Rio Grande Games, which has made its mark by importing sophisticated European board games (Carcassonne), and Out of the Box, which has invented a number of award-winning family and party games (Snorta!), have announced a strategic partnership under which Rio Grande's board games will gain access to the specialty market venues where Out of the Box games have made a considerable impression.  The agreement will not affect Rio Grande's current distribution in the hobby games market, which will remain unchanged.

 

Rio Grande's Jay Tummelson confirmed to ICv2 that the strategic partnership with Out of the Box was just a distribution agreement, but he was enthusiastic about the chance to get his games into the specialty stores in which Out of the Box has been so successful.  According to Tummelson, no joint marketing efforts between the two companies are in the works at this time.