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However, for the past few years there has been a greater itch that we needed to scratch. We have been talking about a gnome game for a while, but only if we could include a mountain that would form part of the game world. Since it is usually me who deals with the actual realities of production, I would turn a bit white at the thought and try to change the subject. (Gordon always compares me to Scotty from Star Trek, constantly yelling "The engines won't take it, Captain!" down the phone.)
So this year, there was one of those moments, just like Robert de Niro in Heat: Two roads lay ahead of us; one was comfortable and easy and in no way a poor choice, but the other just might scratch our itch. We uttered a profanity and swung the wheel hard right.
Making a Mountain out of a Gnome Hill
Now preparation for our game each year starts right after the previous Essen. You may not realize that we need to order the pieces from China in April, so the sculpts and painting have to be agreed before this. We also have to make sure that whatever we are ordering can physically be put in a game box.
So our first stop was China:
1) What could they come up with?
2) Could a mountain be adequately packaged?
3) How eye-watering was the cost?
Answers:
1) Believe it or not, this was the easy part. Yes, they could make a mountain to our specs and very quickly produced some mock-ups of what would become Gnome Mountain.
2) It was obvious that a huge hill (around 25cm high and the same width) would have to be adequately protected inside the game box. Polyresin is very resilient, but our games must put up with a lot of traveling 'round the world. Various suggestions went back and forth, balancing protection against box size. Finally, we agreed on a three-section foam packing that would keep all the figures and the hill in one box.
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Gnome Mountain face down in its cosy bed
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This fits on top of Gnome Mountain; final figures are, of course, painted!
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Then a rather dull lid, fits on top
3) Sorry for another movie reference, but this one strikes a chord. In White Christmas, Danny Kaye asks Bing Crosby how much it is going to cost to mobilize their whole Broadway production during Christmas and put on a show in, basically, the middle of nowhere. Bing Crosby replies "Somewhere between 'ouch' and 'boooooiiingggggg!'"
It turns out that the mountain was also going to cost between "ouch" and "boooooiiingggggg"! Other companies would be spending the same on their entire game as we were planning on one component, but hey – we're Fragor!
Germans and Their Inadequate Shrinkwrapping Machines
We have a great relationship with Ludo Fact, who have made our games every year since 2006. (We handmade them in 2004 and '05, but decided if Gordon was going to keep ten fingers, we had to outsource.) We dropped them a quick letter about rough box sizes and got the usual incredulous reply of "Are you sure your dimensions are correct?"
After assuring them that we were serious, they confirmed they could make a box of this size, albeit we would have to (as usual) pay to have a custom box-cutting tool. To quote their response, "Your level of silliness is still unsurpassed." There was one further tiny little issue: It would not fit in their shrinkwrapping machine. We absolutely loved this! When we finally stopped laughing, we asked for options on how we could keep the individual boxes closed. The best solution would be to individually carton each game. To explain this better, think of when your local game store gets in a consignment of games. They open up a cardboard box and how many games are inside? Six? Sometimes four? For A Game of Gnomes it will be one game. One.
So...How Big Are We Actually Talking Here?
So with everything in place, we went for it! We gave the go-ahead and longingly waited for the day we could announce it all to you guys to see your reaction.
By now you are thinking that it must be the biggest box you have seen in your life, but this is not actually the case. You see, the length and breadth of the game are reasonably standard sizes; it is only the height that is a bit...well, Fragor. Bear in mind that the box will contain the following:
• Gnome Mountain
• 4 Gnome player figures
• 1 Frog riding Gnome figure
• 2 Doors
• 4 Montane Mushrooms
• Over 74 gems
• 30 wooden mushrooms
• 5 wooden markers
• 102 cards
• 19 cardboard tiles
• A selection of cardboard tokens
• A game board almost 50cm x 50cm
So without further ado I can announce that the box size for A Game of Gnomes is:
30cm x 35cm x 16cm
See! Two of the dimensions are fairly reasonable, and who really cares about the height anyway?
With great people like you, we needn't have worried. We have had over 650 orders in ten days and still have to post the final rules! Maybe, just maybe, with your help Fragor can pull off the most ludicrous game piece (besides giggle pants) that you have ever seen!
Best wishes,
Fraser and Gordon
The Lamont Brothers
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