Playing games, and making them, in South Jersey

A "terrible" little card game named Pixel Lincoln launched Jason Tagmire's career a decade ago.

"I had no experience as a game designer," recalls Tagmire, 36, a father of three, who grew up loving math, making music, and playing Monopoly and Nintendo.

Despite its flaws, Pixel Lincoln, a time-travel adventure that evokes classic video games, "spawned a whole bunch of other things," its creator says.

A clever, competitive card-toss game called Maximum Throwdown, an improved, large-format Pixel Lincoln, and a dozen others Tagmire has since designed, developed, or published are on display at his SoHa Arts Building office in his hometown of Haddon Township.

The lively maker space on the White Horse Pike is the headquarters of his company, Button Shy Games. He works full-time as a foreclosure team leader at a law office, but says he spends at least as many hours a week creating, perfecting, and selling fun.

"I'm developing a game on Twitter right now," Tagmire says, sending a tweet as I take a seat. "Twitter is big for the tabletop game designer community."

"Tabletop games" are pastimes that typically involve cards, boards (think Scrabble), dice, or miniatures (sometimes called "meeples"), as well as human players sitting around a table.

While games have been a social staple for generations - I grew up on Monopoly and graduated to Trivial Pursuit - newer ones like Pandemic, Code Names, and Settlers of Catan are popular among 20- and 30-somethings.

There's even a Web series, TableTop, starring Wil Wheaton and featuring celebrity geeks playing the latest games.

"People who have grown up in a digital age are on their devices so [much], they're starting to crave human contact again," says Ryan Morrison, 42, a game designer who collaborated on the updated Pixel Lincoln.

He also owns Tiki Tiki Board Games in downtown Woodbury, where fans regularly gather to play. "Wednesdays are open game nights," Morrison says, "and Thursdays are Dungeons and Dragons, which has had a big resurgence."

Says Runnemede game collector Ben Leach, 32, who plays regularly with friends: "At a time when everyone is so attached to their phones, it's refreshing to do something that requires you to get together with other people."

Creating and developing games is also a collaborative process, notes Tagmire, who can describe a game - or an idea for one - with such enthusiasm that you wish you could play.

He often has friends play prototype games at SoHa, and raises development money through online crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter.

"It usually takes a couple of years from when you first get" inspired until the publication of a game, says Tagmire, who gets ideas for new games by playing existing ones.

Then he writes down his ideas the old-fashioned way, on paper.

"If you play enough games," he adds, "you eventually become a game designer."

Tagmire explains that playing board games historically hinged more on luck than skill. But many contemporary games offer players not only chances, but choices.

"Your decisions matter," Tagmire says. "It's not just, roll some dice and see what happens."

Today's games often feature elaborate artwork, intricate playing pieces, complex narratives, numerous characters, frequent surprises, and opportunities for cooperation.

"You're trying to capture the treasure before the island sinks, or cure disease all over the world," Leach says. "You're contributing to the success of the team."

For Tagmire, his greatest success so far has meant selling about 5,000 copies of Maximum Throwdown; sales of the commercial megahit, Settlers of Catan, total more than 20 million worldwide.

But he notes that he "would most likely be doing this no matter what" the sales figures.

Simply launching his creations into the game-osphere "brings it all full circle," Tagmire says. "From loving to play games, to making them, to seeing others play them."

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