Hi ,

I hope your week is off to a great start. It's a stressful time of year for a lot of people, and I know for me, the best part of my week is often the small things—taking a dog for a walk, sending a note to a friend I haven't talked to in a while, enjoying a warm beverage... If big things in life get me down or stress me out, the small, happy things can keep me going.

This week, one small thing that brings me joy is holding a new Bah! Humbug! prototype in my hands.

The current prototype for Bah! Humbug! is ready to play at BGG Con this week.

↑ Click to sign up on our Kickstarter page ↑

With the new prototype in hand, I got thinking about all the small steps it took to get this far.

About a year ago, I found myself in a slump when it came to game design. I had pitched my game designs to publishers (and even signed a game...though it still wouldn't be published for some time). I had entered many contests, and always been a finalist, but not a winner. I created games I could play with my circle of friends, but many were made of scraps of cereal boxes and household bits and bobs. None of my games felt finished yet. So as a deadline-driven person, I challenged myself:

"Let me start with something small, and see it through, by the end of the year."

That's how Bah! Humbug! began. In September 2021, I decided I'd create a Christmas game. Christmas has always been a time to remember friends and family, and I had good memories of playing card games as a kid, especially with my grandmother. So that was my starting point.

While researching the origins of "The 12 Days of Christmas" carol, I found myself down a rabbit hole, learning about Victorian Christmas traditions. I learned that this period brought us Christmas mail, Christmas feasts, "A Christmas Carol," and many other things cherished as "standard" parts of Christmas. In the UK, the invention of the Penny Post led to the popularity of Christmas cards, which often featured silly illustrations of animals doing human things. I found this intriguing.

Using some scrap paper and clipart, I created a quick deck based on the "Twelve Days" carol (12 x Drummer Drumming, 11 x Piper Piping, 10 x Lord a-Leaping, and so on down to 1 x Partridge in a Pear Tree). I tested out a quick bluffing game with my partner Clark and our friends Conrad and Meredith. In a few hours, we were laughing, and wanting to play the game over and over.

I spent the next several weeks refining the design, and commissioning art from an artist on Fiverr. The game was really coming alive.

Around the end of October, the game was in great shape. But I realized I didn't have enough time to publish the game and get it to friends and family by Christmas. The queues at the print-on-demand manufacturer were just too full. In fact, the more I looked into publishing, the more complicated the process felt, and the more overwhelmed I became.

But I did have finished card designs, and interest from folks who had been watching me share illustrations online. I learned about PNP ("print and play") games—files you could download so you could print your own playing cards at home. I asked for help from a facebook group, who were enthusiastic about helping me prepare my files. Once that was done, it didn't take much for me to submit an idea to Kickstarter and have it approved.

In December, over 200 people donated to the campaign and downloaded the files for Bah! Humbug! Raising $1000+ to support the game was great. But even better were the interactions with backers. People sent me photos of the game they had spent hours building. (What an honor for someone to invest that amount of time in something I created!) I talked to friends who I hadn't talked with in years. They loved the silly illustrations and told me their favorites. Many backers were people I'd never met, who simply saw the cards and thought they were cute.

It was an accumulation of these many small interactions that made me feel like I'd done something big.

In the year since then, there were more small steps:

• I invited a few friends to brainstorm other games for the Bah! Humbug! cards. That turned into dozens of submissions from around the world.
• I looked into print-on-demand manufacturing. That turned into conversations with some of the largest game manufacturers in the industry.
• I went to GenCon in Indianapolis. That introduced me to new friends and colleagues.
• I worked with a developer to choose other game to add to the collection, and make changes to streamline each of the games.
• I hired a graphic designer to continue polishing the cards.
• A month ago, I was selected for a mentorship/scholarship for new publishers, which has unlocked a whole new world of resources to help me produce the game in a financially sustainable way.

So the moral of the story is...

Small things can really add up to something big.

The evolution of a Bah! Humbug! card

2021 PNP version vs. NEW 2023 print version (art in progress)

After many small steps, our "big thing" for 2022 is Bah! Humbug! and the 12 games of Christmas.

I'm happy to say that this collection of games will make its crowdfunding debut in a few weeks. You can sign up here to learn when the project is live on Kickstarter.

Gordon, Kaylee, and Jeanne in Texas, playtesting our new prototype.

There are lots of small things left to do!

Here's how you can help:

• We are seeking a few more playtesters and reviewers. If you're interested in an early copy, and helping to promote the game (and even be in the Kickstarter video), you can sign up here.

• We'd like to have 300 followers before we launch on Kickstarter. Will you share our pre-launch page with 12 friends?

↑ Click to sign up on our Kickstarter page ↑

Visit our Kickstarter page and click here:

I appreciate you.

I'm looking forward to sharing this game with you, and the rest of the world.

I'd love to know what you're up to these days, and what small things are bringing you joy as we enter the holiday season. If you want to chat, feel free to reply or send me a message. I'll be sure to reply.

I'll also be at BGG Con in Dallas, TX this week, showing Bah! Humbug! to new fans. Let me know if you'll be there too!

Thanks again for believing in Small Furry Games.

E

Emily Willix

Owner, Founder

Small Furry Games

Bah! Humbug! collection—coming soon to Kickstarter.

Find Small Furry Games online