Upper Deck

The Future of Mutants Lies in your Hands

with Legendary®: Messiah Complex Deluxe Edition from Upper Deck Entertainment

The devastating mutant decimation has come to pass, and few X-men remain. The enemies of the X-men continue to restlessly pursue those remaining. But at last, there’s Hope. A mutant birth has been detected and the race is on to find her. Will the desperate X-Men and their special sidekicks stay a step ahead of Lady Deathstrike and her Reavers? Join in the race to find a very special child who represents hope for mutants in this new deluxe 200-card edition of Legendary. Play with new schemes and a wealth of content with this deluxe expansion that captures the tension of the popular Marvel Comics crossover event.

“This wasn’t a teenage manifestation… this was a mutant birth.” - Emma Frost

On the verge of extinction and battered by villains, will you be able to defy the odds and save mutantkind?

MEET

Director Creators Membership Group grace.collins@gama.org

GAMA’s New Board Members

GAMA added new board members to represent creators, media and events, and manufacturers.

We asked them a few questions about their background and their goals for GAMA.

Grace

Hello my cozy friends! My name is Grace Collins, and I run Snowbright

Studio over here in Cleveland, Ohio. We are a game studio with a purpose that has published digital and tabletop games designed for education and social impact.

Our latest game, Teatime Adventures, is a nonviolent cozy mystery tabletop role-playing game filled with recipes, gardening advice, and tea pairings for every adventure. Snowbright also works with a wide variety of clients providing services that range from art and design to lessonplan creation, policy advising, and DEI consulting. Whatever we are working on, we are just thrilled to help support others in making the world a better place. Prior to Snowbright, I worked primarily at the intersection of education, policy, and games. I have taught game design and computer science at the middle school, high school, and university levels. I previously led educational game development at the Smithsonian Institution, and later led policy on games and education for the federal government when I served at the U.S. Department of Collins Education. I am happy to have been able to return to Ohio after those days in D.C. Some of my favorite things to do here in the Buckeye State include exploring our parks, catastrophically failing at painting minis, baking, and, of course, attending Origins! Tell us about your first

job in the tabletop industry.

The first time that I used tabletop games on the job was when I was teaching university computer science courses. Board games were a great way to introduce core

What prompted you to run for the GAMA board?

Creating tabletop games is the dream for so many people, but there are real barriers to finding a healthy and happy life in the industry. I believe that we need to work together to continue to improve our field and to show the world just how special hobby and tabletop games are.

What do you hope to accomplish at GAMA this year?

For the Creators Membership Group, we are creating new guidelines and roles so that members can become more directly involved in how GAMA is run. Our goal for this year is to build the core structure that will allow our new membership group to grow, better serve existing members, and welcome in new members.

What challenges and/or opportunities do you see for the membership you are representing?

Creators are the foundation for games. They create the art, the writing, the translations, the models, and so much more. Through GAMA, I hope that we can improve recognition of what creators contribute to the field and help improve working conditions for creators industry wide, particularly those who are working independently.

What’s your best advice for someone entering the industry?

Connect! Find a mentor or two, attend events virtually and in-person when you can, play games, and find your community here. Hobby and tabletop gaming is at its best when we build the community together.

What games have delighted you recently?

I have to give a shout-out to the wonderful creators, players, and GMs over at TeaTRPG. They have been producing top notch live-streamed tabletop roleplaying games all year in a wild variety of systems, settings, and themes. It’s always a surprise to see what’s coming up next!

MEET

GAMA’s New Board Members

(continued from page 36)

Eric Price

Director Manufacturers Membership Group eric.price@gama.org

Eric Price has been involved in the game industry since 1993, and has worked in all facets of the industry. From retail to distribution, from publishing to manufacturing, he has a thorough knowledge and understanding of games and what it takes to make them.

Eric was the founder and owner of Cardhaus Games and Global Games Distribution, and has been the President of Japanime Games for the last 10 years. He also works as the Industry Liaison for Meijia Games Factory, helping members of the industry with their production needs and questions.

Eric normally travels to China and Japan twice a year, to stay connected with production with the factory, and he often brings other GAMA members along to learn more about production. He has learned much in his 28 years in the game industry, and enjoys mentoring people as they are learning more about how best to create their games and bring them to life.

Tell us about your first job in the tabletop industry.

I owned a comic book store in Seattle and when Magic released in 1993, we totally changed directions with the store. Over the course of the next year, we filtered out comics as we brought in more tables for playing Magic events. In 1996 we became Cardhaus Games, and started selling games on the internet, and eventually started selling all kinds of games online.

What prompted you to run for the GAMA board?

I have been a part of the game industry for most of my life, and a member of GAMA for the last 20 years. I want to give back to the community that has given so much to me. I am incredibly excited to see all of the changes that GAMA has undergone over the last few years, and with the advent of the new divisions being created within GAMA, I’m proud to offer my help and support to the production group.

Eric Price

What do you hope to accomplish at GAMA this year?

Not only do I want to help with representation of the production division, I would also like to make myself available to help publishers with education and insight for the best options for producing their projects. I pledge to help educate GAMA members with the best production practices, and I would like to implement a standardized knowledge center to help teach new and established game publishers the best way to bring their creative projects to reality.

What challenges and/or opportunities do you see for the membership you are representing?

The largest challenge to manufacturing/production right now is partially supply chains of manufacturing materials, although that is not nearly as much of a problem as it was a year ago. But still, we are seeing a huge increase in cost and delays of freight shipments.

What’s your best advice for someone entering the industry?

Network, learn from your peers and find people with experience to help mentor you. The game industry is very sharing and helpful. Join GAMA if you haven’t already!

What games have delighted you recently?

Over the holidays we played Bristol 1350, a game about the plague, from Façade games several times. How fitting! We also played Sagrada and Middara.