GoKawiilAs a huge fan of just about any game that involves friends gathering around a table to play together, I have seen many become popular for a year or two, then fade into the background as the larger legacy titles continue to dominate. And when I asked other tabletop gamers around me what they thought of Disney’s Lorcana when it first released three years ago, the response was almost unanimously “we’ll see.”
Today, most of those same people don’t just own Lorcana decks; they regularly play at the local game shop. I’d seen firsthand how Lorcana had won over gamers and the many ways it’s clearly growing, but a chat with co-creator Ryan Miller really helped me see why this game is so popular and what the next couple of years will look like.
Ravensburger’s booth at most game conventions is pretty big, but this year’s D23 was something unique. The size of the booth had grown significantly from its presence at Disney’s convention two years ago, including a massive space to play alongside a retail space and a small section for an in-person treasure hunt called a Collector Quest, where you find four cards inside of booster packs and trade them in for a rarer card with a foiled background.
That last part was so popular it took over six large nearby tables as people searched booster packs for the cards they needed, everyone helping one another reach their respective goals. There was an entire 120-plus-person Lorcana tournament in the middle of this convention, complete with cameras and color commentary. It was easily one of the biggest booths on the show floor that wasn’t entirely dedicated to shopping, and was constantly buzzing with activity.
Playing Lorcana at your local games store is peak. James Bricknel/CNET
Lorcana appeals to more than the Disney-obsessed, but that’s clearly a huge part of the base. Folks who have never played another trading card game before own multiple decks to challenge others, while others are here purely for the artwork and its place in their collections. It’s a wide array of customers to appeal to, and according to Ryan Miller, the key to keeping everyone as happy as possible is to avoid being overly reactive. “You can’t be too reactive. Partly because we’re a physical product. It’s impossible to be too reactive. Where we can be more reactive is in how we talk with our audience and how we listen to them, and then […] the play programs and things like that that are a bit more agile. ”
Miller adds that customers’ feedback is key, “There’s a lot of folks that are easier to hear just because of the spaces that we’re familiar with, but we’ve got to make sure we’re always listening to as many folks as possible.”
Experience also plays a huge part. Miller himself is a 25-plus-year industry veteran, with time at Wizards of the Coast (Magic: The Gathering) among many others, and it’s clear expertise matters to this team. I watched a single Ravensburger employee play Pack Rush and two other Lorcana games against players simultaneously, ensuring each person not only had fun and felt supported but also learned ways to improve their gameplay. The knowledge of the cards and the lore and the upcoming releases came from everyone at this booth, because they all had a part to play in helping any kind of player to approach the booth.
Russell Holly
Having the support of a company as large as Disney certainly doesn’t hurt. After a test run on Disney Cruise Lines last year, Lorcana will be included in every ship starting in 2027. But according to Miller, the goal of Disney property activations like cruise ships or the Collector Quest event at last year’s Festival of the Arts isn’t to turn most people into hard-core Lorcana players.
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