In this first Good Games Tabletop Focus, we shine a light on Surf’s Up, a game where you and your rivals take on the role of surfers trying to catch the biggest waves. It launched earlier this year in May and we sat down with its creator, Jay Bendixen, ahead of his panel talk at Play Con 2024, Australia’s newest tabletop convention.
We talked about his game design as well as his journey of winning a design competition, getting featured on Channel 7, and now having it available for purchase at your local Good Games store.
How Jay got into game design
Jay Bendixen is a Gold Coast based creative director by day and an award winning board game designer by night! Surf’s Up is his first published board game but games have always been part of Jay’s life.
His grandparents taught him Euchre and enjoyed playing Cluedo with his family but it wasn’t until he was older and living with his friends and partner that he discovered modern board games. It began with games like Catan and Ticket to Ride where “every Thursday night we’d bust open [a new game] and have a game of it.”
He even took up Magic: the Gathering, which sparked his interest in game design. However, it wasn’t until he saw the success of Exploding Kittens that he started going down the design rabbit hole.
Using his background in advertising and design, along with his passion, Jay set out to make games!
A game inspired by the gold coast lifestyle
Surf’s Up didn’t start out as a game about surfing. In fact, it was an evolution from the very first card game that he started developing years ago. It came from solving a design problem when playing in larger groups, coming up with the innovative gameplay idea of simultaneous card play!
Regarding the theme of the game, Jay mentions it came to him naturally. “I live on the Gold Coast. So I’m surrounded by beaches [and] growing up going to the beach all my life.”
Inspired by surfer culture he developed that initial game into a simultaneous competitive card game about catching waves called Stoked!
A RISING STAR in tabletop games
Jay started entering Stoked! into several design competitions, one of them being the Rising Star Contest at DEVCON, an industry event put on by The Tabletop Game Designers of Australia.
Jay ended up winning that competition, much to his surprise. “I did not expect [to be in] the top five… [when] they announced the winner, I was just shocked! I was like, did I just actually win this competition?”
But that was just the beginning as winning the Rising Star Contest would snowball into the new stage of exciting events!
Getting the game noticed by publishers
Good Games Publishing is the publishing arm of Good Games and is Australia’s largest tabletop games publisher who are always on the lookout for fun, high quality tabletop games.
During the Rising Star competition, Jay had the opportunity to show his game to Kim Brebach, the Director of Good Games Publishing.
According to Jay, “We sat down and played it, and it clicked for him… I could see he was enjoying it … [After] finishing our first game, his feedback was, let’s go again!”
Soon after winning the competition, the game was picked up and developed by Good Games Publishing.
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FROM PROTOTYPE TO A retail GAME!
Through the Good Games Publishing development process, the game changed its name from Stoked! to Surf’s Up.
Where the game was originally just a deck of cards it was now packed with a ton of thematic content like double sided shaka tokens, beach towel cards and a neoprene beach themed playmat.
Jay continued his involvement in the game design and also used his background in advertising to commission artwork and art directing Bernice Choong. Both Jay and Bernice were newcomers to the tabletop industry but according to Jay, “it was exciting for both of us to see our work on retail shelves.”
Making Waves on Television
Another exciting opportunity occurred in 2023 where Jay received a call from Channel 7 News asking to feature the game. After the call, Jay “turned the car back around, drove back home, grabbed anything that was related to the game, and then took off back to work.”
Hosting the interview at his work office, Jay roped in his colleagues to showcase the game and shine a light on the Australian tabletop design community.
Surf’s up On a Good Games Shelf
It was quite a journey for Jay. From just a fresh face in the industry to becoming an award winning designer, it’s safe to say he’s found his calling. Finally after years of development, Surf’s Up was published, hitting the shelves in May 2024.
Talking about the surreal experience, Jay says, “It was such a great feeling walking into my local Good Games store and seeing my game on the shelf!”
Since the release of Surf’s Up, Jay has opened a board game design studio called Little Briefcase where you can find out more about Jay and his next big game!
