21 ways to make the most of playtesting:

https://www.thedarkimp.com/blog/2023/11/22/21-ways-to-make-the-most-of-playtesting/

“All games suck until they’re great! All a good game designer is, is just somebody who can tell the difference.”

— Joseph Arthur Ellis

Three pieces of playtesting advice from Elizabeth Hargrave in under three minutes (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3zWuGTk27M

“Many published games go through hundreds of changes before they’re done. When people have criticism about your game they are not criticizing you as a person. They’re trying to help you make a better game.”

— Elizabeth Hargrave

Lots of playtesting advice for new board game designers—a Bluesky game designer discussion:

https://bsky.app/profile/gregisonthego.bsky.social/post/3ka5qzrfpmh2i

Rob Daviau on how to playtest like a pro, receive feedback, iterate, and playtest a whole lot more (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wt5_jrytBTs

The board game designer’s oath: some best practices for doing right by your playtesters and fellow designers (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ekw8FYQUG4

How to receive feedback on your game and handle tricky situations with playtesters without stressing out about it too much (video):

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

Apiary designer Connie Vogelmann shares seven game design lessons learned working on the game:

https://stonemaiergames.com/7-lessons-learned-designing-apiary-by-connie-vogelmann/

Lots of board game designers share their favorite bits of advice for playtesting:

https://bsky.app/profile/peterlmcpherson.bsky.social/post/3k5n7jfjv232v

An in-depth chat about prototyping and playtesting a board game design, with tips for each (audio):

https://decisionspace.podbean.com/e/playtesting-and-prototyping-this-is-the-podcast-about-the-designing-of-games-%f0%9f%98/

Why you shouldn’t avoid playtesting, common excuses for delaying testing and why they don’t fly, and finding people you can test with:

https://www.thedarkimp.com/blog/2023/08/16/why-you-shouldnt-avoid-playtesting/

Pros and cons of Tabletop Simulator and other virtual tabletop programs for playtesting, compared to a physical prototype—a Twitter board game design discussion:

https://twitter.com/failfasterjay/status/1689719739470462980?s=20

see also: https://cardboardedison.com/virtual-tabletops

The basics of prototyping, playtesting, and developing tabletop games (video):

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

How to “find the fun” in your board game design:

https://thecityofkings.com/news/game-design-finding-the-fun/

Playtester makes a mistake and misses a rule? Here’s why you might want to let it go:

https://subsurfacegames.ca/2023/07/20/when-playtesters-have-happy-accidents/

The absolute basics of how to make a board game (video):

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

Lots of advice for up-and-coming board game designers from the design community on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/BreakMyGameG/status/1660711395116163072

What to ask playtesters? A Reddit board game design forum discussion:

https://www.reddit.com/r/BoardgameDesign/comments/131q5wy/any_advice_on_what_to_ask_play_testers/