BC Business
Hit up these B.C. game makers for your rainy-day entertainment
What was your last small act of rebellion? What’s something that still makes you nervous, no matter how many times you do it? These are the kinds of questions that Fluster, a card game founded by Devon de Balasi Brown and Walker Banerd, dares to ask. The pair was inspired by a conversation that de Balasi Brown had chatting with strangers while naked in a hot spring (as you do), and then officially launched the game in Vancouver in 2018. It’s a next-level icebreaker for both strangers and friends.
Games aren’t just for kids, but Lifts and Runs was invented by one. Six-year-old Rio MacDonald came up with a snakes-and-ladders-esque game that incorporates the chairlifts and ski hills of Whistler Blackcomb (he’s based in, you guessed it, Whistler). Since its inception in 2020, the family company has created several offshoots of the game—there’s a mountain biking version and one for the heli-skiing set, too. Lifts and Runs is available online and at Home Hardware and Cabela’s.
After a construction-related work injury, Squamish-based Mike Boyce began woodworking as a hobby. He started making wooden games he could play with his three children, then dove into the world of engraving and founded 3 Storms Creations in 2019. Boyce designs and creates crib boards, euchre boards and dice baseball games that are personalized for each customer (think engravings of family names or the logo of a favourite team). Beyond games, he also makes custom slate coasters, stainless steel flasks, wood bookmarks and more from his home-based studio.
The tabletop gaming world is largely made up of creations by white men, but Vancouverites Pauline Kong and Marie Wong are disrupting the industry in a delicious way. Their company Hot Banana Games is best known for Steam Up, where players collect tokens that match the dim sum dishes in their feast zones. A Kickstarter campaign raised over $580k. Now they’re crowdfunding for a new game where players become master rabbit alchemists and collect Chinese herbs.
Like all of us, Sami Brar spent a lot of time trying to entertain herself and her loved ones during the early days of the pandemic. But Brar’s cure for boredom—hosting a virtual Bollywood trivia night—turned into a business. She launched retail sales for Filmi Trivia, the Kelowna-based Bollywood trivia game, in November 2022. The cards include questions about plot lines, music and celebs—it’s the perfect (competitive) bonding activity for Bollywood fans.
Okay, this one’s not a game—in fact, Vancouver-based artist Zoë Pawlak’s Vessels and Muses oracle cards are designed to “guide you into deeper understandings of yourself.” Pawlak is an adored contemporary artist with a focus on abstract painting—and the 40 oracle cards she launched in late 2023 each sport their own original artwork. Card names like “grace,” “justice” and “forgiveness” are designed to inspire thought, and the accompanying booklet guides you through. Divine insight, here we come.