Back to Sandbox.Tabletop Game Project
A card (or, more rarely, another type of game piece like a tile or die) for a tabletop game produced for promotional reasons. Promo cards can serve many purposes: to promote a new game or expansion, to support a charity or board game resource, or just to create new content for a game's fans without making a full expansion. When used to support a charity or resource, the promo card will usually be donated by the publisher in a private arrangement.
They may be given away at events (such as conventions), included with Kickstarter pledges (such as The Dice Tower annual Kickstarter), bundled with other promos and sold (e.g. the Brettspiel Adventskalender, an advent calendar consisting of promos), bundled with other games; or sold by the publisher. They are usually not available for retail sale, and may not be available in every language the base game is published in. However, if you're lucky, they may be re-released in a published expansion, big box, or definitive edition.
Promo cards may be a single card, or a set of several cards, but the sets are almost always smaller than a full-on Expansion Pack. It's not uncommon for them to be relatively gimmicky or experimental — they're fully optional, so they aren't under the same level of scrutiny as other game pieces, and there's more room to test out mechanics not all players would enjoy. However, promos rarely bring any major rules changes because they need to stand on their own. And sometimes promos are merely reskins of existing cards — maybe not as exciting, but also means there's less need to track them down.
Compare and contrast Limited Special Collector's Ultimate Edition.
Examples
- 7 Wonders:
- 7 Wonders:
- The Manneken Pis wonder started as a promotional wonder with unique effects: Instead of providing a resource, it gives you extra money at the start of the game. Its A side has three stages that copy the effect of an opponent's wonder. Its B side has a single, very expensive stage that gives you 7 gold, 7 victory points, 1 shield and the right to get a well-chilled beer from whoever ends up winning. The Wonder was later re-released in the Wonder Pack, though with the beer reference removed.
- Siracusa is a promo wonder made for use with Armada, as it interacts with the ship mechainc.
- Nimrod is a prmotional Leader who rewards you for adding sections to the Babel tower. It was likely relegated to a promo because it needs both the Leaders and Babel expansions to function.
- There are many promotional guild cards.
- 7 Wonders Duel has several promotional wonders, as well as one promotional Conspiracy:
- The Statue of Liberty is a wonder with the unique effect of letting you take the three unused cards for the current age, build one for free, discard one, and give the last. (However, the Treason conspiracy in Agora offers a stronger version of this effect, where you get to look at cards from the current and previous age(s), and only take a card for yourself.)
- The Messe Essen lets you build a card from the topmost row of the drafting structure (even if it's still covered) for free. This effect also made it to a Conspiracy (Property Fraud), though that one has a rule prohibiting you from taking politicians.
- The Stonehenge and Sagrada Familia promo wonders are reskins of the Pyramids and Great Library respectively.
- Tu Quoque Fili is a promotional conspiracy that lets you copy a conspiracy already triggered by your opponent.
- 7 Wonders:
- Abyss:
- The Anglerfish promo, included in #73 of the board game magazine Plato Magazine. It adds a Poison Mushroom to the exploration deck — if you draw it, you have to either waste your turn fighting it, or pay a cost to continue exploring.
- The 2015 Brettspiel Adventskalender features the Key Monster Tokens mini-expansions — in addition to the ones that give you points, there are now five monster tokens that give you a key.
- Dominion has many promo cards with unique effects. The Digital Tabletop Game Adaptation does feature them in buyable Promo Packs. Notable promos include the following:
- Black Market is an Action card that lets you buy cards from the Black Market deck, which consists of cards not available in the current kingdom. It also has the unusual property of letting you buy a card during the Actions phase.
- The Sauna/Avanto cards were created because the Finnish publisher wanted a promo, so they made cards out of something that would remind people of Finland.
- Carcassonne: The Labyrinth is a single tile that connects roads on all sides continuously, instead of forming a dead-end in the center.
- Dixit has many promo cards published over the years. They are always different art pieces and don't change any rules.
- Everdell has the Kids and Kindergarten promo cards bundled with My Lil' Everdell
- Happy City has released some special buildings as promos, some of which are only available in French:
- The "Boutique de jeu de société" promo card is the only card with an Instant-Win Condition if you can play it. However, it's Awesome, but Impractical, since you need the rest of your city to have a very specific colour combination.
- The Christmas-themed "Tour de contrôle de Rudolph" card has the unique ability to let you play an extra card at the end of the game, even allowing you to exceed the usual 10-card cap.
- After Russia invaded Ukraine, the publisher released a card depicting the Golden Gate of Kyiv to show support for Ukraine. The card rewards having adjacent blue and yellow buildings — a nod to the colours of the Ukrainian flag.
- Renegade Game Studios has released packs of promos called Level-Up Loot. They contain many promos for games they've published.
- Scythe has two sets of promo encounter cards, 5 extra power dials for each of the other factions, a set of $50 and $2 metal coins, more factory cards and new objective cards from the Kickstarter campaign. Another set of promo encounters were originally given away by content creators and magazines. They are now available to buy on the Stonemaier Games website.
- Sushi Go Party! promos:
- The Soy Sauce card in Sushi Go Party! (that scores four points to the player who collects the most variety of colors in a round) started as a promo card for Sushi Go!.
- The Sukoeroku pack is included for free with purchases of Sushi Go Party! at conventions, and also sold separately. It adds Futomaki and Inari cards — an individual card is worth 2 points, but each Futomaki + Inari pair is worth 6.
- Inari is also included for free with purchases of Sushi Go Party! at conventions and also sold separately. It adds the special white, green, and mixed Inari cards, allowing the player to multiply rice icons x seaweed icons for points.
- The Sake card adds an Intoxication Mechanic — it's worth 3 points, but you're forced to pick the next card at random.
- The Picked Ginger card rewards you for collecting multiple types of nigiri. It's particularly notable for making the weak Egg Nigiri card better.
Name discussion
- DiamondEye: does it have to be just cards? I saw tiles being promos, and other components too like dice
- Maths: Yes, it's just that "Promo Card" is a catchier name than "Promo Game Piece". That's a good point, though — I should definitely tweak the article to emphasize that point, and will consider a rename.
- DiamondEye: I'd suggest Promo Pack like with Expansion Pack as sometimes it's not just one card or one of a certain game piece. (Bonus points for the Alliterative Name).
- Maths: I like the alliteration in Promo Pack, but find it a bit unfortunate because many promo cards/tiles/etc. are sold individually, not in packs.
- DiamondEye: I beg to differ. Searching up promo packs gave me results. They are named this way because it may actually be a set of cards or bundled together in board game content creator crowd funding campaigns.
- Maths: So, here are the potential names:
- Promo Card: Pros: Simple, covers the most common type of promo. Cons: Somewhat misleading, as it doesn't make it clear that other types count.
- Promo Pack: Pros: Simple and alliterative. Cons: Somewhat misleading, as a lot of promos consists of individual cards.
- Promo Game Piece: Pros: The most accurate. Cons: A bit clunky.
