Board Game News

Publisher Diary: Colt Express

You have certainly read many designer diaries. As the publisher of Colt Express, we were tempted to follow the same exercise but from a different point of view. We would like to share with you...

Game Preview: Illegal, or Pit of Depravity

Not every game is for every player, whether due to the playing time required or the complexity of the rules or a certain opponent's loathing of blind bidding or a game designer's determination to...

Game Preview: Ketch Up/Absacker, or Then Tomatoes Are Seven

Everything old is new again, the saying goes, and while we as gamers might first think of Android: Netrunner or Fire & Axe as living examples of this saying — games that have returned from...

Designer Diary: Planes, or How A Round Trip Starts With A Spark

I'm very proud of Planes — a 2-4 player game that has you pushing your way through a crowded airport to reach your plane before takeoff — and I invite you to take a short hop to the past with...

Game Preview: Six MaKING, or One if by Pawn and Two if by Rook

Each year my most challenging game is a solitaire design titled "Include all of the new games that will appear at Spiel in my convention preview", and it's a game that I lose over and over again....

Game Preview: The Staufer Dynasty, or Taking a Lesson from Henry VI

I previewed Andreas Steding's The Staufer Dynasty — debuting at Spiel 2014 in German from Hans im Glück and in English from Z-Man Games — in late September 2014 on BGG News in a small amount...

Game Preview: El Gaucho, or Beers, Steers and Questionable Choices by Your Peers

The more that I talk about games on video, the more that I question the ability of people to review games following a single playing — a difficulty that's frequently in mind these days as I...

Game Preview: RoboRama, or Chinese Checkerbots Roll Toward Self-Destruction

The short description of RoboRama from designers Kirps, Pierson and Zuidhof and publisher PLAYTHISONE might bring another RoboR**** game to mind:Quote:In RoboRama the goal is simple: Race against...

Publisher Diary, Designer Interview & Artist Diary: Robin

Part 1: From Porto Seguro to RobinThe next title from Flatlined Games is Robin, by Fréderic Moyersoen. This series of articles will tell you the tale of making Robin from the initial idea to the...

Game Preview: Kobayakawa, or Artsy Bluffing Made Simple

I'm nearing the end of game previews for titles that will debut at or be (somewhat more widely) available at Spiel 2014, and I realize that yes, I've been focusing a lot on games from Japanese...

Game Preview: Edo Yashiki, or Flimsy Cardboard Palaces for All

In July 2014, designer Hisashi Hayashi announced that he had left his former job to work on game design on a full-time basis. He credited Trains' recognition by the Origins Award as Best Board...

New Game Round-up: A New Age for Conan, New Landscapes for Elder Sign & New Ships for Firefly

• Ares Games has made deals with both Fantasy Flight Games and Conan Properties International that put the remaining inventory of the first English-language edition of Age of Conan: The...

Designer Diary: Empire Engine, or From Gerdts with Love (Letter)

When I started getting back into the board game hobby in 2009, I had no idea how much I would fall back in love with it. I've gone from owning just Blokus and Ingenious at that time to having a...

Game Preview: La Isla, or Besting Other Explorers Three Cards at a Time

Designer Stefan Feld assaulted the gaming world with four large releases in 2013: Bruges, Bora Bora, Amerigo and Rialto. (Well, technically his publishers assaulted the gaming world with four...

Designer Diary/Preview: Ciúb

Ciúb (pronounced "cube") is a family dice game for 2-­4. Players are Celtic mages, casting spells by rolling custom dice to match the die faces on scoring cards and claim them for victory...

Game Preview: King's Pouch, or Giving Citizens the Sack

It's funny how quickly something can go from non-existent to familiar enough to elicit an "oh, how does this one compare to the others?" response from those who hear about this formerly new...

Designer/Developer Diary: Red Glove Grows, or Building a Team for a New Line of Games

The last year has been quite intense. I started to work for Red Glove as lead designer, so I found myself working both on my games — Vudù (with Francesco Giovo) and GodZ (with Diego Cerreti)...

Designer Diary: Wir Sind Das Volk! or, The Long and Winding Road for German Unification

In 2007 I read an article about North Korea and thought how interesting it would be to design a war game without war: Two separate countries going their own way, and while not directly attacking...

Game Preview: Ninja Taisen, or For Those About to Rock/Paper/Scissor, We Slash You

While at Gen Con 2014, BGG advertising manager Chad Krizan relayed to me and a fellow roommate a few details from an article profiling a rock/paper/scissors champion, noting, among other things,...

Videos from Gen Con 2014: D&D Attack Wing, Marvel Dice Masters, Diamonsters, Machi Koro: Harbor, Draco Magi & Operation F.A.U.S.T.

Carrying on with the last of the game demonstrations recorded in the BGG booth at Gen Con 2014 we have the Dungeons & Dragons: Attack Wing – Starter Set from designers Andrew Parks and Manny...

Designer Diary: GodZ, or Making the Makers

"A god game, with tiles."It sounded at the same time as a lot and a lack of information, but that was, in a few words, the publisher's request.Red Glove was planning to release a new game set in...

Game Preview: 8 The Liar, or I Am the One in Ten Even Though I Don't Exist

I mentioned in my preview of See-Know-Buzz that "bluffing seems to play a core role in a larger percentage of games from Japanese designers", but to some degree I think that's because I tend to...

Hans im Glück Prepares Die Staufer, Finds Gold in a Revamped Carcassonne, and Preps a Russian Railroads Expansion

• Time to get away from the game previews and recorded game demonstrations for at least one post and do a good old-fashioned round-up focusing on upcoming games! Yeah! And what better title to...

Videos from Gen Con 2014: Imperial Settlers, Strife, Evolution, War Stories: Liberty Road & Board Games That Tell Stories

• In case anyone is not yet familiar with Portal Games' Imperial Settlers, designer Ignacy Trzewiczek will be happy to correct that error, forcibly if need be since he knows aikido. •...

Game Preview: See-Know-Buzz, or Fighting Behind an Unknown Mask

Sometimes you just have no idea what to make of a game, as has been the case with the tiny quasi-trick-taking game See-Know-Buzz from designer Masanofu and publisher Yū-gen Roman.I've...

Designer DAILY Diary: Castles of Mad King Ludwig I

This is going to be a slightly different read than the typical designer diary. As noted below, as I started to design Castles of Mad King Ludwig, I just had one of those feelings that it was...

Designer DAILY Diary: Castles of Mad King Ludwig II

This is part two of the ridiculously long designer diary for Castles of Mad King Ludwig. Read part one first, then if you still have any energy left, read this one.Friday, June 7th, 2013This...

Videos from Gen Con 2014: Subdivision, Epic Resort, The Game of 49, Bring Out Yer Dead & 1750: Britain vs. France

• Amazingly enough, I can finally see an end to these game demonstration videos that we recorded in the BGG booth at Gen Con 2014 — and it's about time given that a month has passed since...

Game Preview: Colors of Kasane, or Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamgame

Among the many games that I purchased (through surrogates) at Tokyo Game Market in June 2014 was Hinata Origuchi's Colors of Kasane from Ouyuuan. I can't recall the exact description that I saw...

Game Preview: Bucket King 3D, or Noooo, They Be Stealin’ My Bucket

Stefan Dorra's card game The Bucket King was released in 2002 by German publisher KOSMOS, then later by Rio Grande Games. While not a trick-taking game, the design feels something like one in...