Mystery Boxes

The Tokyo game market mystery boxes will be making a return in early 2025. Lasy year we debuted our TGM Mystery boxes with games from 2023 Fall with 3 types of mystery box (Trick taking, Variety, and Family) which come in 3 sizes (Fan, Big Fan, and Mega Fan). Each box is designed to bring the feeling of Tokyo game market to your door and not only contains new indie games from Japan but also includes photographs, promotional material, trinkets and accessories. If you are lucky you may even pick up a signed game. This year we have improved our mystery boxes with more availability, signed games, rare games, and a few exciting surprises and bonuses.

With highly sought-after games printed in small quantities, this is the fairest way we could devise to distribute games such as 6 Forces by Taiki Shinzawa, Revolve (the latest game from the designer of Scout! Kei Kajino, the latest trick takers and climbers from Mashikamaru, and the latest hotness in the Indie board gaming world.

The first wave of Mystery boxes are provisionally scheduled for release for the 31st of January 2025, we have a lot of rules translations to complete and are currently at 120+ unique new games! Follow our social media and email subscription for update and notifications when the Mystery Box page goes live for notifications.

We’re excited to bring these miniature game markets to your doors early next year.

Ben

Interview with Bajir Cannon

What inspired you to design Trickarus, and how did you come up with its theme of flying close to the sun?

My obsession with trick-taking comes from my love of contract bridge. I find real beauty in the way a random bridge hand - almost any hand - can unfold. With bridge’s popularity long in decline, I (and many others) have been wondering how we can attract more players to the game. It was this obsession with trick-taking alongside a hope to create a game that bridge players might enjoy playing with their as-yet-non-trick-taking friends and family that was the starting point for me.

For Trickarus, the mechanics of the game came before the theme. My goal from the beginning was to make a game that could be taught as quickly as possible, but that had something unique about it such that simple rules could unfold in unexpected and entertaining ways.

The game’s mechanics were first built with co-operative play in mind, centered around a shared goal of evenly distributed trick-winning. I started to look for a thematic narrative that would suggest a danger in any one player winning too many tricks. When Icarus first flew into my mind - along with the title ‘Trickarus’ - I assumed that someone must have already made a trick-taking game inspired by the Icarus myth. When I couldn’t find one, I was thrilled (and felt a mild anxiety to produce the game before someone else beat me to the punch).

What makes Trickarus stand out from other trick-taking games? AKA what's the twist

I hope players find the combination of an alternating trump suits and a leap-frog scoring to be a unique yet accessible implementation of trick-taking.

I also think the cards having two different numbers on them that flip around - on the table and in your hand - is just really fun!

When I first started making the game, I wasn’t yet aware of the incredible trick-taking renaissance we are living through. I couldn’t believe it when I learned that I also happened to live in the most fertile place for new trick-taking games.

After I had settled on the core of Trickarus, I went in search of games that shared commonalities to make sure the game would still bring something new. Games like the wonderful Trick-taking in Black and White (now, Milkuro) and SCOUT have cards with two different values on them. There are also games that share a need to be cautious about winning too many tricks (my favorite, Schadenfreude). I am sure there are games that also share a leap-frogging score track or an alternating trump suit. Trickarus’ uniqueness, I hope, comes through how these core mechanics interact and align with each other and the theme.

How did you come up with both competitive and cooperative modes of the game?
When defending in bridge, it is a thrill when it feels like you are really communicating through the cards that you play with your partner sitting opposite you. It also just feels good to work with others towards a shared goal.

I think one of the biggest challenges of bridge - and of trick-taking games in general - in attracting new players is the frustrating one feels when you are simply dealt a bad hand and it feels like there is nothing you can do about it.

When you’re working together with other people, there really isn’t the possibility of a bad hand because everyone shares the most important challenge of trying to figure out the distribution of the remaining cards and how best to collectively play them.

The competitive mode was, in a sense, a simplification of the co-operative mode, and something I wanted to add for the more experienced trick-takers. While I didn’t include this in the instructions, I think the game can play well with two partnerships - each flying one Icurus meeple together - playing against each other. (If anyone out there tries this, I’d really love to hear how it goes!)

What was the most rewarding moment in the journey of creating Trickarus?
Probably most rewarding moment was selling the game to my first customers at the Kyoto Game Market in September. We went into that really not knowing if we’d sell more than a dozen copies the whole weekend. We sold out our first small batch of 48 copies in only 4 hours. Seeing the games go off into the world is what really makes a game real. Strangers taking a chance on a new designer like me fills me with gratitude.

As a bridge teacher, how has your understanding of card games influenced your approach to designing trick-taking mechanics?
I need clarify that I’m not a bridge teacher! I’m just a bridge addict and long-time learner who realized that there was no good place (in those pre-pandemic times) to find quality online bridge lessons. So, i created learnbridgeonline.com for fellow bridge learners like me.

But my fascination with bridge has lead to some of my personal preferences in trick-taking mechanics. I love card-counting and perfect information in a deal (when every card is in play). Those amazing ‘aha’ moments one can have with 2~3 tricks remaining in the hand depend on the opportunity to think about where the remaining cards must be. My love of partnership and co-operative play also come from bridge. And my preferences for must-follow and having a variable trump suit likely do as well.

Do you feel bridge players will connect with Trickarus, or is it aimed at a broader audience?
I don’t think many bridge players know about the incredible new trick-takers coming out. Likewise, too few trick-taker enthusiasts have been turned onto bridge (yet!). We will go buy a new game just after watching a Youtube video or reading a forum post (and I hope we keep doing so); but the card game that was one of the most rewarding activities for so many of our parents and grandparents too often goes unexplored by modern gamers. I want to yell, “Jump on in! The water is warm and you already know how to swim!” As much as I hope bridge players will enjoy playing Trickarus, I really hope trick-takers will give bridge a try!

How do you approach teaching games like Trickarus to new players?
I love how quickly one can teach Trickarus to folks who already are familiar with trick-taking. It literally takes just a few sentences. It was more of a learning experience for me learning to teach the game to folks who didn’t know what a ‘trick’ or a ‘trump suit’ were. I spent a lot of time trying different approaches (and read a lot of other games’ instructions to see how they handled this). A short narrative intro (“Icarus and his friends have crafted homemade wings and are flying higher and higher into the sky…”) is a fun way to start.

What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone designing their first trick-taking game?
I don’t think I’m yet in the position of being able to give this advice! I humbly submit my personal preference as a player: with trick-takers there is a goldilocks zone.

If a new trick-taker is too simple, it is easy to feel light, inconsequential, or unoriginal. On the other hand, it can be very easy for new trick-taking games to have a few too many elements and mechanics which results in things feeling too chaotic, inaccessible, or convoluted (maybe this is the bigger temptation for us new designers). The trick-takers that blow me away are the ones that have one or two unique concepts or mechanics that sound really simple but then allows complexity to come out through the game play.

What was it like to attend the Tokyo and Kyoto Game Markets? Any standout experiences or games you’d like to highlight? What was your favourite games from the recent TGM?
Attending the Kyoto and Tokyo Game Markets was a dream come true. In Fall of 2023 I had tagged along with my friend who was selling his game at TGM. To see so many independent designers alongside legends who were also just standing behind their own tables… just amazing. Last year, at one table I noticed Mountain Photographer by Daniel Newman at a booth. I asked the man behind the booth about it. He explained to me how to play and that he was just helping his friend by selling the game. It took me a moment to realize I was speaking to Taiki Shinzawa himself!

This recent TGM felt like a really special event with new games by Tsutomu Dejima, Kei Kajino, Mashika Maru, and Taiki Shinzawa. I was also looking forward to checking out Fractal Tricks by Jason Lee, the new expansion for Emotional Rex by Don Leavey, Call of Yeti by Yuichi Sakashita, Color Cats by Sota Hoshino, Gyoza Torite by Hanamaru, and anything I could find by Geonil. Gosh, and so many others… the hardest part was not being able to go around and visit more booths because I was so busy behind mine!

Why do you think Japanese Gamemarkets are special?
First, the player culture here is just amazing. Game players here in Japan are such passionate and courageous supporters of independent games. They are the truly our patrons, the lifeblood of TGM, and what makes it possible for independent designers like me to make games at all!

Second, I am inspired by the incredible community of designers here! On the shinkansen ride to Tokyo, I got a bit emotional thinking about the hundreds of other designers - most of us just having finished another week at our day jobs - who were also hauling their luggage, overstuffed with games, to TGM. I was moved realizing how many others had also spent the evenings and weekends of their last months/years making new games and preparing, anxiously and excited, for this weekend.

My favorite moment at the game market might be this: at the beginning of each day there is an announcement through the large hall saying we should all do our best, and at the end of the day congratulating everyone on their hard work. Both announcements are followed by a thunderous cheering by all the designers, workers, and salespeople throughout the hall. Being able to share in those moments inspires me to keep making games. I need to hear that again.

Mystery Box Monday: Trickarus Interview with Bajir Cannon

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Interview with Bajir Cannon

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