At Atlas Games, we publish board games, card games, and tabletop roleplaying games. Our first books came out in 1990, so we’re one of the oldest hobby game publishers in business. Bestselling lines include Gloom, Once Upon a Time, Lunch Money, Ars Magica, Feng Shui, Unknown Armies, and Over the Edge.
We believe in creative curiosity and sensible operations. We love new ideas and always keep our word.
Seeking to Publish:
The game submissions we tend to love often have these features.
- Fun! We want to publish games that are fun to play.
- Immediacy of Play. Minimal set-up and light rules, so players can get into the game quickly. Limited downtime.
- Player Interaction. Players can affect each other, rather than interacting primarily with their own pieces. Designs should encourage table talk.
- Meaningful Strategy. Players make meaningful decisions that determine whether they win or lose. Diverse strategies are viable paths to victory.
- Interesting Themes. Themes must grab gamers’ attention and help sell the experience. We’re partial to comedy.
- Immersive Experiences. Players should be able to imagine that they’re part of a story as well as a game, and feel invested in it.
- Elegantly Related Theme and Gameplay. Theme and gameplay should complement one another.
- Solid Mechanics and Rules. Designs feature months or years of testing and revision, with clearly written and well-edited rules.
- Innovative Gameplay. Original concepts rather than thin variants of what’s been done before.
- Innovative Components. For example, the transparent playing cards that make Gloom unique.
- Targets Our Customers. We primarily sell games to gamers, and new design must target that demographic first and foremost. Having the potential for mainstream break-out is great, but not at our core’s expense. (Once Upon a Time is a good example of a gamer’s game with breakout appeal.)
Not Seeking to Publish
- Classic game variants (e.g., “chess but with powers”)
- Collectible games of any type
- Drinking games
- Educational games (that is, games that put education before entertainment)
- Trick-taking games
- Trivia games
- Roll-and-move games
- Religious games