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/

Why do some games go over well with playtesters but then fall flat with a broader audience? This thread suggests it often comes down to “situated experiences”:

https://bsky.app/profile/nickbentley.bsky.social/post/3mehkkw46zc2a

A deep dive into board game publishing contracts: what to look for, what to avoid, specific percentages, negotiating terms, and more (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgLJqu67dYc

see also our reports as mentioned in the show: https://cardboardedison.com/reports

Tips for how to communicate delays in delivering your crowdfunded project to backers:

https://updates.kickstarter.com/how-to-communicate-kickstarter-delays-without-losing-backer-trust/

New to board game design and not sure where to start? This Reddit board game design forum discussion goes into the processes that are most common for beginning designers:

https://www.reddit.com/r/BoardgameDesign/comments/1qz3avi/hi_everyone_im_new_to_game_design_and_i_wanted_to/

Expectation value in board game design: how to use some simple mathematical modeling to inform balance and other design decisions:

https://gametek.substack.com/p/great-expectations

Breaking down the biggest benefits of licensing your board game to a small publisher and licensing it to a large publisher:

https://boardgamedesigncourse.com/large-or-small-publisher/

How many publishers to pitch a game to at the same time? A Bluesky board game designers discussion:

https://bsky.app/profile/jeffgrisenthwaite.bsky.social/post/3mdqvhrv4hc25

What methods do you use for physical note-taking? A Bluesky board game designers discussion:

https://bsky.app/profile/peterlmcpherson.bsky.social/post/3me4fwyhm3k2z