About Us

Our Story

Kids Arcanum is a Portland, Maine based company owned and operated by Michael and Maureen Best. It started as an after school crafting and gaming club at our daughters' elementary school in 2018, when our oldest daughter was in first grade. Mike was adamant that every kid was welcome, and that it be free to anyone who wanted to join. It was designed to be a safe place where every kid could be themselves, enjoy crafting and games, and make new friends.

​

The impact on the kids was immediate. A number of parents told us that their kids looked forward to going to school for the first time in their lives. For some kids, the club led to their very first playdates and birthday parties outside of school. He’d pick up our girls from school on non-club days and be bombarded by kids eager to show him the ogre they had drawn, the draconic code they had created the night before, or the map of the kingdom they were building in their mind.

​

When in-person school was cancelled for the rest of the year in March 2020, Mike was determined not to let the club's momentum fizzle. Thus the Crafty Quest Boxes were born. And, in typical Mike fashion, he poured all of his creative energy into creating something magical for the kids.

​

He started off by delivering the adventure boxes to kids that had been part of the after school club. That quickly turned into delivering boxes to other kids we heard of that needed some pandemic cheer. When parents started asking us how they could buy boxes for their friends, we knew that we were on to something, and we officially started Kids Arcanum LLC so that we could bring our adventure boxes to a wider audience.

​

We launched our company with a Kickstarter campaign in early 2021, selling 148 boxes to customers all over the country. We're excited that so many kids will get to enjoy their own adventure!  We are also very excited at the number of schools, camps, and libraries that reached out to us to buy boxes and ask for advice about  starting their own fantasy based adventure clubs. We can't wait to see where this adventure takes us!