A wide-ranging discussion about various board game design topics, including development and how to make your game less fragile (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnAC-92uzWI

Board game designers share their most unusual game ideas:

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3693501/your-most-unusual-game-design-ideas

How to surprise your players (and why you want to do this):

https://boardgamedesigncourse.com/surprise-your-players/

10 ways to use dice in your board game (other than roll and move):

https://boardgamedesigncourse.com/10-ways-to-use-dice-in-your-board-game/

Exploring the concept of degenerate strategies and degenerate game states in tabletop games:

https://www.skeletoncodemachine.com/p/degenerate-game

A multifaceted conversation about various aspects of making board games: the business side of indie publishing, different approaches to the design process, designing solo games, and more (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezso5wCYTKM

This short video runs through three things your board game probably needs—a core loop, complications, and surprises:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/sBq8sUZO0Ro

What does it mean to “play” a “game”? Designer Leslie Scott considers various attempts to define these complex and overlapping ideas:

https://boundlessplay.substack.com/p/playing-games

Player elimination can take a few forms. Here’s a look at “soft” player elimination: what it is, what it’s like for players, and how some games address it:

https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2026/03/10/killing-me-softly-a-look-at-player-elimination-topic-discussion/

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 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

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/

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

Games vs. puzzles: considering what makes them distinct—and what they have in common:

https://www.wericmartin.com/games-puzzles-and-everything-in-between/

A conversation about a tricky aspect of designing a multivictor game: balancing it to accommodate both cooperative and competitive play (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjFR6lWrGWc

Notes on efficiency and chunking in scoring, and how they can shape player experiences in sports and games:

https://gametek.substack.com/p/game-set-match

Our annual Cardboard Edison Best Practices booklet, filled with board game design tips and resources for every step of the process, is back!

In this edition, you’ll find:

• How to make the most of a playtest group

• What should be in a pitch video—and what shouldn’t

• Mistakes to avoid with your prototype’s art

• Onboarding players more smoothly

• How to prepare for indie game markets

…and lots more!

Thoughts on how the players themselves affect the gameplay experience—and what that means for designers:

https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2025/12/30/socially-afflicted-how-people-affect-gameplay-experience-topic-discussion/