launch, was ranked second behind Speed Bac in Amazon’s Toys & Games category in France last Christmas, while Mouton Mouton, which has sold 200,000 copies since being launched last September, was ranked third.

That success has seen ATM grow from four co-founders with backgrounds across companies such as Meta, Deloitte and Johnson & Johnson to a team of more than 40 people, with its net sales CAGR more than doubling between 2023 and 2025 to reach about €34m last year.

Asmodee said it expects ATM to contribute at least €50m in net sales over the 2026/27 financial year, boosted by its new owner’s geographic reach and “know-how in operational efficiency”.

The company has agreed to pay €180m for ATM Gaming on a cash-free and debt-free basis, with another €70m paid in newly-issued Asmodee shares contingent on ATM’s future performance.

ATM is already established across France, Germany, Italy and Spain, Asmodee said, with “emerging” sales in countries including the US and UK, as well as in wider Europe and Latin America.

Koegler said a “key differentiator” for ATM was the company’s strength in e-retail, which has been their primary sales channel over the last three years. He added, “Their expertise in digital marketing and social media will also strengthen our go-to-market capabilities.”

Asmodee has distributed ATM titles since 2019, with about 10% of the company’s current sales made through the Asmodee network – mainly in Italy and Spain.

Koegler said, “Over time we expect to further integrate distribution within Asmodee. Geographically the combination is highly complementary.

“ATM Gaming is strong in Europe, while Exploding Kittens provides a strong foothold in the US. Together this creates a balanced platform with significant expansion potential across both regions, but also beyond.”

Exploding Kittens is among Asmodee’s current heavyweight hits in its party and social games portfolio, alongside other high-selling titles such as Dobble.

Koegler said in the company’s Q2 report last November that Asmodee had seen “good momentum” in its lower price-point products in the US mass market, singling out Exploding Kittens as a particularly strong performer in what he called a “challenging market”.

Expanding Horizons

A month earlier Asmodee continued its reignited expansion strategy by launching a new party games studio, Moodbox Games, as part of a push into the US mass market.

That strategy has seen Asmodee make five acquisitions in the past 12 months – including last week’s buyout of Japon Brand from CMON, anchoring the board game giant’s push into a “currently untapped market” for the company.

Its other recent acquisitions include picking up Zombicide, Cthulhu: Death May Die and Sheriff of Nottingham from CMON, which is attempting to recover from heavy losses over the past couple of years.

Asmodee announced in November 2024 that it was preparing to “reignite” its strategy of buying up smaller board game publishers and distributors, saying at the time that it had a pipeline of more than 20 acquisition opportunities.

The revived M&A process is yet to fully mirror Asmodee’s private equity-fuelled buying spree from the latter half of the 2010s, however, during which it acquired more than 40 companies and IPs.

That heavy expansion included the company adding more than 20 game studios, including Days of Wonder, Fantasy Flight Games, Lookout Games, Catan Studio and Z-Man Games.

Koegler was asked during the company’s quarterly results presentation last month whether the company was ready to make “more meaningful” acquisitions rather than small bolt-on deals.

He said in response, “Without being specific, the activity in the pipeline is in accordance with our plan. The smaller acquisitions are faster. IP acquisitions and asset deals are faster to execute. I’m satisfied.”

Speaking during the ATM acquisition press conference, he said, “Our M&A pipeline remains quite active. We are well positioned to continue executing on our strategy.”

Asmodee posted record sales of €524m during the last quarter of 2025 despite a slump in its US performance, with trading card game earnings in Europe acting as a driving force for the business.

The board game giant’s overall net sales jumped 22.2% across October to December 2025 compared to the same period a year earlier, with the performance of products it distributes for other companies surging more than 50%.

Net sales for games published by Asmodee itself fell almost 13% year-on-year in the quarter, however, weighed down by US net sales slumping 23% to €70.4m.

That drop saw the US fall behind both France and the UK in Q3 in terms of the company’s highest-performing countries for net sales, with France surging 47% year-on-year to over €111m, and the UK growing 41% to €82.7m.

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Board game publisher Awaken Realms has responded to a wave of anti-AI art review bombing for its upcoming crowdfund, Concordia: Special Edition, by saying no AI-generated imagery will be used in the finished game.

The title is the latest seminal eurogame to be re-released in a spruced-up, premium edition by Awaken Realms – and also the latest to see the publisher come under fire for embracing generative AI software such as Midjourney in developing some of its games.

Awaken Realms is one of highest-profile tabletop publishers to confirm it uses AI image generators, with other notable adopters of the technology including Stronghold Games – which attracted significant ire for its use of AI art in its $2.2m More Terraforming Mars! crowdfunding campaign.

The technology has been widely criticised by artists angry that the models are built upon their work without licensing or recompense, in addition to outcry over its environmental costs and threats to jobs in the creative and other industries.

Almost all of the first few dozen ratings for Concordia: Special Edition posted by BoardGameGeek users gave the title ‘1’ – the lowest possible score – following its unveiling at the end of February, with the vast majority of those citing AI art as their rationale.

That was followed by a spate of users scoring the game the maximum ’10’ in an attempt to counteract the low scores – but the ongoing tussle has left it with an average of just 4.7, the lowest current rating of any Awaken Realms full game, and well below the 8-plus ratings enjoyed by many of the publisher’s prior releases.

BoardGameGeek’s suggested ratings guidelines say a ‘1’ review “Defies description of a game. You won’t catch me dead playing this. Clearly broken.”, while a ’10’ is suggested as “Outstanding. Always want to play and expect this will never change”.

BGG’s current policy is that “users are allowed to rate games however they wish, as long as each person only rates a given game once.”

The original edition of Concordia, released by German publisher PD-Verlag in 2013, has a BGG rating of 8.1 from more than 45,000 users, and is ranked 29th out of the tens of thousands of titles listed on the site’s database.

Awaken Realms is yet to unveil many details about the upcoming special edition, with the Gamefound preview page currently only showing a box cover – which it has since described as a work in progress – and examples of two plastic miniatures set to be included in the game.

The company dedicated most of its first update on the Gamefound page to discussing its use of AI generated imagery, saying that it did not address the situation sooner because “we find this whole conversation extremely draining”.

It said, “We feel that the current situation is really not respectful toward our artists, who are really working hard on each project, and Concordia will be no different. They will be doing their best to pay tribute to this classic and elevate it to new heights.

“So, first things first – in this project, in the final game, there will be no AI art. Human artists will be involved in everything. This has also been clearly stated from the beginning in our contract with PD-Verlag.

“However, we do use some AI tools during prototyping, mock-ups, and various initial phases of concept work (and honestly, it is really hard not to, as eg, Photoshop alone, which is our artists’ main tool, has already tons of built-in AI features).

“This makes it easier to test the game visually, iterate, find the best solutions and compositions, and, from there, start working on the final assets.

“In different projects, we might have different rules and approaches. For example, you can see our other project – Grimcoven. There, we also had an update on the topic, as well as a chance to see the final result of how the game looks as it is produced and delivered to backers ;).”

Update March 27, 2026: Jan Philip Sommerlade, an editor at Concordia publisher and licensor PD-Verlag, wrote on BoardGameGeek: “In the games published by PD-Verlag, neither the graphics nor the text were created using artificial intelligence. We consider this to be problematic from a copyright perspective, at least when the AI models are based on artwork created by artists.

“It was therefore very important to us that artificial intelligence will not be used in the Concordia Special Edition either. In December, we paid Awaken Realms an extensive visit and discussed the details of the Special Edition at length. Awaken Realms has a large team dedicated to developing content, graphics, and illustrations, and we are confident that this collaboration will result in a very high-quality product. We have stipulated in our contract that the final product will not be created using artificial intelligence in any form.

“However, this does not apply to the use of AI for brainstorming and concept development, nor to the internal use of AI for creating prototypes. In the course of ongoing discussions, we have realized that this distinction may not be as clear-cut as we initially thought. Nevertheless, the fact remains: All graphics and text in the final product are created by real people.”

Other Campaigns

Grimcoven raised more than $5.1m across its 2024 Gamefound campaign and late pledges, and has so far avoided the heavy review bombing that has taken place for Concordia SE. Awaken Realms put out a similar pre-campaign update about its AI use for that title, calling it at the time “a ‘hot topic’ generating a lot of emotions”.

The publisher had come under fire online earlier that year for using AI in creating promotional images for its Puerto Rico 1897: Special Edition crowdfunding campaign – images it subsequently pulled from the crowdfunding page after being contacted by the game’s licensor, Ravensburger.

Despite online pushback against Awaken Realms for its decision to embrace AI generated imagery, its use of the technology has had little apparent negative impact on the success of its crowdfunding campaigns to date.

The publisher’s six most recent campaigns which it says made use of AI image making tools have raised almost €39m between them across their crowdfunds and late pledges, with Lands of Evershade the standout at more than $12.5m.

But some of those have also begun to feel the impact of anti-AI sentiment on their BGG ratings. Agricola: Special Edition is currently rated at 6.2, with more than a third of its 309 ratings scored as ‘1’, while the yet-to-launch Agricola: Dead Harvest campaign is rated 5.9, with almost 90% of its 104 ratings so far either ‘1’s or ’10’s.

The six most recent campaigns using AI imagery – which also include BELOW: The Asylum, This War of Mine: Second Edition and Grimcoven – all included a statement acknowledging that usage in the FAQ section of their respective Gamefound campaigns.

The stipulation to transparently disclose the use of AI in Gamefound campaigns was implemented by the crowdfunding site in March last year, and codified in an update to its terms of service at the end of last month.

Awaken Realms’ AI art statement in its Agricola: Special Edition campaign FAQ states, “We are using different technologies, including AI tools, to various degrees – from built-in Photoshop capabilities (intelligent brushes, advanced texturing, and some AI tools), Internal Stable Diffusion models, MJ[Midjourney] models, pixel correction, scaling solutions and so on. Everything we use is screened and accepted by our legal team as fully legal to use.

“Those are different tools that we use NOT to decrease cost and DEFINITELY NOT to replace artists but to bring better quality to our customers and enhance creativity by allowing faster prototyping and iteration.

“We are constantly growing our art team (in the last 12 months, we have hired six new artists), as well as yearly increasing wages and sharing profits by yearly bonuses. We really care about our team and are extremely proud of their work.

“We deeply believe that in any creative endeavor, human involvement is absolutely essential, and instead of just ‘talking the talk’, we have actually walked the walk and increased our artist count and wages every year.

“This is our statement on the topic and we are fully dedicated to supporting and growing our art team, as well as bringing the best quality to our backers. We believe that this approach is better than making big PR statements and then firing people with a week’s notice, as, unfortunately, can be observed all around the industry.”

It is not immediately clear which board game publishers Awaken Realms is referring to with the final part of that statement.

The Agricola Special Edition statement is very different to the AI art section of the FAQ for Awaken Realms’ most recent crowdfund, Labyrinth Chronicles – which, like Puerto Rico Special Edition, is published by Gamefound investor Ravensburger.

That statement said, “We also noticed a few questions regarding the creative process behind Labyrinth Chronicles and whether any AI-generated artwork was used in the game.

“We would like to clearly state that no AI-generated art was used in the final product. Every illustration, graphic element, and 3D model was created by our talented team of artists who worked on this project.”

That statement then goes on to list 24 artists, graphic designers, illustrators and 3d modellers who it said worked on the title.

Awaken Realms has taken great pains recently to highlight the extent of its art and design team – which it said in the Concordia: Special Edition Gamefound update now comprises 32 people across art, 2D layout, 3D sculpture and desktop publishing, out of a board games division of more than 100 people.

Gamefound was launched in 2015 as a Kickstarter pledge manager by Awaken Realms co-founder Marcin Świerkot, who is CEO of both businesses. The company transitioned into a full crowdfunding site in 2022, with Świerkot setting his sights on beating Kickstarter at its own game in the tabletop sector.

Awaken Realms, meanwhile, began life as a miniature painting studio in 2014, before expanding into board game publishing a couple of years later.

The company garnered early success with a Kickstarter for This War of Mine: The Board Game in 2016, before the £3m Nemesis Kickstarter campaign in 2018 formed a springboard for the company to begin creating ever more intricate and expansive miniatures-focused tabletop projects.

Awaken Realms raised more than $12.1m for its Nemesis Retaliation Gamefound campaign at the end of 2024, making it one of the biggest board game crowdfunding campaign of all time alongside Frosthaven ($12.9m) and Kingdom Death Monster 1.5 ($12.39m).

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Asmodee has ramped up its reignited acquisition strategy by buying Japon Brand from CMON, anchoring the board game giant’s push into a “currently untapped market” for the company.

Japon Brand was instrumental in bringing Japanese designs such as Love Letter and Machi Koro to international markets, after being inspired by the surge in novel games from home-grown designers in the early 2000s.

The company will form the cornerstone of Asmodee’s new Japanese design studio, Nekuma, which will look to find games from local designers that it can release globally, as well as helping Asmodee bring its existing titles to Japanese players.

Asmodee CEO Thomas Koegler said, “Japan is one of the most creative and culturally influential markets in the world. With Nekuma and the integration of Japon Brand, we are building a long-term platform that connects Japanese creators with players globally.

“True to Asmodee’s entrepreneurial and bold DNA, this capital-light and agile initiative allows us to invest where creativity is thriving while positioning Asmodee for sustainable growth in Asia.”

Asmodee has grown into a board game publishing and distribution giant thanks to the heavy expansion the business undertook after being bought by private equity firm Eurazeo in 2014.

But the vast bulk of the company’s revenue comes from its operations in Europe, which accounted for more than 76% of its €1.6bn net sales in 2025.

The United States contributed about 13.1% of 2025 net sales, while the company’s entire ‘rest of the world’ net sales – covering every country outside of Europe or the Americas – made up less than 5%.

Asmodee currently has offices in South Korea, China and Taiwan following an expansion to the continent in 2021, with those teams having developed and published localised titles including Splendor Pokémon, Love Letter Cookie Run, Pokémon Chips, and Love Letter Fox Spirit, as well as making use of crowdfunding platforms across the region.

The company said Nekuma would “integrate and expand” that activity under interim head of studio Frederic Nugeron, Asmodee’s current global senior vice president – route to market for the Asia Pacific region.

It said Nekuma would lead game sourcing “to identify and support the most promising Japanese and Asian tabletop game designers”, while Asia-focused publishing will be managed by the company’s existing Korea team.

Nugeron said, “Our ambition with Nekuma is very concrete: be present on the ground, listen to designers, understand cultural nuances, and build trusted relationships within the Japanese ecosystem.

“By combining local expertise with Asmodee’s global reach, we can support creators more closely and bring distinctive Asian games to a worldwide audience.”

Asmodee said Japon Brand would continue to operate with its existing expertise and relationships, with “no impact” on current partnerships or contracts.

CMON Divestments Continue

The buyout comes less than two years after board game crowdfunding major CMON acquired Japon Brand, with a plan to keep it as an independent division that would use CMON’s infrastructure and reach to help it introduce games to the global market.

That investment followed a strong 2023 for CMON, in which its net profit jumped more than 35% amid a hefty drop in its sales-associated costs.

But the company has faced a punishing financial situation since, posting losses of $3m across 2024 and nearly $7m for the first half of 2025 – figures which dwarf the overall $4.2m profit it had managed to make over the previous nine years combined.

As well as laying off staff and halting new game development and campaign launches, CMON has been attempting to recover by selling a string of its most lucrative IPs – including its most famous and profitable title, Zombicide, and Cthulhu: Death May Die, both of which were bought by Asmodee.

Asmodee continued its acquisitions of CMON games last month by picking up bluffing and set collection game Sheriff of Nottingham, which CMON had previously bought from Brazilian publisher Galapagos Jogos in 2016.

The board game giant announced in November 2024 that it was preparing to “reignite” its strategy of buying up smaller board game publishers and distributors, saying at the time that it had a pipeline of more than 20 acquisition opportunities.

But the revived M&A process is yet to fully mirror Asmodee’s private equity-fuelled buying spree from the latter half of the 2010s, during which it acquired more than 40 companies and IPs.

That heavy expansion included the company adding more than 20 game studios, including Days of Wonder, Fantasy Flight Games, Lookout Games, Catan Studio and Z-Man Games.

Asmodee CEO Thomas Koegler was asked during the company’s quarterly results presentation last month whether the company was ready to make “more meaningful” acquisitions rather than small bolt-on deals.

He said in response, “Without being specific, the activity in the pipeline is in accordance with our plan. The smaller acquisitions are faster. IP acquisitions and asset deals are faster to execute. I’m satisfied.”

Other expansion activity since Asmodee announced its M&A plan has included the company launching a new party games studio, Moodbox Games, as part of a push into the US mass market.

It also recently launched a dedicated kids-focused brand, Asmodee Kids, in preparation for releasing a slate of re-worked, simpler and shorter versions of some of its most popular titles.

Asmodee posted record sales of €524m during the last quarter of 2025 despite a slump in its US performance, with trading card game earnings in Europe acting as a driving force for the business.

The board game giant’s overall net sales jumped 22.2% across October to December 2025 compared to the same period a year earlier, with the performance of products it distributes for other companies surging more than 50%.

Net sales for games published by Asmodee itself fell almost 13% year-on-year in the quarter, however, weighed down by US net sales slumping 23% to €70.4m.

That drop saw the US fall behind both France and the UK in Q3 in terms of the company’s highest-performing countries for net sales, with France surging 47% year-on-year to over €111m, and the UK growing 41% to €82.7m.

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Altered, the trading card game which broke Kickstarter records with its €6.2m debut crowdfund three years ago, is ending after its latest crowdfunding campaign fell far short of its goals.

Publisher Equinox scrapped the crowdfund for Altered’s Roots of Corruption expansion yesterday after raising more than €420,000, having launched the campaign last week with a €50,000 target – a figure it described on the project page as a “technical necessity” in order to use Gamefound’s stretch goal system.

Equinox said in an update yesterday that it had also collected €680,000 through retailer pre-orders for the expansion – but added that the €1.1m total was “far too far” from the €2m the company required “to guarantee the future of the game”.

The statement said, “It would be dishonest to tell you that we can still turn the tide by Friday evening. We must face reality: the numbers simply aren’t there.

“It is with a heavy heart that we have decided to cancel the Roots of Corruption campaign. As we committed to doing, all backers – both players and retailers – will be reimbursed in full. This is the cornerstone of our responsibility toward you, and it is the most obvious decision to make.

“This campaign does not only mark the end of a crowdfunding project; unfortunately, it also marks the end of the Altered adventure.”

Altered shattered the crowdfunding record for a TCG on Kickstarter through its debut campaign in 2023, pulling in more than €6.2m (about $7.1m) from about 15,000 backers.

The announcement of the game’s demise coincides with that record being taken from it by the Cyberpunk TCG, which had already raised almost $10m from 12,000 backers just a couple of days after the campaign was launched.

Altered aimed to stand out from high-profile competitors such as Magic: The Gathering through its focus on exploration and bringing heroes together, rather than battles between characters and monsters, as well as innovations such as a print-on-demand and a digital marketplace for cards.

Those innovations were beset by heavy delays, however, and only went live in an open-beta form in April last year – putting the game at a disadvantage as it tried to compete in a crowded TCG space with alternatives such as Star Wars: Unlimited, Lorcana, One Piece and Flesh and Blood.

That digital marketplace also made it difficult for retailers to offer the TCG staple of being able to buy, sell and trade single cards, and the game’s powerful early momentum waned as the title struggled to go toe-to-toe with offerings based on hugely popular IPs.

Equinox returned to crowdfunding for Altered’s fifth expansion, Seeds of Unity, in October last year – but faced similar problems to the most recent crowdfund in reaching its necessary totals.

That campaign hit the €50,000 goal set by Equinox in less than nine minutes, but an update from the publisher two weeks later revealed that the actual amount needed to create the game was €2.5m – a figure which if it did not reach, “the adventure will come to an end, and both backers and retailers will of course be refunded”.

Noting the €50,000 crowdfunding goal for that project, and the message on the Gamefound page describing it as more than 1,000% funded, Equinox made no mention of it being a technical necessity for the stretch goal system.

It said at the time, “The funding goal displayed on Gamefound is symbolic, as it usually is in crowdfunding campaigns.

“It’s chosen to help build early momentum but doesn’t reflect our actual needs. Setting the bar too high sometimes makes a project feel out of reach, while a more accessible goal helps get the collective energy moving right from the start.”

That campaign ultimately collected almost €900,000 after being extended for several days, with another €1.4m coming through retailer pre-orders.

Equinox said at the conclusion of that campaign, “While we haven’t reached the objective of €2.5m mentioned initially, we’re not that far off our goal, and with some adjustments on our part (which includes reviewing some budgets and determining new production processes) we believe we can cover that difference.”

Equinox had come under fire from some Altered players for launching its Roots of Corruption campaign before Seeds of Unity had been fully delivered to backers.

The company said in an update to Seeds of Unity backers that while it aimed for a four-month cycle per set, production delays meant that it “no longer [had] the flexibility to push dates back”.

Uncertain Future

Equinox founder Régis Bonnessée acknowledged in the latest update announcing the end of Altered that players would inevitably have questions about the future of their digital collections, the game’s availability on Board Game Arena and “the legacy of this universe”.

He said, “We are not going to leave you in a vacuum. We simply need some time to digest this moment, to properly close this chapter, and to provide you with clear and respectful answers. Thank you for every card played, for every smile exchanged, and for everything you put of yourselves into this adventure. It was an honor to imagine it with you.”

Bonnessée added, “I have experienced the end of projects before – cycles that come to a close. But today feels different. Tonight, we feel a profound sadness as we reflect on what Altered has become for all of us.

“Tonight, we are thinking of you – our players, our community, our ambassadors. To everyone who accompanied us, supported us, and sometimes challenged us. Altered managed to create something rare: a sincere, kind, and committed community.

“We say this because we met you time and again. You often surprised us. We are sad tonight because we realize what this game represented for many of you. And because we also realize all that we failed to achieve.

“We are thinking of the game stores. To those who believed in the game before it was a certainty, who championed it to their customers, and who ordered stock on a gamble. Running a game store is an act of faith in itself; betting on an independent French TCG with an original universe and no established license to lean on… that deserves to be acknowledged. Thank you to them.

“We are thinking of our artists. Altered is a universe, a visual identity—something recognizable at a single glance. This world did not exist until they drew it. Thank you to them for giving substance to all of this.

“We are thinking of our partners—those we call such for lack of a better word, because “partner” describes a contract but not the relationship. For their advice, for what they taught us by their side, for the moments they believed in the project even more than we perhaps deserved. We grew together, and that cannot be erased.

“And of course, on a personal level, my thoughts are with the team. To the women and men who continued to believe, even when the headwind became exhausting. To their resilience in the face of invisible obstacles, to their total dedication. They have been extraordinary. I know that word can feel worn out, but here, it takes on its full meaning. Thank you to them for allowing this universe to exist, if only for a time.”

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