Wow! Hello, everyone. Happy to share some major updates about Office Orcs right before another big round of play-testing at PAX East. Probably the biggest news right off the bat was that I felt comfortable enough with where the game was at in terms of balance, art, and iconography that I ordered a one off prototype printing from TheGamecrafter.com’s board game print on demand service. I’m super excited about this update because it will make playtesting this version of Office Orcs so much easier. I still say “this” version because I still want to be super sure that the whole game is working as intended before I go down the Kickstarter rabbit hole for a final print run. Check out my initial impressions in the video below!
If you couldn’t tell in the video, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. It looks like I’ll need to do some minor visual cleanup tweaks, but other than that I think the look and the feel of the game is pretty much done!
PAX EAST 2026
That brings me to how I will be showing off Office Orcs at PAX East this year. I will be participating in UNPUB @ PAX, which is a showcase for unpublished board games where people can stop by to test them out and give feedback. For this round of play-testing I will be focusing on “blind play-tests”, meaning that I will be testing to see if players can play through a full game of Office Orcs with no guidance or assistance from me at all. This is a great way for me to stress test the rulebook, which I believe is in a pretty good state, but you never know until you throw it in front of a bunch of strangers. I will be testing Office Orcs from 5:30-8:30PM on Friday and Saturday. So if you are going to PAX please come stop by and check out the fancy new components! You can see the full schedule of Unpub games here: https://unpub.softr.app/pax-east-2026
Contests
Sadly Office Orcs did not make it into the final rounds of any of the larger spring 2026 board game contests. However I did receive some very positive feedback from the Cardboard Edison judges, which is one of the largest contests for unpublished games. Cardboard Edison rates games on a scale from 1-7 in three categories.
I’m happy to report that Office Orcs received a
6/7 for Engagement
6.25/7 for Originality of Theme and a
5.25/7 for Originality of Mechanics
Not too shabby for my first ever submission, if I’m allowed to brag for a second.
Here are some select quotes that some of the judges sent along with their scores:
“The different rooms and actions create a bit of controlled chaos which aligns with the humor in the theme.” — Pat Marino, USAopoly
“LOVE this very clever use of Black Jack mechanics and the melding with the theme of eating employees to downsize is fantastic. The art is wonderful and the play is very simple. I like the risk reward and the card effects modifiers. Overall a game I would buy now. Quick play - easy mechanics to learn and teach. Solid title.” — Jack Berkenstock Jr., The Bodhana Group (Therapy-Blended Gaming)
“Fun! Love the art and theme, very unique! Adds a fun, absurd narrative to gameplay and relates well to the mechanics. The bust mechanic creates exciting calculations and tension, and it's such a nice original way to approach it. I also love how the randomized room draws make each game different, increasing replayability. Feels very fresh and unpredictable. Great job!” — Serena Fadlun, Designer, Happy Haven
“Office Orcs was one of the best entries I had to judge. I'm sure it will find its way.”
— Enrique Blasco, Brote de Juegos
Thank you to the judges for their feedback, and also to any of you readers who have helped make Office Orcs that much better over these past months! Hope to see you again at PAX!