On the final full day of our recent Ireland trip, we walked across Dublin to the Guinness Storehouse self-guided tour experience. You start at the base of a massive circular interior (it’s shaped like a pint of Guinness) and work your way up level by level, learning about Guinness–the beer, the company, and the brand–as you go. Here are a few standout business insights I learned along the way:

Quality Control (and the Veneer Thereof)

Before we even entered the building, we saw a van parked outside that read, “Guinness Quality Team: Dedicated to delivering beautiful Guinness everytime everywhere”. Right from the start, Guinness was communicating that they have a continual focus on providing the best version of their product. This is later reinforced during the tour when they talk about the “smellers” who ensure the barrels are working optimally.

This really got me thinking about more ways we can improve quality control at Stonemaier Games and how we can share the variety of systems we have already have in place, as I always want the first printing of any product to be perfect.

Branding Is Constantly Evolving

I associate Guinness with a specific can, so I was struck by the sheer variety of bottles displayed at the beginning of the tour. While the label has stayed mostly the same over the years, the size and shape of a Guinness bottle has vastly varied.

This made me think of game boxes. There really is no standard game box–modern manufacturers can make any size. While I understand the visual appeal of having games that align cleanly on a shelf, the box is ultimately a delivery vehicle for the contents within. I never want to limit what a game can be (or make a box that is much too big) based on box size consistency.

Longevity Is a Selling Point

The current Guinness label has “EST. 1759” on the iconic harp. It was interesting to see that most of the previous harps didn’t have that date, as it seems like a huge selling point to convey that the product is so good that it has lasted nearly 300 years.

Recently I’ve thought a lot about how longevity is such a great selling point for Magic the Gathering. It isn’t just about Magic lasting over 30 years; it’s also about how they tie old cards to new sets, adding depth and nostalgia to the world they’ve fostered for so long. I think there’s huge value in having a singular, long-lasting product that reminds people of its history.

It’s Okay to Revisit a Tried-and-True Formula

When I think of the Guinness beer, I think of a dark brew topped by thick foam. I assumed that was always the case, but that’s apparently not true: The “creamy white head” wasn’t introduced until 1959.

There’s constant innovation in nearly every industry and we’re always learning, so I don’t think there’s anything wrong with revisiting older games to apply those innovations and lessons learned over the years. That’s what I tried to do in the upcoming Euphoria Essential Edition.

The World Isn’t Stagnant, and Neither Are We

Prominently featured at the Guinness Storehouse is Guinness 0.0, an alcohol-free version of their beer that tastes remarkably similar. I asked a Guinness employee about this version of the beer, which was released around 3 years ago, and they said that it is already a success in reducing drunk driving in Ireland and beyond. It also has a positive impact on public health, as alcohol can lead directly to liver disease.

I think there’s something about human nature that can make us a bit stubborn about changing our worldview, but the world is always changing. I know so much more about accessibility and environmental sustainability than I did a few years ago, and while meaningful sustainable change takes time to implement, I believe it’s worth constantly pursuing.

Those are just a few takeaways from my experience at the Guinness Storehouse. I’d love to hear your thoughts about Guinness or similar behind-the-scenes tours. How do they apply to the tabletop game industry and community?

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Read about my customer service experiences in Ireland.

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I’m constantly trying to learn about customer service practices so I can better serve our customers at Stonemaier Games. I spent the last week traveling across Ireland with family, and I thought I’d share some quick notes about customer service (mostly very good).

• Tullamore Distillery: We walked in here with only around 30 minutes to spare, which we mentioned to the person working the main desk. Within seconds, she offered us a 30-minute whiskey tasting, and we had a wonderful time learning about Tullamore from her.
• Sean’s Bar: The proprietor sat down with us for 5 minutes to share the history of Ireland’s oldest bar and the story of Irish coffee. He later gave a similar speech to a bigger group in the same room, and I noticed he intentionally changed the wording since we were within earshot.
• Linnane’s Lobster Bar (Newquay): We got a little messy eating crab, lobster, oysters, and mussels here, and an attentive server–not even our primary server–noticed and offered us a bowl of water with lemon to rinse our fingers.
• Oscar’s (Galway): We had a late dinner, and the server was keen to alert us to the exact remaining quantity of a specific dish before it was gone.
• Sheridan’s Cheesemongers (Galway): The person behind the counter was incredibly helpful in recommending three made-in-Ireland dishes that complemented each other (two cheeses, one cracker, and chutney).
• Midleton Distillery (Midleton): The young tour guide frequently invited questions and called back to previous questions, yet he kept things moving along.
• Manna Cafe (Killarney): Each of us ordered a different coffee drink at breakfast here (which was ample and delicious), and to help us tell the difference, each came in a different type of glass with a unique design on the foam.
• Table 45 (Dublin): When we arrived fairly late in the evening, the manager warmly let us know that the kitchen was only open for 25 minutes but that we were welcome to sit down and order tapas (which we did).
• Sweet Salt (Dublin): When we showed up at this highly rated cafe for 6 coffee orders, multiple members of the team swiftly shifted into barista mode.
• Guinness Storehouse (Dublin): This is a superbly designed self-guided tour that consistently moves people from one area to the next (with the one exception at the end of the tour where the free pint of Guinness takes people so long to drink that the room is very, very crowded).
• Fish Shop (Dublin): We ended up here after searching for the best fish and chips in Dublin, and despite initially being told that we needed a reservation, the owner invited us back inside after seeing scrambling on our phones to find an alternative.
• Gamers World (Dublin): After hearing my American accent, the person working the register discounted the game I bought by 10% (not because I’m American; it’s something related to taxes and duties). Also, it was neat to see them carrying many Stonemaier games, for which I thanked them.
• Cafe Nero (Dublin): I ordered a ristretto without knowing what it was, and after seeing us puzzled over meager contents of the cup, the manager offered to give us any other drink. We assured him it was fine–I wanted to try something new, and now I know! (It’s a very condensed shot of espresso.)

Many of these experiences are small, but they can have a big impact on the overall experience. What’s a minor-yet-impactful positive customer service experience you had recently?

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I recently had an excellent, candid, meandering chat with Peter Vaughan (Cardboard Alchemy), facilitated by Will from the Hungry Gamer YouTube channel. Peter highlighted some really important reasons that publishers–even experienced publishers–consider crowdfunding, including a revelation about changes in distribution and localization.

I believe that crowdfunding remains an incredible tool for all types of publishers, especially newer creators, established publishers who are undergoing an important change, and publishers who want to offer super deluxe version priced beyond the limits of retailers. Here’s a quick checklist of considerations for new creators considering crowdfunding.

There isn’t just one way to serve customers, and I love seeing publishers trying and refining different methods to accomplish that goal, even if their methods are different than ours (we wait until our products are ready to ship before launching them on our webstore, like with the upcoming Finspan: Sharks & Reefs and Euphoria Essential, both on May 13).

Feel free to check out our 35-minute chat if this is a topic that interests you or that you’ve been debating. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

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I’m fascinated by–and in awe of–the Savannah Bananas.

The Banana Ball League, which started in Savannah, is a new type of baseball where the entire focus is on entertaining fans. In fact, Fans First is the title of the book written by founder Jesse Cole, and across several examples it’s clear the extent to which he applies this ideology.

Here are my top 4 takeaways from Cole’s recent chat with Simon Sinek on the A Bit of Optimism podcast:

1. Every game might be someone’s first game. The Bananas have an incredibly long wait list to watch them play–over 4 million people. So when someone attends a Bananas game, there’s a good chance it is their first game. Knowing this, the Bananas approach every game like their first (and perhaps only) chance for every fan to have a great time. I think that’s a neat approach to tabletop games too: What if my game is someone’s first game? Or it ends up being the only game they play for a long time?
2. Fans can impact the outcome of the game. One of my favorite rules twists in Banana Ball is that if a fan catches a foul ball, it’s an out. In some ways, this is akin to crowdfunding, where backers can have a direct impact on a game’s final form. In others, it’s more like a game being a living entity that fans shape over time via fan-made content (like Wingspan’s promo birds) or lore-driven decisions (like what Thundergryph is doing with Etherstone).
3. The fan experience is prioritized over the sanctity of the game. I love sports, but I think sometimes long-standing, classic sports forget that they are ultimately a form of entertainment, and that means evolving with the times. A brilliant example from the Bananas is this rule: After a game reaches the 2-hour mark, no new inning can begin. This effectively puts a time limit on a sport that is notorious for dragging on, instead prioritizing the fan experience.
4. Look at the game through the eyes of the customer. The Bananas travel around the US to a variety of baseball stadiums, and whenever they arrive at a new place, the first thing they do is walk through the stadium and look at the field from various perspectives, including the most distant seats. They do this to see the game through the eyes of every fan, as they want to make sure they aren’t just serving those in the first few rows. I love this mentality, and it’s a great reminder for me to approach our platforms in a customer’s shoes (the content we create, our website, webstores, how our games appear at local retailers, etc).

Have you been to a Savannah Bananas game? I’m hoping to go someday, and I’d love to hear about your experience.

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Yesterday I announced the Euphoria Essential Edition, which combines the core game with the expansion and includes some revised rules/components, particularly the board layout. It will be on the Stonemaier Games webstore, ready to ship, starting on May 13.

While discussing the game on yesterday’s livecast, I started to reflect on the factors that result in us considering an “essential” version of an existing game (e.g., Viticulture, Between Two Cities, Between Two Castles, and now Euphoria). I mentioned a few then, and I’ve added a few more to this list:

1. The game only has 1 expansion, and we can combine the expansion with the game without significantly increasing the price of the essential version compared the original game’s price. This is critical, as we are always focused on price accessibility. If a $60 game and a $30 expansion combined together would still be close to $90 due to the manufacturing cost, we might as well keep them separate. But if the combination leads to some production optimization for a new price of $65, that’s great.
2. The combined game plus expansion is still accessible to newcomers. Any first expansion of a Stonemaier game is at least partially the result of learning from what people say about the game. Many–but not all–first expansions offer seamless additions rather than new elements that make the game more complex, making them prime for essential editions.
3. The game and the expansion have successfully been on the market for years. I like to give our games the time to find their audience and thrive in the wild for a long time before revisiting them before considering an essential edition (opposed to releasing the game and then creating a new edition right away).
4. The game is out of stock but still in demand. For us and the amazing retailers who support our games, we wouldn’t want to create a new edition of a game while there’s still ample inventory of the previous version. We also only consider games with continual sales month-to-month.
5. We are excited to revisit the game to offer the best version. Even if we’re literally just combining the core game and the expansion, there’s a lot of work involved, especially for the rulebook (but also potentially the box, reference cards, punchboards, etc). And sometimes–like with Euphoria–it’s even more work, as it’s an opportunity to improve the original. I spent a lot of time redesigning the board to make the order of operations and interconnected elements much easier to understand, learn, and teach, and artist Jacqui Davis completely remade the art to match the revised design. We’re passionate about all of our products, but there needs to be a special spark to revisit something that was deemed final for so long.
6. If there are changes, they do not negate the investment of anyone who already owns the game and the expansion. This is really important to me, and it’s why we created an update pack for Euphoria that includes the new board, updated rulebooks, and the smaller artifact cards. It’s for this reason that I try to be very intentional while weighing the importance of making gameplay changes opposed to just seamlessly combining the game and expansion.

What do you think about these reasons? Is there anything else you would like me to consider for future essential editions (none of which are in the works)?

If you’re curious to learn more about the inception of Euphoria Essential, I’ve included the latest design diary post below.

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April 23: The Inception of Euphoria Essential Edition

In March 2025, almost exactly 13 years after finishing the design for Euphoria, it was time to reprint the game. We’ve reprinted Euphoria a number of times over the years–a reprint is simply printing more of the same exact game–but this time I reached out to Morten (who had designed the Ignorance Is Bliss expansion) with the idea of updating Euphoria with everything I’ve learned about the game over the last decade.

Here’s what I proposed to Morten: 

• Player mats and big tokens: Remember the tiles in Euphoria that let you quickly adjust token quantities (1x, 2x, 3x, etc)? I’m thinking we could update the player mats to have those tracks, allowing us to remove the big wooden tokens.
• Board and bazaar: The inclusion of the player mats allows us to use the area of the game board currently occupied by tracks for the bazaar. It might be just a little tight, though–maybe decrease the size of artifact cards? Also, I would like to offer a double-sided board (bringing back the grayscale look of the original version on one side).
• Recruits: I would love to offer a single set of recruits instead of telling players to use only the new or original recruits. To accomplish this goal, I’m open to removing some of the original recruits that aren’t balanced well for the expansion changes. I would also prefer to remove the factionless recruits. They’re clever, but by nature they are exceptions to standard recruit rules.
• Markets: I feel similarly about the markets–I just want to shuffle them all together. If we need to remove some markets to accomplish this, that’s fine.
• Gameplay: There are 4 elements of Euphoria that I don’t fully love: It’s difficult to teach despite its weight, I’m not sure the ethical dilemmas are necessary, it feels really bad to lose a worker due to a knowledge check (or even to see someone else lose a worker), and it feels impossible to catch up once someone has 9 stars and you’re behind. I’m not necessarily saying that anything needs to change to address these issues, but this is an opportunity to do so if we choose.

[end of message to Morten]

I’ll cut to the chase on a few of these elements: The final result was that we  consolidated information onto player mats, we combined all recruits (102 total: asymmetric abilities that each player has), and we combined all market tiles (34 total: worker-placement actions to construct on the board). This essentially results in Euphoria plus the Ignorance Is Bliss expansion, offering a ton of variability with everything seamlessly integrated into a single box.

What do you think about this inception story? Join us tomorrow to dive into the core elements of the Essential Edition’s board, including a few minor-but-impactful rule changes! You can also click here to get a May 13 launch notification (followed by shipping later in May).

I made a huge intentional shift in my life in 2011. I’m now 45 years old, and looking back I realize how distinctly different my life was before and after my 30th year (mostly for the better).

If I had the chance to speak to my 30-year-old self, here are a few things I might say:

1. Creativity thrives in the small windows of free time, not the big ones. For most of my 20s I hoped for big gaps in time that were completely clear of other responsibilities–weeks and months–when I could write a novel. But the two times I had a big gap of time (the summer after college and when I was between jobs), I mostly just played and procrastinated. When I turned 30, I decided to spend 2 hours every night writing the novel, and I was done in 2 months while still maintaining my day job, friendships, and other hobbies. Realizing I could do that motivated me to also spend those small windows of time to design a game, Viticulture. This is one of the biggest changes I’ve ever made in my life, and my career with Stonemaier Games wouldn’t exist without this shift.

2. A change in location won’t make me a different person. I’m an introvert with a rather crippling social anxiety regarding approaching people. I romanticized the idea of going somewhere completely new by myself to see if a different, fearless version of Jamey would emerge, so I booked a solo trip to Ireland for a few days in 2011. Not only did I learn that I much prefer to travel with at least one other person, but also found that I’m still myself–for better or worse–even in a different country where everyone is a stranger. Another way to put this is: For the things about myself that I most want to work on, there’s no magic bullet.

3. There is so much to learn after formal education. I’m incredibly grateful for the all the teachers and professors who guided me from kindergarten through college. But there’s a whole world of knowledge outside of the classroom. I’ve learned so much about game design, for example, by listening to podcasts, reading articles, and watching videos (along with actually playing and designing games).

4. Healthy living starts to take effort after a certain age. I’ve been physically active my entire life, and I was blessed with a great metabolism, so for many years I didn’t feel the need to eat with intention. That was all fine and dandy until I started running Stonemaier Games in my early 30s, a job that often involves sitting at a desk for 12 hours a day. I was no longer playing sports as regularly, yet my diet was the same as ever (and it wasn’t even terrible–I ate fruits and vegetables every day). My body changed incrementally, and before I knew it, I was 20 lbs heavier than I’d ever been. Fortunately I realized it’s never too late to change, but I wish I could tell myself what I was doing to my body and how even 20 minutes of exercise every day can make a huge difference.

5. I don’t want kids, and I’m not alone. For most of my life, I thought I wanted to have kids–I never questioned doing the same thing my parents did (I have a brother and sister). It wasn’t until my early 30s that started to realize that the creative, nurturing, and compassionate sides of myself were fulfilled and challenged better in other ways (game design, friends, cats, etc). But when my siblings and college friends started to have kids, I struggled sometimes to feel like an “adult.” But then I started to make some wonderful friends who were just as happy not having kids as I was–and I found a partner in Megan who also doesn’t want kids–and I’m so grateful for those relationships (they even helped the relationships I had with friends and family who do have kids).

6. Money well spent makes a big difference. For the longest time, if I wanted a chocolate bar, I’d spend $0.50 at checkout at the grocery store. But one day I was shopping with a friend, and they said, “You love chocolate, right? If you love something, it’s worth paying for the best.” So I shelled out for a $5 chocolate bar, and it was amazing. This isn’t to say that I don’t still enjoy a Snickers, Kit-Kat, or Hersheys Almond from time to time. But I give myself permission to spend money on the things I love. Similarly, I’ve learned to pay for things that last–I have shoes and jeans that have lasted over a decade.

7. Every job before my career was a good use of time. I think there was a time when I didn’t believe this; I wished I could have found my path earlier in life. But whether it was waiting tables, project managing medical textbooks, or managing a nonprofit staff and fundraiser, I was learning indispensable skills and habits that have had a direct impact on Stonemaier Games’ success.

8. Loving a pet requires compassionate discipline. I adopted my beloved cat Biddy in 2007 when he was a tiny kitten, and raising him from beginning to end is one of the greatest joys of my life. Biddy loved to eat, and I gave him open access to cat food (and sometimes human food). At one point he tipped the scales at 20 lbs. He developed diabetes and required twice-daily insulin shots for the rest of his life. He died of intestinal cancer when he was 16 years old. While I don’t know if I could prevented any of Biddy’s ailments, I wish I had known earlier that I could have made Biddy’s life better overall by denying him a portion of the thing he wanted the most (kibble). Not enabling someone’s worst habit is a core part of loving them. I would truly do anything to have another month or year with Biddy–I miss him every day.

9. There is no rule that says everything must remain the way it’s always been. This applies to relationships, habits, routines, beliefs, hobbies, diet, behaviors, even our bodies. For example, for as long as I can remember, I had large protruding mole at the base of my back. I didn’t like it, but I figured it was too close to my spine to be removed. But then I asked a dermatologist about it, and she said, “Oh, sure, we can remove that right now.” Five minutes later, something that had bothered me for years was gone forever. I wish I could have known earlier that if there is any persistent element in my life that I could cut or add that would make me happier (and those around me), it’s never too late to choose to make that change.

10. Try a lot of different things to continually discover new passions. At 30, I thought I only enjoyed specific types of games and that I didn’t like party games…until I tried Telestrations, Just One, So Clover, Blob Party, and Caution Signs. At 30, I thought I enjoyed blogging as my only form of content creation…until I filmed a “my favorite mechanism” video for YouTube, tried a Facebook livecast, posted an Instagram photo, or recorded a podcast. At 30, I thought ultimate frisbee was the only disc-related sport I enjoyed…until I started playing disc golf during the pandemic and now play every week. The world is full of potential passions I have yet to try, and I won’t know if they’re for me until I actually try them!

I wasn’t sure where this list would take me, but I appreciate the opportunity to share. I’d love to hear if any of these resonate with you or if there’s something you wish you knew before you turned 30.

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Also read/watch:

• The 10 Best and Worst Decisions I’ve Ever Made
• 10 Harsh YouTube Lessons We Wish We Knew at 20 and 40 Year Olds Share Advice for Younger Self (both inspiration for this article)

If you gain value from the 100 articles Jamey publishes on this blog each year, please consider championing this content! You can also listen to posts like this in the audio version of the blog.

I’m excited to reveal the first expansion for Finspan, Sharks & Reefs!

Finspan: Sharks & Reefs adds to the variety of the core game with a focus on sharks and fish that live among coral reefs. This expansion introduces new coral reef habitats to your ocean mat and more incredible sharks—with fearsome new abilities!

Players can now nurture colorful coral reefs in each of their ocean’s three dive sites. Healthy reefs enable you to play powerful reef fish, unlock fish abilities, and score bonuses at the end of the game. Meanwhile, sharks scatter schools of young (to form even more schools elsewhere) and leave behind food scraps that any fish in your ocean can consume.

Sharks & Reefs is designed by Michael O’Connell, illustrated by Ana María Martínez, Catalina Martínez, & Mesa Schumacher, developed by David Gordon and Elizabeth Hargrave, and features an Automa solo mode by David Studley. The Finspan core game is required to play the Sharks & Reefs expansion, and the full rulebook is available now.

You can see larger versions of these slides on Instagram.

Over the next few days we will share stories about the creation of Finspan: Sharks & Reefs in the design diary series on our website, in the Finspan Facebook group, and on BoardGameGeek. Here is today’s post:

April 16: The Inception of Finspan: Sharks & Reefs and Product Design

Here’s designer Michael O’Connell with some Finspan backstory and an introduction to this expansion:

When David Gordon and I designed Finspan, we weren’t sure how it would be received. How would the world react to a third -span title, especially one released just one year after Wyrmspan? We had known for years that we wanted to do a game like this. There is even a topic on the Stonemaier Games Discord server that’s still called “aquatic Wingspan,” where folks within the company post regularly about the game. But would the public embrace it? Did fish hold the same fascination for people as birds and dragons?

Of course, Finspan has done everything we hoped it would. As with the other -span titles, it has helped bring new players into the hobby. Many content creators have tried to articulate why all three games deserve a place on your shelf. Each has its own identity. Finspan is the friendly one. Open hands, so everyone at the table knows what you’re working with. Abilities that help other players as well as yourself. Fascinating fish facts on the cards that make you want to read them aloud. Components that are colorful and a tactile delight—especially if you pick up the “squishy eggs” upgrade pack. The goal has always been that Finspan be genuinely inviting. A game where players can help each other, where the rules are intuitive, and where you aren’t asked to make a lot of small decisions.

We never wanted players to feel stuck or confused about how to get the resources they need. Need new fish? Dive here. Need eggs? Dive here. Need young or a school? Dive here. It’s always clear how to progress. The only thing you need to worry about is how to optimize that progression. That’s where the game’s depth lives. (Pun intended.) Finspan’s intricacies reveal themselves as you play, rather than hitting you all at once. And the game is forgiving. Don’t like your engine? Consume that fish that gives you nothing but points with a larger one that has an IF ACTIVATED ability. There is always a way forward.

Once you know how to play the game, my hope is that you never need to return to the rulebook. The player aids, the achievement board, the ocean mat—those should be enough. I don’t know if that’s possible to achieve with every group of players, but it’s what I strive for, and it shapes every decision I make about what goes into an expansion.

So. Sharks & Reefs.

When Jamey and I began talking about designing the Finspansions, we had the typical discussions around what players might want to see, what things might be improved about the game, and what things might be accentuated. However, in the case of Finspan, there was an additional consideration: Many, perhaps even most Finspan players are not typically the people who buy expansions. I’m guessing a lot of them don’t even know that expansions to board games are a thing. Players who buy expansions often want more to think about. But, with Finspan, we’ve tried to limit “more for the sake of more.”

And so, Sharks & Reefs is not just a “more cards” expansion. It adds a dimension to the game without the burden of exponential complexity. The coral overlay and tokens and new reef fish enhance the tactical and strategic choices available to you on nearly every turn. The sharks feel splashy and reward a well-timed turn, but they don’t require you to set your brain on fire to play them effectively. I’ve taught the game to brand new players with Sharks & Reefs included from the start, and it wasn’t dramatically more difficult than teaching the base game alone, which is exactly what I intended.

We designed Finspan (the core game) at the same time that Connie Vogelmann was designing Wyrmspan. Connie finished first, and so Wyrmspan was released first. (Yeah, she was faster than David Gordon and I combined.) But that gave us a year-long window to think ahead—to design the mats and the base game rules with future expansions already in mind while still giving our 100% focus on making the base game a complete package.

I started work on the first two expansions while Wyrmspan was still being released and while the base game of Finspan was still in development (though we waited a few months after Finspan was released before finalizing the first expansion so we could learn from public feedback). This let me make choices that allow future content to slot in organically. The deepwater row in the base game is a good example of this. It started as an expansion idea, but playtesters loved those nightmare-fuel abyssal fish, and so we pulled the deepwater row into the base game to make room for more of them. That’s why there are three more slots for cards than in the other -span titles.

We couldn’t anticipate exactly how popular Finspan would be, but we knew we’d want to create multiple expansions for it. So, I thought carefully from the start about how they would work together. I want each expansion to be easy to learn on its own, and I want them to integrate cleanly with each other without overwhelming the players.

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Michael has some fun stories in the next few days that delve into the gameplay of Sharks & Reefs, and I wanted to briefly mention a product design element: In the expansion we included a large card tray designed to fit in the Finspan box next to the original tray. The new tray includes 4 slots for stacks of cards and a central area to hold tokens. Our hope in supplying this tray in the first expansion is that it will hold all components for the core game, this expansion, and any future expansions.

You can follow along and get a launch notification on May 13 by clicking here.

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If you gain value from the 100 articles Jamey publishes on this blog each year, please consider championing this content! You can also listen to posts like this in the audio version of the blog.

Ever since I started using Kickstarter as a tabletop games backer 16 years ago, I’ve supported the inclusion of both a standard edition and a deluxe (or all-in) edition. But I’m starting to wonder if that reward strategy is still relevant in 2026.

Here’s how I described these two reward type in a 2013 article:

An anchor price establishes a base price for your product so your backers have something to compare the price of the other reward levels. It offers quantitative context, and it’s low enough that it gets people in the door.

The premium option is the opposite of the anchor price. It is a separate reward that is tantalizingly close to the anchor price, but SO much better. It should give people a truly compelling reason to upgrade, or simply an outlet to spend more on the project if they want to reach stretch goals.

This system only works if the publisher garners enough interest from backers in both versions of the game, as manufacturing minimum order quantities (MOQs) typically start at 1,000 or 1,500 units.

In recent years, I’ve noticed that the ratio of standard to deluxe/all-in has shifted considerably. I’m not a typical backer, as I almost always choose the standard version of a game, so it’s apparent on nearly every project I back that far more backers are choosing the premium option.

Here are a few examples of projects I’m currently backing or following:

• Garden Club (40 backers at the $39 standard level, 418 backers at the all-in level)
• The Great Sea & Towers of Sifnos (107 and 180 backers at the $47 standard levels, 812 backers at the $124 deluxe combo level)
• Oakspire (134 backers at the $39 standard level, 1033 backers at the $93 deluxe level)

I very much do not want crowdfunding to only attract those with deep pockets, so I’m not advocating that creators ignore price accessibility altogether. I also understand that backers have changed over the years: There are much bigger pricing gaps between current reward levels than there were 10 years ago.

Though I’m also looking out for publishers: As I mentioned above, if a publisher plans to make two completely different versions of the same game but they only have 100 backers for the standard version, they need to invest in at least another unsold 900 units of that version to reach the MOQ. That’s a big risk.

There are a few possible alternatives:

1. Just offer 1 reward level for the best version of the game. Paws does this with a single reward level, a $59 deluxe version of the game. This works because (a) the price isn’t too high (i.e., I don’t think this would work for a $100+ core reward) and (b) Gamefound lets creators show the full price compared to the listed price.
2. Just offer a standard version of the game. The Glasgow Train Robbery did this with a very appealing price of $34. Perhaps this doesn’t tap into the reason why many backers crowdfund games, but a game can look and play great without having super expensive components. Also, this demonstrates that a publisher’s margins are generally better when selling directly to consumers.
3. Keep both the standard and premium reward levels, but just compose the premium option of a series of add-ons and promos with their own SKUs (each also with their own MOQ). This also makes it easier to sell various inventory levels later on your webstore and at conventions. Garden Club does this.

What do you think about these strategies as we look at backer behavior and publisher viability in 2026? What options do you like to see when you consider a tabletop crowdfunding project?

***

Also read:

• Reward Levels: The Premium Option
• The Deluxe Dilemma
• Can a Publisher Serve Backers with Different Budgets?

If you gain value from the 100 articles Jamey publishes on this blog each year, please consider championing this content! You can also listen to posts like this in the audio version of the blog.

Have you ever bought a mystery box, a blind booster pack, or a subscription with an unknown assortment inside?

In the early days of COVID, Megan and I signed up for Universal Yums, a treat box subscription service. Every month we would open a new box together and do a taste test of the various sweet and salty treats, and we’d often pair it with a thematically related movie. It was a delight.

I’ve also purchased my fair share of Magic booster packs over the years, most often to draft with friends, not to collect, sell, or compete in tournaments. I can’t deny the thrill of opening a booster and looking through the contents for the first time.

Yet that’s probably the extent to which I’ve engaged with mystery boxes. I don’t like most surprises, and I’m selective about the things I buy–quality and specificity over quantity.

Recently I asked livecast viewers what they thought about mystery boxes. Reactions were mostly mixed at best, and many were fairly negative, with people talking about how blind buys play into gambling compulsions and how they can cheapen a brand.

However, many people also acknowledged that they have enjoyed at least one mystery box (across a wide range of categories): Specific IPs they enjoy, category-specific subscription boxes (tea, chocolate, etc), and when they were just starting a new hobby.

So I’m curious what you think: Have you ever had a good experience with a mystery box, blind booster pack, or surprise subscription?

***

Also read:

• Can a Publisher Offer Rarity Without Using FOMO Tactics?
• Is There Value in One-of-a-Kind Products and Rewards?
• “Ancient” Artifacts as a Marketing Strategy
• The One Ring and Extreme Rarity in Games

If you gain value from the 100 articles Jamey publishes on this blog each year, please consider championing this content! You can also listen to posts like this in the audio version of the blog.

A friend recently mentioned a statistic (that I’ve since verified according to multiple studies) that most people–over 80%–who have purchased a bottle of wine have made their decision largely based on the label. Not taste or research, just a label that spoke to them.

Have you ever purchased something based on its packaging? I absolutely have. Wine, games, books, chocolate, coffee, disc golf discs…sometimes the packaging draws me in and inspires me to learn more, but sometimes it’s almost the entire decision (i.e., I want this because of how it looks).

I mentioned this topic on a recent livecast, and viewers had even more examples: beer, hot sauce, restaurants, cereal boxes, and more. It also came up on a recent podcast episode of Unit Economics about how Byte’m brownies focused their packaging on a delicious-looking brownie instead of on their high-quality ingredients.

In the tabletop game space, box covers have a huge impact. It isn’t just about their marketing appeal; publishers try to make boxes that people are proud to display, that are compelling both at a game store and in an online thumbnail, and that function from different angles.

For all those reasons, at Stonemaier Games we pay far more for the box illustration than any other individual piece of art in the game (only a detailed game board comes close). I often look to other games for inspiration (thank you, BoardGameGeek!), and I always like to get at least 3 concept sketches from the artist before pursuing one of them in detail.

Then there’s another set of decisions to make about the labeling on the box: The size and position of the game name, the names of the designer(s) and artist(s), and the inclusion of key information like player count and playing time on all 6 sides.

There’s also the presentation on the back of the box, where we’ve traditionally placed a 3D setup image.  We’re starting to pair that with 1/2/3-style explanation speech bubbles so a potential customer can quickly grasp what the game is about.

It’s always a work in progress, and I’m always learning from other publishers–it feels like every week there’s a new game announced with a truly stunning, evocative box. Whenever I go to a local game store, I try to pay close attention to which boxes grab my attention; I also recently went to Barnes & Noble for this specific purpose.

Have you ever bought a product based on its box, label, or cover? What would you like game publishers to learn from your experience?

***

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For the last few years, I’ve been buying bar soap from a friend who makes custom soap as a hobby in the greater St. Louis area (Nerdy Bird Nest). In early 2025, after buying my latest batch, I had a wacky idea: What if we worked with Jenna to make soap that smelled like the themes for several of our games?

We already find a variety of ways to make game nights more immersive (thematic music, food, drinks, etc)–why not add to the immersion with soap that reminds us of the gritty landscape of Scythe or the vineyards of Bordeaux?

It seemed like a great fit for our series of silly-but-real April Fools products, and Jenna agreed…but she said it was already too late to have the soap ready in time for April 1, 2025. So we decided to plan ahead for 2026.

The extra time was a big help, as it gave Jenna time to experiment with different ingredients, fragrances, and colors. After a few months, she shared with me a total of 6 different bars that smelled and looked like Euphoria, Scythe, Finspan, Viticulture, Apiary, and Wingspan:

Making soap is just a hobby for Jenna, so I asked her for full honesty in regards to how many bars of soap she could comfortably make over the next few months and still have fun with the process. She said would be comfortable making 100 of each bar, which is far more than she’s ever made of even a single type of soap in the past.

So while Jenna made the soap (a process that is just as much about waiting for the soap to set as it is about mixing the ingredients), I collaborated with our graphic designer to design two sets of boxes. We decided to sell the soap in sets of 3 so we could reach more people (200 people instead of 100).

I looked into box manufacturers in the US, but I found the same thing I’ve found with various US manufacturers: Less customization, less personal, limited communication, odd scaling, and higher costs. In contrast, Panda made the process incredibly easy. They quickly printed the boxes and sent them to us, and I handed them off to Jenna at our monthly cookbook club.

I also looked into the possibility of shipping the soap from the US over to our fulfillment centers in Canada, Europe, and Australia. There were several key problems with that idea, though: The shipping would have significantly increased the price of the soap, it would have spread such a small quantity even thinner, and most importantly, each region has its own regulations and certifications for beauty products that added risk and expense. So I made the call to only offer the soap on our US webstore.

Real April Fools products are always a bit odd, as people generally assume they’re not real. However, enough people clicked through to our webstore on April 1 that the soap sold out in just over 10 minutes.

I genuinely never want to have such a limited stock of anything, but I think people understood that there was an individual human behind the creation of these soaps–Jenna is just one person, not a factory, and there truly was a limit to how many bars she could make. However, Jenna can make more, and if/when she does, she’ll share them on her Etsy store.

If you were among the 200 people who bought the soap on April 1, I look forward to hearing your thoughts upon receipt. For everyone else, what game world would you like to see as soap?

***

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I attended a fundraising trivia night over the weekend where every table had a theme chosen by the attendees. Our table was Wingspan & bird themed: Most of us wore bird shirts, there were dessert nests with candy eggs, we had two huge owl statues, and I brought a random Wingspan Americas bird card for each of the 10 of us.

The fundraiser was entirely unrelated to tabletop games–it was for the St. Louis roller derby team–but several people stopped by to say how much they loved Wingspan. One comment stood out: “I love Wingspan. It’s the only game I play.”

You might glance at your vast collection of games as you read this and wonder why this person hasn’t tried other great games, but think back to when you got into modern gaming. For me, Catan was the only game I played for a few years, followed by Agricola. The mentality was, “Why would we play something else when we already know–and enjoy–this game?”

Eventually I started exploring other games (Fresco, Dominion, Stone Age, etc), but I would bet that a not-insignificant number of people are “lifestyle gamers”–they pick a game, and that’s the only game they play. They might go deep into a modern game like Wingspan, a classic game like chess, or a trading/living card game like Magic.

I love when someone finds a game that they want to play over and over again. As a publisher, I want to support the things that bring people joy. Here are a few ways I try to support those who choose to play a specific Stonemaier game over and over:

• community support: If I go deep into a game, I like to talk about the game on online forums (especially BoardGameGeek and Facebook). I try to help people feel welcome when they venture into the comments for our games, as it can be intimidating to show up in a group of 20,000 people and not know how your first question/comment will be received. Part of community support also includes supporting and encouraging fan creations (e.g., Wingspan’s bird promo packs or expansions like Scythe: The Wind Gambit).
• content creators: Here’s a little secret about why we send so many games to reviewers (all games in our catalog, not just the new hotness): It’s just as much to get people excited about the games they already play/own as it is about informing people who don’t already have the game.
• digital versions: The tabletop experience is awesome, but it isn’t always an option. We work with developers to bring our games to life digitally so the person who plays Wingspan once a month in person but wants to play every day in between online can do that.
• accessories/expansions/promos/merch: For the two games I played over and over for several years (Catan and Agricola), we literally had one copy of the game among us. At a certain point, those of us who didn’t own the game felt the desire to contribute. We bought expansions, upgraded tokens, and promos; we might even have bought Agricola t-shirts if we had thought of it.
• spinoffs/sequels: There are certainly many people who just want more Wingspan or more Scythe. But there are some who want different-Wingspan or different-Scythe; hence Wyrmspan, Finspan, and Expeditions.
• gift giving: My first few games after Catan and Agricola were all gifts. I’m sure I would have eventually started buying other games myself, but I’m so grateful that people gave me that nudge by giving me Dominion, Stone Age, and Fresco. We have a gift guide at Stonemaier Games, but as I write this, I think it might be helpful to bridge the gap between popular non-Stonemaier games and our games. For example, if someone you know loves Carcassonne, they might also enjoy Between Two Castles. That sort of thing.

Did you–or do you still–have a game that you play over and over? In what ways has the publisher supported your passion for that game?

***

Also read or watch:

• The Formula for Wingspan’s Longevity, Replayability, and Success
• Cult of the New or Longevity of the Old
• 15 Ways to Increase a Game’s Replayability

If you gain value from the 100 articles Jamey publishes on this blog each year, please consider championing this content! You can also listen to posts like this in the audio version of the blog.

“The largest U.S. carriers seek to capture corporate travelers and affluent leisure passengers who are willing to pay more for comfort. Increasingly, airlines are betting on selling fewer seats at higher yields rather than packing planes more densely with standard economy passengers.” —NTD

Here’s how one might rewrite this quote if it were about tabletop crowdfunding:

“Tabletop publishers seek to capture affluent gamers and those who want to focus on fewer, deluxified games. Increasingly, publishers are betting on selling expensive games (lower total quantities) at higher yields rather than lower-priced games (higher total quantities) at lower margins.”

Two recent examples are Brass Pittsburgh and Slay the Spire: Downfall. Both campaigns are impeccably crafted and highly successful: Even just a few days in, they’ve raised close to $7 million combined.

If I wanted to pledge to the highest core levels for both campaigns ($425 for the game and expansion for Slay the Spire and $350 for all three Brass games), I would spend close to $800. Out of around 31,000 backers between the two campaigns, close to 3,000 people have already backed at those levels (around 10%). These top pledges have raised around $1 million out of the combined $7 million total (around 14%).

Clearly there is an audience for these top-tier reward levels, particularly for highly acclaimed games that have earned their value (Brass Birmingham is ranked #1 on BoardGameGeek; Slay the Spire is #18). Perhaps at least part of this stems from hobby gamers with bursting collections who want to focus on fewer, fancier games.

Unlike airlines, however, there isn’t limited space on a crowdfunding campaign–these publishers have found a way to serve more budget-conscious backers too. Roxley included a $79 reward for Brass Pittsburgh (821 backers) and Contention Games included an $84 reward (2325 backers) for the Downfall expansion.

Another example is Garden Club, which has a $39 level and a $69 level on Kickstarter now. Chris Couch Games can serve both budget-conscious backers who just want the game and wealthier backers who want everything.

Here’s my hope: Selling some premium, high-margin products can help publishers maintain lower prices for the masses.

What do you think? How do you feel as a consumer right now, and what would you like publishers to learn from these campaigns? Is there such thing as an economy that serves all types of people?

***

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Every month, I update the progress chart on the News page of our website so anyone can see the current status of any Stonemaier project. There are 12 steps (some overlapping, some sequential) that define the process from design to retail release. If you’re curious about what each step entails, here’s a brief summary, along with the approximate timeframe for each.

1. Design (6-24 months): Take the game from an idea to something fun and functional. This includes prototyping and local playtesting. If you’re submitting the game to publishers instead of self-publishing, most of your responsibilities end here.
2. Art (3-6 months): Create the art for all components in the game, including (as needed) cards, tiles, boards, player mats, the box, etc. If there are miniatures, 3D modeling is also necessary.
3. Development (2-3 months): Make the game even more fun and functional by playing and honing the game. Focus on rules clarity, gameplay intuitiveness, and balance. This overlaps with blind playtesting.
4. Blind Playtesting (4-8 months): Send the files for the game to paid playtesters who assemble the game, learn it from the rules, and play it several times before reporting their experiences. Use those reports and data to update the game (ideally with support from the designer), then start another wave of blind playtesting.
5. Solo Design (3-5 months): Solo specialists (e.g., Automa Factory) craft the solo mode for the game based on the final rules/prototype. They also prototype it extensively, sometimes discovering new balance issues to address in the multiplayer game.
6. Graphic Design (3-4 months): Design the icons, layout, and user interface, then transfer all the content from the prototype into these templates. This also includes the proofreading and oversight process, with the graphic designer updating the files with each new batch of edits. Graphic design culminates in the graphic designer preparing the printer-ready files based on the manufacturer’s specs.
7. Pre-Production (1 month): The manufacturer reviews the final PDFs and tokens for any issues that might arise during production. Usually there’s some back and forth (digitally and via samples) until the digital proofs and components are approved by both parties. This culminates in the manufacturer sending a PPC (pre-production copy) to the publisher for them to test–this is a single copy of the game printed on its own.
8. Components (2 months): The manufacturer (and any third-party factories they outsource to) produces the diecuts for tokens and moulds for miniatures, as well as actually making those components at scale. They also prepare for the printing itself–for most printed components, the prep takes longer than the printing. Anything that needs to be glued takes longer (i.e., boards, player mats, and the box), as the paper needs time to dry properly to the cardboard.
9. Print & Assemble (1 month): Cards and rulebooks are printed en masse. Now, with all the components ready and in one place, they can finally be assembled into the game boxes and placed in cartons (they may also be palletized).
10. Freight Shipping (1-2 months): From factory to final destinations, the games go by truck to train to ship to train to truck until they arrive at warehouses around the world. This applies no matter where you make products–it’s a global economy. It’s at this time that we typically announce and start to market our products.
11. Launch & Fulfillment (1 month): This is specific to Stonemaier Games, as we don’t sell products until they have arrived (or are imminently arriving) at our fulfillment centers in the US, Canada, Europe, and Australia. The hardworking folks at these fulfillment centers then pack every order, pair it with the correct label, and send it out with many others via couriers.
12. Retail Release (1 month): While the webstore launch is in progress, distributors and the publisher gather orders from retailers. This is why it’s super helpful for you to let your store know what you want to buy from them–that way they can ensure they have a copy of the product just for you in time for the retail release day.

Not shown here is the reprint process, which starts a little before step 8 (usually there’s a least a few files in which we make tiny updates before making more of a product).

These are only brief summaries of the steps, but I’m happy to answer questions in the comments.

***

Also read:

• Board Game Supply Basics
• An Open Letter to Non-Gamer Journalists Researching Modern Tabletop Games
• How to Design a Tabletop Game
• The Hidden Job of Every Creator
• My Game Publishing Checklist

If you gain value from the 100 articles Jamey publishes on this blog each year, please consider championing this content! You can also listen to posts like this in the audio version of the blog.

With college basketball’s March Madness tournament underway, I’d like to announce a new experiment: The Tabletop Power Rankings.

I’ve always enjoyed subjective and objective rankings in sports (e.g., the weekly BCS rankings for college football and the Premier League standings in English football). I like checking in to see how different teams are moving up or down the rankings and to see how they are perceived.

I’ve also recently renewed my fascination with anticipation following last year’s article about the most-viewed tabletop YouTube videos. Since then, I’ve posted a monthly video showcasing my most anticipated games to play again.

The confluence of these two interests have now formed the Tabletop Power Rankings. The concept is a monthly reveal of the top 10 games (plus the top 5 Stonemaier games) that people are the most excited to play again after playing them at least once.

That last phrase is particularly important, as it places the emphasis on what we already have (and have firsthand experience with) instead of what we don’t have (and haven’t even played). As much as I enjoy the BGG Hotness, it’s typically filled with future releases.

I seeded the initial rankings based on a Stonemaier Ambassador survey, but now anyone can participate: here is the current 3-question voting and nomination link for the next month.

While the exact format might change, my plan is to post the overall top 10 each month along with a survey that replaces the 3 lowest voted games with the top 3 nominations from the previous month.

Overall Games (March 2026)

1. SETI
2. Galactic Cruise
3. Slay the Spire
4. Bomb Busters
5. Speakeasy

This will expand to a full top 10 starting in April. At that point I’ll add previous rankings and months on the rankings.

Stonemaier Games (March 2026)

1. Viticulture
2. Vantage
3. Wingspan
4. Scythe
5. Tapestry

Here’s what the initial ambassador survey looked like. I’ve since separated non-Stonemaier games from Stonemaier games and opened the survey to everyone.

I’ll reveal the new Tabletop Power Rankings the first Wednesday of each month on our website and on my anticipated games video.

I hope you choose to participate in this experiment (survey link)! If you have any ideas, suggestions, or questions, please let me know in the comments.

***

If you gain value from the 100 articles Jamey publishes on this blog each year, please consider championing this content! You can also listen to posts like this in the audio version of the blog.

I spent the last weekend hosting friends at the Gamers Ranch, a gaming-focused vacation property in the middle of Missouri. I had an amazing time, and I loved seeing the power of the tabletop community in action, especially in seeing different gaming friends intermingle.

As I reflected on the weekend, I realized that among the dozens of games played, there were 5 games that hit the table more than any others. I thought I’d briefly look at each of those games to see what made them work particularly well for events and conventions, which can sometimes be the difference for a game to break out.

Moon Colony Bloodbath: I taught and played this 6 times over the weekend, and nearly everyone played again later. Even though it’s heavier than the other games on this list, the single deck of cards (flip a card and everyone does what it says) helps a teacher to guide everyone through the first few turns. It’s also entirely simultaneous, so there’s no downtime. There’s also the dark humor of the theme and the bold name, which seemed to attract curiosity from those who hadn’t played.

Lord of the Rings Trick-Taking: The cooperative nature of this game creates a sense of camaraderie; camaraderie is often a primary motivator for someone to attend a gaming event. Also, the short playing time and the variety of each chapter–all based on a simple core system–created a “just one more game” mentality.

Bomb Busters: I’ll continue what I said above about the Lord of the Rings trick-taking game, as this applies to both: I’ve noticed at gaming events that many people are hesitant to commit to a 3-hour game, yet they’ll end up playing short, escalating, cooperative games like Bomb Busters for hours. I love the idea of breaking a longer game into bite-size pieces.

Magical Athlete: Everything about the product design of this whimsical racing game lends itself to events. While it asks players to make a key decision before the game starts (which characters you select in the draft), the rules are so bare-bones that this isn’t a problem. I noticed that people seemed to gravitate towards this game after playing a heavier game, as it’s a great brain break.

Mindbug: This snappy two-player dueling game has a unique hook that seemed to intrigue people (twice per game when your opponent plays a card, you can claim it as your own instead). An accessible, quick 2-player game is really nice for an event when a few people are waiting for longer, larger-group games to finish.

Also note that all of these games are super fast to set up.

One other commonality between these games is that they all had someone championing them. This can make a huge difference at an event or convention: If there’s someone visibly excited to play a game they already know, people will gravitate towards that game.

Have you noticed a game spreading like wildfire at events or conventions? What is it about that game or the situation that resulted in the game returning to the table over and over?

***

Here are the events and conventions in which Stonemaier Games is participating in 2026.

If you gain value from the 100 articles Jamey publishes on this blog each year, please consider championing this content! You can also listen to posts like this in the audio version of the blog.

Almost exactly 1 year ago today, Mitchell and I recorded our first episode of the 30-minute Positively Board Gaming Podcast. Today we will record episode 52 for release next week (episode 51–focused on the mechanism of delayed gratification and custom dice–went live this morning).

As much as I enjoy chatting with Mitchell, I was nervous about adding yet another form of content to my current weekly schedule for Stonemaier Games: 2 articles, ~4 videos, 1 livecast, and 7 Instagram posts, plus monthly Rolling Realms liveplays and quarterly launch videos and design diary posts. Creating all that content takes time, as does participating in the ensuing conversations.

Also, I know from years of being a guest on podcasts that it’s really easy for a 30-minute conversation to end up more like 60+ minutes if you include the preparation, warm-up, the podcast itself, and the post-recording chat. I’ll say yes to pretty much any podcast or video chat, but after 30 minutes I start to check out as I think about all the other work I need to do (and want to do).

Despite these concerns, I’ve found myself looking forward to 30 minutes with Mitchell each week, and it seems that people have enjoyed our positivity as well. I don’t know the audio stats, but the videos average around 1,000 views with great discussions in the comments.

Here are a few key things I’ve learned and remained mindful of during the first year of Positively Board Gaming (and as an avid listener of many podcasts):

1. The delicate balance between familiarity and inclusivity. Any episode might be a listener’s 50th experience with our podcast or their 1st. I want repeat listeners to feel a sense of comfort from the podcast, like they’re just hanging out with friends. But I also want a new listener to feel welcome. We’re still navigating this balance: When do we overexplain the format (e.g., we don’t need to tell listeners that we’re going to discuss a treat of the day–they know what a treat is) and when do we underexplain it (e.g., is it relevant to tell people that neither of us knows the other person’s topic each week)?
2. The delicate balance between dialogue and monologue. Mitchell and I each bring a topic to the table each week, and we allot around 10 minutes each. 10 minutes can fly by when it’s a back-and-forth dialogue (which is my preference, as I talk to myself on camera all the time), so I try to ensure that the person who raised the topic has the time to share what they wanted to say about it.
3. The delicate balance between focus and variety. As a podcast listener, I find that I’m the most drawn to gaming episodes about 1 specific game, maybe 2 at most. Tabletop Takeaway, One-Stop Co-Op Shop, and Lens & Veil are a few that do this well, though there are others (like The Secret Cabal) that have a more varied chat before focusing on a specific game–I like that too. However, I find myself less inclined to only discuss 1 game on our podcast because there isn’t much Mitchell can say about it if he hasn’t played it too. Perhaps I’ll experiment with this in the future to see if can work.

I’m guessing that the balance I’m describing isn’t unique to us, hence why I’m sharing it here. Whether you’re a content creator or a listener/viewer, I’d love to hear your thoughts about how podcasts balance these elements and what makes keeps you coming back to the podcasts you love. Feel free to also share your favorite gaming and non-gaming podcasts!

New episodes of Positively Board Gaming are available every Thursday morning on YouTube and various podcast platforms. Also, I highly recommend the Overcast podcast app–it is heads and tails above any podcast app I’ve used in the past.

***

If you gain value from the 100 articles Jamey publishes on this blog each year, please consider championing this content! You can also listen to posts like this in the audio version of the blog.

Recently a book publisher friend told me that the #1 thing he seeks from his authors is longevity. “If you haven’t spent at least 10 years working on a problem that a lot of people share, it probably isn’t a book for us.”

I’ve thought about this perspective a lot lately. I’m fascinated by anyone who takes that much time to work on a single project, though it didn’t seem like something I could possibly endorse to tabletop game designers. 10 years is a long time to work on the same game! Even Vantage “only” took 8 years for me to create.

But something clicked yesterday when I saw The Enigmatist in St. Louis. David Kwong is a magician, NY Times crossword designer, and an avid puzzler and gamer. The 2-hour show is full of riddles and puzzles for the audience to solve (if they wish), and Kwong seamlessly intertwines them with some more traditional magic elevated by his remarkable vocabulary and memory. We had so much fun at the show, and I highly recommend seeing it in St. Louis at The Rep over the next few weeks.

What I realized in experiencing the show is that Kwong has been working on this show for many years. While The Enigmatist itself didn’t exist 10 years ago, Kwong was cultivating his craft. I’m sure the show itself took years to create, and he originally performed it in New York in 2019, so The Enigmatist has existed in some form for 7 years. Along the way, Kwong wrote two related books and created a deck of playing cards that is also a series of puzzles.

In other words, David Kwong has devoted himself to this 2-hour show for at least 10 years. He worked hard to create something great, and he continues to share it with as many people as possible (likely while improving and enhancing it along the way).

One of the reasons I was hesitant at first to write about this topic was that it truly felt like a luxury to work on Vantage for 8 years; how could I possibly recommend that approach to other designers and publishers?

But Vantage isn’t alone in this category. A few other examples of games that have been someone’s primary focus for many years are The Old King’s Crown (Pablo Clark), Obsession (Dan Hallegan), Galactic Cruise (T.K. King), and Stardew Valley (Eric Barone). All of those tabletop games are rated 8.1 or higher on BoardGameGeek, and Stardew Valley is one of the top-rated, most-played digital games of the last 10 years.

In other words, if you have the opportunity to work on a passion project for many years, it could lead to something truly special, especially in a time when it’s more difficult than ever for a game to stand out from the deluge of high-quality projects.

Also, working on a project for 5-10 years doesn’t mean you can’t work on other projects in the meantime. I’ve found it incredibly helpful in my design process to have 2 games in the works at the same time. When I run into a wall on one game, I bounce over to the other game for a while.

That said, there are certain risks that accompany long-term passion projects. If the investment of all that time (and probably money too) doesn’t lead to something that resonates with people, you may just be making something for yourself. A safeguard for that is to not work in a vacuum–include others in the process and welcome their feedback.

Also, the world (and your world) can significantly change over 10 years. Something that might be exciting and innovative today might feel outdated in 2036. I tried to stay flexible and open-minded while creating Vantage; I constantly researched and played other open world games during the process.

10 years is a long time, though I don’t think that’s some magical number for longevity. Rather, this is more about a patient commitment to excellence. I want to give our projects the time they need to truly shine, quality over quantity.

I’ve only named a few high-profile projects here; can you think of any others? What are your thoughts on having a long-running project (even as you might work on others in the meantime too)?

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Also read:

• Your Best Work, Mediocrity, and Creating for Creation’s Sake
• Meaningful Creations, Play, Elevation, and Connections (2025-2026)

If you gain value from the 100 articles Jamey publishes on this blog each year, please consider championing this content! You can also listen to posts like this in the audio version of the blog.

Parcel fulfillment methods, options, and best practices have evolved quite a bit over the last few years, so today I’ve updated the information from my previous post on this topic in the hope this will be helpful for my fellow creators.

The Basics

In general, this is the 2-step process that many creators use (see also this infographic):

1. Freight: A freight company (I work with ARC Global: justin.bergeron@arcglobal.us) ships cartons/pallets/containers of products from a factory to several different fulfillment centers (Australia, Canada, US, and Europe). Depending on your scale, you can potentially freight ship directly to distributors (who sell games to retailers). Here’s my 2023 update on freight shipping.
2. Fulfillment: A fulfillment center sends orders to customers within their respective region.

This method works well if you know exactly how many products to send to each region. That’s great for crowdfunders but more of a guessing-game for companies like Stonemaier Games who don’t accept orders until the products have arrived at fulfillment centers. We make educated guesses based on past sales and interest gauged from our newsletters.

Top Fulfillment Centers

Whenever I’ve selecting a fulfillment company, I always ask about and test the quality of packaging, speed, communication, customer service, and autonomous problem solving.

I’ve come to believe that consistently high quality is much more important than price when it comes to fulfillment centers. However, you can see a variety of stats (including price estimates, which are updated by each corresponding company) as well as contact information on this master list of fulfillment companies.

Here are my current top picks by region:

• United States: We work with Miniature Market fulfillment here in St. Louis and have been really impressed by all services they’ve provided. Fulfillrite, Quartermaster Logistics, and Allplay Fulfillment have great reputations, and whenever I receive a package from them, I’m pleased with the quality of packaging.
• Europe: Spiral Galaxy is great to work with, and they’ve offer a full-service VAT option. They’re extremely responsive, they’re fast, they pack games well, and they even have an optional system where they can confirm addresses with customers before printing labels.
• Canada: We work with Asmodee Canada to handle fulfillment, and they’re doing a great job with communication, speed, and quality of packaging.
• Australia/NZ/Asia: Let’s Play Games does a solid job at fulfilling our shipments to customers in Australia, New Zealand, and Asia.
• Other Areas: Unfortunately, there aren’t any fulfillment centers in other regions I can currently recommend, but I’d love to hear from other creators if you’ve had good experiences in the last few years.

If you plan to sell products through your webstore to customers on an ongoing basis, I recommend setting up different storefronts for each region (or some way to separate inventory by region).

Instructions for Fulfillment Centers

We try to be abundantly clear every time we work with a fulfillment center, informing them well in advance when we have an upcoming launch. Feel free to copy and paste the instructions below (or add/subtract from them):

1. Ship all packages so they do not require a signature for delivery.
2. Send customers their tracking number by e-mail on the same day that their order leaves the facility (not when the label is made and no later than the day after the package departs). Also, it’s crucial that backers see their FULL address on tracking notifications, not a partial address that will cause them to wonder if we forgot half of their information.
3. Either sync tracking numbers with our ecommerce platform or send me a spreadsheet of tracking numbers and couriers within 2-3 days of fulfillment completion. We can answer 90% of customer service questions if we have that data.
4. If it’s absolutely necessary for an order to ship in multiple packages, please make sure the customer knows that they’re receiving more than one package. That will prevent a lot of customer confusion and frustration.
5. Please pack the products with plenty of cushioning around the edges, corners, and between differently sized components.
6. Please use eco-friendly, space-efficient packaging if possible. (It’s generally up to the creator to specify if there is a product that could be shipped in a padded mailer or envelope instead of a reinforced box.)
7. Let me know in advance what your estimated daily/weekly target is (the quantity of orders they can ship each week). We ask that fulfillment centers increase this quantity for launch periods compared to normal weeks.

Tips and Thoughts

• Transparency: Most crowdfunders have moved to the method of charging for parcel shipping costs after the project. Parcel shipping is fulfillment center labor, packaging, and postage, which is separate from the landed cost of a product (manufacturing plus freight; this is built into the reward price). Basically, a customer’s assumption when they place a pledge is they’ve now paid for the entire landed cost and only need to pay for the parcel shipping cost later.
• Responsibility: It is inevitable that some customers will report that a package wasn’t delivered (despite the courier’s “proof” of delivery). We first ask the customer to check with their neighbors–you’d be surprised by how many times the package is next door. If the customer can’t find the package, we confirm that the address is secure (or ask for a more secure address), add a required signature to the delivery (if possible), and ship the package again.
• Product Size: A certain number of cartons fit on a pallet (18-21 cartons), and your manufacturer will often use the same carton size for everything they send. Smaller box sizes offer a significant competitive advantage given the freight shipping costs, though retailers and distributors typically don’t want to buy cartons with dozens of games inside (6-12 games per carton is ideal).
• Playmats: Big playmats in cardboard tubes require multiple packages for the same shipment, so we instead have our manufacturer flat-pack them. Fulfillment centers fold them into packages for shipment, saving customers a significant expense (and using a lot less cardboard in the process).
• Pre-packing: To speed up the fulfillment process, slightly decrease the cost per unit, and ensure a consistent quality of packaging, your manufacturer can pre-package products at the factory. This works best if customers are preordering 1 unit of the product and nothing else. You can even design expansion and accessory boxes so a shipping label can be placed directly on them without the need for a box inside a box.
• Damaged boxes: Publishers don’t typically have replacement boxes, so if a customer receives a dented or broken box and requests a replacement, there’s no other way than to send them another full game. When we do that, we give the customer a prepaid shipping label to send the ding-and-dent game to a reviewer of our choice (we check with the reviewer in advance to see if they’re fine with this arrangement).
• Replacement parts: Sometimes components are missing from inside the product, and we have replacement parts helpers around the world stocked with spare parts to send to you if you fill out the form on this page.

Other Tips I’ve Learned Over the Years

• Bar Codes/SKUs: Fulfillment centers and retailers require bar codes (gs1, then generate codes here); most also need SKUs (stock codes; if you’re in the board game industry, get these from heather.stoltzfus@hmahobby.org). Make sure you have both, and make sure you have a system for ensuring that you don’t use the same bar code on different products (I use a Google Doc with conditional formatting that highlights duplicate cells).
• Important labels: If you manufacture in China, put “Made in China” on the box (or wherever you made the product). Customs will have a problem if you don’t do this. Also include a choking hazard icon and label (“Warning. Choking hazard. Contains small parts. Not for children under 36 months.”).
• Add-Ons: The more add-ons and various configurations you offer, the more trouble you’re going to have when you fulfill rewards. Not only does it increase the potential for human error, but it also increases the cost: Some fulfillment centers charge a fee for each item in the package.
• Fee Precision: When calculating shipping rates on your crowdfunding project, use accurate fees for each country, not one-size-fits-all rates.
• Europe/VAT/Brexit: If you’re shipping from within Europe, put an address on the back of the box (i.e., your local address plus your fulfillment center address in Europe, though ask for their permission). If your game is CE marked and tested (which it needs to be if you are advertising it as a game for under 14) you need to have an address of an EU-based company that can act as your “authorised representative” and hold your Declaration of Conformity for you. You’ll need to pay VAT, and I recommend shipping DDP (delivery duty prepaid) if you ship to the EU from the UK so customers know that the price they see on your webstore (which includes VAT) is the full price they’ll pay for the product (no surprises upon delivery–and if there is a surprise, it’s a mistake by the courier that can be resolved). I also recommend putting UK and UKCA markings next to the CE markings.
• Central/South America and Africa: We’ve tried to ship to customers in these regions in the past, but very few packages would actually arrive at their destinations. I know it’s not ideal, but my recommendation to these customers is that they ship to forwarding addresses in regions where we do ship (i.e., to a friend or to a service like Shipito and MyUS).
• Communication: I’ve found that keeping backers and customers informed with frequent updates throughout the fulfillment process is really helpful for easing their anxiety, even if we have no news to share.
• Local Pickup: It took quite a bit of coordination, but a few months ago we added a local pickup option here in St. Louis through Miniature Market (for sales made on our webstore). It isn’t something I would want to handle through my home office, but Miniature Market is set up well for option.

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Hopefully this gives you some ideas for shipping and fulfillment! If you fulfilled a project recently or are shipping products on an ongoing basis, what’s something you learned that can help your fellow creators? Do you have a fulfillment center to recommend?

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Also read:

• All other articles about fulfillment
• Board Game Supply Chain Basics
• Then and Now: How Expensive Is Freight and Parcel Shipping?
• Tariffs: Impact on Tabletop Publishers, Consumers, and US Manufacturing

If you gain value from the 100 articles Jamey publishes on this blog each year, please consider championing this content! You can also listen to posts like this in the audio version of the blog.