Happy New Year! A Review of 2014

Thursday, 1st January 2015

The year just ended was a very active one here at Cyningstan. After a slow start, a newly redesigned web site brought the visitors coming back. The design was based on the highly-successful sister site, "Hnefatafl: the Game of the Vikings", updated and modified for the wider subject matter.

The new site has expanded since then. A blog contains regular articles on traditional board games. Print-and-play games were added to the site, giving an easy way to try out the games with friends and family. Web pages for more than eighty games were added. And the excellent embedded games from Jocly have been incorporated where possible.

Cyningstan's presence on Twitter has greatly increased, too. From about 300 followers at the start of the year, to nearly 3,000 by the end. The new web site with all its content was a great help in this; after a couple of quiet years, followers now had plenty to see.

Near the end of the year, Cyningstan self-published a book by Damian Walker: A Book of Historic Board Games. This book takes twelve games and covers them in more depth than the web site itself. For each game there is a history, rules and strategy, just as on the site, but with each game having its own chapter with numerous photographs and diagrams, there is a lot more information. A page on the web site brings together resources for the games in the book.

Finally, I've been experimenting with ideas for expanding the range of games sold from the web site. In December I created a laser-cut Agon board. In its current form it's somewhat expensive to market, but I plan to experiment with the format. I'd also like to introduce higher quality hand-made games like the Deluxe veneered sets sold at Hnefatafl: the Game of the Vikings, which have been very successful.

So 2015 is looking to be a very interesting year here. I hope the year turns out well for you too!