You may have noticed that quite a few small publishers in the UK have closed EU exports following the latest change in trade regulations, and sadly, we are one of them. As of July 2026 there is a new customs charge in place that means that EU exports are no longer viable for us. We realise that is a sad situation, and we hope that matters improve, not just for us but for small publishers all round.
We will, of course, honour all existing orders from EU countries, but we will not be taking any new ones.
On a brighter note: the second edition of the Cloud Tower Tarot is in the final stages of production. There have been many requests for a publication date – what we can tell you is that we expect to have it back in stock in a few weeks! There’s an updated box and a new bonus card, THE CHALICE.
Here’s to new cards, and hopefully better news about exports soon.
Hello Everybody! We have REPRINTED! And there is a SPECIAL OFFER on!
Hand Drawn Cards For All
Chris is literally tucking a hand-drawn extra card into every deck of any Betonmond game ordered until end of June. That’s right. We don’t understand how that is possible, either. He just really enjoys drawing. And no, it isn’t a limited edition print of a hand-drawn card, it is literally a real drawing just for you. A drawing of what? That’ll be the surprise. They are, naturally, all different. No requests taken.
The Big Reprint
After selling out most of our stock across the board, we spent some time preparing a full re-issue of all our games. We upgraded the card stock of Little Ghost to be a little bit more robust (but kept the price the same).
Wizard Work has a new tuck-box showing our favourite engineer wizard Felpersham Flitchitt on his way to work.
CROWDS and PATHS are also available for all your storytelling needs.
But Where Is The Tarot, we hear you ask? It is still sold out!
Fear not, we are on the case – there’s a new bonus card in the works, and an updated box design for this new edition.
Head to the Cycling Fish to order, the warehouse is stocked and Chris is busily hand – drawing cards for you all.
Our new storytelling deck comes with a little set of instructions to get you started. Here they are – along with a couple of small crowds to get you started.
Here is a vast crowd, looking at you.
There are fifty-two cards, each a little crowd in itself.
You can lay them out as you like. You can play with them.
The crowd is full of strangers now, but soon you might get to know some of them so well that you give them names. Some of them might look familiar already.
They are here to help you tell stories, if you wish.
You could…
Play a guessing game.
You will need a friend to play with.
Lay out a crowd of a few cards. Your friend secretly chooses a character for you to guess.
Now you ask questions, and your friend answers until you think you can guess who they chose.
Try only using questions about the things that your friend imagines that character would do instead of questions about what they look like. For example:
What would they buy in a shop, a carrot or a sword?
What would they use it for, magic or dinner?
Ask them questions
Lay out a crowd of as many cards as you like.
Ask any question you like and with your eyes closed, point.
Answer the question in the voice of whoever your finger landed on. Let them say the first thing that comes to mind. – They might not be right, but they’ll probably have an opinion.
Tell a story
You can let your crowd help you tell a story.
Start by laying down one crowd card. Pick a protagonist from that card and begin to tell their story.
In the story, they are not in a crowd. They are somewhere else. Start by saying where they are and what they are doing there.
When you need a new idea, lay another card down. Imagine everyone on it is here to listen to your story and help it along. Pick a new character to inspire you.
They could play a part, if you want a new character to join the story. Or you could imagine what they might suggest as they are listening to you.
Maybe they can supply an item that should appear in the story next, or know about a place. Maybe they remember something that happened in the past. For example, a bear might remind you that someone in the story is very hungry, or that they could hear about a mysterious cave.
Keep going like that, and see where the story takes you.
One of the 52 artworks. They are all this crowded.
The idea is simple: what a storyteller needs is an audience. A good crowd gives you inspiration. You can look at them and guess what they will find exciting. You can ask them for suggestions. If you’re brave enough you can even invite them to take on a part!
This deck is your crowd. You can choose how many and which ones to lay out – do you want dragons? Tree people? Mysterious hooded figures? Let them join as the story goes on.
It’s been a good journey, starting with Chris deciding to ink as many characters as humanly possible on a deck of cards. He created 52 intricate artworks. There was a gallery exhibition with them staring down from the walls before we turned them all into cards.
Viv developed a booklet of suggestions for getting to know them, playing with them by yourself or with a friend to find your way to improvising stories.
We can’t wait to hear what you’ll do with them.
It’s shipping in autumn. Chris will sign the packs, or course.
Paths was our first (and long sold-out) storytelling deck that gives you a map of little landscapes that can be combined any way you like. They make a lovely set.
A couple of Fridays ago we started a new habit: an end-of-the-week livestream where we talk about betonmond’s projects. Last time it was Wizard Work, and it seems that the equipment is working, so we’ll keep going.
This time we’ll be showing you: the fifty-two cute little ink and watercolour ghosts Chris drew, how it’s played (in short), and we’ll chat about how it was made while Chris draws a whole new illustration.
Chris Riddell is chatting live to Viv about “Wizard Work”, the stategic family game about magical job opportunities designed by Kevan Davis and illustrated by Chris.
Let me show you the prototypes for our first card game, Wizard Work. The finished deck is a beautiful thing, with intricate ink and watercolour illustrations by Chris Riddell. But, as is proper, it started out as a bunch of paper scraps and a spreadsheet.
To begin with, Kevan Davis invented the game and did all the required maths. In the game, you get to sit in a pub and recruit wizards to do assorted jobs in a land of fairytales. The jobs have diverse requirements, and the wizards have diverse abilities when it comes to casting spells, potions, dealing with technology and straight-up fire. Kevan figured out the numbers needed on the cards, and randomised a bunch of wizardy names so we could make our first paper prototype.
We wanted the game to feel narrative, so I did a quick doodle on each card to represent the stats with some character that might pass for a wizard in the job market.
What Viv thinks wizards look like.
I don’t have the full set of cards any more – I remember there was one guy whose magic power was entirely contained in a vacuum cleaner, and another applicant was just a baby named “The Baby” (child labour seemingly being largely unregulated in fairytales, or maybe the magic power of The Baby was employability).
We tested this one a lot with friends – out in the park, because covid restrictions were still very much on. We got quite fond of those shonky wizards, but eventually, they had to go.
When the game was ready to illustrate, Chris drew a set of new wizards. He made them up himself from scratch and named them.
We tested again with them and I made notes and scribbled all over them. The main idea was to keep narrative hooks in play, so after assigning each character a set of numbers we thought about how to make them more obviously connected to their abilities, and how to encourage a bit of storytelling in other ways.
Second and third prototype, characters by Chris Riddell.
Chris redrew the lot from scratch, adding more narrative detail (not necessarily the detail I suggested, which is good, there would be more vaccum cleaners in this game and fewer airships else) and we tested again. The new wizards did a fine job, and we carried on designing the cards and the rulebook.
That’s when John Peacock came in, our graphic designer.
All I have to show for my part in the card design is a drawing that seems to explain SOMETHING.
At some point I probably pointed at this and said DO YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN
Fortunately John is Very Good At This Kind Of Thing, and after over a decade of dealing with my roughs for many projects he also understands Viv quite fluently.
An early design rough for the Work Cards. Drawing by Chris, text pasted over by Viv.My first layout for the rules booklet, and a pasted-up version with type and image.
Chris hand-painted a final full-colour set of wizards. John fitted them onto the cards, which involved adjusting some colours to not interfere with the game-play and poking them about gently to not obscure the corner symbols, that kind of thing.
Felpersham Flitchitt, a wizard you might hope to recruit if magical machinerey needs building, for example. Illustration by Chris Riddell.
Was there more work? There was more work.
Chris wrote and illustrated a whole load of job ads. We shuffled numbers, made and tested version after version. Ivory Graphics, the excellent printing company we work with, made a final (and then a FINAL final) prototype to test and test again before it went to press for real.
You get the idea. It starts with a bunch of scraps and a spreadsheet, and after a lot of work and wizardry it ends up kind of… magical.
Some time ago, we decided to publish a Tarot deck…
I have a Tarot collection myself, started in childhood, taking over an entire shelf over the years. Every time I see a new one, I am curious about its voice. They are as different as people can be, depending on the artist who interpreted the cards. Often there are a few unusual renderings suggesting unusual ways to think about the established concepts. The more decks I tried, the more I started to feel like they were recordings, real people captured in the form of cards, ready to have a conversation.
When Chris Riddell asked me if I thought that we could make a tarot deck with his illustrations, I said yes. A pocket-sized Chris simulator full of strange wisdom, or whatever else will come out. Let’s make it.
Chris turning all the pages of the big green tarot sketchbook number one.
We talked about the major arcana, and Chris drew them all in a beautiful green leather bound sketchbook, in ink. It’s very much his own interpretations. There’s Beauty and the Beast standing for Strength, Hel herself on the Chariot, Death and the Maiden, Saint Anthony as the Hermit…
An original ink drawing and the first colouring sample.
We coloured them digitally, spending many Tuesdays in the Studio deciding on very precise shades of yellow to make golden cups shine against a dreamy sky, pondering the promising pinkness of pentacles, bone-dry swordscape hues, the verdant greens and blood-red of the wands.
The Five of Wands – a tangle of powers.
Chris decided to give the sword suit over to hooded wraiths, and the wands to wizards. I worried for a moment what that might do, and then thought about it some more, and realised that it made sense. Wands for wizards, to make things happen with. And why not have dry intellect represented by living skeletons?
The Knight of Swords. He’s definitely got the best feather in the deck and a sharp sword but is he right? Hmm.
The Knight of Swords seems like a warning of taking an argument too far. That Queen cannot be argued with. The four of swords: a deep rest. Those wraiths don’t seem sinister to me, but stern and sometimes funny. I find them rather friendly overall, with Death, lord of all of them, leading by example.
A change, the embrace of something vast. Mysterious hooded figures can be kind.
For the booklet we consulted Frøydis Sollid Simonsen, Norwegian artist, poet, tarot reader and a long time friend. We spent hours on the phone talking about every card in turn, telling each other the stories of the people we saw depicted, making connections, and Frøydis gave a final interpretation of each one. We took them back to Chris who put everything in his own words.
Frøydis also designed the Cloud Tower spread which is included in the box – Three cards to consult about whatever is on your mind.
A good spread for beginners, and for any moment of the day. We will make more for you to download! Let us know what you’d like to use your deck for and we will have a think.
John put everything together for print – we managed after a few tests to wrangle a beautiful gold design onto the backs, and designed a box wrapped in an intricate drawing of a cloudy sky.
The clouds we wrapped around the box, drawn as one big sheet by Chris.
Finally, the proofs returned from the printer (Ivory Graphics, who were as always great to work with). We did readings for everyone around, and laughed, and talked, and wondered. The Cloud Tower has a voice all of its own. I don’t think we made a portable Chris after all. It is a kind and spooky thing, joking and reassuring and reminding the reader of their creative powers.
For the first edition we added an extra card – The Dragon. There’s no interpretation given, but we think that it stands for whatever the main power is that the reader can call on. Creativity, maybe. You decide.
For the first edition we added an extra card – The Dragon. There’s no interpretation given, but we think that it stands for whatever the main power is that the reader can call on. Creativity, maybe. You decide.
We think that the Cloud Tower Tarot is an excellent deck to use for creative storytelling, and we’ll keep adding suggestions, instructions, spreads and videos about that on this blog. We’ve already got a stack of notes and diagrams. It’ll be good.
Meanwhile, my favourite card has always been the Page of Cups, finding that their cup is bottomless, containing all the dreams and stories of the world.
Viv’s favourite card. What’s yours? Tell us about it, maybe we’ll make a blog post of people’s favourite cards…
This is Viv, blogging, like in the olden days, and hoping that you’re mostly doing well.
Betonmond has been doing all right! We just published a tarot deck – The Cloud Tower Tarot, illustrated by Chris Riddell – and the office copy is telling us that things are going all right. Quite a few skeletal figures roaming around, but they aren’t anything to get alarmed about.
I am re-building the website, mostly so we can have this blog, and thus tell you about the goings-on, the plans we’re making, the games we’re playing, to give you free treats now and then (tarot spreads, alternative rules, ideas for a rainy afternoon) and generally stay in touch.
You can, as always, buy the games at Cycling Fish.
