Two Degrees: Creating Subject Matter Experts

For my self-published boardgame, I needed to teach players the definition of a Forest, Wind Farm and Connected Cities as they relate to the game.

But I think the worst part of a board game is listening to one person try and explain all the rules.

So, I created departments like The Department of Energy, and each player gets to be the head of at least one such department. They get a clipboard that defines the thing their department cares about and they become the subject matter expert of their particular definition. It makes explaining the rules more collaborative and fun. And I've found people take a lot of pride in being their department's representative to the group.

Click here for the Department of Energy clipboard, example Wind Farms, and FAQs.

Y2Killed: Behind the Scenes of Creating an Engaging Murder Mystery

Y2Killed is a 12 to 20+ person murder mystery party set in a world of jocks, goths, nerds, space witches, and maybe vampires.

The storyline is complex and the game is delightfully unhinged. But each player needs simple and clear directions.

This iSpring Course teaches you the challenges I faced in designing a game like this and the methods, learning objects, processes and game mechanics I utilized to overcome them.

Hive in Five: A Solo Mode That Teaches Coordination

I enjoy solo gaming and have designed numerous solo modes and co-op modes for games that already exist. Hive in Five is a solo mode for the board game Hive. It won first place in the Board Game Geek 2023 Solomode Design Contest.

Hive is similar to Chess in that pieces have different rules around how they move and players take turns moving one piece each turn. A good Hive player will plan ahead and use their pieces in coordination to trap their opponent's Queen.

Like all solo modes I develop, Hive in Five does not require an artificial opponent. So players can focus on playing the game and solving the puzzle in front of them.

Here is a video by Randy Ingersoll, a Hive world champion who wrote the book "Play Hive LIke a Champion" explaining and praising Hive in Five. Here are the rules.