It wasn’t until board game creator-turned-executive Julien Sharp moved to Minneapolis to run U.S. operations of Paris-based Asmodee Group that she realized that most Minnesotans don’t even know the company that distributes Catan and Spot It! is based in Roseville. The international spotlight is likely to grow brighter in 2025 when parent company Embracer Group spins Asmodee and two other business units into three stand-alone publicly listed companies on the Stockholm NASDAQ. Sharp says her team is ready and excited about the sustained growth in the board game market since Covid. “People discovered games are really fun, and they’re entering the hobby of play, where it’s something you do several times a week.”