2026 Award Judges

Nate Murray is the Director of Development for Liithos Entertainment and Publisher of Erasmus Fox. He has worked in tabletop gaming for a decade and was a founding member of the IDW Games team.

Shari Spiro is the Founder and CEO of Ad Magic, a leading U.S.-based manufacturer and supply-chain partner for tabletop games, playing cards, and a wide variety of creative consumer products. With decades of hands-on experience in manufacturing, logistics, and intellectual property, Shari has built Ad Magic into a trusted partner for some of the most successful influencers in the world.

Under her leadership, Ad Magic has produced and scaled blockbuster titles including Cards Against Humanity, Magic Puzzle Company & Exploding Kittens, supporting creators from Kickstarter launch through mass retail and worldwide distribution. Shari is known for her deep operational expertise—spanning printing, packaging, global sourcing, quality control, customs, warehousing, and fulfillment—combined with a creator-first philosophy that helps independent inventors and major brands alike bring ideas to market responsibly and efficiently.

Beyond manufacturing, Shari is a strategic operator and innovator, overseeing integrated fulfillment and logistics operations through Ad Magic’s related divisions, including U.S.-based warehousing and e-commerce fulfillment. She is also deeply involved in IP strategy, licensing, and long-term brand development, frequently working alongside creators from concept to global scale.

Mary Georgescu is a Senior Game Designer at Spin Master with over half a decade of experience creating kids, family, and mass-market tabletop games. In 2025, she was named one of Mojo Nation’s Top 100 Most Influential Figures in Toys and Games for Research & Design and is the founder of Haiduc Studio.

"I'm Zazu here to help you host game nights". I focus on connecting and growing the tabletop gaming community via game nights. I love board games and I love people more and as far as I can tell board games are the best way to connect, compete and spend time with friends, family and strangers alike.

Serena is an award-winning game designer from Italy. Her published titles include Danger Hugs from MoCo Games and Swapple from Gibsons Games, and seven new games coming out in 2026 and 2027. She also designed and self-published Happy Haven, the first game that is scientifically proven to make people happier. Serena was listed in the Mojo Nation 100 2025 and 2026 (a list of the 100 most influential figures in Toy and Game Design), and in 2025 she won a Play Creators Award and a Wonder Woman Award.

Eddie is a returning for his 8th year as a Cardboard Edison Award Judge. If you don't see him with his family, you're likely to find him with a game within arm's reach, whether that's at home or at work. If you ever got a chance to meet him at a trade show or convention you'd understand his love and appreciation for gaming and if you haven't yet met him, you're likely to at some point.

Ben Rosset is an award-winning board game designer with over 20 published titles including The Search for Planet X, Between Two Cities, and Fromage. Ben models real-world systems in the games he designs. From 2015-2025 he was a Sr. Project Manager and then HR Director at Panda Game Manufacturing, and he is currently the COO of Bamboo Design Studio. He also founded and directed a board game convention in Washington, DC, and serves as a mentor to new designers. You can learn more about Ben at www.benrosset.games or www.bamboodesignstudio.com.

Leon started in the board game industry in 2014 at Nice Game Publishing and Nice Game Shop where they brought the best game from East Asia to a wider audience. In 2019 he joined Korea's largest board game distributor and publisher Korea Boardgames.

At Korea Boardgames he is a game developer and project manager having overseen the production of games like Four Gardens, Nirvana and our just announced game Terra Pyramides.

Ronali Christeen is the founder of Board Gamers Sri Lanka, the first and only YouTube channel dedicated to modern board games in the Sinhala language.

The channel was created with the goal of introducing international board games to Sri Lankans and making board gaming a popular, meaningful activity—especially among children and youth.

The mission of Board Gamers Sri Lanka is to ensure that every Sri Lankan child gets the opportunity to play an international board game at least once in their lifetime, while also laying the groundwork for the creation of homegrown Sri Lankan board games. The platform actively supports and promotes local board game designers, helping grow a sustainable board gaming culture in Sri Lanka.

• Instagram: @boardgamers_sl
• Twitter (X): @BoardgamersSriLanka
• Facebook: Board Gamers Sri Lanka

Paul Peterson started his career as a game designer in the card mines of Wizards of the Coast in 1994. There he worked on almost a dozen collectible card games including Magic: the Gathering, Pokemon, and Harry Potter. It is also where his first card game, Guillotine, was published. Since then he has bounced back and forth between the worlds of electronic and tabletop gaming, and his credits include games for PC, mobile, and Facebook as well as numerous card and board games such as Smash Up, Unexploded Cow, and as one of the designers for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game.

Steven Aramini is a game designer and avid fan of all board games. His designs include Sprawlopolis, Circle the Wagons, Yardmaster, Ancient Realm, Groves and Animal Kingdoms (winner of the 2018 Cardboard Edison Award), among others. Additionally, Steven is the owner of Write Stuff Games, which recently published its first title Fliptown, of which Steven was also the designer.

Marceline is a full-time game designer working at TeeTurtle, freelance developer, and adjunct game design professor at NYU Game Center and based in Brooklyn, New York. She has worked on games with North Star Games, Underdog Games, Office Dog, Clarkson Potter, Maestro Media, and Elephant Laboratories, and has acted as mentee in NYU Game Center’s Incubator as well as mentor for the Unpub Mentorship Program. She won the Diana Jones Emerging Designer award for 2025.

David Masnato is a community manager, game designer, and graphic designer. When he's not making or playing games, David loves to cook, crochet, and listen to music. His first game, Roux Mates, was the winner of the 2022 Cardboard Edison Award In-Person Track.

Chris Chan is an art director who grew up in Rochester, N.Y. He attended New York University and pursued playwriting for a time. Chris began his game design journey while working the late shift in a Greenwich Village chess store. He started exploring non-chess game designs while attending Virginia Commonwealth University for art direction and advertising. Chris' advertising career introduced him to the friends with whom he would co-design his first published game, The Night Cage by Smirk & Dagger Games. That process also introduced Chris to the hobby game community which he's thrilled to be a part of now. When he isn't designing board games, Chris is probably out running or taking photos.

Josh Bowman is a tabletop designer, podcaster, publisher, and professional Game Master. He is the host and producer of the Tabletop Submarine Podcast, alongside cohost Andrew Stiles, and a contributor to The Level Up Board Game Podcast.

He is also the COO of CakePie Games, which is currently completing its first Kickstarter. Additionally, Josh is the designer and lead developer for Beach Day and Guns or Treasure, and is working on two unannounced projects with different publishers for both board games and RPGs.

Samphire Savage is an award-winning game designer and multidisciplinary artist whose work focuses on the framework of new and better worlds, informed by their experience in epidemiology and health information systems. Their games include Gorgon’s Garden, The Old Ways Must Go, and Rule of Three: A Fairy Tale Larp.

Geoff Engelstein is an award-winning tabletop game designer, whose titles include Space Cadets, The Expanse, and Super Skill Pinball.

He has written several books, including Achievement Relocked, and Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design: An Encyclopedia of Mechanisms. The latter now serves as the basis for the mechanism directory on BoardGameGeek.

He is also a noted podcaster. From 2007 to 2021 he was a contributor to the Dice Tower, the leading table-top game podcast, with a series on the math, science, and psychology of games. He also hosted the first 200 episodes of Ludology a weekly podcast on game design beginning in 2011.

Geoff is an adjunct professor of game design at the NYU Game Center, and has spoken at a variety of venues, including GDC, Pax, Gencon, Rutgers, and USC. He has degrees in Physics and Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and is currently the president of Mars International, a design engineering firm.

Dale holds a master’s degree in digital game theory and design and has applied that knowledge to the field of tabletop gaming. He has developed games for Mythic Games and Thunderworks Games including Roll Player: Fiends and Familiars, Solomon Kane, Reichbusters: Project Vril and Hel: The Last Saga.

His movement from digital to analogue gaming could in part be due to his partner and primary gaming companion, who is blind. The greater tactility of tabletop games allows him to share his passion with greater accessibility. Or at least that’s what he tells himself as he orders an increasing volume of ‘deluxe’ components.

In his spare time, he enjoys creating home-brew expansions as well as providing advice and feedback at his local playtest meetups; of which one published success is FlickFleet by Eurydice Games. He is based in the UK with his partner, two children and black Labrador guide dog who is the real brains behind his work.

Eris Alar (he/him) is the founder of Delta Phase Games, an indie tabletop game studio in Brisbane, Australia. He also runs Incubator Brisbane, an in-person play testing group that meets monthly, and is an active member of Tabletop Game Designers Australia, currently serving on the committee. Eris is also an artist who loves to paint with his iPad, and take photos using both film and digital cameras. 

Mike Bonet is a former podcast host of The Who, What, Why Game Design podcast that ran from 2014 to 2024. Currently, Mike is a game enthusiast who still loves taking what he’s learned from over 300 interviews and applying it to help other designers where he can.

Pat Marino is a game designer and the Director of Hobby Games at The Op. In his current role he evaluates new game titles to strategically plan the hobby game rollout, which includes design, development and a lot of inventor relations. His published designs include Mountains out of Molehills, Cuphead Fast Rolling Dice Game, Express Route, Court of the Dead: Mourners Call, Fire Nation Rising and more. Pat holds a PhD in Leadership Studies and can be found on Instagram and TikTok with the handle @DrPatMakesGames.

Mondo is a board game designer who signed his first game, Color Field, in 2019. Since then, Mondo has designed dozens of games including Mansplaining and Big Sur. In 2024, he began working as Senior Developer of Hobby Games at The Op and is currently working as a freelance developer with companies like Stonemaier Games and 25th Century Games. Mondo lives outside Atlanta, GA with his wife, two daughters and a temperamental fig tree.

Nick Sauer is a scientist and game designer and has a collection of over 3,000 games. He is co-owner of Shoot Again Games. His games include Mystery Rummy Al Capone, Conspiracy!, Looting Atlantis, Born to Serve, and Jumping Jackalopes. In addition, he has worked on a number of role-playing games including several from the Kids on Bikes series.

Tim Rodriguez, an award-winning game designer and publisher, and has worked across various types of media including board games, role-playing games, video games, and interactive audio. Tim is also an avid cyclist, musician, textile artist, and martial arts practitioner.

As a former actor and lifelong gamer, Evan is inspired by the role of narrative in compelling play experiences. He is an enthusiastic playtester, designer, and event volunteer who derives great satisfaction from helping someone realize their creative vision.

Dr. Wictz is the designer of Littoral Commander: Space Force available for pre-order from the Dietz Foundation. Dr. Wictz also writes a boardgame design blog dr.wictz.com.

Peter Ratzloff is a Minnesota-based teacher and game designer.

Federic Benito is one the three owners and founders of Diner State Games.

An only child, Julia was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland and earned a degree at Washington University in St Louis. As a young adult, she lived in Denver, where her son was born, and Carlsbad, California. She’s never been a “career person” but has had some interesting jobs and volunteer positions and she has often engaged in political activism. She immigrated to New Zealand in the year 2000 and eventually found her way into the board game industry, co-founding SchilMil Games in 2011 and designing five games alongside Amanda Milne. Wishing to concentrate on small box games, in 2014 she broke away to launch Cheeky Parrot Games. In the intervening years, it has become New Zealand's premier publisher of small box games, with nine published titles. Cheeky Parrot distributes its own plus additional titles, largely for other Kiwi publishers. With over 12,000 copies printed since its 2016 Kickstarter, including a German edition, Hoard is Cheeky Parrot's bestseller.

Chris Porter has worked in the creative industry for over a decade, specializing in branding, illustration, and marketing. He started game design in 2020, creating a game concept for his best friend as a gift. This spearheaded him to co-found Chris Couch Games, a publishing company based in Memphis, TN. The company's goal is to bring laughter and fun to the table with their unique board games designed for all types of players. Chris is a game designer, developer, and artist, and loves working with other game designers to help playtest and iterate on their creative ideas. He also serves as Partner/Creative Director at Baby Grand, a black-owned, creative agency in Memphis.

Dane Sethi is a lifelong board gamer. He prefers highly thematic, card-driven games. Excluding the countless Dungeons & Dragons sessions he's run, his game design credentials include 2023 Cardboard Edison finalist Kali Yuga.

Marcus Lehner lives in Boston, where he is a proud member of the Game Makers Guild. Marcus has been hooked on making games ever since he made his first one as a wedding gift for his sister (whose husband can be entirely blamed for introducing our family to Catan). Now he designs games to play with his family and friends that try and bring novel and exciting experiences to the kitchen table. When not making games, Marcus can be found working as an engineer, answering absurd hypothetical questions on his podcast, and laughing at his own terrible puns.

Joe Kell is an independent game designer with 3 published titles and multiple licensed designs. Their most recent game to release is Tootin' & Hollerin', published by Lunarpunk Games at their Midnight Market. Joe is one of the moderators for the Break My Game online playtesting community and hosts the monthly in-person Break My Game event in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They've recently been spending their time working to figure out cool ways to motivate players in designs that aren't single-victor or cooperative (unranked games).

Kellen Freeman is a maker and designer. He oversees a public makerspace and enjoys teaching people how to create things. He has been a judge for Cardboard Edison for a few years. When not working he enjoys watching movies and playing games.

Kristen Mott is a freelance game designer and mom of three. She originally started designing games while homeschooling her children. Her published titles include Stable Times (Lovemore Games), Insectarium (Snowbright Studio), and Sharks (The Dietz Foundation) with more releasing soon. She likes to create puzzly, family games based on real-world systems.

Kristy and Jared have been playtesters for over 10 years, having tested games by hundreds of designers including many of their other fellow judges. And as to date, they have been thanked by more designers than they have left crying.

Jamie has been in love with games for their entire life, and has been designing games almost as long. As a kid, whenever they were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up, it was always "game designer!". They're not any closer to growing up, but they did start their professional journey into the board game industry in 2016, to finally get their ideas out into the world and champion the causes they care about - making games that create a sense of community around them, making people think and feel in ways that help them grow, and making the gaming community as a whole feel welcoming to people of all kinds.

Jadyne "Jay" Bell is a game designer and graphic designer from southern Louisiana. He also works as a prepress specialist with Panda Game Manufacturing. Since 2019 he has engaged with many areas of the tabletop community, focusing on creating games that leave players with lasting memories.

Designer of Clank Legacy 2, The Great Cake Escape, Cahoots, Strange Gravity, and more.

Eric Yurko writes and does board game photography for What's Eric Playing?, a board game review website which just celebrated 1000 reviews! When not doing that, Eric also serves on the American Tabletop Awards Committee, a group of US-based media and content creators working to find and promote great board games released in the US each year. You can find him on Twitter @whatseplaying or on Instagram @whatsericplaying.

Hunter Johnson (he/him) is a Maryland-based game designer. He is on the Executive Board for Unpub, where he creates welcoming, supportive environments for game designers at any stage of their design journey.

Sammy Salkind (he/him) is a game designer from Redmond, Washington. Sammy won the 2025 Cardboard Edison Award with his game Dot Com. Previously a game development intern at Ravensburger, Sammy is currently an assistant manager at a local game store.

Karl is a part-time engineer / part-time board game designer and developer from Melbourne, Australia. After finishing university in 2014, Karl stumbled across modern board games, and since then has thrown himself deep into the hobby. Since winning the Cardboard Edison Award in 2021, he has 14 signed games, and has led development on many up-and-coming games. involved with the Tabletop Game Designers Australia, a not-for-profit advocating and facilitating Australian tabletop game design development and commercialization, and is often involved in board game conventions throughout Australia. When not playing with cardboard, Karl enjoys learning from his wife and sons, Laura, George, and Harvey.

Aaron Lim is a tabletop gamemaker, occasional games educator, and community organizer based in Malaysia. He's made storygames like An Altogether Different River and Spectres of Brocken, and runs the fortnightly playtesting meetup Playtest Zero.

Heather is the CEO of 9th Level Games. 9th Level is a small indie game design and publishing house known for blending humor, great mechanics and fun for over 20 years! Heather has designed tabletop board games and roleplaying games including Schrodinger's Cats, Pavlov's Dogs, Meeple Party, and Venture Village! Find out more at 9thlevel.com or follow @9thlevelgames.

Matteo has been managing Volpe Giocosa since 2016, with the aim of spreading the word of hobby board games in Italy.

We are interested both in the strategic aspect and in the educational one, passing through mathematical, social and historical themes.

From the inexperienced player to the more addicted ones, we believe there is a game for everyone.

Beanbag Jolly-Amerika - Bean (n): An edible, kidney-shaped seed, borne in the long pods of a leguminous plant. / Bean is an occasional poet, non-practicing architect, youth services & board game librarian, and dad to two small humans. He resides in NYC, and despite what you may have heard, is not actually from Antarctica. His heart is covered in paisleys. He enjoys bright colors, long novels, crossword puzzles, and the company of rabbits.

Thomas Hornemann is a New Jersey-based tabletop game designer, avid playtester, writer, and creative editor. He has won a BostonFIG award for his first published game Gerrymandering.

Chris is the former host of The Board Game Workshop and the designer of In Vino Morte and the Tempus series of time-and-write games. He's excited to explore new frontiers in game design.

Matt does freelance game design, development, graphic design, experiential marketing, and art direction for clients around the world as the Creative Director of Forever Stoked Creative, the studio they founded in 2007. They also own a game shop/library (Elm City Games), are an adjunct professor of game design in the CT State system, publish indie games, books, zines, vinyl records, and other creative weirdness with killjoy, are on the boards of the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA), Unpub, Site Projects, and GameDev CT, serve on the New Haven Cultural Affairs Commission, and consult across the game industry as well as for corporate, NGO, and institutional clients like Netflix and Yale.

Dave Beck (he/him) is a game designer and owner of Paverson Games, an indie board game publisher located in Wisconsin, creators of Distilled and the forthcoming Luthier. When Dave is not designing games in his basement lair, he is working at the University of Wisconsin-Stout as a Professor of Game Design and the Director and Associate Dean of the School of Art & Design, the largest higher-education art and design program in the Upper Midwest. In his spare time, he loves spending time with his family, even if they don't love to play board games as much as he does.

Joseph Z Chen is a Seattle area game designer most known for co-designing and self-publishing Fantastic Factories. He also did game development for Verdant, Knitting Circle, Point Galaxy, Propolis, and Cascadia: Alpine Lakes and designed Honeypot. Joseph is active in the game design community helping playtest up and coming games.

Pam Walls is an award-winning, independent board game designer based out of Vancouver, Canada. Her published games include Hold That Face (Hasbro), Act Fast Speed Charades (Outset Media), Blob Party (Wiz Kids) and Chronicles of Light: Darkness Falls (Ravensburger). She streams on Twitch and posts weekly videos about game design on her YouTube channel.

Myles Wallace has always loved games and the power they have to bring people together to share meaningful, fun experiences. He has been designing games since 2011 and is the president of the ATX Game Designers Club, a flourishing community of passionate game designers and playtesters. He is incredibly grateful to this community and owes much of his success to their countless hours of playtesting, feedback, and friendship. Hailing from Austin, Texas, Myles works for a nonprofit doing community outreach and at home lives with his wife and cat.

Jack is the Executive Director and a founder of The Bodhana Group, a 501c3 non-profit based in York, Pennsylvania, that uses tabletop gaming for education, capacity building, and therapy since 2009. They provide direct services as well as training for professionals and the community about how to unlock the power of gaming for international purposes. They also run Save Against Fear, a fundraiser gaming convention in York in November, and consult on game design and specialized programs.

Eric is owner of Talon Strikes Studios. He is the designer of Talon Strikes Studios' Vinyl and the producer of Cardboard Edison’s Cobras.

Sean and his brother Rob put together a series of board game instructional/review videos on YouTube called Overly Critical Gamers, usually focusing on obscure titles that didn't get much coverage. Generally being willing to give any game a chance to prove itself based on the merits of its unique mechanics, they feel what they bring to the table as reviewers is the context of being able to compare and reference to similar titles - if you play a lot of games then you develop a sense of what usually works and what doesn't.

During the pandemic, Sean turned his focus to streaming video game content on Twitch, but he still finds the time for the occasional game night where he and his brother will often find themselves discussing the pros and cons of what they're playing and trying to propose potential improvements.

Trijeet Sethi is a board game enthusiast looking for the finer things: choice-driven strategy games, intricate miniatures, and rulebooks longer than movie credits. His hobbies include turning simple card shuffling into elaborate ceremonies and using game theory for its one true purpose: board games. His submission Kali Yuga was a 2023 Cardboard Edison finalist.

Tony Tran is an avid board game designer and overall gamer. He started making games in 2014, and it has become a permanent hobby in his life. In addition to his own designs, Tony has started a monthly design group called Game Makers Guild Nashville and the day-long design event Nashville Game Design Fair to foster new designers and grow a community in the Nashville area. Tony won the New Voices Scholarship for Tabletop Network in 2019.

Carl de Visser is a board and video game designer. He has worked on the Endeavor board games, Path of Exile, and is currently working on more board games and the RPG/survival game Triarchy for Digital Confectioners. He lives in the tiny town of Cheviot in New Zealand with his family, 2 dogs, 2 cats and 14 chickens.

Aaron is a board game designer from Syracuse, Nebraska in the United States. While currently unpublished, he is an Ion Award (Best Light Game- 2023) and BostonFIG award winner (Best Family Game- 2024). In 2022, he was a runner-up for Cardboard Edison and looks forward to contributing to the process to choose the next Cardboard Edison winner!

In addition, he has been a finalist 19 times and a semi-finalist 13 times in national and international board game design contests including Premio Archimede, Hippodice, the Ion Award, the Boulogne-Billancourt International Design Contest, Fastaval, the Ciutat de Granollers Design Contest, BostonFIG, the LUCI Award, The Game Crafter, Board Game Design Lab, the HABA Game Design Contest and the World Original Design Contest. Aaron's first physical published game will be released in Spring 2026.

His first publicly released games Cool Cats and Rome and Write were distributed as PNPs by Roll and Write Revolution on Kickstarter as limited releases. Aaron judged the Dice Mitigation Challenge on The Game Crafter and says he "found the experience very rewarding so I wanted to do it again for Cardboard Edison. Advice to all entrants: enjoy the process, have fun and show us what you've got!"

Gabriel Toschi (he/him) is a Brazilian game designer. His passion for games in all forms started as a child, and the first ideas for his own designs came soon after. Between his published designs, Snow Climbing (1st runner-up in the 2024 Cardboard Edison Award), Cobogó & Brigadeiro (as part of Piquinim Collection) and The Jetsons official board game.

Jeff is a game designer from Chicago with 4 published games: Positano, Monkey Mayhem!, Outfox the Fox, and Soothsayers. In 2025, he won the Ion Award for Best Strategy Game for Magmapunk and placed 3rd in the Cardboard Edison Award with Branching Out. Jeff hosts online playtesting every Monday night with Break My Game.

Derek is a UK-based board game designer and founder of Figment Box Games. His game, Byline, was runner-up in the 2020 Cardboard Edison competition.

Gene enjoys designing games that elicit creativity, empathy, and sometimes a head-scratching "Is this even a game?" Gene serves on the advisory board for the Unpublished Games Network and coordinates the "Designed the DMV" collective. His first analog game, StickerDoodle Town, is under contract with Hunters Entertainment; his second, a co-design, is under contract.

Enrique Blasco is half part of Brote de Juegos (roughly translated as Sprout of Games) a brand name for the games created by siblings María and Enrique. They are the creators of the 4 seasons series from Devir (Winter, Autumn and Spring already published). They are members of LUDO, the Spanish association of game authors. Enrique teaches maths to teenagers and has also published a classic hex and counter wargame.

Dave Chalker is the award-winning game designer of Get Bit!, Thunder Road: Vendetta, and the Sentinel Comics RPG, and a member of the Unpub Advisory Board. He has over 20 years of game industry experience during which time he's playtested for dozens of companies, and a master's degree in publications. He lives in Maryland with his wife and three cocker spaniels.

Matthew Dunstan is an Australian scientist and board game designer, based in Prague, Czech Republic. To date, Matthew has over 25 published games and expansions, the best known being Elysium (nominated for the Kennerspiel des Jahres in 2015), Monumental, and the Adventure Games series. He also designs game experiences for education, including board games for synchrotrons, pop-up escape rooms for festivals, and card games for a film museum, and started a design blog, the Design 100, bringing together expertise from over 30 designers from all around the world.

Ian Zang is the designer of Genotype, Constellations, and Kingdoms of the Deep. With over a decade of experience in the board game industry, Ian's passion for playtesting and development has shaped his career. He is an adjunct faculty member in game design at Lawrence Tech University and serves on the board of Unpub, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting unpublished game designers.

An award-winning teacher and designer, Kathleen Mercury, M.A.T., M.E.T., has been integrating game design and instruction from elementary to collegiate levels for over 20 years. Currently, she is a Lecturer at California Polytechnic Humboldt, designs games and games-based learning experiences, and co-coordinates Gen Con's Game Design Academy. Her published titles include Greece Lightning (2021) and Tulip Season (2026), and others in the works. Kathleen thinks happiness comes from being able to create the life you want, and she feels very fortunate that she's been able to do that.

Roberta Taylor: I am an experienced analogue game designer specialising in accessible, family friendly games. I am passionate about designing games that create compelling opportunities for learning and conversation and am very interested in the space where play and serious ideas intersect.

Ananda Guneratne is a game designer from Minnesota. His first published board game is Sprocketforge, published by Sophisticated Cerberus Games. In addition to designing board games, Ananda also is one of three co-hosts on The Tabletop Takeaway, a board game design podcast.

Rich has had diverse game design work over the last two decades. He has designed over 30 published or public event games across mediums. From digital audio adventures (Twisted Tales series for Grabbit Entertainment), transformational games for social good organisations (Hohi 1816 tabletop game, End-danger mega game for Four Paws International, etc), games for street festivals, large events, and personal hobby games for tabletop (Award nominees Dirty Little Secrets, Skip Jack, etc).

Rich is a regular speaker at academic and industry conferences on games and gameful learning, recently the Games Based Learning Conference, Play by Play, and the NZ Association of trainers and developers conference.

Finally, in his role at the University of Auckland Rich works in the leadership of the faculty of Creative Arts and Industries to shape teaching and learning strategies and - yes - smoosh in playful design and games.

Erik Herrington is a web engineer by day, indie game designer by night, and is active in the game design world. Soon, you will know his works. Now you will face his judgement.

Erik is a board game designer with roots in the Scandinavian board game sphere. He is a participant at Fastaval and one of the organizers behind the Swedish Annual Game Design Award (SAGA).

He has four published games so far: Whirling Witchcraft (AEG), Hungry Monkey (HeidelBÄR), Where Is That? (Fractal Juegos), and The Glorious Guilds of Buttonville (Ravensburger).

He strives to design games with both a hook and an anchor—the hook draws players in, and the anchor makes them stay.

Ammon Anderson is a lifelong creative. His background is in Fortune 500 corporate design and brand management. He is a game designer, graphic designer, Art director, illustrator, and public speaker.

He is the owner of Levity Game Studios, and a partner in UP Games and 1HUNDRED Games.

Ammon is the designer of Gnome Hollow (a finalist for the Cardboard Edison Award), Twinkle Twinkle, Cats Vs Cucumbers, T.A.C.O. and more.

Erica is the Design Lead for Spin Master Games. She has 10 years of game design experience and over 40 published games, many based on movies and IPs; such as Tetris the board game, Wicked the Game, and the Dumb Ways to Die card game. Erica is also a co-designer on games such as Bosk and the Mensa Select award-winning game, Kodama 3D. Erica is the co-host of the long running podcast Ludology, a podcast all about games, game design, and the gaming industry.

Christina Rouse is a board game media professional and co-founder of Blue Peg, Pink Peg, a long-running podcast with over 2 million lifetime downloads, a podcast about board games, relationships, and the interaction between the two. Christina approaches games through a people-centered lens, valuing accessibility, communication, and player experience. She is passionate about highlighting innovative design and getting people excited about playing games!

Ryan Howard is a game designer and writer at Chip Theory Games in Plymouth, Minn. He has worked on several of the company's titles over the last decade, including design and development work on The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era, 20 Strong, Too Many Bones, and Cloudspire.

Pedro Coimbra is a game designer and educator from Florianópolis, Brazil. He is the Creative Director of CapyCat Games and author of games like Skyfall RPG, Ordem Paranormal RPG and Vaza Haule!, while also working as an editor and developer for several CapyCat Games' titles.

Hana is the youngest member of Cardboard Edison. She is an avid gamer who also loves to read, tumble, competitive cheer, act and do activities in the GATE Program at her school.

LilyAnne has been playing games since she could walk and is a member of Cardboard Edison. She is involved with numerous organizations including Girl Scouts, National Honor Society, Student Council, Literary Magazine and also enjoys playing the bass clarinet, competitive cheerleading, acting and street hockey.

Suzanne Zinsli is co-founder of Cardboard Edison. She is also very active in her local community, being a Girl Scouts leader and VP of the high school PTO.

Chris Zinsli is co-founder of Cardboard Edison. Outside of the gaming industry, he is a journalist working in podcasts.