Board Game Designer Spotlight - Phil Walker-Harding

Sushi-Go! And we’re off highlighting one of the most successful board and card game designers in Australia; Phil Walker-Harding.

Phil sold over 1 million copies of his first designed game Sushi-Go! which also was translated into 20 languages.

After 7 years of publishing his own games and working as a freelance for international publishers such as Gamewright, Z-Man Games, Buffalo Games, Big Potato, and Blue Orange, he and his wife Meredith started their own publishing company Joey Games. 

Joey Games intends to bring young and old(er) together and allow them to play in a meaningful way, making meaningful connections. While playing, the games celebrate the peoples, plants, and animals of Australia.

Respect throughout gameplay is of essential importance and is frontal in every aspect of their entire business and product development. 

With moving towards a more sustainable future, Joey Games’ components and packaging are made from FSC-Certified paper, cardboard, and wood, and with 100% renewable electricity. No plastic shrink wrap is used. Packaging waste is hence avoided and freight is stripped down to a carbon-neutral level via offsetting the emissions.

Joey Games is made for everyone and is rendered by encouraging healthy relationships between kids and parents or helping kids develop essential social and emotional skills.

The board games also contain minimal reading and are visually impaired-friendly.

When engaging with Joey Games, you are not only holding strong and solid gameplay in your hands, you do good at the same time. Under 1% For The Planet Program, 1% of the profits support climate action in Australia through Seed Mob and 1% of the copies of each print run go to local schools and libraries. Illustrators also retain ownership of their art and benefit from a profit-sharing scheme. And that’s not it; each of the games below supports another relevant charity on its own.

Play is an Essential Part of living a healthy, balanced, and restful life.

Games for your Board Game Shelf

1. Pass The Party Food – Ages 7+ / 2-4 Players / 30 minutes

Collect your favourite Australian party food and share them with your friends at the right time. But… watch out… Ziggy the mischievous puppy is trying to grab food off the table! 

If you can outscore him as a team you will all win the game together.

2. Busy Beaks – Ages 8+ / 2-4 Players / 30 minutes

Play and Learn about Australia’s fascinating birds. In this colourful card game, you are scoring points by gathering bird cards into flocks. But be aware, each bird has a special ability; ie. the Powerful Owl allows you to search in the deck for the card you need or the Mimicking Mapgpie allows you to copy another card. You can keep this game interesting by choosing which bird cards you want to use.

3. Scribbly Gum – Ages 6+ / 1+ Players / 20 minutes

This game is inspired by the beautiful scribbles from baby moths burrowing through the back of a scribbly gum tree. With every turn, your little baby moth needs to eat. The food can be reached by following the given direction on the movement tiles. By scoring food, you also score points.

This game can be played by any number of players and is even set up for classroom play.

You can select a basic or an advanced play version, by including the achievement tiles. And within each version, there is a ‘Kuringgai’ or ‘Mooloolah’ setting, which feels different by playing a different layout.

All three games can be found on our website.

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