Board Game Design 101 was a very informative panel hosted by Dave Bailey from the Board Game Designers Guild of Utah, Alf Seegert and Ryan Laukat. This panel appealed mostly to current and prospective game designers, but also included information on how to be the best playtester that you can be. They handed out a packet that covered the more important points of the panel, like the process of designing a game step by step, how to find playtesters, and what playtesters are looking for when it comes to a game.

I feel like I could design a board game myself with all of the information and tips I was provided with at this panel. Also, they covered the more detailed parts of designing like how they actually go about crafting the pieces to the games and creating boards and cards. Some hosts took a digital approach to designing, using anything from Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to Microsoft Word, while others used a more traditional form of creation with construction paper, paper cutters, and even hole punches.

This truly goes to show that anyone of any skill level and experience can create successful and entertaining games. My hat goes off to these three hosts for presenting an informative panel that didn’t put me to sleep.