This is a copy of the “script” we used to organise Brainwaves Episode 161. It is not a full transcript but should give you an overview of the news as we reported it. Quotes are in italics.
Headlines
Stonemaier Games sues the president
Stonemaier Games blog post: https://stonemaiergames.com/we-are-suing-the-president/
Lawsuit press release from Pacific Legal: https://pacificlegal.org/press-release/board-game-company-files-lawsuit-challenging-constitutionality-of-trump-tariffs/
CNN news video clip: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=I8yFGUk8JG4&t=4s&pp=2AEEkAIB
- As the US tariff situation goes from bad to worse to completely unpredictable, Stonemaier Games announced on the 21st of April that they are joining a lawsuit that is going to challenge the authority of the executive branch to impose tariffs. Stonemaier games are the publisher of games such as Scythe, Viticulture and cultural juggernaut Wingspan, .
- Stonemaier Games is joined by fellow board game companies XYZ Game Labs, Rookie Mage, Spielcraft and TinkerHouse Games in the lawsuit, as well as Princess Awesome, a clothing company, Quent Cordair Fine Art, an art studio, KingSeal, a kitchen supply company, Mischief Toy Store and 300 Below, a cryogenic processing company.
- In an update posted on the 24th of April, Stonemaier Games confirmed that the lawsuit has now been filed as “Princess Awesome & Stonemaier Games, et al. v. Customs” in the Court of International Trade.
- The lawsuit is fighting for a refund of the tariffs already paid and to protect the companies taking part and thousands of other American small businesses from unconstitutional tariffs.
- The lawsuit wants to establish that under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), the president has the power to “investigate, regulate, or prohibit any transactions in foreign exchange” and to “regulate…importation” in response to a national emergency, but that it does not cover tariffs, much less give the president authority to impose tariffs or duties. As a result, the lawsuit claims that:
- “President Trump cannot invoke IEEPA as the statutory basis to unilaterally impose tariffs. If the courts determine that the text of IEEPA does grant the president substantial tariff authority, then it would be an unconstitutional delegation of lawmaking power in violation of the Constitution.”
- Molly Nixon, an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation, which represents Stonemaier Games in the lawsuit, explains the situation further:
- “The Constitution grants Congress, not the president, the power to impose tariffs. The president cannot assume this power for himself, and Congress can’t transfer that legislative authority to him. The uncertainty many Americans are experiencing shows why the Constitution gives the power to make laws to the representative and deliberative branch of government.”
- Jamey Stegmaier, co-founder of Stonemaier Games, gives the following reasons for filing the lawsuit:
- “We will not stand idle while our livelihood—and the livelihoods of thousands of small business owners and contractors in the U.S.—are treated like pawns in a political game. We now face a $14.50 tariff tax for every $10 we spent on manufacturing with our trusted long-term partner in China. For Stonemaier Games, that amounts to upcoming tariff payments of nearly $1.5 million.”
- Stegmaier also appeared in a short interview on the US news channel CNN to talk about the lawsuit, a link to which you can find in the show notes.
- The issue is gaining momentum, because Pacific Legal Foundation’s lawsuit isn’t the only one. Similar cases have also been filed by the New Civil Liberties Alliance in the Northern District of Florida, Tranel Law of Montana and the Liberty Justice Center.
- If you would like to read the opinion of someone who voted for the tigers eating my face party and are now upset about the tigers eating their face, then we recommend a piece in the New york times, which we will provide an archived link to, talking to Dane Chapin who established USAopoly or the OP more than 30 years ago. It is quite the read.
Flat River Games
- Unfortunately the tariffs are already having wide ranging repercussions across the industry.
- On the 17th of April, Darrel Louder, Creative Director at Greater Than Games, posted on their facebook page.
- I couldn’t confirm yesterday but can today. Due to current tariff war, Flat River Group has shuttered Greater than Games effective today.
- Flat River Group is a US distributor that acquired Greater than Games in December of 2021. Greater than Games publishes Spirit Island and the Sentinels of The Multiverse game as well as current two-player darling Compile.
- We initially heard about this in the morning of april 17th and later that day this was posted to the Greater than Games website
- Effective today, tabletop game publisher Greater Than Games has undergone a reduction in staff in response to ongoing economic pressures resulting from the international tariff crisis.
- Currently, all new projects are suspended as the global tariff situation remains volatile. However, the Greater Than Games website will remain operational, with in-stock products available to order. Goods in the current catalog will still be produced as needed. Updates will be made at a later date for customers who ordered upcoming products (crowdfunding, pre-orders).
- Parent company Flat River Group will continue to support its retail and distribution partners through ongoing communication and fulfillment services, as always.
- Paul Bender, Adam Rebottaro and Christopher Badell have all been retained and continue to work for Greater than Games as the company is wound down. It is our understanding that the rest of the team, about a dozen people, have lost their jobs.
- The layoffs at Flat River Group do not appear to have stopped at Greater than Games. On the 18th of April, Olivia Lothary posted that they were now looking for work as they had lost their job at Flat River Group. We have no other details of folk who have been fired from the company at this time.
- R. Eric Reuss, the designer of Spirit Island posted on his own site about the closure of Greater than Games
- You may have heard that Greater Than Games was largely shuttered today. This is a tragedy, and my heart goes out to all the >G folks who’ve been laid off; they’re excellent people and have been great to work with.
- Thank you to everyone who’s reached out to me upon hearing the news, I really appreciate it. I personally am doing OK – both practically and emotionally – aside from strong feelings about the layoffs.
- We at the Brainwaves team wish all the best to those who have lost their jobs.
CMON Non-exec leaves
- Over the last couple of casts, we let you know that Cool Mini or Not seemed to be in a lot of trouble. The company is behind hit titles such as Zombicide and Blood Rage
- First it issued a profit warning to investors, revealing that its losses could hit $2 million for 2024. It then followed this up by delaying publication of its financial results that led to the suspension of trading in the company on the Hong Kong stock exchange.
- Now it has issued an update in a press statement on its site, suspending all ongoing development on games and promising to deliver their current crop of kickstarters.
- We will quote the statement in full
- Our CMON community means a lot to us, so we felt it was important to share with you some difficult decisions at our company today. Given global conditions, and most notably the situation with tariffs, CMON has decided to focus on our current commitments to our customers and partners, and prioritize the timely delivery of existing projects. So effective immediately, we will be pausing all future game development and new crowdfunding campaigns until trade conditions have stabilized.
- Unfortunately, this involves extremely difficult staffing decisions, affecting all of our creative teams with reductions. We did not make this choice lightly, and our thoughts are with everyone impacted. We are incredibly grateful for their roles in our success over the years, and these talented people will be missed both professionally and personally.
- The industry continues to rapidly evolve, and unpredictable situations like the recent tariffs, or COVID just a few years ago, present challenges for everyone in board games. With that said, it is our responsibility to take these difficult measures to ensure that we can keep current projects on track and deliver them in a timely manner. We will of course resume new development as soon as possible.
- Please rest assured that these decisions will help ensure that we keep our commitments to our backers, partners, and community.
- On top of this, former COO David Preti, who stepped down into a non-executive role in September 2024, has now full left the company.
- Boardgamewire are reporting that CMONs losses for 2024 are going to be larger than predicted. The total loss is $3 million, almost double its total profits from the previous three years combined. This is coming from the company’s delayed annual report. The initial loss prediction was $2 million
- We would like to remind listeners that as of recording, CMON has 10 outstanding Kickstarter campaigns and bought 2 more from Mythic last year, taking them to 12 outstanding in total.
Updates
Alliance and Diamond
- Back in episode 157 we reported that distributor Diamond had filed for Bankruptcy and that Alliance Entertainment had put in a bid for the company.
- On the 26th of April Alliance terminated that bid with no warning and there was much speculation as to why that happened. The backup bidder was a group of interested parties that include the company that owns Wizkids.
- On the 29th of April Alliance submitted a complaint against Diamond alleging fraud and deception as to Diamond’s relationship with Wizards of the Coast.
- The complaint states that Diamond’s largest vendor was Wizards of the Coast accounting for about 25% of their revenue. What Diamond didn’t let Alliance know is that Wizards of the Coast had decided to not renew their distribution agreement beyond the 31st of December, 2024.
- To make things even more confusing you may see Alliance Game Distribution talked about in relation to this story. That is the game distribution arm of Diamond, not Alliance Entertainment that wanted to buy Diamond.
News
Meredith Placko, Steve Jackson CEO resigns
- On the 17th Of April Meredith Placko, current CEO of Steve Jackson Games announced they are resigning. The resignation was effective the next day.
- Steve jackson Games are the publisher of Munchkin, Car Wars, and the GURPS series of RPGs
- Placko said
- “I’m proud of the work I’ve done and so grateful for the talented people I’ve had the chance to work with. It’s been a meaningful, challenging, and creatively fulfilling chapter in my career.”
- “I remain passionate about this industry, but it is time I turn my attention back to the company my husband and I founded together.”
- Placko is returning to Turbo Dork, the miniatures paint company, to oversee its next phase of growth.
- The latest annual report from Steve Jackson Games showed the company to be roughly flat over 2024 with Steve Jackson saying
- “Cash flow was acceptable, but I don’t feel ‘prosperous’.
- “This is not just us; individual game sales, industry-wide, were down at both the distribution and retail end, largely due to the glut of titles.”
- Meredith Placko was one of the first to call out the effects of the trump tariffs, commenting on them when they were only 54% not the 125% they are currently.
Final Frontier Games
- Tariffs are not the only reason that companies are struggling.
- Final Frontier Games, publisher of Merchants Cove, posted an update to a recent Kickstarter, announcing that the company was folding.
- The update starts
- Dear Backers
- We have devastating news to share with you about this project and the future of Final Frontier Games.
- Due to the situation in the world, the tight cash flow that we’ve operated under in the past period and most importantly because of debtors from which we cannot collect money, we are forced to close down operations and thus unable to fulfill this campaign at this stage.
- The post goes into the long running issues the company has had over the course of the pandemic years but had some hope that they were turning a corner and looking to revitalise the company. They lay the blame for the final nail in the company’s coffin at the foot of CMON. CMON wanted to distribute a Chinese localization of Merchant’s Cove that was the latest Kickstarter campaign from Final Frontier.
- CMON have not paid Final Frontier for this translation, and have stopped communication between the two companies.
- By their own admission they put their faith in CMON out of a pride that they were working with one of the biggest companies in the hobby.
Hachette Boardgames acquires 999 Games
https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/59439/hachette-acquires-game-distributor
https://www.hachette.com/en/publisher/hachette-boardgames
- On the 30th of April, Icv2 reported that Hachette Boardgames has acquired game distributor 999 Games.
- Hachette Boardgames is a subsidiary of Hachette Livre. Hachette Boardgames owns a number of game publishers such as Gigamic, Studio H, Le Scorpion Masqué, as well as the distributors Hachette Boardgames USA, Hachette Boardgames UK and Hachette Boardgames Benelux.
- It is Hachette Boardgames’ latest acquisition after it bought French distributor Blackrock Games in 2019.
- 999 Games is based in the Netherlands and serves customers there as well as in Belgium. It sells approximately 2.5 million games each year and serves over 1,000 retail locations, adding to Hachette Boardgames’ existing customer base and reach.
2025 Mensa Select Winners Announced
https://www.mensamindgames.com/about/winning-games
- Mensa, an organisation for anyone who scores in the top 2% on an IQ test, has announced the 2025 winners of its Mensa Select award.
- Each year, hundreds of the organisation’s almost 50,000 US members meet over one weekend to play and rate the year’s newest board games. The top seven games earn Mensa Select distinction, which means that they are original in concept, challenging and well-designed. Additionally, these games are a good value for the price, easy to learn and play and, above all, fun.
- The 2025 winners are as follows:
- Agueda: City of Umbrellas by Dustin Dobson and Milan Zivkovic from 25th Century Games is a tile-placement game for 1 to 5 players set in the town of Agueda in Portugal.
- Diatoms by Sabrina Culyba (pronounced “Sylba”) from Ludoliminal is a pattern-making game for 1 to 4 players who create their own microscopic mosaic, based on an obscure Victorian art form.
- Farms Race Deluxe Edition by Daniel Dranove and Tom Weiner from Farms Race LLC is a strategy game for 2 to 4 players who play as the Supreme Leader of a species of farm animal who build barns and armouries and conquer opponents’ regions with their herds.
- HUTAN by Asger Harding Granerud and Daniel Skjold Pedersen from USAOPOLY is another tile-placement game for 1 to 4 players who have their own rainforest patch to plant sprouts and flowers that grow into towering trees.
- In the Footsteps of Marie Curie by Florian Fay from Hachette Boardgames is a game for 2 to 4 players where you step into Marie Curie’s laboratory and help the famous scientist win her double Nobel Prize.
- Plundering Times by Reiner Knizia from SimplyFun is a strategy math game for 2 to 4 players where you command your dragon pirate crew to plunder the Islands of Numbers.
- Treasure of the Dragons also by Reiner Knizia from FoxMind Games is a memory variant for 2 to 5 players where your goal is to collect as many of the 49 cards as possible.
- Congratulations to all the winners!
WotC attempts to sidestep Creative Commons license
- If you cast your minds back to the early days of 2023, and you may have been aware of the attempts by Wizards of the Coast to rewrite the Open Gaming Licence for Dungeons and Dragons.
- To cut a very long story short, the OGL was what gave creators permission to write dungeons & dragons material and sell it without having to establish contracts and similar with Wizards of the Coast.
- At the time Wizards of the Coast tried to monetise this relationship more and quickly walked it back as the community reacted extremely negatively to the changes. They even went further and said they would put all of the 5.1 System Resource Document (SRD) under a creative commons license. They posted this about those changes
- “This Creative Commons license makes the content freely available for any use. We don’t control that license and cannot alter or revoke it. It’s open and irrevocable in a way that doesn’t require you to take our word for it. And its openness means there’s no need for a VTT policy. Placing the SRD under a Creative Commons license is a one-way door. There’s no going back.”
- Now it seems like Wizards of the Coast are trying to massage that license by changing some details that a sharp eyed commentator Dave Thaumavore
- The Deck of Many Things is a magic item long associated with Dungeons and Dragons. In the SRD 5.2 that has been announced recently, the Deck of Many Things has been renamed to ‘Mysterious Deck’. The reason given
- Renamed in SRD 5.2 only to avoid using protected Trademarks; still referred to as Deck of Many Things in official products.
- Dave looked into the trademark and found that it has been applied for with the latest update to the application being April 2025.
- Dave claims that Wizards can’t do this as the Creative Commons License explicitly prohibits imposing ‘Additional or different terms or conditions’
- Dave is now attempting to challenge the trademark but says it may take some time to come to any conclusion.
Jobs, Opportunities, and Events
https://www.facebook.com/groups/TabletopJobs
Ravensburger Game Inventor Days
https://www.ravensburger.de/de-DE/entdecken/spiele/game-inventor-days#Englisch
- If you’re a game designer, you may be interested in taking part in Ravensburger’s upcoming Game Inventor Days.
- Running from the 15th to the 16th of May, game creators from around the world are invited to present their up to two best ideas in English, French or German via a video call.
- If the publisher likes what they see, your game could potentially become a published Ravensburger game.
- Check out the full information on the Ravensburger website, a link to which we’ve put in the show notes.
Tabletop Games Blog Raffle
http://tabletopgamesblog.com/raffle
- The raffle in aid of The Trussell Trust, a charity that runs UK food banks, is back. Tickets are again £1 and all proceeds, minus fees, go directly to the charity. The prizes for the May raffle are a copy of Klask, Rolling Realms Redux and Heroes of Timeline, all of which are review copies, so they’re not brand new, but still in very good condition.
Ancient Robot Workshop
https://ancientrobotworkshop.co.uk
- Edinburgh games cafe and community hub Ancient Robot Games is expanding its influence.
- Opening soon, the Ancient Robot Workshop will be
- A space for professional and hobbyist Game Designers, Artists and Authors who work on tabletop Games.
- A press release sent out to an email list said the space would have printers, 3d printers, hireable work space, hot desking and more to come as the team behind the venture get feedback.
- You can sign up for more information at their site, a link to which will be in the show notes.
Patreon Shoutouts
Kevin Bertram
James Naylor
Shaun Newan
game-a-lot.fun/en
facebook.com/gamealotboardgames
Our Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/thegiantbrain
Fanroll
https://fanrolldice.com/ref/2783
Outro
- Card games have been made about a whole host of subjects (get Iain to rattle off a few). But what about… middle aged men in your hometown?
- In Kawara, a small town in Kyushu, south west Japan, a card game sprung up in 2023 called Ojisan Trading Card Game– Ojisan meaning uncle or middle-aged man. In part it was an effort to heal the rift in Kawara of an aging population and lack of generational cohesion.
- The cards contain 22 men, including Mr Kitamura, a whiz with electrical repair; Mr Honda, ex head of the fire brigade; and Mr Takeshita, soba chef who teaches classes in noodle-making, on a variety of cards, each with magic points and hit points.
- The initial run was just as collectables, but people have taken the game to heart and Hiroe Nishiu, the designer, is struggling to keep up with the explosive demand- visitors from Czechia and the Netherlands have even visited for a starter pack.
- Nearby towns are planning to release their own packs, including one of local fishermen. Here’s hoping they’ll also include women in it, because- yknow- half the human race folks.
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