How to Invent a Good Board Game

Whether you are designing a fun game for your friends or family, or you are interested in moving forward and pitching a game design to a major company, you will find that designing a board game can be an excellent challenge and test of your abilities. When you want to make sure that you can design the best board game that you can, and when you wan to make sure that you are creating a game that will entertain everyone, take some time to look at these four important points.

Know Who You Are Designing For

Of course a game that is designed for young people in their twenties is going to be different from a game that you design for six and seven year olds, but it goes deeper than that. The classic board games tend to appeal to everyone across the board, whether you are looking at games like Monopoly or Clue, but how specific do you want your game targeted? There are great games that are specifically designed for horror fans or for people who love improvisational comedy. Knowing who is going to enjoy your games and having a good idea of what they like is important.

What Speed is Your Game Played At?

When you are designing your board game, remember that while there are some games that are ideal when you want to while away an evening, other games are meant to be played relatively fast. Board games tend to take longer than, say, card games, so take a moment to think about how long a round will last and how long a game will last. How long should it take people to reach the goal and win? What kind of complications can set them back and do you want them to be able to finish the game up inside of twenty minutes?

Get Play Testers

It doesn't matter who you have the game geared towards; if you don't have play testers, you are going to run into something very unfortunate the first time the game is trotted out. When you want to invest a good board game, it is important to create the prototype and then to spend as much time as you have breaking it! Take some time and really consider what your options are going to be and see who can help you with it. The more people that you have around to catch errors and weird game play, the better.

Get Good Art

When you are in a place where you are thinking about creating a good board game, remember that it should be good to look at. Even if you are just creating something for private use, getting an artist to help you out with things like layout and good coloring is important. You don't want a board game that will leave you with a headache when you have looked at it too long. The visual element of a board game is very important.

Take some time and put some thought into designing your board game; it really is that simple.

If you are interested in resources and information about how to create own board game, as well as fun facts about games, check out my website at http://www.blankboardgame.com

How to Invent a Good Board Game
By Matthew Hodge