Stonemaier Streams

I follow Games Unlimited PGH (@ gamesunlimitedpgh ) on Instagram, and Kylie frequently offers really helpful retailer perspectives for publishers to consider. One of his recent videos (actually a repost from a few years ago) was both surprising and insightful in a few different ways, as Kylie reveals that he--a very successful retailer--does not like promos. https://stonemaiergames.com/a-surprising-opinion-about-promos-and-game-store-customers/

Join Jamey for an hour of Stonemaier Games news, questions, answers, and random discussion topics! https://youtube.com/live/Sz7s4wqrmQ4

On Sunday afternoon I received an email with a question that stumped me. I knew the answer, but I was at a complete lack of resources to provide an adequate response. The question was, “Do you make any games other than Wingspan?” https://stonemaiergames.com/this-question-about-our-games-stumped-me/

In today's video I explore games where the art plays a key role in the gameplay. https://youtu.be/C-ivNU0wmCk

I recently read an interesting announcement on Board Game Wire that Scott Brady (co-designer of one of my favorite party games, Caution Signs, along with some others I really enjoy like Boop and Hues & Cues), is trying a new “proof-of-play” model of publishing through his company, A Game Studio. Their goal and methodology is to make a single, small print run of selected games “to generate real-world sales, player feedback, and retail validation before presentation to larger publishing partners.” https://stonemaiergames.com/the-proof-of-play-model-my-thoughts/

Join Jamey for an hour of Stonemaier Games news, questions, answers, and random discussion topics! https://youtube.com/live/GTfjOIXu8sk

Welcome to Gen Con week! In a similar way to Essen Spiel, the games, announcements, and events at Gen Con attract attention well beyond the tens of thousands of attendees (which is both a lot of people and also a very small percentage of people who play games worldwide). https://stonemaiergames.com/gen-con-2026-stonemaier-games-and-2-hidden-gems/

Have you ever been on the fence about buying or backing a game? You're following along, you've watched some playthroughs and reviews, you have trust in the publisher, and you can afford the price. The game intrigues you, but you're just not sure yet. What questions do you ask to put you over the edge? https://stonemaiergames.com/what-puts-you-over-the-edge-to-buy-back-a-game/

Join Jamey for an hour of Stonemaier Games news, questions, answers, and random discussion topics! https://youtube.com/live/lHR0RKD0KsY

I truly believe that the internet would be a better place if we more consistently asked ourselves a self-awareness question. https://stonemaiergames.com/what-is-your-go-to-self-awareness-question-for-internet-interactions/

In today's video Jamey and Erica discuss our favorite long games (for me this is games that play in 3+ hours). Campaign games weren't eligible for this video. https://youtu.be/K3MBlhG2_B8

A full day has now passed since we launched 3 new products (plus 2 accessories) on the Stonemaier Games webstore, so I thought I'd share a few observations about the launch and sales data collected for each product. https://stonemaiergames.com/launch-day-results-wingspan-pocket-duel-of-meloch-and-heroes-villains/

July 15, 2026 is the launch day (starting around 10:00 am Central) for Wingspan Pocket, Duel of Meloch, and Origin Story: Heroes & Villains. https://youtube.com/live/j3_tQo_EkVk

Taking a note from Hollywood, the tabletop game industry has been enamored with sequels for the last decade. It makes sense: If people already like X game, a way to serve that audience is to make X2. https://stonemaiergames.com/what-do-we-really-want-from-a-sequel/

In today's video I discuss my favorite mechanisms in new-to-me games and expansions so far in 2026. https://youtu.be/7pLyT7R1iyo

Tabletop play is always our top priority at Stonemaier Games. We design games for the tabletop, we playtest games on the tabletop, and we only sell physical versions of games. However, over the years my appreciation has grown for the existence of digital versions of tabletop games, as those licenses allow us to serve our customers in a few important ways... https://stonemaiergames.com/the-current-state-of-digital-versions-of-tabletop-games-2026/

Join Jamey for an hour of Stonemaier Games news, questions, answers, and random discussion topics! https://youtube.com/live/FFLREPwp654

In some ways, Wingspan Pocket is one of our smallest games. It’s only around 6x4x2 inches, it only takes 30 minutes to play, and it asks each player to manage only 1 row of bird cards. Yet by another metric it is our biggest game, as there are 175,000 units in the first English print run, by far the most in our 14-year history. With that much at stake, we really, really needed to get it right. https://stonemaiergames.com/elevating-wingspan-pocket-ppc-product-design-playtests/

I discuss my favorite new-to-me games (including expansions and sequels) of 2026 (January-June). This is not limited to 2026 releases. https://youtu.be/v7fCV7jf0c4

Gabe Barrett runs Best With 1 Games, and over the last few years I've seen him adapt a really interesting strategy for creating and launching games. With their latest game, Stonefall , in its final days on Gamefound, Gabe was kind to take some time to answer questions about his methods. https://stonemaiergames.com/34671-2/