Every time a bell rings, a tariff gets their wings 🪽
A measured approach to difficult times.
Tariff different 🧠
Read about our approach to tariffs in the United States
Like being forced to play Monopoly with people who just learned you like board games.
The IV Studio Response to Tariffs
Tariffs are a drag—but we’ve got your back. Here’s how we’re navigating the storm to keep the games rolling and the fun flowing. Spoiler: It involves something we’re calling The Terrific Tariff Trade.
The highlights
We strongly encourage you to read the full post on our response to tariffs, but we've included a summary of the key points here.
You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become a tariff 🪙
The best way to help is to shop our terrific tariff trade
We had five products slated for a direct-to-market launch at Gen Con this year that we're opening for pre-orders. We'll use the would-be profits from these sales to fund any amounts of tariff we have to pay.
Somewhere over the rainbow, tariffs fly 🐦
You can't leave the table until you've eaten all your tariffs 🥦
A tariff in hand is worth two in the bush 🦆
A tariffic audible 🏈
We need your help
Whether tariffs remain at 145% or return to a more reasonable level, we don't expect them to be 0% anytime soon. To prepare for the eventuality of paying some amount of tariff, we'd like to propose a trade.
In exchange for your kindness and generosity in the form of cash, we'll provide you with goods suitable for a very pleasant evening with friends. Obviously, we mean games.
Happy happenstance
These five items were supposed to be our first direct-to-market launches. No pre-orders. But how lucky are we to have five completely finished products to offer in this trade? It may not be what we planned, but we're happy it's even an option.
Unaffected by tariffs
The delivery of items in this trade is unaffected by the current 145% level of tariffs. The hardest element of the current tariffs is the suddenness of them. We have plenty of time to plan our cashflow to manage the delivery costs of the items here.
Our commitment to you
While we do need more cash to deal with tariffs, we're happy to sacrifice short term profits on these items in this trade to fulfill our promise to you. We will deliver the products you purchased from us at the price we told you they would cost.
Win-win
We love a win-win scenario—and this seems to fit the bill. We get cash to prepare ourselves to pay tariffs, you get some pretty cool new games on a timeline much shorter than a Kickstarter.
Delivers in September
Amazingly, because we were already planning to launch these at Gen Con, the three games available for pre-order will deliver in September!
The goods suitable for trade
Time to Panic: Limited Edition
$29.99
History has been shattered! Work together to carefully reconstruct the timeline by manipulating events into chronological order. TTP is a cooperative card game that is easy to learn and great for solo or groups of up to 4.
More details below
Graft: Limited Edition
$29.99
Farm, fish, and forage to gather the perfect harvest in this game for 3-5 players. Draft cards, collect sets, and fill your cargo with valuable goods to send back to Zenith, but don't wait too long to ship it or risk busting!
More details below
Pillars of Fate: Limited Edition
$29.99
Deduction meets lane battler in this 2 player showdown. A game with hidden information and asymmetric powers that will leave you wanting to win AND lose your battles. Choose when and where to play your heroes wisely.
More details below
Brink: Section 99 Micro-expansion
$14.99
Trade tensions have reached the stars—each ship upgrade now comes with a cost paid in resource cubes to the UA. Players may recover these taxed resources, but only by sacrificing hard-earned Prestige. What’s power without a little pain?
More details below
Moonrakers Playing Cards
$14.99
A meticulously crafted deck of playing cards, inspired by the stunning sci-fi world of Moonrakers. Featuring custom artwork and premium finishes, it’s a collector’s piece that plays as beautifully as it looks.
More details below
When life gives you tariffs, make tariffade 🍋
How to place an order
Because this is a pre-order, we've decided to process orders through the Scales of Fate pledge manager.
It will function exactly like you're late pledging to a project, and you can simply select the items you wish to include in your order. This method also means you can order from any destination around the world that's included in our crowdfunding campaigns.
For more information, see the FAQ at the bottom of the page.
If every tariff is special, no tariffs are special 🏆
Limited Editions
Time to Panic, Graft, and Pillars of Fate are all being sold as limited editions, which include:
Numbered Boxes
A limited print run of numbered boxes that denote the uniqueness of the contents they contain.
Special Cards
Holofoil, gold foil, UV Printing, and more. Each game includes a special design feature on its cards.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH 😱
Time to Panic: Limited Edition
$29.99
History has been shattered! Work together to carefully reconstruct the timeline by manipulating events into chronological order. TTP is a cooperative card game that is easy to learn and great for solo or groups of up to 4.
The Limited Edition version includes a numbered box and cards with holofoil accents.
Available for pickup at Gen Con, shipping in September 2025, or shipping with Scales of Fate.
Delivery unaffected by current tariffs.
Start your orderTime to Panic
Gameplay Overview
A catastrophic anomaly has shattered the fabric of time, leaving history in disarray. Your team—an elite group of multiversal agents—must work together to repair the timeline before it’s too late. By carefully manipulating events back in to chronological order, you will restore balance to reality. On each turn, you will place a card back into the time line and activate its ability. Then draw a new panic card to resolve, sowing extra chaos in the game. The fewer mistakes you make, the better your final score. A perfect game results in a completely accurate timeline with no misplaced events. But beware, if too many events are misplaced, history may be lost forever.
Work together to repair the timeline
Players must organize the timeline cards chronologically from number 1 to 36 with as few errors as possible!
Play cards and activate abilities
Each turn players will play one card and activate its ability, helping them reorder the timeline.
Overcome 3 levels of difficulty
Players will be able to choose from Mild Panic, Panic, and Total Panic to adjust the difficulty to the game night.
Get your green thumb ready 🌳
Graft: Limited Edition
$29.99
Farm, fish, and forage to gather the perfect harvest in this game for 3-5 players. Draft cards, collect sets, and fill your cargo with valuable goods to send back to Zenith, but don't wait too long to ship it or risk busting!
The Limited Edition version includes a numbered box and cards with gold & silver foil accents.
Available for pickup at Gen Con, shipping in September 2025, or shipping with Scales of Fate.
Delivery unaffected by current tariffs.
Start your orderGraft
Gameplay Overview
Graft is a card drafting, set collection game for 3-5 players where you will fill your cargo manifest with high-value goods and send them back to Zenith Corporation. On each turn, you will simultaneously draft 1 card to place into your cargo manifest. Each card is a valuable good that has a specific scoring condition and restrictions on how they can be packed in your manifest. Keep drafting cards to gain more points but be careful, because if you don’t pack your cargo properly, Zenith will reject your manifest, forcing you to start over. At any time, a player may send their cargo to Zenith by playing their Ship Cargo card. This signals the end of their current collection and locks in those cards for scoring. Chain combos, avoid busting, and claim badges to score the most points with Zenith to become their best pioneer.
Chain combos to score big
Each card has a scoring condition in the bottom left. Finding the right combos of cards will score big!
Draft cards and avoid busting
Each turn, players will play a drafted card. Some cards have an icon in the top left which restricts the cards that can be played after them. If your next hand doesn't have a card you can play, you bust and compost those cards!
Claim badges
If a player can ship a set of cards that matches one of the available badge conditions, they can claim it with their player token. Be the first player to claim a badge to score the most points.
Pick a lane ⚔️
Pillars of Fate: Limited Edition
$29.99
Deduction meets lane battler in this 2 player showdown. A game with hidden information and asymmetric powers that will leave you wanting to win AND lose your battles. Choose when and where to play your heroes wisely.
The Limited Edition version includes a numbered box and cards with gold foil accents.
Available for pickup at Gen Con, shipping in September 2025, or shipping with Scales of Fate.
Delivery unaffected by current tariffs.
Start your orderPillars of Fate
Gameplay Overview
In Pillars of Fate, 2 players compete across three ages, deploying mortal champions and divine beings to claim legendary quests. Each age unfolds as players take turns strategically playing cards into three quest lanes, where battles are won through either the path of Feathers or Scorpions. Victory isn’t just about winning—it’s about how you win. The dominant suit in each lane determines the battle’s rewards, meaning the victor may walk away with satisfaction or possibly fewer points than expected. To deepen the intrigue, players may place one card face down per lane, keeping their true intentions hidden. Is it a powerful reinforcement or the perfect trap? Additionally, divine beings bring special asymmetric abilities that can drastically shift the tide of battle, adding another layer of strategy. Can you control the fate of the quests and earn the most renown at the end of the 3 ages?
Battle over three lanes
Players will play 3 cards into each lane, using their deck of champions and divine heroes to win (or lose) each of them.
Two possible outcomes
Each Quest has two possible results—a feather or scorpion—that are determined by the suits of the cards played in that lane.
Hide your intentions
Each player may play one card face-down per lane, obscuring intentions. Is it powerful reinforcements... or the perfect trap?
Tariffs in space 💵
Brink Micro-expansion: Section 99
$14.99
Trade tensions have reached the stars—each ship upgrade now comes with a cost paid in resource cubes to the UA. Players may recover these taxed resources, but only by sacrificing hard-earned Prestige. What’s power without a little pain?
Expected to ship in September 2025, or with Scales of Fate.
Delivery unaffected by current tariffs.
Start your orderSection 99
Gameplay Overview
In the Section 99 micro-expansion for Brink, upgrading a ship now has a hidden cost—one of the cubes used is pulled from circulation and placed on a mysterious HEX—known as Section 99—at the edge of the board. Players can choose to travel there to reclaim the lost resources, but doing so comes at the cost of 5 Prestige, a penalty for dealing in questionable territory. In lower player count games, Section 99 starts with one cube of each color, making the risk even more tempting.
A standard deck of cards ♠️♥️♣️♦️
Moonrakers Playing Cards
$14.99
A meticulously crafted deck of playing cards, inspired by the stunning sci-fi world of Moonrakers. Featuring custom artwork and premium finishes, it’s a collector’s piece that plays as beautifully as it looks.
Available for pickup at Gen Con, shipping in September 2025, or shipping with Scales of Fate.
Delivery unaffected by current tariffs.
Start your orderYou can't leave the table until you've eaten all your tariffs 🥦
The effect of tariffs
It's time we stop ignoring the realities of tariffs on the human body.
Before
After