News
Cheeky Catalogue Keeps Expanding
We have been distributing games for other publishers since we got started back in 2014. Presently, we have eight titles under the Cheeky Parrot label and distribute those plus ten others. Fitting them all into our print catalogue gets more challenging each year! We have one more under development and two more in the distribution pipeline.
Coming perhaps by the end of the year, is
Lindyhop, a two-player cooperative card game
inspired by a form of swing dancing invented
by the African American community of Harlem,
New York nearly 100 years ago.
Designer Mark Kaneko says: "For me the joy in
Lindy Hop dancing is staying in sync with my dance partner and there is no better feeling than when you both spontaneously respond to the music together to produce an original little move. For this reason I wanted to make a coop game where the focus is on staying in sync with your partner. Trick taking was the perfect vehicle for this and the game evolved from there."
Ovation is the other new
addition and we have
been talking about this
engine builder with a
classical music theme with
its designer, Kirsten Lunde
for a few years! It comes
off a highly successful
Kickstarter campaign which raised three times its target from 923 backers.
Ovation has been extensively researched and reflects diverse composers as well as patrons who are based on real historical figures. The result is a multicultural story that is true to the period and location.
2023 Event Wrap Up
Events allow us to highlight new arrivals and to do some prototype playtesting. And as always, to interact with existing fans and introduce new people to our special brand of cheeky fun.
2023 saw us attend a record number of events, starting with the second annual Cancer Society Games Fair. Next up was Wellycon, which took place in the new Tākina events centre June 3-4. Two weeks later came Hamilton Board Games by the Bay, which was the best-attended BGBTB event in its twelve year history.
Ulterior Design-er Andy Bell was on hand to represent Cheeky Parrot and show off an advance copy of Ulterior Design at Tabletop Tūranga, a free board games festival held at the main Christchurch library on July 22. Andy also represented us at Meeples and Traders, the first Cancer Society boardgaming event to be held in the South Island on September 9-10.
Ulterior Design and Glimstone Grab were highlighted at Board Games by the Bay Christchurch and at Hawkes Bay Con, where we held well-attended tournaments for the former. We were especially pleased to attend Hawkes Bay Con, having been sending them prize support for several years.
Our retailer Card Merchant had our games on their stand at Auckland Armageddon, October 21-23, with Nicolas on hand to demo games on the 21st.
The final big event on our calendar was Board Games by the Bay Auckland, October 28-29, the 43rd such event. Julia thinks she's attended nearly all of them.
Finally, we partnered with Scorpio Books Christchurch for a first-time ever Games Night event on November 23.
There were also launch events for Floating Floors and Ulterior Design and we'll be holding at least one of these for Lindyhop. (It's scheduled for Friday Feature at Cakes n Ladders on December 8.)
Ulterior Design Arrives
Following some blind tests, the expert input of writer Zirk van den Berg on the rules, Tim's artwork, and our usual high production value from our manufacturer, our card game Ulterior Design was officially released on September 25 as our eighth published title.
In addition to our customary one-piece magnet closure box, Ulterior Design also includes some bling: little custom golden tokens. Both of these features cut significantly into our profit margin but we think they will pay for themselves by giving players the best experience possible. We have managed to keep the recommended retail price at a cost-of-living friendly $25, toward the lower end of our range. It certainly helps that we do our own distribution.
Ulterior Design players have the choice each turn of redecorating their own home, influencing what is trending, or attempting to sabotage a rival. Judges from home decorating magazines arrive at random between player turns; some are looking for a specific design element like lamps or paintings, others for the total number of objects. They award the player who is closest to the current trend with a token. The first player to collect three of these tokens wins the game.
Our ninth title is also in the pipeline. We're grabbing Glimstones with an eye to refining and polishing up a cooperative game originally pitched to us in 2019!
Glimstone Grab is set in the Hoard universe.
Trolls have settled into a clearing in the forest of Much Middling and are helping themselves to magical Glimstones... and the town's children! Esmeralda and the wizard Widdershins must coordinate to defeat the trolls, rescuing wayward children along the way.
Coincidentally, both of these games were invented by first-time designers living in Christchurch: Andy Bell and Jono McGarvey.
