Patrick: My name is Patrick Nickell. I am the Founder of Crash Games and I love to play and make board games. That’s everything in a nutshell.
Tom: We all know that outside of a few ‘game rock stars’, everyone else has a day job. What do you do to fuel your gaming habit?
Patrick: I am very fortunate to have a situation that allows me to work and build Crash Games on a full time basis. My wife very much so believes in what I am doing and supports Crash Games in every way possible. As far as fueling my gaming habit I support a lot of Kickstarter Projects and then wheel and deal for the rest of it.
Tom: So catch us up on what Crash Games has been doing since we last spoke.
Patrick: A LOT! Michael Coe and I amicably parted ways and he started a new publishing company. We are great friends still and you can hear more about this on the “Funding the Dream” Podcast Episode, 138. I moved from Phoenix, Arizona to Tucson, Arizona which means the company moved as well. I signed two more game from other designers to publish. All kinds of craziness.
Tom: Now for Pay Dirt. Tell us all about it, what is it about, how do you play?
Tom: Tory Nieman is a big catch. How did you land Pay Dirt?
Patrick: It took a lot of fishing line to real him in. The trick is using the proper lure and Niemann’s tend to like shiny lures with a just a bit of stink bait on the hook.
Tory is a good friend who I am fortunate enough to game with on a regular basis. When I was living in Phoenix we were getting together with Fred Mackenzie (Designer of Princes of The Dragon Throne & Monster and Maidens) about 2-3 times a month. It’s a bit less now but we still get together to game.
Tom: How much did influence did you have on the game?
Patrick: Not a lot. Tory had the game pretty solid when I approached him about Crash Game publishing it. We had been play testing it for a couple months before hand and had worked out a lot of the minor scaling issues. Tory is a very driven designer and when I watch him think and I see his designs I am literally in awe of how that man’s brain works. I’m a fan of his for a reason. Tory designs really awesome games.
Tom: I’ve heard and read about it from people at Unpub3. It has some good buzz. When will it be out?
Patrick: Pay Dirt will be hitting Kickstarter shortly after GenCon 2013. I am currently planning on a September release.
Tom: Talk about the rest of the que for Crash Games now.
Patrick: So if you publish this interview sooner rather than later you will get a scoop on some big announcements I made on The Little Metal Dog Show.
Currently in the queue is Paradise Fallen which is Kickstarter right now. We are in Day 2 of a 30 day Campaign and we are at $2000 in funding of a $12,500 goal so we’re right at about 15%. If people want to support or check out the project they can do so at: http://kck.st/Xq2Pds
So Big News #1 is that immediately after the Kickstarter for Paradise Fallen I will be launching a Kickstarter Campaign for “Council of Verona” designed by Michael Eskue (Designer of ‘For The Win”) It is a great 2-4 player deduction min game using only 13 cards and 16 tokens. It is amazing to me how awesome the game play is for a game that is so small. The art and graphic design have already begun on this project so that it will be ready in time.
I am also reviewing several prototypes that designers have sent me to evaluate them and see if any of them would make it into the Crash Games production queue.
Tom: Current Burning Question: What are your predictions for the rest of 2013 in regard to gaming?
Patrick: That mini games are going to become very popular and that hair crimping will be all the rage.
Thanks for the time Patrick. It sounds like Crash Games has a really busy year ahead. I’m excited to see how it all plays out.
Go Forth And Game 
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