Cardboard Season - Notes from the table

The Long Game

What Actually Changed in Board Games

The hobby did not simply get bigger. The design assumptions underneath it changed, and that is what made the difference.

At the Table

The failure mode is almost never the game. It is the forty minutes before the game starts.

The Long Game

Adaptations used to be cash-ins. Some of them are now better designed than the games they came from.

At the Table

One of the most common mechanics in modern board games, described in plain terms.

How They're Made

From a scribbled prototype to a shrink-wrapped box, and the years in between.

How They're Made

Rulebooks are the most-read and least-designed part of most board games.

At the Table

The two-player count is treated as a compromise. For a lot of designs it is the best way to play.

The Long Game

Board games did not begin in the 1990s, though a good deal of the hobby writes as though they did.

At the Table

Solo modes went from a curiosity to a standard feature in about a decade.

How They're Made

Boxes warp, cards wear and inserts are mostly useless. Some practical notes.