The theme of Viticulture is that you have been gifted a vineyard by two people (presumably an inheritance from your family), and each player has different starting resources as a result. In the past we called these starting resource cards “mamas and papas”: Red cards featured mamas and blue cards featured papas.
But there’s no thematic or mechanical reason for this vineyard gift to only come from mama/papa pairings. My goal is to create games that bring joy to all types of tabletops worldwide, and the heteronormativity exhibited by the mama and papa cards is directly counter to that goal. I designed these cards in the first place, and it was my responsibility to find a solution.
So when Mihir and Francesco were working on the new starting resource cards for the Viticulture World Cooperative Expansion, I asked them to put all papas on the red cards and all mamas on the blue cards–a reversal from the cards in the core game.
If you shuffle these new cards into the original Viticulture red and blue cards–they are fully compatible–the resulting pairings will be a combination of mama-papa, papa-mama, papa-papa, and mama-mama to offer a more inclusive representation of society.
The red and blue cards in Viticulture World also feature much better ethnic diversity than the core game, where most of the people on the art self-selected by paying for the custom art (as much as I appreciated that early funding, because of the resulting lack of agency for Stonemaier Games, that was the last time we offered an open call for paid custom art).
The expansion functions just fine by using the original red mamas and blue papas by themselves; as noted in the Viticulture World rulebook, it also functions just fine by using the new red papas and blue mamas by themselves. But I definitely recommend that you shuffle all red cards together and all blue cards together for the greatest amount of variability and diversity.
Meanwhile, we are also updating the next printing of Viticulture to include some revised red papas and blue mamas (no mechanical changes, just switching faces and names to create more inclusive visibility). If you already own Viticulture, you can download and print these 8 revised cards for free.
Big thanks to Matthew Makak of Room 51 for inspiring positive change like this through their content and to Dan Street-Phillips for taking the time to have a great conversation with me about the future of inclusivity in Viticulture. Happy Pride Month!
Viticulture World is currently shipping to customers, and I look forward to seeing photos of your red-blue pairings in the Viticulture Facebook group and on Instagram to celebrate Pride Month.
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27 Comments on “Pride in the World of Viticulture”
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I love the Stonemaire games! I have all of them. But as an Italian, I find it odd that I feel less represented than anyone else in a game set in Italy. I still can’t get over the fact that these cards don’t even include Italian names – which is so important in our culture, especially for italian families that had to immigrate/restart over, but want to keep their culture alive. And now, somehow, it’s not “hype” to make a good representation of our culture, but americanize it! Anyway, loved the game. I don’t mind the art, I appreciate the LGBTq+ inclusive move here. But I’m disappointed with how there were no regards to the culture you were trying to present in the game!
I appreciate you sharing this!
[…] Viticulture World: It had been a while since we released an expansion for our evergreen game, Viticulture, and this was our first product focused solely on bringing a cooperative experience to tabletops. It was also the first time we included an expansion inside of a big box (the Wine Crate). This was quite a shaky release, as there were freight shipping issues, a late solution to address first-game difficulty, and a huge oversight on my part. All of this seemed to overshadow the quality of the expansion (7.9 user rating on BGG) and how it actively includes LGBTQ+ couples into the world of Viticulture. […]
It had never even occurred to me that the people on the cards were intended to represent a couple.
It’s really heartening to read in the comments from people that a relatively small functional change (red to blue to red) has had a huge impact on how included they feel in the game. Well done.
In the gender free contra dance community, we use ‘larks’ and ‘ravens’ instead of ladies and gents.
Class act Jamey- thanks for this <3
This is great ! As a member of the LBGTQ community, a stonemaier champion, and someone who has just ordered the viticulture expansion, this is thrilling news !
Thanks Aaron! :)
This just seems like pridewashing of a product for sales. You even promote the new game at the end of the article. Just another company using pride month to boost sales figures and not actually caring about the cause.
I’m certainly proud of our products and our story, Mike, but this isn’t about us. This is about improving diversity and inclusion in the game industry, and I think sharing stories like this–stories backed up by actual actions, as we did in Viticulture World and the future reprints of Viticulture–make a positive impact. “Pridewashing” is posting a photo of a rainbow on social media and equating that with progress.
I do find it interesting that your comment mentions “not actually caring about the cause”, as your comment doesn’t actually advance the cause (in fact, by conflating our very real actions with empty pridewashing, your comment actually regresses the cause). LGBTQ+ visibility and rights are a huge deal, Mike, especially right now. These stories and these actions matter. And heck, even if a company wants to just put a rainbow on Instagram, that’s something. That might actually mean something to a kid who is struggling with their sexuality. They can certainly do more–we all can–but at least they’re trying to add something positive to the cause.
I get major “Pride”-fatigue and have not pre-ordered certain games directly from Jamey in part due to a portion going towards causes (ACLU, I think?) who use money in ways I disagree with (or at least had enough concern that I waited).
That said, I do not believe Jamey to be disingenuous with this post and his efforts to support the LGBTQ+ community. These efforts are will probably gain more sales than lose, but I do not doubt his sincerity in the matter.
For whatever that’s worth…
Mike, If you read through previous blog posts from the Stonemaier team, you will see that this isn’t just a pride month promotion. They have posted many articles that focus on equity, diversity, and inclusion, with discussion around LGBTQ2S+ and other marginalized identities being represented more in this hobby/industry.
Not to completely copy and paste what Jamey has already posted, but it is comments like these that undermine the act of seeking to include underepresented identities. As a queer person myself, I am truly so excited to be able to choose two Papas. It is such a small change that makes a massive difference. For folks who see themselves represented in 90% of mainstream culture, this might not seem like a big deal and so I understand how one might view it purely from a profit driving perspective. While I now can see myself represented in this game, it also breaks down this idea of what is considered “normal.” I look forward to playing this game with folks who still hold a mindset of heteronormativity (some family members come to mind) and see how it sparks a bit of a widening of their worldview and acceptance of others.
When you think of the niche board-game industry and these individual publishers advocating for equity, diversity, and inclusion, there isn’t going to be some massive initiative that furthers the rights of marginalized communities that won’t be deemed as “rainbow baiting”. These small changes all matter, these discussions matter.
I want to offer my viewpoint and say thank you to Jamey and his team. Please continue the work you are doing.
Happy Pride! ;)
I really appreciate you offering your perspective, Steven–thank you. I’m glad that these small acts can make a big difference, and I hope to continue to speak and act in ways that improve diversity and inclusivity via Stonemaier Games.
I can assure you Mike as a very proud LGBTQ+ person who has personally interacted with many members of Stonemaier Games, this is not the case at all.
There are many companies out there doing just that and they well deserve to be called out, but Stonemaier is doing much more than you are perceiving here.
They are bringing a lot of positivity and inclusivity to the board game world, this is just only one example of it.
This step has meant a lot to my wife and I, thank you for making that change.
I am excited to shuffle them all together and see which beautiful couple I inherit my vineyard from each game!
Thanks, Molly!
Its really great that an effort is being made to move away from heteronormative relationships, but just out of interest, is there any intent in the future or effort made in the current upgrade to not stick to the implication that all people fit into one of two distinct genders? Would it have been possible to include, for example, purple cards that could be used as red or blue?
@Glenn – I’d love this too but because only one of the (colours) of cards gives you a Grande worker, it might be difficult to implement (You would probably have to say something like ‘Take one blue and one red-or-purple’ card which would be confusing – Or re-work the entire system).
Society, for the most part, has come to accept same-sex relationships as the norm. “Gender” however has become one of those hot button issues, and I think Stonemaier Games would be walking a fine line. One thing that I love about board games is that we all play with the same rule set and that brings everyone to equilibrium. It’s a sacred place, away from the polarized noise of the outside world.
The red and blue cards each provide specific sets of resources to pair off to make a good ‘starting set’ of resources. I’d say that adding a third color there would be non-trivial.
Glenn: I’m curious if the red and blue cards actually do what you’re suggesting here–do they actually imply that there are only two genders? Or is it your engrained societal bias that assumes that papa = male and mama = female? It’s hard to convey this in text, but I’m not saying this in a judgmental way; I’m just challenging the assumption that the red and blue cards are in any way limited to two distinct genders.
Jamey: Yes, I think they absolutely do imply that there are only two genders, I mean, clearly papa doesn’t = male and mama = female, since you’ve now put females on papa cards and males on mama cards, but you do have a set of gender aligned cards that only split into two types. Furthermore they imply that all relationships are built up of only two individuals, one of whom is in some way “blue” and the other in some way “red”, where you previously established that “blue” was male and “red” female. I really don’t think I assumed that, I think you established it in the original game. Ultimately, representation is about visibility, you’ve suggested that there are two types of category in relation to relationships that everyone fits into. I mean, are you suggesting that in the original Viticulture that red mama didn’t equal female and blue papa didn’t equal papa?
Christopher and Arsh: I realize it would be difficult to do. Is that a good enough reason not to do it?
Seth: Part of the issue here is that boardgames are actually not that sacred place for everyone yet. For someone who doesn’t fall into the standard gender norms sitting down to a nice mid-weight euro game and having to stop at the start of the game and be reminded, again, that you don’t fit in with other people’s definitions of normalcy can destroy that moment for them. I can accept not going anywhere near these issues, but partial representation can be even more exclusionary to those not included than no representation at all.
Glenn: There are no genders noted on the red and blue cards, just faces and names. You’re making assumptions about their genders by saying in your first comment that there’s the “implication that all people fit into one of two distinct genders,” but the cards themselves are not gendered–this is your implication, not Viticulture’s. It’s quite possible that some of the people pictured on the cards identify as neither male or female, and both we and the game itself welcome that. I’d encourage you to reflect on why you’re assuming that a “papa” can only be a man and a “mama” can only be a woman–I think that’s a very limiting worldview and could potentially cause harm to those who identify as a father or mother but not as a man or woman.
Of course, I’m open to learning from non-binary individuals about the use of the terms “mama” and “papa” on the red and blue cards, especially if someone pictured on one of the cards does not identify as a mama or papa. We could even remove the words “mama” and “papa” from the cards and just leave the first names.
I wonder if what leads to the confusion is the module name.
If the module were simply renamed to ‘Inheritance’, it would sound a bit more boring but would help guide people away from certain assumptions.
(If we are just receiving a red and blue ‘inheritance’ card, then it doesn’t even need to be considered as parents – Perhaps it’s your parents’ NB siblings are the ones passing the Vineyard business on to you in that case! Or even an unrelated benefactor).
Christopher: There isn’t actually a module. These are just components in Viticulture called “red and blue cards”. There isn’t even a thematic explanation in the rulebook; all it says is, “Red and Blue Cards: After randomly selecting the first player, shuffle the red cards and deal one face-up to each player; do the same for the blue cards. These cards determine each player’s starting resources.”
Oops – My apologies Jamey – The mention of Mama’s and Papa’s in the article combined with my owning 1st Edition Viticulture threw me on this one!
Always good to see you’re a step ahead :-).
I think I have seen an EE rulebook but it slipped my mind that it had changed in this manner!