I like your answer about balancing is about give enough chance to let players wining with player particular strategies.

What is your approach to getting such strong game balance in all of your games at release?

You gave a very balanced answer to the question about when to cancel an idea. One thing I noticed about myself - when I first got into the hobby I tried to design a few games (I got the farthest with my sequel to Forbidden Island/Desert) and I would reach a point where the fun part ended and the hard part began. I enjoyed the brainstorming, to some extent the prototyping, and I really enjoyed writing the rule book (I know pro designers do this at the end of the process but I did it at the beginning because I think better when ideas are down on paper). But when problems arose and things had to change, my motivation decreased, and maybe I would be more attracted to a new idea that was still at the fun stage (like the meme you see everywhere of the guy walking with his girlfriend but looking over his shoulder at a different girl, much to his gf's displeasure). It made me realize that there's a huge amount of persistence necessary to push through the design process and, at least at this stage of my life, I don't have it. I will say that realization gave me a lot of respect for the pro designers who do have it, and admiration for the other hobbyist designers I was corresponding with at the time who did break through and actually see something to completion (like Mihir).

Thanks Jamey!

Absolutely agree about removing exceptions from the game/rules! Kudos to the designers who do the hard work of making games that don't require exceptions/reminders. I find that this really helps for replayability and winning a spot in my most loved games list.

I never got a back-in-stock notification for Designer Day. 😞 I live in Buffalo but would love to attend one someday. Now, if only didn't happen during the school year so I could travel to it... 😉

We actually have this game! We got it when my son was a little kid. It hasn't been played in years and years, but I do recall it was a fun little game for being basically tabletop shuffleboard.

Icecool is the game with the penquins. They have a cars version of this as well, like a sorry pitchcar 🤔. Will we see a version of these components in a future SM game 🤷‍♂️

this is one of our go to New Year’s Eve game day games

Curling is the shuffleboard on ice sport

I think that Slide Quest, a co-op dexterity game groma while back where you used 4 paddles to navigate a knight through a bunch of increasingly harder puzzles also used a bearing in the knight mini 🙂

15.3 vs your 13.5!

18.6 vs your 19.4!

Vinyl presented us with worker bumping and when you get bumped you gain a separate action different from the first. 😊

My friend could always beat me at Hive, so as a handicap, he would draw new pieces blindly, while I got to choose mine carefully. He still usually won, but I at least felt like I stood a chance.

You bring such a genuine enthusiasm to games and games design. It's infectious and a little bit inspiring for me to do the same.

Thanks Jamey! So glad you liked it.

Tied 19.5! Total 47.9

I was wondering if you could expand on the specific elements of the design that helped evoke the theme for you. I know of myself that the degree to which I infuse a game with meaning, telling a story about the game that builds on top of its abstract parts, depends significantly on my willingness to do so. My personal interest in a theme plays a big part in that willingness, and even for games that have little or no thematic integration, if I'm interested, I'll do some of the heavy lifting that the game does not. But where that innate interest is absent, strong thematic integration can help to bring me along, and make for a richer experience. Those elements of design are very interesting to me.

This just made my wishlist. Thank you for covering it. I really like games where you can create worker/dice placement spots. It’s why I love Wayfarers of the South Tigris so much. Thank you for this video it really sold me on this game

I played it over the weekend at 2 players. Had some great combos going with extra cards from camping on a white tower and getting bread and a card from playing a card. So much fun! I really like that even though it is simultaneous and mostly solitaire, you still need to pay attention to the trade and zombie boards. If you don't act quickly enough, those opportunities may be disappear!

Wow! Is this your fastest turn around for playing a game and then filming about it? I had a feeling you were really going to enjoy this one.

Creature Caravsn is great. For other games where the theme is closely connected to the tableau? Agricola, Amalfi Renaissance, Ark Nova, Caverna, Earth, Empire’s End, Everdell, Glass Road, Lost Ruins of Arnak, Rats of Wistar, Space Base, Steampunk Rally, and Terraforming Mars. Probably others I haven’t played. I would be remiss for not noting that many Stonemaier games have a similar connection between theme and tableau!

Just picked up a used copy of this game this week. Even more excited to play after hearing your thoughts on it. Think this one is going to be a big hit with our group

Still waiting for our copy to arrive, but now i'm even more excited to finally get it!

I completely missed the fruit rule about reducing dice costs! I really love this game, but the fruit felt underused to me. Knowing they can reduce dice costs on cards is a great way to add value without being OP. That does lead me to my one complaint of the game which is that I wish there were player aids or an iconography reference on the back of the rulebook. Something simple to quickly remind players what everything does. Even with that missing, I am really enjoying Creature Caravan!

I've played it solo once and loved it. I'm looking forward to playing 3p next week. I'll probably play it solo again before then to reacquaint myself with the rules. I'd have played it more, but I'm addicted to Wondrous Creatures right now. They arrived within a couple of days of each other.

It rocketed to the top of our favorite games list! So so good!

Carcassonne: 17 games, Chakra: 16 games, Pixies: 11 games, Splendor: 10 games, 6 nimmt!: 6 games, 7 Wonders Duel: 5 games. Carcasonne is what I use to teach people how to play modern games and learn the BGA interface. Not really a favorite, but it's EASY to teach. I've only started adding extensions and that made it more interesting.

Between Two Castles is one of the best games ever made. It brings a lot of interaction between players at the table. It’s biggest knock was the scoring, it needs a good game master to make the scoring fun, something that I think a lot of games miss out on.

I have the Wingspan nesting box and all expansions. I store everything in the nesting box. But if I need to take the game somewhere, I remove the component/card storage trays from the big box and either put in OG wingspan box or a reusable grocery bag. I think this solution works well because I like the nesting box as a home base that has the option to go for nimble adventures outside the nest.

The location of the company is an all too important aspect to consider. Your location and connections with Allen and the good folks in St. Louis who contributed a lot of essential opportunities were the catalyst. Your background also has been a major contributing factor into your success. My area of the country, I can’t even find a play test group. There’s one person within 150 miles of me on BGG and Facebook groups. 😂 I’m not complaining just making observations that I think folks should also consider. Location and skill set.

You said you send a questionnaire to playtesters to fill out. Have you posted this questionnaire anywhere?

On book 6 of the dresden files..also have the card game..think this might have been mentioned before?? Also not sure if "Incarnations of Immortality" series been mentioned b4..highly recommend these as well(first 5 at least)

I recommend many of the games that achieved the dice towers seal of excellence. Good place to start. The most import thing about playing games is watching how the table reacts to different games. A designer must also have a diverse age range in the play group. You can’t just play with your friends all the time.

16.3 vs your 16.6!

I used to play on BGA more during covid times. Back then, I regularly played Can't Stop, Alhamabra, Cubirds, Incan Gold, Coloretto, Draftosaurus, 7 Wonders and Nidavellir. I quite like the "slow" reveal of 6 Nimmt irl, as it slowly dawns on a player, who thought they were safe, but looks over to your card and realises that they've bust. It's probably my favourite part of the game and makes for good table banter. Thanks for the list.

I highly recommend Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky if you like sci-fi 😊

Came for a heavy games list and got a super mainstream medium games list that started off with an advertisement for Scythe and then added in a needless arrogant remark towards the designer of Tzolkin for some reason. Last video I watch from this channel.

I like the idea of a “companion” box!

Off of that core box and companion box topic, it would be nice to have the artwork from one extend to the other as well. It almost disguises the fact that they are two different boxes when glancing at it on the shelf, but still allows the user to pull out just the main box when teaching the base game to others playing for the first time.

I prefer Mobius cards. But not many games use them in this dimension.

I love this game. One extra bit I noticed was how nice the “first play” is. There was detailed explanation and a walkthrough for the first four turns with a tip on how to continue. A really nice touch for beginners and experienced gamers.

This is very helpful. To the entire industry.

I just finished Charlie and the chocolate factory and am halfway through A Wrinkle in Time. Do you have a favorite classic novel?

Stuff to watch: Had you enjoyed Con Man? It's a little goofy and unexpectedly (for me, at least) had a little bit too much blue humor. Not for everybody, but I enjoyed it. Did you ever get around to watching The Killing (1956) if you hadn't ever? Pretty entertaining classic heist robbery movie. Also, High Potential is a great new detective comedy on Hulu. If you haven't heard about or watched it yet, I'm sure it's only a matter of time...

Development is import, perhaps now more so than it was 10 - 15 years ago. Designers are tasked with a lot of responsibility to design greatness into games.

I recently made an attempt to download the podcast versions of your episodes..however the audio isn’t solid on the podcasts 😅 and cannot be heard well, the room echo is in the audio and your voice is weak. You might have to upscale the audio but I’d ask if you’re using a condenser-cardioid microphone?

Regarding number 3. Downtime is a killer..a solution I think is vital, Quick Turns.

idk, kinda sounds awesome xD