Press contact: John Coveyou, john@elfcreekgames.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Behind the Scenes at Elf Creek Games:
New Team, New Direction, New Hope
St. Louis, MO (July 31, 2025)
What's Happening at Elf Creek Games
First, thank you. Your support and patience mean more than we can express.
Over the past several months, many of you have noticed a lack of updates—or heard rumors—about the state of Elf Creek Games. The company has been facing serious financial and operational challenges. These challenges are complex and have significantly impacted our ability to fulfill our Kickstarter campaigns and other obligations.
We're writing today to let you know that there is now a team in place actively working to stabilize and restructure the company.
Introducing John Coveyou and the Team at Genius Games & Simple Financials
To help lead this transition, Elf Creek Games has brought in outside help. John Coveyou—Founder and Director of Genius Games (who also acquired Artana Games in 2019) and Founder and Director of Simple Financials, a nationally recognized accounting and tax firm—has stepped in as Executive Director of Elf Creek Games and is now overseeing all operations.
John and his team at Simple Financials specialize in helping small businesses recover from crises like ours. John has led successful transitions for over a dozen companies and guided many businesses through acquisitions and leadership transitions. He has also built and scaled a firm that manages the accounting and tax needs of over 50 companies across the U.S.
With this experience from Simple Financials and a strong personal connection to the tabletop community from Genius Games, John is uniquely equipped to guide Elf Creek through this difficult but hopeful chapter.
What We're Actively Doing
We want to be clear that this isn't just a plan, we're already taking action. Here's what's happening right now:
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John Coveyou is now Executive Director with full operational control of Elf Creek Games.
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We are funding product demos at conventions, like Gen Con, to maintain community presence.
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We are cleaning up three years of backlogged accounting and bookkeeping.
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We are organizing all outstanding debts, inventory, designer agreements, and vendor relationships.
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We are working through legal matters and preparing for transition to new ownership.
Will Previous Kickstarter Backers Get Their Games?
Our priority is to fulfill the commitments that were made to backers and other supporters. We are committed to this goal and are already taking concrete steps every day to make it happen.
This will take time, and in full transparency, we are still in the early stages of assessing the full scope of what needs to be done. Your continued patience is invaluable as we work through this process methodically and responsibly.
Why We're Doing This
From Brent Dickman:
I know the past many months have been frustrating, confusing, and disappointing. I regret the way this entire situation has affected so many of you—our backers, partners, collaborators, and friends. I've been working closely with John behind the scenes to find a path forward, one that gives Elf Creek the best chance to make things right. I'm grateful that we finally have something meaningful to share.
From John Coveyou:
I care deeply about this industry and I know firsthand the challenges of running a board game publishing company. I've worked with dozens of other types of small businesses that were working through difficult transitions, and I know how rare and special a game company like Elf Creek is. Its products are beloved. Its design quality is outstanding. And its community deserves answers.
This situation resonates personally on multiple levels. I have close personal relationships with many of the people affected by what's happened at Elf Creek. I'm stepping in not just because I can help, but because I believe it's the best option moving forward.
Elf Creek Games may be facing one of its hardest moments—but with structure, diligence, and a lot of hard work, there's still a path forward.
Support Us
If you're attending Gen Con this year, please visit us at our booths (#136 for Elf Creek Games and #1319 for Genius Games). Your presence, energy, and enthusiasm send a clear message to potential partners: that the community behind Elf Creek Games is worth investing in.
Your support matters now more than ever.
We'll share more updates as things develop, including more detailed campaign-specific information as it's available. Thank you for standing with us as we begin this transition.
With appreciation,
Brent Dickman
Founder, Elf Creek Games
John Coveyou
Executive Director, Elf Creek Games
john@elfcreekgames.com
About Genius Games
Genius Games is a Hobby Board Game publishing company dedicated to creating traditional tabletop games, but all with scientifically accurate themes. Founded by John Coveyou, Genius Games brings complex scientific concepts to life through strategic gameplay and immersive design. With a catalog spanning biology, chemistry, physics, and more, the company’s mission is to make science approachable and fun for players of all ages. geniusgames.org
About Simple Financials
John Coveyou had been managing the bookkeeping and accounting for his own companies since the early 2000s. As a serial entrepreneur, he relied on clean, accurate, and real-time financials to grow and operate multiple businesses. Through his work with the Entrepreneurs' Organization, he eventually became a sought-after advisor to other small business owners facing the same challenges. It became clear just how widespread and frustrating it was for so many small business owners who were lacking clear and simple financial insights, and instead receiving high fees, poor communication, and unreliable results from traditional accounting firms.
In 2020, Coveyou founded Simple Financials to scale the kind of real-time, trustworthy financial support he knew business owners actually needed.
Many businesses trust their bookkeeping and accounting to office managers or even large CPA firms, thinking it’s being handled correctly, but in our experience, many times, this creates some of the largest unnoticed errors.
John Coveyou is also an enrolled agent, a federally licensed Tax Practitioner by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, authorized to represent taxpayers before the IRS in all 50 states.
