About the Company

Jamey Stegmaier is the founder of Stonemaier Games, a tabletop game company based in St. Louis. The company is known for publishing popular strategy games such as Wingspan, Scythe, and Viticulture, which have gained a substantial following among board game enthusiasts.

Stonemaier Games began its journey with a Kickstarter campaign in 2012, successfully raising $65,980 to fund its first game, Viticulture. This initial success paved the way for the company's growth, and by 2020, Stonemaier Games' annual revenue had surpassed $18 million, reflecting its significant impact on the tabletop gaming industry.

Their latest release, Red Rising, continues to build on this success, showcasing the company's ongoing commitment to creating engaging and innovative games. The company’s achievements highlight its ability to captivate and retain a loyal customer base while expanding its presence in the gaming market.

Idea Behind Company

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Jamey Stegmaier's passion for game design and entrepreneurship dates back to his early years. When tabletop game projects began gaining traction on Kickstarter in 2010 and 2011, he saw an opportunity to create a game specifically for that platform. This inspiration led to the conception of Viticulture, his first game, which he initially designed on his own.

Realizing the value of collaboration, Stegmaier partnered with his friend Alan Stone, who was eager to help. They each invested $1,000 to fund the art and graphic design for Viticulture, aware of the financial risk if the Kickstarter campaign failed. After thorough research and months of preparation, they launched the project in August 2012. Stegmaier personally reached out to potential backers, resulting in a successful campaign that exceeded its goal, partly due to his engagement with backers and personal thank-you messages.

Viticulture's success set a precedent for future projects by shipping rewards from fulfillment centers around the world, a method Stegmaier shared on the Stonemaier Games blog. This approach has since become a standard practice among tabletop game creators, highlighting the innovative strategies Stegmaier brought to the industry.

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Creating the Company

For both his first published game, Viticulture, and the more recent Red Rising, Jamey Stegmaier follows a consistent process. When he is the designer, he adheres to a detailed 10-step process. As a developer for externally submitted games he loves, he ensures the game is fun, functional, intuitive, and well-balanced. This involves rigorous development to enhance the game's quality.

The prototyping phase involves creating initial files using programs like InDesign and printing them, often utilizing spare parts from other games for playable prototypes. After local playtesting confirms the game's functionality and entertainment value, Stegmaier sends digital files to global playtesters for "blind playtesting." The feedback from these playtesters is analyzed to refine and improve the game, iterating this process until the game reaches completion.During manufacturing, Stegmaier collaborates with Panda, a Canadian company with its main factory in China, to produce the game cost-effectively and appealingly. He also works with various artists and Automa Factory, a company pecializing in single-player modes, to enhance the game's features. The total cost, including art, graphic design, production, freight shipping, and fulfillment, can vary but typically runs around $25,000 for art and design alone. The entire process from idea to retail release generally spans about two years.

Stonemaier Games initially relied heavily on Kickstarter to attract and retain customers. However, after a 2015 campaign for the game Scythe raised $1.8 million, Jamey Stegmaier decided to shift away from Kickstarter. He believed this change would allow the company to better serve its customers. The new business model focused on crafting a few special products each year and announcing them through a series of posts once production neared completion. This process included unbiased early reviews and a short preorder period on their webstore, followed by fulfillment and worldwide retail releases.

Launching the Business

Over the past six years, this model has proven effective, with total revenue surpassing $40 million, compared to around $4 million during the Kickstarter years. For products that are well-received, Stonemaier Games continues to support them with reprints, expansions, accessories, community building through Facebook groups, special sales, and a continuous flow of review copies. This approach ensures that successful products have a long-lasting presence and continue to meet customer demand.

While advertising is rare, social media plays a crucial role in building and maintaining relationships. Stegmaier shares his passion for games on YouTube and Instagram, engages with fans in Facebook groups, and posts regular updates and live chats on the company's Facebook page. He also writes twice-weekly blog posts about entrepreneurship and crowdfunding and interacts with the community on Twitter daily. The company remains active on BoardGameGeek and consolidates its activities in a monthly newsletter, emphasizing the quality of engagements over sheer numbers.

Stonemaier Games is continuously striving to enhance its mission of bringing joy to tabletops worldwide. Despite room for improvement, the company has maintained profitability every year since its inception. Jamey Stegmaier transparently shares the company's financial performance, strategies, experiments, and lessons learned in an annual stakeholder report. This detailed breakdown helps stakeholders understand the company’s trajectory and areas of focus.

Earnings

Most of Stonemaier Games' sales come from distributors who supply brick-and-mortar and online retailers. While some products are sold directly to retailers, the company's webstore also caters to consumers preferring direct purchases. Additionally, localization partners contribute approximately 5% of the company's revenue, indicating a diverse and robust sales strategy.

A significant differentiator for Stonemaier Games is the Stonemaier Champions program, launched in 2018. This program allows supporters to contribute $15 annually, which helps fund Stegmaier's extensive content creation, including 100 blog posts and 150 YouTube videos each year. In return, Champions receive prioritized order fulfillment and a 25% discount on all webstore purchases, along with other special deals throughout the year. Starting with a few hundred members, the program has grown to 9,200 members today. Looking ahead, Stonemaier Games plans to focus on releasing 1-2 new games annually, along with expansions and accessories, to ensure each product receives the attention needed to become a lasting success.

The company's commitment to quality and community is exemplified by designer Elizabeth Hargrave's receipt of a prestigious award for Wingspan, Stonemaier Games' bestselling title. This recognition underscores the company's ongoing dedication to excellence in game design and customer engagement.