Category: Grove

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Side Room Games – February/March 2022 Newsletter

Hey everyone! It’s been a hectic few months so this newsletter is going to cover February and March, so let’s get to it!

For Northwood! Launches on 11 April!

For Northwood! is the award-winning (2021 BoardGameGeek 54-Card Design Contest) solo precision trick-taking game. Your objective is to peacefully unify the kingdom of Northwood through conversations with their rulers. Over eight rounds, you must visit eight animal fiefs and engage their rulers in dialogue (tricks). Each ruler’s suit represents the trump for that fief. Each ruler also requires you to win an exact number of tricks to join your alliance, so the game gets harder as your options dwindle.

You start with four allies, each with an ability that you can use once per visit. These abilities can make you draw, discard, or otherwise manipulate your hand to help you hit the target score. Once you’ve won a ruler over, you can pull them in to substitute temporarily for one of your allies, if you need a more specific set of abilities to tackle the harder fiefs. With 24 rulers (12 used per game), For Northwood! offers a lot of ability combinations and a new puzzle every time.

We’re really excited for this one – it blew us away in last year’s contest and deserved all of the awards it received. We also have multiple licensing partners again on this one so lots of options to our backers. And, this time we’ll be using Gamefound as our crowdfunding platform instead of Kickstarter. We’ve really enjoyed working with them on the pledge manager and feel the seamless integration between the two will be beneficial to both us and all of you! Definitely check out the preview page & sign up to get notified on launch!

Sign up to get notified on launch!
  • Elements of the Gods:  Production is complete and fulfillment is underway! Some folks have already gotten their copies and the majority will start shipping out next week. Once that happens we’ll have some remaining stock up on the website, and you’ll be able to add copies to our pledge managers for other games. If you haven’t seen the latest updates you should check them out – the game is gorgeous! 
  • Mechanical Beast:  We got the production proof at the end of February and it looks amazing! We’re finishing up the last of the files and should start printing in April. It took a lot of time to get things the way we wanted it so we’re definitely behind on this one but I think the end product will be much better for it.  The production should be relatively quick on this one and hopefully fulfillment will begin in the May/June timeframe. 
  • Grove:  Production is underway and we should have the games complete next month! Be sure to double check your pledge manager on Gamefound (for this one and Mechanical Beast) as we’ll plan on locking down things around the middle of April. A detailed date will get sent out in an update soon!

Also, in case you hadn’t seen, the 2022 54 Card Game Design Contest on BoardGameGeek is underway! If you’ve ever wanted to design a game, or just test out & give feedback to up and coming designs, now is your chance. Some great games have come from this contest, both published by us and picked up by other publishers. It’s always fun to see some of these new designs really blossom into fantastic games so go check it out!

As always, if you have any questions or issues feel free to drop us a line through our social media outlets or send us an email at support@sideroomgames.com. Until next time!

The SRG Team

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Side Room Games – January 2022 Newsletter

Hey everyone – Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday break. (I’m a little bummed it ended so quickly… 😆) Lot’s of interesting news on our end so let’s get to it!

Grove Pledge Manager is Live!

The sequel to the award-winning Orchard, a small box solo game of harvesting fruit

The GROVE Kickstarter campaign went extremely well! We had almost 2500 backers and we’re thankful for every one of them. We also have a ton of licensing partners for this one and we’re really excited to get these printed up and out to backers. The Gamefound Pledge Manager is still open and we’ll be taking orders at least for the next few months. Our licensing partners are finalizing their translations and we expect to start printing in full after the Chinese New Year. Go check out the pledge manager and get a copy!

Check out the Pledge Manager!
  • Elements of the Gods: Production is wrapping up – the last update was that they were fixing a few issues with some of the printed cards as well as assembling the final monuments. (We didn’t realize that those were done by hand! No wonder it was taking some time. 😅) It looks like things will wrap up this month and we’ll get the games on their way to the various fulfillment centers soon!
  • Maquis: Fulfillment has pretty much wrapped up! Our French partner expects to start sending out their versions to backers soon and that should be the last of them. There were also some lost copies that went to New Zealand that are getting resent as we speak from Aetherworks. If you haven’t received it yet there’s a good chance that your package got lost or you missed the pledge manager. Feel free to send us an email and we’ll look into it.
  • Mechanical Beast: We’re still working hard on this one. Our licensing partners are wrapping up their translations this month. We’re also getting the production proof put together. We did have some issues with the file formats that we’re going back and addressing but those should be fixed this week. We’re still likely looking closer to March 2022 for fulfillment but all things considered not too bad of a schedule slip.
Image description

And we’re happy to announce that For Northwood is the next game coming! We’re looking at March for a launch date so stay tuned for more details as they come. In case you’re not familiar with the game, it’s the overall winner from the 2021 54 Card Game Design Contest on BoardGameGeek and we instantly fell in love with it. The solo trick-taking game play is a unique experience and the replayability and scalability for difficulty really makes this one shine. And, for a little bit of a preview, our summer project is going to be Village Builder – still TBD on the launch date but we have some time. 😋

We’re planning on one more project for the second half of 2022 but that’s still in discussion. Some great options are on the table so you’ll just have to keep an eye out for announcements!

Also, in case you hadn’t seen, the 2022 54 Card Game Design Contest on BoardGameGeek is underway! If you’ve ever wanted to design a game, or just test out & give feedback to up and coming designs, now is your chance. Some great games have come from this contest, both published by us and picked up by other publishers. It’s always fun to see some of these new designs really blossom into fantastic games so go check it out!

Finally, we want to spread some love to another creator! Daniel Zulauf is launching his game, Temerity, on Kickstarter soon. This one was an entry in the same 54 Card Contest as For Northwood and was one of my personal favorites. It’s a really tight 2-player duel that has grown from a really cool idea to a fantastic finished product. Here’s the BGG Entry for it if you’re looking for more info. I believe the planned launch date is next week so sign up to get notified – we’ll be a day one backer for sure!

As always, if you have any questions or issues feel free to drop us a line through our social media outlets or send us an email at support@sideroomgames.com. Until next time!

The SRG Team

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Side Room Games – November Newsletter

Hey everyone – lot’s going on so let’s get to it!

Grove on Kickstarter – Ends 7 November!

The sequel to the award-winning Orchard, a small box solo game of harvesting fruit

In case you hadn’t seen, GROVE is live on Kickstarter and the campaign closes Sunday! It is the citrusy sequel to the award winning Orchard 9 card solitaire game. Its 18 cards feature orange, lemon and lime trees and a new ‘wild card’ element, glades. These open spaces without trees, combined with a new scoring mechanic, offer more ways and opportunities to increase your harvest and create a greater variety of gameplay and strategies compared to Orchard.

You’ll also find a cheeky squirrel, who can either help or hinder your fruit picking, as well as a wheelbarrow – useful if you manage to get an extra large haul. The card backs feature recipe challenges with various scoring conditions and target scores. These provide a win/lose condition (as an alternative to the standard game’s ‘beat your score’) for those that prefer it – and add even more variety to the game.

Multiple languages are available and backing now (even if just for $1) locks in the discounted Kickstarter price when the pledge manager goes live. Go check it out!

Back it now!

Here’s a quick update on the rest of our projects:

  • Elements of the Gods: The production proof was amazing! If you didn’t see them, check out the pics on the Kickstarter update. We were able to work with our manufacturer for a few minor tweaks based on how things fit & looked. Full production should start this month & fulfillment can start near the beginning of 2022!
  • Maquis: Fulfillment has begun! Most of the copies have headed out or are on their way and our backers in the UK, Canada, and Australia should start to see them this month. If for some reason you’re not in those areas and haven’t gotten a shipping notification or received the game let us know and we can figure out what the issue may be.
  • Mechanical Beast: We’re a little behind schedule on this one. We had some tweaks to do but the bulk of the files will head off to our licensing partners soon. Then we can start pre-production. So likely looking closer to March 2022 for fulfillment but all things considered not too bad of a slip.

We also have signed another game! Spice Empires from Theodore Karvounis won 1st place at Epitrapezio 2018 and as soon as we played it we knew we wanted to publish it. 

All great empires want to conquer the famous Spice Islands, but who will prevail? At the King’s order, you sail to these lands, eager to discover new sources of the most valuable goods. Build new settlements to strengthen your dominance, ports to take control of the maritime trade and forts to protect the colony and fend off your heinous rivals. Remember that plenty of esteemed people wait in your motherland for your ships, expecting to find them full spices!

Players explore the islands, discover spices and place buildings, either cities, forts or ports. Cities help them control the islands, ports let them trade the spices and profit while the forts let them attack their enemies’ buildings. The board is modular and the spices are placed in a random fashion so that each time players explore a different map.

This one is likely late 2022/early 2023 so stay tuned for updates as we make progress on it. It’s going to be great!

As for our next game we’re still trying to determine which is next for early 2022. It will either be Village Builder or For Northwood. We’re hoping to have a decision made this month and we’ll let folks know what’s coming next and when to expect it!

Finally, the 2022 54 Card Game Design Contest on BoardGameGeek officially kicked off on 1 November! If you’ve ever wanted to design a game, or just test out & give feedback to up and coming designs, now is your chance. Some great games have come from this contest, both published by us and picked up by other publishers. It’s always fun to see some of these new designs really blossom into fantastic games so go check it out!

As always, if you have any questions or issues feel free to drop us a line through our social media outlets or send us an email at support@sideroomgames.com. Until next time!

The SRG Team

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Side Room Games – September/October Newsletter

Hey everyone – as usual last month was so busy we forgot to send a newsletter! So double duty this
month – let’s get to it!

Grove Coming – October 18th!

GROVE is the citrusy sequel to the award winning Orchard 9 card solitaire game, coming to Kickstarter on 18 October! Its 18 cards feature orange, lemon and lime trees and a new ‘wild card’ element, glades. These open spaces without trees, combined with a new scoring mechanic, offer more ways and opportunities to increase your harvest and create a greater variety of gameplay and strategies compared to Orchard.

You’ll also find a cheeky squirrel, who can either help or hinder your fruit picking, as well as a wheelbarrow – useful if you manage to get an extra large haul. The card backs feature recipe challenges with various scoring conditions and target scores. These provide a win/lose condition (as an alternative to the standard game’s ‘beat your score’) for those that prefer it – and add even more variety to the game.

We’re also working with multiple licensing partners and will have quite a few options on top of the standard English edition we print. So sign up for a launch notification – this one is going to be great!

Sign Up for a Launch Notification!

Here’s a quick update on the rest of our projects:

  • Elements of the Gods: The production proof is on its way! It got held up for a bit in customs but we’ve seen movement so any day now it should arrive. Once it does we’ll get some pics of everything up on the Kickstarter to show it off. From what we’ve seen so far it looks amazing! If all goes well full production will start later this month & fulfillment can start near the end of the year/beginning of 2022!
  • Maquis: Fulfillment has begun! Most of the copies have headed out or are on their way. The only exception is for our backers in the UK, Canada, and Australia as those copies are still on their way to the local fulfillment centers. There are a few backers/late pledgers who we will need some additional info from to complete your order so be on the lookout. So, if you don’t hear from us directly don’t worry – you should be good to go!
  • Mechanical Beast: We’re a little behind schedule on this one. We’re still putting the finishing touches on the art assets and expect that to be done by the end of October. Then we can start pre-production. So likely looking closer to Feb/Mar 2022 for fulfillment but all things considered not too bad of a slip. You can check out some of the latest art assets on the update we posted this week.

Finally, be on the lookout for the start of the 2022 54 Card Game Design Contest on BoardGameGeek. It’ll likely kickoff on 1 November and we’re looking at some potential rule changes for this year. You can check out the discussion on BGG in the Design Contest Forums!

As always, if you have any questions or issues feel free to drop us a line through our social media outlets or send us an email at support@sideroomgames.com. Until next time!

The SRG Team

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Side Room Games – Jul/Aug 2021 Update

Hey everyone – as usual lots going on so let’s jump into it!

Mechanical Beast – Another Success!

The Mechanical Beast campaign went great as expected and we’re excited to get this one printed up! We’re working on the final file prep this month & next and are hoping to start the pre-production up in October. So stay tuned for updates as things progress. The Pledge Manager just got approved on Gamefound so go check it out if you missed the campaign!

Here’s a quick update on the rest of our projects:

  • Elements of the Gods: After some back & forth with the manufacturer we’re getting close to finishing up the production proof and approving the full print. We’re expecting the final proof to get to us around the middle of the month with slight updates to the miniatures and a better storing system to make the box way more usable & storable. Stay tuned for pics once the proof arrives!
  • Maquis: Production is a little bit a head of schedule and should complete by the 15th of August! From there it’ll take some time to get the games to the various fulfillment centers (and to our licensing partners). So games should start making there way to backers & late pledgers in September. Be sure to get your shipping information updated in the pledge manager by 31 August!
  • Grove: The crowdfunding campaign is coming in September! No official launch date picked yet but once we have one we’ll let folks know. We’re getting review copies printed up as we speak and should have those out to reviewers by the end of the month. And stay tuned for announcements on the various licensing partners we have – expecting the same or even more support for this one as we had on Orchard!

We also have a few other announcements… We’re happy to announce we’ve signed By Torchlight by Barny Skinner to a publishing contract! This one got a top-5 finish in crowded field in the 2021 9-Card Nanogame Print & Play Design Contest on BoardGameGeek and we think it deserved an even better standing. It’s a small box design (think Orchard/Fallen Angels) of dungeon crawling, looting treasure, and killing monsters. It really is a “minis-game” feel in a tiny travel box. It’s definitely unique to us and a thrilling adventure that you can spend a ton of time on or knock out a level & pack it up for later. This one is going to be fun to put together in a finished product. Expect more announcements as we go and a crowdfunding campaign coming in 2022!



Finally, the 2021 54 Card Game Design Contest on BoardGameGeek wrapped up in July and there were some amazing entries! We’re proud to announce that we’ve signed For Northwood! by Wilhelm Su to a publishing contract and will look at crowdfunding it also in 2022! It was the big winner in the contest with a 1st place finishes in the Best Solo Game, Best Artwork, Best New Designer, and Best Overall categories. It was also our top pick from the SRG team and well deserved. I personally love trick taking games and to have one as fun & engaging as this is in a solo variant is a real treat!

As always, if you have any questions or issues feel free to drop us a line through our social media outlets or send us an email at support@sideroomgames.com. Until next time!

Dustin

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Side Room Games – May 2021 Update

Hey everyone – as usual lots going on so let’s jump into it!

Mechanical Beast – Coming to Kickstarter 31 May!

Our next campaign is coming at the end of the month! Mechanical Beast was the big winner of the 2019 Solitaire Print and Play Contest, including the Best Overall Game. Ben Morayta, the designer, has come up with a fantastic tile laying/manipulation game that is awesome to play as a solo game or with multiple players in either cooperative or competitive modes. And we’re excited to work with Apolline Etienne and Brigitte Indelicato again for the art & graphic design (the same team who knocked it out of the part with Elements of the Gods). I can’t wait for this one to launch!

Sign up for the Mechanical Beast Pre-Launch Page

Also, here’s an update on some of our ongoing projects:

  • Elements of the Gods:  Almost all of the files are under review with our manufacturer so this one will start printing this month! The last piece is touching up the rulebook and then we’ll be 100% ready to go. Things are still on schedule – so far so good! I can’t wait to see the production proof for this one – from what I’ve seen rendered it’s going to be awesome on the table.
  • Maquis:  The Side Room Games files are complete and our licensing partners are wrapping up their translations this week. Our files are under review with the manufacturer as well so this one will start printing in May as well! In case you missed it, we are still taking late pledges on Gamefound so go check it out!
  • Black Sonata & The Fair Youth:  We’re still working through our UK & EU fulfillment logistics, including getting VAT registered. It took a little while to get things squared away but games should be arriving in the EU in early June (barring any customs challenges). Once our VAT registration is squared away we’ll start taking orders again on our site for Europe and the UK. We do have stock now in China for orders in other places in the world and we should have the site fixed for those orders soon. One note:  for US & Canadian customers, we are working exclusively with The Gaming Goat so if you’re looking for copies head here!
  • Grove:  The print & play files are on fire on BGG so if you want to check it out now is the time! Still looking for a summer crowdfunding campaign so stay tuned for a specific launch date in the next month or so.
  • Village Builder:  As we mentioned last month, Village Builder is still in development and depending on how the year unfolds it’ll be coming in the fall or potentially early in 2022. As with Grove, the print & play files are available on BGG so check it out.

Another big note – the 2021 54 Card Game Design Contest on BoardGameGeek has entered the feedback phase! Over 50 entries this year and we’re really excited to start testing them out this month. I have a feeling that a) we’ll be signing a few of them and b) there are going to be too many for us so others will definitely get picked up for publishing. Go check them out, give them a playtest (easy print & play builds and a huge chunk of them have Tabletop Simulator, Tabletopia, or playingcards.io implementation so even easier!), and provide some feedback. 

As always, if you have any questions or issues feel free to drop us a line through our social media outlets or send us an email at support@sideroomgames.com. Until next time!

Dustin

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Side Room Games – Mar/Apr 2021 Update

Hey everyone – last month was so busy we forgot to send a newsletter! So double duty this month – let’s get to it!

Maquis: 2nd Edition – Breaking SRG Records!

This campaign was bonkers!!! Most backers & funding by far for Side Room Games, so thanks to everyone who helped make the campaign a success. We’re really excited for this one (we say that all of the time, we know, but we’re serious every time! ?). File prep for the English version is complete and we submitted the new print and play files to BoardGameGeek so they’ll be available soon. The plan is still in line for our licensing partners to get their translations completed this month and start printing in May. If anything changes we’ll let you know!

Maquis: 2nd Edition Late Pledges are Open!

Also, here’s an update on some of our ongoing projects:

  • Elements of the Gods:  We’re putting the finishing touches on the files and will start printing this month. So just a bit behind schedule but we built in quite a bit of margin so overall we’re doing great. Mike dropped an update to the Kickstarter campaign showing off some of the tweaks & improvements to the 3D models and some of the new art & graphic design so check it out!
  • Black Sonata & The Fair Youth:  Printing has completed for new English versions and they should be on their way to the fulfillment centers soon. We’re working through our UK & EU fulfillment adjustments (Brexit + VAT = ?) but that should all be behind the scenes and no impact on your end. Once that’s squared away we’ll start taking orders again on our site. One note:  for US & Canadian customers, we are working exclusively with The Gaming Goat so if you’re looking for copies head here!
  • Mechanical Beast:  A little slower going than planned but progress is being made. (Note to self – spread out projects where you use the same artist and graphic designer… ?) We’re still planning on a Kickstarter launch soon and it’ll likely be in the first half of May as long as we stay on track. We’ll also throw up some pics on social media and BGG once we get the review copies in hand. 
  • Grove:  In case you missed our announcement in February, the sequel to Orchard is coming soon! Mark was able to come up with another hit design (as usual, he’s half-man, half-amazing). Still looking for a summer crowdfunding campaign so stay tuned. And, if you want to try it out early the print & play files are available on BGG.
  • Village Builder:  We also announced another amazing title we’ve signed – Village Builder by Janine Viglietti! This one is another great solo game (with a 2-player variant) and won the 2020 Solitaire Print and Play Design Contest on BGG, finishing 1st overall among other great finishes in the contest sub-categories. Depending on how the year unfolds it’ll be coming in the fall or potentially early in 2022 (we keep getting busier and busier!). As with Grove, the print & play files are available on BGG so check it out.

As usual, I’ll keep plugging our 2021 54 Card Game Design Contest on BoardGameGeek. There are going to be some awesome games coming out of this one – probably too many for us to publish! Luckily we’ve had good luck in getting entries from previous contests signed with other publishers and I expect that to continue this year. Definitely check them out, give them a playtest (easy print & play builds ?), and provide some feedback. And, if you have a design that’s been tinkering around in your head you should definitely get it down on paper & get it entered!

As always, if you have any questions or issues feel free to drop us a line through our social media outlets or send us an email at support@sideroomgames.com. Until next time!

Dustin