Thing 12 Games is a team of passionate game developers with decades of combined experience in the video game industry, and a love of the tangible camaraderie that only comes from gathering around a kitchen table, and stabbing your friends and family in the back.

Designed by Brander “Badger” Roullett

Game Art by Darrin Michelson

Darrin Michelson is a driven illustrator who has designed games and gravestones. He enjoys working himself to death, anything involving the words “Inception” and “The Prestige”, and dogs seem to think he’s ok.

Kris Quistorff is our staff marketing artist, responsible for pulling together our product videos, manuals, info graphics, product mockups, Kickstarter art, and trying to wrangle the beast that is Kickstarter page management.

What was the game creation process like for you on this project?

Badger: “It all started on a summer road trip with the family. During the drive, my wife and I were talking about a popular TV show that she enjoyed watching. It seemed to me the whole show was all about racking up a body count, and claiming a crown or throne. Which got me thinking about how to represent this in a game. Some time later we were playing Zombie Dice out at lunch, and I thought this might be a good format for that idea.

Something I really wanted to set out as a goal for the design was a bare minimum of player down-time. I came up with the ideas of Scrolls, which are passed out during the player’s turn.

Once I had settled on the dice format I started trying to figure out how many dice were needed to feel good. I also toyed with different types, and combinations of symbols. It took a while to find the right combinations of both of these, but eventually I came up with the current format. I used my 3D printer to make some prototypes for the dice and tokens and took them to work to try out.

I distinctly remember the moment it became clear that we had something. There was a few of us sitting around a table at lunch at work, rolling dice. I had just rolled 3 crowns, and two daggers and two scrolls. I was already partially into my victory dance, when Jon rolled the Scroll and returned a dagger to end my turn. There it was, the moment that felt good. It was interesting and exciting (even though I was stabbed in the back) and we started developing the game in earnest.

My favorite part of the game is how simple and clean it is. I’ve intensely focused on keeping the core game concise and simple. Quite a few times during the development process, there were issues we tried to solve by adding mechanics or rules. But I kept coming back to keeping the core of the game focused and simple. This really helps it be quick and dirty dice rolling fun. “