Balancing At first glance, Fantastic Sea  looks like a simple, compact card game. The box is small. The rules are easy to learn. But what most players never see is how complex the balancing process was behind the scenes . Many people assume that designing a card game is easier than designing a large board game. In our experience, the opposite is often true. Because card games rely so heavily on probability, timing, and interaction, balancing becomes incredibly delicate . One

To truly understand the design journey behind Fintastic Sea , it’s best to watch our video walkthrough . In this blog post, we highlight the evolution of the card design, how we structured ocean and reserve abilities , and the final refinements that made the game both intuitive and strategic  for players. Throughout development, we went through multiple iterations , testing layouts, icons, and abilities to ensure that every card was clear, engaging, and fun to play. While thi

Darmstadt spielt Like last year, we attended Darmstadt spielt 2025 , a family-friendly board game convention  in Darmstadt, Germany . Unlike larger conventions like Essen Spiel , this event focuses on playing games with friends and family  in a relaxed and welcoming environment. The Cozy, Friendly Atmosphere What we love most about Darmstadt spielt is its warm, welcoming vibe . You can borrow games from their library  and just start playing in the hall. No pressure, no long w

Theme vs Mechanic Designing a board game is far more than writing rules—it’s about creating a living system that feels intuitive, immersive, and meaningful. In this first Design Diary , we take you behind the scenes of how Fintastic Sea  was created and how real marine biology directly shaped its mechanics, balance, and player decisions . Although the game is already finished and available, its development took tons of iteration, testing, stress, redesigns, and discoveries. W

Essen Recap We’re finally catching our breath after an incredible weekend at SPIEL ‘25 in Essen , and wow — what an experience! Four days filled with board games, laughter, and meeting so many amazing players, creators, and fans from all around the world. Wanderlust & Fintastic Sea Take the Table! This year, we brought both Wanderlust: Discover the World  and Fintastic Sea  to the show — and it was so rewarding to see players dive into both worlds! 🧳 Wanderlust  had traveler

Underwater As fulfillment of Finatstic Sea  has begun and some of you have already received your game, we want to share an important note about the cards. Some people noticed a small discrepancy in the rulebook regarding card quantities: The rulebook states: 24 Secret Fish  cards  → 4 copies each of: Manta, Flatfish, Hermit Crab, Salmon, Starfish, Turtle 6 Special Fish  cards  → 1 copy each: Octopus, Jellyfish, Seahorse, Eel, Flying Fish, Coral During the campaign we unlocked

SPIEL ‘25 is just around the corner! Like every year, we couldn’t resist sharing our Top 5 Most Anticipated Games of the show. These are the games we’re absolutely dying to check out in Essen — the ones that made us say, “Okay, this one’s going straight to the wishlist.” Watch the videos: We actually made two versions — one in English and one in German — so you can pick whichever language suits you best! Two Designers, Two Totally Different Tastes If you’ve followed us f

Pixel War Today, we’ve got something fun for you — a Wanderlust-themed challenge  we’re calling the Pixel War ! We wanted to showcase the beautiful city illustrations  from our board game Wanderlust: Discover the World , and what better way than turning them into a guessing game? So here’s what happened:We asked René  to pick out some of the art from the game and pixelate  them beyond recognition. Then Julian  and I had to guess which city each pixelated image was supposed to

Let us unbox Fintastic Sea The Wait Is Almost Over! We can finally say it — Fintastic Sea  is real, printed, packed, and ready to swim...

How to teach Wanderlust Preparing for SPIEL ‘25 With SPIEL ‘25  just around the corner, our team — and our amazing Pektis helpers — have...

Get ready for SPIEL Essen 2025! Check out our board game wishlist, watch our livestream previews, and share your favorite upcoming board games before the convention.

Fintastic Sea Preorders & SPIEL ’25 – Board Game Updates and News Hi everyone – long time no see! It’s been quite a while since our last...

It has been a month since our Kickstarter campaign finished. While we are still preparing the pledge manager to send out to our backers,...

We want to start the year 2023 right! Finally, we can proudly announce that the Kickstarter Pre-Lauch page of WANDERLUST is ready!!! For...

I (Julian) started developing Wanderlust around three years ago. At that time every one of us three began with their own game which...

Wanderlust is now also available for playtesting at TTS!!! The link to the Steam Workshop Site is https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/...

The highly anticipated Essen Spiel '22 has come to an end. We can not even find words to describe how much love and support we felt from...

After a break from the diaries, we finally finished most of our art!!! Echo did a great job by drawing all of our destinations. Mahmoud...

It was a long process to find our final logo (for the moment). Echo and Mahmoud preferred to have something more playful. After a lot of...

After many big steps in the development of wanderlust - which I forgot to document (Sry xP) we are almost at the point where the art of...