Stonemaier Streams: Recent Episodes
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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/
Join Jamey and special guest Elizabeth to learn about Wingspan Pocket!
https://youtube.com/live/6JCCSCGdKng
A long time ago in a fulfillment center far, far away, Stonemaier Games offered a few ala carte options to webstore customers. Glass beads for Viticulture, plastic mechs for Scythe, metal coins for Charterstone...these were all included in their respective games, but sometimes people wanted more/extras.
https://stonemaiergames.com/why-ala-carte-isnt-feasible-at-scale/
Today I discuss my top 10 favorite heist-themed games, one of my favorite movie genres.
https://youtu.be/8OhChnJ9L_Q
In mid-2024, I had a hankering to design an asymmetric dueling game. However, I was daunted by the task of essentially designing two different games that existed in the same world and could have meaningful overlapping tensions. I quickly realized the obvious: Scythe and Expeditions are already different games that exist in the same alternate history and already have overlapping elements.
https://stonemaiergames.com/duel-of-meloch-the-most-cross-compatible-product-weve-ever-made/
Join Jamey for an hour of Stonemaier Games news, questions, answers, and random discussion topics!
https://stonemaiergames.com/games/duel-of-meloch/
https://stonemaiergames.com/naming-podcast-video-episodes-so-people-actually-listen-watch/
https://stonemaiergames.com/2-years-later-and-im-still-not-interested-in-generative-ai/
https://stonemaiergames.com/10-product-design-mistakes-that-cause-the-most-replacement-parts-requests/
https://stonemaiergames.com/the-perils-of-selling-scarcity-some-recent-thoughts-on-magic/
https://stonemaiergames.com/geekway-to-the-west-2026-my-thoughts-from-an-amazing-weekend/
https://stonemaiergames.com/5-standout-business-insights-from-dublins-guinness-storehouse/
https://stonemaiergames.com/are-standard-editions-still-relevant-on-crowdfunding-in-2026/
https://stonemaiergames.com/mystery-boxes-blind-booster-packs-and-surprise-subscriptions/
https://stonemaiergames.com/wine-games-and-books-the-power-of-a-well-designed-label-box-or-cover/
https://stonemaiergames.com/top-5-games-of-gamers-ranch-2026-why-these-types-of-games-shine-at-events/
https://stonemaiergames.com/2025-behind-the-scenes-stakeholder-report-for-stonemaier-games/
https://stonemaiergames.com/express-crowdfunding-a-backer-focused-gamechanger-from-gamefound/
https://stonemaiergames.com/a-peculiar-data-point-for-product-launches-and-pledge-managers/
In today’s video I rank my top 10 favorite games as of September 2022! The games eligible for these rankings are those that have ranked 1 or 2 at least a few times in any previous top 10 (for any topic/mechanism), and Stonemaier Games aren’t eligible (except for ambassador picks).
Ambassador picks that appear multiple times: Ark Nova, Creature Comforts, Dead Reckoning, Dune Imperium, Everdell, Gloomhaven, My Father’s Work, Oath, Paladins of the West Kingdom, Praga Caput Regni, Root, Scythe, Tapestry, Terra Mystica, Terraforming Mars, Trickerion, Twilight Imperium, Wingspan
My honorable mentions: 7 Wonders Duel, Azul Summer Pavilion, Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Fantasy Realms, Hanamikoji, Just One, Lords of Waterdeep, Mysterium Park, On Tour, Parks, Patchwork, Scotland Yard, Shards of Infinity, Sleeping Gods, The Crew, The Mind, TIME Stories
My Top 10:
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Magic the Gathering
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Ra
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Isle of Cats
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Russian Railroads
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Tzolk’in
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Terra Mystica
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Clank
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Dune Imperium
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Quacks of Quedlinburg
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Ark Nova
Original Post
Jamey discusses the current state of this channel and requests constructive feedback for the future. This video was inspired by some other creators (https://youtu.be/m7hEGVV6rSM and https://youtu.be/ozO8jOHHbrY).
In this video, I discuss games with accumulating values, which BoardGameGeek classifies as “increase value of unchosen resources.”
Honorable mentions include Twilight Imperium, Puerto Rico, and Smallworld.