Texas

Our new Texas-themed book of games is coming soon! Explore the beauty of the Lone Star State with Armadillo, Prickly Pear, The Stars at Night, and more. We're going back to our roots for this one!

Texas: Card Games Inspired by the Lone Star State is collection of modern card games created as an ode to the natural beauty and warmth of the Lone Star State.

We successfully funded the project on Kickstarter—check out the page for more of our story! We hope that our games will bring a wide range of folks together to play with a simple, classic deck of cards.

In this the collection you'll find armadillos, bluebonnets, stars at night (they're big and bright)—and more, with a variety of player counts:

The book is fully illustrated by Texas-local illustrator Nathan Brown. We pride ourselves in working with local artisans to support the regions we know and love.

Try it out!

Download our Prickly Pear game and be sure to let us know what you think.

We hope this preview spurs your excitement for our illustrated hardcover book of games.

Keep an eye out for our Texas-themed decks of playing cards too! 

Written by Thomas and Kelly Cardwell and illustrated by Texas-illustrator Nathan Brown.

About us

Texas nerds in 2013

Thomas and Kelly Cardwell are high-school sweethearts from San Antonio, Texas. They run their indie game publishing company, Gameswell, in a state of constant collaboration. Their mission is to build eye-catching, unique-yet-familiar games that invite everyone to the table. Thomas strives to design simple systems for deep decision-making, utilizing accessible components. Kelly ensures the rulebooks are player-friendly and hones the company vision—with lots of design feedback sprinkled in. They spend their free time cooking, hiking, or developing new games.

This isn't our first rodeo—we have fulfilled two successful Kickstarters for our Pacific Northwest book of games and playing cards. We're so grateful for the support of friends, family, and this amazing community along the way.