Cardboard Alchemy spreads its wings as ‘game-changer’ Flamecraft sells over 400,000 copies
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Welcome to the latest BoardGameWire newsletter!
It feels like almost every week of 2026 so far has brought with it a scandal, crisis or general bad news for the board game industry, individual publishers or professionals within the hobby. That’s an exhausting situation for people working within board games to be in, and while BoardGameWire wouldn’t be doing its job if it wasn’t providing specialist coverage and context, it’s a relief to have a break in the clouds for a few days and be able to (largely) focus on some wins and successes.
We kick things off this week by looking at the ongoing growth of Flamecraft publisher Cardboard Alchemy, which is taking the next steps in its rapid expansion thanks to the evergreen success of its now 400,000-selling dragon-themed design.
Asmodee, meanwhile, has posted record quarterly results despite a slump in its US sales, with trading card game earnings in Europe acting as a driving force for the business. The company has also continued to pick up titles from CMON with the new acquisition of bluffing and set collection game Sheriff of Nottingham.
And the long-running Cardboard Edison Award, which aims to celebrate the best in unpublished board game designs, has revealed its latest finalists after whittling them down from a record-breaking 396 entries - double the number of submissions it was receiving five years ago.
Plus there’s all the rest of the essential news from the board game industry, designer-focused advice and articles, and our regular jobs roundup.
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Mike Didymus-True - Editor
Cardboard Alchemy spreads its wings as ‘game-changer’ Flamecraft sells over 400,000 copies
Cardboard Alchemy has taken the next step in its rapid expansion by shifting to distribute its own games into retail, powered by the evergreen success of its dragon-themed design Flamecraft.
More than 400,000 copies of the worker placement game have now been sold, company co-founder Peter Vaughan told BoardGameWire, creating an early smash hit which has underpinned Cardboard Alchemy’s growth since the game’s $2m Kickstarter campaign five years ago.
Asmodee seals record quarterly net sales despite 23% US slump
Asmodee posted record sales of €524m during the last quarter of 2025 despite a slump in its US performance, with trading card game earnings in Europe acting as a driving force for the business. Net sales for games published by Asmodee itself fell almost 13% year-on-year in the quarter, weighed down by US net sales slumping 23% to €70.4m.
That drop saw the US fall behind both France and the UK in Q3 in terms of the company’s highest-performing countries for net sales, with France surging 47% year-on-year to over €111m, and the UK growing 41% to €82.7m.
“It’s crazy how it has grown globally”: unpublished designs award Cardboard Edison unveils new finalists as entries more than double since 2020
The long-running Cardboard Edison Award, which aims to celebrate the best in unpublished board game designs, has revealed its latest finalists after whittling them down from a record-breaking 396 entries.
This year’s 20 finalists include a magnet-based vertical castle-building game, a medium-weight strategy title centred around wedding planning, and a Persian folklore-themed action selection design which sees players use astrolabes to read stars and hunt demons.
Cardboard Edison co-founder Suzanne Zinsli spoke to BoardGameWire about the award’s growth, growing pains, and how designers can help their submissions stand out.
Tabletop veteran Ryan Dancey loses Alderac COO job after saying AI can generate game ideas as good as some of his company’s designs
Ryan Dancey, a more than 30-year veteran of the tabletop gaming industry, has lost his COO job at publisher Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG) after saying AI could generate game ideas as good as his company’s titles Tiny Towns and Cubitos.
Dancey said Alderac CEO John Zinser told him it was time to “move on to new adventures” in the “aftermath” of his LinkedIn post discussing the use of AI in board game design, which quickly attracted a flurry of negative comments from tabletop designers, AEG’s business partners and bodies such as the Tabletop Game Designers Association, as well as board gamers across social media.
Dancey provided an extensive response to BoardGameWire’s questions following his dismissal, including denying that he believed AI could “come up with Tiny Towns or Flip 7 or Cubitos” – instead emphasising that he was speaking about the technology being able to produce “ideas” rather than completed designs.
Leder Games names Liz Davidson as new creative director after Cole Wehrle exit
Root publisher Leder Games has named its solo game design specialist Liz Davidson as the company’s new creative director, a month after former incumbent Cole Wehrle left to launch new board game studio Buried Giant.
Davidson’s promotion comes almost two years after she was hired as solo games specialist by Leder, during which time she has worked on solo modes for games including Oath – a title which has now moved to Buried Giant alongside fellow Wehrle design Arcs.
Asmodee continues acquisition of CMON titles with Sheriff of Nottingham purchase
Board game crowdfunding major CMON has continued its battle to recover from heavy losses by selling Sheriff of Nottingham to Asmodee – its third IP sale to the company in the past eight months.
The bluffing and set collection game will become part of the Z-Man Games studio, a spokesperson for Asmodee told BoardGameWire, joining titles including Pandemic, Citadels and Love Letter.
Record Magic: The Gathering success powered Hasbro to $4.7bn revenue for 2025, remains its ‘primary growth engine’
Veteran toy and game maker Hasbro‘s increasing reliance on Magic: The Gathering’s runaway success continued last year, with the trading card game’s revenue soaring 59% to mark its strongest annual performance yet. Hasbro saw its overall revenue rise almost 14% last year to $4.7bn, driven by record 45% growth in its Magic, D&D and digital gaming division Wizards of the Coast.
“Wizards was a standout, anchored by record Magic revenue”, said Hasbro CFO and COO Gina Goetter, who added in an earnings call following the company’s 2025 financial results reveal that Wizards “remains our primary growth engine”.
CMON valued at more than $7.5m through successful share sale, will put bulk of proceeds towards game development
Board game crowdfunding major CMON has secured new capital for game development thanks to a successful share sale, which values the business at more than $7.5m.
The much-needed capital raise is the latest move by CMON as it continues its attempt to recover from massive losses racked up over the past two years.
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Other news:
Supreme Court strikes down Trump tariffs, board game publishers react - Polygon
German game publisher Drei Hasen in der Abendsonne is looking for new owners - Spielbox
Design Zone
Pam Walls shares ten publishers which are accepting board game submissions, and gives her five tips for pitching to them
Matthew Dunstan explores how to do better at game design competitions
Coup Creator Rikki Tahta joins the Game Design Round Table podcast to discuss the unique design problems of large-group games - and how to tackle them
Designer Diary: Spokes by Bert Hardeman - BoardGameGeek
Skeleton Code Machine investigates the use of action dice in Dark Venture: Battle of the Ancients, and how tokens are used to mitigate luck and increase player agency
The Decision Space podcast does a deep dive into classic Mac Gerdts design Concordia
Freelance game designer Kristen Mott chats with Game Design Unboxed about co-designing expanding your skills, the value of feedback, self-publishing and the realities of waiting on contracts, ghosting, and publisher limbo
Designer Diary: Stupor Mundi by Nestore Mangone - BoardgameGeek
The Tabletop Takeaway podcast team look at set collection, how thresholds differ from spending, and whether the mechanism just doesn’t work in some genres
Shem Phillips, Sam Macdonald and Zach Smith begin their countdown of the “ten games that made them the gamers and designers they are today”
Designer Diary: Treat, Please! by Courtney Shernan - BoardGameGeek
Job Watch
US - Creator Success Specialist, Cross Category - Kickstarter
UK, Canada, Spain or Italy - Global Brand Director - Asmodee
Remote - Game Developer / Rules Editor - Ignition Core Games
All these jobs are from the very excellent Tabletop Game Jobs Facebook Group - head there to take a look at all the latest listings
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