Promised Experiences

A board game cover is a promise.

If I showed you the cover of Blood Rage and asked you what type of experience you would expect to have playing the game, you’d probably assume it would be a deeply thematic and aggressive game about dominating opponents in an epic Viking setting. And, you’d be correct.

A game like Blood Rage delivers on the promise of experience that it gives to its potential players. But unfortunately, that isn’t the case for all games. I’ve seen a lot of games that present a promise of an experience that the game doesn’t deliver on. If you as a player pick up a game and sit down expecting a given experience, and you don’t have that experience, it’s unlikely that you will enjoy that game. Even if that game is interesting and well-designed, you still won’t enjoy it as much if you don’t get what you were promised you’d get out of it.

If you’re making a game, it’s important to understand the promise that you’re making to potential players by the box cover, box back, and other promotional materials you might make available. If your game doesn’t deliver that promised experience, then the people who play it will be less likely to enjoy themselves. So, make sure that matches up.

#boardgamedesign #gamedesig

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