Category: Topic Discussions

Early Finish – why we don’t always have to finish games (Topic Discussion)

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There is an unwritten social contract that, when you choose to play a board game, you agree to play it to its conclusion. Everyone around the table expects to finish the game. Everyone wants to have an equal chance of winning. People want to be able to come back from behind and snatch their victory right on their last turn. I think that expectation is perpetuated by how games are designed. So in this article, I want to explore this a bit further.

Round and Refined – when games are perfectly designed (Topic Discussion)

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Games come in all shapes and sizes. Designers create them in different ways and with different intentions. Some games are an interesting mix of mechanisms, others are a passion project that tries to evoke certain emotions when people play them. Games can have simple rules with deep emergent gameplay or they can be rules-heavy. While some games take minutes to play, others can take hours to complete. However games are designed, there are some that feel round and refined, while others seem awkward or overly difficult. So in this article, I want to investigate what it is that makes a game perfectly designed.

Rule Breakers – when breaking the game rules is more fun (Topic Discussion)

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Good games will have had a lot of time put into them to ensure they create the experience that the designer wanted. The rules will have been created with intent and purpose. Rules are the skeleton around which the muscles, sinews, skin and the whole living body of the game grows. Games are meant to be played by their rules, or at least that's what we're being told. In this article, I want to look at why rule-breaking can be a better option.

UK Games Expo 2024 – looking ahead (Topic Discussion)

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Another year has gone by in a flash and it's time again for me to start another convention season. Well, I say "season", but that's exaggerating it. I'm actually only attending two board game shows this year. I just can't afford to fly everywhere and spend time away from home. So I chose two events that I really enjoyed last year and that won't cost me the world. The first of these is, of course, UK Games Expo 2024.

Boiling Point – why tension and escalation matters in games (Topic Discussion)

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Hi, it’s Joe Slack here. I’ve written a few guest posts for Oliver in the past and I was delighted when he requested another guest blog, so here we go! Something I think about a lot as a game designer is how to create tension in a game as well as ensure that players feel a sense of progression as they play.

Exotic Games – cultural appropriation in board games (Topic Discussion)

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I grew up at a time when "cowboys and Indians" were a popular topic in literature. Westerns, spaghetti or otherwise, were on television pretty much all the time. Similarly, Kung Fu films were regularly shown on the small screen. The jungles of India also often featured heavily. Board games often followed the same trend and portrayed these seemingly exotic and alluring themes and settings that appealed to children of my age. Yet, much of what was created was clearly guilty of cultural appropriation. So in this article, I want to look at the trend in our hobby specifically.

Twist Taking – trick-taking games with a twist (Topic Discussion)

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I've written about my love of trick-taking games and the genre in general many times. Just check the archives... Now that my game group has also gotten into the genre, I've discovered more and more games that take this ancient card game mechanism to new heights. They apply new twists and add different mechanisms to create really exciting new titles. In this article, I want to share with you which ones I am particularly excited about.

Naylor Games vs CMON Acquisition PR – how announcing acquisitions and PR affects your company (Topic Discussion)

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The following article is a guest post written by Alexandra Yaverbaum (aka Sasha) and Dina Ramse from Dina Said So Studio and originally published on LinkedIn. In light of the recent announcement that CMON have acquired some of Mythic Games’ projects, it brought into clear contrast just how well, (or indeed how poorly) these can be handled.  I have been involved in previous mergers and acquisitions and most recently worked with Naylor Games to help consider their communication during their acquisition of ITB's assets, which parallels the situation very closely.

For the Love of Old – classic games that stand the test of time (Topic Discussion)

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I was pleased to see the re-released game Medici from 1995 become so popular in our household. It made me think why a game that's now nearly 30 years old was not only picked up by another publisher, but still has a lot of appeal such a long time later. So in this article, I want to look at classic games and see which ones have stood the test of time.