COLLEGE PARK, MD, July 1 -- ContagiousDreams.com, the new online source for cool games published by game inventing entrepreneurs, will be officially unveiled to the gaming community at the 25th Origins International Game Expo & Fair at the Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio this weekend.
The new e-commerce venture is being launched by Looney Labs, a small game company best known for creating the Mensa-Award-winning family card game Fluxx. Having built an extensive online store for the selling of their own products, Kristin and Andy Looney have decided to expand their outlet to include games published by some of their small corporate peers.
ContagiousDreams.com is a new online store that specializes in high quality, independently-published games. The site features a full review of each product carried, with all games having been approved by someone in a somewhat independent testing organization known as the Wunderland Toast Society (WTS). The site also includes information about the Dreamers who've started all these small game companies, and has been built using the latest in secure online shopping software.
The launch of ContagiousDreams.com at Origins will feature an island booth staffed by members of the WTS. Throughout the weekend, they will play demo games of the various products sold at the store, with a prize for every winner. Other promotions will include lots of cool free buttons and Live Action Fluxx, a convention-long game played by everyone who buys one of the nine new T-shirts based on the Keeper cards used in Fluxx.
The Origins game convention will also be the scene of the annual Origins Awards, the premier awards given in the adventure gaming industry, representing the highest levels of achievement in twenty-four categories of game design. (It's the Academy Awards of gaming.) Several of the games sold through ContagiousDreams.com are up for Origins awards, including both of the Looney Labs card games, Fluxx and Aquarius, both nominated for Best Card Game of 1998.
Getting someone to publish a game you've created is no easy task; those who aspire to game design quickly learn that major publishers just aren't interested in outside ideas. So for many game inventors, starting a small company to publish their dream independently has been the only viable option. ContagiousDreams.com brings the fruits of these micro-companies together in one convenient location.
For more information about Looney Labs, Contagious Dreams, or Fluxx, please contact Kristin Looney via Voice: (301) 441-1019, Fax: (301) 441-4871, email: kristin@wunderland.com, Web: www.looneylabs.com, or Mail: PO Box 761, College Park, MD 20740 USA.
