Top all-time · #3057
Stonemaier Games
Company blog · stonemaiergames.comgamesbusiness
Stonemaier Games is the company blog at stonemaiergames.com, writing about games and business. Since 2015, 25 different Hacker News readers have linked it 70 times, most often “Your idea is brilliant, your idea is worthless (2016)”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-29, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (11) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Stonemaier Games' blog for posts on the board game business, especially its math of tariffs on game production. Commenters also cite it on Kickstarter and industry trends.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 11 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
We believe in creating memorable, beautiful, fun games.
Most-linked posts?
- Your idea is brilliant, your idea is worthless (2016)5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2021-07-20
- We Are Suing the President3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2025-04-21
- How to Design a Tabletop Game2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2022-04-19
- The Darkest Timeline – how I see the 54% tariff impacting the game industry2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2025-04-03
- A Matter of Scale: What Changes Between $64k and $25M?2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2023-01-19
- /the-math-of-tariffs/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2025-04-09
- /games/wingspan/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2024-02-02
What Hacker News says?
There was a very good exploration of this in the context of boardgames here: https://stonemaiergames.com/the-math-of-tariffs/
Comment linking /the-math-of-tariffs/
on “How much do you think it costs to make a pair of Nike shoes in Asia?”Submitted Your idea is brilliant, your idea is worthless (2016) as a story · 427 points
HN discussionI'm still very confused about the staff pick badge… Is there anyone here that ran a campaign that could confirm? There are numerous articles dedicated to maximize one's chances to be a staff pick, and numerous advantages like being in the newsletter, promoted on their social network accounts, etc. That would mean that there really is a staff pick category with hand-picked projects, but that the badge itself can be a…
Comment linking /kickstarter-lesson-140-the-kickstarter-staff-pick/
on “Is Kickstarter covering up a scam? An open letter to CEO Yancey Strickler”Submitted The Darkest Timeline – how I see the 54% tariff impacting the game industry as a story · 57 points
HN discussionI understand your perspective completely, and I agree with you on the central point of Kickstarter needing to figure out how to look after the backer. When you have companies effectively using Kickstarter as a pre-ordering and marketing system rather than a means of raising capital without going to investors, there's a problem. What I'm becoming more and more concerned about, however, is products which are clearly u…
Comment linking /e-newsletter/blog/
on “Scythe, the most-hyped board game of 2016, delivers”Submitted Brandon Sanderson’s Mega-Kickstarter as a story · 40 points
HN discussionThis is one of those games that looks complicated until you start playing. I was one of the Kickstarter backers, and was a bit unsure of the suitability of the game for casual play. After 22 plays and counting with many different people, I can safely say that this isn't too hard to grasp. Essentially, your turn boils down to picking 1 of 4 (or 5) different actions, over and over again. Compared to Terra Mystica, thi…
Comment linking /kickstarter/book/
on “Scythe, the most-hyped board game of 2016, delivers”Submitted How to Design a Tabletop Game as a story · 24 points
HN discussionTarrifs have started to hit the boardgame industry pretty hard already, and as an enthusiast, I have started to really worry. Within a very short span, several companies have already announced drastic slowdowns in product production/shipments and staff, to some outright closing. https://stonemaiergames.com/we-are-suing-the-president/ https://www.cmon.com/press/an-update-on-our-internal-teams-a... https://www.greater…
Comment linking /we-are-suing-the-president/
on “Wyze pays $255k of tariffs on $167k of floodlights”Submitted We Are Suing the President as a story · 23 points
HN discussionInteresting, perhaps the inspiration behind the walking battle machines[0] in my favourite table top board game "Scythe"[1]. Interesting to see a real life Mech! [0] - http://www.heavymetal.com/news/these-amazing-paintings-raise... [1] - https://stonemaiergames.com/games/scythe/
Comment linking /games/scythe/
on “Walking Truck”Submitted I Quit Twitter (It’s Not You; It’s Me) as a story · 23 points
HN discussionMy parrots (Green Cheek and a Budgie) can't stand hearing other bird calls. Freaks them out (even the ones in the console/pc version of WingSpan[0]). A majority of bird calls in the wild are territorial and it seems to freak them out the most in the Spring when their hormones are at their highest, so it's likely related. I haven't thought too far into it, but I imagine they freak out more when it's a hawk/falcon cal…
Comment linking /games/wingspan/
on “Pet parrots prefer live video-calls”Submitted We Are Suing the President as a story · 20 points
HN discussionThey're already planning to update the game in response: > Given that these names are officially changing, when the AOS finalizes their name selections for sets released so far, it’s likely that we’ll make a pack of the renamed birds and offer them on our webstore. At that time we will also likely change the names of those birds in the game, rendering the historian bonus card an artifact of the past. https://stonema…
Comment linking /games/wingspan/
on “American Ornithological Society changing the names of birds named after people”Submitted How to Design a Tabletop Game as a story · 5 points
HN discussionIf you want a better discussion about tariffs and their impact on the Boardgame Industry: https://stonemaiergames.com/the-math-of-tariffs/ As others have said, avoid this article. It doesn't add anything meaningful to the discussion.
Comment linking /the-math-of-tariffs/
on “The Board Game Industry Is Burning – and It's Their Own Fault”Submitted What Type of Social Proof Is Most Effective? as a story · 4 points
HN discussionThat's a real shame as there's some top game companies in the U.S. (Steve Jackson Games springs to mind). Stonemaier Games makes some lovely games - Wingspan and it's variants are beautiful products, but it doesn't seem like they'll be able to survive in the U.S. (Here's a blog post from them: https://stonemaiergames.com/the-darkest-timeline/ ). Ultimately, the manufacturers are going to have to leave the USA or ris…
Comment linking /the-darkest-timeline/
on “Tabletop industry in full panic as Trump tariffs are poised to erase growth”Submitted Your Idea Is Brilliant, Your Idea Is Worthless (2016) as a story · 3 points
HN discussionFirst I've heard of Asmodee Group, but from a quick Google they own a remarkable number of games (that they call "IP"). A quick note that they at least don't own Wingspan, the first game in the article. It's by an independent publisher called [Stonemaier Games]( https://stonemaiergames.com ) who "grew up" on Kickstarter (and openly considered it a marketing tool in later years) but vocally moved away because the fou…
Comment linking /
on “We’re in a Golden Age of Board Games. It Might Be Here to Stay”Submitted Your Idea Is Brilliant, Your Idea Is Worthless (2016) as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted You are your own gatekeeper as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Overcoming the Sunk Cost Fallacy as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Favorite Things Publishers Are Doing as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Generative AI? Not for Us as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted A Matter of Scale: What Changes Between $64k and $25M? as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Your Idea Is Brilliant, Your Idea Is Worthless as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Do Only 3% of Gamers Sleeve All Cards? as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted How Do You Measure Accessibility? as a story · 2 points
HN discussion
