Board game designers beat the odds
A burgeoning board game culture in New Zealand has led to dozens of new games being made locally this year – with crowdfunding sites allowing anyone to get in on the act.
Of the top 10 most-funded Kickstarter campaigns nationally this year, five are for board games designed by Kiwis, according to the website.
Auckland game publisher Amanda Milne said sites such as Kickstarter meant the big board game companies had lost their role as ‘‘gatekeepers’’.
‘‘If the market wants the game the crowd will come and fund it, and if no one wants the game, you won’t go through the heartache of making something that will not sell.
‘‘Twenty years ago board games were mostly about war and property or kids games most adults wouldn’t want to play, but these days you can find every single theme you could possibly imagine,’’ she said.
Milne is currently working on a new ‘‘fantasy/economic exploration game’’ with renowned British game designer Martin Wallace called AuZtralia, set to come out in a few months.
Waikanae resident Shem Phillips, founder of Garphill Games, has published a number of popular games including Raiders of the North Sea, which was nominated for a category of the prestigious Spiel des Jahres in Germany this year, the ‘‘equivalent of an Oscar’’ for board and card games.
Phillips said he was ‘‘just breaking even’’ on the board games he developed before Kickstarter, but he can now work fulltime
If the market wants the game the crowd will come and fund it. Amanda Milne
as a game designer.
The top funded item in New Zealand was Weta Workshop’s GKR: Heavy Hitters game, which reached its US$100,000 (NZ$142,000) fundraising goal on Kickstarter in 4.5 hours and ended up with a total of US$935,000.
The remaining four of the five most-funded board game campaigns on Kickstarter New Zealand were created by Phillips.
Susan Wells, co-owner of Wellington game cafe and store Caffeinated Dragon, said sales have ‘‘consistently picked up’’ over the store’s three-and-a-half business.
Among some of the best-sellers this Christmas were Raiders of the North Sea and Hoard, which was designed by Aucklander Julia Schiller.
And it’s not just the local players who are getting in on the act: in November, Winning Moves released a Wellington edition of the classic board game Monopoly.
Trade Me spokeswoman Millie Silvester said board game sales were up 4 per cent, jigsaw puzzles up 5 per cent and card games up years in 30 per cent.
The number of listings for board games was up 46 per cent, she said.
Nelson couple Dave Kennedy and Natalie Samson, who run Seriously Board, said over 1000 new games were designed and published around the world each year.
‘‘We sell the new generation of modern board games, many of which are aimed at teens and adults.’’
‘‘These can be distinguished from traditional games by having improved game balance and rules that generally emphasise strategy, downplay luck and usually keep players in until the end of the game.’’
Popular games this season include classics such as Cards Against Humanity, The Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, Puerto Rico, Ticket to Ride, Alhambra, Pandemic and Dominion.
Kickstarter did not respond requests for comment. to