I am an independent board game designer and talk about all things board game design on this channel. My published games include Hold That Face, (Hasbro, 2017), Act Fast (Outset Media, 2020), Blob Party (Wiz Kids, 2023) and Chronicles of Light (coming out in 2024).
Named “Best Board Game Design Videos” by Cardboard Edison two years in a row (2022 and 2023) 🏆 🏆
I post new videos *most* Sundays at 9 am Pacific / 12 pm Eastern time.
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Contact: pwgamedesign @ gmail.com
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1771 Robson Street, Suite 248 Vancouver, BC Canada V6G 3B7
Oh I wish I had come across this channel sooner, but I only recently (in the last few months) started seriously entertaining the idea of making my own games. Hope I am not too late with adding in my comments, hopefully they can spark some creativity for someone else too. On a side note, I just rushed out and ordered 3 different sets of story dice... As someone who has done a bit of improv and a lot of word association in the past, some of my answers may be a little more 'out of the box' than others 1 - Parachute and tower - Both representing high places, this made me think of tall places leading to tall tales. This game would be a casual party game, and would have a series of prompts on tokens you blind draw from a bag, 2-3 per round. Each player has one minute to come up with the 'tallest tale' on how the 2-3 items relate to each other, the more outrageous, the better. The group would judge the best tale and the winner would be awarded a point. First player to 5 points would win. Given the nature of the game it would be able to be played with an almost unlimited number of players. 2 - Magnet and rainbow - The magnet reminded me of attracting things and the rainbow of rain/water. This game would be tile placement, where you aim to direct as much flowing water to your towns/villages while redirecting water flows away from your opponents. It would be largely strategy based with setting up waterways upstream to flow towards the direction you want with a bit of a luck element with tile draws. 3 - Bee and magnifying glass - The magnifying glass usually represents a search/searching to me. This one would be a card draw/memory tile game designed for young children. Each player plays as a bee attempting to collect enough flowers/pollen to make honey. There would be a grid of face down tiles in the centre with flowers on the underside, and a deck of cards with a flower that matches each tile. Each turn you draw a card then flip one tile trying to find the matching pair. If you flip the correct tile you get to keep it, and once you have collected 4 flowers (keeping it low because I am imagining this would be ideal for 3-6 year olds) you have enough flowers to make your honey and you win. It could also be played solitaire style. 4 - House and fountain - Fluctuating market based house flipping game. Buy, 'do up' (the fountain made me think of trying to make a house look fancy) and sell your houses at the right time to become the first millionaire 5 - Fish, abacus, sheep - A bluffing numbers game with an aim to be the first to get rid of all of your tokens. Each player has a screen and a collection of livestock based tokens (fish, sheep, cows, chickens, etc). A bag is handed to a player who adds up to 4 tokens to the bag. The tokens are *supposed* to match, but if they don't, the person can bluff. If nobody calls a bluff, the tokens are added to a 'stockpile' in the centre of the table and play moves on to the next person. If a bluff is called and the person was not bluffing, the person who called the bluff must take all tokens in the bag in addition to any in the stockpile. If a bluff is called and the person was bluffing, the player must then take all the tokens back in addition to the stockpile. 6 - Star, ID, lightning bolt - This one was a bit out there, but the combination of symbols made me think of a glam rock concert. This one would be a deck building game, with the aim of balancing stage presence, your 'look' and your actual talent to become the most successful glam rocker of all time, measured in ticket sales. The game would be played in rounds, and each round you get a chance to 'win' a certain number of ticket sales based on your hand and what the audience is looking for that round (set by a card draw at the start of each round). You maintain your deck throughout the game and add to it as you go, so if you started with a really strong hand of what audiences wanted initially you may struggle later on when they change what they are looking for. The winner would be the performer with the most ticket sales at the end of a set number of concerts (rounds). 7 - Speech bubble, Beetle, flashlight - This was a similar idea to my first, it would be a talking game with prompts. This would be card based, with each card having 4-5 options for an action and 4-5 for an object, and players have to come up with the most outrageous way to connect that action with that object. An example could be training and beetle, and you could suggest that YOUR beetle loves being in the spotlight, so you can train it to backflip using your flashlight beam as a reward every time it gets it right. This would be a super casual party game. 8 - Lock, key, mobile phone - Crack the code/whodunnit style game, you play as detectives trying to solve cases. Solve clues to access the scene (lock), without disturbing any evidence (by using a key) and investigate (mobile). Getting answers wrong would potentially destroy part of a clue. I envision this one being a co-op hidden room/tile flipping game 9 - Bridge, arrow circle, sleeping - The bridge and arrows scream movement to me. This would be a roll and move game, with a need to keep moving constantly. I came up with 2 themed versions of this one, the kid friendly one would be getting the princess home to her castle before the evil witch puts her to sleep with a magic spell so she can rule the kingdom. The darker or adult themed version would involve being stuck in a dream world and trying to find and gather the components to a magic wake up potion (coffee, anyone?) while avoiding the demon of dreams who wants to keep you in his world to feed off your soul 10 - Wand, alien, theatre masks - 2 player battle game, wizards vs aliens. Each team fights to put on the best 'show' to the world to convince the people to allow THEM to become the new overlords. It would be dice based, with each die face representing a skill needed to enslave the population. You would need to get all skills up to a certain level before your opponent in order to take over the world. Skills could include things such as 'Creating a coherent world domination business plan', 'convincing everyone to vote for you with bribes', 'create a successful slander campaign against your opponent', etc. This one I envision being crazy, light hearted and super competitive. 11 - Fire, apple, tree - Resource gathering and sabotage game. Build your orchard by planting trees, harvest the fruit, upgrade your security to protect your farm and sell the most fruit to win. You would be able to attempt to set fire to your opponent's farm or fruit storage warehouse if they look like they may be getting too far ahead.
I own the base game of Final Girl and one of the girl boxes - it's sooooooo good. I love it. I play it sometimes 2 player with a friend and we just make choices together. It's great. Highly recommend. Has a fun time / action mechanic with your cards.
Billy! Panda just emailed me a 15% off code! It's "pam15" - sorry this is after you already placed your order :( But, you can use it for 15% off ANYTHING on the Panda store until August 31, 2024.
@@PamWallsGameDesign Ya, I dont think you have to worry about being sued. By what I read, it was the company that owns Carcassonne that got the trademark (Hans Im Glueck). So you cant use the shape or word "Meeple" for now in your games. You probably cant use it in the names of things like podcasts either. But you are free to talk about it all you want. The game that got the cease and desist letter was called Meeple Inc. So it was openly using the trademark for a game. The TM was received in 2019 so there are going to be a slew of things that used it before then. The company basically said that they felt it was unfair that so many people were profiting off of the invention of the shape their game created, and that they wanted more control of it. I personally think that ship has already sailed if you are going to try to control something after giving free reign for over two decades. They also didnt originally coin the term 'Meeple', which makes it even more murky. I get wanting to protect your invention, but TMing the popular term that someone else made for your shape 20 years after the fact and wide spread adoption of it seems kind of skummy. Maybe Days pf Wonder can challenge it, because they have had the shape in Five Tribes for over a decade without being challenged. There is no way Hans Im Glueck didnt know so many popular games had it in it for so long. but i'm no IP lawyer.
Become a member for your chance to WIN a Game Design Toolkit from Panda Manufacturing. The winner will be randomly picked on my next Members-Only live stream on Sunday, July 14, 2024 so be sure to join before then!: ru-vid.com/show-UCt4TYeU8YMwtBa6sX8ejIcwjoin And use my code "pam15" to get 15% off ANYTHING on the Panda store until August 31, 2024! Check out the Game Design Toolkit (and other cool stuff) on the @pandagamemanufacturing website: pandagm.com/game-design-toolkit/
Great video! I knew about Panda but did not know about their Toolkits... there's some awesome ones on their website and they're adorable and ... actually kind of affordable. I think I wanna buy some of these. These little panda meeples are so cute! Great video, Pam! :)
Thanks Derek! Yes the little panda meeples are super cute, and I have some of their metal coins with pandas on them too and they’re my fav! Thanks for watching 🙌
Thank you so much for this video! Keeping my brain on task for making games is a real challenge... too many ideas, and I like colorful "prototypes" because I do final art before the design is done! Totally the "precious is death" concept!
Yes it is something I have had to train my brain to do. I still feel myself wanting to draw and colour things in and I have to stop myself before I go too far down that path. I’m glad this was helpful for you and best of luck with your designs! 🙌
Woohoo. I really want to play this but it’s just my wife and I who really play. I might try and get it for my board game club at school I started last school year. Is it good for 8-11 year olds?
Thanks for the shoutout, Pam! I really like this video, especially the idea of starting with 3 games (instead of 1) and embracing the playtest/iterate process.
Thanks so much, Jamey! Yes, I think playtesting multiple games to see what works rather than assuming what you think will work is key. Thanks for watching and for writing your book and blog that are such great resources for designers 🙌
Awesome lessons to learn! I just want to repeat what you said that need an emphasis, "Enjoy making the game!" If you lost the fun, I bet the player will too. The two are interconnected
