The Design & Play (DNP) game design competition is back! This is a competition open to all Malaysians. It is organised by Malaysia Boardgame Design (MBD). This was first held in 2025, so this is the second year we are doing this. We have the same team of six judges - all local designers and indie publishers. This year, the criteria is a little different. Instead of being limited to

The game I am publishing this year under Cili Padi Games is Pilgrim Poker, and it uses the theme of Journey to the West (西游记). I also have another game which will be published by Specky Studio - Rebels of the Three Kingdoms, which, of course, is based on Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三国演义). The advantage of using a topic or theme which many people are already familiar with is the

The second edition of Snow White and the Eleven Dwarfs has been out for a while, last year in fact, but I have not yet mentioned it. This is a game I struggled with a bit, on whether to do a second printing. The first edition did not sell particularly fast. Partly it is because this is a game with a minimum player count of 7. I was running out of stock, and I still had enquiries, so I

The 2026 game title from Cili Padi Games will be Pilgrim Poker. This will be my fifth game published under the Cili Padi Games label. I have been making one game a year since Dancing Queen in 2022. Edwin Chong has been my artist since my first game, and continues to be my artist for this year's project. This above is the concept art for Pilgrim Poker. Since the game uses the theme of the

A friend recently mentioned a statistic (that I’ve since verified according to multiple studies) that most people–over 80%–who have purchased a bottle of wine have made their decision largely based on the label. Not taste or research, just a label that spoke to them.

Have you ever purchased something based on its packaging? I absolutely have. Wine, games, books, chocolate, coffee, disc golf discs…sometimes the packaging draws me in and inspires me to learn more, but sometimes it’s almost the entire decision (i.e., I want this because of how it looks).

I mentioned this topic on a recent livecast, and viewers had even more examples: beer, hot sauce, restaurants, cereal boxes, and more. It also came up on a recent podcast episode of Unit Economics about how Byte’m brownies focused their packaging on a delicious-looking brownie instead of on their high-quality ingredients.

In the tabletop game space, box covers have a huge impact. It isn’t just about their marketing appeal; publishers try to make boxes that people are proud to display, that are compelling both at a game store and in an online thumbnail, and that function from different angles.

For all those reasons, at Stonemaier Games we pay far more for the box illustration than any other individual piece of art in the game (only a detailed game board comes close). I often look to other games for inspiration (thank you, BoardGameGeek!), and I always like to get at least 3 concept sketches from the artist before pursuing one of them in detail.

Then there’s another set of decisions to make about the labeling on the box: The size and position of the game name, the names of the designer(s) and artist(s), and the inclusion of key information like player count and playing time on all 6 sides.

There’s also the presentation on the back of the box, where we’ve traditionally placed a 3D setup image.  We’re starting to pair that with 1/2/3-style explanation speech bubbles so a potential customer can quickly grasp what the game is about.

It’s always a work in progress, and I’m always learning from other publishers–it feels like every week there’s a new game announced with a truly stunning, evocative box. Whenever I go to a local game store, I try to pay close attention to which boxes grab my attention; I also recently went to Barnes & Noble for this specific purpose.

Have you ever bought a product based on its box, label, or cover? What would you like game publishers to learn from your experience?

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If you gain value from the 100 articles Jamey publishes on this blog each year, please consider championing this content! You can also listen to posts like this in the audio version of the blog.

I spent the last weekend hosting friends at the Gamers Ranch, a gaming-focused vacation property in the middle of Missouri. I had an amazing time, and I loved seeing the power of the tabletop community in action, especially in seeing different gaming friends intermingle.

As I reflected on the weekend, I realized that among the dozens of games played, there were 5 games that hit the table more than any others. I thought I’d briefly look at each of those games to see what made them work particularly well for events and conventions, which can sometimes be the difference for a game to break out.

Moon Colony Bloodbath: I taught and played this 6 times over the weekend, and nearly everyone played again later. Even though it’s heavier than the other games on this list, the single deck of cards (flip a card and everyone does what it says) helps a teacher to guide everyone through the first few turns. It’s also entirely simultaneous, so there’s no downtime. There’s also the dark humor of the theme and the bold name, which seemed to attract curiosity from those who hadn’t played.

Lord of the Rings Trick-Taking: The cooperative nature of this game creates a sense of camaraderie; camaraderie is often a primary motivator for someone to attend a gaming event. Also, the short playing time and the variety of each chapter–all based on a simple core system–created a “just one more game” mentality.

Bomb Busters: I’ll continue what I said above about the Lord of the Rings trick-taking game, as this applies to both: I’ve noticed at gaming events that many people are hesitant to commit to a 3-hour game, yet they’ll end up playing short, escalating, cooperative games like Bomb Busters for hours. I love the idea of breaking a longer game into bite-size pieces.

Magical Athlete: Everything about the product design of this whimsical racing game lends itself to events. While it asks players to make a key decision before the game starts (which characters you select in the draft), the rules are so bare-bones that this isn’t a problem. I noticed that people seemed to gravitate towards this game after playing a heavier game, as it’s a great brain break.

Mindbug: This snappy two-player dueling game has a unique hook that seemed to intrigue people (twice per game when your opponent plays a card, you can claim it as your own instead). An accessible, quick 2-player game is really nice for an event when a few people are waiting for longer, larger-group games to finish.

Also note that all of these games are super fast to set up.

One other commonality between these games is that they all had someone championing them. This can make a huge difference at an event or convention: If there’s someone visibly excited to play a game they already know, people will gravitate towards that game.

Have you noticed a game spreading like wildfire at events or conventions? What is it about that game or the situation that resulted in the game returning to the table over and over?

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Here are the events and conventions in which Stonemaier Games is participating in 2026.

If you gain value from the 100 articles Jamey publishes on this blog each year, please consider championing this content! You can also listen to posts like this in the audio version of the blog.

Over the Chinese New Year holidays I managed to get some friends and family to help me playtest Pilgrim Poker. The rules were more or less final, but I wanted to get more different people to try it, to see whether there were any issues I hadn't detected. This is stress testing the game. When you get people who have never played a game to try it, you can discover situations you have never seen

Recently a book publisher friend told me that the #1 thing he seeks from his authors is longevity. “If you haven’t spent at least 10 years working on a problem that a lot of people share, it probably isn’t a book for us.”

I’ve thought about this perspective a lot lately. I’m fascinated by anyone who takes that much time to work on a single project, though it didn’t seem like something I could possibly endorse to tabletop game designers. 10 years is a long time to work on the same game! Even Vantage “only” took 8 years for me to create.

But something clicked yesterday when I saw The Enigmatist in St. Louis. David Kwong is a magician, NY Times crossword designer, and an avid puzzler and gamer. The 2-hour show is full of riddles and puzzles for the audience to solve (if they wish), and Kwong seamlessly intertwines them with some more traditional magic elevated by his remarkable vocabulary and memory. We had so much fun at the show, and I highly recommend seeing it in St. Louis at The Rep over the next few weeks.

What I realized in experiencing the show is that Kwong has been working on this show for many years. While The Enigmatist itself didn’t exist 10 years ago, Kwong was cultivating his craft. I’m sure the show itself took years to create, and he originally performed it in New York in 2019, so The Enigmatist has existed in some form for 7 years. Along the way, Kwong wrote two related books and created a deck of playing cards that is also a series of puzzles.

In other words, David Kwong has devoted himself to this 2-hour show for at least 10 years. He worked hard to create something great, and he continues to share it with as many people as possible (likely while improving and enhancing it along the way).

One of the reasons I was hesitant at first to write about this topic was that it truly felt like a luxury to work on Vantage for 8 years; how could I possibly recommend that approach to other designers and publishers?

But Vantage isn’t alone in this category. A few other examples of games that have been someone’s primary focus for many years are The Old King’s Crown (Pablo Clark), Obsession (Dan Hallegan), Galactic Cruise (T.K. King), and Stardew Valley (Eric Barone). All of those tabletop games are rated 8.1 or higher on BoardGameGeek, and Stardew Valley is one of the top-rated, most-played digital games of the last 10 years.

In other words, if you have the opportunity to work on a passion project for many years, it could lead to something truly special, especially in a time when it’s more difficult than ever for a game to stand out from the deluge of high-quality projects.

Also, working on a project for 5-10 years doesn’t mean you can’t work on other projects in the meantime. I’ve found it incredibly helpful in my design process to have 2 games in the works at the same time. When I run into a wall on one game, I bounce over to the other game for a while.

That said, there are certain risks that accompany long-term passion projects. If the investment of all that time (and probably money too) doesn’t lead to something that resonates with people, you may just be making something for yourself. A safeguard for that is to not work in a vacuum–include others in the process and welcome their feedback.

Also, the world (and your world) can significantly change over 10 years. Something that might be exciting and innovative today might feel outdated in 2036. I tried to stay flexible and open-minded while creating Vantage; I constantly researched and played other open world games during the process.

10 years is a long time, though I don’t think that’s some magical number for longevity. Rather, this is more about a patient commitment to excellence. I want to give our projects the time they need to truly shine, quality over quantity.

I’ve only named a few high-profile projects here; can you think of any others? What are your thoughts on having a long-running project (even as you might work on others in the meantime too)?

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Also read:

• Your Best Work, Mediocrity, and Creating for Creation’s Sake
• Meaningful Creations, Play, Elevation, and Connections (2025-2026)

If you gain value from the 100 articles Jamey publishes on this blog each year, please consider championing this content! You can also listen to posts like this in the audio version of the blog.

Lesezeit: 2 Minuten

Ein Brief sorgt für Bewegung in der Brettspielwelt. Cole Wehrle verlässt Leder Games. Kein Skandal, kein Bruch, sondern ein klarer, selbstbewusster Schritt eines Designers, der das moderne Brettspiel geprägt hat wie kaum ein anderer. Root, Oath und Arcs stehen nicht nur für erfolgreiche Titel, sondern für eine Haltung, die Spiele als politische, narrative und fordernde Erlebnisse versteht.

Warum dieser Abschied weit über eine Personalie hinausgeht, beleuchten wir hier im Blog und ausführlich im Podcast Beyond the Table, den du direkt unter diesem Artikel hören kannst.

Acht Jahre kreative Freiheit bei Leder Games

Cole Wehrle war bei Leder Games nie nur Spieleautor. Als Creative Director hat er den Verlag entscheidend mitgeformt. Root wurde zu einem der prägendsten asymmetrischen Brettspiele der letzten Jahre, Oath zu einem kontrovers diskutierten Statement darüber, was Brettspiele leisten können.

Dass Leder Games diesen Weg mitgegangen ist, zeigt, wie viel möglich ist, wenn ein Verlag bereit ist, Risiko, Haltung und kreative Freiheit zuzulassen.

Kein Bruch, sondern ein Statement

Bemerkenswert ist die Konsequenz dieses Abschieds. Oath und Arcs wechseln zu Coles neuem Studio Buried Giant Studios, während Root bei Leder Games bleibt. Ein Schritt, der in einer oft markengetriebenen Branche ein klares Zeichen setzt. Vertrauen, Fairness und Respekt vor kreativer Arbeit sind hier keine Floskeln, sondern gelebte Praxis.

Wehrlegig Games bleibt der Gegenpol

Parallel dazu führt Cole Wehrle weiterhin Wehrlegig Games. Historische Spiele, klare Autor:innenhandschrift, kein Blick auf den Massenmarkt. Wehrlegig ist bewusst klein, bewusst sperrig und genau deshalb relevant. Es zeigt, dass Erfolg im Brettspiel nicht nur in Verkaufszahlen messbar ist. Aber es ist nicht zu unterschätzen, dass Spiele wie Pax Pamir durchaus auch große und wirtschaftlich relevante Auflagen erreichen können.

Beyond the Table und die große Frage dahinter

Der Abschied von Cole Wehrle wirft grundsätzliche Fragen auf.

Wie viel Einfluss sollte ein Designer auf einen Verlag haben?
Welche Verantwortung tragen Verlage für die Welten, die sie miterschaffen?
Ist dieses Modell ein möglicher Weg für die Zukunft der Branche?

Diese Fragen stehen im Mittelpunkt der aktuellen Beyond the Table Folge, die du direkt unter diesem Artikel anhören kannst.

Fazit

Cole Wehrle verlässt Leder Games, aber er hinterlässt eine klare Spur. Spiele, die etwas wollen. Partnerschaften, die funktionieren. Und ein Beispiel dafür, wie erwachsen, transparent und respektvoll diese Branche sein kann, wenn sie es will.

Haben Siegpunkte einen schlechten Ruf? Vermutlich nicht, aber sie werden gerne mit dem eiskalten Kalkül eines modernen Eurogames verbunden, Spiele in denen man keine epische Schlachten schlägt oder große Abenteuer erlebt, sondern nüchtern-sachlich ein klein bisschen effizienter spielen möchte als die anderen am Tisch. Das ist natürlich sowohl reduktiv (Siegpunkte kommen in allen Genres vor), […]

Jorge Velez, professional illustrator, discusses topics related to art and creativity. We talk about how comparison destroys creative people, how to make your own luck, the different paths to becoming a pro artist, best practices for finding and working with artists, and a whole lot more.

The post Art, Working with Artists, and Becoming Your Best Creative Self with Jorge Velez appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

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Nicolas Fournier, designer of Megapulse, breaks down his top 10 Photoshop tips and tricks to help game designers.

The post Top 10 Photoshop Tips for Game Designers with Nicolas Fournier appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

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In another BGDL community spotlight, Jeff Turner, founder of Skip Work Play Games, dives into how to use InDesign to do data merge and speed up your prototyping process.

Data merge makes it easy to edit or change hundreds of cards with one click, and we get into both high-level concepts and technical how-to.

The post (Community Spotlight) Using InDesign and Data Merge with Jeff Turner appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

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Kate Otte, designer of First Ascent, talks about improving games through experiential graphic design.

Kate is a professional graphic designer, and we get into how to make games more accessible, understandable, and fun using excellent graphic design techniques.

And be sure to check out Kate’s game, First Ascent, on Kickstarter HERE.

The post Experiential Graphic Design with Kate Otte appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

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The post [BONUS] Evan Derrick on the Dos and Don’ts for Artists appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

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