This panel discussion featuring game designers and developers covers the difference between design and development, how they incorporate narrative into games, and where they draw inspirations from (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FaAwCn2eDM

Our 2026 reports on publishing contracts are out! Industry standards to know before signing:

💵 Part 1: advances, credit, creative control

🎲 Part 2: royalties, designer copies, promotion

🌏 Part 3: co-publishing, extra royalties, rights reversion

https://cardboardedison.com/reports

A strategy for building an audience for your games, beyond just asking them to sign up to your newsletter for product updates:

https://boardgamedesigncourse.com/build-an-audience-have-something-to-say/

Two videos on some common ways designers measure success—and the shortcomings of judging yourself by them:

money: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akFAULsLKOs

acclaim: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNXrIjCTGec

Board game design basics: defining your goals, restrictions, the iterative design process, qualities of good games, taking feedback, and more (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAiCR1XVe68

Published board game designers offer their top advice to a new designer in this Reddit board game design forum discussion:

https://www.reddit.com/r/BoardgameDesign/comments/1vezq19/im_sure_this_has_been_asked_a_lot_im_looking_for/

Video and board game attorney Zach Strebeck breaks down IP, copyright, trademark, and idea protection strategies for people launching crowdfunding campaigns (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99FVDd2O3fc

How the board game industry has considered colors, double-coding, and accessibility over the years:

https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2026/07/21/kaleidoscopic-games-the-history-of-the-use-of-colours-in-board-games-topic-discussion/

University research tracks the rise of solo gaming and other game design trends over the decades:

https://boardgamewire.com/index.php/2026/07/17/solo-play-is-now-one-of-board-gamings-defining-mechanisms-analysis-of-104000-titles-finds/

Why are so many board games getting sequels? Thoughts from both a publisher and player perspective:

https://stonemaiergames.com/what-do-we-really-want-from-a-sequel/

Why are board game expansions so popular? Looking to the history of expansions to understand their enduring appeal to gamers and publishers (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v08KJGWRH0o

Board game designers who have quit their day jobs share what allowed them to do that—a Bluesky game designer discussion:

https://bsky.app/profile/eanderssonsunden.bsky.social/post/3mqehoetjyk24

The rise of cozy games—everything you need to know about how they’ve taken over such a big part of the tabletop industry:

https://www.meeplemountain.com/articles/the-rise-rise-of-cozy-board-games/

What one board game designer wishes they knew when they started making games 12 years ago:

https://boardgamedesigncourse.com/what-i-wish-i-knew-about-board-game-design-12-years-ago/

Thoughts on some unspoken assumptions in board game design discourse, and how the way a game is framed for the market can lead to design choices that run counter to common wisdom:

https://www.hawkanddovegames.com/blog/on-design-discourse

How the Spiel des Jahres organization earns—and spends—money:

https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2026/06/30/spiel-des-jahres-following-the-money-topic-discussion/

Game designer Phil Walker-Harding on balancing games, inspiration, the design process, players’ negative experiences, and more (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaG_iAwxG4g

How the Spiel des Jahres jury selects games:

https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2026/06/16/spiel-des-jahres-how-the-jury-chooses-games-topic-discussion/

What do Americans think about board games? This poll digs into which games are played most often, the age groups that love games the most, and more:

https://yougov.com/en-us/articles/54943-what-americans-think-about-board-games

A process for figuring out what it is about your game that’s going to hook publishers and players (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGMGdiar1J0