Inside the Box Board Games

Last updated
Inside The Box Board Games LLP
Type Game company
Founded2015
FoundersMatthew Usher, Peter Blenkharn
Defunct2023
Headquarters London, UK

Inside The Box Board Games LLP (operating as ITB) is a defunct British tabletop game publishers formerly based in London, UK.

History

ITB was founded in 2015 by Matthew Usher and Peter Blenkharn while studying at Oxford University. [1] The company's first board game, Molecular, raised over £17,000 on Kickstarter and was released with a limited run of under 600 copies. [2] Usher left the company after their first game and the company continued to be managed by Peter Blenkharn.

In 2017 the company saw success with their third game, Sub Terra, which raised over £350,000 on Kickstarter and was awarded Best Euro Game at the 2017 UK Games Expo [3] [4]

In the subsequent years ITB raised over half a million pounds through Kickstarter for the games Newspeak, CryptX, Sub Terra II, Aquanauts, and Alba. The resulting projects were plagued with delays and mismanagement and most games never materialised. [5] In January 2023 former employees at the company took over the company’s Kickstarter account to announce that they had been dismissed without pay and were owed wages and redundancy pay. [6] Shortly after the announcement ITB officially ceased operation after its creative assets were purchased by Naylor Games. [7]

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References

  1. "Carlisle friends find formula for new board game". News and Star. 2016-03-25. Retrieved 2023-06-28.
  2. Molecular: Kickstarer.com https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/itbboardgames/molecular-the-strategic-chemistry-tile-game
  3. Sub Terra from ITB Board Games arrives on Kickstarter, Flickering Myth https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2017/01/sub-terra-from-itb-board-games-arrives-on-kickstarter/
  4. Sub Terra: a Cooperative Survival Horror Game for 1-6 Cavers, Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/itbboardgames/sub-terra-a-cooperative-survival-horror-game-for-1
  5. Getting Your Money Back and holding Peter Blenkharn to account: Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/103rj0x/getting_your_money_back_and_holding_peter/
  6. Jarvis, Matt (2023-04-03). "Sub Terra and Alba picked up by Magnate publisher as embattled UK board game studio Inside the Box closes its doors". Dicebreaker. Retrieved 2023-06-28.
  7. Nayor, James (2023-04-05). "Naylor Games buys all assets of ITB Games". Naylor Games. Retrieved 2023-08-19.