» 04|01 2026: Papyria review at Expert Game Award (FR).

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.”

The post “The numbers simply aren’t there”: Equinox to end record-breaking Altered TCG after new crowdfund falls well short of goals first appeared on .

France’s highest-profile board game prize, the As d’Or, has unveiled Paolo Mori and Alessandro Zucchini’s Toy Battle as the winner of its main award for 2026.

The family weight, toy-themed wargame fought off competition from Flip 7 and Rebirth to scoop this year’s prize, while Stefan Feld design Civolution won out against Arcs and Ants to win the expert game award.

Zenith, from Grégory Grard and Mathieu Roussel, picked up the intermediate award ahead of First Rat and Take Time, while the children’s category was won by Florian Sirieix design Mooki Island in a contest with Archeo and The Twisted Spooky Night.

This year’s As d’Or saw a significant change to its rules, with organisers requiring entries to name artists on the game boxes for first time.

Paul Mafayon was the artist for Toy Battle, while Civolution was illustrated by Dennis Lohausen, Zenith by Xavier Gueniffey Durin and Mooki Island by Mélanie Bardin, also known as Seppyo.

The award, which traces its history back to 1988, has required entries to show designer names on their game boxes for several years, in addition to requirements for the game to be published in French and available in the French market during the preceding year.

A statement from Philippe Mouret and Julia Marcelin, both heads of studio at Toy Battle publisher Asmodee, said “Tonight’s recognition first belongs to the authors and illustrator whose talent and vision brought Toy Battle to life.

“We also want to thank all the teams involved for their dedication, as well as the Festival’s jury for this distinction. This award is a wonderful acknowledgment of the creativity and vitality of today’s tabletop industry.”

French board game website Ludovox noted in January that a long-held belief around the As d’Or was that two-player games could not be nominated – a premise which crumbled this year with the nomination of three such games.

It added, “It also reflects the current trend: playing games as a couple, and smaller-format games are appealing to the public, and publishers are offering more and more of them.”

Viking-themed card shedding game Odin won last year’s As d’Or, while city-building eurogame Kutná Hora triumphed in the Expert Game category at the 2025 awards, Operation Noisettes won the children’s game prize, and Behind scooped the “Initié” award – which targets regular board game players ready for more challenging mechanisms.

The As d’Or was launched 38 years ago to highlight the best games available at France’s Festival International des Jeux in Cannes. The award was merged with the Jeu de l’Année in 2005.

More than 100,000 people attended this year’s FIJ between February 25 and March 1, down on the record 110,000 admissions across the five-day event last year.

The 2026 As d’Or Awards

As d’Or

Winner: Toy Battle, designed by Alessandro Zucchini and Paolo Mori, published by Repos (Asmodee)
Flip 7, Eric Olsen – Catch Up Games
Rebirth, Reiner Knizia – Lucky Duck Games and Mighty Boards

As d’Or-Jeu de l’Année – Enfant / Children

Winner: Mooki Island, Florian Sirieix – Le Scorpion Masqué
Archeo, Thomas Favrelière, Adrien Pédron – Gigamic
The Twisted Spooky Night, Wolfgang Dirscherl, Wolfgang Lehmann – Drei Magier Spiele

As d’Or-Jeu de l’Année – Initié / Intermediate

Winner: Zenith, Grégory Grard, Mathieu Roussel – PlayPunk
First Rat, Gabriele Ausiello, Virginio Gigli – Pegasus Spiele
Take Time Alexi Piovesan, Julien Prothière – Libellud

As d’Or-Jeu de l’Année – Expert / Expert Game

The supreme discipline for all strategists and frequent players.

Winner: Civolution, Stefan Feld – Grail Games, Deep Print Games
Arcs, Cole Wehrle – Leder Games
Ants, Renato Ciervo, Andrea Robbiani – Cranio Creations and Intrafin

The post Toy Battle triumphs in 2026 As d’Or, Civolution collects expert game prize first appeared on .

Less is more for French board game publisher Super Meeple, which says its strategy of keeping a tight rein on the number of complex titles it releases each year is paying off in an industry rife with overproduction.

Super Meeple, which releases its own designs as well as localising major titles such as Ark Nova and Gaia Project, says it is planning a “downward trend” for the number of games it releases each year in order to help each title stand out in an increasingly competitive market.

The publisher said that of the nine games it released last year, excluding expansions and sequels, only one was a “failure” – civilization builder Beyond the Horizon, the follow-up to Dennis K Chan’s highly regarded 2020 release Beyond the Sun.

It added that its biggest success of 2025 was “undoubtedly” fantasy animal reserve game Wondrous Creatures, while the rest of its releases were “in line with our overall expectations”.

The company said in an annual review post on Facebook, “Everything mentioned here is obviously based on our experience, and perhaps others have a different perspective, but the observation is pretty much the same everywhere, namely that overproduction automatically leads to a decrease in the percentage of successful games.

“We are mostly responsible for overproduction: from authors who want to be signed to buyers who want something new, not to mention publishers who need to produce and shops/distributors who need to meet buyer demand.

“Some can afford to be less involved in this overproduction, with a few games in their catalogue that are huge successes. Of course, they are more relaxed and can afford to slow down their releases.

“However, this foundation is generally, if not always, supported by family games; games with ‘infinite’ sales potential. Unfortunately, this is not the case for us, except perhaps for Kronologic and Expeditions.

“But the pool of buyers for big games is very limited, and even if it were to grow each year (which we hope it will!), it would still be insufficient to keep a company running. Nevertheless, we are aware of this overproduction and try to limit the number of releases as much as possible.

“Excluding expansions, we released seven games in 2024 and nine in 2025. We plan to release nine in 2026, as we do not want to exceed ten per year, two in edition and seven or eight in localisation.

“The trend will be downward as much as possible, working as hard as we can on each game and crossing our fingers that they will be successful.”

Super Meeple added that while it was fortunate to have games that always sell well, such as its lighter range of Kronologic murder mystery titles and zoo-building heavyweight Ark Nova, it was seeing a slight slowdown in what it called ‘long sellers’, big sellers such as Gaia Project, Trickerion and Obsession which it described as “pillars” of its catalogue.

It said, “We still intend to keep them available in our catalogue, as new players of slightly heavier games like these need to know about them!”

Early last year Super Meeple said it planned to step up its own direct sales after struggling to get individual retailers to stock more than a handful of copies of each of its heavier games through 2024.

The new system for some of Super Meeple’s expert titles involves running more pre-orders on its own site for those games, which it says could increase its margin to up to €20 per game.

It also hoped to “strengthen engagement” with retailers by allowing them to pre-order during a commitment period defined by the distributor, with any remaining games sold through its own online store or other online marketplaces and unavailable for restocking by shops.

Super Meeple said that Galactic Cruise, the first and only game to go through that system last year, sold out of all 3,000 copies – 300 through web pre-orders, 600 to partners outside France and the remaining 2,100 to stores.

It said, “This is obviously excellent news and proves that the vast majority of shops have understood our philosophy and made a greater commitment, so… thank you!

“This scenario will undoubtedly not be repeated for every game, but this initial success shows that the solution can work.”

The publisher said it planned to repeat the process this year for its localisation of World Order, the follow up to multi-award-winning economic class warfare simulator Hegemony: Lead Your Class to Victory.

Super Meeple’s other releases this year are set to include Tikal Legend, Mythologies, Revenant, Life of Amazonia and Ayar, and the third instalment of Kronologic, Babylon 2500.

The post “We released nine games in 2025 and only one was a flop”: French publisher Super Meeple on how avoiding overproduction is proving a recipe for success first appeared on .

France’s highest-profile board game prize, the As d’Or, has updated its rules for 2026 to ensure that artist names must appear on a game box in order for designs to be eligible for the award.

The award, which traces its history back to 1988, has required entries to show designer names on their game boxes for several years, in addition to requirements for the game to be published in French and available in the French market during the preceding year.

Board game designers and artists are frequently namechecked on box covers in the current hobby – a far cry from the time of the “coaster proclamation” in 1988, when 13 designers – including El Grande and Tikal creator Wolfgang Kramer – signed a beer mat at the Nuremberg toy fair vowing that none of them would give their games to a company without their names being written on the box.

Exceptions to that have long existed at the mass-market end of the hobby – but further cases have begun to appear in recent years, some due to the use of AI generated images in titles, and others due to stylistic choices by publishers.

Last September Alex Hague, the chief executive of Monikers and Daybreak publisher CMYK, defended the company’s decision not to credit artist Angela Kirkwood on the box for its new edition of Magical Athlete, saying that her credit was “clearly visible in the rulebook, on our site, and in the YouTube video for anyone interested”.

Several months earlier the company had made the decision not to include the name of Quacks of Quedlinburg designer Wolfgang Warsch or artist Ryogo Toyoda on the cover of its new version of the game, while its Magenta line of reimagined card games only features the name of one designer, Reiner Knizia, in tiny writing on the front of its box.

This year’s As d’Or sees Flip 7, Rebirth and Toy Battle fighting it out for the main prize, with Arcs, Civolution and Ants competing for the expert game award.

First Rat, Take Time and Zenith have been nominated for the intermediate award, while the children’s category winner will be one of Mooki Island, Archeo or The Twisted Spooky Night.

Viking-themed card shedding game Odin won last year’s As d’Or, while city-building eurogame Kutná Hora triumphed in the Expert Game category at the 2025 awards, Operation Noisettes won the children’s game prize, and Behind scooped the “Initié” award – which targets regular board game players ready for more challenging mechanisms.

The 2024 winner was also a small-box card game, Trio, potentially giving Flip 7 a boost in this year’s contest.

French board game website Ludovox noted that a long-held belief around the As d’Or was that two-player games could not be nominated – a premise which crumbled this year with the nomination of three such games.

It added, “It also reflects the current trend: playing games as a couple, and smaller-format games are appealing to the public, and publishers are offering more and more of them.”

The As d’Or traces its history back to 1988, when it was launched to highlight the best games available at France’s Festival International des Jeux in Cannes. The award was merged with the Jeu de l’Année in 2005.

This year’s winners are due to be announced on February 26 during the annual Festival International des Jeux in Cannes.

Last year’s FIJ had a record 110,000 admissions across the five-day event, with 60,000 sq m of exhibition space – up a third compared to 2024.

The post France’s biggest board game award changes rules for 2026, requires entries to name artists on box for first time first appeared on .

„Auf den Wegen von Marie Curie” ist der zweite Titel, mit dem der Verlag Sorry We Are French berühmte Wissenschaftler in den Fokus setzt. „Auf den Wegen von Charles Darwin” war im Jahr 2024 direkt zum “Spiel des Jahres” nominiert worden. Es zeichnet auf eine konsequent reduzierte Weise die Reise des britischen Evolutionsforschers nach. Im neuen Spiel dreht sich nun alles um die aus Polen stammende Marie Curie (1867-1934).

Wie schon das Darwin-Spiel, punktet auch „Auf den Wegen von Marie Curie” mit einem Zusatzheft, in dem die wichtigsten Stationen der Wissenschaftlerin nachgezeichnet werden. Marie Curie forschte zur Radioaktivität, entdeckte neue Elemente und erhielt die Nobelpreise für Physik (1903) und Chemie (1911).

Im Spiel folgen wir ihr in das Labor und stellen selbst Experimente mit Pechblende, Uran und Radium an. Die Ungewissheit über den Ausgang von Versuchen wird hier simuliert, indem wir Holzsteinchen, die Elemente, in einen Würfelturm werfen. Manche Steine bleiben hängen und kommen möglicherweise erst bei einem Zug eines anderen Spielers wieder zum Vorschein. Ein passender, wenn auch mitunter ungerechter Mechanismus.

Ein ständiges Umwandeln bei „Auf den Wegen von Marie Curie“

Der Zufall greift also ein bei der Auswahl an Elementen, die uns für verschiedene Aktion zur Verfügung stehen. Aufgabe ist es nun, mit den Ergebnissen möglichst effektiv umzugehen, um letztlich Siegpunkte zu ergattern. Wir absolvieren Experimente, erwerben sogenannte Aktivitätskarten, stellen Thesen auf. Das geht einher mit einem ständigen und eintönigem Umwandeln der Elemente: drei Pechblende gleich ein Uran, zwei Uran gleich zwei Radium, zwei Radium gleich ein Siegpunkt und ein Schritt auf der Zeitleiste.

Zeitleiste? Ja, wir haken die wichtigsten Stationen Marie Curies ab – mit einmaligen Aktionsmöglichkeiten zu bestimmten Zeitpunkten. Darauf sollte man vorbereitet sein. Zudem bestimmt die Zahl geglückter Versuche die Aktionsmöglichkeiten. Doch der Spannungsbogen nimmt dadurch nicht zu. Im Gegensatz zu Marie Curies wirklichem Leben fehlen in diesem Spiel leider die Höhepunkte.

Auf den Wegen von Marie Curie | Sorry We Are French | Florian Fay | 2 bis 4 Spieler | ab 10 Jahren | 20 bis 40 Minuten | Spielanleitung | Meine Bewertung: ★☆☆☆☆ (mäßig)