We’re just doin’ it for the cause.

Dice or Death Games was founded in 2020 by Ray Ortgiesen as a fiercely independent game design studio, one built so that its games could follow their designer's curiosity rather than the market's. That independence is the whole point. It's the freedom to explore the strategic, tactical, and puzzle-style design spaces Ray finds genuinely interesting, and to find the players who light up at the same things. The long-term goal is bigger than any one release. The aim is to build a catalog of innovative games and foster a passionate community that gives direct feedback to the developers.

The mission is simple. The execution is anything but. Ray reached out to life-long friend Erik Finnegan, the 2013 StarCityGames Magic: The Gathering Standard Open Champion (Erik: nobody tell Ray this isn't exceptionally prestigious) [Ray: nobody tell Erik it's actually impressive to anyone who isn't a competitive Magic player]. Late-night arguments about game design had long been a staple of their friendship, and they had the conviction, some would say arrogance, to believe they could design a tactical card game that could stand alongside Summoner Wars or Netrunner.

The first version showed potential, but the deck building didn't feel strategic enough and the tactical play needed more depth. So they took what they learned and built something almost entirely new. They iterated relentlessly, chasing the version of the game they could feel was in there somewhere. By 2023 it was ready for a real test. Ray and Erik brought it to Gen Con, put it in the hands of strangers, and watched people actually enjoy it. The mechanics were landing. The game just didn't look the part yet.

So Erik kept refining the card and unit mechanics with an enthusiastic team of beta testers, while Ray went looking for the world those mechanics deserved. He found it in cyberpunk. Working with a team of talented artists, the game leaned fully into a gritty '90s cyberpunk identity of neon, grime, and corporate menace, until the look felt as deliberate as the rules. The result was Black Hats, a game where the aesthetic and the mechanics finally spoke the same language.

That first title is now real. Black Hats launched in 2026, and the game built across years of iteration now ships in a single box to players around the world. You can pick up a copy right here, and it's only the beginning of what Dice or Death intends to build.