2017
Newqz Culture founded
The studio is founded to design and publish original tabletop games.
About the studio
A culture brand that kept making board games.
NEWQZ was founded in 2017 as a culture brand working across board games, modern artworks and handicrafts. The board games took over. Two of them have now been funded on Kickstarter by 282 backers and delivered, and a third is on the drawing board.
Founding year and remit as stated in the studio's own launch press release; campaign history on our Kickstarter creator profile.
How we work
We are small. That is a constraint before it is a virtue: print runs for boxed games have high minimums, and an independent studio cannot afford to guess wrong about how many copies to manufacture. Crowdfunding is how we find out before we commit to a run.
It also shapes the games. Everything we have published is a small box with a short teach — fifteen to forty minutes, ages eight and up, no legacy campaign and no expansion treadmill. The complexity goes into the decisions, not the setup.
The other thing we spend on is art. Every game we have made has a distinct illustrated identity rather than a house style: Crow Drinks Water is loud cartoon linework on green, Spire of Dioronna is flat pastel and blackletter, and CityWright is pen-and-ink architectural drawing washed with watercolour. They do not look like siblings, and that is deliberate.
Small boxes, short teaches
Fifteen to forty minutes. No game we publish needs an evening set aside for the rules.
A new visual identity each time
Each game gets its own illustration language rather than a studio house style.
Funded before it is manufactured
Crowdfunding tells us the print run. It is the difference between existing and not existing.
Both campaigns delivered
Every campaign we have run has funded and shipped. Both games are in stock now.
Track record
The public record
Each figure links to where it is published — the campaign pages for the funding numbers, our store for what is currently in stock.
Timeline
How we got here
2024
Crow Drinks Water funds on Kickstarter
The studio's strategy party card game — named for Aesop's fable of the crow and the pitcher — funds past its $4,000 goal and delivers to backers.
2024
Spire of Dioronna launches
The modular map escape card game triples its $3,000 goal, picks up coverage in Tabletop Gaming and TechRaptor, and ships.
2025
Both games reach retail
Spire of Dioronna and Crow Drinks Water go on general sale through the NEWQZ store, joined by a limited merchandise run.
2026
CityWright enters development
The studio's first hex-tile city planner — and its first game built entirely around original ink-and-watercolour illustration.
Where to find us
The official channels
| Store | newqz.com — the only place we sell directly |
|---|---|
| Kickstarter | kickstarter.com/profile/newqz — campaign history |
| hello@newqz.com | |
| Retail | Crow Drinks Water is also listed on Amazon; everything else is direct |
Launch list
Hear it first when CityWright launches
An email on launch day, and after that only launches and reprints — a handful a year at most.