“A prototype that’s been playtested once by strangers is better than a million game ideas sitting in your notes.”

— John Brieger

Notes on the use of randomness in creating experiences:

https://hollandspiele.com/blogs/hollandazed-thoughts-ideas-and-miscellany/circles-of-salt

“It takes a lot of time and effort to build and nurture a consistent playtesting community. Not every designer has the skills or desire to do that community work either, and it can come at the cost of design time. But it’s still worth doing.”

— Isaac Shalev

The early stages of game design: brainstorming, prototyping, and playtesting:

https://www.boardgameatlas.com/forum/QKDGG5o5kg/the-board-game-design-process-part-1--brainstorming-and-prototyping-feat-phil-walkerharding

Scores of short videos on a wide range of topics related to crowdfunding board games:

https://stonemaiergames.com/kickstarter/crowdfunding-videos/

Is it the designer’s responsibility to ensure that a game can’t continue indefinitely? A BoardGameGeek designers forum discussion:

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2261482/it-responsibility-game-design-ensure-game-cannot-b

Essential card games that designers should play—a BoardGameGeek designers forum discussion:

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2260496/essential-card-games-play-learn

10 ways to come up with ideas for a new game:

https://boardgamedesigncourse.com/10-ways-brilliant-game-ideas/

“Some games are worth letting go so you have time to focus on others.”

— Charlie Paull

A review on how to market your game and get reviewers to notice you (audio):

http://thegamecrafter.libsyn.com/marketing-your-game-with-the-game-crafter-episode-202

Discussion on how tabletop games can connect communities (audio):

https://playability.fireside.fm/25

Mechanics and the building blocks of game design (audio):

https://www.buzzsprout.com/7928/1449697

Tips on playtesting, pitching and how to deal with rejection (audio):

https://indieboardgamedesigners.com/julio-nazario/

Top five tips for advertising your board game (audio):

http://theforbiddenlimb.libsyn.com/top-5-tips-for-advertising-your-board-game-ep-86

A discussion about the importance of components and table presence (audio):

http://ninjavspirates.libsyn.com/who-what-why-s21e02-components-with-rob-daviau

The pros and cons of some of the most popular tile placement games (audio):

http://meeplenation.libsyn.com/mn-0276-tile-placement-games-revisited

Discussion of the top 10 things learned from a board game developer (audio):

http://www.boardgamedesignlab.com/lessons-learned-from-developing-games-with-joe-pilkus/

“You have an ethical responsibility to inform playtesters if your game could foreseeably make them uncomfortable.”

— John Brieger

“Don’t sacrifice initial playability in service to replayability. If you add so much variance to create different scenarios that the first game is sometimes a non-game (unwinnable or unloseable), those players won’t bother with a second play.”

— Jay Treat

Notes on soliciting and receiving feedback:

https://twitter.com/fanfactories/status/1161020561843085313