Soaring ‘span’ trilogy sales see Stonemaier Games’ annual revenue reach record $25.1m -

Stonemaier Games’ diversification of its flagship bestseller Wingspan into a trilogy of standalone titles powered the company to record revenues of more than $25m last year – eclipsing its previous annual high from the post-Covid board game boom in 2021.

More than 610,000 copies of Elizabeth Hargrave design Wingspan, its Asia expansion, dragon-themed title Wyrmspan and last year’s fish-focused release Finspan were printed by Stonemaier in 2025 according to its latest annual stakeholder report, bringing the total lifetime copies across the trilogy to more than 3.3 million.

While the bulk of that lifetime figure is from 2019 release Wingspan and ‘standalone expansion’ Wingspan Asia, at about 2.6 million copies, the addition of Connie Vogelmann’s Wyrmspan in 2024 and the David Gordon and Michael O’Connell design Finspan last year have created a hefty boost for Stonemaier’s overall sales.

The latter pair now have more than 685,000 copies in circulation – a figure which already outstrips the roughly 600,000 copies of Scythe, Stonemaier’s biggest seller outside of the ‘span’ trilogy, despite that game being in print for a decade.

Speaking to BoardGameWire about the latest annual results, company co-founder Jamey Stegmaier reiterated his regular refrain that “number go up” was “simply not on our list of goals at all”, adding, “I understand that the annual revenue is an interesting number to poke at, but honestly that number could go up or down by many millions of dollars and I wouldn’t care as long as we’re bring joy to people.”

Stonemaier Games co-founder Jamey Stegmaier

Stegmaier had a similar line on the company’s sales performance when he spoke to BoardGameWire two years ago, after the company’s revenue fell for the second year running to $16.7m, marking its lowest annual total since 2019.

He said at the time that he had no concerns about the fall in revenue, saying, “Based on our reach and evergreen sales, I think a ‘normal’ annual revenue for us is somewhere between $15m to $20m, with the exact amount depending on when certain products ship.

“In that way, I think 2021 was an outlier (probably pandemic related) – not only was it a very strong year for Wingspan, but we also saw excellent evergreen sales for Viticulture and Scythe, and we had one of our biggest releases that year in Red Rising.”

But strong sales this year of the ‘span’ trio among a busy slate of other Stonemaier releases has pushed company revenue beyond those 2021 heights, with Stegmaier telling BoardGameWire yesterday, “After hearing from customers for a long time that they wanted the Wingspan model applied to other creatures, I’m really glad we’ve been able to serve them via Wyrmspan and Finspan.

“It also takes pressure off of Wingspan designer Elizabeth Hargrave. Also… it gives us some wiggle room to take on riskier projects, though any game is a risk – we never really know how a game will do.”

One game which could arguably be put in that category is Stonemaier’s 2025 release Vantage – a non-campaign, open-world-style exploration game designed by Stegmaier which was in development for seven years.

Stonemaier printed 64,000 copies of Vantage last year, with Stegmaier telling BoardGameWire: “There’s no other tabletop game that does what Vantage does, so I see it hitting tabletops for years to come.”

He said, “We’re currently initiating Vantage’s fourth reprint, which is remarkable for an expensive game just eight months into its lifecycle.

“I’m so glad this labor of love from the last eight years of my life is resonating with people who want to go on an open-world, first-person adventure without the need to commit to a campaign game.

“Also, unlike all other new releases, Vantage had so much text that it didn’t have any localization partners in 2025 – they needed a lot more time, so 10,000 units of non-English versions are coming in 2026.”

He also highlighted the success of superhero-themed, tableau-building trick-taker Origin Story, which printed 33,500 copies, and added that more quick-playing, smaller-box titles are on the way from the publisher – including a more lightweight Wingspan title which the company says is playable in about 30 minutes.

Stegmaier said, “I love Origin Story, and I’m excited that we’ve packed so much game into a smaller box that you can teach and play in 45 minutes.

“I would say that’s the realm of the smaller Wingspan game we’re releasing in mid-2026, and I’m wrapping up something kind of in the same realm (in terms of size and length) for 2027.”

Going smaller still, Stonemaier’s 18-card co-operative micro-game Smitten and its sequel also performed well last year, Stegmaier said, with the number of copies printed up 23,000 compared to 2024.

He said, “These are both very small, very humble games that serve well as add-ons, stocking stuffers, and suitcase inclusions for travel. I’m honestly kind of surprised they’ve sold so well, given how different they are from our core offerings.

“That said, they offer more of a trickle of sales through any sales partner – a dozen here each month to distributors, a dozen there to retailers, a few dozen on our webstores.”

Stegmaier added, “The one product for which we probably over-forecasted was Wyrmspan: Dragon Academy. It has sold very well (over 60,000 units for an expansion is remarkable), but I think we probably could have made 75,000 units and later reprinted 25,000 instead of printing 100,000 up front.

“Stamp Swap has done fine [BGW note: 34,000 copies printed in its 2024 release year, but none in 2025], but I think it’s indicative that it’s more difficult than ever for a good game to break through.”

Cards from 2025 Stonemaier release Wyrmspan: Dragon Academy

Other 2025 releases from the company included Tokaido and Tokaido: Duo, which it bought from financially-troubled French board game publisher Funforge towards the end of 2024.

Stegmaier has been at the vocal forefront of the board game industry’s fight against volatile US tariff policy since President Trump’s inauguration last January, which has seen several board game businesses shutter their operations, lay off staff and hike the prices of their games to cover the unexpected costs.

Stonemaier was among a string of companies that took part in lawsuits challenging Trump’s power to raise tariffs at will – and Stegmaier expressed his “relief” when those tariffs were judged as unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court late last month.

He said in a blog post at the time, “Every day for the last ten months, I’ve lived in fear that the executive branch of my own country would raise our import taxes to an extreme level that would significantly damage Stonemaier Games and the thousands of small businesses seeking to serve their US customers, retailers, and employees.

“So when the Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the tariff taxes and the way they were implemented were unconstitutional, I had a huge sense of relief. Relief that small businesses can no longer be used as pawns in a global game. Relief that the whim of one person can no longer effectively change the landed cost of our product from $10 to $25.

“Yes, there are still legal ways for the executive branch to impose tariff taxes. They seem really passionate about making small businesses in the US pay more taxes. But these methods have limits: For example, the new tariff tax is 15% (that’s the max it can be), and it needs congressional approval to extend beyond 150 days.

“In the immediate future, I don’t think we’ll see much of an impact on prices, as anything in stock in the US already had its tariff tax paid when it entered the country (if it was manufactured elsewhere). My perception is that many businesses avoided raising prices and instead just ate the extra costs (that’s what we did; we did not increase any prices).

“There is also the possibility of tariff tax refunds. To date, Stonemaier Games has paid just under $300,000 in tariff taxes to the US government. I’m not counting on getting any of that back – it will be nice if we do, and I hope that other businesses do, but the level of uncertainty isn’t something for which we can plan.

“My hope, as always, is that what happens next will help me best serve my coworkers, our independent contractors and partners, and our customers in the US and around the world (consumers, retailers, and distributors). I wish the same for all other small businesses.”

Stegmaier told BoardGameWire that he was “really excited” about the company’s 2026 line-up, which kicked off with the Wingspan Americas and Viticulture: Bordeaux expansions, and also includes a two-player Scythe vs Expeditions duelling game which expands both those titles as well as working as a standalone design.

He said, “I’m excited for the opportunity to serve fans through expansions for Wingspan, Viticulture, Finspan, Scythe, and Expeditions, along with the new Euphoria board.

“The main challenge is communicating what makes these products unique and special. For the first time in a while (since Apiary, as I recall), we’ll have a new game in our original sweet spot of mid-weight euro games – that’s the Smoking Bones game in Q4.”

Stonemaier Lifetime and 2025 Sales

Wingspan & Wingspan Asia: 2,639,429 lifetime units, up 229,686 compared to 2024
Wyrmspan: 451,994 units +148,598
Finspan: 233,584 units (new release)
Vantage: 64,000 units (new release)
Scythe: 601,102 units +41,500
Origin Story: 33,500 units (new release)
Tokaido: 29,500 units (new release)
Tokaido Duo: 27,834 units (new release)
Smitten & Smitten 2: 38,000 units +23,000
Apiary: 55,004 units +8,500
Viticulture: 273,584 units +6,750
Rolling Realms & Rolling Realms Redux: 62,000 units +6,000
Tapestry: 91,650 units +4,000