Bad news - Good news

[Jimmy V.]

The bad news
I am very sad to let you know that Happy Meeple will be closing in mid-december.
The platform was launched in March 2012 with the idea of bringing simple yet interesting board games to the mass market.
I carefully selected 13 games, wrote tutorials to make it easy to start playing and added Artificial Intelligence to play even when no human opponents were available. This, I hoped, were the keys to success.
Unfortunately, while the whole endeavour has not been a total failure (7 million games were played over the years and about 500 players were playing daily), it was not enough of a success to balance the books and certainly not to pay a salary.
In the last two years, I have dedicated less and less time to the platform. As a result, it has become more and more difficult to maintain. We had issues with our email servers. We were running low on hard disk storage. And finally the technology behind the gaming server was outdated and needed a rewrite that I never finished.
It was getting harder and harder to get it going. And regretfully, it is now time to pull the curtains.
I am sure that you are disappointed but there is hope… You can keep playing.

The good news
Our most popular games (Lost cities, Cartographers, Hanamikoji and Level X) are available on another platform called “Board Game Arena” and they have agreed on a special offer for Happy Meeple players.
The offer is twofold:
1) All Happy Meeple players that will create an account on Board Game Arena will join a “Happy Meeple players” group. I insisted on this feature and hope that it will make it easy for you to find your old friends. I suggest that you use the same nickname as on Happy Meeple if possible.
2) Like Happy Meeple, Board Game Arena does not require a subscription to play, it is a free platform. However, I strongly recommend that you become a subscriber as it has many benefits and is very affordable. If you subscribe (one month or more), Board Game Arena will give you one extra month for free.
Please note the important information below:
-   If you don’t have an account with Board Game Arena:
you must use the link below to create an account and then you need to use it again when you want to proceed with the subscription and benefit from the offer.
-   If you already have an account with Board Game Arena:
if you have not been a premium member in the last 30 days, you can also benefit from the offer. First login to Board Game Arena, then click on the link below and proceed with the subscription.

Click here to get the benefits of the Board Game Arena offer

The link will work for one year until 20/11/2025.

Thanks
I wish to thank all the persons that I worked with, in particular the publishers and game designers that trusted me with their games and the illustrators and translators that made it all so friendly. I don't want to forget the admins that helped moderate the platform. And of course, you the players! The vast majority of Happy Meeple players were very nice and fair-play.
May the Happy Meeple spirit live long on Board Game Arena.

Final words
Happy Meeple has been a fun ride for me. I hope to see you again on Board Game Arena soon. Feel free to get in touch with me there if you have any question or want to play a game.

Nicolas Guibert.
Roitelet (on Board Game Arena)

[Boris S.]

This is more a bad news than a good one but I completely understand your point. Thanks A VERY LOT for Happy Meeple, it has been a great plesure for me to discover your site and some of these games. Good luck for the next stage!!!

[Suzan I.]

I am very sad to hear the news. Thank you for this site which has been very important to me. Wishing you luck with whatever endeavor is next for you.

[Huggable T.]

Gutted to read this but I shall certainly join Board Game Arena.  You have been brilliant Jimmy all the way along and I thank you for all your efforts.  I currently pay subscriptions for other sites I like so I would have been more than happy to pay one for the Happy Meeple site.  So hope to see all my friendly Meeplers in Board Game Arena for more games and laughs.  I will though carry on with the Happy Meeple site for a few more weeks though.  Look after yourself Jimmy  - Wayne - Huggable T

[Brotspinne B.]

Oh neeeein! Ich liebe doch meine meeples!
Gibt es denn nicht die Möglichkeit, eine App zu entwickeln? Bin sicher, dass viele Nutzer bereit wären, ein Abo abzuschließen.

[Meri R.]

Absolutely, utterly gutted to read this. Happy Meeple has helped keep me sane for a number of years. Thank you to all those involved who have kept the wonderful site going for so long. Incredibly sad.

[Matthias M.]

It's very sad that Happy Meeple is closing so soon
As it obviously did to many others, it helped me over some very hard times!

Thank you!


PS:

The automatic joining to the Happy Meeple Players Group doesn't seem to work...

Is there any chance to keep the two Keltis games and Raging bulls as well?

[Arthur V.]

A subscriber since 2017, I discovered these quick, fun and simple board games with delight. What a pity that this site is closing, it was a little world apart, that we are a lucky few to have known only. Jimmy, I don't know you, but I'd like to thank you for your investment, your intelligence and for having designed such a wonderful site. All I have to do now is go to Board Game Arena! (Given your name, I'm guessing you're French like me, aren't you?) 

[Daniel G.]

Thank you so much for providing this platform for so long!  I joined the group on BGA (novacat0).  If the automatic joining of the group doesn't work for anyone, just search for Happy Meeple and you can find and join the group manually.

[El C.]

  I'm so sad to learn this, but of course I respect your decision. Thank you for creating such a wonderful place to play games together. I have enjoyed playing these games so much, and I appreciate how polite other players have been.

Good luck to you!

p.s. My Board Game Arena username is El-C. 

[Nidhi R.]

absolutely devastated with this news. Is there no way you can save this platform? Maybe the users can pay some monthly subscription. I have played on BGA before but I don't like it as much as happy meeple. I am very sad with this news 

[Matthias M.]

I fear French people!
They aren't only hardcore enough to eat pain for breakfast, they are even in the position to kill Happy Meeple.
There is no place like /home, there is no place like Happy Meeple

[Jamie A.]

Thank you so much for all the enjoyment here. It's the only game site that had the features I prefer and the design is top notch - there's no way I can overstate that. I'll really miss Happy Meeple. A couple people used the word gutted and I agree.

While being doubtful I'll end up playing elsewhere (having looked at other game sites in the past), I did sign up on BGA to give it a chance. HAS ANYONE FOUND LEVEL X there? It's not coming up for me even trying with various searches and filters and order settings.

Already this reminds me that Happy Meeple above all feels friendly and intuitive, while other sites... not so much.

[Jamie A.]

The automatic joining to the Happy Meeple Players Group doesn't seem to work...

Agree - used the link and didn't work for me either.

[Jimmy V.]

Thanks for your nice words. It goes to my heart.

To answer some of your questions:

1) The association with the group "Happy Meeple Players" is not done 100% automatically. Someone has to run a script for that to happen and they planned to do it from time to time. I have asked (a bit late) if they could automate it, like every 10 minutes or 1 hour. I am still waiting for an answer. I don't see why it could not be done. So hopefully, it will work better soon.
You can also join it directly here: https://boardgamearena.com/group?id=17167668

2) Level X is known as "Mountain Goats" on Board Game Arena. That's its new name. Same rules I think but different layout/theme. And you can play with more players on Board Game Arena.

3) Yes I am French 

4) You can discuss things in the BGA group. Maybe that's the best place to coordinate an action to ask the platform to develop a game you love. Their process, as far as I know, is to get a license first, and then ask if one of their (voluntary) developer is interested in coding the game.