Elysium and Skora designers open studio focused on eco-friendly board games you can print at home
First project Voyages to launch on Kickstarter later this year.
A new tabletop studio plans to make board games more eco-friendly and accessible by allowing players to print them at home.
Postmark Games is a collaboration between Matthew Dunstan, co-designer of Kennerspiel des Jahres-nominated board game Elysium, and Rory Muldoon, creator of last year’s competitive fishing game Skora.
Dunstan and Muldoon said the studio had been founded with a focus on releasing print-and-play games that are both more affordable and accessible to players, as well as reducing the environmental impact involved in the traditional production and distribution of board games.
“The pandemic and climate crisis has exposed some of the difficulties in traditional game publishing and distribution,” said Dunstan. “At the same time, there is a new need for smaller games perfect for sharing in different contexts, whether in person or virtually.”
Muldoon acknowledged the existing community of print-and-play creators and games, which came to the fore during the COVID-19 lockdown, expressing a desire that Postmark would help “bring that joy of instant delivery analogue games to a much wider audience”.
A number of prominent tabletop franchises, including Ticket to Ride, Pandemic and Catan, saw the release of standalone print-and-play spin-offs during the coronavirus pandemic. Other games, such as Star Wars: Destiny and Kingdomino, have seen the release of print-and-print expansions, while fans have adapted popular games such as Gloomhaven into notably different forms available to download and play. Many print-and-play games are offered for free, while other creators offer games at a relatively low cost compared to physical releases.
Postmark’s first project will be Voyages, a roll-and-write game about adventure and exploration on an open sea. In addition to its printed player sheets, the game will require three dice to play with up to 100 people, as well as in a solo mode. The upcoming board game will launch on Kickstarter later this year, with additional expansion content provided for free to backers.