Coming soon · Book Profile
Kobold Guide to Board Game Design
A collection of essays by veteran board and card game designers that teaches how to conceive, design, develop, prototype, and publish tabletop games that players actually love.
A profile of this book is on the way.
What it’s about
The Kobold Guide to Board Game Design gathers the hard-won wisdom of more than a dozen of the game industry's finest designers—including Richard Garfield, James Ernest, Rob Daviau, Steve Jackson, and editor Mike Selinker—into a practical, opinionated tour through the entire craft of making tabletop games. Rather than treating game design as a matter of clever mechanics, the book insists that a game is a holistic experience: a fusion of mechanics, metaphor, pacing, and emotional engagement that gets into players' heads. Across four sections—Concepting, Design, Development, and Presentation—the essayists explain how to find the fun, play widely to learn, make games intuitive, balance and playtest ruthlessly, write precise rules, build professional prototypes, and pitch to and work with publishers. Frank, funny, and frequently contradictory, it's a mentorship-in-a-book for anyone who wants a career designing games.
The through-line
- Who it’s for
- An aspiring or emerging game designer who wants to create tabletop games that people love and to build a real career in the game industry.
- The problem
- They don't know how to turn a game idea into a well-designed, balanced, clearly-ruled game that a publisher will actually make. They feel like an isolated hobbyist unsure whether their instincts are professional-grade, and fear their ideas will fall flat or be dismissed.
- The plan
- Concept: figure out what game to make, who it's for, and how you want players to feel.
- Design: make the game function intuitively by fusing mechanics, metaphor, pieces, and pacing.
- Develop: balance, playtest (including blind), simplify, and write precise rules.
- Present: build a clean, playable prototype and target the right publisher with a professional pitch.
- Collaborate and credit others, keep an identity, and keep learning by playing widely.
- The payoff
- You create games that are intuitive, fun, and replayable, with players saying 'Let's play again!' · You develop a recognizable designer identity and a network of collaborators. · You get games professionally published and build a lasting career in the industry.
See our guide
Additional reading
- Start with Why · Simon Sinek
The book's core idea—'People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it'—is central to crafting a compelling crowdfunding narrative that connects with backers on an emotional level.
- To Sell Is Human · Daniel Pink
Provides insights into the psychology of pitching and influence, such as the importance of making the audience (backers) feel like collaborators, which is a key strategy for engagement.
- Funding the Dream Podcast · Richard Bliss
A recommended resource for creators, offering interviews and specific insights into crowdfunding tactics and strategies.
- jamesmathe.com (blog) · James Mathe
A creator's blog recommended by the author for its detailed, list-based entries full of practical information for crowdfunders.
- Ready Player One · Ernest Cline
Recommended as an enjoyable alternative read for those who decide crowdfunding isn't for them, showing the author's engagement with geek culture.
- Homo Ludens · Johan Huizinga
Referenced for its foundational concept of the 'magic circle,' which defines play as a separate, protected space outside of ordinary life. This contextualizes the author's own theory.
- Man, Play and Games · Roger Caillois
Cited for its academic definition and categorization of games, providing a counterpoint to the more practical definitions offered by game designers.
- Rules of Play · Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman
Mentioned as a key contemporary text offering a precise, systemic definition of a game, which the author uses as part of his survey of existing definitions.
- Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience · Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
The concept of 'flow' is discussed as a state of deep immersion that is often associated with fun, but the author distinguishes his theory by focusing on learning rather than mastery.
- The Essential Difference · Simon Baron-Cohen
The theory of 'systematizing' versus 'empathizing' brains is used to explain why different types of games may appeal to different people, particularly along gender lines.