Sabrina Gonzalez has become the CEO of the famous Texas based Steve Jackson Games, and Allison Page is now the Chief Operating Officer. Among many other great titles, Steve Jackson Games created the popular card game Munchkin, which takes the common tropes of fantasy role-playing games and makes a cartoony fun game that lasts an hour or two. There are many expansions of Munchkin, and there’s even one that takes on the Cthulhu based tabletop RPGs.
Munchkin may be one the most well-known titles from this innovative company, but there are many others. For example, the company got started in 1980 with the Mad Max like game called Car Wars, which was written by Steve Jackson himself. In 1986 he created GURPS (Generic Universal Role Playing System), which was a TTRPG that was flexible and expansive enough to make everything from a fantasy world to one filled with superheroes. Other games like Illuminati, Zombie Dice and even an influential GURPS version of the sci-fi game Traveller have become part of this company’s robust catalog.
Before becoming the CEO, Gonzalez was a production artist, a production manager and even worked in game manufacturing. She has also been on the company’s board of directors since 2021. As for Allison Page’s background, she had been a managing editor since 2023 before taking on her new role as the Steve Jackson Games COO.
GiN got a chance to ask Gonzalez and Page about the new direction of Steve Jackson Games. And longtime fans need not worry: the spirit of Steve Jackson’s classic games, from Munchkin and Car Wars to GURPS and Illuminati, remains central to the company’s future.
GiN: What can fans who buy your games look forward to now following this new leadership change?
Gonzalez: We have some upcoming big things in the works that we’re not at liberty to discuss yet. In general, I hope those who buy our games won’t see any disruption in finding the things they love from us. We’ve struggled a bit recently with the timing of products hitting distribution channels and fulfilling our crowdfunds, so we plan to improve those areas while developing new releases.
GiN: Are there any new games on the horizon or expansions to any of your classic games you can talk about?
Gonzalez: We recently acquired publishing rights for a new license and are developing a new game around it, but I can’t announce anything more about it yet — we are internally VERY excited about it. We also have the 50th anniversary of OGRE coming up next year for which we have some plans in the works.
Also…there’s something big coming soon for GURPS followers to be shared early next year. That’s all I can say without being silenced. In fact, I’ve said too much already…the Illuminati are always listening.
GiN: Sabrina Gonzalez, your biography highlights working in the manufacturing end of Steve Jackson Games. What challenges and opportunities are there in manufacturing board games, and what were some of the most interesting things you learned during that time?
Gonzalez: While at SJG, I’ve gained over a decade of hands-on manufacturing experience through our numerous game and game accessories projects. This included learning about paper types, various materials and mold types, how to spec components to simplify quoting between manufacturers, the differences in manufacturing timelines for various components, how to quickly identify issues with packaging dielines and the importance of creating a physical mockup to ensure everything fits as expected. (Oddly, that can be an overlooked step for some folks in the industry, yet it is crucial.) Through the years I’ve honed the ability to ballpark what a game might cost to manufacture just by narrowing down the kinds of components we’ll want.
Some unrecognized opportunities include the vast number of stateside printers we didn’t always consider prior to tariff challenges. There are a lot of options for paper products. When you add plastics to the equation, things can get tricky. However, if printing RPGs, low quantity runs of card decks or other paper products, there are so many resources available nearby for U.S. developers. These options cost a little more per unit than producing overseas, but when tariffs are factored in or a time crunch is a significant constraint, looking to your local printers can be a very useful time investment to keep as a resource in your pocket. (3D printers are also handy for custom plastics in mockups when tooling overseas can take 30+ days.) In the many years of working with various overseas manufacturers, I learned some pretty cool things you can do with injection molding. We’ve done some pretty neat test shots of dice that unfortunately never made it to the final project for various reasons, but I have kept most of those samples just for my own records in case we have a use for that color combination in the future.
GiN: Over to you, Allison Page. What are some of your goals as the new COO, and where do you see Steve Jackson Games in the future?
Page: My biggest goal is to provide clarity internally wherever it’s needed – around processes, decision-making, scheduling, budgeting and how we’re planning for the future, and ensuring people simply have what they need to do their jobs well. I love big-picture planning (I’m convinced I am personally keeping oversized Post-its on the market), and we certainly have a lot of that to come! I see Steve Jackson Games continuing to build on the legacy of our many long-beloved lines while working on exciting new games that may just have a legacy of their own someday.
GiN: One final question. Steve Jackson Games worked on many properties in the past, such as GURPs and Traveller. Are there any plans for either of those in the future, especially since Traveller’s 50th Anniversary is coming up?
Gonzalez: We have plans for GURPS in general yes, but as far as GURPS Traveller is concerned, we have no plans at this time. But the back catalog of GURPS Traveller PDFs are still available to purchase from Far Future Enterprises.
