The Birth of Gaming Royalty

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By Michael Yankowski

Full disclaimer: Though I do NOT work for Brain Sandwich games, I definitely have a vested interest in their success. I have been friends with the founders for years. In fact, Brian and I go back, brace yourselves, over three decades. Translation, we’re getting old. I have worked with all of the employees at Brain Sandwich at one company or another, at one time or another. It just seems fitting, to me, that this team has finally come together to develop a business that incorporates such a vast pool of talent from multiple spectrums of business that is based on something that every single person involved loves. Games.

So now, I get to watch as some of my oldest and dearest friends develop products that they like.  No, that they love.  I watch from the sidelines and listen in as they make decisions on everything from artwork, to game mechanics, to production factories.  I hear them weigh pros and cons on every little decision, and realize now, how in depth their process is.  What material should this item be? Is it worth making it heavier or bigger? Will those benefits out weight the additional production and shipping costs? They stress over it. They want to deliver a great product, but they are also running a business, sometimes sacrifices have to be made on one side or the other. They hate to sacrifice.  But it is a necessary evil.  But then I get to play their games with them.  And that, my friends, is where the “Love” truly comes in.  They have an idea, they run with it, they play, they adjust, they play it with friends, they adjust it again.  Over and Over again.  Though it may seem to some to be a bit more  work than it’s worth, I can tell you, that those times are truly fun.  These are creative people at heart.  Years of working in corporate cultures may have hardened some of their business skills and soured their opinions of some corporate stringencies (in case you couldn’t tell from their first release: Per My Last Email), but now they are truly free to use those business skills to do something they love.  Honestly, I’m proud of them. 

I am fortunate to be close enough to the inner circle that I often get to play test with them.  I have done run throughs of FRAY and Per my last Email and have seen prototypes for the next two games.  (Sorry, I cannot disclose any additional information about them!)  I am amazed at these games.  One of the things that has kept us friends for so long is that we love playing games.  Always have.  Of course we all have different types of games that we enjoy, but when push comes to shove any chance to sit around, have fun and BS is really what its all about.  So, we’ll play anything.  And we do.  On any given Friday you can find some of us together, playing something.  It impresses me beyond all sentiment that our year years of playing games together has turned a hobby into a business, and one that I am certainly excited to watch develop and grow.

You may be asking yourself, “So, why this post?” Well, this is simply my way of supporting my friends, of relaying to others how incredible this venture is really going to be. In my opinion, for what it’s worth, Brain Sandwich Games is going to be a success, they are making terrific games, that are fun and entertaining and it is my believe that because of the combination of skills and passion that this team has brought together there is simply no telling where this company will go and I for one am looking forward to watching their continued growth.

So, for all of those reasons, I want to take this moment to congratulate my friends for they will one day sit atop a throne of game boxes as the members of the board game elite.

Plus, I can’t wait to play the final versions of some of these games!

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