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الجمعة، 20 فبراير 2026

Seal of Excellence sold out? It’s not that simple…

Hello, hello,

This is Ignacy Trzewiczek from Portal Games and this is another letter from Poland. It's the end of the week, and what a week it was! On Wednesday I had a great game of Trench Crusade, and on Thursday I run a Call of Cthulhu game inspired by an Arkham Horror LCG scenario! Lot's of gaming in, and memories that will stay with me for years.

But let's talk business, shall we?

Last weekend The Dice Tower published a review of Neuroshima Hex. It got 9/10 rating and the Seal of Excellence. Zee, who reviewed the game said: "It's always been good. It keeps getting better. This is amazing."

As for Friday morning, when I am writing this letter, it has 9.2k views. I hope you are rooting for us and you probably hope that at this point I am happy to announce that after the review got published, we sold hundreds of copies and we are sold out with Neuroshima.

Well, it's not that simple.

In November I had a seminar at the AleGramy con in Gdańsk and the topic was "Board game Reviewers". One of the points of the speech was "do the reviews impact sales" and I provided some data - after running a company for more than 25 years, I had some insight here. A negative review from an influential reviewer kills the product. It's a headshot. Trust me, the "bad press is a press nevertheless" is a bullshit slogan. A bad review is bad news. That's a fact.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work the same with positive reviews - a positive review has a zero impact. Two positive reviews have a smaaaal impact. Three positive reviews have a small impact… A dozen positive reviews slowly start to make a small impact. More and more positive reviews will finally make a positive noise and you guys will start getting interest.

But the first super positive review is a good start. It's 10k people who will hear about Neuroshima Hex. Hopefully they will hear about it again. And again, and again, and at some point they will pull the trigger and check it out.

📺Watch the Dice Tower review:

Neuroshima Hex 20th Ann. Edition Review: Poster Post-Apocalyptic Kid

Grab Neuroshima Hex Anniversary Edition:

Order today!

Thank you,

Ignacy Trzewiczek

الخميس، 12 فبراير 2026

PNP Hero at The Game Crafter

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We have launched PNP Hero here at The Game Crafter. With the closing of PNP Arcade, we wanted to make sure people were aware of another place they can go to get Print & Plays.

We heard that some people were having issues opening links in the previous newletter for PNP Hero, so here are two ways to visit PNP Hero.

http://www.pnphero.com & https://www.thegamecrafter.com/print-play

The Game Crafter, LLC | 2609 Seiferth Rd, Madison, WI 53716 | www.thegamecrafter.com

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الأربعاء، 11 فبراير 2026

Valentine’s Sale Is Live + Introducing PNP Hero

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Love is in the air at The Game Crafter and so are some exciting new ways to create, share, and play your games.

The Valentine's Sale Starts Today

Our February Valentine's Sale is officially live! This is a great chance to show your games a little love by sharing it around to those who may have been waiting for the perfect opportunity. It will be running for Febuary 9th until Febubary 15th.

Introducing PNP Hero

We're excited to launch PNP Hero, a collection of Print & Play games available on The Game Crafter. These games are designed to be easy to download, quick to print, and fun to play. Perfect for designers and players alike.

PNP Hero is all about making games more accessible, whether you're looking to try something new or share your own designs with a wider audience.

New Feature: Print & Play Generator in the Game Editor

To go along with PNP Hero, we're also launching a powerful new feature in the Game Editor: the Print & Play Generator.

It's never been easier to:

Offer a low-cost entry point for players
Share prototypes for playtesting
Expand your game's reach with Print & Play support

You can find the new tool right above the "At A Glance" section, below the green buttons in the game editor.

This new tool lets you create a Print & Play version of your game directly from your existing project in the game editor. No extra layouts, just a streamlined way to turn your game into a ready-to-download PNP experience.

Whether you're taking advantage of the Valentine's Sale, exploring PNP Hero, or trying out the new PNP Generator, there's never been a better time to create and share your games. Thanks for being part of The Game Crafter community and happy designing.

The Game Crafter, LLC | 2609 Seiferth Rd, Madison, WI 53716 | www.thegamecrafter.com

السبت، 7 فبراير 2026

The Secret Behind Neuroshima Hex’s Most Radical New Feature

Hello, hello,

This is Ignacy, and this is another letter from Poland. Today I wrote a short article about game design and changes in the Neuroshima Hex. I hope you will like it.

It was Gloomhaven that was the first famous game to use a book—a sort of atlas—to lead players through successive stages of the dungeons. It broke away from the decades-old concept of terrain tiles used to build a dungeon map before every game and packed it all into a neat atlas. Later came Stuffed Fables and Near and Far, but I believe that the 2020 release of Forgotten Waters was the spark that ignited the minds of other designers. It was the game that "blew our minds," showing what could be achieved and how design horizons could be expanded by placing on the table a book with a different board on each page.

Four years later, The Mandalorian by Corey Konieczka, Mass Effect by Eric Lang, and Thorgal from my team at Portal Games are debuting on the market. All with a map atlas inside. We are all fascinated by this insane tool, which the BGG database refers to as "Book as a Board." It's a mechanic that is literally blowing our minds.

When we were discussing at Portal Games how to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Neuroshima Hex and how to add something to a game that—after all—needs absolutely nothing, a game that is perfect and has been capturing minds and drawing people in like a sponge for 20 years. When it seemed we couldn't touch anything without breaking it, a Map Atlas was put on the table. Since 2020, I have been obsessed with this mechanic; ever since I played Forgotten Waters, I haven't thought about anything else.

For 20 years, battles in Neuroshima Hex have been played on a standard board. For the game's 20th anniversary, I wanted them to be played on various unique boards. I wanted each one to be a new challenge, each its own unique world, each so interesting and original that players will argue on forums about which one is the best, making their own Top 5 lists because every single one is absolutely fascinating.

We got to work. During the several months of development on the new edition, over a dozen boards were created. The eight best made it into the final game. In the first scenario, the board represents a Moloch machine factory. The factory produces parts and sends them to the front. Moloch's goal is to deliver three components; the Outpost's goal is to prevent it. There are no HQs, there is no static gameplay—there is the transport of parts and the fight to stop it. In the second scenario, Borgo's army is trying to evacuate the board while Outpost units surround them from all sides, covering the board in continuous fire. In the #3 scenario, a battle between the Outpost and Hegemony armies is interrupted when an unexpected opponent appears—a Moloch military contingent. The warring armies must agree to a short-term alliance and stand together against Moloch. In the #4 mission, Borgo's army must blow up a giant Moloch structure, and in the #5, armies fight in a ruined amusement park full of dilapidated carousels…

The new edition of Neuroshima Hex features the classic board, just as it has had for 20 years. We didn't touch the brilliant core mechanism; we didn't fix what absolutely didn't need fixing. But at the same time, the new edition of Neuroshima Hex has taken a breath of fresh air, opened its eyes to changes in game design, looked with curiosity at what is new, and embraced it with joy. It has merged with Battla Atlas, and I tell you, this "new" fits it like a glove. It fits as if it had been there for all twenty years. The new Neuroshima Hex and its scenario mode is a match made in heaven.

And it's all thanks to Forgotten Waters!

Thanks!
Ignacy

Order today!

الاثنين، 17 نوفمبر 2025

⚡Black Week’s Hottest Games: The Top 3 You Can’t Miss⚡

MONOLITH ARENA is a fast, fantasy skirmish board game for two to four players. Learn the features of your warriors. Find and exploit your enemy's weak points. Always be ready to change your tactics.

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In Florence, a basilica unlike any the world has ever seen is being constructed. Not one, but two architects are working on it. The first received this commission from the queen; the second from the bishop of the diocese. Which of them will design a larger part of the temple and gain fame and fortune?

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Dreadful Circus is a fast strategy game by Bruno Faidutti (The Citadel,Diamant). It will take us to a mysterious world somewhere at the bottom of our minds. As circus directors we will try to organize an unforgettable evening of shows, fighting with each other to attract the attention of the largest audience.

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الاثنين، 10 نوفمبر 2025

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الجمعة، 31 أكتوبر 2025

I waited for Essen like that for 10 years!

Hello, hello,

This is Ignacy Trzewiczek, and this is another letter from Poland.

I hope you had a great week! Mine was pretty lazy, as I was recovering from the Essen Spiel, and let me tell you, that was the Best Essen SPIEL in years!

It's always the same, every year, doors open, geeks run into halls and lines appear. It's the first ten minutes of the show and you already know which games have the most hype - lines form in a matter of seconds.

One booth has 100 people standing in a long line, other booths nearby have no customers whatsoever. It's always a super sad picture, a brutal reminder that hype is a powerful tool, especially at the events. You know, we all go to the restaurant that is busy and crowded, not the sad empty one...

We had a line. It was not that epic line like for the most hyped games of the show, but man, we had a line and it felt good. And then it turned out, our line formed and stayed for the next 9 hours straight. It was insane.

Did I mention it felt good?

We were sold out with Age of Galaxy on Friday and we were all in shock, as we brought almost 300 copies of it. And then, on Saturday, at 2pm we were sold out with Bohemians, even though we brought nearly 1000 copies. We couldn't believe what was happening. Yeah, you're right, it felt really good.

Jasper, designer of Bohemians was on fire, and the smile was like that line - 9 hours straight on his face. Volunteers and the whole team felt that amazing energy, the joy, the pride, the feeling it is an Essen SPIEL to remember for years. With energy like that you don't feel tired, you don't feel you are demoing for 9 hours straight, you don't feel you haven't had lunch yet. You just live the moment. It was freakin' amazing.

We came back home, the adrenaline dropped, the organism reminded us about lack of lunch, breaks, any rest, and yes, we are all dead tired.

But man, it felt good.

Thank you for being there for us. Thank you for cookies, thank you for kind words, thank you for selfies, high-fives, thank you for the energy you brought to the booth. That is Essen SPIEL to remember, and this is thanks to you. I salute you! And I salute the whole team who worked their asses for the whole week.