A Behind-the-Scenes Look at How Elf Creek Games Came Back from Three Years of Losses, Finally Fulfilled Santa's Workshop, and What’s Next.

Press contact: John Coveyou (john@elfcreekgames.com | john@geniusgames.org) 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

A Behind-the-Scenes Look at How Elf Creek Games Came Back from Three Years of Losses, Finally Fulfilled Santa's Workshop, and What’s Next.

St. Louis, MO (February 26, 2026)

Elf Creek Games is sharing an operational update on Santa’s Workshop fulfillment along with several milestones in our broader effort to stabilize the company.

We know many backers and partners have been waiting a long time for clear timelines and follow-through. This release summarizes where Santa’s Workshop stands today and shares a brief snapshot of the operational progress that supports the remaining work ahead. Updates on other campaigns will continue separately as timelines lock in.

What's Happening at Elf Creek Games

On July 31, 2025, Genius Games assumed operational leadership of Elf Creek Games under the executive direction of John Coveyou, with accounting oversight provided by Simple Financials LLC.

Full details of the transition were shared in our prior press release, “Behind the Scenes at Elf Creek Games: New Team, New Direction, New Hope,” which can be found here: www.geniusgames.org/pages/gg-press-release.

Below is the latest status on Santa’s Workshop fulfillment, followed by several operational milestones.

Why This Matters

Over the past several years, Elf Creek faced serious financial strain alongside operational challenges. Last year, John Coveyou—along with the team at Genius Games and with accounting support from Simple Financials—stepped in to stabilize operations and establish a path forward.

The work required addressing prior operating losses, outstanding debt, pending campaign fulfillments, and limited remaining inventory across core titles—while rebuilding the systems needed to move products from factory to backers.

Major Milestone One: Santa’s Workshop Fulfillment

As a result, we were able to advance fulfillment for part of one of Elf Creek’s most important Kickstarter campaigns: Santa’s Workshop. We are now nearing completion, and we want to clearly summarize the current status and remaining regional timelines. It reflects continued progress on execution and delivery as we complete worldwide fulfillment. 

Completing Santa’s Workshop worldwide is a key step in restoring normal operations and rebuilding fulfillment reliability.

As of today, Santa’s Workshop fulfillment is complete in the United States. For everyone else, we expect shipments to begin the first week of March, with fulfillment targeted to be complete by June 2026. (For pledge manager assistance, or for any U.S. backer who has not yet received their items, please contact our partner Allplay at help@allplay.com.)

To everyone who backed this project and waited through delays: thank you. We recognize that fulfillment timelines and communication both matter. This update is part of our commitment to clear, public accountability as we finish delivery worldwide. We’ll share region-specific confirmations as each remaining region begins shipping.

Details on Fulfillment Status by Region

Santa’s Workshop fulfillment is complete in the United States, and Allplay is progressing through the remaining regions as freight arrives. Below is our current timeline, based on the best available information as of today:

    • United States: Fulfillment is complete. If you completed your pledge manager but have not yet received your items, please contact Allplay at help@allplay.com.

    • Europe (all regions): Freight was received on January 31, 2026, and has entered the fulfillment queue, with shipments expected to begin in the first week of March.

    • Canada: Freight was received by Board Game Bliss on February 25, 2026, with fulfillment expected to begin in the first week of March.

    • Asia & South Africa: Games are currently in transit to VFI, with fulfillment expected to begin in March.

    • Australia & New Zealand: Games are expected to be received by Aetherworks in March, with fulfillment expected in April.

    • Rest of World: Fulfillment is complete (shipped from the U.S. warehouse). If you completed your pledge manager but have not yet received your items, please contact Allplay at help@allplay.com.

These timelines are our best current estimates and remain subject to customs processing, port congestion, and local carrier performance. We will continue sharing region-specific confirmations as each remaining area crosses the finish line. For additional updates and scheduled fulfillment information, you can also visit Allplay’s fulfillment page: https://www.allplay.com/fulfillment/

Major Milestone Two: Return to Operational Profitability

In parallel with fulfillment progress, the company has been stabilizing financially. Before the transition, Elf Creek had operated at a loss for three straight years. In 2025, for the first time in several years, the company returned to operational profitability. That shift didn’t happen overnight. It came from tightening operations, making hard decisions, and staying disciplined week after week. 

Annual losses as a percentage of gross revenue. 

    • 2022: -11.62%
    • 2023: -33.25%
    • 2024: -8.81%

In 2025, Elf Creek Games showed profitability after three consecutive years of losses.

    • 2025: +12.34% 

Importantly, this profitability was directed toward paying down past obligations so we could keep moving previously outstanding Kickstarter commitments toward fulfillment.

We are sharing this because accountability matters and sustainable operations are what allow us to fulfill commitments, support designers, and keep projects moving forward.

Major Milestone Three: Designer Royalties Paid for 2025

Our business exists because of the games we publish. And those games exist because of the designers who create them. Without great products, we simply don’t have a company.

That’s why getting royalties current mattered so much to us. We’re glad to share that all outstanding 2025 designer royalties have now been paid in full, and we’re continuing to steadily work through prior balances as well.

We have paid all outstanding 2025 designer royalties across the Elf Creek Games product line. Some designers are now fully caught up, and—with the cooperation of the designers with remaining back royalties—we are making steady payments toward remaining balances from 2024 and earlier, with the goal of bringing every designer fully up to date. 

The Painful Reality Behind a Business Turnaround with Simple Financials

Turning a business around isn't about discovering a new or a secret playbook. It's about returning to the fundamentals that every healthy business runs on. These are the things that, somewhere along the way, were deprioritized, deferred, or lost amid growth and day-to-day stressors. Most business crises are not sudden events; they are the outcome of the slow accumulation of small decisions that move a business away from the basics. 

None of this changes the impact on backers and partners who have been waiting, or the seriousness of outstanding obligations. The goal has been to restore operational stability so commitments can be met consistently and transparently.

A turnaround is a refocus on business fundamentals, only now, with far less margin for error. Below is the process we worked through with Elf Creek Games to address the root causes of the crisis and to build a clear path forward:

      1. Stop all non-essential spending immediately. Every expense was reviewed and non-essential spending was cut. Software subscriptions, agencies, marketing, new projects—anything that wasn't directly tied to generating income or keeping the business operating was put on hold.
      2. Gain visibility and control over cash flow and operations. A weekly cash and operations dashboard and tracking system was built so the team could see cash and inventory coming in, cash and inventory going out, and exactly where the business stood, in order to make proactive decisions instead of reactive ones.
      3. Get to accurate financials. If the books are wrong, the decisions are wrong. The bookkeeping and accounting were caught up, reorganized for better insights, and reconciled back to the bank statements. Every decision going forward was then based on reality and insights instead of assumptions.

      4. Prioritize and accelerate cash inflows. Core revenue channels were identified and reinforced, keeping the right inventory in stock, continuing to reconnect with key customers, and making sure the parts of the business generating cash had what they needed to keep doing so.

      5. Generate cash from what's already there. We made a focused effort to collect on outstanding invoices, liquidate dead or excess inventory, and find new ways to monetize existing IP or underutilized resources—with ongoing work still in progress.

      6. Gain additional runway by renegotiating obligations. Many companies struggle under the weight of debt and accumulated obligations. The weight of this can be debilitating, and resolving it is often one of the most difficult steps. Keeping a company running is essential, because a shutdown stops repayment and harms all parties. We restructured debt, worked out new payment plans with vendors, and negotiated revised terms to ensure the company stayed viable and can continue paying back everything owed.

      7. Focus on a few key priorities. Identify a few major “game changers” that will have the greatest impact, then stay focused while avoiding distractions. With the business more stable, we concentrated available time and energy on three key priorities: fulfillment of Santa’s Workshop, getting base games back in stock, and rebuilding critical sales channels to keep revenue flowing and support ongoing obligations.

Turnarounds are not the result of a single big move. They are the result of doing a series of effective things in the right order, consistently, until the trajectory changes.

Looking Ahead and our Biggest Needs

The hardest parts are mostly behind us, but there is still a long road ahead. We are hopeful that the future holds more opportunity than heartache. Our focus now is on executing the next phase responsibly and bringing the right people around the table to support long-term stability and reliable fulfillment.

We're looking to build a board of advisors, including those who have been in the trenches and understand what it takes to run and grow a business, as well as individuals who can contribute expertise, resources, or connections.

If you have experience, resources, or a network that could help, we'd welcome a conversation.

We're open to exploring strategic partnerships, outside investment, or proposals that support operational stability and our next phase of growth. If there's a business, brand, or operator out there who sees the value in what Elf Creek can become, the door is open.

Next Steps: What We’re Prioritizing

With Santa’s Workshop fulfillment completed in the US and substantially underway in the rest of the world, our focus turns to the next remaining campaigns this year. We are prioritizing:

    • Small quantity batch-based fulfillment of Atlantis Rising Monstrosities
    • Production of The Paradox Initiative
    • Finalization and production of Secret Villages
    • Reprints of base games: Honey Buzz, Atlantis Rising, Merchants of the Dark Road, and Santa’s Workshop

This approach is designed to rebuild momentum, increase visibility, and bring meaningful traffic and attention back to Elf Creek Games, while continuing to strengthen the operational foundation of the company. None of this can be achieved without your support. 

Support Us

The most helpful support right now is staying engaged as we complete worldwide fulfillment and move the remaining campaigns into production. If you're attending a major board game convention this year, please visit us at our booth. You can also find our current titles through your local game store, online, or through Allplay. Your continued support helps keep Elf Creek Games alive.

We'll share more updates as things develop, including more detailed campaign-specific information as it's available. Again, thank you for standing with us as we continue rebuilding and delivering on all our outstanding commitments.

With appreciation,

Brent Dickman
Founder, Elf Creek Games

John Coveyou
Executive Director, Elf Creek Games
john@elfcreekgames.com