Carrie Jones
Jun 05, 2026
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Window Panes Home and Garden.
BAR HARBOR — An article in Working Waterfront impressed 12-year-old Lily Sanders that she needed to play Corker, the sport featured within the article. Working Waterfront is a industrial fishing publication. And the sport? It’s set proper in Penobscot Bay.
It was intriguing and funky, so Sanders reached out to the designers of the sport. After which she requested them to play.
“Once I first learn The Working Waterfront, I believed it was cool to examine native sport designers. Then my mother mentioned we may electronic mail them, and so they not solely answered however supplied to satisfy us to play the sport,” Sanders mentioned in a press launch despatched out by Anchor Level Video games.
That interplay helped encourage Sanders who’s designing a board sport for a faculty mission.
Sanders’ mission isn’t about lobstering although. It’s about feline genetics and breeding.
She met Anchor Level Video games co-founders Cindy Wren and Gregory Birgfeld at Choco-Latte in Bar Harbor throughout Memorial Day weekend. Wren and Birgfeld are primarily based in Searsport.
“The consequence was Corker’s youngest play tester thus far and a day that drew consideration from households, café patrons, and different aspiring sport designers,” the corporate mentioned.
At Choco-Latte, Sanders and her stepdad, Colin Samuel, arrange and performed the technique sport.
“The play check was additionally the primary public outing for Anchor Level’s new versatile neoprene sport board, which rolled out throughout the café desk for a straightforward, transportable setup,” in accordance with the discharge.
“The best way the playing cards are written makes it really feel actual, virtually prefer it’s truly occurring to you. I discovered loads about lobstering,” Sanders mentioned.
Centered on the economics of lobstering in Maine, gamers get to captain lobster boats. On three fishing zones, the gamers set and haul traps, time journeys and attempt to discover one of the best market worth to promote their lobsters.
“I loved assembly Cindy and Greg and was impressed with how they’ve created such a singular sport impressed by their connection to coastal Maine,” Samuel mentioned. “I additionally actually loved getting out-fished by my step-daughter.”
Regardless of a protracted lead, Samuel misplaced to Sanders within the ultimate spherical because of a harbor enterprise card that worn out Samuel’s final haul.
After the sport, the designers checked out Sanders personal sport prototype after which the basics of sport design.
“They even gave me recommendation by myself sport that I’m engaged on,” Sanders mentioned. “Maine has such an incredible sense of neighborhood.”
Corker attracts from the actual economics of Maine lobstering. Gamers captain lobster boats, set and haul traps throughout three fishing zones, and time their journeys to port to promote at one of the best market worth. Wren and Birgfeld introduced the sport to Vinalhaven, in March, and met with working fishermen there to check it.
“Once I noticed individuals smiling and laughing and groaning, ‘aw man,’ ‘oh yay,’ seeing that emotion of them being concerned within the sport was probably the most rewarding half,” Wren instructed the Working Waterfront.
Birgfeld added, “My favourite suggestions was a man telling one other individual, ‘Oh my God, that occurred to me final 12 months.’”
The duo know the world and the business. A corker is a good catch.
The sport entails roughly 20 turns that’s meant to carry the gamers from that tough shell season proper after winter, to mushy shell season and again once more. A tide card tells the Penobscot Bay circumstances earlier than flip begins. Dies are rolled. Traps are set. Traps are hauled. Boats transfer to totally different elements of the bay.
“A whole lot of the sport play concerned tangling ropes, stacking traps improperly, altering climate across the islands, ledges, open ocean. Key mechanics is that in case you keep in-shore the place it’s safer you haul fewer lobsters, however in case you gamble for deeper water or lobsters the place fewer individuals fish, you run the chance of the climate altering or the buoys being washed away by whitecaps or another occasion,” Birgfeld instructed the Working Waterfront. “You’re considering each flip how a lot danger you’re prepared to tackle. Folks begin feeling the stress to usher in extra money.”
And that turns into a part of the sport. And the sport? It turns into a part of the neighborhood not simply because it’s performed, however as individuals study it, assist create it, try it out, and as children like Lily Sanders are responded to and brought underneath the sport creators’ wing.
“That sense of neighborhood prolonged past the playtest,” in accordance with Wren. “Earlier than Lily’s household arrived, one other household stopped on the desk considering the sport may be open to play. Their ten-year-old son wished to know all the pieces about it, whereas his father shared that he and a few pals had as soon as sketched out a sport concept of their very own. On the subsequent desk, a stranger requested to learn the rulebook whereas he completed his drink. By the tip of the afternoon, a number of individuals had signed up for updates on the Corker Gamefound marketing campaign.”
Corker is scheduled to launch on Gamefound in 2026. To comply with the marketing campaign or join updates, go to corkerthegame.com.
About Corker
Corker is a 2-6 participant technique board sport set on Penobscot Bay. Gamers tackle the function of Maine lobsterboat captains, setting and hauling traps, navigating altering market costs, and competing to earn probably the most from their catch. Impressed by the actual rhythms and economics of Maine lobstering, Corker combines accessible gameplay with significant strategic selections.
About Anchor Level Video games
Anchor Level Video games is a Maine-based tabletop sport firm based by Cindy Wren and Gregory Birgfeld. The corporate creates video games rooted in place, neighborhood, and real-world programs, with a give attention to technique, storytelling, and genuine connections to Maine life.
PHOTOS: COURTESY ANCHOR POINT GAMES
Comply with us on Facebook or BlueSky or Instagram. And as a reminder, you’ll be able to simply view all our previous tales and press releases here.
Bar Harbor Story is a principally reader-supported publication. To obtain new posts and help our work, contemplate changing into a free or paid subscriber. Thanks for being right here with us and being a part of our neighborhood too!
Thanks for studying Bar Harbor Story! This publish is public so be happy to share it.
Share
For those who’d prefer to donate to assist help us, you’ll be able to, however no stress! Just click here (about how one can give) or here (a direct hyperlink), which is similar because the button beneath.
To support The Story
For those who’d prefer to sponsor the Bar Harbor Story, you’ll be able to! Learn more here.
Leave a comment
THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING OUR COMMITMENT TO YOUR COMMUNITY
Your contribution is appreciated.
Your contribution is appreciated.
Your contribution is appreciated.
Your contribution is appreciated.
Your contribution is appreciated.
Your contribution is appreciated.
Subscribe now to maintain studying and get entry to the total archive.
Continue reading
