Top 10 Things Publishers Need to STOP Doing! 

My #1: Playtest your rulebooks! They're written by people who know how to play the game. They have to be. But don't JUST have people who know how to play look it over. Give it to a group who doesn't already know the rules. Then DON'T stand over them and answer questions. You won't be able to do that when you start selling your game! Tell them you'll be back in an hour, and they need to write down what they find unclear. Do that several times with different groups, and then fix those issues. I have serveral games that are nigh unplayable (Mistfall and Kitsune come prominently to mind) because the rulebooks were so poorly writen. Maybe they're complete, maybe they're not, but either way they're terribly unclear.

Kickstarter exclusives should simply be timed exclusives before being released a year or so later as optional add ons.

I mostly agree with Zee and Sam's number 9, but boy do I love it when I can fit the expansions in the base box!

Stop making inserts that don't fit the components with sleeved cards!!!

As a publisher, iconography (vs. a lot of text) is useful for international purposes. Games that take advantage of iconography only need translated rules. But, the iconography does need to be "simple" and done well. Also, as a publisher, thanks for this episode!

Publishers need to realize that teachers and educators are a huge market and should develop games for large groups of players (+10), which are so hard to find. I'm a high school teacher and board games were a true blessing, they are a wonderful resource and my students love them.

GET "the amazing Cthulhu Holmes!" with the KS expansion exclusive +3 to 99 years, 1-20 players, 15 min. business card sized rule book! GET IT NOWWW!! HYPE HYPE HYPE

Sorry if you have been doing this awhile and I haven't noticed, but I really like the clipboards instead of scratch paper and notepads. Small change, but a big difference in aesthetic.

Expansions that should have been included...same as day one DLC for video games. I do wish both hobbies would stop doing this. And also...just editing...hire someone that has never played the game and have them try to play it with your rulebook!!!

All game play examples in rule books should now say "Zee draws 5 cards to start his turn..."

Though Tom obviously did not mentioned it when he talked about the number of players, I think it is important to highlight the case of the games advertised as playable solo/solitaire, when in reality is just a way to (in some case literally) learn the rules in order to play it with more people. While I can understand that solo/solitaire rules usually require some adjustments, and are therefore added at the end in a special section, if a publisher lists a game as 1 to X players, I expect the game to be fully playable if I exclusively play it solitaire.

Stop making inserts that fit only unsleeved cards! I like to sleeve cards in my games, as long as shuffling the cards is required. Some companies are really good at making inserts for sleeved cards, but most are not.

Hey guys, I appreciate the new layout. I think this is some things that could that could improve the new layout. - Game table instead of black table (Dice tower logo in the middle of all 3) - Backsplash should be redesigned to show either dice tower (full name) or not have it at all. Having just tower distracts. - Sound should be better. A lot of echo. - Need more lighting. You guys are dim. - Next indiegogo campaign, you guys need like a super uber amazing camera. :) Just critical criticism but I do love the show. I know there are lots of changing to do. I cant wait to see this studio continue to blossom. Thanks guys!

Listening to this anew in the present. When Tom said "no more paper money!" I was prepared to say "But what about Millennium Blades?! It's awesome in that!" Glad to see that he later stated the same thing!

Zee is both the funniest and angriest of this trio. Love the video guys!

I like black bordered cards. Yes, because I played Magic at some point,but also, because I like how those black edges age. No game stays new, they all get some wear and tear (or they should, if you don't store them in shrink for posterity) and, for me, it's better if things look nice when they are old. like an old wooden desk, some old bronze antique, black edged cards look veeeeery nice when old... a little worn on the edges, some natural decoloration on parts of those black borders, some nice manipulation tracks. They are part of the card itself, unlike those ugly fingerprintsand grease stains on the white edges of your poker deck. Black bordered cards all the way, for me.

To stop box and insert designs issues publishers should all look at Mechs vs Minions. Its by far the best game box I have. Everything fits securely back in the box with no wasted space and the inserts keep it all secure during transport.

Sherlock Cthulhu.....

Looking at this video three years after it’s release. I would love to see a recap video to see how you three feel that publishers have responded to this. Have the gotten better? Have they improved over the years? What still needs to be improved upon?

This genre of list actually sums up the biggest current problem with many game published in the last few years. The fixation with top notch art and production quality has pushed the publication of glossy super-produced games with awesome art and fantastic components (yes minis). But many of these games themselves are ill conceived concepts that should have been strangled at birth. Prices have skyrocketed as a result of this sea change in attitude toward 'what is an acceptable finish.' The Dice Tower holy trinity telling the faithful that average artwork is bad, makes it so. Food Chain Magnate is an awesome game with plain artwork. With power comes responsibility guys, artwork is not a top 10 thing that publishers get wrong. Many small publishers cannot afford to pay top dollar for art for a 1000 unit print run. Such a negative attitude is a question of taste anyway and will only close the small guys down.

Dang it. I was just about to release my series of games. From Shindig Games, the world's best game series ever: 1. Legends of Shindig, 2. Shindig Worlds, 3. Shindigs in Space, 4. Ready Set Shindig, 5. Defend the Shindig, and 6. Zombishindig Each game is for 1-7 people, ages 4-99, and each game plays 15-35 minutes. Easy to learn and hours of fun in every game. Join in in the Kickstarter and get TONS of exclusives, including 4.5 Shindig Madness, the Cthulhu expansion for the world's most amazing racing game. I illustrated everything myself, I wanted a fun and whimsical look. All three (Tom, Zee, and Sam) have once said, "...great..." Oh well, back to the drawing board.

Honestly, the box size one is hard. When you print and ship components, your punch-out sheets might be 5"x10". So you need a box that can accommodate 10" long components which tend to be 11"x9" or so. But once they are punched the'd fit in a 5"x10" box. To be honest, I have been agonizing over this very thing. How do I fit our game into a smaller box. But the longest component is 10" so that is what is setting us up to use a large box and I know that as soon as the pieces are punched out, they'll fit in a smaller one and Zee, Sam, and Tom are going to "Hate Us" (tm)

Miniatures. There, I said it. I don't have the time nor the money to get into the miniatures aspect of the hobby, so I have a bunch of games with just grey plastic figures. I would love it if they'd just make really nice standees, like the ones in Dead of Winter, reduce the price of the box, and have miniatures you could buy on the side. Or have the standees on the side. I'd pay a fair amount of additional money for standees for Shadows of Brimstone or Mansions of Madness.

Some excellent points. Also: stop using colors that are impossible to distinguish from each other! While having red, blue, yellow, and green tokens may be a bit boring, it's infinitely better than having beige, light brown, grey, and off-white tokens.

Wait your going to jump on kick starter exclusives when dice tower is putting out tons of promos that are hard to come by? Any one seen a copy of the Scythe dice tower promo?

"The gauntlet has been thrown" -Zee about stickers. Amazing.

Just heard there's going to be a Ticket to Ride Cthulhu.

@Sam: You already cannot buy V-Commandos in game stores in the US because the manufacturing cost is so high that the price would not work in the retail channel. Stuffing both expansions into the game would REALLY increase the cost. I think V-Commandos is at a manageable price point, and if you like the game you can pick up the expansions.

Here's the top 2 things that are ruining board games. 2) Kickstarter - all the extras and add-ons and exclusives... Then you got anybody and everybody flooding the market. For the one actual good game out of ten that come from kickstarter, it proved to be an overall detriment to board gaming in general. 1) IPs - the local board gaming shop used to be really cool, but now it's hardly distinguishable from the Disney Store. The whole front of the store now is Marvel, Star Wars, and other Disney products. They aren't good games for the most part... but you've heard of them so they get top billing.

1. Exclusives or extremely limited runs are dealbreakers. Whenever I see a games with expansions that you can't get anymore, I pass. 2. Write good rulebooks. Sand down your rulebook so it only contains the rules succinctly and an FAQ section (that covers all scenario's that may come up). Add a picture of the game after it has been setup with a legend next to it. I like fluff, but not when it obscures the rules. Put that stuff in the back or in a separate booklet. 3. Optimise language usage and symbology. If the language or symbols aren't intuitive, I'm not likely to get into your game and I won't introduce my friends to it. 4. Don't save on components. I put cards into sleeves and certain tokens in cases, but I don't want to be forced to handle your game with gloves, tweezers, etc. And don't add stickers on components when you can just print it on there. 5. Stop saving on the insert/storage. When your game is a nightmare to store, I'm never going to touch it after playing it the first time. 6. I pass on strange box sizes/shapes. If the game doesn't fit in my storage, it isn't coming home with me. 7. Learn to market your game correctly. Make sure it is clear what your game is, who it's for, and that it exists, otherwise I won't buy it. 8. False marketing should be illegal. Be accurate in what you advertise. Number of players, playtime, etc. all need to be clear and correct. Don't stretch the playercount and don't measure game length by the time of designers playing the game. 9. Make the game attractive. If the game you're selling looks ugly then I'm less likely to pick it up. This is part of the reason I sold my copy of Terraforming Mars. 10. Reprints. Make sure the game is available, especially when expansions for it are available, and release upgrade packs if a new edition comes out that doesn't revise the entire game (like Arkham Horror 2nd vs. 3rd edition).

New editions of games that change a few components, but also change card backs so future expansions won't work with your older game. King of Tokyo, cough cough

Could you do a list on top 10 things publishers should be doing, or striving to achieve. The box is an obvious one, but maybe msrp? player boards (paper vs cardboard vs plastic)? component quality (releasing a deluxe and a standard version)? inserts (foam vs cardboard vs plastic vs wood)... working with companies to help design these inserts and maybe taking a cut of the profits? watch it played by the game designers or play testers, could make a making of the board game like they do for movies to inspire others / lessons learned / actually showing the care that was put into a game? print and play demos? get feedback during the making of the game by the public (treading carefully) but if the video game industry can provide feedback and patch the game, why can't the community say that you need to stop with the zombie theme little R&D engaging forums.. transparency can be a good thing. storing the components (plastic molds, bags plastic/felt/leather, plastic rigid containers).

The best way to fix #3 No Picture of Setup. I think is to put the setup of the game on the inside of the box cover. That I have seen on a lot of the older games I played as a kid.

1) Reserve one page in the rulebook that lists or even better shows all of the components. 2) Don't make the rulebook index be made based on category. We don't necessary categorize things in the same way. Just stick with the alphabetical order. 3) Don't have 5 books if you can fit it all in less Looking at you Sword and Sorcery.

I kinda miss the bookshelf! It made top 10's feel a little more homey. I guess I can get behind the idea of a set though!

Love the new setup and how everyone has the same clipboards, etc. Very nice!

I miss the game table. :-(

Great video as always gents! My biggest problem is when publishers build their game boxes without consideration for their cards being sleeved. As another part of that, it would be amazing if games came with sleeves. I like to protect my games and it is frustrating when nothing fits once it is sleeved.

I have one that is similar. I don't like when a 2 player game is advertised as 2-4 because you can play in partners, just for the sake of extending the player count, but not changing the game at all. It's a 2 player game, not a game where 2 people discuss and make a move than one person could have made. You could really extend ANY game by declaring that. Just imagine: "Carcassonne is 10 players. In groups of two, you draw a tile and decide together where to put it..."

The thing that I don't like is when there are NO inserts and I just have to put pieces into the box in baggies...they just get tossed around the box when it isn't/shouldn't be necessary.

Tom, what is symbology? I'm curious..... I've never heard of this area of study and, I'd like to get into it. Especially if it involves stickers.

I always thought that the age recommendation on a game was for tax purposes. I heard that in some European countries, taxes for toys are more than takes for hobby games. I thought the age of 14 and up got the item out of the toy category and into the hobby/collectible category. Does anyone know if this is true?

Glad to see the new setup for the videos. Could I recommend moving some lighting to the foreground? The backdrop is lit nicely, but you guys look like you are sitting in a bit of shadow compared to the background so the light balance looks off. Also, a tablecloth may help tamp down the echo generated by the flat table surface. Lots to look forward to in the new location!

Fantastic Top 10! One of the things I wish publishers would stop doing is assuming that board game designers are also good rule book writers. No. Hire a professional technical writer to do it right. Rule books should be test-read just like the games they teach are play-tested.

For the big empty boxes thing, they could easily make them like the individual scenarios for the Arkham Horror LCG look (the single deck ones), but bigger. You have the big front picture for shelf exposure, but the actual deck size is way small. They could do the same for big games. Have a big sheet of paper/cardboard as a front face, and behind the actual sized smaller box where you keep the game after opening. Imagine a box the size of Elder Sign, with a sheet of cardboard the size of the Eldritch Horror box in front all wrapped in plastic that you can afterwards get rid of to keep the smaller version. You could probably even keep it as a poster and hang it somewhere if you like it.

In the sleeve-debate: I sleeve everything that needs to be shuffled alot. I also put tokens that needs shuffeling in coin cases. Then I usually have to build custom inserts since the designer made lot of cool speces for unsleeved stuff and also filled the box with a lot of voids.

29:32 Does anyone know what Sam is specifically talking about? (Using an out-of-context quote on a box)

Out of all of them, the promo and Kickstarter-related ones are the most frustrating. The exclusives that disappear into the aether after a few months, the expansions which should be part of the base game, etcetera. Thank you for bringing them up. They remind me of everything I've come to hate about the video game industry. It's just not how you treat the people who actually love your product, as opposed to those who just want to be at the lead of every fad.

you should do top 10 games who didn't have pictures at the back of the game

Adding that 2 player variant is needed for two players would be amazing. Always been my pet peeve. Time is difficult to nail down. I assume the play testers play tons of times and can play a game faster then those who play it for the first time.

As soon as Tom started griping about paper money, I said to myself, "But what about Milleniu-- oh, good, he mentioned the one exception."

Tom: "I've had publishers tell me before, 'Yeah that game wasn't that great, but we needed a game to publish'. Sounds like AEG.

Boxes that don't fit everything inside after initially opening/punching it is definitely my biggest pet peeve. Fireball Island and Dark Souls are the two biggest offenders I own currently. Neither even come close to closing completely and it drives me friggin' insane.

I feel like Kickstarter exclusives are a necessary evil. If they will be published later, they won't get the funding they need for the Kickstarter. Which is why I have no qualms with company's like CMON,but certain company's definitely shouldn't.

I fully agreed with pretty much every one of their points. I had a specific game offender that came to mind for each. One of my personal pet peeves which they didn't even come close to mentioning (probably since they obviously don't care about sleeving cards) is for publishers to just please make your cards to one of the standard sizes if they are already close to it. I invest a lot of money into my games and in the past I've had multiple occasions where cards were ruined or made otherwise unplayable by something. Basically I do decide to sleeve most of my games. Most games easily fall into the best categories of fitting Standard or Mini size sleeves, and these are further classified as being American or Euro sizes. Some have slightly strange size cards but you can still find sleeves with only a medium amount of research. The worst are the few games that just have to make their cards a truly unique size. The worst offense so far that I've owned comes from Dungeon Petz. In this game the cards are small and look like they could be one of the Mini sizes... until you try both Mini American and Mini Euro sleeves to find that one is far to small and the other is so big there's a ton of extra room all around the card. Why couldn't they have just made the cards one of already established mini sizes?

One of the best inserts, ever: Z-Man's "Saint Petersburg." Separate, snug compartments for each deck of cards...and made to hold them if SLEEVED.

Props to Mantic for their The Walking Dead Kickstarter. The exclusive sculpts were available for sale in limited quantities after the game was released, and most recently (months later) are now available for Mantic Points (their reward program).

Holy Crap, I feel like I know the exact game Sam was talking about for his number 1. I was a playtester for (kickstarter game that shall remain nameless) and I straight up told the publisher, "Look, this game has been done better 2 TIMES before! This game should NOT be made. It is NOT good." And they basically said, "Nah we are going to add useless miniatures to this bad game and sell it for double the price." And they did. And it sold. And it made my heart sad.

A few contradicting points to make. I asked the question to Sam and Zee a week or two ago about being annoyed with expansions being released right near the time the core game is released, and both of them took a "publishers have to make money approach, no big deal." A different tune is sung here. Also, part of the reason many of us like kickstarter exclusives is because we're rewarded for helping a publisher get their game made. Not all of us get free games delivered to our door, so a few perks for putting up initial funding is a nice reward imo. Thanks for more quality on this channel! Love TDT!

I run a high school game club. Publishers need to stop using sexually exploitative imagery in their games. My club is mostly girls, but regardless of gender, it's embarrassing to have to explain why the Snake Clan in Blood Rage isn't wearing the typical attire necessary for combat.

In regards to card borders, I understand issue with wear, but it is also a question question of graphic design (ironic this brought up right after Tom mentioning graphic design). If a card is having a distinct border that is a different color than the rest of the card, dark colors simply work better. It is about framing. There is a reason black picture frames are the standard generic picture frame: it works universally well as a visual frame. White borders tend to look worse as a distinct border. It isn't even due to a collectible nature. Of course that is a different beast if the art/graphical elements go to the edge of a card, then a white background can look really crisp and clean. I really really dislike the look of, for example, Magic Cards with white borders compared to black ones regardless of value. I would always choose black borders. I used to buy foreign cards partially because they would have black borders when the English edition was white. White will also so smudges, oil, dirt, and general grime from use a lot more clearly than dark borders.

This type of video is a fun one to watch since a lot of us can agree with this stuff. When publishers do things that don't jive well with customer experience, it is because they have some sort of competing motivation that overrides good sense. I agree with all of the top 10s here except for the black bordered cards. A lot of games don't use black borders but choose to make the card art, either front or back, to the edge of the card. Often times this looks aesthetically better than having a stark white border especially with certain themes but I do get that it is easier to recognize wear. This is just something customers have to deal with as it is a physical product and not an electronic one and sleeving is the best option so far. I think publishers can do a solid for customers by providing sleeves either in or separately from the game.

Another frustration is when the box insert for cards doesn't allow a little extra space to hold cards after they have been sleeved.

The thing that drives me insane the most is when games are Kickstarter only. After massive sucess they simply never reprint and never go to retail. Why do this? Sell it to other publishers than if you don't want to take the risk.

I like being able to keep expansions and the base game in a single box. If I could fit all of Arkham Horror in a single box, that'd be great. Or all of Pandemic, all of Gloom. Hell, even a nice hefty chest that I could put all of Legendary Marvel into, with trays so the whole thing is there and organized, that'd be great.

Zee, your #3 - are you okay with something like the card changes released in the second edition of A Few Acres of Snow that were designed to fix the broken strategy that internet trolls found? Also, what if those extra bits are sold as an upgrade kit (a.k.a. the Robinson Crusoe fix)?

The lack of phones and apparent distractions behind the camera made my day! Lighting and sound might not have the same feel as the old set but a great video (and I needed it today).

Great Top10, lots of fun to watch, The Flubaka! lol. What "I" hate the most? Bad inserts (Catan, I'm looking at you). It's telling that there is a whole industry based on replacement inserts!

I love this background! It's very clean and professional! That said, Zee's #5/tom's #9 (no picture on box) and then the Sam's #8 (expansions with base game) are two of my biggest pet peeves.

I hate stickers too....but isn't assembling and gluing miniatures together pretty much that same thing? How do you hate one and like the other?

I've got one major gripe against publishers, especially this past year. Please, PLEASE print enough copies of a game. I know it can be hard to anticipate market demand, and it can be scary to risk printing too many copies of a game, but games don't usually spoil. If it was worth publishing at all, you WILL sell all of it eventually. It's worse, though, if you already know a game is well-received and you fail to print enough of it. If you know your game is going to be on every "Top Ten of 2016" list in December, there's going to be demand for it in January. Please don't make me wait until May to get my hands on it.

This may be my favorite Top 10 of yours yet, and I've been watching since they were single composite lists of 10! Everyone was so supportive of others selections in this one! :D

The only reason why I can forgive a bigger box than necessary is when it's obviously intended to reserve space to add an expansion into the box (if they already know they're making an expansion or if there's already an expansion and they're doing a new edition of the game) so that you can actually store it more conveniently than two boxes, but only if the expansions themselves then come into boxes that aren't bigger than necessary (or even better: make the base game box as big as it needs to be for just that, and make the expansion box big enough to fit both the base and the expansion, because someone with only the base game doesn't need the extra space but someone with the expansion will also need to own the base game and thus need the space.

I agree on almost everything except the "black bordered cards". The thing about white bordered cards is that they tend to get yellowish in the long run. Black has its own cons (e.g. finger print magnets) but I like them anyways, besides I'll be sleeving all of them either with white or black borders. I guess it boils down to personal preference. Btw nice top 10 list. Cheers! 🍻

As an artist...I GREATLY appreciate the comments about bad art, and Tom's #5 - "There are a lot of good artists out there, pay them!" THANK YOU!

I hate boxes that are too small WAY WAY WAY more than if they are too big, I hate setting up a game 5 minutes, play game 45 minutes, then spend 1hr trying to get the pieces to fit back in the box. Also things not fitting sleeved cards, or in baggies, or expansions etc.

I got a game for Christmas that included an instruction manual of how to fit the component back into the box, its more complicated than the actual setup. And heaven forbid you do it wrong, cause there is no space for mistakes... And the box is to big to fit in my kallax shelf, yet if you put a single paper wrong, you won't be able to close the damn box... At least it will provide some heat when I burn the damn thing...

Sam - I just heard they are releasing Memoir 44 Cthulhu, shall I sign you up?

I really hate standalone expansions. Yeah, I get it, newcomers are always more important than those who bought the first game, from a business perspective. But it's really frustrating that a game comes out with full price and a TON of stuff you never need. I was incredibly frustrated with Thunderston Advance cycle, bazillion base sets and a couple of normal expansions. Also, Dead of Winter: The Long Night is probably the worst: basically there is no need to own them both, as combining them is intentionally made practically impossible. I love expansions, but standalones, the lazy and unneeded ones, are really annoying!

What was the game Tom showed in his number 6? (not the veggie garden stickers)

Same #5 is my #1. When I find a game has some stuff I will never get, I never play it. Widower's Wood, and Boss Monster had characters and story elements that are exclusive. My friends and I will check kickstarter to see if we get a complete game, or move into something else.

One base game and one expansion in the base game box? B., please: I fitted Carcassonne and about FIFTEEN expansions in the base game box, all sorted in tuck boxes and wooden component bags, plus a custom foldable scoreboard twice the size of the original one, with a track of 100 points instead of 50.

With regards to printing and age/player number/time on the box: It's not the price. It's to not make the box convoluded or to scare people away. "2-5 players" or "Best with 3-4, also works with 2 or 5". First of all, it's a lot more for people to read and people are lazy. Secondly, if they have to chose between a game which says they can play 2-5, with confidence, or a game which is only "good" with 3-4, they will go for the confident game. Same goes for the time. If the range is too big, people will either dislike it because it's too short for their money's worth or it's too long and they rather play shorter games. Both of these cases don't help sales and you need sales to stay alive as a company.

I'm not crazy about the new setting! Bring the game table and the game shelves in the background back!

Jabba's palace. After we played Rebellion and The Clone Wars, Jabba's palace came. Aside of the photos it was so non thematic that after reading the rules no one at home wanted to play. It feels like a cash grab. A different game reskinned. On top of that you needed to cut the plastic cover to open it. It has a nice velvet bag. But it will collect dust and there us no way to put it back in the plastic cover. In time that bag with dust will look terrible. It is a good game for a shelf of a collector, not for the table.

I'm not too deep into this video yet, so I don't know if they've gotten to it, but one of my pet peeves, done by some great games: Unconventional boxes. Don't give me a game in a box that doesn't stack with the rest of them (I'm looking at you Forbidden Island/Desert). How am I supposed to put this s.o.b. on my shelf?

"I know a lot about publishing." ~10 Minutes Later~ "I mean, how much does a deck of cards cost?"

I was just rewatching this video, and Sam's #2 suddenly sank in. I got Istanbul and Istanbul:Letters and Seals for Christmas, and I had to, with my big fat clumsy old fingers, put tiny stickers on wooden bits. I agree, manufacturers: STOP IT!

Symbols aren't that bad so long as there is an extremely clear separate symbol guide. A bloody big, clear one...or two...or three! I don't want to go to the to section 3, subsection B, paragraph 2, diagram 3-b-2 in the instructions to figure out what 유 means. And, no...don't refer me to a file on BGG that I have to print out and laminate.

I hate when they make games that aren't sleever friendly. It comes with an insert that won't fit sleeved cards or the box is so small once you sleeve the game the cards won't fit.

I recently got a game from Kickstarter and they're definitely guilty of a couple of items on this list. They put amazing artwork on an expansion box that existed just to package three puchboards whose components HAD to go in the base game. Then the stretch goals didn't fit afterwards. If I didn't have the box that the neoprene mat came in there'd be nowhere to put them

Sound is slightly right sided for some reason

Agree with the stop making paper money... except for Firefly. The money in that game is great (even Tom said so in his review, though he seems to have forgotten). People like the paper money in that game so much that they even made a recent add on for the game that made the paper money larger and in bigger bills, lol.

I hate it when games have several cards in different sizes, forcing me to seek out and find several different sized sleeves for them.

Love the video, the new studio feels a bit cold though. It needs some warmer tones and lighting or something.

I have really have only 2 gripes. My first, an old war game Flat Top (naval combat in the Pacific) great game but after punching out the counters you could not put in back in the box, even putting them in baggies and lying them flat. I had to use a separate box. My biggest complaint is with Fantasy Flight Games when I had A Game Of Thrones LCG and all of sudden they come out with version 2 and it is not compatible and no upgrade kit.

There's an inherent contradiction in Tom's and Sam's number one. They claim to know publishers are printing bad games just to have something to print, but constantly talk about how hard it is to turn a profit on games. So, they're saying companies are purposefully losing money on bad games. It's hard to believe publisher's are intentionally losing money just to have something to print.

Can't believe that this wasn't on any of the lists: Stop releasing expansions where the components don't exactly match the base game! As an example: My Pandemic and Pandemic: On the Brink cards are slightly bent in opposite directions (as a result of how the cards are cut), so if I shuffle the deck of player cards... all of the On the Brink cards automatically bunch together! It's SO annoying! Several other games have cards/tiles that are distinctly different from the back. I don't want to cheat, but having inconsistent components forces me!

One specific one, but by far my number 1: FFG's living card games. Their base game boxes are way too small to store all the cards (I mean: the idea of an LCG is that you buy expansions, right?), the base games barely offer a full gaming experience and the worst thing: you are obliged to buy several base game copies if you want to play the game as it is supposed to be played. I think it is really outrageous FFG exploit their fans so much by trying to get as much money from them as they posibly can, knowing full well a core of fans will always be prepared to pay.

on black borders... I would prefer something along the lines of FFG LCG's that don't really even have a border, but the black border is also an aesthetic thing. Black frames images better and makes colour look sharper. The white border, though this is just an illusion, tends to make the colour look paler and more washed out. It's one of the reasons a lot of picture frames are black, makes the photo pop a bit more.