I recently learned about the concept of Joseki, or the building block tactics of Go. I examine parallels with tactics and strategy, and how we approach life, and work.

We compare and contrast two Kickstarter campaigns for games by Richard Garfield. One a solid successful, and the other failed. What key differences in the publishers’ approaches led to such disparate outcomes?

Convention playtesting is one of the best opportunities to engage with players, get targeted feedback, and build exposure for your game. But, it also comes with it’s challenges. We provide our tips and tricks for having a successful convention playtest.

A friend of mine had a negative experience with a board game, that is making me re-think how I approach games as a player, and a designer.

Does complexity kill social fun? When we dedicate our cognitive load to understanding rules, or solving a puzzle, we might be less likely to want to engage in social fun. Most social games have easy rules lifts, lighter games tend to attract less crunchy more interaction oriented players. But, there are exceptions. Magic: The Gathering is massively complex, but also extremely popular as a social game (with the Commander variant). Is it the exception that proves the rule?

Achievement sheets are a great low cost way to further engage players. We take a closer look at what makes them great.

The Hidden Brain podcast hosted Wharton professor Ethan Mollick, to talk about the power of games and how they intersect with life and business. We share our thoughts on the interview, and what resonates with us as a board game publisher.

Results from a brief survey on solo player preferences. With insights into mechanical versus scoring preference, difficulty levels and more.

Some best practices, tips, and resources for everyone in the board game design, and publishing industry.

It’s always exciting to find new tools to better manage our workflow and project out our project timelines. A friend introduced me to the Gantt chart, which formalizes some and strengthens some of the methodology I am already employing. What other useful tools do you use in managing your game design process?

Ever wondered why there is dead space in boxes above insert trays? We delve into the how and why games are shipped with flush inserts (and raised lids), versus flush lids (with excess space above the trays). It comes down to freight, and carton packaging - not just aesthetics and functionality.

TikTok as an emergent media platform offers something new for content creators, and publishers looking to promote their games. We take a look at some creators who have cracked the code for success on the platform, and have the viewership and interaction to rival the largest review channels on more entrenched platforms.

We delve into tips and tricks for finding the right manufacturing partner. A lot more goes into finding the right manufacturer than price: location, communication, component sourcing, and ethical considerations.

It’s always exciting to see innovative board games. Mythwind takes the idea of an open-world legacy type game (common in a lot of video games) and ports it into board gaming. It’s innovative, it’s fresh, and it’s pretty exciting.

A side by side comparison of manufacturer RFQs. When comparing manufacturers it isn’t as simple as high cost versus low cost, different manufacturers are better suited to different component skews. Make sure to shop around.

All games play a bit different as player count changes. But, this is usually an incidental effect of the game structure and mechanics. Red Rising seems to break the mold by intentionally filling the game with strategies that scale differently based on player count. How should we as designers account for multiplayer scaling?

After getting some mock up meeple designs for Nut Hunt, we take a look at some more of my favorite meeples of all time. But, let’s be honest, I’m just looking for an excuse to talk about meeples, which in addition to being my favorite game component, are one of my favorite things.

We dive into the business of board game production with a focus on building a business model. We take a closer look at a couple of recent campaigns: Micro Dojo, and The Shores of Tripoli to parse through the economics of actual game launches.

A weekend at GenCon has re-convinced us that board game publishing is full of some of the most helpful people in the world. We look at some places you can go to connect with the community, and learn how to bring your game to life.

Inspired by the classic pop-o-matic, we take a bit of a dive into board game gimmicks. Where is the line between feature and gimmick, and does it matter?