The Kobold Guide to Board Game Design

I own the epub/mobi version and this book gets 5* for the articles that are in it, but it gains -4* because it's missing 2 essays that are in the print edition.

Open Design products normally focus on Role Playing games, so at first glance a guide to board game design seems somehow misplaced. However, after reading The Kobold Guide to Board Game Design, it is obvious even to an amateur such as myself that both types of games are built on exactly the same principals. In other words, good design is good design. So the first important point of this review is: Don’t bypass this book just because it doesn’t have “Role Playing” in the title.

Exactly what is in The Kobold Guide to Board Game Design? It contains twenty essays from fifteen successful game designers. Note the most important word in that last sentence: “successful”. Probably the two most famous names on the list are Steve Jackson, founder of Steve Jackson Games, and Richard Garfield, creator of Magic: The Gathering. However, each essay is followed by a brief listing of that author’s gaming credentials, and it’s a good bet that in every case you will recognize one or more of the author’s works even if you don’t recognize the author’s name. So the second point of this review is: This book is packed with information from people that really do know what they are talking about.

Physically, The Kobold Guide to Board Game Design (hereafter referred to simply as KGBGD) is about 140 pages long. Which, by the way, is longer than the 1st edition AD&D Player’s Handbook! The KGBGD is divided into four parts: Concepting, Design, Development, and Presentation. These four sections will take you all the way from “I have an idea” to “I have a marketed product”.

In these twenty essays you will learn how the works of Aristotle influence modern game design. You will discover that Monopoly, one of the most successful board games of modern times, violates several important principles of modern game design (and, if you think like me, you’ll wonder what redeeming features modern game designers have overlooked in Monopoly, since it has been in print continuously for so very many years).

There are marvelous bits of bizarre game development history contained in these pages. Like the way the Catholic Church jossed its own bishop-approved game, rendering it worthless. There is also a hand-drawn flowchart depicting Andrew Looney’s game design process, filled with wonderfully esoteric instructions like “Get Defensive and Brood”. Yes, he does explain most of these later in the text, including the best way to brood.

Along with all the fun, you’ll also learn a few extremely technical things, like the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Formula. Don’t be scared, it’s easier than is sounds.

After reading KGBGD, you may find that you are even looking at toy commercials in a new way. Legos and Play-Doh obviously have an astronomically high replay value, which no doubt is why they have been around for decades. But what about that weird new toy that’s being advertised on the Spongebob Squarepants show… Will it still be on the shelves a year from now?

All this brings me to my third and final important point: KGBGD is a rollicking good read that will not only entertain you, but will also expand your horizons.

So, to summarize:
1) This book has direct value to the role-playing community, even though it is not specifically about role-playing.
2) This book is a valuable resource for anyone who wants to create a game and see it published.
3) Regardless of your gaming aspirations, this book is a fun read which both entertains and enlightens.

‘Nuff said.