It’s often said that the first games you design will be terrible. But what if they aren’t? Here are some ways to approach your first design (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB6ln4buwxg

Board game publishers share how often designers’ pitches lead to a prototype handoff and eventually to a contract:

https://bsky.app/profile/elizhargrave.bsky.social/post/3mhb3m3oxjs2u

This set of game icons is free to use for tabletop game projects:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lvQsO-MHLRyPBFnfYChSoASJ_y4IZTsu

6 ways to improve the legibility of text in your prototypes:

https://rossongames.com/text

Tips for designing a board game for a 24-hour game jam from people who’ve done it:

https://pamwallsgamedesign.substack.com/p/tips-for-board-game-jams

What does it mean to “play” a “game”? Designer Leslie Scott considers various attempts to define these complex and overlapping ideas:

https://boundlessplay.substack.com/p/playing-games

Player elimination can take a few forms. Here’s a look at “soft” player elimination: what it is, what it’s like for players, and how some games address it:

https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2026/03/10/killing-me-softly-a-look-at-player-elimination-topic-discussion/

A pair of timely reminders about why you belong in the game design community (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3P0gg8dBrs

How randomness adds value to games (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN3Cpfyp-Vs

Making board games about the worst parts of human history—how should game designers tackle difficult historical subjects?

https://www.wargamer.com/board-games/history-upsetting

How designing mass-market games is different from designing hobby games (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h7LmXT4L5M

A high-level, step-by-step guide to the earliest stages of designing a board game:

https://boardgamedesigncourse.com/how-to-make-a-board-game-a-step-by-step-guide/

5 tips for pitching your board game to publishers—and step-by-step instructions for 10 of them (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoDCHTJJ7no

6 tips to help you perform better in a game design contest like the Cardboard Edison Award, and to generally make games that will be more appealing (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_5Wv6CaHKY

Reboxing: how one publisher thinks about the experience of putting the game back into the box when designing the product (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-RNRQiygI8

How to end the game? Comparing games with a fixed number of rounds and games with variable endgame triggers, and how they affect the play experience:

https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2026/02/17/finding-the-finish-line-fixed-rounds-vs-end-game-triggers-topic-discussion/

Why balance is overrated—and what board game designers should focus on instead (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fpbTsZI3EI

Board game icons: some simple ways of making them clear and easy to understand, whether they refer to a static resource or a game action:

https://rossongames.com/icons

Thoughts on what games offer us—a chance to feel something that we don’t usually experience all that often:

https://stonemaiergames.com/the-essential-human-problem-solved-by-games/

Matt Leacock on how the industry has changed in the past 20 years, working with publishers, advocating for game designers, and more:

https://boardgamewire.com/index.php/2026/02/06/pandemic-creator-matt-leacock-on-fighting-for-designers-rights-working-with-effective-developers-and-his-publisher-pet-peeves/