Gamestormers and Baby Sloane are Talking
My daughter, Sloane, is officially busting out words on a regular basis. When she wants to hop into my arms, she announces “up!” When she wants to say hi to our lab, Mozzie, she says “Ozzie!” Water, of course, is “Wowie.” Lots and lots of “uh ohs” of course. But, naturally, my favorite word of hers is “dada.”
I’ll never forget the first time she called me “dada” – before, she had always pointed at the picture of my wife and me on our wedding day. It was almost as if daddy lived in the picture and wasn’t the man who played with her, changed, her, and rocked her to bed. I don’t know if I’ll have a more favorite word of hers than “daddy” ever again.
In a similar vein, the Gamestormers board game we are releasing soon is starting to talk as well. As the game enters mass production, we are talking with game enthusiasts, friendly local game stores, schools, organizations, and many more about what makes the game so enjoyable and valuable for players. Although I’m certainly not very good at “salesman” pitches, I believe in Gamestormers. I tell myself that each time I share the game’s best qualities with potential customers and players.
As noted above Gamestormers is meant to be not only a family and friends game, but also a great game for schools and organizations. My greatest joy of late has been chatting with librarians, teachers, non-profit leaders, and curriculum specialists about how Gamestormers develops creativity, persuasive speaking, critical thinking, and more in players. I do believe that Gamestormers fits in so many different classrooms and programs with its unique gameplay, and we even cater to organizations that are tax-exempt or interested in bulk orders.
And it’s not just us talking about Gamestormers – other organizations are talking us up as well! At the Play Make Learn Conference put on by the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Education and other educational game companies, we were recently picked as a finalist for the 2022 James Paul Gee Best Analog Learning Game Award. This prestigious honor highlights the year’s best games for learning across the world, and we were honored to be among such fantastic titles.
Not only have we been getting some buzz from organizations, but we have been talking to folks out in the community about Gamestormers. We have been at conferences, art fairs, and coffee shops sharing about our game. One of our favorite parts of the board game publishing process is talking with our customers and fans, and we love demoing games with you!
It’s so fitting that Sloane is talking up a storm right as Gamestormers is doing some big talking of its own – she is the main character, after all! Sloane the Summoner from the game specializes in creating worlds and stories with her imagination, and her real-world counterpart loves the same. Our daughter chatters away while flipping through her picture books, and I can only imagine that she is creating her own narratives to fit the images she sees on each page.
If you are interested in getting your hands on a copy of Gamestormers, check out our website shop – we cannot wait to see what game narratives you create!