From the Rio Grande website, Jay says...

“I first started thinking of starting Rio Grande Games in 1997. I was a big fan of family strategy games such as are produced in Germany and wanted to find ways to make them available to people in the US. At first, I simply imported German games and added English rules. After a few months, I decided that I needed to publish full English versions of these games to reach the English-speaking market, so I launched the Rio Grande Games in March of 1998 to publish family strategy games in English.

The mission of Rio Grande Games is to promote the playing of family strategy games in the United States. We are particularly interested in getting families playing these games together. We feel that too many families have gotten away from spending time together. Playing good games together is a great way for families to spend social time together. Unfortunately, the quality of games published in the United States has not kept pace with those published in Germany, where families still spend a lot of time playing games together. As a result, families in the United States have drifted apart and spend their time watching TV or playing computer games separately instead of together.

As most of the really good family strategy games are designed and produced in Germany, Rio Grande Games works with the German publishers to publish English versions of these great games. To make the games we produce truly English, we translate all components into English: box, board, cards, rules, etc. We select games for their great mechanisms and for the high quality of their components. Our games, like the Germans, use wood and Plexiglas for many of the pieces, have gutterless boards that lie flat, and use linen paper to wrap the boards and boxes. To keep our quality high and our costs down, we produce our versions with the German versions using the same printers and, thus, the same quality components.

By working together with the German publishers, I can bring these great family strategy games to the United States at reasonable prices and often at the same time they are released in Germany. This allows those who have been fans of these games to get English versions as quickly as they could get a German version shipped across the ocean.

My first games were released in May of 1998. Since that time, the games have won numerous awards from magazine, newspapers, and others in the United States. Five of my games were selected for Games Magazine's Games 100 for 1999, including Fossil as the Game of the Year. For 2000, Games Magazine selected 23 Rio Grande Games for the Games 100, including Torres as Game of the Year. And for 2001, another 23 games made the Games 100, including Aladdin's Dragons as Game of the Year. In 2000, Mensa chose Zertz as one of their Mensa Select © games. Lost Cities and Tikal received Gamers' Choice awards in 2000. Ido, Ta Yü, and many other games have been chosen by newspapers as their favorites in their holiday buyer's sections. For 2002 Games Magazine placed 22 Rio Grande Games in the Games 100 including Java, Babel, and Africa category winners. Also, Barnyard Critters received a Learning Teacher's Award © for 2002. Princes of Florence received Gamers' Choice awards in 2001.

Tom Vasel: Jay, you were one of the first companies to bring "German" type board games to America. What do you think, now that there are several American board game companies producing similar games? Will the market get too crowded, and what will Rio Grande Games do to differentiate themselves?

Jay Tummelson: Tom, yes, we were the first to partner with German publishers to bring English versions of these great German games to the US using the same high quality components and graphics as the German originals. That other American companies have joined this market is simply confirmation that it is a viable, important and growing market with room for several companies to share its opportunities. In the 7 years since we started bringing these games to the US, we have seen rapid growth in our customer base but are still reaching a very small percentage of the potential market. In view of this, I think that there is no chance that the market will become crowded because each new company brings their own special approach to game production and marketing. These different approaches will allow each company to reach new customers, not before aware of these games. Naturally, however, these new customers will soon learn of the other games in the category and become customers of all the companies doing these games. This will grow the market for all of us. So, rather than the new companies competing for a fixed population, the new companies will add to the population and all of us will benefit.

By definition companies making games in the genre will have much in common, and some of the other companies have cooperated on some print of their print runs with German publishers, but Rio Grande Games continues to produce all of its games in cooperation with the German publishers. So the artwork, graphics, components, and quality is always the same as that used by the Germans. This means that our customers will continue to get the same great games as our produced by the German publishers.

Tom Vasel: Can you explain a little about how Rio Grande acquires the rights to a game? I confess that I understand little about this. Often Rio Grande puts out a game on the market simultaneous to the German release. Do the designers come to you, or do you deal directly with the German publishers?

Jay Tummelson: Tom, I meet regularly throughout the year with my German publisher partners. During those meetings they share with me their game plans for the coming months. When I see a game I want to do, I tell them, they offer me a contract, and we work together to complete the game and try, when possible, to publish it together. Doing so saves both of us on printing costs.

Tom Vasel: Does Rio Grande usually print a smaller run than the German market, or are the numbers similar?

Jay Tummelson: Tom, it really depends on the game and the German partner. Some of the time, my print runs are smaller, occasionally larger, and often about the same.

Tom Vasel: If one peruses the list of games Rio Grande, they will find an extremely impressive list of games. Without going into numbers, which games have been your best sellers, and which games are you most pleased about having produced?

Jay Tummelson: Well, Carcassonne and its derivatives are, by far my best sellers, but Bohnanza and Puerto Rico have also done extremely well. I am, perhaps, most pleased with Puerto Rico and San Juan, as both have sold more in the US than in Germany.
Tom Vasel: I wonder if that means that Puerto Rico is an American phenomenon? Do you have any games that have surprised you in a disappointing way - ones that you thought would sell well, but the public underappreciated them?

Jay Tummelson: Tom, actually, I do not know why that is. Perhaps, the most surprising is Löwenherz. I thought it would do much better than it did.

Tom Vasel: What was the main reason you moved from working at Mayfair to starting your own company?

Jay Tummelson: Everyone at Mayfair was laid off due to financial reasons at Mayfair.

Tom Vasel: How has the Rio Grande grown and changed over the years?

Jay Tummelson: The most significant change is that we are now publishing some games in multiple languages: English, French, and German to sell into Canada and Germany.

Tom Vasel: How many folk are working there with you?

Jay Tummelson: Just two.

Tom Vasel: Do you yourself do the translations for the Rio Grande Games, or do you have someone else do that?

Jay Tummelson: Yes, we do all the translations ourselves.

Tom Vasel: Over the years, you've seen a lot of games come through. What tips would you give to prospective game designers?

Jay Tummelson: Be willing to give up your ego when you offer a game to a publisher. This is especially important after the publisher has agreed to publish your game. When a publisher agrees to do one of your games, he really wants it to be successful and is not trying to "ruin" it when he makes changes. Therefore, if you want someone else to take all the costs and risks associated with publishing your game, you have to accept that they will make changes to make the game successful; and you have to be willing to accept their changes.; If you feel your game is "perfect" as it is and needs no changes, you are better off to take the costs and risks for yourself and self-publish.

Tom Vasel: Do designers often argue with you when you make changes to games?

Jay Tummelson: As I work primarily with German publishers, I have had little direct contact with designers during the development process. What I hear is that the good successful designers accept the changes offered by developers, but the others often argue - to the detriment of the game and the process. Of course, reasonable discussion is encouraged, but when the designer constantly refuses to consider suggestions or always tries to take the game back to his original design, it does not work.
Tom Vasel: How many games have you designed, or had a hand in the design of?

Jay Tummelson: Although I have had small input to many games, I only feel I really was significantly involved in Saint Petersburg, and now Gloria Mundi.

Tom Vasel: What type of games do you enjoy most? Is there any sort of game (train game, auction game) that automatically catches your interest?

Jay Tummelson: I think I do not have a favorite type of game. I play games for the social interaction of the players. Any game that offers that and is played with game-loving people is a good game for me.

Tom Vasel: Do you feel that there are some games that detract from the social experience?

Jay Tummelson: Not from RGG. And not most board and card games, as they create a social experience just by bringing people together. Of course, computer games do not offer this...

Tom Vasel: I've seen the list of upcoming Rio Grande games, and they look interesting. One of them was Trans Europe. Is that basically the same thing as Transamerica, or are there some new rules?

Jay Tummelson: Actually, I have not seen all the rules. It is basically the same as Transamerica, but on the map of Europe. I believe the passages across the channel, for example, will be handled differently.

Tom Vasel: Are there any other games coming from Rio Grande that you're excited about?

Jay Tummelson: Of course, I am always excited about my new games. If I were not, I would not do them, so all new releases are exciting for me.

Tom Vasel: Jay, thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to answer these questions. Any last words for our readers?

Jay Tummelson: I just hope that I can continue to provide them with games they enjoy playing with family and friends.

Tom Vasel
"Real men play board games"
February 28th, 2005