Cambridge game company is taking the world by storm
Posted Jun 27, 2022 01:57:00 PM.
A Cambridge computer scientist traded algorithms and code for sorcerers and elves to raise over $300,000 in a Kickstarter campaign for his gaming company.
Assad Quraishi is the CEO and founder of Haunted Castle Gaming, creator of the tactical card game, Genesis: Battle of Champions.
“The game is kind of that bridge between those collectible card games that we've seen and board games,” said Quraishi, who launched Haunted Castle Gaming in 2017.
At first, the road to success seemed like a quest that only the mightiest of heroes could complete.
“It was an incredibly slow growth. It was very much bootstrapped and funded from my personal savings, and it was an uphill battle for a very, very long time,” Quraishi said.
His determination to reach his dream of owning his own game company and seeing his vision come to fruition was a culmination of a lifetime of playing and looking at the world through the lens of a creator.
After his father introduced him to games like Magic: The Gathering, Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh in the mid '90s, Quraishi fell in love with these classic games that have become playing card juggernauts.
Even more than playing these games, he became obsessed with the idea of creation.
During his time at Galt Collegiate Institute, Quraishi would use his love for game design to turn school subjects he was having issues with into something he was familiar with; a game.
This would stay true and follow him to university where he would incorporate computer science and algorithms into games he was creating.
“When I would want to learn more about something I would put it into a passion project of mine,” he said. “When I wanted to learn about sales, I started selling my game. When I wanted to learn more about business, I started my own company.”
This is what spawned Haunted Castle Gaming; the name is inspired by his high school and its resemblance to a haunted castle.
When the pandemic hit, many businesses and industries felt the wrath of the COVID-19 virus, but collectibles, especially card games, started selling at unprecedented rates.
“That's when the market saw a huge surge of demand and we ended up partnering with some distributors, helping get our game around the world,” Quraishi said.
The game is being carried in Hong Kong, Thailand, Australia, Germany, UK, the United States and, of course, Canada.
After the success they started seeing around the globe and in an effort to improve the product, they started a Kickstarter campaign to help raise funds, ultimately breaking the $300,000 mark.
“I was maybe a little bit too modest in my projections because I only had a funding goal of $10,000 and we blew that away, '' Quraishi said.
“I knew that our community was strong and were there to support us, but I just didn't know that it was that much and didn't know that there was so much love for the game.”
Genesis was first sold in a hobby store in Preston called Forbes Hobbies. This is where it all began, with over the counter sales and tournaments, the game was introduced to a new public at home in Cambridge.
“I sold almost all of my stock to a guy in California who wants to grow the game there,” said Jeremy Cada, Owner of Forbes Hobbies. “We’re really looking forward to having people back in here for tournaments.”
Forbes held an open house for Genesis so new players can learn how to play the game and join the community.
Damian Corneau has been playing Genesis for almost a year and has given up playing the other traditional games.
“I was playing Magic for a bit, but now it’s all Genesis,” he said. “You have so many full-time Magic players switching to Genesis and it’s pretty awesome.”
During the open house, Corneau was teaching a group how to play and giving away demo decks to get people into this budding community.
“This game has grown very organically, that’s why it’s outlasting the hype of the pandemic,” said Cada.
Growing the game and its fan base around the world was something that Quraishi has worked very hard for. At times he has been the realist, the downer of his team, making sure he doesn’t get swept up in the rise his company has had.
“I think I irritated my team a little bit, on one hand I'm very happy and very excited, but I'm also like, alright, let's be realistic, let's make sure we're setting ourselves up for success, not just within the next few months but within the next ten years,” said Quraishi.
The struggle over the years is one of the things that has kept Haunted Castle Gaming grounded. They went from the first year, begging the local game store to carry the game. Second year, trying to refine the sales process and having more educated conversations, but still a lot of rejections. Then finally in their third year having this explosive growth.
Another key for Quraishi and his team to stay focused on the future is improving the game, making sure they are treating their fans ethically and creating a company that has a low carbon footprint.
“We’re working on figuring out what is the best way to expand our product that is enjoyable, that is profitable, but also it's not taking advantage of a lot of our players,” he said. “We’re also working at becoming a green company, using carbon neutral machines and paying more for carbon neutral shipping.”
Haunted Castle Gaming is already making the rounds at conventions in the U.S. and some here in Canada. Fan Expo in Toronto and Anime North, which is in Halifax, are all big gamer conventions they plan to bring their cards, dice and get people playing.
“I think at the end of the day, the community speaks for itself. The community we have is just so wonderful they’re so open and kind, they want to share their love of gaming with one another,” said Quraishi.
Corneau couldn’t be happier to be playing a game where it feels like a true community and to be playing something fresh.
“It’s just so cool to see a game like this that isn’t a standard game. It’s something different and I'm excited to see where it’s going to go,” said Corneau.
