Colby Dauch loves gaming.
No big surprise, given his status as a respected game designer and founder of Woodville-based Plaid Hat Games. His passion for play has been a part of his identity for over a decade now.
“Heroscape was a game released by Hasbro in 2004,” Dauch said, recalling his early days as a fan. “I saw it on a commercial and thought it might be fun. I turned into a megafan and went on to run the quite popular heroscapers.com.”
His passion soon blossomed into a profession. After working with Hasbro as a playtester and making some connections there, he began working as a freelance designer on Heroscape and Battleship Galaxies. He soon made the leap to designing his own titles, testing the waters to see what future he might have in tabletop game design.
“I had a game called Summoner Wars that my friends really liked,” Dauch said. “I showed it to Hasbro and they decided it wasn’t the kind of game they wanted to publish. I didn’t really have any contacts established elsewhere and I figured I’d take the plunge and in 2009 established a company.”
Plaid Hat Games — a moniker inspired by the red and black hat Dauch frequently sports — has rapidly made its mark over the past five years as a rising star in the world of gaming. From original titles like Summoner Wars and Crossroads to licensed titles like its board game adaptation of the popular “Bioshock” video game series, Plaid Hat’s catalogue is impressive for any fan of classic tabletop play.
“A great tabletop game has people interacting with each other in clever ways that can’t be experienced through a video game,” Dauch said. “Tabletop games are also more agile. We can prototype more rapidly and can produce games with less funding so we can try funky things.”
That spirit of experimentation is only one of the things that makes Plaid Hat products unique.
“We put an emphasis on theme first in our games. We put an emphasis on visuals in our games. Other companies also put a focus on theme and visuals, but theme-heavy games can often get very rules-heavy. We try to put theme first while still trying to keep our games approachable,” Dauch said.
Remaining approachable is of paramount importance to Dauch and his colleagues. The company posts a regular podcast and stays active on social media, in an effort to stay connected to fans and communicate their personalities to those who enjoy their work.
“I came from a background of being a giant fan of a game and then also liking other games,” Dauch said. “I wanted to be a company that would generate the kinds of experiences I wished Hasbro had when I was a fan of Heroscape. I wanted to foster a sense of community. It’s what I knew from my work on Heroscapers.com.
“It lets people know who you are and adds a human element. We aren’t just a company to those who look to engage on that level. We are people. That’s important to me not just because I want people to root for us and buy our games, but also because I’m spending my life doing this; I want it to mean something.”
Plaid Hat shows no sign of slowing down. The company recently announced a new title, Specter Ops, promoted as a stealth-action title co-published by Nazca Games. The company will be represented at a gaming convention in Utah beginning Jan. 17.
For Dauch, whose passion began with one title and blossomed into his life’s work, the fun he can bring into others’ lives means much more than a few minutes of diversion.
“When I interact with fans and they tell me how Summoner Wars has created a great father-and-son activity for them, or a family spent a snow day playing through a Mice and Mystics campaign together, that gives the products and my work a kind of life for me I wouldn’t otherwise see,” he said. “I even had a nurse once tell me they had a child cancer patient in a lot of pain. They brought in their copy of Summoner Wars and played it with them and the kid told them that they couldn’t stop thinking about the game and that helped to not think about the pain.
“I can’t say I thought I was doing noble work when I started. I can say games always meant something to me and helped me connect with people, so I fell in love with them. The fact that these stories can come out of our games though, that means something to me.”
