Dinosaur Polo Club Welcomes Amie Wolken as CEO!

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – April 10, 2024 – Dinosaur Polo Club, the award-winning team behind Mini Motorways and Mini Metro, the best-selling minimalist strategy traffic management sims with nearly 12 million combined players, welcomes Amie Wolken as CEO following the handover from former CEO Chantelle Cole, who now serves as Programme Director for the NZ Game Development Sector Rebate (GDSR) at NZ On Air.

Amie Wolken steps into Dinosaur Polo Club’s CEO role after more than four years at Wētā Workshop’s Game Studio, where she most recently served as Studio Director. Prior to her work as Studio Director, Amie was the lead game programmer for Tales of the Shire and developed augmented reality experiences, including The Makeup Mirror at Wētā Workshop Unleashed and Dr. Grordbort’s Boosters for the Magic Leap 1 AR device.

In 2015, Amie co-founded GEO AR Games, best known for Magical Park - an augmented reality product created to encourage children to actively engage with the outdoors using mobile devices. Now as CEO of Dinosaur Polo Club, Amie joins the studio helming Mini Motorways and Mini Metro, where she will fit right in with the team’s distinctive game style and people-first culture. Be on the lookout for upcoming updates and news from these titles and more as the Mini series expands!

“I’m incredibly excited to be welcomed as the newest Dino,” said Wolken. “Expanding on the success that this talented team has had with their Mini games is a huge opportunity! Dinosaur Polo Club is the coolest little studio in the coolest little capital in the world, and I can’t wait to discover what we do next.”

“We’re so thrilled to have Amie join our evolving team as we look ahead to what the next few years hold for our studio and our games,” said Robert Curry,  Co-Founder of Dinosaur Polo Club. “She’s worked on incredible projects with talented people from all over the country, and we know she’s going to lead Dinosaur Polo Club to bright places.”

For more information on Amie and the titles Dinosaur Polo Club has created, please visit the Dinosaur Polo Club website, follow @MiniMetroGame on X as well as the studio on X, Facebook, and Instagram, or search for #MiniMotorways and #MiniMetro on social media.

About Dinosaur Polo Club

Dinosaur Polo Club is an independent game development studio based in beautiful Wellington, New Zealand. Founded in 2013 by brothers Peter and Robert Curry, the studio first made waves with their award-winning and BAFTA-nominated debut Mini Metro. Created in collaboration with Disasterpeace and Jamie Churchman, Mini Metro explores relaxed and minimalist subway design. The second game developed by Dinosaur Polo Club introduces a brand new type of city management with colorful road-building and resource management found in Mini Motorways. Combined, Mini Metro and Mini Motorways make up two parts of an expanding Mini-series with more to come. 

With an inclusive and supportive culture that believes in giving back to its creative community, the studio has grown and is now home to nearly 30 dinos as it works on new titles with relatable simplicity.

Article by: Susan N.

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10 Year Miniversary Surprises and Reveal of the Map Winner from Dinosaur Polo Club

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - May 8, 2023 - Dinosaur Polo Club, the award-winning team behind Mini Motorways and Mini Metro, the best-selling minimalist strategy traffic management sims with nearly 12 million combined players, commemorates the 10-year “Miniversary” today with the reveal of six crossover maps and new features releasing Monday, July 24, 2023.

Last month, the community cast their nominations from 30 iconic Mini Metro maps they’d most love to see cross over into Mini Motorways. Ultimately, the vote was knocked down to four powerhouse cities: London, New York City, Paris, and Hong Kong. After a heated vote among the community, New York City was crowned to join the roster of crossover maps coming to Mini Motorways! 

The only thing mini about the 10-year Miniversary is the name, as additional surprises await. The cities of London and Mumbai will also line up for a fresh coat of roundabouts and highways in Mini Motorways. Dedicated Mini Metro fans can rejoice as well, with Tokyo, Warsaw, and Lisbon maps on the way, awaiting adaptable railway systems and offering fresh challenges. 

In addition to these new urban playgrounds, Mini Motorways will also embrace a highly-requested feature in its three new maps: trains. Plan the perfect routes for a happy, bustling city, now factoring in a rail system. Everything in this jam-packed update will be coming to players in July, as Dinosaur Polo Club has a long road trip ahead. 

Dinosaur Polo Club celebrates its 10-year anniversary since first diving into the wondrous world of Mini during a Ludum Dare Game Jam, where Mini Metro was created in its first iteration back in 2013. The recent community vote offered an opportunity to reflect on the last decade of work alongside such passionate players. Based in gorgeous Wellington, New Zealand, Dinosaur Polo Club was founded by brothers Peter and Robert Curry with a mission: create games giving simple everyday concepts, designed for everyone. 

Mini Metro spiraled upwards into a BAFTA-nominated project and generated enough momentum for a sequel, Mini Motorways, that garnered similar critical acclaim and accolades, including the IndieCade Choice Award and the Independent Games Festival Audience Award in 2022. 

“It’s hard to believe it’s been a decade since Mini Metro first came into the world! To see how this Mini-vision has expanded into something truly massive has been indescribable, and we owe a massive thanks to our incredible community of players,” said Ben Emerson, Marketing Coordinator, Dinosaur Polo Club. “Our players have shared so many special moments with us, from connecting families during hard times to easing anxiety after a long day and even a marriage proposal. It’s a special milestone to celebrate with our players and bring so many exciting crossover maps and features into both games for everyone to enjoy. I think players will really like the addition of trains into Mini Motorways too, it’s been a long time coming, and this has felt like the perfect time to introduce such a highly requested new feature to this game. Here’s to another 10 years of Mini!” 

The Miniversary Update will be available on Monday, July 24, 2023 as a free content update on the following platforms:

Mini Motorways for Apple Arcade, Nintendo Switch, as well as Windows PC and macOS via Steam, supporting Arabic, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazilian), Russian, Spanish, and Turkish languages.

Mini Metro for Apple Arcade, App Store, Google Play Store, Windows PC and macOS via Steam, Nintendo Switch, and more, supporting English, French, Italian, German, Spanish (Spain), Czech, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal), Russian, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Hungarian, Bulgarian, Danish, Turkish, Arabic, Swedish, Thai, and Ukrainian languages.

For more information, please visit the Dinosaur Polo Club website, follow @MiniMetroGame on Twitter as well as the studio on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, or search for #MiniMotorways and #MiniMetro on social media.

About Dinosaur Polo Club

Dinosaur Polo Club is an independent game development studio based in beautiful Wellington, New Zealand. Founded in 2013 by brothers Peter and Robert Curry, the studio first made waves with their award-winning and BAFTA-nominated debut Mini Metro. Created in collaboration with Disasterpeace and Jamie Churchman, Mini Metro explores relaxed and minimalist subway design. The second game developed by Dinosaur Polo Club introduces a brand new type of city management with colorful road-building and resource management found in Mini Motorways. Combined, Mini Metro and Mini Motorways make up two parts of an expanding Mini-series with more to come. 

With an inclusive and supportive culture that believes in giving back to its creative community, the studio has grown and is now home to nearly 30 dinos as it works on new titles with relatable simplicity.

Article by: Susan N.

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Vote For The Next Map In Mini Motorways Before April 29th!

April 17th, 2023 - 30 Mini Metro maps will go head-to-head in a community-driven vote to decide which fan-favorite city will come to Mini Motorways in the next update.

Nominations for maps begin today, with the winner announced on Monday, May 8, 2023 PDT.

The Mini Collection fanbase has some hard-hitting questions ahead of them while deciding on the newest map. From London’s historic underground and world-renowned waterways to Auckland’s coastal metropolis in the southern hemisphere and everything in between, cities from around the world are up for nomination in the next update to Mini Motorways! Only the community nominations will decide which maps make it to the top four. Share why your favorite city should make it to the final round with #MiniMotorwaysMapVote.

Nominations will be tallied on Mini Metro’s birthday, Saturday, April 29th, 2023 PDT! Soon after, Dinosaur Polo Club will reveal the top four maps and players can vote for the final winner. Stay tuned on Dinosaur Polo Club’s social media on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for news around a special guest set to announce the top four with the team and celebrate 10 awesome years of Mini Metro. The player-voted map will be available for free across all current platforms including Apple Arcade, Nintendo Switch, and PC and Mac via Steam. For more information, please visit the player voting rules page on the news section of the Dinosaur Polo Club website, and Dinosaur Polo Club’s social media on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. About Dinosaur Polo Club Dinosaur Polo Club is an independent game development studio based in beautiful Wellington, New Zealand. Founded in 2013 by brothers Peter and Robert Curry, the studio first made waves with their award-winning and BAFTA-nominated debut Mini Metro. Created in collaboration with Disasterpeace and Jamie Churchman, Mini Metro explores relaxed and minimalist subway design. The second game developed by Dinosaur Polo Club introduces a brand new type of city management with colorful road-building and resource management found in Mini Motorways. Combined, Mini Metro and Mini Motorways make up two parts of an expanding Mini Collection.  With an inclusive and supportive culture that believes in giving back to its creative community, the studio has grown and is now home to nearly 30 dinos as it works on new titles with relatable simplicity.

Article by: Susan N.

Read More