5 Board game designers that shaped how we play

I am happy to say that board games as a whole are a lot popular nowadays. With that popularity, the medium has earned some much-deserved recognition and this extends to some of its important figures. Richard Garfield, Reiner Knizia and Klaus Teuber might be names you recognize - not something I could have said twenty years ago (even if all three were already active at that time). Yet, like every field, many other names deserve attention beyond these household names. Contributors that, with their quiet work, make the foundations themselves of the industry. Today, I want to highlight some of these names - innovators brimming with creativity and influence (were they aware of it or not) that shaped the games you already love.

Miss Magie - The birth of game design

Let‘s begin with a story that, thankfully, is now getting more attention. There is no denying that Charles Darrow‘s Monopoly was groundbreaking. Do I really have to elaborate? You all know the game. You all played it or at least know some parts of its rules. Ironically, I am almost as sure that you don‘t know the proper rules of it. In any case, the game has been out for a century and I don‘t see it getting anywhere soon. Heck, it is almost a rite of passage for any cultural phenomenon to get its version of the game. Yet, we need to remember that Darrow‘s achievement is in publishing only. The core game itself is entirely from someone else: Lizzie Magie. That‘s right: more than ten years before Monopoly‘s release, Magie created the Landlord‘s Game. Everything in Monopoly is in it… and so much more. Did you know that Monopoly was only one of two modes of play? Indeed, Magie offered a “Monopolist“ game mode (what you know) and an “Anti-Monopolist“ game mode (where everybody wins if the poorest player increases their wealth in the end). Lizzie built the game as a teaching tool, yearning for its players to better understand Henry George's economic theory. I encourage you to read George‘s thoughts but stating that his theory corresponds to the “Anti-Monopolist“ game mode will suffice for today. Now: going back to the game. Yes, the mechanics are outdated, but the Landlord‘s game was a brilliant piece of design. The best board games don‘t only bring fun mechanisms - they bring them together so has to bring forth a feeling, an emotion, a thought, an aspect that we can in a brief moment grasp and live in. Magie did exactly that with the Landlord‘s game and Georgism. Even those “outdated“ mechanisms she used feel outdated because they were that much copied and recopied for years after. One last important notice. Lizzie Magie is the first person I know of who claimed for themselves the title of game designer first and foremost. I can‘t begin to describe just how groundbreaking that is in a world where any kind of hobby-based economy is pretty much nonexistent (except for sports I guess). Wow. Just wow.

Sid Sackson - Actual game design

Now, Lizzie Magie is a hard act to follow. Yet, our next subject is 100% up to the task. Do you know the name Sid Sackson? Oh. You should. You really should. Sid Sackson is the actual first game designer as we understand the term. We did see important games come out between Magie‘s and Sackson‘s work (most notably in wargaming). Charles S. Roberts is a highlight. Yet, Sackson was on another level. The guy created games… daily. That is not a joke: go see his notebooks. What is most jaw-dropping is that those games are always interesting, different and thought-provoking. ALWAYS. Sackson‘s reminds me of Leonardo da Vinci‘s but, instead of bouncing from one subject to another, laser-focused on one: games. Hundred of those games would get published - a feat only matched recently by (the great) Reiner Knizia. What did Sackson bring to the table? A lot more than you think. He used roll and write before Yahtzee. He perfected push your luck (Can‘t Stop), deduction (Sleuth) and haggling (Bazaar) before anyone really knew about those concepts or even cared. He even perfected Monopoly with Acquire (probably his best design and my first recommendation if you want to try his work). What Sackson published with Alex Randolph in the 60s for 3M would be the groundwork that every “euro“ board game to come would use. I can‘t say enough good things about Sackson. May he rest in peace.

Francis Tresham - Sid, I am your father.

Our next designer has a much more direct impact on what you play. Have you ever played Sid Meier‘s Civilization? Excellent and groundbreaking video game series for sure. What you might not realize is that Sid Meier‘s Civilization is just that - not the original. In reality, this is a numerical interpretation of Francis Tresham‘s 1980 board game of the same name! Tresham was a genius. Have you ever played a game with a tech tree? That‘s Tresham. Heck, have you played a grand strategy game? It is no exaggeration to say that this is Tresham‘s work too. What he did in 1980 would be brought back by (almost) every single strategy game to follow - whatever medium we talk about. But Civilization is not his only groundbreaking game. He also did 1830 (and 1929) - the progenitor of the 18xx genre. Well, that genre might be more niche than civilization but almost as influential. What Civilization did to grand strategy games, 1830 did for heavy economic games. Sid Meier also used that game as inspiration for another of his most beloved games - Sid Meier‘s Railroad Tycoon. Besides bringing to the world groundbreaking new mechanics, Tresham paved the way to more complex and richer strategy games, showing later designers that it could be done and that there was a market for it. So next time you play a Paradox game or the like, have a thought for Tresham.

Peter Olotka, Jack Kittredge and Bill Eberle - Eon dream team

While Tresham created the strategy genre as we know it, another team of designers revolutionized games with a completely different approach. Eon Publishing‘s designers - Peter Olotka, Jack Kittredge and Bill Eberle most of all - are probably names you never heard of. In the late 70s and early 80s, they made 4 incredible designs brimming with uniqueness and, most of all, flavour. Their thematic-first approach was influential, but two other contributions they made dwarf it. With Cosmic Encounter, they brought special powers to the world. You heard right, before Cosmic Encounter, “special powers“ - something we wholeheartedly take for granted - pretty much didn‘t exist. All the asymmetry, uniqueness and, frankly, goofiness that Cosmic Encounter brought to the table engraved itself in our consciousness from the get-go. This would only be made permanent with their next work - 1979 Dune. That game mixed special powers and asymmetry in a bigger, more ambitious shell successfully (in my opinion of course). But that‘s not all! 1982 Borderlands is largely recognized as the progenitor of the ever-popular Settlers of Catan, anticipating the euro-game boom by a decade. Even their more obscure 1979 Darkover brims with creativity and uniqueness. Frankly, all four of these games are worth a try.

Donald X. Vaccarino - Dominion over a way to play

Our last stop is a lot more recent but definitely influential, groundbreaking… and already seemingly forgotten. The third millennia as of yet brought a clear game design direction. Games mixing Euro and “Ameritrash “tendencies are a lot more common. Some themes have also risen prominently (anthropomorphic animals for instance). Mechanically, we see A LOT of worker placements and their offspring. Yet, in my mind, the most defining mechanic of the century (so far) is by far deck building. We see it EVERYWHERE in board games. And, with the influence that Slay the Spire had, video games followed suit. Exception made of 2007 Starcraft board game, one man can be recognized as its father - Donald X. Vaccarino. With Dominion in 2008, Vaccarino made an immediate impact on the hobby - an impact that I have only seen with Risk Legacy (and Pandemic Legacy) since. A few months later, games directly copying Dominion came out and that tendency didn‘t change. With time, deck building became part of a larger scope of genres. Now, almost any game can have some deck building (or variations of it) in it. This goes from party games to strategy games - deduction games even. The idea of customizing your deck or an equivalent while playing was an instant success. Most of the last ten years' bestsellers have some kind of mechanism recalling deck building. So let‘s not forget what Donald brought. Besides, Dominion is still a fantastic game and probably maintains its place as my favourite deck-building game.

Hommage in play

In the end, progress cannot be confined to singular events but rather a continuous flow going ever forward. Yet, taking some time to recognize some highlights along the way is still in my mind a fruitful (and fun) endeavour. I hope you will give these designers I try. You might even like them. It should at least, recontextualize your favourites and, as such, help you better appreciate them!

But enough for today. See you next week.