PAX AUS Indie Showcase 2026 – WIREBURN
The PAX AUS Indie Showcase is a chance to see some of the best new and upcoming titles from the ANZ digital and tabletop development scene, with past winners including such celebrated games as Hollow Knight, Unpacking, Copycat, The Drifter, Kingless and many more. The 2026 Indie Showcase is sure to once again be a highlight of the event and Player2 encourages visitors to PAX AUS to make their way to the PAX Rising area and check out the following title, as well as the many other excellent digital and tabletop indies on display.
WIREBURN is a 2-6 player shedding card game that was created by Adam Dunn and put through its paces by his family and friends. Featuring a cyberpunk theme and a number of special cards, the game was born out of Adam’s desire to find something that ensured every player, regardless of age, felt engaged the entire time. We spoke to Adam about his Indie Showcase win and the development of WIREBURN.
Stephen del Prado: Hey Adam, thanks so much for speaking to Player2! Firstly, I always have to ask, just how exciting is it to get that Indie Showcase winner news?
Adam Dunn: Huge. We’ve spent so much time with this game that after a while I wondered whether we enjoyed the game but it wasn’t really going to go anywhere. Getting the PAX Indie Showcase news was a pretty big moment. It felt like someone had looked at it and gone, yeah, there’s something here. It also came at a good time because we’d already made the decision to properly push WIREBURN forward.
Stephen: What’s your history with tabletop gaming? Are there any particular titles that have had a huge impact on you? Given the excellent theme choice, I’d take you for a Netrunner or Shadowrun fan at a minimum.
Adam: I played a lot of cards growing up with my grandparents, siblings and extended family. That was more my background. Once I had kids, I wanted to bring some of that back. A lot of modern games are great, but some are just too complicated for younger players. Then at the other end you have really simple games that kids can play, but adults can switch off pretty quickly. I wanted something in between. Something a kid could pick up quite easily, but where there was still enough going on that adults actually had to think.
Stephen: Where did the inspiration strike from for you to design WIREBURN? The official website mentions overlong Uno games which I can identify with…
Adam: Uno is a game everyone is familiar with. I guess the simplicity of it was the main influence but I wanted something that had a little more complexity but would engage adults enough to focus on the game rather than just throwing cards around and zoning out…. That is my experience with Uno anyway, I think it lands in a space between a really simple kids game and something you could really get some strategies going with. This was the aim of WIREBURN, to come up with a game where it is entirely not luck based.
Stephen: What were some of the challenges you faced in getting WIREBURN from a prototype to a full-fledge physical product? Would you do anything differently in the future?
Adam: Going to production was a bit of a gamble on ourselves and even more so a way to stop the incessant modifications of rules; “what about this, that, etc.”… I was completely happy with how everything worked. I would play the game on my own in my head and look for edge cases or anomalies and it a played out smooth so we bit the bullet. Prototyping was hard and costly, getting single items printed is a big cost and every change you take a hit. We settled with some good card stock and nicely sized box, the matte finish of the cards is a design choice I just loved.
Shipping is also a costly exercise at that bulk amount and the economics of sales and commissions etc. is something we had to take into consideration. We looked into local production but it was beyond anything the market could manage.
The rulebook was probably one of the biggest lessons. When you’ve made the game, you read the rules and everything makes sense because you already know how to play. Give it to someone completely new and suddenly you see all the bits you’ve assumed they’ll understand but don’t.
Stephen: WIREBURN has an eye-catching visual style and a cyberpunk-ish theme, was this always a part of the plan or did it develop alongside the gameplay?
Adam: On the aesthetic…the mechanics came first. Once that started taking shape, the visual side started becoming clearer too. I didn’t really want characters and spaceships and a huge story around it, I liked the idea that you’re inside some sort of system or network, but you don’t really know what it is. That’s where things like Docks, Data Streams, VOLT, STASIS, TRIPWIRE and the Final Firewall started fitting together.
The visual side was meant to feel more like an interface or a damaged terminal than a normal illustrated card game.
Stephen: Do you think we’re seeing a resurgence in tabletop gaming amongst friends and families, with titles like WIREBURN obviously pushing for those sorts of experiences
Adam: I have really strong memories of playing cards with family when I was younger, and now I’ve got kids of my own, the challenge is finding something that everyone actually wants to play. If it’s too simple, adults get bored. If it’s too complicated, the younger kids lose interest before they’ve even started. That middle ground is what I like – a kid shouldn’t need an adult to go easy on them just so they can play. I think family tabletop games are something the older generation love to hold on to. It is a great way to reconnect with siblings and family, everyone is so locked into their screens these days it’s refreshing to have some real world time together.
Stephen: Who’s the best WIREBURN player in your house? Can you share any strategic tips for our readers?
Adam: The best player is definitely my eldest Trinity, she seems to find combos that you would never consider, also choosing to hold a card or over draw from the pile creates a strategic advantage..
Stephen: What can PAX Aus attendees look forward to at the WIREBURN booth?
Adam: At PAX we are looking forward to showing everyone how to play and hopefully getting some feedback about an expansion pack called REDSHIFT. It will be fun to introduce this to some hardcore tabletop gamers and get some great feedback!
Stephen: What’s the next step for WIREBURN and yourself as a designer – is there retail sales in the near future? Are you working on any upcoming designs?
Adam: PAX has also given us a bit more confidence to start talking seriously about retail and distribution. We have had some success with local game shop etc but with an Indie Showcase win behind us I feel like we have some clout. We’re also working on REDSHIFT which adds an extra red colour and new mechanics. I don’t want an expansion to just be more cards for the sake of it, if we add something, it should change the way people play the game.
Stephen: Thanks again for speaking to us about WIREBURN Adam, I’m looking forward to checking it out at PAX Aus!
PAX AUS 2026 Attendees can find the WIREBURN booth in the Indie Showcase section of PAX AUS from October 9-11. You can also head over to the official WIREBURN website and purchase the game right now!
