A review by rachelhelps
Kobold Guide to Board Game Design by James Ernest, Andrew Looney, Richard C. Levy, Richard Garfield, Mike Selinker, Rob Daviau, Dale Yu, Michelle Nephew, Jeff Tidball, Steve Jackson, Lisa Steenson

4.0

A lovely collection of essays on board game design by some big names in the field. I don't plan on professionally publishing a board game anytime soon, but I'm interested in the creative process and how board games are designed. Plus it was cool to hear about how Dominion was tested. Most of the advice comes down to: test your game, change what doesn't work, and make the rules and pieces simple (or spare?) but interesting. Imagine if there were a collection of the best Gamasutra articles about game design, only for board games, and this is it.

As a sidenote, the graphic design of the book was really... 90s. It does give it a DIY-friendly feel, but I think it could have been much more attractive. Thanks to my sister for this fun gift!