Consider this scenario: You’ve published a game, and you have multiple versions of the game in stock (standard, deluxe, Collectors, fancy add-ons, etc). You want to continue to market and support the game. Which version do you send to reviewers? My short answer is: Showcase the deluxe components (clearly labeled as deluxe) with full transparency […]
At some point in all of our lives, we’ve had a repetitive task that we completed without question, even if something about it didn’t quite make sense. I empathize and relate to that. We’ve also probably all been on the other side of a baffling, unintuitive, continual error. Consider this hypothetical situation: You work at […]
Today I have 4 recent examples of ingenuity and initiative from IV Studios, Garphill Games, Rebel Studio, and Board Game Garden. *** Fractured Sky (IV Studios): What Does It Feel Like? I always love looking through the project pages created by IV Studios. On their current campaign for Fractured Sky, they’ve added a new graphic labeled […]
This weekend I had the pleasure of dining at a local restaurant called Bulrush. It’s the closest experience I’ve ever had to the best parts of the movie The Menu (with none of the drama, fortunately). Bulrush’s menu focuses solely on St. Louis/Ozark ingredients. In fact, the head chef mentioned that he had foraged for […]
I recently read the new release When Everyone Leads by Ed O’Malley and Julia Fabris McBride. The book is full of bite-sized examples, questions, and advice. There’s even advice about asking powerful questions (page 208)–I really like that. Three of my favorite questions the book poses are about “The Gap”, referring to the gap between […]
Klaus Teuber, the designer of Settlers of Catan, passed away this weekend at the age of 70. He’s had a profound impact on my life; in fact, I don’t think Stonemaier Games would exist without him. To celebrate Klaus’ legacy, I brought Cities & Knights to game night on Tuesday, and we had a blast. […]
With our 2022 taxes now complete, it’s time for me to share the annual Stonemaier Games stakeholder report. A “stakeholder” in Stonemaier Games is anyone who has an impact on our company and a stake in our success, whether it’s employees, contractors, customers, Champions, Ambassadors, retailers, distributors, artists, designers, backers, readers, etc. So if you’re […]
Happy April Fools Week! April 1 is on a weekend this year, so we decided to start the silliness early. Yesterday we continued a tradition of releasing silly-but-real products on our webstore (they’re already starting to ship), with 10% of all webstore proceeds through Saturday going to several charities. US Store | Europe Store | Canada Store | Australia/NZ/Asia Store As […]
My favorite way to market our products is to facilitate and encourage them to get to the table more often. Your table, my table, the tables of reviewers, ambassadors, etc–any table will do. The more our products get to the table, the more they’re exposed to people, and hopefully the more fun people can have […]
While working on some tedious elements of a prototype this week, I listened to a few hours of videos by author and motivational speaker Brené Brown. She shares some incredible insights about vulnerability, empathy, blame, and criticism, and I’ll share some highlights and thoughts in today’s post. Vulnerability Brown talks about how there is no […]
