One of the things we like to do here at the Malted Meeple is give some extra attention to our favorite board game publishers and designers. In our monthly Publisher’s Spotlight we provide a bit of a background on the publisher, discuss a few of their games, and may even announce a visit to The Meeple by some of the publisher’s representatives! This week’s column is written by Jim Reed and Rick Grayshock.
The Malted Meeple presents March’s Publisher Spotlight, featuring Plaid Hat Games!
Based in Northwest Ohio, Plaid Hat Games is a relatively young publishing company. Founded in 2009, Plaid Hat has quickly earned the respect and admiration of gamers and industry types alike.
Owner and Chief Game Designer Colby Dauch initially formed Plaid Hat to publish his first game, Summoner Wars. Following up on the success of Summoner Wars, Colby teamed with longtime friend Jerry Hawthorne to bring his idea for Mice and Mystics to life. Next to join the Plaid Hat team was Isaac Vega, who quickly became a prolific designer with such titles as City of Remnants, Bioshock Infinite and Dead of Winter.
On top of being great designers, the folks over at Plaid Hat Games are just generally good guys. We here at the Ravenwood Castle/Malted Meeple team have had the pleasure of partnering with them on several occasions over the years. In particular, Plaid Hat has been the Guest of Honor the last three years at our spring charity convention, Hoop & Stick. With the help of Colby, Isaac and community manager Brian we have played a lot of games, eaten a lot of giant turkey legs, and raised quite a bit of money for children’s hospitals.
In addition to their existing stable of hit games, Plaid Hat has several exciting projects underway. Guests at The Malted Meeple’s Grand Opening earlier this month were treated to demonstrations of Specter Ops, which is releasing shortly, and Ashes, which is currently in playtesting. The long awaited SeaFall, a joint venture with Rob Daviau, has also been rumored to be on its way later this year.
Just A Few of Plaid Hat Games’ Releases
Summoner Wars – a fast playing, action packed card game. Players take on the role of Summoners, powerful beings who lead their races to conquest on the war-torn planet of Itharia.
Mice and Mystics – a cooperative fantasy adventure game, and our February 2015 Game of the Month. Players take on the roles of mice heroes, and fight their way through a castle to save a kingdom. Every adventure builds a rich story as the heroes encounter rats, spiders, cockroaches and of course cats along the way.
Dead of Winter – a ‘meta-cooperative psychological survival game’, and our March 2014 Game of the Month. Players work to survive in a post-apocalyptic society, avoiding and battling zombies while working together to accomplish group objectives. Each player also has a secret objective they must achieve in order to win the game. These secret objectives create tension as players are forced to choose between actions that help the group, and ones that improve their own chances.
Dead of Winter was recently featured on Wil Wheaton’s TableTop, and has been nominated for and won several awards for artwork, innovation, theme and Game of the Year.
Specter Ops – a soon to be released science fiction stealth deduction game. Players assume the role of an agent searching a facility to accomplish objectives, or a hunter tracking down the agents before they can escape. Deduction and strategy are key in this highly thematic stealth game.
The next time you visit The Malted Meeple, we encourage you to try out one of the great titles by Plaid Hat Games. Regardless of which release you play, you’ll find yourself immersed in theme without being bogged down in overly complicated rules and instructions.
Grab a Plaid Hat and enjoy!
Jim Reed is a lifelong gamer who started with the original red box Dungeons & Dragons. After spending 20 years in the corporate world, he decided it was high time that work be fun and struck out on his own. Jim now owns and operates Ravenwood Castle and The Malted Meeple, and spends his days ensuring his guests have as much fun as he does.