The company closed. The historical work includes manufacturing and fulfilled physical products.
Situation
A tabletop-gaming hardware company co-founded in Spokane in 2018. The product, store, brand, supply chain, and production facility had to work together.
Commitment
Turn a funded magnetic tabletop product into something that could be manufactured and shipped from an in-house production line.
Constraint
Material behavior and the production workflow were part of the product. The marker surface, magnetic components, printing, cutting, and assembly had to hold together outside the prototype.
Zach’s ownership
Founder & Chief Product Officer: product development, coating development, 3D modeling, engineering drawings, manufacturing workflow, brand, and store.
Critical decisions
Develop the ANY-ERASE nano-ceramic coating and keep production in-house. Treat the workflow across magnetic printing, contour cutting, and prototyping as one operating system.
System
Mimic’s Grid, Goblin Glass, and related magnetic products; a just-in-time manufacturing line that ran largely autonomously, according to the founder’s recorded account.
Result
Physical products were manufactured and shipped. The founder confirms 25,000+ units; supporting fulfillment records have not yet been retrieved. The company closed. Funding figures do not establish revenue or profitability.
Handoff
The recorded account supports a largely autonomous production workflow. It does not establish a successful company exit or a continuing operation.
Evidence & limits
Founder & Chief Product Officer, Cursed Crypt, May 2018 – Sep 2022. Kickstarter cleared a $30K goal at ~330% (~$100K on-platform plus ~$75K direct presales), followed by ~$500K seed. Built an end-to-end just-in-time manufacturing line that ran largely autonomously.
Author-confirmed account. Funding is not revenue, profitability, or continuing operation. The company has closed.
Cursed Crypt shipped 25,000+ units.
Author-confirmed units, not boards. Fulfillment records have not yet been retrieved for inspection.
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Technical documentation & source account
Cursed Crypt was a tabletop-gaming hardware company I co-founded in Spokane, Washington in 2018. We designed and manufactured physical products for tabletop role playing games, ran the brand and store ourselves, and built our own just-in-time production facility. I was co-founder and chief product officer. The company has since closed.
The bet
The tabletop market was growing fast but had seen little real product innovation in decades. Most accessories were variations on ideas from the 1980s. We built products from a player's point of view, kept an on-shored supply chain with full in-house production, and used original media and community to grow the brand.
What we built
Mimic's Grid was the flagship: a 10 by 10 inch raised steel tile with an integrated impact frame, a neoprene base, and embedded magnets. Tiles snap together, magnetic pieces and printed maps lock onto the face, and a coating I developed, called ANY-ERASE, lets you write on it with any marker and wipe it clean.
Goblin Glass carried that surface to an 8.5 by 11 inch dry-erase sheet. Around the platform we produced magnetic maps and elements, adhesive magnets for miniatures, a cleaning kit, and apparel.
I developed the nano-ceramic coating, did the 3D modeling and engineering drawings, and set up the manufacturing workflow: wide-format magnetic printing, contour cutting, and 3D printing for prototyping.
Traction
We launched Mimic's Grid on Kickstarter in 2019 and cleared the $30K goal at about 330%, raising roughly $100K on the platform plus about $75K in direct presales, almost entirely on word of mouth in the tabletop community. Across the four-year run we raised about $500K in seed capital. We opened a production facility in Spokane Valley, shipped the first products that December, and filed patents and trademarks for the Mimic's Grid and the ANY-ERASE coating through Lee & Hayes.
My role
- Ran product development end to end, from concept and 3D modeling through manufacturing.
- Led the Kickstarter campaign and the community that formed around it.
- Built the brand, the website, and the e-commerce store.
- Stood up and managed in-house manufacturing.
- Set the operating model across R&D, media, manufacturing, and digital.