Gen Con 2019 Two Minute Rundown

Wow Gen Con is in 10 days.  Crazy how quickly the time between the GAMA trade show and Gen Con flies but we are ready and excited about the show.   A small piece of useless marketing knowledge.  When Peter Adkison bought Gen Con he called to tell me and IRead More →

Bard Wanted

I am in a tavern….. The GM who runs the reality game about my business looks over his screen at me:  “You have gathered an excellent party, but for this great quest you will need one more.  Someone like minded and with synergistic skills and who speaks your language. John,Read More →

Sunday History of AEG- PARLAY

“Nothing inspires creative thinking more than a lack of funds.” John Zinser In our early days this certainly seemed to be true.  At one point, about a year into publishing Shadis, Wizards of the Coast announced that they would be doing a unique card insert in all of the gameRead More →

To Bed, Bath, and Beyond….

What is the feeling I am feeling?  Is it envy, resentment, excitement, hope?   I woke up this morning to yet another thread on my Facebook feed with people talking about where they see Wingspan being sold.  This time it is Bed Bath and Beyond, of all places.  Retailers cannotRead More →

My Dad

No story about the history of AEG would be complete without talking about my parents, family and friends who not only supported us, but also helped when we needed it most.   My dad, John (Big Z to most everyone who was his friend), did not understand my decision toRead More →

I’LL JUST STEAL IT….

There is this great little card game out there called Plague and Pestilence.  I am not sure how big it was in the rest of the world, but in So Cal it was all the rage during the beginning of the CCG era.  I have been trying to track downRead More →

Sunday History of AEG- The Guaranteed Demo Program

As previously mentioned in the beginning, 1996 was the first great CCG market crash.  The market had been flooded and was reacting. But let’s step back. Let’s start with how expensive it is to launch a CCG.  There is, of course, the time necessary to build the game, but ourRead More →

The Instant Gratification Monkey

It has been a very unproductive week for me. I find that I fall back into bad habits at the first sign of adversity inside the company.  I want to jump up and plug the hole in the dam. I find that the hardest part of moving to a newRead More →

Let’s make a game about Samurai- History of AEG #4

In 1994 the SoCal gaming community connected every holiday weekend at one of three Strategicon shows in LA.  Shadis and AEG became regulars at these events, and when not at the show someone was always hanging out at our FLGS All-Star Games. (RIP Dave and Carol Turrietta) Like a tavernRead More →

THE REALITIES OF TIME,SIZE,AND THE HIERARCHY OF CREATIVITY AT AEG.

AEG tries to have a submission process as open as possible.  We believe you never know where you are going to find the next great game or game designer, and we want to meet as many designers as possible and see as many games as we can.   We tryRead More →