A Promotion And A New Face

In normal families, the younger generation grows up and moves out after they've learned as much as they can. But this is the Munchkin office, where "growing up" is a liability, not an asset, and moving out just makes it harder to have a meeting.

Leonard Balsera has been my loyal Hireling for almost a year now, and I'm pleased to announce that he has been elevated to the exalted (but still sub-Czar, because I'm a power-hungry bastard) rank of Munchkin Baron. He's already been taking on a lot more responsibilities for product checking and marketing of the Munchkin line, and has even designed one of the 2013 Munchkin boosters. Congratulations, Lenny, and thanks!

To help take on some of the day-to-day drudgery we're promoting Lenny away from, we've added Keith Blackard to the team as the new Munchkin Hireling. Keith will be telling you about himself a little later in the Daily Illuminator, but for now, I'll just say that I've known him for a couple of years and he's got every qualification for the job except one: he's too quiet. We'll fix that. Welcome to the team, Keith!

(An oddity: both Lenny and Keith are now using standing desks. I feel like I should be saying "At ease!" every half hour or so.)

As for me, this frees up more of my time to work on product design, which should mean you see a more consistent flow of cool Munchkin stuff in 2013 and beyond, including some projects I can't even begin to discuss but that I'm really excited about. I'm also taking some of the planning load off Phil, which ought to be good for everyone.

Thanks to everyone for your support this year! As a reminder, we'll be closed from December 14 until January, and I'm thinking we may schedule another Google hangout for early next year. If you've got some ideas for things we can talk about, hit the forums and let us know!