Here at Warcradle Studios, we’re well known for miniature wargames packed with tactical decision-making and tense dice rolls: namely Dystopian Wars and Armoured Clash. So it may come as a surprise that we recently revealed Mix Up Fairy Tales, a fast-paced cooperative card game for family and friends aged 8+.
But why have we made this game? Hobbying is a creative endeavour, and promoting creativity and strategic planning is vital to sow the seeds of the next generation of tabletop gamers! Find out more about the game below.
What is Mix Up Fairy Tales?
Mix Up Fairy Tales is unlike any game we’ve worked on prior, being a quick, easy-to-play card game with family play at its core. In the game, players of all ages work together to create a shared story using key plot points from 8 well-known fairy tales.
Each turn a new card is played on top of the existing story, modifying the fairy tale in an attempt to have the story meet the victory conditions of the challenge cards. Does the story now include 2 cards with a wolf? Does it contain no cards from Puss in Boots? If you meet these conditions, you score the challenge card and replace it with a new challenge. The ultimate goal is to earn as many points as you can by the end of the game, establishing yourselves as Master Storytellers!
As the story becomes increasingly "Mixed Up", players re-read the tale from start to finish, showing off your absurd alterations to classic fairy tales! With two starting stories to choose from: Cinderella and Aladdin, plus story cards from Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Hansel and Gretel, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots, and the Three Little Pigs, no two stories will be the same.
“It's been an absolute joy to look through the British Library collections and then create a game which inspires children to engage with storytelling.”
Sophie Williams, Games Development Manager at Warcradle Studios
Connection to the British Library
Mix Up Fairy Tales is produced under licence from the British Library, and we are proud to support the Fairy Tales exhibition as a sponsor.
We’re thrilled to have worked on Mix Up Fairy Tales as part of our sponsorship of the British Library’s Fairy Tales exhibition. The cards themselves feature classic illustrations provided to us from the British Library collection, showcasing the evolution of these beloved fairy tales. This led to the creation of beautiful cards that are packed full of the charm and elegance you would expect from illustrations of this kind. Both the exhibition and the card game are perfect for the little ones in your life, awakening the inner storyteller in all of us.
It’s not just the card game we’re excited about! We’re also happy to announce our support of the British Library's outreach work. This means providing materials to schools, libraries, and more to promote the joys of storytelling to all.
“Mix Up Fairy Tales card game offers families an opportunity to continue their journey into magical storytelling beyond the Fairy Tales exhibition. We are excited to see how children and families interact with the larger version of the game and ‘blank’ Mix Up game cards created exclusively for the British Library as part of our partnership with Wayland Games. This special edition will be available at the Library's school workshops, events and Family stations, as well as across the Living Knowledge Network libraries in the UK. We hope that the game is a joyous and creative experience for children, that lets their imaginations run wild.”
Stuart South, British Library Head of Corporate Relations
An Interview with Ziz Simoens
We’ve taken some time to sit down with Ziz Simoens, Lead Designer of Mix Up Fairy Tales, to discuss more about the development of the game and why it is such an important project for us.
Hi Ziz, thank you for taking some time to talk. Can you introduce yourself and your role in the production of Mix Up Fairy Tales?
“Hi! I’m Ziz Simoens, and I am the Lead Designer on Mix Up Fairy Tales.”
What kind of experience do you want families to have when playing Mix Up Fairy Tales?
“The game is designed to have reading and storytelling at its core. Ideally, we want kids reading out the “mixed-up” tales and laughing as the stories get more and more ridiculous.
"We also designed the game for players to strategise together about what was in their hands and who could do what next. The whole table should be involved in figuring out how to score the most points, in what order, which all leads to the first point: having a hilarious story to read.
"During playtesting, we noticed that since it only takes 15 minutes to play, families often wanted to play another round immediately. Sometimes they just wanted another funny story, but other families were competitive and wanted to see if they could try new strategies to achieve a higher score. We made sure that the game could be played and enjoyed by both types of players.”
In playtesting, were there any stories that were created that come to mind as hilariously absurd?
“We took a pretty strong stance on Goldilocks being the Villain of her story, which makes many of the other stories particularly entertaining. Robin, co-designer of Mix Up Fairy Tales, mentioned that, during testing, one player really wanted to push Goldilocks into the oven (from Hansel and Gretel) and spent the rest of the game trying to achieve that goal!
"Also, I know Puss and Boots isn't that well-known, but the art was so beautiful, and having either a cat as the hero or the villain turn into an elephant was just too entertaining not to include!”
How was working with the amazing collection of artwork from the British Library?
“I have never worked on a project as beautiful as this. Using the original illustrations from the classic storybooks has been such a joy and really adds to the feeling of creating your own stories. I only wish we had space to use more from the British Library’s collection in this game!”
How does it feel now that this project has come to life?
“I cannot wait for people to start playing! As excited as I am to see this stocked on shelves, what I really want to hear are stories of families playing this game together. I know I’ll be bringing this game with me to play at family gatherings. It only takes 15 minutes to play so it’ll be perfect for that lull before the cheese board.”
Thank you once again for answering our questions, Ziz!
We can’t wait for you to get your hands on Mix Up Fairy Tales and begin crafting your own stories with friends and family! You can now order Mix Up Fairy Tales online or at the British Library.