From 2013-2020, Stonemaier Games raised a total of $72,773 for 73 charities selected by some of our favorite bloggers, podcasters, and video creators. We do this both to share those content creators with the gaming community and to expand joy beyond the tabletops of the world.
This year’s charity auction is currently underway, and it’s on target to result in a total donation of $19,608 (including Stonemaier and Fulfillrite’s match of the 12 winning bids). Earlier this year, Stonemaier Games also donated $10,724 to the ACLU and $1975 to the International Tree Foundation, along with ongoing support for our Black, Indigenous, and People of Color declaration of action.
I retained last year’s tweak to encourage people to participate in the auction and support their favorite content creators without even bidding: The content creator whose auction garners the most thumbs will receive a copy of the new Tapestry expansion, and Stonemaier Games will also donate $1 per thumb to their selected charity (in addition to our match of the winning bid for their auction).
The big element that’s new this year is hidden among the products each winning bidder will receive:
- 1 Red Rising (individually numbered 1-12), signed by designers Jamey Stegmaier and Alexander Schmidt, plus a set of the new painted metal tokens
- 1 Rolling Realms (individually numbered 1-12), signed by designer Jamey Stegmaier
- 1 new Tapestry expansion, signed by designer Jamey Stegmaier
- 1 Between Two Castles Secrets & Soirees expansion
- Free shipping anywhere in the world from St. Louis
Tucked in the middle of the list is the new Tapestry expansion, which I won’t even start talking about until early November. So it’s fairly likely that 12 people will receive this major expansion before I’ve revealed the name, box art, or any details about what’s in the box (there’s a lot of stuff inside this box).
I’m not yet sure what I’ll say to the winning bidders about this. I’ll probably ask them to keep it secret, but they’re not beholden to the same journalistic integrity as advance copy reviewers. While I hope they hold off on sharing information about the expansion until I talk about it in November, I understand that they’re paying a significant amount for it (and the other prizes), and part of the fun of this particular auction is getting the expansion before anyone else.
What do you think about this addition to the 2021 auction?
Feel free to check out the auction now, whether it’s to discover some amazing content creators, like your favorite content creator, learn about some amazing charities, or bid on an auction. It’s live through October 8 at 11:00 am CDT.
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We only feature content creators who we haven’t featured in the past, so you can view the previous years like this one in 2020, this one in 2019, this one in 2018, this one in 2017, this one in 2016, this one in 2015, this one in 2014, and this one in 2013.
If you gain value from the 100 articles Jamey publishes on this blog each year, please consider championing this content!
5 Comments on “Stonemaier Games 2021 Charity Auction: What’s Different This Year?”
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[…] of Red Rising, Rolling Realms, Tapestry Arts & Architecture, and Secrets & Soirees. The auction, which featured some amazing content creators, ended up generating $8,901 in winning bids, with […]
That is certainly a cool idea. Those bids are outside my price range, but happy if it is an incentive for others.
Just a question, though: it seems you will ship them a final copy? I wonder what is the timeline?
First, a few rounds of designing, playtesting, modifying, etc
Eventually game is mostly complete and move onto art, designing the box, etc
Finish all design/art and send files to the printing company
pre production copy is created, sent to you to proofread
Possibly some tweaks, and eventually game is mass produced
Shipping, sent to distributors, etc
eventually reaches market
Is this a reasonable breakdown? How long would each phase take roughly? Did I miss any big steps?
I ask because if you have a copy you are towards the very end of the design…and I am somehow surprised that you have never talked about it before.
Yes, we’ll ship fully published, final copies of all of these games. The auction page states “November,” but it could be earlier than that based on when the air freight arrives.
I think you’re referring to the Tapestry expansion? It’s been listed on our progress chart for many months now.
Sure, but is it expected to go retail? I assume that since name, components, price, etc has not been announced it will be a while?
Yes, 99% of our products go to retail. As with all of our products, we’ll announce the details of the game one month, and the next month we’ll run the preorder (the preorder launch date is when we reveal the MSRP and launch date). This is the method we’ve used for all of our products for the last few years.