Gamelyn Games is now a big name with small games in the world of board games. Gamelyn Games is particularly well-known for its Tiny Epic series, of which Tiny Epic Pirates and Tiny Epic Dungeons in particular have attracted attention in Germany – thanks to Asmodee. Game in Essen Gamelyn Games will be present with their small, big games (booth 5-C311)We were able to talk to Gamelyn Games about their history and their plans for the future and test out some of their Tiny Epics in person.
Gamelyn Games is a board game publisher from the small town of Queen Creek in the US state of Arizona. The publisher produces games such as Heroes of Land, Air & Sea as well as the small, handy Tiny Epic games, which can find a place in any games collection. What is special about the small Tiny Epics is that, despite their small packaging, they contain a lot of games. So it's no wonder that the Tiny Epics from Gamelyn Games are really popular! The vision: The Tiny Epic series should become one of the most well-known and popular board game series in the world.
No success comes alone
The origins of Gamelyn Games were hard and difficult. Game designer and boss Micheal Coe started in 2010 with his own game idea Lords, Ladies & Lizards. Together with his wife Brittany, he was looking for a way to market his game and bring it to the world. In August 2011, their path led them to Gen Con, the largest American game convention. The goal was to market Michael's game to a publisher. To do this, they used all the money they had saved together. After they were unsuccessful in marketing Lords, Ladies & Lizards to a publisher, Michael was even more motivated. He started to design new ideas and decided to put them on Kickstarter to publish independently.
In 2013, the first two projects were successfully launched on Kickstarter: Dungeon Heroes & Fantasy Frontier. At that time, game designer Scott Almes also approached Micheal with an interesting game design. This collaboration laid the foundation for the entire Tiny Epic series.
Birth of the Tiny Epic series
In January 2014, Tiny Epic Kingdoms, the first game in the series, launched on Kickstarter and quickly became a success. Almost 9.000 backers contributed over $280.000 to make the vision of a small, handy 4X title a reality. At the time, Tiny Epic Kingdoms was ranked 5th in terms of the most backers of a board game of all time on KickstarterA sensation and a sign that there was a great demand for compact, yet complex games.
In June 2014, Gamelyn Games released the next game in the Tiny Epic series, called Tiny Epic Defenders. Here, too, the idea came from Scott Almes. The cooperative Tiny Epic Defenders was able to gain almost 5.500 supporters, thus once again underlining the demand for this type of game.
Continuing a successful concept
The portfolio of Tiny Epic games has been growing since 2014. The games have thematically taken players into space, the Wild West, or other fantasy worlds. The so-called ITEMeeples were introduced in 2016 with the game Tiny Epic Quest. These were figures that could be equipped with real equipment, making the gaming experience even more immersive. The ITEMeeples have become an iconic gimmick of the Tiny Epic series, and can now also be found in Tiny Epic Defenders.
The size of the games has also been refined. In 2016, a subcategory was opened with the Ultra Tiny Epic series, which made the games even more compact. Just one year later, Heroes of Land, Air & Sea, the first big box game from Gamelyn Games, was released, and it wasn't the last. A new big box game, The Last Kingdom, for example, will not be released until 2023. More big box games are currently being planned. So big things are in the pipeline!
To this day, the Tiny Epic games are extremely popular and have won over several thousand players in each individual Kickstarter campaign. Successful titles such as Tiny Epic Zombies, Tiny Epic Pirates or Tiny Epic Dungeons are even supported by over 20.000 people. After The Last Kingdom, a licensed title from a Netflix series, Gamelyn Games came up with a big name for their Tiny Epic series in early 2024. Game of Thrones launched a huge licensed title in a small format.
Outlook – Essen Game 2024
Gamelyn Games is on track and the Arizona-based publisher has no plans to stop in the future. Game in Essen The publisher will also be there and will present Tiny Epic Dungeons in its deluxe version, along with deluxe versions of all popular Tiny Epic games. A first look at the new Tiny Epic Crimes will also be possible. Games will in limited quantities to to acquire together with the big box games Heroes of Land, Air & Sea, and The Last Kingdom. Interested parties are welcome to visit Hall 5 an Booth 5-C311 and let yourself be entertained by the ingenious little games.
For an overview of the games, Gamelyn Games has provided us with copies of the first two Tiny Epics: Tiny Epic Kingdoms and Tiny Epic Defenders We were also able to take a look at the successful title Tiny Epic Zombies An overview and our opinion on the games can be found in the separate article “Tiny Epic at a glance".
| Preview | Product | Rating | Price | |
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Gamelyn Games, Tiny Epic: Pirates, Basic Game, Family Game,...* | 26,09 EUR |
* = Affiliate link/advertisementAs an Amazon Associate, we earn money from qualifying purchases. If you make a purchase through one of the links, we receive a portion of the purchase price as commission. This doesn't cost you anything extra, but it helps support our website. Last updated on September 17.05.2025, XNUMX / Affiliate links / Images from the Amazon Product Advertising API. Images from Amazon PA API.
