Every legend has a beginning, ours just so happens to start 8 years ago in the year 2013 in the oldest dorms on UCF campus. One fateful day, lead game designer Brennan Kahl, lead playtester Nick Brown, and graphic designer/artist Jack Collins were all about to start their college journey as freshman at the University of Central Florida(Go Knights!). With what can only be described as dumb luck, Brennan and Jack were assigned randomly as roommates with Nick living only a building away, the three of them having no idea what the future would have in store for them.

It was there that their shared love for tabletop games flourished, as they would stay up till the late hours of the night in their dorm’s common room playing games like Bang!, Settlers of Catan, One Night Ultimate Werewolf, and any others they could get their hands on. Little did they know that their shared love of tabletop games would turn into something more when Brennan had his first class ever as a game design major. His first assignment? Create an original game using a standard 52 card deck of playing cards.

I’m sure you can see where this is going... Being a true procrastinator, Brennan inevitably waited until the last day to do his assignment. With little inspiration, he decided to take a break and go with Nick and Jack to a classy dinner at only the finest dining establishments, T.G.I. Fridays. It was here, on that fateful night in 2016, after brainstorming the assignment with Nick and Jack, that the original concept for Reinforcements was born.

That’s right, before Reinforcements was ever what it is today, it was played with a standard 52 deck of cards. In fact,we have the very first original rule sheet for the game Brennan turned in to his class right here!(Thankfully, we’ve had some graphic upgrades since then) And in case you're wondering, he did get an A on the assignment.

The three playtested it until they had a solid foundation and thought they had a game that was challenging, competitive, and a ton of fun to play. It wasn’t until they introduced it to their friends that they realized they had made something special. It spread through their friend group like wildfire, with each person who played it getting hooked and just needing to play one more round. Everyone told them that they needed to make it into a real game, one that they could sell and share with the world.

Now, I wish we could say that right then and there is when they made the commitment to make Reinforcements into a real game, but it most certainly wasn’t. The three went their separate ways after graduating, and the game mostly fell to the wayside while they each pursued their respective careers. That is, everyone except Nick…

While working as a camp counselor at Camp Waziyatah, Nick taught Reinforcements to a single kid who picked it up quick and seemed to enjoy it. A day later, he walked into his cabin to find all 15 of his campers playing Reinforcements, all of them obsessed with this new game they had learned. That lit a fire in Nick, and his 4 year quest to bug Brennan and Jack to finally make the game a reality began.

Like many other games made recently, when Covid-19 hit in 2020 the three of them found themselves with nothing but time. Brennan finally agreed to sit down with Nick and make changes to improve it and convert it into a game that isn’t played with a 52 deck of cards. The very first prototype of this version was played with 4 separate decks of Uno cards so they could get all of the cards needed. They realized after a few playtests that not only had they successfully given the game its own identity, THEY HAD MADE IT ASTRONOMICALLY MORE FUN.

That’s when they called Jack, and seeing as he was just as bored as they were, he immediately agreed to help with the graphics and art of the game. Now, Jack had never made anything like this before. Heck, he didn’t even consider himself an illustrator. But after months of trial and error, finding inspiration from other games, and A LOT of practice, they finally found an art style that fit their vision.

Jack got to work, treating Reinforcements like a full time job for months until they finally had all of their characters, card backs, and totems created. From there, the rest is history. The three of them were dedicated to bring this game of theirs to life and share it with the world. When we say it’s made with love, we mean it. It’s not just a game we think is fun, it’s a game we truly believe in, and we’d love to have you join us on this journey to make it a reality. Thank you for reading, and be ready to call in…REINFORCEMENTS!