What do you think?
Rate this book
The Kobold Guide to Board Game Design
The Kobold Guide to Board Game Design gives you an insider's view on how to make a game that people will want to play again and again. Author Mike Selinker (Betrayal at House on the Hill) has invited some of the world's most talented and experienced game designers to share their secrets on game conception, design, development, and presentation. In these pages, you'll learn about storyboarding, balancing, prototyping, and playtesting from the best in the business.
138 pages, Paperback
First published September 4, 2011
138 people are currently reading
815 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
February 19, 2018
Welcome, brave reader, to your own intrepid boardgame design adventure-in-a-book-review: The Perilous Path to Publishing Your Own Game!
You are an aspiring board game designer. You dream of creating a great boardgame to rival Catan, Scrabble or Codenames- games that have fervent fans and sell masses of copies.
Many have failed before you, plunging to their financial deaths from the sheer cliffs of bad game mechanics, lost in the tempestuous seas of mediocre design, or devoured by the fearsome Dragon of Poor Sales.
As you progress through your quest you will need to roll a die to determine your actions on each page, using the number you roll to select the outcome of each scenario. Add +1 to your die roll for each chapter of the The Kobold Guide to Board Game Design that you have read.
Page One:
You are sitting at your desk one afternoon when inspiration strikes - you have an idea for a guaranteed million-seller boardgame! Roll a die for a perception test and take the relevant action:
1: You are too focused on your great idea to take any notice of your surroundings. Using the tools at hand you design and self-publish your unique boardgame Airport Bomber, complete with maps of real life airports. Sadly your masterpiece catches the eye of Homeland Security! You spend the next fifteen years hiding in a mountain cabin playing solitaire.
2-4 You send draft copies of your re-design of a classic game - working title ‘Monopoly: Soviet Moscow� - to every game publisher in the United States. Months tick by, and you hear nothing. You send another copy. And another. And another. You visit each company and hand deliver another copy. Wizards of the Coast take out a restraining order against you.
5-6: You have an interesting game idea, but before you even draft it up you notice the edge of a book poking out from underneath your desk. On closer inspection you discover it is The Kobold Guide to Board Game Design and you start reading. Advance to page 2!
Page Two:
Sitting in the late afternoon sun at your desk you read the first chapter of The Kobold Guide to Board Game Design and your raw inspiration begins to harden into an exciting new idea. You are tempted to start designing a new game immediately and must roll a die for a willpower check, choosing from the options below.
1: You cast the book aside and redesign Risk into a multi-player farming simulator where the nations of the world battle for supremacy in the hyper-competitive raw carrot market! You self publish the game and are soon wallpapering your house with cease and desist letters from Hasbro.
2-4: Remembering some of what you read you design a new game of astonishing complexity, based on nineteenth century New Zealand politics. The rule book is seventy pages long, but you are sure that I Know Why the Caged Kiwi Sings will be a massive hit. You release it to the market and the game soon finds a hard-core fanbase of two people - your parents.
5-6: Taking the lessons of the first chapters to heart, you resolve to read on and learn as much as you can. Advance to page three.
Page Three:
You read on into the evening, making notes and marking pages for future reference. You reach the end of the book and must decide on your next course of action. Roll a die for a wisdom check.
1: You realise that your idea for a game based on Moby Dick (with airships) isn't ready for prime time. You resolve to continue prototyping and playtesting your game until it is good enough to be published.
2-4 You thoroughly playtest, edit and re-design a game set in a futuristic 25th century Ohio, getting great feedback from everyone who plays it. You produce a great prototype and know that it's ready for submission. You send Midwest Mania to two publishers who specialise in games like yours and one responds positively. You're on your way to being a paid game designer!
5-6: Using the wisdom you've gained from reading The Kobold Guide to Board Game Design you design a ground-breaking new game that combines elements of Risk, Monopoly and the life cycle of the Puffer fish. You outsell every other game on the market and retire to a reproduction Scottish castle on your own personal island.
The End.
Postscript: If you have any aspirations towards game design, read this book. It will save you a world of pain and make your games far, far better.
You are an aspiring board game designer. You dream of creating a great boardgame to rival Catan, Scrabble or Codenames- games that have fervent fans and sell masses of copies.
Many have failed before you, plunging to their financial deaths from the sheer cliffs of bad game mechanics, lost in the tempestuous seas of mediocre design, or devoured by the fearsome Dragon of Poor Sales.
As you progress through your quest you will need to roll a die to determine your actions on each page, using the number you roll to select the outcome of each scenario. Add +1 to your die roll for each chapter of the The Kobold Guide to Board Game Design that you have read.
Page One:
You are sitting at your desk one afternoon when inspiration strikes - you have an idea for a guaranteed million-seller boardgame! Roll a die for a perception test and take the relevant action:
1: You are too focused on your great idea to take any notice of your surroundings. Using the tools at hand you design and self-publish your unique boardgame Airport Bomber, complete with maps of real life airports. Sadly your masterpiece catches the eye of Homeland Security! You spend the next fifteen years hiding in a mountain cabin playing solitaire.
2-4 You send draft copies of your re-design of a classic game - working title ‘Monopoly: Soviet Moscow� - to every game publisher in the United States. Months tick by, and you hear nothing. You send another copy. And another. And another. You visit each company and hand deliver another copy. Wizards of the Coast take out a restraining order against you.
5-6: You have an interesting game idea, but before you even draft it up you notice the edge of a book poking out from underneath your desk. On closer inspection you discover it is The Kobold Guide to Board Game Design and you start reading. Advance to page 2!
Page Two:
Sitting in the late afternoon sun at your desk you read the first chapter of The Kobold Guide to Board Game Design and your raw inspiration begins to harden into an exciting new idea. You are tempted to start designing a new game immediately and must roll a die for a willpower check, choosing from the options below.
1: You cast the book aside and redesign Risk into a multi-player farming simulator where the nations of the world battle for supremacy in the hyper-competitive raw carrot market! You self publish the game and are soon wallpapering your house with cease and desist letters from Hasbro.
2-4: Remembering some of what you read you design a new game of astonishing complexity, based on nineteenth century New Zealand politics. The rule book is seventy pages long, but you are sure that I Know Why the Caged Kiwi Sings will be a massive hit. You release it to the market and the game soon finds a hard-core fanbase of two people - your parents.
5-6: Taking the lessons of the first chapters to heart, you resolve to read on and learn as much as you can. Advance to page three.
Page Three:
You read on into the evening, making notes and marking pages for future reference. You reach the end of the book and must decide on your next course of action. Roll a die for a wisdom check.
1: You realise that your idea for a game based on Moby Dick (with airships) isn't ready for prime time. You resolve to continue prototyping and playtesting your game until it is good enough to be published.
2-4 You thoroughly playtest, edit and re-design a game set in a futuristic 25th century Ohio, getting great feedback from everyone who plays it. You produce a great prototype and know that it's ready for submission. You send Midwest Mania to two publishers who specialise in games like yours and one responds positively. You're on your way to being a paid game designer!
5-6: Using the wisdom you've gained from reading The Kobold Guide to Board Game Design you design a ground-breaking new game that combines elements of Risk, Monopoly and the life cycle of the Puffer fish. You outsell every other game on the market and retire to a reproduction Scottish castle on your own personal island.
The End.
Postscript: If you have any aspirations towards game design, read this book. It will save you a world of pain and make your games far, far better.
February 19, 2025
I liked this book because practical board game design advice is easy to come by and the same few (important) concepts end up getting recycled a lot. This book, however, gets a lot more theoretical at parts. Some highlights:
-Game design is like watch making.
-Ditch your ego.
-Let your adult brain and child brain collaborate.
-Make the theme and mechanics kiss.
-Strategy is navigating luck.
-Builders vs sculptors.
-Hide who is leading and losing.
Some chapters/authors were more useful than others but they were all worth a read.
-Game design is like watch making.
-Ditch your ego.
-Let your adult brain and child brain collaborate.
-Make the theme and mechanics kiss.
-Strategy is navigating luck.
-Builders vs sculptors.
-Hide who is leading and losing.
Some chapters/authors were more useful than others but they were all worth a read.
March 4, 2020
The best and most provoking book I have read on board game design, which comes from a high bar. The essays in this will get you thinking in ways you wouldn't have before, and whilst not all the topics may be appealing or even important, the remainder are worth checking out. Recommended.
July 19, 2018
This is a highly-recommended starter book for people with no background in designing games but have already play an amount of games. What I like about this one is that the book sets a clear line among being a game player, being a game critic and being a game designer.
Though it doesn't provide any in-depth of game designing methods or materials or tools or anything in-depth at all, the book contains a very general view on game designing as a whole: the designer's feelings, the goal of a designer, what a game should be under each person's perspective and some small but helpful tips for reviewing your games.
Will recommend for any game-design starters so that they grab some general idea of the work in the field.
Though it doesn't provide any in-depth of game designing methods or materials or tools or anything in-depth at all, the book contains a very general view on game designing as a whole: the designer's feelings, the goal of a designer, what a game should be under each person's perspective and some small but helpful tips for reviewing your games.
Will recommend for any game-design starters so that they grab some general idea of the work in the field.
December 29, 2018
1) ["The Game is Not the Rules," by James Ernest]
"Now ask yourself, why do I like the games I like? And what kind of emotions do I want to create in my players? Forget about starting with your favorite game mechanic, or your favorite theme. Start with a concise expression of how you want your players to feel. And 'I want them to have fun' doesn’t cut it. There are different kinds of fun.
There is nothing compelling about game mechanics. There is something compelling about games. Games engage players on a gut level that they are barely aware of. As a designer, you must be aware of the real reasons that people will want to play your games, even if they will never notice it themselves."
2) ["Design Intuitively," by Rob Daviau]
"Rules shouldn’t explain a game; they should only confirm what the rest of the game tells you.
That is, if your game makes intuitive sense from the moment players crack open the box, then you’ve done far more work toward people learning the game than you think.
Because tabletop games, unlike videogames, require every player to understand the entire game system to play. You need to understand not only the components, the goal, the rules, and the flow of play, but also how to assemble all these into a comprehensive strategy that will lead you to victory.
We’ve all played games that make no sense at all, where every rule fights another and the pieces seem like an afterthought. Don’t design one of those. Instead, design games that need the rulebook as little as possible.
If you are using the rulebook to fix an unintuitive game, you are making it very hard on your players to enjoy what you designed."
3) ["Strategy is Luck," by James Ernest]
"My actual thesis here is that 'strategy' and 'skill' are different, and the main difference between them is that strategy has a luck component, while 'skill' doesn’t. Understanding the roles of luck, strategy, and skill will help you design better games.
Here are the terms.
Luck: In games, 'luck' is not necessarily 'good luck' or 'bad luck.' It’s just something beyond your control. It’s a fork in the road, a random choice that might help you or hurt you. It might be a die roll, a card flip, or the actions of other players.
Strategy: 'Strategy' is the act of making plans and decisions during the game, given limited information.
Skill: 'Skill' is an aptitude for the game that you bring from the outside. Specifically, skill allows you to know the correct choice in a given situation."
4) [ibid.]
"'Creativity,' as [Bobby] Fischer suggests, is what makes games fun to play. Learning perfect strategy does not make a game more fun; it just makes it more likely that you will win."
5) ["Let's Make It Interesting: Designing Gambling Games," by James Ernest]
"'Killer Bunnies' is a story, not a contest. The point is to play the game, not to win it. The cards are funny. The interactions are funny. People are funny. Even the suspenseful counting-off of the losing carrots is funny. If players had to work at this game, they would not have time to enjoy it.
Believe it or not, most people seek out games as entertainment, not as a challenge. They play to escape, not to engage. They want to hang out with their friends, not to dominate them. And thinking too hard will wreck that groove.
Yes, I know it’s hard to swallow, but it really doesn’t matter who wins.
Obviously, if you ask a gambler 'Do you want to win?' he will say yes. But if you watch him, you will see that it really doesn’t make much difference. He plays until he runs out of money, or out of time. If losing actually mattered, he would do something else."
6) ["Amazing Errors in Prototyping," by Steve Jackson]
"The moral of the story -- All of this boils down to:
* A working prototype must include everything it actually takes to play the game.
* A working prototype must not include anything you have not tested thoroughly.
* A working prototype should be about gameplay. Don’t try to dictate the art or the marketing!
Above all, and summarizing everything else: A working prototype must be playable, legible, and user-friendly."
"Now ask yourself, why do I like the games I like? And what kind of emotions do I want to create in my players? Forget about starting with your favorite game mechanic, or your favorite theme. Start with a concise expression of how you want your players to feel. And 'I want them to have fun' doesn’t cut it. There are different kinds of fun.
There is nothing compelling about game mechanics. There is something compelling about games. Games engage players on a gut level that they are barely aware of. As a designer, you must be aware of the real reasons that people will want to play your games, even if they will never notice it themselves."
2) ["Design Intuitively," by Rob Daviau]
"Rules shouldn’t explain a game; they should only confirm what the rest of the game tells you.
That is, if your game makes intuitive sense from the moment players crack open the box, then you’ve done far more work toward people learning the game than you think.
Because tabletop games, unlike videogames, require every player to understand the entire game system to play. You need to understand not only the components, the goal, the rules, and the flow of play, but also how to assemble all these into a comprehensive strategy that will lead you to victory.
We’ve all played games that make no sense at all, where every rule fights another and the pieces seem like an afterthought. Don’t design one of those. Instead, design games that need the rulebook as little as possible.
If you are using the rulebook to fix an unintuitive game, you are making it very hard on your players to enjoy what you designed."
3) ["Strategy is Luck," by James Ernest]
"My actual thesis here is that 'strategy' and 'skill' are different, and the main difference between them is that strategy has a luck component, while 'skill' doesn’t. Understanding the roles of luck, strategy, and skill will help you design better games.
Here are the terms.
Luck: In games, 'luck' is not necessarily 'good luck' or 'bad luck.' It’s just something beyond your control. It’s a fork in the road, a random choice that might help you or hurt you. It might be a die roll, a card flip, or the actions of other players.
Strategy: 'Strategy' is the act of making plans and decisions during the game, given limited information.
Skill: 'Skill' is an aptitude for the game that you bring from the outside. Specifically, skill allows you to know the correct choice in a given situation."
4) [ibid.]
"'Creativity,' as [Bobby] Fischer suggests, is what makes games fun to play. Learning perfect strategy does not make a game more fun; it just makes it more likely that you will win."
5) ["Let's Make It Interesting: Designing Gambling Games," by James Ernest]
"'Killer Bunnies' is a story, not a contest. The point is to play the game, not to win it. The cards are funny. The interactions are funny. People are funny. Even the suspenseful counting-off of the losing carrots is funny. If players had to work at this game, they would not have time to enjoy it.
Believe it or not, most people seek out games as entertainment, not as a challenge. They play to escape, not to engage. They want to hang out with their friends, not to dominate them. And thinking too hard will wreck that groove.
Yes, I know it’s hard to swallow, but it really doesn’t matter who wins.
Obviously, if you ask a gambler 'Do you want to win?' he will say yes. But if you watch him, you will see that it really doesn’t make much difference. He plays until he runs out of money, or out of time. If losing actually mattered, he would do something else."
6) ["Amazing Errors in Prototyping," by Steve Jackson]
"The moral of the story -- All of this boils down to:
* A working prototype must include everything it actually takes to play the game.
* A working prototype must not include anything you have not tested thoroughly.
* A working prototype should be about gameplay. Don’t try to dictate the art or the marketing!
Above all, and summarizing everything else: A working prototype must be playable, legible, and user-friendly."
July 16, 2016
Boardgame design is a long and windy process which definitely needs some guidelines like this book provides. But what I personally am into learning more about is mechanism design and there I was a bit let down content wise.
Some things were good in that respect though. I liked most the chapter "stealing the fun" by Dave Howell since it actually provided useful insight to guide mechanism design.
Some things were good in that respect though. I liked most the chapter "stealing the fun" by Dave Howell since it actually provided useful insight to guide mechanism design.
March 21, 2015
Plenty of valuable advice through all steps of game design and development. Recommended!
December 31, 2016
Must read for all who want to design their own game.
Love the writing style and the humour, too.
Bonus: a lot of useful references inside.
Love the writing style and the humour, too.
Bonus: a lot of useful references inside.
May 4, 2020
I have no intention of designing my own board games. I picked up this book from my library for entertainment reasons and gain some insight into how people design games.
The essays were entertaining, for the most part. Some authors were a little drier than others, but many struck right the humorous tone without being too comedic. You can tell these designers are familiar with writing well.
The most insightful essays, from my perspective, were the ones that focused on actual mechanics and game design. Unfortunately, many of the other essays were focused on other practical manners that an actual game designer would be interested in: creating prototypes, properly playtesting a game, working through development with a publisher, etc. Those topics fell flat for me since I was only interested in the game design items. And since less than half of the 20 essays dealt directly with game play design, I was personally disappointed. If you plan to develop and sell your game to a publisher, then this practical advice will likely serve you very well.
I was not familiar with many of the game designers, but I'm only just beginning to learn more names beyond heavy hitters like Richard Garfield, Alan Moon, Reiner Knizia, and Uwe Rosenberg. So the designers included in this book helped me expand that knowledge.
The essays were entertaining, for the most part. Some authors were a little drier than others, but many struck right the humorous tone without being too comedic. You can tell these designers are familiar with writing well.
The most insightful essays, from my perspective, were the ones that focused on actual mechanics and game design. Unfortunately, many of the other essays were focused on other practical manners that an actual game designer would be interested in: creating prototypes, properly playtesting a game, working through development with a publisher, etc. Those topics fell flat for me since I was only interested in the game design items. And since less than half of the 20 essays dealt directly with game play design, I was personally disappointed. If you plan to develop and sell your game to a publisher, then this practical advice will likely serve you very well.
I was not familiar with many of the game designers, but I'm only just beginning to learn more names beyond heavy hitters like Richard Garfield, Alan Moon, Reiner Knizia, and Uwe Rosenberg. So the designers included in this book helped me expand that knowledge.
January 6, 2019
In this short read from game designers and publishers, you will recognize many names. It didn't occur to me that Seattle is a tiny Mecca for board games. Wizards of the Coast is here. Most of the authors featured in this book seem to be from around here. We have a great scene.
I read the White Box essays last year, and I think this book was good in a similar way. It has a lot to teach the budding game designer about the board game industry.
Two dimensions I want to highlight in contrast to the White Box are the essays on actually designing mechanical aspects of a game. I definitely felt like the White Box leaves a hole in that dimension. And second, maybe my memory is short, but I felt like this book have a much better publisher's point of view in its final essays. The function of the development process and the editor were very revealing.
I think they're both good books, though. This one feels a little more colloquial and friendly, perhaps. But if you're interested in designing your own games and publishing them one day, I would read both (also, A Theory of Fun for Game Design).
I am left wondering how you get their jobs... Editing games seems to be a bit different gig than playing, testing, designing, or even publishing...
I read the White Box essays last year, and I think this book was good in a similar way. It has a lot to teach the budding game designer about the board game industry.
Two dimensions I want to highlight in contrast to the White Box are the essays on actually designing mechanical aspects of a game. I definitely felt like the White Box leaves a hole in that dimension. And second, maybe my memory is short, but I felt like this book have a much better publisher's point of view in its final essays. The function of the development process and the editor were very revealing.
I think they're both good books, though. This one feels a little more colloquial and friendly, perhaps. But if you're interested in designing your own games and publishing them one day, I would read both (also, A Theory of Fun for Game Design).
I am left wondering how you get their jobs... Editing games seems to be a bit different gig than playing, testing, designing, or even publishing...
October 29, 2017
This is a really great read and a book I might just have to buy (got it from the library). It's a collection of essays on all the various stages of creating a board game. I would have liked to get more in-depth about the creation. For example, how exactly do you go about creating "balance" in a game? Is it really just hit and miss that gets smoothed out in playtesting?
Some essayists are better than others but there's at least a nugget I got out of every one of the essays. Highly recommend to anyone who has considered creating a board game. This book will either encourage you or discourage you, but either way, you will learn a lot.
Some essayists are better than others but there's at least a nugget I got out of every one of the essays. Highly recommend to anyone who has considered creating a board game. This book will either encourage you or discourage you, but either way, you will learn a lot.
December 30, 2024
While not technical, this very-readable book sits nicely in the middle space between design mechanics and practical advice. Although it was published in 2011, it's a still-relevant, 20-essay collection written by 15 real-world designers. Michelle Nephew's (Ars Magica) essay, "Getting Your Game Published," is worth the cost of the book alone and leads the reader through a two+ year process that involves far more people and moving parts than you might otherwise imagine.
(I first read this in 2018 before designing my first tabletop game. Now, having designed several (one even placed in a BGG contest earlier this year), my re-read still found useful nuggets of information.)
(I first read this in 2018 before designing my first tabletop game. Now, having designed several (one even placed in a BGG contest earlier this year), my re-read still found useful nuggets of information.)
January 8, 2020
کاش این کتاب به زبان فارسی موجود بود. من به زبان انگلیسی خوندم. ولی برای خیلی ها که به طراحی بازی رومیزی علاقه دارن ولی زبان انگلیسیشون خیلی قوی نیست یه جای خالی رو پر میکرد. کتاب خیلی خوبه. بعضی از مقاله ها عالین، کل فرایند طراحی بازی رو از ابتدا تا انتها توضیح میده. کتاب به صورت مجموعه مقالست و هر مقاله یه نویسنده� و� یه موضوع داره. ولی هر مقاله و موضوعش هوشمندانه انتخاب شده و یه روند پیشرفتی داره. اسامی مهمی بین نویسنده ها هست مثل استیو جکسون طراح بزرگ بازی.
April 26, 2020
Wide-ranging collection of essays on (mostly) hobby game design. A lot of it is the Usual Advice about generating ideas, refining concepts, and play-testing -- no surprises here -- but it's always fun to hear the thoughts of the people in the industry. It's been almost a decade since this was published, so I'm a bit curious how the their ideas have changed in a world of app integration, crowdfunded production, and online play.
November 19, 2022
It's a bit hard to judge because the board game industry has changed so much in the last decade, so some advice feels dated. Generally, I think the essays have a great arc that mirrors the game design process, from idea to design to development to production. Some of the essays I found to add little value and be fairly obvious and intuitive things, but there are some ideas that they spell out well in what your goals should be as a designer. A nice read.
January 3, 2025
Super interessante e ensina muita coisa sobre um mundo que eu pouco ou nada sabia. Está cheio de dicas interessantes e sugestões importantes para quem se quer iniciar, e apesar de o livro ser pequeno até abordado uma quantidade boa de temas. No entanto, e dado que o livro foi escrito em 2011 (se não estou em erro), sinto que não está o mais actualizado em certos aspectos e mesmo as referências mencionadas são um pouco ultrapassadas. Não é um problema maior, mas dá para sentir ao longo do livro.
March 14, 2019
Knowing that I was approaching a moment of intentional unemployment, I decided I needed a Ben Wyatt hobby to keep me busy and was gifted this book.
The expert advice articles can only be helpful if you’re actually in the process of building a game and have played many games (many Magic references went above my head). An interesting world that I hadn’t known much about before now.
The expert advice articles can only be helpful if you’re actually in the process of building a game and have played many games (many Magic references went above my head). An interesting world that I hadn’t known much about before now.
June 27, 2020
I would rate the core book 3/5, however the Polish appendix (unblocked via crowdfunding campaign) is a +1. The main part of the book is too general imho. I felt like I was listening to a "celebrity" life coach. Polish addition describes the board games industry in more details and with actual numbers, etc. It gives you a better idea how it looks like on this side of the ocean in Europe.
July 13, 2020
Much better than the cover suggests, at least. Definitely recommended if you’re interested in designing games or just understanding the process a bit better.
The essays are as brief as the book is slim � this is an approachable starting point.
However, it does lack elements like a references section that might have made this a more valuable selection of essays (admittedly a bit hit or miss).
The essays are as brief as the book is slim � this is an approachable starting point.
However, it does lack elements like a references section that might have made this a more valuable selection of essays (admittedly a bit hit or miss).
October 23, 2020
I enjoyed the book and I think I learned a lot but was inspired even more. Also very much intimidated about the idea of making a game now.
One really critical comment, the print in this book was way, way too small. If I had seen the book in a store before I bought it, I wouldn’t have bought it based on the size of the text.
One really critical comment, the print in this book was way, way too small. If I had seen the book in a store before I bought it, I wouldn’t have bought it based on the size of the text.
October 25, 2021
I am not really a big fan of these type of books. A bunch of short articles by some game designers focused either on some specific aspect of game design, or, being very general, not focused on anything and just describing an overview of the whole process. Some of the articles were interesting and good, but as a whole it doesn't hold up and is a bit of a waste.
October 28, 2023
This is a nice short read. The essays are written by actual industry designers with experience of making actually successful products. The quality of the essays varies, some are considerably better than the others. For board game designers, this is a no brainer, for video game designers, there are still few relevant chapters at the beginning of the book.
January 4, 2024
This is the best book I have read about game design because it does not waste hundreds of pages trying to define abstract terms that everybody knows or explaining obvious processes.
It simply shares important insights from successful people in the industry, sometimes even conflicting among each other.
It simply shares important insights from successful people in the industry, sometimes even conflicting among each other.
November 7, 2023
Some nuggets and gems in here, but a bit dated now (in 2023), and some of the essays are just a bit odd, listing things that should be obvious to anybody who is ever going to get anywhere near a finished game. But worth it for the nuggets, given that it's a short read.
September 17, 2024
The guide is a collection of essays on different topics. The insights are interesting. Unfortunately, the content in the chapters overlaps quite a bit. Also, the different tone of voice in each chapter makes this quite hard to read.
December 28, 2024
A bit of a mixed bag. Some chapters are well-written and very insightful, while others come across more as showing off rather than teaching. Overall, though, it's a good read from seasoned pros in the industry for anyone interested in boardgame design.
November 14, 2017
Definitely will be re-reading this next year when I start designing a game.
October 21, 2018
Short. Covers a lot of ground in mixed levels of detail. As a board game player, and someone curious about game design, I found it insightful and entertaining.
December 27, 2019
There's some decent advice in here. But, since it's a series of essays, the book lacks cohesion and any larger messages that would more likely stay with me.
April 22, 2020
Great read full of good information. It might be a little outdated (for all I know), but it seems to me that the core concepts still ring true.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.