Past, Present, Future of Board Games: A Game Designer's Guide
Game Designer Adam Porter (Emberheart, Pikoko, Kompromat, Flip Pick Towers) guides us through 5000 years of board game design, and offers his views on where the industry is heading.
'Adam in Wales: Legacy' is available worldwide, via Amazon's print on demand service, and as an ebook.
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For five thousand years, people have gathered together to play games. Each of those games has something to teach us; not just about rules, mechanisms, and themes, but also about the business of games, publishing, and achieving lasting success.
Award-winning designer Adam Porter explores the 100 most influential tabletop games in history, from timeless classics like Chess, Go, and Mancala, through mass-market icons such as Monopoly, Connect 4, and The Game of Life, to modern strategy hits like Terraforming Mars, Gloomhaven, and Wingspan.
Each chapter examines a landmark title, uncovering the design choices behind its impact and the lessons today's creators can draw from it. Whether you're a designer, player, or student of game design, this book offers inspiration, insight, and actionable advice, derived from the games that shaped the hobby.
About the author
Adam Porter is an award winning game designer from the United Kingdom, known for making accessible games suitable for families, and for his popular YouTube channel Adam in Wales where Adam talks candidly about his experiences pitching and licensing games to publishers. Many new designers have looked to Adam for guidance when taking their first steps in the board game industry. Adam's published games include Pikoko, Doodle Rush, Kompromat, Qwuzzle, Zooligans, Thrown, Big Bazar, Happy Hoppers, Ballot Battle, and Zing-a-Zam.
Adam's four previous books are available from Amazon worldwide.
- Adam in Wales: Board Game Designer Journal
- Adam in Wales: Playtesting
- Adam in Wales: Product Design
- Adam in Wales: Getting Published as a Board Game Designer
0:00 Introduction
2:20 Types of Designers
2:39 Ancient Era
5:00 Medieval Era
7:32 Early Modern Games
8:03 Kriegsspiel
9:45 The Mass Market
16:32 Hobby Games
17:40 German Games
19:05 Avalon Hill
19:38 Dungeons and Dragons
20:22 Games Workshop
22:10 Internet & Video Games
25:05 Fantasy Flight Games
26:08 Board Game Geek
26:43 YouTube Channels
27:32 Kickstarter
28:33 Asmodee
31:32 The Present
32:45 A Saturated Market
33:36 The Video Game Crash
35:24 The Comic Book Bubble
36:40 A Sustainable Future
