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• 
  What Up, BGG!

  by whenindoubteatout on February 24, 2026

  by Justin Bell Hey hey folks! I’m excited to be a part of the team here at BoardGameGeek as a contributor on the BoardGameGeek News blog. You’ll see me here every week and I’ll pop up with extra content from time to time, between articles and via some of our other internal productions, such as episode 88 of The BoardGameGeek Podcast which posted a couple weeks ago.A little bit about me: like everyone else who works here, I love games. It’s probably fair to say that I love what games mean to my life a little more than the games themselves—getting friends and family together to chuck dice, talk a little smack, and laugh a whole bunch. Certainly, those nights are more interesting when the games themselves are good, but any chance to sit at a table to experience something together is really hard to beat.I have been—and will continue to be—a contributor at Meeple Mountain, a gang of gaming fanatics who contribute written content (and a smidge of video content) to the tune of more than 500 articles, reviews, interviews, convention roundups, and more every year. I’ve had the distinct pleasure of delivering material on Meeple Mountain for the last five years, and I’ve been playing hobby games of all shades for the last 40. In addition to appearances on The BoardGameGeek Podcast, I have also appeared on 30+ episodes of The Five By and individual episodes of Five Games for Doomsday, Tabletop Submarine, The Tabletop Merchant Podcast, and Board Game Times.When I’m not thinking about games, I’m usually doing one of the following three things. I might be working my full-time gig, as a global program manager in the training, learning & development space where I travel a whole heck of a lot. I am possibly eating...and, while I love to cook, the job and the travel mean I get lots of chances to fulfill my personal life motto: “when in doubt, eat out.” I am hopefully spending time at home with my wife and two kids, ages 12 and 9, who seem surprised when I’m not hosting yet another game night.Speaking of home, I’m based in the Chicagoland area, where I’ve been for most of the last 15 years. Before that, I’ve gotten around a bit: Rochester, NY; San Francisco, CA; Charlottesville, VA; plus, all the parts of the “DMV” (DC, Maryland, Virginia), from Mount Vernon Square to Rockville to Falls Church to Gaithersburg to Crystal City, even a little old place known as Buzzard Point, the area just west of the baseball stadium that the Washington Nationals call home.And then, there are the games. Mertwig’s Maze holds a special place in my gaming heart, being one of those formative experiences from a billion years ago thanks to friends who were all about games in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons series. I played a lot of the titles in the “Gamemaster” series from Milton Bradley: Shogun, Axis & Allies, and my favorite from that batch of titles, Fortress America. But I was also playing a lot of the games my parents bought for me, from Monopoly, UNO, and Yahtzee to more specialized titles like Go For It!, Hotels (a Milton Bradley title previously known as "Hotel"), and Fireball Island.Any chance I could get to play games—board games, card games, video games, baseball, basketball, football—I did it. In college, it feels like I was playing either Spades or Hearts every night before heading out for the evening. As I got older, I got caught up in the magic of Catan thanks to a friend in Chicago who showed me Settlers of Catan: Cities & Knights, which led me down a path of so many modern classics, such as Race for the Galaxy, Puerto Rico, San Juan, 7 Wonders, and a number of other titles that I was thrilled to discover.That love affair continues today. I put in the work to build up a few different gaming groups—I do games every Monday with a “review crew” at my house, Tuesdays once a month with BGG’s very own [user=LindyBurger]Lindyburger[/user], most Wednesdays with a group of folks I’ve known since I first moved to Chicago, every Friday at home with my wife and kids, some Saturdays with a mix of the deep strategy gamers who I met during COVID, and Sundays once a month with my buddy [user=imaginaryforce]ImaginaryForce[/user] and some of his friends in the Chicago suburbs.Thanks to this wide range of gaming networks and my industry relationships, I get the chance to play a lot of different types of games. While I would categorize myself as an “omnigamer”, I usually gravitate towards the kinds of games I know I can get to the table consistently. That might range from family-weight games, trick takers, light dexterity games, and straightforward “roll and move” games to your run-of-the-mill medium-weight Euro game (tracks, baby!) to heavier fare, such as strategy titles, 18xx games, and “rules for rules’ sake” games that land in that 4.0+ weight class here on the Geek.My all-time top five? Man…that’s a moving target. Let’s go with these for now:1. Chicago 1875: City of the Big Shoulders2. The White Castle3. Kingsburg4. UNO5. TiletumMy top five of the last five years? Much easier:2021: Beyond the Sun (the Geek says it was a 2020 release, but I didn’t play it until 2021)2022: Tiletum2023: Hegemony: Lead Your Class to Victory2024: Dead Cells: The Rogue-Lite Board Game2025: VantageHere’s my goal for the BGG community: write engaging articles and share interesting industry discussions, aimed at both our core audience as well as folks just dropping by to say hello. I’ve got a bunch of ideas, but I’d still ask for your input: what kinds of discussions really get you excited? What parts of the tabletop business intrigue you? Which personalities in this space are you most interested in meeting? What mechanics are you most excited to explore?I’ve got thoughts, but I have a feeling you do, too…let’s keep the dialogue open. I’m excited to engage with the members of this community!(it's always brunch time...right?)

• 
  Designer Diary: Treat, Please!

  by cshernan on February 24, 2026

  by Courtney Shernan One day in the summer of 2019, I was sitting on the couch with my little loaf Trixie, watching her lick my hand over and over, so I would keep petting her. It made me think about all of the ways that she would get me to do things for her, like standing by the front door so I would take her for a walk or groaning at her food bowl, so I would feel guilty and feed her an early dinner. And then I thought, “There’s a board game here!” I thought about different game mechanics and decided to create a deck building game with an inviting and accessible theme of being a silly, spoiled dog. I really enjoyed playing deck-building games, but I knew how intimidating they were for me at first and that a lot of my friends and family felt similarly. My goal was to make a game that introduced deck building as a mechanic and captured the strategy under the guise of a cute, light-hearted dog game where you “learn” new dog behaviors to build your deck. The behavior cards would be things like “Wag Tail” and “Sit on the Human’s Lap” that you could play to gain “cuteness”. With enough cuteness, you could complete objectives like “Get a Treat” or “Get Belly Rubs” as a dog trying to get their human to give them what they want. I spent the whole weekend brainstorming, typing up cards in Word, and printing them out. There were going to be so many fun elements, like polka dot accessories and little rain booties you could add to your deck to make your dog extra cute. I got everything together for the prototype I envisioned, and then I just couldn’t play it. Not that it was unplayable (although it very well could have been) - I just couldn’t bring myself to play it. I thought to myself that there was no way I could design a board game, and I didn’t feel like I had anything even remotely new to offer. I shelved it, and I felt ridiculous for even trying. A year later in the summer of 2020, my husband and I were quarantining at home and started playing Gloomhaven regularly. I love how the game makes you determine the optimal time to play specific cards from your hand while having the option to get your cards back by resting. I remembered the work I put into Treat, Please! a year earlier, and I thought it would be fun to implement a similar rest mechanic, where dogs could choose to “Take a Nap” to get their behavior cards back from their discard pile, rather than having to wait until they’ve fully cycled through their deck. At that point, I decided to eliminate the deck element of the game entirely, leaving players with just their growing hand of behavior cards and their discard pile. At this point in my life, I was looking for any kind of creative outlet to focus my attention, and I figured there was no harm in trying to see this through. The idea of having my own board game on my shelf had been a dream for a long time. I went back to my old prototype and completely reworked all of the cards. I also added a board with a house layout to the game, where you could only play certain behaviors if you were in the corresponding room of the house (e.g., you had to be in the kitchen to “Lick the Dirty Dishes”), and the human was also roaming around doing different things, which impacted your ability to get their attention. After many iterations of playtesting by myself, my husband happily agreed to playtest. His first piece of feedback: get rid of the board! He was totally right; it was completely unnecessary and overcomplicated the game. Instead, I created an event deck, so I could maintain the feeling of the human doing different activities with implications for you as dog. One of my favorites is "The human is putting away laundry", which gives you the option to "Run away with a sock" for attention. From there, I had a very rough prototype that resembles Treat, Please! in the form it’s in today: Playtesting I knew I needed to start playtesting early and often, but without being able to see my friends and family in person, my options felt limited. My friends and I had been using a digital platform for virtual D&D sessions, and I realized that if I could make my game digitally, my D&D friends would be able to playtest too! I started off playtesting with my DND friends in August 2020, and it really helped build my confidence with explaining the rules and listening to constructive feedback. I quickly realized that I would need to expand my playtesting circle if I wanted to continue improving the game. My friends suggested that I join the PlaytestNW Discord, the server for a local playtesting group that shifted to virtual playtesting during the pandemic. I was so nervous to join my first Sunday playtesting session and told myself that I would just go to playtest and observe the first time. I reassured myself that if I had a terrible time and felt unwelcome that I could find other opportunities elsewhere. But I couldn’t have been more wrong; I was immediately greeted by the most welcoming community of game designers and playtesters, and it was amazing to see games at all different stages of development. I started regularly attending and eventually got the nerve to sign up Treat, Please! for playtesting in October 2020. After joining PlaytestNW, my design journey started accelerating, and I was eager for more opportunities to playtest. That is when I learned about the Break My Game (BMG) Discord server, with playtesting events almost every day of the week! After attending my first BMG playtest, I knew it was the perfect place for me. One of the things that stood out to me the most was how well-moderated their playtesting events are and how supportive the community is, which made me feel comfortable sharing my game and receiving feedback from complete strangers. After being a member of the community for awhile, I became a moderator and eventually a playtest event host. Hosting playtests was an absolute blast, and I loved seeing how other designers’ games would progress over time. These online groups also helped me find other opportunities to playtest and network, such as Protospiel Online, Nonepub, and the Tabletop Mentorship Program. There are countless improvements that I made to the game thanks to input from playtesters, but here are a few of the highlights: • Removing negative interactions and focusing on positive, communal effects to lean into the idea that this is a household full of dogs that are competitive but love each other. • Shortening the game from 10 to 7 rounds and structuring it as a week in the life of a dog, providing the opportunity to ramp up gameplay during the last 2 rounds of the game (i.e., “the weekend”). • Reducing the burden of taking a nap by allowing you to play one of your behaviors if you take a short nap instead of losing your whole turn. Once it became safe to meet up with others, I was so excited to start playtesting in person. Local conventions like Dragonflight and OrcaCon were amazing experiences to connect with my desired audience: dog lovers! Pitching Initially, I planned to self-publish Treat, Please!. However, my plans changed when I was invited to participate in the “Feedback Frenzy” pitching event at the online Nonepub convention in January 2021. I never considered the possibility that a publisher might be interested in my game, so the idea of pitching hadn’t crossed my mind until then. For the event, I pitched to a panel of publishers and game designers and got immediate feedback on my pitch - all of which was livestreamed during the convention. It was a terrifying but exhilarating experience, and honestly, it felt like I was in my element. It made me wonder why I hadn’t considered pitching previously, and I started to believe I had a chance to successfully pitch to an interested publisher if I could find more opportunities like this. I sought out other opportunities to pitch directly to publishers, including a speed pitching event on Discord through the Tabletop Mentorship Program and other virtual pitch practice events. During a pitch practice event on the Weird Giraffe Games Discord server in March 2021, I pitched to Chris Solis of Solis Game Studio, who reached out afterward requesting to play. We quickly set up a time to play digitally, and then he requested that I send him a physical prototype. It was immediately clear that he understood what I was trying to accomplish with the game, and I was thrilled that someone believed in me and my vision. After some back and forth, I signed Treat, Please! with Solis Game Studio in May 2021. Design Development Once the game was signed, Solis Game Studio took the reins and formed an incredible team to take Treat, Please! from a prototype (with a severe lack of cute dog art) to a polished game. I was responsible for playtesting as we worked on some gameplay changes together. At this point, I was focused on playtesting in person, so I could get detailed feedback from playtesters about all aspects of the game, particularly pacing and how the physical components felt. I was so fortunate that Solis Game Studio encouraged me to be actively involved in the final development of the game and that I was able to provide input on the art and graphic design as it was being worked on. It brings me so much joy to see many of the dogs in my life shine in the adorable artwork of Kiem Hollis. A love letter to Trixie, and hello to a new friend… Trixie crossed the rainbow bridge in February 2024 after a battle with cancer. The day we found out there was nothing else we could do to make her comfortable and that it was time to say goodbye was one of the worst days of my life. I don’t know how else to describe my love for her other than saying she was my doggie soulmate. I am so grateful for all of the memories we made together that will continue to fill my life with joy, and I’m grateful for this game that will always bring me right back to those times with her. We welcomed a new friend, Louie, to our family last year, and we’ve enjoyed learning his quirks and the unique things he does for attention. Like how he growls quietly and stares at you until you lift up a blanket for him to go under or how he loves to jump onto the window sill and sleep in the sun. He is a silly, sneaky boy with a loving personality that has been so special to see as he has settled into our home. Trixie and Louie have brought an immeasurable amount of joy and love into my life. One of my favorite parts of playtesting was hearing players talk about their dogs and seeing connections form between complete strangers over their shared love of dogs. My hope is that Treat, Please! will encourage players to reminisce about all of the fun and silly memories they have with the dogs in their lives. I’m so excited to share that Treat, Please! is now available on Solis Game Studio's website here. And please feel free to share your favorite doggo quirks and stories below - I would love to hear all about your wonderful pets! And lastly, I just want to say that if you’re toying with the idea of designing your own game, do it. I wish I could go back and tell myself in 2019 to stick with it. Even if Treat, Please! didn’t end up being published, I am so proud of the skills I’ve gained during this journey and grateful for the communities that welcomed me along the way. If there is anything I can do to help you on your journey, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

• 
  FIJ and GAMA Expo Preview is Live

  by LindyBurger on February 24, 2026

  by Beth Heile We've recently made some big changes with our Preview lists, and things kick off with this list for Festival International des Jeux (FIJ) and GAMA Expo.Previously, publishers filled out a form and BGG staff and volunteers entered that information into Preview lists. Now, our Preview lists will be self-service and publishers will enter that information themselves. This will allow publishers to simply the Preview process by inputting information themselves directly into the Preview system. Each Preview list will then be moderated to ensure that entries are allowable under our Preview submission rules.PLEASE NOTE - inaccurate entries on a Preview list will be removed! Please view the posting guidelines in the tutorial or below for submission rules.If you would like to submit an entry for the FIJ / GAMA Expo Preview list, you can find written instructions HERE.If you have any question, you can post a comment in this thread or email at news@boardgamegeek.com.SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

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  Designer Diary: Spokes

  by BertHardeman on February 22, 2026

  by Bert Hardeman I have always loved playing games, and at some point, I thought: "Maybe I could design one myself." So, I sat down one evening, whipped up a prototype, and tried it by myself. It was a terrible game. I quickly realized that game design isn’t as easy as it looks. Since I didn't know where to start, I decided to do my homework. I read almost every article about game design on the internet and listened to countless podcasts. Still, I was waiting for that one spark—a truly original idea.The SparkAt a convention, I played Rotterdam, a game about boats entering the port of Rotterdam. It features a unique mechanism where you call out a color, and then everyone must move on that color. I thought it was a clever system, but I wondered if I could extend it by making the routes variable. What if you could change the routes themselves? How much fun would that be?To test this quickly, I grabbed Ticket to Ride: Europe because it already had routes and trains. My initial solo tests revealed plenty of problems; for one, the routes often required more than one "stick." I needed a map with better-spaced cities, so I tried Iberia using the trains from Ticket to Ride. That map had its own issues, so the next step was to create my own. I started with the Netherlands, but it felt a bit too small, so I expanded it to include Belgium and Luxembourg.The Pivot to ...I tested this version with my wife. She isn’t a fan of confrontational games and suggested a major change: only the active player should move on their turn instead of everyone. By now, the rules were: draw a random stick from a bag, play one of your three sticks, and return the used stick to the bag. You would then travel as far as possible along that color.The biggest hurdle was the goal. If players were given random destination cities, some inevitably had better combinations than others. I tried changing the goal to a sequence of cities that everyone had to visit in order, but it felt like a difficult variant of Bingo — it all came down to whether you drew the right color stick. Even after increasing the variety to six colors, a race to random locations just didn't feel right.The solution? Making the game cooperative! I re-themed it: you were now trying to prevent cats from escaping a city after breaking out of a shelter. This worked! One thing I discovered during this phase was that people hated drawing random sticks when they needed a specific color. I changed it so that when you remove a stick from the board, you keep it. Now, if you don't have the colors you need, it's a result of your own planning.Back to the RaceOne day, while playing around with the sticks from the cooperative prototype, I arranged them into an arena of spokes. It looked exactly like a racing track. "Let’s make this a game about chariot racing," I thought.To balance the movement, I initially let players choose all six colors at the start, switching one out each turn. However, this gave players too much freedom; everyone ended up on the same routes, which became overcrowded. I decided to limit players to only the next three sticks in their personal row. To avoid the "end of the line" problem, I arranged those sticks in a circle. It looked just like the spokes of a wheel—and that is how the title Spokes was born.From Abstract to ThematicThe first playtest on Tabletop Simulator was quite positive. I initially described Spokes as an abstract racing game, but a playtester who knew about track cycling remarked that the game felt surprisingly thematic. From that moment on, I stopped calling it abstract. I tried to lean into the theme by adding movement limit, but the game was actually more fun without them. I also experimented with a "sur place" rule (standing still to gain an advantage), but since it was rarely used, I eventually scrapped it.The competitionI entered Spokes into the Cardboard Edison competition. It was a great experience, and the game finished as a runner-up! I half-expected publishers to start begging to publish it right then and there, but that didn't happen.The feedback from the contest was welcome: they noted that if a group was "mean," the game could become frustratingly cutthroat. Advanced players could block a winner simply by changing a stick in front of them. I solved this by making it mandatory to travel on the stick you just placed. You can still block people if the stars align, but it’s no longer something you can do constantly without consequence.Finding a HomeI continued pitching to publishers, but many were hesitant, especially regarding the production cost of so many sticks. Eventually, I received an email from Mark at Radical 8 Games. Someone who had playtested the game recommended it to him. Mark watched my Cardboard Edison video, liked what he saw, and after a few weeks and testing a physical prototype, he signed the game!Mark helped develop the game even further. He introduced the slipstreaming action, which removed the need for a clunky rule about not moving over the stick you just placed. He also streamlined the starting phase, which used to be the hardest part to teach. Finally, the artist Rusembell came on board and made the game look absolutely beautiful.It has been a long journey from boats and cats to the velodrome, and I can't wait for you to experience it. Have fun playing!

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  "Masters of Game Design: An Interview Series" - Interview 1 of 8: Steve Jackson - GURPS Philosophy by Riccardo Scaringi

  by ilgiocointavolo on February 20, 2026

  by ilgiocointavolo GURPS at 40: Steve Jackson Reflects on Building Gaming's Most Ambitious System When I told Steve Jackson that three of my gaming buddies started arguing about GURPS combat mechanics just from hearing I'd be interviewing him, he laughed. "That sounds about right," he said from his home in Atlanta. After four decades in game design, Jackson has heard it all when it comes to GURPS: the love, the hate, and everything in between. It was 1986 when Steve Jackson Games launched GURPS (Generic Universal RolePlaying System), making a promise that seemed impossible: one system for every game. Now, with hundreds of supplements and a devoted global fanbase, GURPS has arguably delivered on that promise. But how do you actually build something universal? And what would Jackson change if he started over today? "I Thought Polyhedra Were Unnecessarily Complex" The heart of GURPS is its 3d6 roll-under system, which was pretty radical back in the mid-80s. While other designers were embracing weird dice and complex mechanics, Jackson went the opposite direction. "I thought that polyhedra were unnecessarily complex," he tells me, and then adds: "I still think that." It's a surprisingly firm stance from someone whose system has grown to accommodate everything from space opera to medieval fantasy. But Jackson's logic is sound; "There are some very good systems that use polyhedra, but they use them in simple ways." The 3d6 choice wasn't just about simplicity—it was about accessibility. Jackson wanted something that felt natural to players without requiring a math degree. "The core rules are very straightforward," he insists. "If we just wanted to sit down and go through a dungeon in GURPS? Oh, I could have you running in 30 minutes." Thirty minutes. For a system that's notorious for being crunchy. Jackson seems to enjoy this contradiction. The Complexity Guy Who Built Something Simple Here's where Jackson gets interesting. "I'm a complexity guy," he admits without hesitation. "I like wheels within wheels. And when I write a game, the first draft is always longer than the final draft." So how does someone who loves complexity create something that can teach new players in half an hour? Jackson's secret is layers. "GURPS is a crunchy system," he says, completely matter-of-fact about it. "Completely fair. It's not as crunchy as some people want to make out, because the core rules are very straightforward. But there are specialist rules for many, many subjects. And those can get really crunchy." The genius is in the modularity. You don't need to know the vehicle design rules to fight goblins. You don't need the time travel mechanics to run a detective story. But if you want to design a custom starship or solve temporal paradoxes, the rules are there. Jackson calls it a "Catch-22 effect". "Now that there are that many supplements, people think it has to be crunchy", he states. The system's success created its own reputation problem. "Eventually They Shut Up" When GURPS launched, Jackson faced the obvious question: how can one supplement cover "every game"? His response captures his dry sense of humor perfectly: "It was very funny when the game first came out, people said: 'Well there's only one supplement, how can it be for every game?' And then a couple of years later: 'Well there are only six supplements, how can it be for every game?' And then a couple of years later: 'Well there are only twenty supplements, how can it be for every world?' But eventually they shut up." The proof was in the execution. GURPS didn't just promise universality—it delivered, supplement by supplement. Each new book stress-tested the core system against different genres and scenarios. Jackson lights up when talking about GURPS Time Travel, which he co-wrote with John M. Ford. "He was a wonderful man to work with. And it came out very, very well. Much of it is an homage to the work of H. Beam Piper, one of my favorite science fiction authors." It's these personal touches that make GURPS more than just a mechanical exercise. Each supplement reflects genuine passion for its subject matter. Learning from SPI (and Translating to English) GURPS didn't emerge from nowhere—it built on the tradition of detailed simulation games, particularly those from Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI). But Jackson learned from SPI's biggest weakness. "The Ogre rules are very heavily influenced by SPI," he explains. "But they are translated to English, which makes a difference." That last bit gets a laugh out of both of us. Anyone who's wrestled with SPI rulebooks knows exactly what he means. "SPI's rules were famously difficult to interpret," Jackson continues. "I have no idea how many hours I spent on their games when I was in college." Those frustrating hours became Jackson's design school. He took SPI's mechanical sophistication but wrapped it in clear, unambiguous language. It's a lesson more game designers should learn. What He'd Change Today After nearly forty years, Jackson has clear thoughts on where GURPS could improve. When I ask what he'd simplify in a ground-up redesign, his answer comes immediately: "Character creation. Social skill interaction. I think those are the big ones." Character creation in GURPS is incredibly flexible, but it can overwhelm newcomers with options. Social mechanics, despite multiple supplement treatments, never quite achieved the elegance of combat resolution. But Jackson isn't rushing into a fifth edition. "I don't like to do a revision until it's time," he says. "There are games that are revised every few years. And sometimes that's because the first job was sloppy and sometimes it's because there's a grab for money. I would rather people not say either of those things about me." Italian Fans and Global Appeal Jackson has fond memories of visiting Lucca Comics & Games years ago, where he met dedicated Italian GURPS fans. "The Lucca show is just overwhelming," he recalls. These days, Lucca has grown even more massive, but Jackson's experience there highlighted something important about GURPS: its international appeal. Italian GURPS fans are "extremely dedicated," as I can personally attest. There's something about the system's comprehensive approach that resonates with European gaming culture, where detailed simulation games have always found appreciative audiences. Jackson's relationship with global gaming communities shows how GURPS succeeded not by being generically universal, but by providing tools flexible enough for any group's specific needs. The Long Game When I ask about GURPS' future, Jackson stays characteristically measured: "I'm never going to say no to a Fifth Edition. But I certainly can't say yes right now. As long as people are playing GURPS, there's new ideas coming up." It's this patience that has kept GURPS stable while other systems chase trends through frequent revisions. Jackson built something that could grow organically rather than requiring constant overhauls. Looking back on our conversation, what strikes me most is Jackson's consistency. The same design philosophy that drove the original 3d6 decision still guides GURPS today: build something simple enough to learn but powerful enough to handle whatever players throw at it. "I try to look at my own work and figure out what I did," Jackson reflects when discussing GURPS' enduring success. After forty years, he's still figuring it out, and that curiosity might be the real secret behind GURPS' longevity. This article includes exclusive materials from the Museum of Games Ireland and Steve Jackson Games archives. All images and documents used with permission and proper attribution included. www.mogi.ie This interview was conducted for Il Gioco in Tavolo podcast. Full video available at Youtube Video

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  In a Frenzy, The Cat Knocked the Hummingbird into the Savanna

  by boardgamersteph on February 18, 2026

  by Steph Hodge I recently had the chance to sit down with The Op Games and get the detailed lineup of 2026 titles! I believe I counted 16 games, which don't even include the long list of Co-Branded Mass Market titles. Here are some highlights. ▪️ To kick it off, Flip 7: With A Vengeance just released. With the massive success of Flip 7 and Flip 7, we should expect to see a whole lot more flavors of this hit game. The deck of cards now spans to thirteen 13's in Vengeance. You will also find new special cards, including steal, swap, discard, flip four, and more. In Flip 7: With A Vengeance, there's only one 1 card, two 2's, three 3’s, etc., plus a bunch of special cards that can cut your points in half, steal any card, or force an opponent to draw four cards! Are you the type of player to play it safe and bank points before you bust, or are you going to risk it all and go for the bonus points by flipping over seven in a row? Press your luck meets strategy in this addictive card game where no one is ever really safe. The hard-boiled sequel to the award-winning, instant classic, Flip 7. ▪️ Also expected this Q1 2026, is TEMBO: Survival on the Savanna. The partnership with Sidekick Games (AQUA: Biodiversity in the Oceans & HUTAN: Life in the Rainforest) continues and delivers us a cooperative game this time. In the cooperative game TEMBO, you will lead a herd of elephants on a thrilling journey of survival across the savanna. Reaching your destination is the only way to win - yet the path is full of challenges. You will need to search out food and water, navigate shifting terrain, and avoid the fierce lions that roam the land. No two journeys are ever the same. Each game offers new challenges, demanding careful planning and constant communication to guide your herd safely to victory. ▪️ Frenzy Falls is planned for a Q2 2026 release. From designer Randy Flynn (Cascadia) and Joseph Z. Chen (Fantastic Factories). Frenzy Falls is a quick and exciting card game for 2-6 players. Each round, players take turns adding Waterfall cards facedown to rows of cards called Pools. Cards are then revealed in order, triggering various effects that shift cards between pools. The goal of the game is to score points by having the most influence icons showing on your cards when a pool’s value hits 10 or higher and overflows. This will also send your opponent’s cards cascading down into other pools, causing chain reactions! ▪️ Get ready to test your dexterity skills in Cats Knocking Things Off Ledges. Not only are you building a tower of ledges, but you are knocking off your cat toys from them. Two separate instances where you will have to demonstrate your dexterous techniques. This game has already been released. In Cats Knocking Things Off Ledges™, players take turns building a wobbly tower of platforms, placing their cats, and batting toys off the edge to score points based on how far they fall. But watch out - if the tower tumbles, you score zero! Earn extra points by landing on specific platforms, and race to be the first to reach the highest score. [ImageID=9286877 mediumrep] (photo uploaded by Alexander Varela, The Op) ▪️ Winter chill got you down? Hummingbirds will lift you up with its colorful table presence. Already available for sale. Hidden sand timers in Hummingbirds are how players will score points. Without the use of a clock to track time, you have to gauge how long each timer has been running before using your hummingbird to look at it. If the timer has expired, you are good to collect points for that color timer. If you look and the timer is still running, you will lose your positioning and a point token from your stash. Time is on your side. Better to be safe than sorry! (photo uploaded by Alexander Varela, The Op) This has been only a small handful of games that The Op is releasing in 2026. Several hobby games are planned, and even more family and party games are on the horizon to be excited for.

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  Designer Diary: Siberian Manhunt

  by jeyer78 on February 17, 2026

  by Jesse Eyer Concept I think we can all agree that global pandemics suck. But for all the misery that came out of COVID-19, there were a few small bright spots, and one of them was the inception of Siberian Manhunt. By the end of 2020, we were deep into our third lockdown in Berlin, and my wife and I had burned through all of our light, two-player games. We yearned for something meatier, but something that could still be finished in a single evening since our board games and dinners shared the same real estate. At the time, I was reading Louis L’Amour’s classic novel Last of the Breed, a harrowing adventure about a U.S. Air Force test pilot captured by the Soviets in the late ’80s. A Native American and a survivalist, he escapes his captors and flees across the unforgiving Siberian wilderness with the KGB in pursuit. It’s a ripping good yarn, and I highly recommend it. “Someone should turn this into a movie,” I told my wife one evening before bed. “Or a Netflix series. Or a board game.” Bingo. That night I lay awake in bed, staring at the darkened ceiling, puzzling out the rules of my nascent brainchild. Naturally, it would be a two-player game: a fugitive on the run from the Soviets. It would need to be asymmetrical, with the Fugitive dealing with the daily trials of life on the run while the Government carried out the titular manhunt using almost unlimited Soviet resources, albeit with a few communist inefficiencies to keep things interesting. And finally, a manhunt practically demands hidden movement; after all, the Soviets wouldn’t necessarily know where the fugitive was. Once I scribbled down the basic framework of the rules, I fell asleep thinking about fleeing through the Taiga. It was not my most restful night. Prototype I got to work on a prototype the next day. This was not my first rodeo, so I applied a few lessons learned from my previous (unsuccessful) forays into board game design: 1) Write down all the rules in Excel and try to numerically balance the game there as much as possible. 2) Don’t waste time with artwork at the early stage. The game has to work mechanically first. 3) Avoid physical prototypes in the early stages, as the printing and crafting can become expensive and/or slow the development process. I used Tabletop Simulator (TTS) for all my early playtests. My first map was built from Google Maps screenshots of the Baikal region of Siberia. I overlaid roads and towns using real geography as a guide, then added numbered locations that the Fugitive and Government agents would move through. (Top) The prototype map board used Google maps screenshots stitched together vs (bottom) the final version of the map The rest of the prototype used assets pulled from the internet and tweaked in my go-to tool for quick and dirty graphics design: Paint.Net. Assets could be uploaded onto my Google drive and imported into TTS. From there the playtest → update components → playtest iteration loop was super short, allowing for a quick convergence of the game design. (Left) Prototype Encounter cards vs (Right) the final versions Game Design Although Siberian Manhunt would be asymmetrical, the basic game loop would be the same for both players: Recover energy → Spend energy on actions → Clean-up Where the roles diverged was in the actions themselves. I wanted the Fugitive’s experience to feel authentic: always on the move, low on supplies, unsure who to trust, and increasingly desperate. Their turns revolved around hidden movement, scavenging for food and equipment, hunting, crafting, and interacting with locals and wildlife. The Fugitive secretly recorded their exact locations, while a Hidden Movement Track publicly logged how far they’d traveled since they were last seen. The Fugitive’s player board, with card slots for a character card, clothing, footwear, backpacks, etc. Each turn began with an Encounter card, allowing me to introduce narrative challenges. A Wilderness Deck provided animals to hunt and craft components, while an Urban Deck supplied equipment from towns. Energy would be recovered in different ways. In the wilderness, the Fugitive regained only one meager point of energy per turn. In towns, however, they recovered fully — making towns tempting, useful, and potentially very dangerous if the locals decide to report them. The Fugitive could also eat food to boost their energy at any time (meat could be obtained from hunting, but would need to be cooked or else the Fugitive would face a parasite risk). The Government’s role was simultaneously more concrete and more abstract than the Fugitive’s. The Government had physical pawns on the map; little KGB officers scouring the countryside for an elusive Fugitive. These pawns could move and search, attack the Fugitive if they found him, or capture him if two KGBs could get to the Fugitive’s location at the same time. Agents could also be upgraded into elite Yakut Trackers, who moved faster and could race across the map much like the Fugitive. At the start of each turn, the Government’s energy would be reset to be equal to the number of agent pawns on the map. The Government player board, with 3 rows of Government assistance cards and 3 character cards But the real engine of the Government was the Assistance Deck–resources from the central Soviet Government which provided powerful, one-time effects to help the KGB track down the Fugitive: aerial searches, checkpoints, helicopter transports, propaganda campaigns, and, most importantly, new recruits. Recruit cards added more pawns to the board and permanently increased the Government’s available energy: more pawns = more energy = more actions. To model the attitudes of the local population, I initially created a Manhunt Deck filled with Loyal Communist and Silent Citizen cards. Each time the Fugitive entered a town, a card was drawn. Silent Citizens kept quiet while Loyal Communists immediately reported the Fugitive’s position. The Fugitive’s decisions influenced the deck’s makeup: heroic behavior added Silent Citizens, while killing and pillaging produced enthusiastic informants. Government actions, such as interrogations or propaganda campaigns, could also shift the balance. Eventually, I replaced the deck with a draw bag, which proved far more practical than reshuffling a deck many times per game. (Left) The initial "Manhunt deck" (TTS version) vs (Right) the final "Manhunt bag" While I made some adjustments to the game mechanics (e.g. converting the Manhunt deck to the Manhunt bag, creating a market of Government assistance cards instead of just a draw pile, etc.), they stayed fairly consistent throughout the game’s development. Most changes involved balancing the game (see below) and fully fleshing out the experience for both players. Finding artists was surprisingly easy. I wanted a realistic, painterly look and searched portfolios on BGG and ArtStation for artists who could achieve that style. I found the cover of Stroganov particularly compelling and reached out to its artist, Maciej Janik. After a TTS playtest, he was enthusiastically onboard with Siberian Manhunt and ended up becoming the lead artist. I found the rest of the team the same way: Natalie Henderson, Radu Paul Mazanac, and JD Rodriguez. Each artist was relatively specialized (e.g. portraits, animals, propaganda-style artwork, map, etc.) so I ended up with more artists than I originally planned. Their styles were compatible though and the final product had a fairly consistent look and feel. Theme Thematically, I wanted to avoid using Louis L’Amour’s kidnapped test pilot plot. I initially considered making the Fugitive an escapee from a Soviet gulag, but Maciej rightly pointed out that the gulag system was horrific, and the game wasn’t about that. I turned instead to the Gary Powers U-2 incident. In 1960, Powers’ spy plane was shot down over the USSR. He survived, was captured, and spent nearly two years imprisoned before being released in a prisoner exchange. Francis Gary Powers posing with his U-2 What if he’d escaped immediate capture and gone on the run instead? That question became the heart of Siberian Manhunt. The Fugitive became a U-2 pilot, downed behind enemy lines and fleeing into the wilderness on foot. Later, I met Francis Gary Powers Jr., son of the famous U-2 pilot, who provided wonderful historical insights—and told me that Louis L’Amour had been a family friend, and that Last of the Breed was inspired by his father’s experience. In a small but satisfying way, it felt like Siberian Manhunt was closing a loop. Gary Powers Jr. and I at the Checkpoint Charlie Museum in Berlin Balance Balancing the game proved surprisingly challenging. In theory, it should have been straightforward: make food more plentiful to help the Fugitive, or add more Recruit cards to help the Government. In practice, everything affected balance: encounter difficulty, map density, town placement, card effects, and more. I initially aimed for a perfectly even 50–50 win rate. It turned out that an even balance produced dull games. When the Fugitive was too strong, they disappeared into the map for an anti-climactic win. The sweet spot ended up being a 40–60 win ratio in favor of the Government. That intentional imbalance created tense games where the Fugitive was constantly under pressure. The balance during each game shifts too. The Government begins in a weak position with just one lonely KGB agent on the board. The Fugitive also starts out weak but can quickly grow stronger with equipment from nearby towns. As the game progresses, however, the Fugitive is gradually worn down by life on the run while the Government recruits more agents and grows steadily stronger. By the time the Fugitive reaches the border region, wounded and low on supplies, the Government is usually at peak power, leading to tense, climactic showdowns just short of the Chinese border. The final version of Siberian Manhunt The game was extensively playtested, first on TTS and later in physical form. Every playtest was valuable, right up until the feedback started contradicting itself. For example, one regular tester hated crafting and wanted it removed entirely. Others loved it and wanted more. At that point, I just had to trust my gut and make the game I wanted to play. And hundreds of plays later, I still enjoy it, especially how each session organically creates a unique, often cinematic Cold War survival story. Conventions and Kickstarter We took Siberian Manhunt on the road, demoing it at SPIEL ’23, UK Game Expo ’24, and SPIEL ’24. The theme made it somewhat of a niche game, but those who appreciated the Cold War and survival vibes embraced it enthusiastically. In February 2025 we launched Siberian Manhunt on Kickstarter. The campaign was a lot of fun, with great backer interaction and plenty of lessons learned. Because the game was essentially complete before launch, with manufacturing by LongPack Games already lined up, we were able to move into production by June and wrap up fulfillment in November. Demoing Siberian Manhunt at UKGE ‘24 I’m now hard at work on the sequel-expansion, Manchurian Manhunt, which explores what happens when the Fugitive crosses the Chinese border and the chase gets bigger, faster, and even less forgiving. But that’s a story for another diary.

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  Designer Diary: Clips

  by lelebrian on February 15, 2026

  by Emanuele Briano I’ve always been drawn to collaborative games with asymmetrical information. I like designs with few rules, high replayability, and systems that rely on player perception from different points of view. Cards often fit this approach well, especially when paired with a simple yet rich communication system. One day, I started thinking about a different way to mark clues—something that could be fully integrated into the system, without adding extra components or rules overhead. What could work through a simple, intuitive gesture we all know? Clipping. The act of taking a clothespin and adding it to a card was instant love. That is were the journey of Clips started. The Base Flow The core idea of the game was quite clear: a collaborative card game where players could not see their own cards, could give and receive hints from the other players using the clothespins, and must play a card on each turn. Clipping immediately showed several key advantages. It allows players to add and remove information quickly. Clothespins can be read from both sides, as they are usually symmetrical, and they carry only a limited amount of information. Each one can be slightly different from the others, while still remaining simple. Their number is also naturally limited, creating a shared pool. From a design perspective, this opened up new possibilities. Each clothespin could convey only partial information about a card. The pool could be shared, forcing players to manage it collectively. And some actions could generate information simply because a player chose that move over another. The clipping gesture could be not only a gimmick, but shape the game itself. Information The first question was what kind of information the cards should provide. I wanted the information to stay simple. In this kind of system, complexity doesn’t come from the elements themselves, but from how they are combined and interpreted. Colors, symbols, and numbers are usually the most direct way to achieve this. However, I was looking for something slightly different. I wanted something that could naturally interact with the idea of clipping, and that would allow players to give and receive hints easily, but without being certain about their cards. I wanted to keep the tension when a player plays a card, until they are able to see if the move is good or not. The first solution I explored was bicolor cards. With bicolor cards, the information could remain deliberately fuzzy. Even if you know that a card is red, you don’t know whether it is red/yellow, red/blue, or red/green. Players can narrow down possibilities without ever fully collapsing them into certainty. Numbers, on the other hand, were useful to keep the gameplay working and to create different goals, such as same color pairs, or same numbers. Simple yet efficient ideas on which to build a feeling of progress. The Theme and the First Reactions The first idea for the theme came quite naturally. Vertical cards on which you clip colored clothespins = tissues. What else? It matched well, it was intuitive. Tissues can represent many things, and this was something we spent time exploring together with the publisher. But it was clear the game was about the “Clips”, not the cards. We started testing the game everywhere we went: bars, pubs, sometimes even at the beach. Something unexpected started to happen. People would stop, watch us play, hesitate for a long time and then finally come over to ask what we were doing. They couldn’t resist any longer. In Italy, playing cards in bars is extremely common, especially traditional card games. But no one had ever seen colored clothespins clipped onto cards. The game was visually distinctive, tactile, and inviting. Those moments were just great. The Quest For Elegance At that point, the game started to work, but the material still felt like too much. I began questioning what could be removed and what the core experience really was. Was having two separate categories of information actually necessary? We applied the Six Thinking Hats many times. Colors turned out to be the key element of the game: the color of the tissues, and the color of the clips. But how could numbers be expressed using only colors? I forced myself to remove the numbers and try a different approach: one clip for one, two clips for two, and so on. The theme helped justify this naturally. If a tissue is small, one pin is enough. If it’s larger, you need more pins to keep it safe from the wind. And I could add an interesting twist. If a card has three pins on it, it clearly cannot be a one or a two, but it could still be a three, four, or five. This way, information remains partial and deliberately fuzzy. Presenting Clips to Piatnik The first presentation to Piatnik was a key moment. Florian and I always had a very good connection on game styles, since the publishing of 80 Days. The potential of the game was immediately clear. The gesture of clipping did most of the work. The discussion quickly moved away from rules and focused instead on player experience: what it feels like to place a clip, when you hesitate to move one, and how much information you are willing to commit in front of the group. It took only a few weeks for the publisher to decide: even if producing clothespins is quite unusual to a board game publisher, they accepted the challenge. Building the Levels Building the different levels of the game became a key part of development, and it was something I worked on closely with the publisher. The challenge was finding the right balance between making the game immediately accessible, for demos and first plays, while keeping it intriguing for players who would come back to it multiple times. After well over a thousand games with my most dedicated playtesters, Stefania and Marco, I had a very clear understanding of the harder levels and of what keeps the game interesting even after repeated plays. We had some “special levels” that we loved to try and defeat. But that also came with a risk: losing touch with the experience of someone discovering the game for the first time. This is where the publisher’s contribution became crucial. Bringing a fresh perspective, and a strong sense of how games are taught, shown, and sold, helped rebalance the progression. Together, we reviewed the structure of the levels, adjusted their pacing, and reconsidered elements such as the optimal number of cards in the deck for printing reasons. In the end, we arrived at a more gradual and readable progression. Those phases of tuning and revision are exactly where having the publisher fully involved makes the difference. Discussing the Theme The theme remained a recurring topic throughout development. Tissues could represent many things, and that flexibility was both a strength and a question mark. We discussed how much the theme should guide interpretation, and how much should be left abstract. Several alternatives were explored and tested: Morocolors - the first theme, where players are dyers in Morocco trying to deliver the best tissues to special customers from all around the world. Exotic, but straight to the point. Gnomes stealing socks - cards represented socks, while clips marked which one to steal for the gnomes village hidden in the walls of the house. The idea played with disappearance, and fit naturally with color-based clues. Plus colored socks are visually appealing. Naughty sheep falling into color cans - sheep fell into different colored paint, and they needed to get dried on the right thread. Funny, but could have been read as not animal friendly. Actors having to change in the dark backstage - cards represented clothes, and clips tracked fast costume changes. All happening in the dark backstage. Tuscan flag throwers - cards showed flags, and clips marked suggestions on which flag to throw next during performances. An Italian, culturally-grounded setting. In the end, we decided to keep the theme simple and direct: tissues. They are immediately readable, physically coherent with the gesture of clipping, and flexible enough to support the system without explaining it. For the same reason, the title became obvious. Clips describes both the main component and the central action at the table. Conclusion Looking back, the project stayed remarkably close to its initial question. How little is needed to create a meaningful asymmetrical information game that can scale from family to expert? In Clips, the answer is a gesture full of colorful unique tokens. A small physical action allows players to create their communication system and improve game after game. Now it’s time to put the game on the table and see how players feel about it. Link to the game: Clips by Emanuele Briano

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  Designer Diary: Stupor Mundi

  by nestoremangone on February 13, 2026

  by nestore mangone In December 2017 I was asking myself a couple of times a day whether Newton was ready, and I could not come up with a convincing answer; but since no game is ever truly ready, the very fact that I kept asking the question meant it was ready enough. I had worked on it so much, and with such stubbornness, that I was genuinely tired of board games, of players, and of myself. I therefore decided to take a few months off and focus on my main job, which in the meantime was falling apart. Then in January 2018, Newton did what it was not supposed to do. Barely three weeks after my noble resolution, a leisure visit to one of the many castles built by Frederick II in southern Italy sparked a renewed curiosity about this figure I had already heard so much about. I read a few things from my father’s library and understood that I could not avoid starting to design a new game about the most astonishing character of that period. So, on a feverish night, while snowflakes were falling on the heights of the Sila, I locked myself in my studio-laboratory and created the first version of a game that would stay with me for a long time: Stupor Mundi, which at the time was more simply called Frederick II. The first version of the game was completely different from the current one; in the next image you can see the very first iteration, printed and tested. At the beginning there was no central board, only a display to draft various types of cards and a personal board to activate them. The interesting part was that each player owned two castles, one on the left and one on the right, and allies determined how to score points in that specific castle against the castle of the adjacent player on the same side. The idea was genuinely good, but several problems emerged. Deciding the seating order in a four-player game was the least of them. The real issue was tracking power relationships dynamically and giving players the ability to react, turn after turn, to limit losses, mitigating the despair of those who saw points being torn away relentlessly, sinking into the feeling of playing a wargame disguised as a euro. The game was interesting, but it was not what I wanted to achieve. I had a specific type of player in mind, and that direction did not work. Some elements, however, were already clearly defined and I would never change them; they were the pillars of the game. 1. The card system - Face down or face up? Pure emotion, hard choices, the feeling of being clever because you give something up for something bigger; pain and pleasure. This is how euros are made. Nothing is given away; every time you lose something to gain something else, perhaps better. 2. The concept of allies - Those little rascals were mini-games on a single tile, worlds within the world. If the game was a large and complex stellar system, those entities were planets, each with its own scoring cycles to be fitted into the larger design. I kept working, with difficulty. I was short on testers and at the time I lived in Calabria. Finding suitable people for a game like this required hours of travel, which I could only afford every two or three months. In any case, I was determined to finish the job. I made many sacrifices, and by Essen SPIEL 2018 I had a new version to show to a few publishers. The new version introduced the central castle. If I could not have players confront each other directly, I could do it indirectly. Thus the castle of Frederick II was born, the shadow fief that ties together the plots of every other fief. The castle, in truth, is not a castle. If you think it represents a pile of stone, wood, and lime, you lack imagination, and that is a problem if this is your main hobby. In the Middle Ages, castles were useful defensive structures, but they were also symbols; the symbolic value of the castle points to the concept of dominion over land. Building and dismantling the castle of Frederick II means acting within a network of pacts and agreements, those made with the little rascals: the allies. In this version the castle had eight sides; it was all about dense construction. More than half of the actions were directed toward building, but the numbers never worked out, the game went on forever, and something was missing. Something I had already wanted to include in Newton but had failed to achieve: passive powers. If construction dominated everything, there was no room for anything else that was complex and cerebral. For years I had wanted to design a game in which passive powers were central; yes, exactly those powers that we players forget to use, only to complain later and accuse the designer of our own negligence. I therefore decided to change the numbers. After returning from Essen SPIEL, carrying with me a certain excitement sparked by the interesting comments of various publishers, I got back to work. I was truly enthusiastic and produced two more iterations in quick succession, but something still did not add up. Where could I place passive powers and give them a different meaning? I did not want to give up; I wanted to bring that aspect to light. At the beginning of 2019 however, a novelty arrived swiftly, like a brigantine pushed by the most favorable winds. I had spoken with Simone Luciani; we were both satisfied with Newton and decided to start working on a new game with a scientific theme. After several conversations it became clear that Darwin would be the next project, and that I would handle the first phase of development. I therefore had to set Frederick II aside. In September 2019, I returned to work on Frederick II. Some time had passed and I needed a strategy to restart. Destroying everything seemed the most intelligent thing to do. I deliberately deleted all files, spreadsheets, and destroyed the prototypes by burning them in the fireplace while cooking lentils in a clay pot. I bought a bottle of Irish whiskey, got drunk alone, slept for two days, and then started working on the game again. The next image shows the step taken in January 2020. What was new? The mini-tracks with passive powers. What was different compared to all the other games with this element that I had played? Timing. The passive power was not something you kept for the entire game; it was a temporal opportunity. You had it for a limited time. Which time? You decided. You were the one saying, "This part of my life went this way. I change everything. I put myself back into play. I take a step forward." And once again that real, authentic concept returned: in life you win and you lose. Sometimes you have to let go (at the end, you lose everything and die). Right around that time I decided to leave my main job and devote myself entirely to game design. Just like the workers in my game, who leave a space, lose a power, but immediately gain a new one - another "skill", as English speakers would say. This gave a new meaning to my existence. I lost something; I gained something else. It was not necessarily an absolute improvement; it was a step to be taken with the right timing. It was only a potential improvement, perhaps even a short-term worsening, but a move toward a major improvement in the near future - a tango danced with time and power relations. The greatest satisfaction comes when something you create speaks not only about the game, but about your life. Does the game seem devoid of theme to you? Do you not feel the theme? I can assure you that, for me, this is not the case. I am sorry when this happens and I fully understand when players feel lost because they do not grasp the connections between things. I always try to create points of contact between reality and the game, but 1) it is not always easy, and 2) it is not my priority. A creative does not necessarily have to be a servant to other people’s needs for existential representation. In general, being someone’s servant because they have money to give you is not the most edifying goal a creative should aspire to. At that point the game was very close to what you see today; the final step was creating a system to manage the displays with all the various elements: cards, the goods market, and the allies market. I therefore designed the board with five zones and the movement mechanism. It felt like a natural solution, something that emerged on its own. By then the game was mature, and I found a publisher, Quined Games, who helped me greatly with their comments and experience. The game then went through further slowdowns due to a series of problems: COVID and other personal matters. Then one day I was put in contact with the person who would become the illustrator of the game, Maciej Janik, a phenomenal artist. We talked about atmosphere, imagery, castles, and about what interested me from my point of view regarding allies - about a universalistic game in which allies spoke about a very important aspect of political life and of that historical period. The absurdity of the Crusades and the way Frederick II had addressed the problem. If on one side the game spoke about power relations and the ability to face sacrifices in order to obtain greater things, on the other it spoke about concord. A game about the Middle Ages without bloodshed, without hatred between religions or races, but only intrigues, machinations, and growth within the framework of diplomacy. Some people believe that one medieval king is the same as another, that an emperor is nothing more than a meme, a warrior with a crown who fights like a ninja, killing armored opponents with sword blows. If you strike someone in armor with a sword you will not stop them, even if you are the protagonist of a movie, but Hollywood directors do not seem to know this. Frederick II was not just any character; he is not a boring generic icon printed on the sign of a medieval pub. Frederick II was one of the most fascinating figures in European history, but a game is not required to explain this to you. In any case, one day this arrived at my home: the first advanced prototype of the game. I almost cried with emotion. The rest concerns the work of bringing the game to BGA, the balancing process, the sleepless nights, creative insecurity, and the Gamefound campaign... but that is another story.

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  Battlegroup Clash: Baltics - a professional wargame for a commercial audience

  by Jsbuckley on February 10, 2026

  by James Buckley As the geopolitical environment becomes more tumultuous, the use of digital and analogue games by professionals to understand, model, and prepare for the future is coming to prominence. Professional wargaming is having its moment in the sun. I moved into the world of professional game design having been the head of development at a hobby board game publisher. My first professional role was helping with the development and production of Battlegroup Wargame System (BGWS). The game was commissioned by the British Army to encourage the development of a wargaming mentality in the organisation. While there are plenty of commercial wargames that cover tactical level combat, few are interested in capturing elements that precede a real life engagement: planning based on mission objectives, force capacity, tasking against specific time lines and geographic boundaries, and map work. That’s why they are not used for training by the army. BGWS is interested in that. I believed that a commercial audience would be too. So I began work on transforming BGWS - an umpire led-game specifically designed for military professionals - into what was to become Battlegroup Clash: Baltics. A professional wargame, designed for a commercial audience. A game you can read about on BGG. Step 1 - What To Keep The two essential elements from BGWS I wanted to port to Battlegroup Clash: Baltics were the use of grid-based, real world maps, and the requirement to plan your operations before the game begins. To my knowledge, no land-based tactical commercial wargame uses real world maps. Very few give much focus on operational planning, at least not how modern armed forces actually do it. Step 2 - What To Drop BGWS requires both an umpire and an understanding of military concepts and approaches that is beyond most civilians. It uses off-the-shelf 1:10,000 mapping, and off board cards to track lots of information on the units in play. User playtest by British Army junior officers of Battlegroup Wargame System, the game that inspired Battlegroup Clash: Baltics. To make it playable beyond the classroom, these features needed amending, and the game overall needed streamlining. A first major decision was to move away from maps that require judgement to understand and parse. I commissioned the creation of bespoke maps, created by computer-aided design. These are real world, based on satellite imagery of Estonia, but with overlaid borders to identify key terrain types. Map B from Battlegroup Clash: Baltics. The game uses 1:10,000 maps developed from satellite imagery from Estonia, with grid lines overlaid. A second major decision was to move the stats for each unit onto its counter, rather than having them on a separate sheet. This significantly eases game play at a lower play count; everything is in front of the player on the map. Battlegroup Clash: Baltics moves all the necessary information about the unit onto the counter (right). BGWS uses separate force cards for this instead of its counters (left). A third major decision related to narrative. I wanted to move away from a generic ‘blue’ versus ‘red’ approach to the real world. The presence of a British Army Battlegroup in Estonia made that an obvious choice, and the game became NATO versus Russia in a hypothetical invasion by the latter of Estonia. Step 3 - What To Add Emphasising the present day narrative, and in keeping with my desire to create something that stood out from other tactical wargames, I decided to concentrate a lot of the design for Battlegroup Clash: Baltics on drones and electronic warfare. The war in Ukraine has shown the degree to which drone warfare has changed the battlefield. Electronic warfare has been around for longer, but its intersection with drones and cyber attacks makes it now almost as important as kinetic effects on the battlefield. In the game, every action that would generate some kind of radio or electronic transmission has the potential to be intercepted by the enemy. Intercepted transmissions can be used to target units for direct or indirect fires. Each side also gains access to Electronic Warfare Chits, that can be used on the battlefield for a variety of effects such as jamming your opponent’s recon drones. This is important as reconnaissance drones, called UAS, completely transform the battlefield in the game, providing virtually unlimited line of sight for indirect fire. Another type of kamikaze drone, known as a first person video drone (FPV), can be used to directly attack enemy units, providing a more accurate, if less powerful, alternative to mortars and artillery. UAS effect. In the game a UAS gives unlimited line of sight to the four adjacent grid squares. Testing the Game I wanted my playtesting team to combine folks with experience in both professional as well as commercial wargaming, and through a combination of persistence and good luck I was able to get both. Prototype counters used in a play test. While Tabletop Simulator played a crucial role in the development and testing process, I learnt from my time as a hobby game developer that digital is not a substitute for a physical prototype, so I had physical copies made and tested them both at home, at my local club and at conventions. Testing the two-mapper scenario at PunchedCON in Coventry, UK. Making the Game Independent of the tariffs saga, I made a decision very early on that I wouldn’t get the game printed in China. China is funding Russia’s war in Ukraine, so it didn’t make sense to me to pay a Chinese company to make the game. Instead I chose EFKO in the Czech Republic. The price is higher than the Chinese alternative, but I can sleep easier with my choice. The box cover Selling the Game Battlegroup Clash: Baltics is self-published, in the sense that I am releasing via my own company. I have sufficient experience of the board game industry to be able to do this, rather than having to use another publisher to release the game. This approach also allowed me to get the game to market very quickly. I considered using crowdfunding as the vehicle for selling the game, but I was concerned that the concept might not fly with customers from a professional background. Furthermore, I didn’t need funding to develop the game, just to print it, and decided that a simple pre-order system via the Sapper Studio website, which I use for my game development consultancy business, would suffice. I decided to make use of professional channels as well as traditional board game media to promote the game. This involved posting on LinkedIn and via the Fight Club Discord server, as well as hobby channels and events such as SD Histcon and Armchair Dragoons. The success of the game in terms of generating pre-orders very much exceeded my expectations. I had several hundred pre-orders within the first few months, meaning I could opt for a larger print run than I had anticipated. Now the game is out for general release, and it’s time to see if my customers agree that I have been able to create a professional wargame for a commercial audience. You can purchase a copy of Battlegroup Clash directly from Sapper Studio via this link https://www.sapperstudio.com/battlegr. Alternatively check your with FLGS in your country that you know stock a good wargame selection.

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  One Week Left to Vote on the BGA Awards!

  by boardgamersteph on February 9, 2026

  by Steph Hodge Hey Everyone! Thank you so much for the warm welcome on my first post last week. :meeple: Today I wanted to bring attention to Board Game Arena. Many of us enjoy playing games online, and BGA is one of the key websites for doing that. I am still amazed at the number of games they are implementing each year. There are over 1200 games ready to be played at your fingertips. Currently, there is 1 week left to vote for the 2025 BGA Awards. The BGA Awards were first introduced in January 2024 for games from 2023, and they have continued each year since. [ImageID=9395798 medium rep] You can view the whole article here, but below is a snip-it of how they select which games are nominated. We have selected the most popular games released on BGA in 2025 and divided them into several categories to reflect the richness of games on the platform: Best Casual Game: Perfect for quick, lighthearted fun and friendly competition. Best Regular Game: Games that strike the perfect balance between strategic depth and satisfying complexity. Best Expert Game: For those who thrive on challenging strategies and enjoy conquering intricate puzzles. Best 2-player Game: Face-to-face duels that bring an extra level of intensity. Best Brain Teaser: For those who love to give their brain a workout and solve challenges. To participate, you will first have to play each of the nominated games in the category you want to vote for. Once you play each game from a category, you can cast your vote here. Here are the nominations: Best Casual Game: Coffee Rush Flip 7 Qwinto Skull King Best Regular Game Castles of Mad King Ludwig Dead Cells: The Rogue-Lite Board Game Forest Shuffle: Dartmoor The Guild of Merchant Explorers Best Expert Game Apiary Concordia Galactic Cruise The White Castle Best 2-Player Game Azul Duel King of Tokyo: Duel Schotten Totten Toy Battle Best Brain Teaser Digit Code Logic Orapa Mine Ubongo Happy Voting! They will post the results on 2/16/2026 at 5:00 AM

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  Designer Diary: Abbates - From idle notion to publishing house

  by IlRoberto88 on February 8, 2026

  by Robby Boey The Museum Spark The whole story of Abbates traces back to a single weekend outing: a perfectly ordinary visit to museum M in Leuven, Belgium. Museums usually inspire me to admiration, contemplation, and maybe jealousy when confronted with artists who clearly have a greater talent than I do. Yet, halfway through the galleries, it was the museum gift shop that lodged the fateful splinter in my brain. Among books and postcards sat a board game derived from one of the museum’s artworks. That’s when my wife, who works at Bornem Abbey, turned to me and said, almost mischievously, “Wouldn’t it be great if we used Bornem Abbey as our own board game?” At first, it was just a thought experiment. But museums have a way of making ideas feel serious, as though monks, curators, and old medieval books are silently nodding in approval. By the time we were back home, the little notion had become a not-so-little itch; this could actually work. The abbey is practically begging to become cardboard: artifacts, stained glass, libraries, abbots, architecture, history, the works. And there’s something magical about transforming physical cultural heritage into a playful, interactive medium… a kind of preservation-through-play. Tiles, Heraldry, Cards, Grids, and the First Meeple The first draft was tile-based because of course it was: tile-layers are the early evolutionary stage of most Euro designs. I imagined players building a stylized abbey using square tiles, connecting rooms via coats of arms of abbots printed along the edges. It wasn’t terrible. It was even charming in that “this should probably be sold next to puzzles and tea towels” kind of way. But testing quickly revealed its limits: calm, pleasant, and almost entirely devoid of tension. It was the board game equivalent of a monk humming a lullaby in Gregorian chant. I felt the abbey deserved more verve, not chaos, but interaction. I wanted something where players would look up, watch each other, second-guess each other, and occasionally mutter mild insults under their breath. Shifting from tiles to cards unlocked new design space. The game transformed into a 4×4 grid of cards on the table, with a solitary meeple marching around like a tiny abbot conducting inspections, moved by the roll of a die. Activating a row or column allowed players to claim a card from it. A neat mechanism with just enough positional tension to matter, especially as every row and column also had their own effect that would benefit the winner of that round. But who got to claim first? Enter the first appearance of bidding cards numbered 1–13. Simple, but competitive. A touch of interaction, without turning into a knife fight. Already players were comparing intentions: “You want that stained-glass? Or are you bluffing?” The game was learning to talk socially. Shrinking the Abbey and Growing the Puzzle The next breakthrough came by shrinking the central 4×4 grid into a tighter 3×3. That small reduction made everything more deliberate as fewer spaces meant fewer choices and more pressure. Adding in a personal player tableau on which you would place the cards you won was another needed layer of gameplay. Now players didn’t just acquire cards, they needed to store them in their personal tableau. Rows and columns formed gentle patterns and scoring lines. Then I mirrored the central meeple onto each personal tableau. Your own meeple determined where newly drafted cards could be placed. No longer could players lazily optimize. The game began to tease, challenge, restrict. And when games tease, players lean in. With three cards per side around the 3×3 grid, there were three opportunities per round to bid. Initially, all bids were submitted blind and simultaneously. The idea worked logically; emotionally it felt bone-dry. Everyone revealed, shrugged, assigned cards, and moved on. What finally clicked after several test sessions with the amazing team of Bornem Abbey was sequential - open bidding. Each bidding moment became a micro-auction: clockwise, highest card wins, ties forbidden. Suddenly players had agency in tempo. Adding an advantage to the lowest bid, made underbidding a tactic by itself. Seize the initiative next round and additionally force oneself into taking the blind from the draw pile; a form of gamble that often paid off in surprising ways. The scoring system also matured around this time: three of a kind in a line scored 10, two scored 6, mismatches 3. It meshed beautifully with the abbey’s thematic triad: artifacts, stained glass, library books, and gave visitors a taste of actual abbey content without forcing it down their throats. Beans, Beans, the Monastic Currency and Rules And then… beans. Yes, beans. With rows of cards on your personal tableau now providing points, I added a central tableau, the abbey chapter room, on which you had a score track for… negative points. Tying this in with the cards proved to be a fresh new mechanic, another layer in the game. Low bidding cards gained white beans (up to four), indicating how far the central meeple marched on this track. High values bore fewer or none. Efficient for winning auctions, disastrous for bean logistics. Meanwhile collected cards bestowed black beans, advancing the personal meeple. And at game’s end, the distance between central and personal meeples produced negative points, resulting in a monastic bean-based tug-of-war. Mechanically it added tempo management, shared-race pressure, and a new layer of tension. Thematically it became a playful abstraction of the actual voting system in abbeys. More importantly, playtesters kept talking about beans afterward. When players talk about a mechanism after the table is packed up, design is doing its job. The cards proved to be even more of a treasure vault for new mechanics. Every abbey needs rules, so ours gained one: St. Benedict’s. It rewarded players for sequencing bids cleverly: 1–7 first, 8–13 second, then even, then odd. Do it right and you earned a glorious 14-value card, worth a victory point at the end. It nudged players toward intentionality without being prescriptive. It also supplied flavor as monks love order, after all. Now everything clicks and the different mechanics just click. Feedback Thus armed, we marched to the Spel convention in Antwerp in November 2024 with five professionally printed prototypes. The booth was lively, feedback plentiful, and best of all, genuine strangers smiled while playing. This cannot be overstated: strangers are the ultimate calibrators of fun. Friends lie. Family lies. Colleagues lie because they must see you at lunch. Only random convention-goers express truth. People praised the tension and pace, but they also nudged the weak spots: scoring was a little too predetermined, patterns a bit too solvable, and the Rule of St. Benedict too predictable after repeat plays. All fair. All fixable. Back in our “war room,” scoring underwent surgery. Fixed 10/6/3 lines melted away and three starting revealed cards determined scoring values: 3/2/1 points per card for the three types. Instantly every game became a different economic ecosystem. Mission cards entered next with spatial objectives promising five points for pattern completion and halving negative bean-distance if fully satisfied. They gave structure, identity, and long-term ambition to players’ tableaus. The Rule of St. Benedict became modular via two double-sided guides per player, offering unique sequences and higher replay value. Suddenly players had strategic identities instead of purely tactical reactions. The prototype now felt alive and, importantly, replayable. A Deadline, a Printer, and Several Sleepless Months Then came the twist worthy of a thriller; the city of Bornem joined forces with the abbey to help fund a first run on the condition that the game launch by April 2025. When this condition was agreed, it was January. We still needed to finalize rules, translate gameplay into precise language, prep InDesign files, negotiate printing, and manufacture on time without resorting to cargo ships that behave like slow, unpredictable sea turtles. We selected Fabryka Kart: European, reliable, communicative, and they delivered with clock-like precision. Rulebooks printed, components boxed, meeples lacquered, games shrink-wrapped. In April, copies stood proudly for sale at the abbey. All this done at the end with many sleepless nights, working and editing, typing and designing. Nineteen months all-in-all from spark to shelf. Pontifex Games Begins & Closing Reflections The funniest part of the whole odyssey is that the game was meant to be a one-off cultural project. Instead, it became the cornerstone of a publishing house: Pontifex Games. As of writing, we already have our second game, Sacra Maioritas out, an expansion for Abbates and our third release, Via Peregrina, slated for February 2026. Apparently once you’ve printed one game, it’s difficult to stop. Monastic vices take many forms… In retrospect, designing for a real institution, with its own history, identity, and a tourism footprint, shaped countless design decisions. It demanded theme without theatrics, elegance without sterility, accessibility without boredom. And it revealed how physical sites and cultural spaces can find new life in cardboard. If I learned anything, it’s that creativity also thrives on constraints: theme, deadlines, and funding all played their part. And through all of it, the game stayed fun. Which, in the end, is the only reason to make one.