GRM, America's First Queer Trading Card Game, Lands in the U.S.

For years, GRM has been one of Tokyo's best-kept queer secrets. Sold at にちょまん! (Nichoman!), the queer manga market in the heart of Shinjuku 2-chome, handed out as promo cards at bars and events across the city, and passed between friends who knew where to look. Now it's crossing the Pacific, and QueerCraft is the only place in the U.S. to get it.

GRM, short for Gravity Reversi Masters, pronounced "Gram," is a trading card game that's as fun to collect as it is to play. And it comes with a claim we're proud to have printed on the box: America's first queer trading card game.

Born in 2-Chome, Built for Everyone

Shinjuku 2-chome is one of the most iconic LGBTQ+ districts on earth. Hundreds of bars packed into a handful of blocks, and the beating heart of Tokyo's queer nightlife. That's where GRM was born.

Every card is someone. Artists. Gogo boys. Drag queens. DJs. Bar mamas. Venues and events that make the neighborhood what it is. Flip through the deck and you aren't just looking at art. You're meeting a community, one card at a time.

The creator of GRM and Nichoman! put it simply:

"I created GRM with the intention of introducing many artists and gogo performers to the world. Every card lets fans discover icons throughout queer culture."

How It Plays: Simple to Learn, Satisfying to Master

If you've played Final Fantasy XIV's Triple Triad or FFIX's Tetra Master, you already know the shape of this one. For everyone else, here's the entire game:

• Set up. Build a deck from your 36 cards. Any size you like, but no more than two of the same card. First player draws 2, second player draws 3.
• Draw and play. Each turn, draw 1 card and place 1 card onto any empty space on the 3x3 grid.
• Weigh and flip. After you play, your card's weight gets compared against every adjacent opponent card: up, down, left, right. Anything lighter than yours flips face down. That's the "reversi" in the name.
• Activate abilities. Some cards rewrite the board when they land. Special EX cards are limited to one per player on the field at a time.
• Claim the board. When the grid fills up, whoever controls the most face-up cards wins.

Quick to teach, brutal to master. Run a lean 12-to-15 card build and games get fast and mean. Go big and you get a longer, weirder war. Lose to your rival? Swap cards and come back with a different plan.

Want to see it in motion? K-PUP walks through a full game in about four minutes on the GRM landing page.

One Deck, Two Players, Zero Pay-to-Win

Every First US Edition deck holds the same 36 cards plus a rule card. Nobody is buying their way to a better hand. You and your rival start from identical arsenals. The only variable is what each of you does with it.

Recommended for ages 16+. Not every card made the jump to English, so the localized lineup is its own little treasure hunt.

The Exclusive: Nichoman! x QueerCraft

This isn't a distribution deal. It's a handshake between two queer maker communities an ocean apart.

Nichoman! built GRM in Tokyo. QueerCraft is the exclusive U.S. online home for the First US Edition. One limited run, shipped from our hands to your table. When you buy GRM here, you're getting the exact same game Japanese players have been flipping in 2-chome, and you're supporting both sides of the collaboration directly.

Our first pre-order run sold clean out, past anything we expected. So we know we aren't the only ones who wanted this. Regular orders open in mid-October, alongside a new deluxe bundle pairing the deck with a limited-edition neoprene playmat, art by K-PUP.

This Is Just the Beginning

Thirty-six cards gets you started, but GRM is truly a collectible card experience.

In Japan, GRM has already grown far past its first deck. More than 100 additional cards have been released there, ranging from standard expansion packs, limited-edition promotional cards handed out only at events and bars to genuinely rare versions that even dedicated collectors struggle to track down. Some of them are hard to get on purpose.

Which of those cards will cross the Pacific isn't settled yet, and we're not going to promise a lineup we can't deliver. What we can tell you is this: GRM is built to keep growing, and plans are already in motion to bring expansion packs to the U.S. The release date is still to be determined, but you can sign up for alerts at queercraft.co/grm and be the first to know when they launch.

So if you're the kind of person who needs the whole set, consider that fair warning. The First US Edition is where your collection starts.

Get in Line

GRM regular orders and the deluxe deck + playmat bundle go live in mid-October. Join the list and you'll be first to know, and first in line for the bundle. queercraft.co/grm