Cardboard Edison

Bright ideas for board game inventors ~ Visit our full website at cardboardedison.com ~ Support us on Patreon at patreon.com/cardboardedison

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10 tips for making a better print-and-play version of your board game prototype for playtesters and publishers (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_Z3rGnXBQc

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A framework for better understanding the various elements of your game and which aspects are likely to connect with publishers and players (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejkbIWErmo8

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What’s the biggest bottleneck in your board game design process? A Reddit tabletop game design forum discussion:

https://www.reddit.com/r/tabletopgamedesign/comments/1ux5x4c/whats_currently_the_biggest_bottleneck_in_your/

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University research tracks the rise of solo gaming and other game design trends over the decades:

https://boardgamewire.com/index.php/2026/07/17/solo-play-is-now-one-of-board-gamings-defining-mechanisms-analysis-of-104000-titles-finds/

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Two-player games: the challenges facing designers making games for exactly two players:

https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2026/07/14/the-two-body-problem-design-challenges-of-two-player-only-games-topic-discussion/

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Thoughts on managed chaos and why it’s not necessarily a bad thing for a game to be “unfair”:

https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2026/07/13/rex-ready-player-one-part-four

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Pain points in manufacturing: Designers and small publishers who have shipped a game product share their lessons on the prototype-to-production pipeline:

https://www.reddit.com/r/tabletopgamedesign/comments/1uuj52u/those_of_you_whove_actually_manufactured_your/

[cardboardedison]

Why are so many board games getting sequels? Thoughts from both a publisher and player perspective:

https://stonemaiergames.com/what-do-we-really-want-from-a-sequel/

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Why are board game expansions so popular? Looking to the history of expansions to understand their enduring appeal to gamers and publishers (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v08KJGWRH0o

[cardboardedison]

The Explorateur links to various sites exploring graphic design, typography, logos, and other visual elements, including:

logos from the space race era

vintage tech logos

fonts used in videogames

packaging design

selections from the Vatican’s archives

modern illustrations

cover inspirations

font and color combinations

https://www.explorersdesign.com/explorateur-ennies-1/

[cardboardedison]

This new service lets people create and order custom PDF or printed versions of cards-on-words games:

https://www.makemycards.art/

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Board game designers who have quit their day jobs share what allowed them to do that—a Bluesky game designer discussion:

https://bsky.app/profile/eanderssonsunden.bsky.social/post/3mqehoetjyk24

[cardboardedison]

The fundamentals of game design, taught by walking through the process of creating a new tabletop game (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tXjLK6oVA0

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The rise of cozy games—everything you need to know about how they’ve taken over such a big part of the tabletop industry:

https://www.meeplemountain.com/articles/the-rise-rise-of-cozy-board-games/

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This system aims to standardize colorblind-friendly iconography:

https://colorsym.com/

news coverage: https://boardgamewire.com/index.php/2026/07/06/designer-pair-launch-colorsym-giving-publishers-a-free-tool-for-colourblind-friendly-board-game-creation/

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Arguing that frustration is an essential part of games, neither inherently bad nor good:

https://lestmyopinions.com/2026/07/05/right-in-the-bad-feels/

[cardboardedison]

10 board game publishers who are seeking submissions—a walkthrough of their processes and requirements (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92eIywsY6YY