On September 10, 2012, Stonemaier Games changed from a conceptual to an actual company. That’s the day I woke up to Viticulture reaching its funding goal on Kickstarter. I filmed a brief emotional video to thank backers for helping my dream come true, and then I headed off to my day job.
Ten years later, and we’re still here! I consider it a miracle–truly the greatest gift of my life–to share joy with tabletops worldwide through our games and other content. We owe the last 10 years entirely to you, and I’m truly grateful for those who have joined us for this journey.
We’ve been preparing a number of surprises for our 10th anniversary celebration for the last 18 months…yet due to the uncertain nature of freight shipping, most of those surprises are late. So yesterday I decided to go ahead and reveal the surprises, then follow up with an extra newsletter in a few weeks when the shipments arrive at our fulfillment centers.
What’s Happening Now
The online physics-driven platform, Tabletopia, has kindly made all 1-2 player setups for Stonemaier Games FREE for the month of September. If you’ve been curious about one of our games and even just want to fiddle around with some of the components, this is a great way to do that.
I posted a second part to my original “Brief History of Stonemaier Games” video, catching up on the last 3 years.
I also shared a multiple-choice “how well do you know Stonemaier Games” quiz created by a few ambassadors. It’s light but tough–the average score is 8 correct answers out of 20 questions, and only 4 people have perfect scores (and I’m not one of them with my 19/20 score). This reminds me a bit of CNN’s weekly news quiz–I wonder if a monthly quiz would encourage people to follow along?
I also decided to go ahead and share details about the 3 product surprises, even though they won’t be available to buy until they arrive in a few weeks. I’ll talk about them below.
What’s Happening Later
The first incoming surprise is Smitten, a 1-2 player cooperative game I designed specifically for the 10th anniversary celebration. It’s a simple game (18 cards, 1-page rulebook, paper envelope–no plastic at all) illustrated by Vincent Dutrait, and as soon as it arrives with the following products, we’ll give it away for FREE with every tangible webstore order for the rest of September. It’ll be a $10 game on our webstore after that.
The second incoming surprise is Between Two Cities Essential Edition, which combines components from the original game and the Capitals expansion into one cohesive whole, making it a light/medium weight game (more in our wheelhouse than the original game by itself). While it features a bigger box than the original game, different art on some tiles, and a scorepad instead of a board, there are no new gameplay elements (i.e., if you own Between Two Cities and the Capitals Expansion, you already have everything).
The third incoming surprise–slightly less of a surprise, as I’d already revealed two of the realms–are the three new promo packs for Rolling Realms, all three of which will be available at the same time at a discount. I used all three for yesterday’s liveplay. As an extra bonus, lead promo designer Karel Titeca created a living rulebook containing rules and FAQs for all realms, including these. We’ll update it as we release new realms.
Last, we revealed that as soon as these products arrive (I’m hoping for the week of September 19), we’ll offer an automatic 10% discount on all tangible webstore products (this is in addition to our standard 20% discount for Stonemaier Champions). So if you’re interested in any Stonemaier product and you want a 10% discount and you want a free copy of Smitten, stay tuned for a newsletter notification in the very near future!
What 10 Years Looks Like
In a way, Stonemaier Games started when I was playing and designing games as a little kid. As an adult, I became fascinated by Kickstarter and designed Viticulture specifically to launch on that platform, finding motivation in my friendship and business partnership with Alan Stone.
We eventually signed the first of several games not designed by me (the original Between Two Cities), moved on from Kickstarter, and added 2 other full-time employees (and plenty of other help).
My goal is to bring joy to tabletops worldwide, and I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to try to do that over the last 10 years (and for the next 10+ years as well). If there’s anything I can do to bring more joy to your tabletop through our games and other content, please let me know in the comments below.
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28 Comments on “10th Anniversary Celebration: What’s Happening Now and Later”
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[…] Anniversary: This was a really special occasion for us–Stonemaier Games has been a company for 10 years! We celebrated this by giving a free copy of a 1-2 player cooperative game I designed (Smitten) to […]
[…] last week’s reveal of our 10th anniversary surprises, there were two digital developments I didn’t mention because I wasn’t sure if they […]
Congratulations on 10 years! Please pass thanks along to Biddy and Walter for allowing you to continue in this capacity, in light of last April’s surprise announcement.
To answer your question, it would be great to have a game sometime in the next 10 years that more fully explores their lives. It would obviously need to be epic, as grand in scope as any cinematic feature, and comparable in mechanical sophistication and thematic majesty to the rest of the games in the Stonemaier CATalog. Walter and Biddy have proven that they can handle the occasional cameo. Perhaps they’re ready to take center stage!
Congratulations on 10 years! I’m so impressed by the quality of your games, the concepts, the components, but especially the playability. They all seem to play so smoothly and fun. I own several Stonemaier games, with ones like Viticulture (awesome worker placement!), Between Two Castles and Wingspan even being in my top ten. Keep up the great work, and thank you for your dedication and uplifting personality.
Thank you, Timo!
jamey no my budget can’t survive this
Congrats! I am a relatively new board gamer (and Stonemeier champion) and just visited the Viticulture kickstarter page to see the beginning. How far you have come!
Thanks Justin! Indeed, those were the early days of gaming on Kickstarter, and I still had much to learn. :)
Wow, big congrats on your first brilliant 10 years! You are such a good force in the world of boardgames on so many levels. I’ve had the opportunity to work with a swedish magazine that did an interview with you and it was so inspiring the actual interview gave us ideas for several themes to the following issues. You have so far released excellent games (among my personal favourites are Viticulture and Wingspan) but to me the even greater thing about you and your company is your positive, honest and loving approach to the hobby as a whole. Never change! ;-)
Thanks Dennis! I’m honored to hear that about our interview. I hope I can continue to strive to be a force for good through Stonemaier Games–“positive, honest, and loving” is exactly what I aim for.
Many congratulations. A fantastic effort. And a huge shout out to your partner Alan. I’ve tried a few ventures with friends, but none have been long term successful. Super jelly that you made it work; a decade in and going strong. Well done.
Also … look how young you look. :-)
Thanks Shane! So young, right? :) And yes, I’m very fortunate that I found the partner I didn’t even know I needed to help provide that extra boost.
I started getting into the hobby in 2017 and Viticulture was my choice for my first “big” game. My wife later got it for me as a surprise gift! I absolutely loved the theme and artwork, I was drawn in quickly. It’s such a joy to dive into that world, each time is an experience. I still love it to this day and so glad you designed it. Since then I have also played and loved Wingspan, Rolling Realms, and Tapestry as well. Thank you!! Cheers to 10 more awesome years.
Thanks for sharing your first step into Stonemaier Games, Ben (and the steps that followed)!
Congratulations and thank you for the ten years past, looking forward to the next decade. :)
Thanks, IRU!
I’ve only been into modern board games since late 2019, but since then I’ve enjoyed many Stonemaier games! Here’s to another 10+ years, I can’t wait to see what’s in store and continue to be a part of this great community!
I’m glad to hear that, Dominick! Thanks for joining the hobby. :)
Well deserved, Jamey. I remember meeting you years ago at GenCon right before the first Scythe expansion dropped. You gave quite a first impression. I’ve gone on to tell friends about what a positive experience it was to meet you and how fun it was to sit a play a game with you and a few of your staff. Here’s to may more years of success. Can’t wait to see what you have coming around the bend. Cheers.
Thank you, Christian! That must have been 2017? I’m glad you had a good time in our conference room there. :)
Congrats are in order!! Take a day off Jamey! =)
My joy is working at least a few hours every day. :)
It is really something to celebrate. Congratulations and thank you for the great work.
Thank you! 10 years is longer than I’ve done most things in my life. :)
Wow, 10 years!. I remember being a backer of Viticulture and pleased, honoured to of become a small part of Stonemaier games over the years. Where have they gone!
Thanks so much for being so actively involved with Stonemaier Games for so long, Mark. Your replacement parts service in the UK is truly a gift.
Wow i share a birthday with the great Stonemaier Games?! Very cool fun fact lol
Happy anniversary!!
Happy birthday, Wonmin!