My day job these days is making tabletop games!
Over the last few years I have made several games that I am quite proud of, and that I think are fun to play.
It’s hard to even know how to talk about them, because there is SO MUCH I WANT TO SAY.
I want to describe each title in loving detail, explaining precisely what makes each experience fun! These games (and the myriad of work involved in creating, producing, and distributing them) have fully occupied the last several years of my life.
But, that is the kind of overwhelming thinking that gets posts like this never actually written or published. I have been trying to figure out how to approach the topic here on the blog for the last month!! It feels too big!!
So let me start by saying a few things about ALL FIVE GAMES AT ONCE:
- These are all social games about conversation. There is strategy involved to greater or lesser degrees, depending on the game — but the intended experience is always a fun talky time among friends, and each game is designed to provide a scaffolding to have really fun conversations.
- These are all limited-run games from a pretty small games team. We launched two of them with Kickstarter, but not the others. Two of the below are in major retailers right now (Keep it 100 is in Target; Humblebrag is in Barnes & Noble) — and to be real for a second, those are REALLY RARE OPPORTUNITIES for us where sales performance, especially during the holidays, will really heavily affect our long-term prospects for these and other titles. So I encourage you to patronize those stores, if you can!
Here is some more about each title! You can also watch videos about all of them here, or, embedded below. I am in some of those videos…but which ones???
Keep it 100 is a game for 3-8 players, about trying to predict how people answered our unusual survey questions – like a mix of Family Feud and Timeline.
We conducted hundreds of surveys to make this game, and the results are really fascinating!
- It features guessing, wagering, and it can be played either competitively or co-op.
- You can read much more about the game here, including a special free bonus cards offer!
- You can take a final set of game surveys here! (Even if you don’t get the game itself, I would love if you would weigh in!)
- There is some adult content in the game, which can be removed if desired.
- This game is only TEN DOLLARS at Target right now, folks.
- Outside the U.S., use this link instead.
Humblebrag is a game for 2+ players that plays like Scattergories meets the card game B.S.
- It’s a trivia game that’s not just about what you know… it’s about what you can convince the other players you might know.
- Crafted with the help of a several-time Jeopardy! champion!
- This game also has a free bonus cards offer! See more info about it here!
- Humblebrag is exclusive to Barnes & Noble in the US this season, but you can also get it in the UK.
TBH is a game for 3-8 players that, if you are anything like me, quickly moves from being a standard party game into something akin to a light roleplaying game or quirky storytelling game.
- The game provides dilemmas that players can use to develop outrageous scenarios.
- The object of the game is to correctly predict how the other players will respond to each dilemma… but the written scenario is just the starting point.
- Players can flesh out each scenario in a “followup questions” round that can be as straightforward or as wild as your group wants to make it.
- This is my favorite of all the games I’ve made. If you like my sense of humor, you might like TBH.
- The base game is suitable for teens and up, but an optional NSFW expansion deck is also available. (The expansion deck does fit in the main game box for storage.)
- It’s available at many game shops and online (including outside the U.S.), but I now also have stock in the Wondermark store on TopatoCo!
On the Rocks is nominally a drinking game, but it’s really an icebreaker/conversation-starter game.
- It’s the simplest game on this list: Draw a card with a question on it. Ask one, two, or all the other players to answer (depending on the card type). Award the card to your favorite answer. Players can also choose to drink to avoid having to answer at all!
- There is a whole line of Truth or Drink games, some of them more adult — but this one is the “safe for work” edition that works well for families, acquaintances, co-workers, and other less racy environments.
- I led the writer’s room that wrote all the questions, and I also designed the box!
- This game is also now available at TopatoCo. (And outside the U.S.)
Lineup is a game for 3-8 players that’s kind of a mix of Keep it 100 and TBH. Players are asked a series of questions about themselves to answer secretly, always with a number. You score points by guessing whose answers (among the other players) will end up being lowest or highest in the group.
- There are a lot of fun topics covered in the game, from personal beliefs, experiences, habits, and hypotheticals.
- The base game is suitable for teens and up, but again, an optional NSFW expansion is available too.
- This game comes with dry erase components, so you also get sweet markers in the deal!
- The easiest place to get Lineup right now is on Amazon in the US and UK.
Of course I’ve got all my usual stuff in my own online store and my TopatoCo store too!! What a world we live in, what a world indeed.