Board Game Design Basics
Design, prototype, and playtest a working tabletop game from a blank index card to a rulebook others can play.
This course is for members
$9 unlocks every course in the library, this one included, plus a credit to build a topic of your own and at least 10 new courses every month.
What you will learn about Board Game Design Basics
The 7-day sprint
- A Game Is a Machine for Making Decisions. A board game is a system of rules that hands players interesting decisions and shows them the consequences.
- The Core Loop and the Turn. Every game runs on a short repeating sequence of actions, and the shape of that loop determines the feel of the whole game.
- Luck, Information, and Where You Put Them. Randomness before a decision creates puzzles; randomness after a decision creates drama and resentment.
- Scarcity Is the Engine of Tension. Games become tense when players want more than the system allows, and interactive when what one player takes is denied to another.
- Teaching the Game Through Its Own Components. A game is only as good as its clarity, and most clarity should come from the board and cards rather than the rulebook.
- Prototype Ugly, Test Early, Test Often. You learn what your game actually is by playing it badly on index cards, not by perfecting it on paper.
- Endings, Balance, and Runaway Leaders. How and when a game ends shapes the whole arc, and a good ending keeps every player invested until the last turn.
The 80/20: the 6 concepts that matter most
- Meaningful decisions with real tradeoffs
- A short, legible core loop
- Placing randomness on purpose
- Scarcity and shared competition
- Playtesting as the actual design method
- Endgame design and feedback loops
The core idea, explained like you are 5
A game is a set of interesting choices: options that each cost something, made without knowing exactly how they will turn out.
Then the quiz and the ladder
10 questions that correct you when you are wrong, and beginner, intermediate, advanced levels, each with a practical exercise.