Media Watch: Game Designer Welcomes Anomia

In February 2010, Ron Fletcher posted a Q&A in the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine with game designer Andrew Innes, who self-published the word/party game Anomia in 2009 (3-6 players, ages 10+, 30 minutes, $20):

Has the recession affected your venture?
There seems to be a growing audience for affordable parlor games. And I remain surprised that it took only seven weeks to network and raise the $20,000 needed to self-publish the game. I pre-sold 500, manufactured 2,500, and have sold over 900, mostly through the website. I’m in a few independent, local stores. The next goal is to find a distributor and get into more retail stores.

As Innes explains on the Anomia Press website, “In the spring of 2009 I started Anomia Press and set out to raise enough money to pay for the first printing of Anomia. I used Facebook, Twitter, email, and this website to appeal to the hundreds of people who had attended play-test sessions [since 2004]. I asked everyone to pre-purchase copies of Anomia to help subsidize the first printing.” In-your-face marketing at its finest.

Oh, and as for how to play the game, here’s a description from the publisher:

Draw a card from the center pile and flip it over. Does the symbol on your card match one on another player’s card? If so, you must quickly face-off with the other player by giving an example of the person, place, or thing on their card before they can do the same for yours. [Categories include restaurants, radio stations and shampoo brands.] If you blurt a correct answer out first, you win their card and drawing continues. Sounds simple, right? Wrong!

Wild cards allow unlike symbols to match, increasing the number of things you must pay attention to. Cascading face-offs can occur when you hand over a lost card revealing a new top card on your play pile.

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