STONEMAIER GAMES FOUNDED

Of the many tabletop games companies to be founded in the last decade, few stand as tall with such an impressive line-up of titles quite like Stonemaier Games.

Named after a portmanteau of the company’s cofounders Jamey Stegmaier and Alan Stone, Stonemaier Games are an independent game publisher who, in their own words, “strive to bring joy to tabletops worldwide through memorable, beautiful, fun games.”

It was whilst playtesting their first title Viticulture (a worker placement game of operating a rustic vineyard) that Jamey first met Alan, finding a kindred soul who was happy to give constructive feedback on not just the games, but on which directions to steer the company as well.

Viticulture raised enough funds to qualify for its Kickstarter cash in just two weeks and released to moderate success, with many reviewers speaking highly of it and enough sales generated to lead to future projects. The first game spoke a lot to the company’s goals, creating intuitive core mechanics that would start small and build in complexity as the game progressed.

The next few releases continued to build Stonemaier’s reputation, but it wasn’t until 2016’s Scythe that they exploded in popularity, with its Kickstarter raising over half a million dollars (the project finished 1977% funded!) following up with the massively popular Wingspan in 2019.

Despite many blockbuster releases, Jamey has been adamant about keeping to their independent roots, showing how sometimes the key to success is passion for your craft and putting your faith in the right people.