Stringamajig is available now! Our ridiculously fun party game has hit store shelves and is ready to bring the laughs to your table. Check our Store Locator HERE to grab a copy from your local game store, or pick one up in our online store!
Part drawing game, part charades, Stringamajig is all wacky fun.
Here’s the overview of how it works:
Check out The Dice Tower’s review as well!
Fireside Games unequivocally stands with Black Lives Matter. The breadth and depth of the social injustice faced by Black people is devastating and is rightly challenged. We’re encouraged to see cities and institutions beginning to make overdue changes and to see the world rise up together to demand an end to systemic racism.
We join the change by making a donation to Movement for Black Lives (which includes Black Lives Matter Network) and by overhauling our business practices to consciously reach out to Black creators, developers, and providers to ensure participation and representation in the board game community. If you fit any of those categories and would like to be contacted the next time a project is available, please email us at info@firesidegames.com. We want to be a part of ensuring your equal opportunity for expression.
UPDATE: Due to overwhelming feedback from our fans we have chosen to cancel this campaign and begin work on a campaign that will include deluxe versions of all the expansions in addition to the base game. Stay tuned for more updates!
At long last we are super excited to announce that Castle Panic Deluxe is live on Kickstarter!
The core game contains:
Featuring all new art, this is the ultimate version of the beloved, cooperative, tower-defense game Castle Panic!
This will NOT be sold into distribution, so join us on Kickstarter and help us unlock fun, new stretch goals, and bring this limited edition to life!
Learn how to play Stringamajig, our party game that’s part drawing game, part charades. You can watch the In A Nutshell video for a quick overview of the game, or dig in deeper for the full how to play video.
Either way, the game hits shelves on June 9, so you can be ready to prove to your friends you’re a String-a-ma-genius!
We are pleased to announce that Castle Panic Deluxe launches on Kickstarter June 9! The beloved, best-selling, cooperative, tower defense game hits the table like never before! Featuring all new art, deluxe components, monster minis, and plastic castle pieces, this limited edition is the ultimate version of Castle Panic!
The game includes 31 Monster minis with spinning bases to track damage as well as a full Castle!
All new art and graphic design!
Click the link below to be taken to the pre-launch page and sign up to get notified when the project goes live!
Our party game Stringamajig is coming June 17! After various delays and shutdowns, we are excited to announce that Stringamajig has reached the warehouse and is making it’s way to game stores everywhere. The official street date will be June 17 and we can’t wait to see what kind of wacky string drawings you’ll come up with!
If you want to get a peek at how this combination of drawing game and charades plays, check out our How to Play video here.
With all the disruption that the COVID-19 virus is causing for families, retailers, and the board game industry, there is a lot of uncertainty about the near future. Because of that, we’ve decided to delay our upcoming releases. First, we’ll be holding off on shipping our party game Stringamajig. Because of all the stay-at-home orders issued by states, counties, and cities, it would be very hard to ensure the game is widely available. We don’t want to frustrate customers or retailers, so we’ll be holding that game back until we know more. The good news is that the game is on its way to our warehouse now, so we can start shipping it out as soon as it makes sense. We’ll be reaching out to retailers and distributors for guidance on the best time to release Stringamajig.
Additionally, we’re postponing the launch of the Kickstarter campaign for Castle Panic Deluxe. The original plan was to launch on March 31st, but that game is at a high price point. We don’t want anyone to feel pressured to have to make difficult financial choices when it comes to entertainment in this environment, so we’ll hold off for now. We’ll announce a new launch date once we see things turning around. In the meantime, we’ll keep working on spreading the word about how exciting this game will be once it goes live!
If you want to stay up to date, make sure to follow us on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) so we can give you the latest news.
Stay safe everybody! We’ll get through this and play some great games together soon!
The COVID-19 outbreak has affected people in unexpected ways. We’re all trying to be careful and prevent the spread by staying home, which presents other problems. How do you stay entertained? How do you entertain the kids? This also affects stores, since people aren’t walking in and buying as much as they normally would.
This got us thinking about what we could do to help. We have the kind of product that can help get people through this kind of time, but we want to do it in a way that helps game stores.
So, while we are all being careful and protecting one another by staying home, Fireside Games is offering 25% off all products on our website. And if you name your favorite local game store in the Order Notes section, we’ll send that store 25% of your payment. We’re calling it the Play-at-Home sale and we’re hoping it can make things a little easier for families as well as our retail partners.
There’s no coupon code needed. Your discount will be automatically applied, and it’s good towards any purchase on our site, not just games.
We hope you’ll all stay safe and take care of each other in this uncertain time. We’re looking forward to when we can all get together and play games with you again. Until then, we hope this Play-at-Home sale helps your stay-at-home go a little smoother.
Sincerely,
Justin and Anne-Marie De Witt
Trouble putting your thoughts into words? Try putting them into string!
Announcing Stringamajig, the new party game from Fireside Games that mixes the creative challenge of a drawing game with the hilarious antics of charades—with a string. The game hits stores this April, and we couldn’t be more excited!
Here’s how it works
Each player is given 60 seconds to draw a shape with a loop of string, move it around, and interact with it, trying to help other players guess that word and as many other words in the time allotted.
Choose your word by drawing the top card from the deck, which lists 4 numbered words. The word you can choose is indicated by the numbers that are on the back of the card that is now on top of the deck.
Draw your word by using the loop of string to make a shape and then interacting with it while the other players make guesses. Strum that guitar, move the tentacles on your octopus, or spin the rotors on your helicopter! The game really shines with the creative drawings and funny interactions with the string.
Score 1 point for every word that was guessed correctly, and each player scores 1 point for every correct guess they made.
Challenge words score 2 points, but are harder to draw:
After everyone has had 2 turns as the drawer (or 1 turn in a 7+ player game), the game is over and the player with the most points wins.
Stringamajig is laugh-out-loud fun for 4-10 players, ages 13 and up, plays in 20 minutes, and retails for $19.95. Get this game on your table and see which of your friends is a Stringamagenius.
Today marks the official 10-year anniversary for Castle Panic! Ten years ago today Castle Panic first hit store shelves and launched not only a new game on the market but a wild adventure for us. Of course, we’d been working on the game for years. I started tinkering with the idea for Castle Panic back in the early 2000’s, but it was only a side interest then.
When we finally realized the potential for Castle Panic, we formed Fireside Games and released the game. I still remember getting that first box of sample games from the factory, I was so excited that I cracked it open and immediately texted a photo to Anne-Marie. I was like, “Holy cow, this is really happening!” And I was more than a little nervous.
We knew we had something special with all the testing and feedback we’d received over the years of working on our tower defense game, but we weren’t quite prepared for just how much players would be enthralled with defending a cardboard castle. Our first print run (which we thought would last us for at least 3 years) sold out in about 10 weeks and left us scrambling to catch up.
We celebrated the launch of the game at one of our favorite local game stores, Wonko’s Toys & Games. Eric and Denise made us feel super welcome and became great friends as well.
Once the game was actually available, the rest became a whirlwind of managing press, scheduling reprints and keeping up with all the great feedback we were getting. People loved the game from the start. One of the neat things that happened early on was when Scott Nicholson featured Castle Panic on his vlog “Board Games with Scott.”
This was back when board game reviews were still kind of a new thing, and Scott giving us high praise like he did was amazing and really helped spread the word on our game.
Castle Panic was then featured on Season 1 of TableTop and has gone on to win multiple awards, all while continuing to make hundreds of thousands of people happy—if not a little panicked.
The next few years had us working hard on expansions. The first to be released was The Wizard’s Tower, which let me introduce fun ideas like magic and fire to the base game. After that, I wanted to introduce a really big villain to the game and that turned into Agranok, the nemesis featured in The Dark Titan expansion. The third expansion was inspired by the idea of letting players build traps and weapons they could use anywhere on the board. That evolved into Engines of War with some terrible monsters to balance it all out, of course.
In addition to expanding on the world of Castle Panic, we took the game in whole new directions with our variations. Almost as soon as we released Castle Panic, we had fans requesting a zombie version of the game. It took a while to get all the elements to work the way I wanted them to, but Dead Panic ended up being a really fun, cinematic twist on our original game.
A few years later, we partnered with our friends at Steve Jackson Games and got to work on Munchkin Panic. This time, Anne-Marie worked on mixing the “all-for-one” spirit of Castle Panic with the “all-for-me” attitude of Munchkin, and the result was a hilarious take on a cooperative game that includes plenty of backstabbing.
It wasn’t long after that when we started talking with USAopoly about a licensing opportunity that turned out to be part of celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the original Star Trek. As a big fan of all things Trek, it was a real treat to be able to blend that amazing world with the tense gameplay of Castle Panic. I’m very proud of how Star Trek Panic turned out, especially when I hear from fans that we did the license right.
As part of celebrating the 10-year mark, we’ve come up with some fun new additions to the world of Castle Panic as well. First, we released My First Castle Panic, a preschool version of the game that doesn’t require any reading but still provides that “all-for-one” sense of excitement.
Next up, we put the base game and all the expansions together in one box along with a sweet insert and all the promo items we’ve ever made. The Castle Panic Big Box was released in July and has already made a lot of gamers happy.
And for fans who already have all the games but want a cool place to put them, we are running a pre-order for the Castle Panic Big Box BOX. It’s the same box from the Big Box, but it only includes the insert, promo items, and updated rulebook, so you can fill it with all the castle goodness you already have.
That pre-order will end on September 30th, so if you’re interested, there’s still time to get your own box!
Another long-awaited item that’s new for this anniversary year is the Castle Panic Playmat. This neoprene mat is sturdy and easy to store, with a non-slip bottom to make sure it stays in place. It’s the same size as the actual game board and features the same art, so it’s a great way to enhance your game or replace a worn board.
The last item for this year is the 2019 International TableTop Day Promo Tower. We’ve been making a special tower every year for the last 5 years now and each one brings a special ability to your game. This year’s tower lets you move all monsters in the same arc as the tower back to the forest when that tower is destroyed. Good stuff!
The best news is that we are nowhere near finished building the world of Castle Panic! We’ve got new games coming out next year to bring even more panic to your table, and we’ll be sharing more info on those as soon as we nail down the details.
We couldn’t have done it without you, our fans, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for making this game the success that it is. Thank you, and good luck defending the castle!
-Justin De Witt
From pins to playmats to the perfect storage solution, we’ve added a bunch of new items to our online store.
The Big Box . . . BOX: For fans who have everything Castle Panic (or almost everything) and just need an awesome place to store it, we are excited to offer the Castle Panic Big Box Box for pre-order. It’s the same collectible box and insert, plus the promo items and rulebook, first offered in the Castle Panic Big Box but without any of the other components from Castle Panic or its expansions. We’ll be taking pre-orders for the Big Box Box until September 30th. Then we’ll update everyone with the final shipping information. This will be the only way to get the box, so if you don’t pre-order, you won’t be able to get it.
Kitty Pin: If you missed out on the Pin Bazaar at Gen Con, we’ve got you covered with the Here, Kitty, Kitty! Pin. Now you can take home the big orange kitty from the cover of Here, Kitty, Kitty! with this adorable pin.
Promo Tower: Looking for a new promo? The 2019 International TableTop Day promo tower is now available. This special piece features a rule where all the Monsters in the same arc as the tower are pushed back into the Forest if the tower is destroyed.
Playmat: The Castle Panic playmat makes a great way to upgrade your game, or the perfect gift for the Castle Panic fan who’s looking for something special. It’s the same size as the game board with the same artwork but printed on 1.5mm neoprene.
You can find all these plus games, promo items, mugs, tumblers, t-shirts, and more anytime by visiting our store. Bring fun home with just a click!
Gen Con is here again! And we’re excited to see everyone for the 10-year anniversary of Castle Panic. We’ll have events, cool new tchotchkes, demos, and our new releases this year: My First Castle Panic and the Castle Panic Big Box.
Events: We have events of all of our games in Hall D: White. There are 3 tables in the hall going throughout the convention. And Justin will be dressed as a wizard to host games of Giant Castle Panic outside of room 212, by the escalator, in the afternoons. Almost all of them are sold out, but you can search for open events here.
Demos: In the booth (#1316), we’ll be running demos of My First Castle Panic, Castle Panic, Dastardly Dirigibles, Bears!, and Here, Kitty, Kitty! Justin will also be available to show you the Castle Panic Big Box in the mornings.
Castle Panic Playmat: Have the whole line of Panic games? How about a playmat to upgrade your copy of Castle Panic? We’ve got you covered!
Pin Bazaar: We’re participating in the Pin Bazaar again this year! For the first time, we’ll be offering a pin of the kitty shown on the cover of Here, Kitty, Kitty! Fans of Castle Panic will also love the 10-Year Anniversary pin from Origins 2019 and the Monster Face pin from 2018 Gen Con. You can buy them for $4.95 a piece or get one free with a purchase of $40 or more.
Promos: With a purchase of any game, you’ll receive a free promo. You can also simply buy a promo if you already own the game. We’ll even have the 2019 International Tabletop Day Tower for Castle Panic there!
Deals: In addition to all of the games in our catalog, we will have a special discount bin where you can pick up games at great prices before they go out of stock.
Stop by and see us at booth #1316. We’re so excited to see you there! Safe travels!
Ten years ago, we launched Fireside Games with the release of Castle Panic. Back then cooperative games were still a new category, and we weren’t sure how well our tower defense game was going to be received. It didn’t take long to realize Castle Panic had a lot of fans, and they wanted more!
Over the years, we’ve created 3 expansions to keep players on their toes, and one of the questions we get asked most often is “Can I buy all of them at once?” Now, as we celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Castle Panic, we are super excited to announce the Castle Panic Big Box coming in July!
For the first time ever, we’re offering Castle Panic, The Wizard’s Tower, The Dark Titan, and Engines of War all in one awesome box. This limited-edition collection includes full versions of all the games as well as 12 promo items. We’re including all the promo cards we’ve created for all the Panic games, as well as all the promo towers originally created as part of International TableTop Day. We’ve even turned a few non-card promos into playable cards. The promo cards include Any Color Hero, Feather, Crossbow, Fickle Fortune, All for One, Agranok Level 6, and Jury Rig. The promo towers included are from 2015 all the way up to the brand-new 2019 tower, each with their own rule.
In addition to the promo items, we’ve revised the rules so now all the games are included in a single, comprehensive rulebook. The new rulebook includes setup guides that make it easy to play with any combination of expansions.
The game box features a plastic insert tray with storage for every piece from every expansion, making it easy to setup the game and get started. Plus, the bottom of the box lid has a handy image showing where every component is stored in the tray to help with putting the game away.
It’s been an amazing 10 years and we hope players are as excited for this great collection as we are. The Castle Panic Big Box makes a great way to complete a game collection or start a new one.
After all of the planning and preparation, GAMA Trade Show starts next week! And we couldn’t be happier at the thought of seeing you there.
Here is our official schedule:
Monday
3:00–4:00: Forecasting Issues Panel (Capri 2)
Anne-Marie will be moderating a panel of industry representatives made up of all 3 tiers in a discussion about forecasting issues that affect availability of product.
Tuesday
9:00–10:00: Communication Committee (Capri 2)
Anne-Marie and the Communication Committee will be updating the membership on the status of this committee.
3:00–4:00: PSI Premier Presentation (Naples 6)
Justin will be presenting new product and marketing information and providing goody bags in this session.
Wednesday
8:00–9:00: Breakfast presentation (Tuscany Ballroom)
Justin will be presenting new product and marketing information and providing goody bags in this session.
1:00–6:00: Exhibit Hall, Booth 111 (Tuscany Ballroom)
Justin and Anne-Marie will have a giant version of My First Castle Panic to show and provide goodies.
8:00–12:00: Game Night (Tuscany Ballroom)
Come play My First Castle Panic with Justin and Anne-Marie!
Thursday
1:00–6:00: Exhibit Hall, Booth 111 (Tuscany Ballroom)
Justin and Anne-Marie will have a giant version of My First Castle Panic to show and provide goodies.
8:00–11:00: PSI Game Night (Tuscany Ballroom)
Come play My First Castle Panic with Justin and Anne-Marie!
If you need a Dance Card to plan your trade show, click HERE to download one.
And don’t forget to bring your business cards!
Fireside Games Retailer Group
We’ll be announcing special promotions that will be available only to people who join our Facebook group that’s for retailers only. Click HERE to sign up!
Kids have been playing Castle Panic with parents for 10 years. Now, there’s a reading-free version that 4-year-olds can play independently! They can even teach each other to play. Game stores across North America will be hosting free demos of My First Castle Panic March 16–17.
Find a participating store near you from the list below and get your little one in on the fun!
UPDATED: 3/1/2019 More stores added!
Arizona
Game On (Prescott), 928-227-2000
The Hidden Village Games (Yuma), 928-581-2174
Imperial Outpost Games (Glendale), 602-978-0467
Arkansas
Gear Gaming Store (Fayetteville), 479-276-8110
California
Crazy Squirrel Game Store (Fresno), 559-431-0188
Game Empire (San Diego), 858-576-1525
Colorado
Crit Castle Games (Aurora), 303-745-4140
Connecticut
Connecticut Gaming Center (Waterbury), 203-527-3918
The Portal (Manchester), 860-432-0711
Georgia
Tyche’s Games (Athens), 706-354-4500
Hawaii
The Armchair Adventurer (Honolulu), 808-843-1250
Idaho
Gaming Adventures (New Plymouth), 208-649-4244
Safari Pearl Comics (Moscow), 208-882-9499
Illinois
AlleyCat Comics (Chicago), 773-907-3404
Indiana
Good Games (Indianapolis), 317-493-1423
Saltire Games (Indianapolis), 317-823-1645
The Game Annex (Fort Wayne), 260-459-4263
Family Time Games (Indianapolis), 317-429-9817
Kansas
Mission: Board Games (Mission), 913-242-7970
TableTop Game & Hobby (Overland Park), 913-962-4263
Michigan
Acropolis Games (Adrian), 517-577-6192
Pandemonium Games and Hobbies (Garden City), 734-427-2451
Nostalgia, Ink (Jackson), 517-784-8955
Minnesota
The Gaming Goat (Saint Paul), 651-690-4628
Missouri
Cards ‘n Stripes Games (Republic), 417-647-5151
Fountain City Gaming (Kansas City), 816-214-8093
Mississippi
Panda’s Pair O Dice (Gulfport), 228-206-4484
Nebraska
The Game Shoppe (Omaha), 402-991-8699
Sparta Games (Omaha), 402-934-8330
New Mexico
Zia Comics and Games (Las Cruces), 575-405-0461
New York
Alterniverse (Hyde Park), 845-233-4234
Just Games Rochester (Rochester), 585-586-0586
North Carolina
Event Horizon Games (Raleigh), 919-977-4009
Rocket City Games and More (Jacksonville), 910-577-5556
North Dakota
Force of Habit Hobby Shop (Minot), 701-837-0032
Paradox Comics-N-Cards (Fargo), 701-239-9505
Ohio
Barnes & Noble (Pickerington), 614-751-0927
Beyond the Board (Dublin), 614-553-7677
GameScape (Mount Vernon), 740-392-4263
The Guardtower (Columbus), 614-488-4311
Oklahoma
Carolina Comics (Lawton), 580-353-5164
Pennsylvania
The Games Keep (West Chester ), 484-905-5533
South Carolina
Firefly Toys and Games (Columbia), 803-764-0596
Texas
Dragon’s Lair (Houston), 832-761-0072
Flash Candy and Toys (Lockhart), 512-668-5075
Half Price Books (Dallas), 214-379-8000
Outlaw Moon (Austin), 512-454-6648
The Gathering Place (Abilene), 325-672-4263
Utah
Game Grid (Lehi), 801-477-7680
Game Haven (St. George), 435-627-0616
Washington D.C.
Labyrinth Game Shop, 202-544-1059
Wisconsin
Gnome Games (Appleton), 920-884-7504
Gnome Games (Green Bay East), 920-965-1380
Gnome Games (Green Bay West), 920-499-4263
I’m Board! Games & Family Fun (Madison), 608-831-6631
Menagerie Games (Pleasant Prairie), 262-361-8238
The GameBoard (Sheboygan), 920-453-4263
West Virginia
Four Horsemen Comics and Gaming (Bridgeport), 304-848-9210
INTERNATIONAL
Canada
GameKnight Games and Cool Stuff (Winnipeg), 204-487-4263
Mexico
Mana Screw (Costa Azul), 52-1-646-176-4406
Read all about the game here.
Fireside Games is excited to announce My First Castle Panic, a new preschool version of Castle Panic, the classic tower defense board game. Like its predecessor, My First Castle Panic is a cooperative game in which players work together to defend their castle. However, the game play has been simplified in the preschool version to allow children ages 4 and up to play independently. While Castle Panic has won many awards and is a great family game, younger players can have difficulty participating because of the reading required. My First Castle Panic removes the reading requirement and fosters the development of educational skills, such as identifying colors and shapes, problem solving, and turn taking.
The edge-of-your-seat excitement has been maintained even with the preschool-friendly rules. Monsters follow a single path toward a single, large, eye-catching castle, protected by one wall. Each step toward the castle is identified by a color and a shape. Players hold cards in their hands with cute defenders who also have a color and shape. When a card is played that matches the location of the monster, that monster is captured and thrown in the dungeon. Tension builds as more monsters are placed and move along the path toward the castle. If the castle is destroyed, the players lose. But if it stands when all the monsters are in the dungeon, the players win.
My First Castle Panic features gorgeous art by Cam Kendell and is a great way to introduce children to the fun and challenge of board games. Look for it in stores worldwide March 6, 2019.
