Cryptozoic Entertainment

Founded in 2010, Cryptozoic Entertainment has built a catalog around tabletop games, trading cards, and collectibles. One of its earliest major assignments was the *World of Warcraft Trading Card Game*. Cryptozoic took over publication of the game from Upper Deck Entertainment, producing cards set in Blizzard Entertainment’s Warcraft universe until the game ended in 2013. The cards included codes for items that players could redeem in *World of Warcraft*, linking the physical product to the online game.

Cryptozoic’s best-known tabletop line is the *DC Deck-Building Game*, first released in 2012. Players take the roles of DC superheroes, acquire cards during play, and build decks capable of defeating super-villains. The game introduced Cryptozoic’s Cerberus Engine, a system the company went on to use in other deck-building titles. The DC line grew through releases with distinct themes: *Heroes Unite* brought in characters such as Shazam, *Forever Evil* let players take the roles of villains, and the *Crisis* expansions added cooperative play. Later entries included *Teen Titans* and *Dark Nights: Metal*.

The company has also adapted screen franchises into games with mechanics tied to their source material. In *Rick and Morty: Total Rickall Card Game*, players try to identify alien parasites masquerading as familiar characters, echoing the television episode “Total Rickall.” *Portal: The Uncooperative Cake Acquisition Game* draws on Valve’s puzzle-game setting, using Aperture Laboratories test subjects and cake as parts of its tabletop competition. Cryptozoic’s *Ghostbusters: The Board Game* was funded through Kickstarter in 2015; its follow-up, *Ghostbusters II: The Board Game*, returned to crowdfunding the next year. Both turned the films’ ghost-catching premise into cooperative play.

Not all of Cryptozoic’s games depend on a licensed franchise. Its *Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards* series is known for exaggerated fantasy combat and spells assembled from multiple cards. That contrasts with the recognizable characters and settings that anchor much of its licensed work, but it sits alongside them in the company’s tabletop catalog.

Beyond games, Cryptozoic has produced entertainment trading cards and collectible figures. Its *DC Bombshells* collectibles draw on DC’s retro-styled interpretations of its characters, while its original *Cryptkins* figures depict creatures from folklore and cryptid stories, including Bigfoot and the Mothman. Together, those products show the range of formats Cryptozoic has used: playable card systems, board games, trading-card releases, and display collectibles.