Let me be clear from the start: there is no such thing as a "good game". I know, it sounds controversial. After all, at the end of every year and often many times during the year, lots of people publish lists of the best games and regale you with how "good" these games are. If you're seen as the board game expert in your family circle or friendship group, you will be asked what "good game" they should buy or play next. Yet, "good" by itself is pretty meaningless - but let me explain.

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I have long been fascinated by historical board games. I was never very good at history in school, but whenever I play a board game with a historical setting, I feel I learn something. Often, I feel compelled to find out more about the events that took place back then. No class in school ever evoked that curiosity in me. These days, I look at historical board games from an additional angle: the human element. While war games rarely identify individuals and often work on a larger scale, there is a new breed of historical games that bring players closer to the human experience. In this article, I want to explore these games further,

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As I was listening to an episode of the Ludology podcast recently, one focused on games and health, I started to think about how much the people we play with influence our gameplay experience. Selecting board games based on the audience is much more important than we may like to believe. Get it wrong, and you have one player rebelling and playing opposite to expectations, another disengaging completely, and the overall mood shifting from playful enjoyment to uncomfortable tension. In this article, I want to discuss how a mismatch can impact the enjoyment of the whole group, alter the tone of reviews, and even affect playtest outcomes.

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As my board game collection grows, the chances of the same game being played regularly decrease. As a reviewer, that's fine, because I'm here to play new games and critically evaluate them. However, it's also sad that more and more of my games just sit there on the shelves unplayed, while the latest, shiny game barely lands before it makes it to the table. For many of us, playing board games isn't just about the games themselves, but the experiences we create with them and the people we share them with. So in this article, I want to look at the benefits of playing a small handful of games regularly, instead of briefly sampling many games once or twice, considering the psychological, social, and financial aspects that shape our hobby.

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As an independent games designer and producer, a lot of my time involves visiting conventions to meet gamers and, ideally, sell my games to them. When I do so, it’s always a surprise how little crossover there is between people who play board games, roleplaying games and miniatures games, which is a pity since I think all of them have something special to offer. So I’d like to take this chance to explain exactly what I think is so special about miniatures games for anyone who doesn’t necessarily play, or even consider them.

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Balance in board games is one of those much-talked-about topics that keeps cropping up. Some people want games to be perfectly balanced, so that players' only advantage comes from their skill and hours of practice and graft. Others relish highly unbalanced games, where it's nigh-impossible to win, but when you do win, it feels amazing. Yet, balance in board games is much more complex and subtle than that. In this article, I want to look at the role that balance plays in board game design.

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Board games are often seen as a way to bring people together. They're a social activity, even for solo gamers. When we sit down to play, we fall into familiar rhythms of turns, actions and mechanisms. We don't even need to share the same language. Playing board games is a time when gestures, shared goals, and the actions within the magic circle of the game itself act as a way for us to communicate. Board games themselves are like a shared language, where friendly rivalry, cooperative play and everything else sometimes conveys more than words ever can.

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