ESSEN, GR – A shortage of theme paste has halted production for board games by popular designer Reiner Knizia.

Reports have emerged that thousands of Knizia games could be impacted by a global shortfall in their key ingredient. It is unclear why paste reserves have fallen so low, but experts warn that the fallout could be comparable to unpainted cube shortages faced by the industry in 2011.

A statement from spokesperson Ana Spielfrau reads: “We are working closely with suppliers, partners and fanboys to assure that pasted-on themes continue to be produced to meet increasing demand.”

Fans remain puzzled by the shortage. Eddy Hype, noted collector of Knizia’s games, expresses his confusion: “I don’t get it! The theme is so rich in these games that I actually feel like a subsistence farmer building churches in the Mediterranean. What went wrong?”

One proposed solution is to produce a logistics management game which would simulate the global supply chain of theme paste, outsourcing the analysis work to the fans themselves. Spielfrau is not confident in this approach.

“Unfortunately, reserves are already so low that we do not have enough theme paste to enable the production of a theme paste supply chain simulator.”

It is not yet known how this shortage will impact Stefan Feld Productions’ recent merge with Uwe Rosenberg Industries.