by Martin Oddino

Board games have a funny way of taking unexpected paths. Bariloche is one of those projects that started small and ended up surprising us in more than one way.

It all began in 2024 with a casual chat between friends (and fellow designers) Julian Tunni, Julian Veccione, and myself, about launching PnP games through crowdfunding. The idea was simple: easy to assemble games that avoided the roll-and-write genre. We sketched out a project framework, brainstormed names, and then… we needed actual games. After some time, Bariloche emerged almost naturally.

What surprised me during the first tests was how quickly the game’s core clicked. Bariloche felt fun from the start. Of course, we tweaked some balance aspects and scoring conditions, but the foundation stayed intact. The spark was scissors: players would print sheets and cut them as the game progressed. To keep things approachable, I designed just a grid of colored squares for players to cut into rectangles of varying sizes, then used to build scoring patterns in front of them.

From there, simultaneous turns felt obvious—cutting takes time, so why wait around? But interaction was missing, I wanted the game to have something to tell at the end. That’s where two key ideas came in: one active player chooses the cut size each round, and after cutting, sheets are passed to the player on the left. Suddenly, choices mattered not just for yourself, but for what you left behind. While thinking about the scoring conditions, another layer came into my mind: some grid spaces could have secondary elements, creating puzzles in two levels, much like Cascadia.

The gameplay and mood of the game was set: a family weight game of “cut and pass” where players cut and place pieces turn by turn, competing for majorities, racing for different objectives and creating the best possible patterns. Testing confirmed the fun was there, so we focused on refining scoring and the endgame trigger. Eventually, we landed on a system where each cut size could only be chosen a limited number of times. That gave us a new interactive aspect, the decision of ending the game or not is in the hands of the players.

The theme, however, was trickier. I have a mechanical approach to most of my games, but thankfully I wasn’t alone. Julito dove into thematic development and expanded scoring for replayability. Tunni brought the visuals to life, transforming flat colored squares into something vibrant. After several group sessions, the concept crystallized: players were assembling trays of chocolates, wrapped in the cozy atmosphere of Bariloche’s chocolaterías. It was the perfect metaphor for the warmth we wanted the players to feel.

Next came the campaign. Crowdfunding from Argentina is complicated as best, and we needed external support. That’s when we showed the project to Pepe from Detestable Games. He loved the game but pushed us further: instead of a simple print-and-play, why not a full product for retail? Scissors were still central, but including them in a box was impractical. That’s when William stepped in with a brilliant twist: die cut sheets. So no scissors needed. And then another twist: why sell the game in a box? The game could be sold as a notebook, self contained and ready to play.

Adapting to the notebook format was its own design puzzle: how many sheets, which scoring criteria, how to structure the rulebook. Working closely with the publisher, we watched Bariloche evolve from a quirky scissor cutting prototype into a unique product.

The public debut came at the Rolla Game Festival in Guadalajara, 2026. Seeing players with their Bariloche notebooks was a joy.
Now the true journey of Bariloche begins, the game is ready to hit new markets and surprise new players around the world. Bariloche has already surprised us once, we can’t wait to see how far it goes.

Martin Oddino