Like, a lot! Just watch this video of this man who seems to know everything about dice production (or is a really good salesman).
September 9th, 2012 by Adam
This Guy Really Cares About Dice
September 9th, 2012 by Adam
Another Good TED Talk on Game Design
This TED talk is by two designers who explore what makes a fun game and provide some insights on how to make something fun. The talk is enthusiastic and, if you’re like me, you’ll want to pick up the game design you’ve been working on right after watching this.
What is “fun”? Modern board game designers Kevin Spak and Sam Liberty unpack this mysterious word in new ways, and usher in a boom of innovation that pushes the limits of cardboard chips and wooden bits.
July 23rd, 2012 by Adam
Settlers of Catan for Kids
Ars has a great review on the conversion of the popular board game Catan Junior.
It was at this point that Owen came to the realization that he had accidentally cornered the market on wood. His stockpile was enormous, and only three additional wood remained in the marketplace for all the other players to compete for. Owen was suddenly a very popular person, the youngest lumber magnate in northern Illinois. Owen and William both began to haggle mercilessly with Teagan and Jeff.
The kids simply lit up over the game. I talked a bit with Jeff after the game was over about how he felt the kids took to the game. “I enjoyed it. It allowed me a lot of opportunities to get them to start to think about (consequences). I think continued play will reinforce the next level thinking.”
Get the game on Amazon:
Thanks to Trevor for bringing this to my attention.
May 30th, 2012 by Adam
The Watchers: A Game About Privacy
The Watchers is an augmented board game, co-designed by a team of kids, which teaches online privacy literacy skills to children 8+. Learn more at Gaming Privacy. A really nifty part of this project is that it is an augmented board game, as in you need the board game and iPad to play it.
Found this good little description of the game on their website:
The Watchers takes place in an inter-dimensional town called Union City. Tasked with protecting the city is a secret arms-length government agency, made up of the top agents from each dimension. The team must investigate a number of mysterious events surrounding the town’s hat-based augmented reality network, known as Hatnet. Through these investigations, players learn a number of real-world privacy concepts as well as developing their critical thinking and risk assessment skills.
The game comes out mid-May and I’m really looking forward to it!
Found via the great people at Atmosphere Industries.
May 7th, 2012 by Adam
Board Game in Regards to Jam and Lessons
First off, a big congratulations to the Board Game Jam participants on creating over 20 board games in under 48 hours! The wrap-up post has more info on the greatness of the event as well as the media coverage the jam got.
Following the enthusiasm for board games I updated the relevant resources section.
Relatedly, I found in my archive (as I try to record more things here rather in nebulous locations) a podcast from Three Moves Ahead that looks at what lessons we can learn from board games.
Computer and boardgame designer Paul Sottosanti joins up Soren, Julian, and Rob to discuss how board games are evolving, and how their design philosophies differ from computer games. Is the popular success of games like Catan something that will lead to wider acceptance of board games in general? Why do Julian and Paul love drafting mechanics so much? How does the transparency of board games change our relationship to them in comparison to computer games?
Link.
March 1st, 2012 by Adam
