Travel-Games Raffle and Spotlight: Mike and Joss Petchey, Huff no More and Sakana Stack
Whats going on at Travel Games
It’s been a busy month at travel games, we have been to Essen Spiel, TGM mystery boxes preparations have kicked in, we’ve played lots of new games, brought in a new line of Solo RPGs and we have a new line coming in very very soon. We’ve also been working hard behind the scenes on publishing Boast or Nothing with PGC and Trick Taking Werewolf on our own. Lot’s of exciting news to come so keep your eyes peeled (hmmm… that phrase has a horrible visual… it must nearly be Halloween!)
Kings Competition Results
The winner of the Kings Tricktakers competition for a signed copy of Kings Tricktakers is Emma Novaheim!!!!, congratulations your game will be on its way very shortly.
Sakana Stack Competition ends 30th October 24:00
In this blog we’re interviewing Joss and Mike Petchey from Huff no More, they have their wonderful Japanese fish-themed card game Sakana Stack up on Kickstarter right now! To celebrate one lucky winner can win a signed preproduction copy of the game and have the chance to be one of the first people to own this wonderful game. Head over to the Kickstarter to Learn more about the game and head here to enter the competition. I had a wonderful time playing Sakana Stack at Airecon NW and recommend taking a look if you’re looking for a fresh take on climbing and shedding games with a twist.
An interview with Joss & Mike
What are you playing at the moment?
Mike: A lot of my time is spent playtesting at the moment, either games I’m working on or with other designers/publishers. It’s been great to get to try a number of new games and recent highlights of playing preview copies have been Spokes from Radical 8 Games which is a great abstract velodrome racing game, Scratch & Scramble from Manny Dominguez which was a really fun take on trick-taking and I had a blast playing the first stage of Eternal Decks from Hiroken and can’t wait to get my hands on a copy! I’ve also been playing a lot of UK indie games including Shoal from Molinarius Games, Zuuli from Unfringed and Library Labyrinth from Dissent Games.
Joss: As a relative newcomer to gaming there are a lot of games I’m yet to try, but I’ve really been enjoying games we can play with the kids and also trying different card games. I recently played 6 Nimmt! which was good fun and I definitely found my mean streak playing Harvest. Mike and I have been playing Koi Koi quite a lot which has been really fun. And a new favourite with the kids is Abandon All Artichokes.
What initially drew you to the world of board game design?
Mike: I’ve been on and off designing games for the past few years and last year decided I wanted to design a card game. I play a lot of card games and love the variety and versatility around some core mechanics so wanted to combine some of the ideas of games I like playing to see what I could come up with. Inititally this was just for me to have a bit of a creative outlet, but as the ideas starting to come together that’s when Joss and I spoke about the artwork and graphic design side of things.
Joss: Over the years when playing games - mostly with Mike. I admired well designed games that cleverly use iconography and type to enhance game play. I’m always keen to look at ways to create a visual story and game design is a perfect way to do that. Being in my final year of my graphic design degree it was a good chance to work with Mike on his idea for a game.
Which came first the game, theme, or name?
Mike: So the game came first, but the idea of a “stack” was the very first idea. I wanted to have a ladder-climbing mechanic where you were looking to grow a stack of cards the next player had to beat. The passing and scoring ideas came next and the game started to come together. I had an idea for a market setting and that’s when Joss came up with some ideas for the theme.
Joss: When Mike and I spoke about the game and the market idea I mind-mapped a few different ideas, but the idea of setting the game in the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo really stood out to me. I had visited the market myself in 2015 and as Mike was clearly inspired by a number of Japanese card games he plays that’s when we started to integrate them theme into the game. This allowed me to play around with some ideas for the artwork and I really enjoyed hand-painting all of the seafood and text/numbers with Japanese ink brushes. It was nice to see the mechanics such as the “Catch of the Day” come into the game as a result of the theme and helped bring it all together. And then for the name Sakana meaning “fish” in Japanes and the mechanic of laying “stacks” worked will for the game title
What are your goals for Huff No More?
Mike: Initially it was to see if we could run a successful Kickstarter for Sakana Stack and see where we went from there. So that has been our big focus for this year and to hit our funding goal in 3 hours of launch was just amazing! Knowing that we have a successful project under our belts we can think a bit more about what we do next and we have some ideas for future projects.
Joss: For me it’s been so much fun getting Sakana Stack launched and funded and can’t wait to start working on something new. Next year we’ll be back at the main UK cons and this time with the full production of Sakana Stack which is really exciting. I think between us we have a lot of creativity we can bring to new designs so hopefully Sakana Stack will be the first of many!
You are a husband and wife team which lovely to see, do you have any other designs in the pipeline together that you can talk about?
Joss: We have a number of ideas for new games, but straight after Sakana Stack I decided to create another deck inspired by the Japanese ‘Hanafuda’ deck which I came across when researching the design of different decks of cards. The deck takes a bit of time to learn the different card types and I felt there was a way to make the game easier to read from a western perspective by using our native fauna, flora and animals. This has been a fun project to design and I think works well with traditional ‘Hanafuda’ games.
Mike: I’m hoping to use Joss’s ‘Hanafuda’ deck to design a game of my own. It’s a real challenge having cards without a set ranking system and 12x suits of 4x cards so looking forward to trying out some new ideas. I also have a couple of trick-taking games I’ve been working on which feel quite close to designs which are ready to take out for wider playtesting. One is a draft after the trick where you play cards into your own or opponents score piles with a heavy dose of take that mechanics and I’m really happy with the player interaction involved after recent playtests.
What’s your favourite fish dish? What fish would you avoid having in your stack?
Joss: My favourite fish disk is definitely scallops, cooked in butter and garlic - yummy! Although I had a lot of fun painting the pufferfish for Sakana Stack, I’d have to avoid the potentially lethal fugu for my stack.
Mike: I love seafood! A big seafood platter with lots of different things is always a winner for me. As for the fish to avoid I think I would have to join Joss and avoid the fugu. As brilliant as the chefs are, I’m not sure the potential danger is going to be worth it!
What are some of your favourite board games to play for fun?
Mike: I love playing card games, so I always arrive our local games night with a bag full of mostly trick-takers and climbers/shedders. Catsle Builders and Seas of Strife are getting a lot of table time at the moment, as is Maskmen. But my favourite board game is Obsession, I’m always happy to get it to the table, it’s such a smooth and elegant play and the theme shines through every part of the game. Really fun!
Joss: I think the game I’ve had the most fun playing recently is Sea Salt & Paper. It has some nice combinations you can make and I absolutely love the artwork and colour palette. Mike has also been introducing me to more trick-taking games and I’ve really enjoyed Cheez-Tricks and we play at two-player quite a bit.
Where can people find out more and keep up to date with your games?
Our website is www.huffnomore.co.uk where there is more detail about us and Sakana Stack along with a monthly mailing list you can sign up to. Our main social media is on Instagram and you can find us @huffnomore
The Next Raffle and Spotlight:
For November we have the second and last signed copy of Christmas Nana, this currently out of print version of Nana is my favourite version as it has the chaotic present variant, super cute art by Sai Beppu and has been Signed by Sai too. The Spotlight is to be confirmed.
