Brass: Pittsburgh has just become the biggest board game crowdfund of 2026. Roxley Games' sequel to Brass: Birmingham, BoardGameGeek's number-one ranked board game, closed at $9,113,235.27 on Gamefound from 37,030 backers, more than double what CEO and co-designer Gavan Brown said he was hoping for. He'd told the team a $4 million close was the realistic case and $8 million the stretch.
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See how it worksWhat makes the number interesting is how Roxley got there. Brown told BoardGameWire the studio deliberately avoided the deluxe arms race that defines most big crowdfunds. The Essentials Edition matches Brass: Birmingham's $80 retail price, with the upgraded Collector's Edition reserved for backers who actually want the chunky bits. The result is top-ten-all-time crowdfund numbers without a $400 plastic-stuffed mega box, putting Pittsburgh in company with the Cosmere RPG and Frosthaven.
Brass: Pittsburgh extends Martin Wallace's Brass system into late 19th-century Pennsylvania, with Brown co-designing alongside the original Brass creator. Two to four players step into the boots of Carnegie, Vanderbilt, Rockefeller and friends, building railways, pipelines, oil refineries and steel mills across a 60-120 minute economic puzzle. It keeps Wallace's brass-and-cotton DNA but swaps cotton mills for steel and shipping. Heavy development started November 2024.
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Find events near youIf your group is full of euro players who've ground Birmingham to dust, this is the big one to watch. The Gamefound campaign launched on 24 March and closed in late April, with an Endgame phase tacking on another million in pledges. Pledge fulfilment is dated for late 2026.
Got a regular eurogame night already? Pencil in a Brass: Pittsburgh launch night for late 2026 once delivery starts.
Sources: BoardGameWire | GameGuideDog | Gamefound
