4/1/08 The results of the 'Create an Encounter Contest' for Cutthroat Caverns are in. Check out all the winners and get a sneak peek at what lies ahead for Cutthroat Caverns. Congratulations to the winners and thanks to everyone who entered. It was great fun.

3/1/08 The 'Create an Encounter Contest' for Cutthroat Caverns drew to a close today - with overwhelming response! We had nearly 100 submissions - and believe us, there are some very cool entries. It is going to be very difficult to pick out 'the best of the best' but we're gonna have a blast playtesting them all. Thanks to everyone who entered the contest! You rock! Stay tuned for the results - to be announced just as soon as we can give each Encounter its due and select a winner. The Prestige alone will be worth the wait. Talk to you soon! - Curt and Justin

11/05/07 The Cutthroat Caverns 'Create an Encounter Card' Contest has officially begun! Put on your thinking caps and come up with some wild new ways to challenge the party! Your idea may just end up in the new expansion with your name on it - plus you can score a bunch of cool product taboot! Click the link above or visit the Cutthroat page for more... Good Luck!

10/31/07 Happy Halloween! To help keep you in one piece amid the horrors and goblins, we have a new PDF ENCOUNTER for Cutthroat Caverns ready for download. Visit the Cutthroat Page to grab 'WellSpring' featuring the art of Eric Martin.

10/24/07 Okay, a new FAQ for Cutthroat Caverns is up, hopefully tidying up those pesky grey areas we could have explained better. Hope it helps.

Also, our first NEW PDF ENCOUNTER for Cutthroat Caverns is now available for download. Check the bottom of the page for Cutthroat for the link. Then use Obsidian Gate to play it in your next game!

9/1/07 Back from GenCon - and what a trip! Saw all our fans and launched Cutthroat Caverns as well as the expansion Deeper and Darker to a very warm reception. In fact, we sold out our advance shipment. The bulk of the games will be arriving in stores sometime in the next week or so. OH! And we've put up a new section for the Cutthroat Expansion including a new art gallery - a must see!

Congratulations to our Gencon Tourney winners for Hex Hex, Cutthroat Caverns and Run for Your Life Candyman. We will have photos of the winners up soon (and a look at the Candyman Trophy, which was pretty damn cool if you ask me)

8/8/07 More big news: For those who are able to make it to Gencon Indy this year, we will have a special promo card for Cutthroat Caverns given away FREE to anyone who picks up the game. The card, it's artwork and more on its artist, Uraga, is in the Cutthroat Art Gallery (last page).

8/7/07 The last installment of the Cutthroat Caverns Art Gallery is up with all 25 creature cards available for preview - and remember to click the images for bigger versions of the original art. Read about the artists, see their personal gallery pages via link and get psyched - the game is almost here!!!

7/27/07 Hey everyone... the second installment of the Cutthroat Caverns art gallery is now up. Come check out preview creature cards and learn about the artists behind the images. We are delighted to have 19 artists from literally around the globe involved in this project and encourage you to visit their personal web galleries. Some will even have prints of their work for sale!

7/12/07 In celebration of the amazing art featured in Cutthroat Caverns, we have posted the first of several art galleries to our website. Get a preview of the game cards, click the images to see a full view of the original art and find out more about our talented pool of 19 international artists. Check it out!

6/3/07 Cutthroat Caverns is nearly here. After two years in development, we are due to launch the game at Gencon in August. The reaction we've gotten to the game has been astounding. Playtesters, retailers and other game designers who got a chance to play at GTS, and nearly everyone else is calling this game our best effort yet. Click on the link and get a preview. You can even get a first look at the rules! We will be posting preview cards and the amazing art in our art gallery over the next few weeks. Stop by and take a look!

8/1/06 The wait is over! Hex Hex 1.5, the new base set and Hex Hex NEXT, the expansion deck have landed in the warehouse! Look for them on the shelves of your favorite retailer this month. Speaking of that, you can now find a retailer near you by clicking our new retailer directory feature!

6/16/06 Hi All! Just got a look at the new Hex Hex games. I have to say, they look great. Revised shipping date estimates now place the boat here in late July. I don't know about you, but I can't wait. The revised base set has two new cards not found in the original set, replacing two cards that just weren't cutting it, Reflection and Reap What You Sow. In their place are cards that help balance the game better...Level (which may help those tragically behind get back in the game) and The Forgotten (which helps put an end to 'love-fests' between two players while the others watch). And did I print a few extra to add to your original set? Why, yes I did. Come see us at GenCon.

Sadly, I won't be able to see you all at Origins this year. Big family reunion I simply can't miss. Family first, they always say.

Meanwhile, Cutthroat Caverns is underway and is looking better than ever. Just wait til you see the illustrations - they are nothing short of amazing. We will be posting sneak peaks of the cards as the project moves forward.

4/9/06 Last month's Gama Trade Show in Las Vegas was quite a show. We met a bunch of new folks and said hello to some old friends. I even joined Aldo Ghiozzi in giving a few seminars on marketing. Three to be exact - one for marketing to distributors, another for marketing to retailers and finally to consumers. A lot of fun, hopefully informative and right up my alley. (Yes, I am in fact a marketer by trade. Try and forgive me.) I should mention too that I have written a weighty tome on making the most out of a tradeshow like GTS, Toy Fair or Games Expo and it will be posted on the GPA website. It is meant for manufacturers / exhibitors who are working the tradeshow floor. A lot of common sense stuff - but a few things that may be of help to those who care to look.

As for our booth and what's to come... well, the question on everyone's mind was "when is Hex Hex going to be back on shelves?" Soon. But not soon enough for anyone - including us. To say that we've run into some delays is to put it mildly. The good news is that the additional time has led to further refinements and improvements on Hex Hex 1.5 and Hex Hex Next - and will be stronger games for it. The games are in fact at the printer as we speak. Our hope is that they will be into port and out to stores by late June. It is our sincere hope that you will find them both worth the wait.

On top of that, we debuted an early alpha version of our upcoming game Cutthroat Caverns. We typically show our games off at early stages and get feedback from other designers, retailers and distributors. Looks like it could be another pretty strong hit for us judging on the playtesting and reactions to the sales pitch. No word on a release date as of yet - but count on next year.

I can tell you that it has a standard dungeon-crawl theme. You are all adventurers who have sworn an oath. The first pick of treasure every day will go to the party member who slayed the most prestigeous and toughest beasts of the day. It's been working out GREAT! Bar room brawls are down, and morale is high. Until this morning. For this morning, the party has unearthed an artifact of such unspeakable power that today's pick of treasure is the only pick of treasure that will ever matter again. You are bound by the word of your oath, lest ye be struck down by lightning bolts from above - but not the spirit of the agreement.

"Without teamwork, you will never survive. Without betrayal, you will never win" That's the name of the game. It is both cooperative and chock full of back-stabby goodness. If you don't work together, the denizens of the caverns will take you apart. But you will have to jockey for position to make sure you land the most killing blows in order to win. Eventually, that means messing with someone else and putting the party at risk.

We received some great input and more importantly, great reactions that tell us this one is a keeper. We'll keep you updated on its development.

Oh, and I should mention... GTS gave rise to a new set of Special Treat cards for Run for your Life, Candyman! The Extra Special Treat packs contain 9 all new treats including Frosting (which lets you graft on someone else's body part onto your cookie) Sugar Frosted Golem and more - plus 2 blanks for your own creations. And I did come home with a few that I could be convinced to part with.

Til next post,

Keep Smirkin'

11/6/05 Quick Update. HEX HEX 1.5 and HEX HEX NEXT will be going on press this month and should be releasing sometime March 06. I will be posting some feature cards over the next few weeks to whet your appetites. Talk to you soon.

7/26/05 Run For Your Life, Candyman! Should be in full distribution this week at your favorite game store and is now available here as well. I have updated the site with a Candyman section featuring the rules, Gingerbread Status sheet pdf, a FAQ and a review section. Enjoy!

7/23/05 Hi all. Recently back from Origins and 'Run for your Life, Candyman' seems to be another hit for us. I will have a new section and the pdf download of the Gingerbread Status Sheets up very soon. We will be attending Gencon and will have plenty of real gingerbread men on hand for our late night Candyman events. And if all goes well, we'll have Lady I. Scream live and in person. See you there!

1/10/05
At long last (after year) the site has been updated. Check out our new Store, Games Page and Sneak Peeks for a bunch of new stuff. Many thanks to Nelson Beach over at Cheese Weasel for giving us a much needed revamp. Thanks also to my friend Bill Walko for teaching me just enough Dreamweaver to be dangerous - and assure that my updates can be more timely this year. By the way - voting is still open for the Inquest Gamer Magazine Fan Awards...get out there and help support HEX HEX for Best Card Game 2004. We appreciate it!

12/03/04
HEX HEX nominated for Best Card Game of 2004 by Inquest Gamer Magazine’s Fan Awards. Be sure to pick up a copy of issue #117 and vote for your favorite games or visit wizarduniverse.com in the Inquest Gamer section to participate on-line. And be sure to check out the Holiday Buying Guide while you are there. Give a friend a very HEX HEX Holiday!

11/30/04
DEAD HAND Chaos Poker™ is at long last at the distributors and should be in stores this week. For those who have been anxiously waiting since the summer, our thanks for your patience and understanding. Now that it has arrived, hop into your nearest retailer and grab the best stocking stuffer of the year! Can’t find a store soon enough? You can order it right here as well!

11/20/04
DEAD HAND Chaos Poker™ (after two weeks sitting off the shore of Oakland) has cleared customs and has arrived at our warehouse. It is being turned around same day and shipping out to fulfill your long standing orders!

11/13/04
We’ve cleared the very outdated news box and begun anew. My severe lack of web knowledge combined with some serious health issues had kept updates to our site at a stand-still. But with that all behind us (and for the morbidly curious) I’ll provide a snap-shot of the last few months.
The summer conventions were absolutely wonderful for our young game company. Both Origins and GenCon Indy were wildly successful in introducing our games to a rabid gaming public, generating a lot of great press and goodwill, untold hours of demos and some really great sales. Thanks to all who came by.

We got amazing reviews on HEX HEX in several highly respected magazines and websites devoted to bringing you the best in gaming news. Among them, Kenzer and Company’s Knights of the Dinner Table (issue #90) gave us a “Destined to be a Classic” rating. Scrye Magazine (issue #74 Aug) gave us “4/5 Gameplay 5/5 Replay value 3/5 Appearance and 4/5 Overall --- with (get this) a record-breaking number of reviewers coming forward to pen the review. Gamingreport.com has two looks at the game by Marc Shayed and another by Tom Vasel – both very glowing and honest views. And of course boardgamegeek.com has a litany of opinions all of which started with veteran game designer (and personal gaming hero of mine), Tom Jolly, who rated us 8/10. Heck, even Bruno Faidutti put us on his ‘Ideal Game’ list after seeing our game at Essen. To say that we are delighted to receive such terrific acclaim on our first game is an understatement.

We also introduced DEAD HAND Chaos Poker at GTS in March to a wildly enthusiastic response. We even entered into a two month negotiation with WizKids who were interested in licensing the game from us, doing deluxe packaging and taking it to mass retailers with full TV advertising support. In the end, however, t’was not to be (and not for lack of wanting on Jordan Weisman’s part). The mad scramble to rush the art and mechanicals and get the game off to press started again in earnest – and turned out to be a far longer process in getting the game produced overseas than we ever imagined. But when it finally arrives, it seems likely to out-do HEX HEX by leaps and bounds.

And of course there is more to come. We’ve got 5 new products in varying stages of development that we’ll be showing off in the months to come. Stay tuned – and keep smirking!
-Curt Covert