Secrets Revealed: Results of the 2023 Stonemaier Games Teaser

At Stonemaier Games, we tend to keep the future a mystery until it becomes the present. We heavily invest our time, energy, and resources into a product we love, we announce it when it’s on the way to fulfillment centers, we put it on our webstore soon afterwards, and then we ship it to you within the next few weeks.

In our first e-newsletter of 2022, I decided to try something new: I posted a riddle that teased everything we hoped/planned to release over the next 12 months. This went over well (including the reveal in late 2022), so I tried it again in our first newsletter of 2023. Here are the clues I gave:

• A shiny addition to a current game and a shiny edition to a new game
• Three big twists on alternate histories
• A new time to order new games and a new way to add order to a current game
• The option to journey to planets, islands, Asia, and deep underwater
• New ways to see and sea
• A course correction for those who love to advance

Now comes the challenge for me to remember what I meant when I wrote theses clues! Here are the results of the riddle; you can find all of these products on our webstore:

• A shiny addition to a current game and a shiny edition to a new game: The first clause refers to Wingspan’s golden eggs (metal eggs painted gold); the second clause refers to the Ironclad Edition of Expeditions.
• Three big twists on alternate histories: This refers to Tapestry: Fantasies & Futures, Expeditions, and Apiary.
• A new time to order new games and a new way to add order to a current game: The first clause refers to the pre-order system we tested on Expeditions; the second clause refers to the Folded Space insert to organize all Tapestry content in the original Tapestry box.
• The option to journey to planets, islands, Asia, and deep underwater: This refers to the many Rolling Realms promo realms we released in 2023 (with nods to Beyond the Realmiverse, The Isle of Cats, Gugong, Sleeping Gods, Fleet the Dice Game, Hokkaido, and Underwater Cities).
• New ways to see and sea: “See” refers to the Wingspan vision-friendly cards. “Sea” refers to the Libertalia promo pack, which wasn’t quite ready in time for a 2023 release, but you’ll see it fairly early in 2024.
• A course correction for those who love to advance: This refers to the Tapestry revised civ pack, which we spent a little extra time on (more data, more input, more eyes); we’re planning to launch it in early 2024.

I struggled to remember a few of these answers, so this year I’m going to write down the answers in advance!

Even though we plan a few years in advance for most projects, we also try to stay flexible and open to experimentation. Among 2023’s unplanned releases were; you can find all of these products on our webstore:

• cat-ear Stonemaier t-shirts
• The Expeditions playmat
• The creation and early announcement of Rolling Realms Redux
• The Wingspan Fan Art Pack
• The Rolling Realms holiday bundle
• various new custom disc golf discs

Some major new developments at Stonemaier Games in 2023 include:

• Two new fulfillment centers: We switched to Miniature Market as our fulfillment center in the US and Asmodee Canada as our fulfillment center in Canada.
• conventions: Thanks to new coworker Dave Deenik, we significantly increased our convention presence, including booths at Geekway to the West, Essen Spiel, and PAX Unplugged (along with other conventions and various partnerships).
• shipping options: For some fulfillment centers, we added new shipping options, including local pickup in St. Louis.
• brand-specific semi-monthly newsletters: I started sending semi-monthly newsletters for those who want to follow specific brands (Expeditions/Scythe, Rolling Realms, Apiary, and Wingspan).
• Champion monthly voting/product of the month: For Stonemaier Champions, I offered a vote between two products, with the winner going on sale the following month. I’m brainstorming ways to mix things up for Champions in 2024.
• eco-friendly packaging: For any expansion or product for which the packaging isn’t needed after you open the product, we’re trying to use recyclable alternatives. So far we’ve done this for Tapestry: Fantasies & Futures and the Expeditions playmat.
• Christine and Susannah: Long-time graphic designer Christine Santana joined us full-time this year (Director of Visual Arts), as did the previously part time Susannah Eisenbraun (Sales Relationship Manager).
• co-hosted videos: Most of my long-form, top-10 videos on our YouTube channel have just featured me talking to the camera, but this year many of those videos have included co-hosts (Stonemaier Ambassadors who expressed interest in a specific topic).
• advertising: We haven’t invested much in advertising in the past, but I think Andrew Cook has done a great job with a variety of social media ads over the last few months, and we plan to continue them in 2024.
• coworking space: The 6 full-time staff members at Stonemaier Games all work at least partially from home, but this is the first year we also had a coworking space for those of us in St. Louis. It’s been nice to have a central place to meet for playtesting.

Thanks for joining me for this look back at 2023! If you’re curious to see how much Dusty, Carol, and Molly at The Mill predicted correctly from our 2023 teaser, check out this video from earlier in the year:

Also read/watch:

• My Top 10 Favorite Spoilers in Tabletop Games
• We Don’t Talk About Spoilers (or Bruno)
• Marketing Products with Spoilers
• Results of the 2022 Stonemaier Teaser Preview
• The 2024 Teaser

If you gain value from the 100 articles Jamey publishes on this blog each year, please consider championing this content! You can also listen to posts like this in the audio version of the blog.

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