Game Store Day

GAMA just announced a nation-wide Game Store Day for fans of tabletop games. I am a casual fan turned more recently into a tabletop game appreciator while designing Shrumans. If your local game store is as fun and cozy as the one near me in Iowa City, check out what events they have for November 1!

I have been partnering with Diversions Tabletop Game Lounge since they opened this year and it was truly meant to be! Their store is a big supporter of local artists and I hope they become a thriving gaming community.

Diversions has a full day of events, which I have added here for your convenience, from Diversions’ Event Calendar:

GAME STORE DAY AT DIVERSIONS TABLETOP GAME LOUNGE

  • FREE GAMING ALL DAY

  • Giveaways, including a chance for FOUR free passes to Origins Fair 2026

  • Special discount deal: Get an additional advantage D20 discount roll for every $50 spent to apply to your ENTIRE order!

  • A full day of activities!

    12pm-4pm     will offer demos of Old Salt (Never Board Games - Des Moines), Sylvan Tactics (Random Seed Games - Marion), Burum (Tylee Tisdale - Marion), and Dreyfall (Bickham Games - Indianola).

    4pm-7pm, join Tim Ferry—host of Drinks & Designs in Des Moines and designer of Old Salt—for a game jam to build a game from scratch (either solo or in groups) with support and guidance from a knowledgeable instructor!

    6-10pm     offer another round of locally-designed game demos of Captains & Companies (Charlie Kucera & Tom Flanagan - Cedar Rapids), Challenge War (Potratz Entertainment - Iowa City), Shrumans (Candice Broersma - Iowa City), and two different games from 2Play Games out of Cedar Rapids!

I plan on going to the 6pm-10pm slot to say hi and participate in gameplay discussions. Shrumans is playable earlier as well, but the time slot makes it easier to join a group for playtesting.

Support you local artists and small businesses!

Honing in on Game Mechanics for Shrumans

Shrumans Game Testing Review

 
 

Game testing at Diversions Tabletop Game lounge was a success! The tables were full and some groups even played multiple rounds. It is the best feeling to see people enjoying themselves and the feedback was incredible. I collected feedback forms and most were filled out completely. The Diversions attendees were on a mission and tabletop gamers don't hold back!

Here is a general sense of the feedback I received:

ACTION CARDS

  • Need more for variety and better interaction with other players

  • Some action cards like Parasitize have too much power. Make sure the action cards are balanced so a player does not have an outsized advantage

  • Add clarity to Actions

ECOLOGY CATEGORY
Each Shruman card has an M, S, or P in the bottom, right corner that represents the ecology, which is the fancy scientific word for how mushrooms get their nutrients. These letters stand for Mycorrhizal, Saprotrophic, and Parasitic. 

  • The purpose for the Ecology category was kind of confusing for players. It is not a category for creating sets, but has a small role in bonus points for P cards. This category needs a major rethinking to make sure M, S, and P all have a purpose. The solution I have in mind is an action card that is a "Discard 2" based on the Ecology, which will give players more opportunities to draw and build sets. 

 
 

GENERAL FEEDBACK AND ENDING THE GAME

  • More clarity is needed for the instruction cards

  • The way the game ends needs more structure. In the current iteration, the game ends when the draw pile runs out, but only after the "Forage Pile" (a second draw pile) is shuffled back into the draw pile. There is some confusion on when that happens and what to do with remaining cards in hand. 


After this game test, the revised game play is close to 80-90% completion. There will be another game test with the completed art so stay tuned on how you might be able to help with that!

Now is time for me to finish all the card art! Please share about Shrumans and encourage friends to follow me on social media! Having a following helps on the crowdfunding side when we eventually launch on Kickstarter. 

New Stickers are Here!

Stinkhorn Shrumans can now be enjoyed in sticker form along with a holographic set of Shrumans "Expressions"!

Find Stickers on my store!

Sticker Time