Irina Bukhteeva and Alex Smirnov take a Waterloo-tested board game to Kickstarter
The physics and applied mathematics PhD alumni launched Wagglebee Games around Tokelau, a Polynesian exploration game, and hope to launch in fall 2026.
Irina Bukhteeva (PhD ’25, Physics) and Alexey “Alex” Smirnov (PhD ’24, Applied Mathematics) designed a board game during graduate school and have turned it into a label, Wagglebee Games. The game, Tokelau, was playtested in student apartments, board game cafés and at kitchen tables around Waterloo.
Tokelau is a strategy game for two to six players, aged 12 and up, based on exploration and trade across the islands of Polynesia. Players sail between islands in shifting winds, gather resources, found settlements and build trade networks on a modular board that can form thousands of island layouts. Miguel Valenzuela Beltrán drew the artwork, and visual cues help colour-blind players.
The couple say every playtest felt like an experiment, and that learning to take reviewer-style criticism during a PhD helped them keep improving the design. Smirnov now works as an optical engineer in Ottawa, and Bukhteeva moved into postdoctoral research in molecular biology and regenerative medicine.
Upcoming: Tokelau is featured on Kickstarter, and the two hope to launch the project in fall 2026.
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