About Thunderworks Games

Thunderworks has been creating innovative board games since 2013 out of Madison, Wisconsin. Whether you're new to board games or an enthusiast, you'll enjoy our award-winning strategy games for years to come!

Things started small - Keith Matejka's first game, Bullfrogs, and two subsequent titles were funded on Kickstarter with less than 1,000 backers each. The company's flagship title, Roll Player, slowly but surely developed a strong following. The pace quickened with the explosive success of the game's first expansion in 2018. Then Cartographers took off like wildfire amidst it's nomination for the coveted Kennerspiel des Jahres award in 2019. This led to Keith transitioning to run Thunderworks full-time starting in 2019.

Fast forward a few years and Thunderworks Games now employs a team of 5 people. We have published 12 original games + 7 expansions and sold over 700,000 games worldwide!

We'd love to hear from you! Feel free to send us a message or stop by at one of the many gaming conventions we attend each year.

A Visual Timeline

Bullfrogs box cover
2015 - Bullfrogs
Roll Player box cover
2016 - Roll Player
Blend Off! box cover
2016 - Blend Off!
Roll Player: Monsters & Minions box cover
2018 - Roll Player: Monsters & Minions
Dual Powers box cover
2018 - Dual Powers: Revolution 1917
Cartographers box cover
2019 - Cartographers
Lockup box cover
2019 - Lockup
Roll Player: Fiends & Familiars box cover
2020 - Roll Player: Fiends & Familiars
Roll Player Adventures box cover
2021 - Roll Player Adventures
Roll Player Adventures: Nefras's Judgement box cover
2021 - Roll Player Adventures: Nefras's Judgement
Cartographers Heroes box cover
2021 - Cartographers Heroes
Cartographers Maps 1-3 covers
2021 - Cartographer: Map Packs 1-3
Cape May box cover
2021 - Cape May
Lockup Breakout box cover
2022 - Lockup: Breakout
Tenpenny Parks box cover
2022 - Tenpenny Parks
Cartographers Maps 4-6 covers
2022 - Cartographers: Map Packs 4-6
Goblin Vaults box cover
2023 - Goblin Vaults
Dawn of Ulos box cover
2023 - Dawn of Ulos
Roll Player Adventures: Gulpax's Secret box cover
2023 - Roll Player Adventures: Gulpax's Secret
Stonespine Architects box cover
2024 - Stonespine Architects
Metrorunner box cover
2024 - Metrorunner

Meet the Team

Illustrated portrait of Keith Matejka

Keith Matejka, Owner & Designer

Keith is the creative lead at Thunderworks Games and handles design, development, art direction, customer service, and manufacturing.

Before founding the company, Keith worked in the video game industry for 15 years in both development and publishing. His primary roles included managing teams of artists, programmers, animators and sound engineers. He has a bachelor’s degree in music recording and has had a lifelong passion for playing and exploring music.

He enjoys time with his wife Claire, and son Isaac.

Illustrated portrait of Kirk Dennison

Kirk Dennison, Operations Manager

Kirk oversees business operations, including managing logistics, finances, and our websites. He started as a contractor in 2017 and joined full-time in Jan 2022.

Prior to joining Thunderworks, Kirk worked in healthcare analytics for 10 years. He also designed and published games (PieceKeeper Games) and created the pledge manager used by TWG (Jet Backer).

Outside of work, he loves spending time with his wife and 4 young kids, playing board games (Keyflower, Can't Stop), and watching mind-bending movies (Memento).

Illustrated portrait of Claire Matejka

Claire Matejka, Sales Manager

Claire takes care of convention planning and is the primary contact for retailers and distributors at Thunderworks Games. When not wrangling invoices or Gen Con event schedules, she helps manage the local warehouse.

She graduated from San Jose State University in criminal justice studies and operated her own personal organization business for 8 years before joining her husband at Thunderworks.

Claire is an avid reader, and enjoys taking care of the household pets, including their latest addition, Peugeot the parrot.

Illustrated portrait of Jess Carrier

Jess Carrier, Marketing Manager

Joining our team in 2023, Jess tackles all things marketing! You'll find her influence in our advertisements, game descriptions, social media, and public relations.

A UW Madison alumnus with a linguistics and literature background, Jess began working professionally in the tabletop industry in 2018, turning a lifelong hobby into a career.

After hours, she enjoys Madison's culinary scene, playing PC and tabletop games (obviously), reading (and sometimes writing) sci-fi and fantasy, traveling, playing various stringed instruments, and spoiling her pets.

Illustrated portrait of Stephen Kerr

Stephen Kerr, Graphic Designer

Stephen Kerr is Thunderworks Games’ resident graphic designer.

After moving to Madison from Los Angeles in 2017, Stephen met Keith at a local board game design meetup, where they eventually started to collaborate on projects. His credits for Thunderworks Games include Cape May, Dawn of Ulos, Goblin Vaults and the upcoming Metrorunner which is also his first published game as designer.

While board games are both a job and a hobby, Stephen is also a screenwriter – having co-written several unproduced films – and a member of the Writer’s Guild of America West.

Warehouse hours:

7182 US Highway 14, Unit 402
Middleton, WI 53562

Mon - Fri, 9:30 am - 6 pm
(except Thu 11:30 am - 2 pm)

Get directions
Wooden pallets stacked with cases of board games in a warehouse