“The ride here wasn’t without its bumps:” Heat: Pedal to the Metal co-designer Asger Harding Granerud on his journey from board game distributor and retailer to BGG Top 40 designer
Plus: Origins seals record post-Covid attendance, hopes to attract back larger publishers for 50th anniversary next year
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A bumper issue for you this week, given our last edition would have come out on the US Independence Day holiday. As well as our regular slate of news coverage, we’ve got a string of board game industry professionals providing insights into design, marketing, crowdfunding and the business of board games. Top of the bill is Heat: Pedal to the Metal co-designer Asger Harding Granerud talking about his particular journey to board game design success, and the challenges of running a small independent studio. Wargame design legend Volko Ruhnke gave us a voluminous interview on his approach to creating games, professional streamer Banzainator provided her top tips for publishers looking to work with influencers, and Seppy Yoon has given his insights on running smaller-scale crowdfunding projects in the current market.
We also take a deep dive into this year’s Origins Game Fair to explore its recovery post-pandemic, how it can coexist with Gen Con and what it’s doing to attract back big publishers for next year’s 50th anniversary event. And we have news of struggling Cthulhu Wars maker Petersen Games being bailed, and how multiple board game publishers fall prey to scammers impersonating an 80,000 member board game Facebook group.
Finally I’d like to flag up Naylor Games, our latest newsletter and website sponsor - we’re delighted to have them supporting our writing, so please do click the link above and see how they can take on the heavy lifting of running a board game business, so you can focus on designing games.
Thanks for reading, and for supporting our reporting - have a great weekend!
Mike Didymus-True - Editor
“The ride here wasn’t without its bumps:” Heat: Pedal to the Metal co-designer Asger Harding Granerud on his journey from board game distributor and retailer to BGG Top 40 designer
Heat: Pedal to the Metal co-designer Asger Harding Granerud has completed a full lap of the board game industry since he began designing games just over a decade ago, having launched a distributor, retail shop and design studio in addition to seeing his motor racing co-design accelerate into the BoardGameGeek Top 40. Granerud sat down with BoardGameWire to discuss his learning curve as a designer and publisher, the challenges of running a three-person indie studio, and how to avoid common pitfalls in bringing your game to market.
Origins seals record post-Covid attendance, hopes to attract back larger publishers for 50th anniversary next year
GAMA’s annual tabletop gaming convention Origins has sealed a record post-Covid attendance, with visitor numbers up 10% compared to last year’s event. More than 17,700 people visited this year’s fair in Columbus, Ohio between June 19 and 23, underscoring a steady recovery from the lows of about 10,500 and 11,500 posted in 2021 and 2022, when many people were still reluctant to attend large gatherings in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
The recovery in Origins’ visitor numbers has not been as marked as other large conventions, however – Gen Con had already rebounded to its 70,000-plus pre-Covid size last year, Spiel Essen ran its record 2019 figure of 209,000 close in 2023, and this year’s UK Games Expo welcomed more than 39,000 people, up more than 50% on its pre-Covid record.
Struggling Cthulhu Wars maker Petersen Games has been bailed out by newly-launched US board game maker Quimbley’s Toys & Games
Petersen Games, the Cthulhu Wars publisher left struggling to fulfill more than $2m of Kickstarter projects after hitting severe financial issues during the coronavirus pandemic, has been bailed out by fledgling board game publisher and manufacturer Quimbley’s Toys and Games. The move potentially brings to an end years of chaos at Petersen, which has enraged backers of its multiple outstanding Kickstarter projects with constantly shifting promises and sparse and contradictory communications about fulfillment of their games.
“It’s probably the longest road of any game design I’ve had in play”: COIN series designer Volko Ruhnke talks new game Hunt for Blackbeard, solving the hidden information conundrum, and why he’s moving on from the series he created
Crafting a game system so compelling that other designers want to create their own games using it is a rare beast in board gaming. Veteran wargame designer Volko Ruhnke has managed it twice - first with the COIN series, which saw its asymmetric counterinsurgency design influence games including Root, and his Levy and Campaign series, which currently runs to nine volumes of designs by various creators. The former CIA intelligence analyst spoke to BoardGameWire about his continuing drive towards accessibility with new design Hunt for Blackbeard, how he's solving the hidden movement mechanics conundrum, and which games have been influencing his own design processes in recent years.
Multiple board game publishers fall prey to scammers impersonating 80,000 member board game Facebook group
Scammers impersonating a Facebook group and community with tens of thousands of members have managed to con multiple tabletop publishers into sending them review copies of their latest games. Renegade Games Studios and CrowD Games were both fooled into sending games to the fraudsters, who claimed to be Board Game Revolution social media manager and marketing co-ordinator Thomas Covert.
The scammers used a fake email address to contact a string of publishers, claiming BGR – which runs a 30,000-member promotions-focused Facebook page and separate 82,000 member ‘community’ page – had decided to experiment with branching out into reviews.
Bamboozled by board game Twitch? Professional streamer Banzainator’s top tips for working with influencers to make your campaign shine
Online streaming platforms have exploded in the last decade, with ballooning numbers of viewers tuning in to Twitch and other services to chat with their favourite presenters as they play games online. Board gaming is no exception, and a rising slate of influential streamers such as Beneeta Kaur and Amanda Panda provide a powerful new outlet to get games noticed amid the sea of new releases. But navigating this new technological territory and knowing how to get the best from a streamer campaign can be a minefield for designers and publishers. Professional streamer Banzainator, who has thousands of Twitch followers and also works as a community manager for Alderac Entertainment Group, shared with BoardGameWire her strategic advice for how to best work with streamers to get your game noticed.
Small is beautiful: Fight in a Box’s Seppy Yoon on succeeding with small-scale crowdfunds, managing convention maths, and keeping up with the competition
Bigger money crowdfunding projects inevitably take up the lion's share of discussion in board game circles, but the vast majority of projects inevitably run on a smaller scale - and with smaller margins for error. Managing production at that scale can be a significant challenge, but is one frequently faced by first-time designers and more established board game publisher alike. Seppy Yoon from board game publishers Fight In A Box has successfully managed a string of small Kickstarter projects - and one which failed to reach its goal. Amid raising funds for the company's latest Kickstarter project, he shares his advice and insights on deciding how big your game should be, managing convention finances, and balancing creative urges with keeping a game project manageable.
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UK - Trade Sales Executive - Steamforged Games
UK - Manufacturing Production Assistant - Wayland Games
UK - Digital Sculptor - Wayland Games
Netherlands - Junior Online Marketeer - Asmodee
Poland - Graphic designer with studio photography - Lucky Duck Games
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