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Reflections on 10 Years of Gaming

I’ve been playing board games my entire life, but I started getting into the hobby around 2010. My then-girlfriend, now-wife introduced me to Ticket to Ride in grad school. Soon after, friends showed us Carcassonne, Lords of Waterdeep, and Kill Doctor Lucky.

CHRONICLES of CRIME

THE MILLENIUM SERIES

ARCANE WONDERS

The Magic Behind Arcane Wonders

ROBOT INVASION: THE CONVERGENCE OF TABLETOP GAMES AND TECHNOLOGY

It will be a surprise to absolutely no one that technology is slowly creeping into the world of tabletop games, just as it has in every other facet of life. What might actually be surprising is how slowly the creep is. Especially considering the wild success of mobile games and the ubiquity of smartphones, you might expect more tabletop games supplemented with apps. So why are tabletop games lagging behind when we embrace technology in other areas without looking back?

What Kind of Board Gamer Are You?

IT’S SAFE TO SAY THAT WE ALL PLAY BOARD GAMES BECAUSE WE ARE LOOKING TO ENJOY OURSELVES. BUT WHAT KIND OF FUN WE’RE LOOKING FOR CAN DIFFER FROM GAMER TO GAMER. SOME OF US PREFER GAMES THAT INCLUDE EVERYONE AT FAMILY GAME NIGHT. OTHERS SEARCH FOR NEW WAYS TO CHALLENGE THEMSELVES AND TEST THEIR STRATEGIC ACUMEN AGAINST LIKE-MINDED OPPONENTS (OR THEIR LONG-SUFFERING SIGNIFICANT OTHERS). AND THERE ARE OTHERS STILL THAT ARE JUST LOOKING FOR THE CHANCE TO INTRODUCE THEIR FRIENDS TO BOARD GAMES.

Pictures is Major Fun!

MAJOR FUN REVIEW

Pandemic

Taking a Gaming Break from the Outbreak

GAME REVIEWS: MENTAL BLOCKS

Mental Blocks is a cooperative puzzle game in which each player is dealt a card that shows one perspective for the block tower they are building.

HINDSIGHT IS 2020: REVISITING THE CLASSICS WITH RESTORATION GAMES

There is mounting evidence that the board gaming industry boom is not going away. People of all ages are flocking to board gaming as a means of entertainment, fun, and connecting with others in variable settings. Conventions devoted to promoting the latest games continue to swell, with anticipation of the latest hotness working thousands into a frenzy.

Flipping Out Over SILVER COIN

Game series don’t come along all that often. Expansions, sure, but not an actual series of stand-alone games. Silver is both a series of games (Silver Coin is the third of at least seven planned entries) and a collection of expansions, with each game being both stand-alone as well as an expansion for the previous titles. Even weirder is the notion that the two previous games in the series—Silver and Silver Bullet—serve as expansions to Silver Coin.

BOARD GAME ROCK STARS

5 Game Designers Who Changed the World

Smooth Sailing: 3 Tips For Streamlining Your Gaming Experience

What board games do you play the most, and why? Are they the ones with the best mechanics, or an immersive theme you can really appreciate? What about play time? Maybe you don’t have time (or patience) for those multi-hour epics. While longer, more complex board games are great in their own way, you probably find yourself reaching for games with a combination of quick setup, shorter playtime, and easy to teach rules. So why is that?

Hosting A Party?

Have one of these games on hand.

Origins - The Start Of A Good Time

Over the course of Wednesday, June 12, through Sunday, June 16, over 20,000 people attended the 44th annual Origins Game Fair. Put on by the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA) and held each year at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Ohio, what sets Origins apart from other gaming conventions is its focus on playing games.

Paranormal Detectives - A Game Made To Order

On a hot summer day, fans, designers, and publishers of board games meet at a holiday resort by a lake in Poland in order to take part in the V Board Games Lab. Once on-site, they are divided into groups supervised by trainers — representatives of Polish publishing houses and authors of board games. Their task: to design a board game during this 72-hour game jam!

Opening The Floodgates

Creating Experiences through Game Publishing.

GEN CON

Board Gaming Under Construction.

From Pilot to Publisher: Grandpa Beck's Story

The routes into game design all start with a passion for the hobby, and thereafter they are many and varied. But Brent Beck of Grandpa Beck’s Games took one of the most unlikely paths it’s ever been my pleasure to discover.

Shards Of Infinity

Shards of Infinity is the newest deck-building game published by Stone Blade Entertainment, and is a bold successor to my original Ascension series. The innovation of Ascension’s everchanging center row has laid the foundation for a multitude of different games since its initial release. Now on its 13 th big-box expansion, Delirium, the Ascension series has sold hundreds of thousands of copies both in physical form and digital copies.

Touchdown! Board Games For Sports Fans

At first glance, it seems like sports fans and board gamers don’t have much in common. Athletic battles are won by feats of strength and agility, while board games often come down to strategic choices. Sports fans dedicate themselves to their teams and players, while board gamers are usually fighting for themselves. The difference in mindset seems stark.

A Hybrid Game About Hybrid Humans

Until Werewords, the best example of app integration with traditional board and card games was One Night Ultimate Werewolf, which has a free companion app that facilitates the night actions in the game. It was so groundbreaking that it received the prestigious Spiel des Jahres Recommended award because of this integration.

Escape Room Games: The Cooperative Puzzle Experience Hits the Table

The clock is ticking backward from sixty minutes, the game has begun! You and your friends sift through various objects, looking for some sort of clue. One of the people in your group sees something. “Look,” she exclaims, “I think these letters mean something!”

From Tabletops to Desktops: The Rise of Digital Board Games

Board gaming is an inherently physical, analog hobby. Right?

Crowdfunding Catastrophes

(And How to Avoid Them)

Exploring Dicey Peaks

Designer Scott Almes has proven time and again that he is a renaissance man, able to create wonderful games using a variety of themes and concepts. Most recently, Almes has partnered with Calliope Games (Tsuro, Roll For It!) to reveal the summits of Dicey Peaks. In this adventure dice game, players make tough choices in a race to reach the top of a fabled mountain, avoiding the hazards of nature and sinister yetis.

Playing It Forward

The Gamewright Experience.

For Love Of The Game: Gaming For Couples

Tom, an avid gamer in Grand Rapids, Michigan, recalls when he brought home Potion Explosion hoping to play it with his wife Melissa.

Abstract Games

Beauty in the Depths 

Helping Hands

Volunteering in the Gaming Community.

Cult Of The New

Are Gamers Buying More and Playing Less?