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\nStonewall is a classic NZ boardgame created in the 1990s by Mark McGregor and brothers Roger and Grant Bullot. Photo \/ Jo Jones<\/p>\n
Stonewall, the classic Kiwi boardgame that has been \u201camazing New Zealand since 1996\u201d was dreamed up by Mark McGregor and brothers Roger and Grant Bullot at a time when the country\u2019s gaming landscape looked very different.<\/p>\n
\u201cBack in the dim dark days of the last millennium \u2013 the fabled 1990s \u2013 New Zealand\u2019s gaming scene was largely barren,\u201d Grant Bullot said.<\/p>\n
Somewhere in the Whakam\u0101rama hinterlands, probably over a few beers, the trio developed an idea for what would become a distinctive combination maze-race game, born firmly in what they fondly call \u201cthe backblocks of the Bay of Plenty\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just grew and grew,\u201d Grant said. \u201cOver the next 15 years, some tens of thousands of games were manufactured out in Mark\u2019s cottage workshop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alongside the popular Travellers Edition, the creators produced about 370 Collector\u2019s Edition hardboard games. For these, Roger Bullot painstakingly crafted Mazier miniatures \u2013 three modelled in the inventors\u2019 likeness.<\/p>\n
Timing\u00a0<\/p>\n
Stonewall was rated Highly Recommended by Consumer magazine after independent testing by BoardGameGeek, and went on to be sold in Germany, England, Australia and game stores across New Zealand.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut timing is everything,\u201d Grant said. \u201cJust as Stonewall players can get \u2018stomped\u2019 by rivals, Stonewall itself was derailed by the rise of PC gaming, then game consoles.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor more than a decade, no games company wanted to touch a straight-ahead, old-school boardgame.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nStonewall is a classic NZ boardgame created in the 1990s by Mark McGregor and brothers Roger and Grant Bullot. Photo \/ Jo Jones<\/p>\n
By about 2010, the trio reluctantly called it quits. Then something unexpected happened.<\/p>\n
\u201cA decade rolled on and people were still talking about it,\u201d Grant said. \u201cAbout how they played it in the Auckland University common room, or how their parents took it to the beach on holiday.\u201d<\/p>\n
With nostalgia building \u2013 and a new generation rediscovering analogue games \u2013 Grant, who is also an artist, musician and former beekeeper, decided to revive Stonewall. The game is now produced in short-run batches of 25 sets at a time.<\/p>\n
New generation <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s interest from fans all over the world,\u201d he said. \u201cA whole new generation is discovering this Kiwi classic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Its handcrafted roots remain central. Cotton duck bags and boards are screen-printed by Dallas McKinley at PBP Screen Printing, while timber for the playing pieces comes from Tauriko mill.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re pushed through ye olde WallCrusher, cut into wall pieces, tumble-sanded and stained,\u201d Grant said. \u201cThe Maziers are cubed, branded and sanded, and then stained or painted.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\nThe Stonewall World Champs 2026 will be held from 2pm to 5.30pm on Sunday, February 1, at the Jam Factory in Tauranga Historic Village. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Stonewall\u2019s cult status is perhaps best seen in its annual tournament scene, with regular competitions in Tauranga including the Stonewall World Championship.<\/p>\n
World Champs<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s Stonewall World Champs 2026 will be held 2pm-5.30pm this Sunday, February 1, at the Jam Factory in Tauranga Historic Village.<\/p>\n
Sixteen players will battle through two rounds to determine the champion.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe winner gets a 3D-printed Stonewall cup, a one-off champ tee-shirt and a lifetime of bragging rights,\u201d Grant said. \u201cThere are also World Champ party tees and knitted emotional-support chicken prizes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The public are invited along to witness the spectacle, try out Stonewall games and enjoy live music by Derek Jacombs, Nigel Masters and Santiago Rebagliati. Grant will also perform.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea is to make a bit of a party of it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Entry is free, though attendees can buy a numbered commemorative badge to go into a prize draw.<\/p>\n
The \u201cWorld Champs\u201d title came about almost by accident.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I floated the idea online, Phillip Muir messaged to remind me he\u2019d won the last tournament we held 22 years ago \u2013 at Roma I think \u2013 and had called himself the Stonewall World Champion ever since,\u201d Grant said.<\/p>\n
He said Phillip later had 3D trophies made using stone artwork from the original game bags.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, with tongue firmly in cheek, it became the World Champs,\u201d Grant said.<\/p>\n
![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/P2V3DDW4AJEPFBJN74UV5Z6PVA.jpg\")
\nStonewall is a classic NZ boardgame created in the 1990s by Mark McGregor and brothers Roger and Grant Bullot. Photo \/ Jo Jones<\/p>\n
He said last year\u2019s winner was a newcomer \u2013 \u201ca shy young player named Arlo\u201d \u2013 who will return this year to defend his title.<\/p>\n
Stonewall\u2019s revival has also taken it back onto the national stage, with appearances at Auckland Armageddon and the Wellycon Boardgame Convention.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was amazed how many people shared fond memories of the game,\u201d Grant said. \u201cWellycon staff even hinted they see Stonewall as part of New Zealand\u2019s boardgame history, which was pretty special.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bringing people together <\/p>\n
There\u2019s also a rumour attendees may get a sneak preview of an online version of Stonewall, scheduled for release later this year.<\/p>\n
Commemorative badges at the event also put buyers in the draw to win \u201ca bunch of groovy prizes\u201d, including a hand-detailed Stonewall tournament board, original acrylic artwork by Grant, World Champs T-shirts and CDs from local musicians including Tracey and Brian De Jong, and Kokomo.<\/p>\n
Nearly three decades on, Stonewall is still doing what it does best \u2013 bringing people together, one carefully crafted wall at a time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stonewall, the classic Kiwi boardgame that has been \u201camazing New Zealand since 1996\u201d was dreamed up by Mark…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-261960","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}