https://www.philwalkerharding.com/games daily 0.75 2025-03-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626659252476-TT97DU1STC3X5RQYS8QU/SushiGoCoverSmall.jpg My Games - Sushi Go! 2-5 players | Ages 8+ | 20 minutes Publisher: Gamewright, 2014 Art: Nan Rangsima In the super-fast sushi card game Sushi Go!, you are eating at a sushi restaurant and trying to grab the best combination of sushi dishes as they whiz by. Score points for collecting the most sushi rolls or making a full set of sashimi. Dip your favourite nigiri in wasabi to triple its value! And once you've eaten it all, finish your meal with all the pudding you've got! But be careful which sushi you allow your friends to take; it might be just what they need to beat you! I designed Sushi Go! to explore the pass-drafting mechanism I loved so much from Satoshi Nakamura’s Fairy Tale and Antoine Bauza’s 7 Wonders. The sushi train theme came quickly as I was thinking - what’s something you collect as it moves around the table? I self-published the first edition in 2013 with a small crowdfunding campaign, but I was so excited when Gamewright came across a copy and decided to pick it up. They did an amazing job on marketing the game and Nan Rangsima’s art is adorable. Sushi Go! is now avilable around the world in over 20 languages and is the game I am best known for. It is still really gratifying to see photos of people playing it all across the globe! Awards ★ 2015 Boardgames Australia Awards Best Australian Game Winner ★ 2015 UK Games Expo Awards Best General Card Game Winner ★ Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award Also released ● Soy Sauce Promo Cards Links ➚ Sushi Go! at Gamewright ➚ Sushi Go! at BoardGameGeek ➚ Play Sushi Go! online at Boardgame Arena https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626668776693-YHKQ1GR6R3AHCBLHNH47/ImhotepSmall.jpg My Games - Imhotep 2-4 players | Ages 10+ | 40 minutes Publisher: Kosmos, 2016 Artist: Miguel Coimbra, Michaela Kienle In Imhotep, the players take on the roles of ancient Egyptian architects. Over six rounds, they try to transport their stone blocks to end up in the most valuable positions at five construction sites: pyramid, obelisk, chamber tomb, temple, and market. But a player can only choose one of three actions in a turn: excavate a new stone block from the quarry, load a block onto a ship, or move a ship to a construction site. From there, the massive stone blocks must be unloaded in order from bow to stern and placed on the sites in preset sequences. Depending on where the blocks end up, players earn different point values either immediately or at the end of the game. I have always been fascinated by the mystery of the Giza pyramids, so I decided to make a game about building them! When I started out, it seemed very natural to have three phases to building: quarrying stones, transporting them, and then placing them. But as I developed the idea I realised that if you can only do one of these things on your turn, and players can share boats, then all sorts of fascinating interactions open up. I also decided to expand the game to be about four different monuments that score in different ways. It was great working with Kosmos on the final production, and I was so excited when Imhotep was nominated for the Spiel des Jahres. Going to Berlin for the ceremony and meeting so many great people in the industry is one of my favourite memories in gaming! Awards ★ 2016 Spiel des Jahres Nominee ★ 2017 Toy Industry Association Game of the Year Nominee ★ 2017 Boardgames Australia Awards Best Australian Game Winner ★ 2016 Parents' Choice Gold Award Winner ★ 2016 Toy Insider Holiday Toys Award Also released ● Imhotep: A New Dynasty Expansion ● The Sun Ships Mini Expansion ● The Private Ships Mini Expansion ● The Pharaoh's Favors Mini Expansion ● The Stonemason's Wager Mini Expansion Links ➚ Imhotep at Kosmos ➚ Imhotep at BoardGameGeek ➚ Play Imhotep online at Yucata https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626753532402-2CS3CUXW2XIG85M0K0UT/GizmosCover.png My Games - Gizmos 2-4 players | Ages 14+ | 40-50 minutes Publisher: CMON, 2018 Art: Hannah Cardoso, Júlia Ferrari, Giovanna BC Guimarães, Mathieu Harlaut, Saeed Jalabi The smartest minds of our generation are gathering together at the Great Science Fair. Everyone's been working hard on their creations, but only one will be crowned champion. Contestants have to think on the fly to build their machines quickly and efficiently. Whose project will be the best? In Gizmos, you win the game by gaining victory points from building engines. And engines help you get things done faster. Whoever builds the greatest machine and collects the most victory points wins! Gizmos started out as a card game about building a civilisation with different technologies. I soon realised that the funnest part of the game was triggering all your different card powers, so I decided to make the game be about simply this. I changed the theme to making inventions, and let the players build up really powerful engines over the course of the game. I pitched the design to Eric M. Lang at CMON, and he immediately saw the potential for something with a bigger table presence. CMON’s development, production, and especially the marble dispenser really made the finished product special. Awards ★ 2019 Mensa Select Winner ★ 2019 Boardgames Australia Awards Best Australian Game Winner ★ 2019 Origins Awards Best Board Game Nominee ★ 2018 Golden Geek Best Family Board Game Nominee Also released ● Lost Designs Promo ● Extra Credits Promo Links ➚ Gizmos at CMON ➚ Gizmos at BoardGameGeek https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626758994334-LY1Q00CRW63NF0QU8RWQ/LlamalandCover.jpeg My Games - Llamaland 2-4 players | Ages 10+ | 30-45 minutes Publisher: Lookout Games, 2021 Art: Klemens Franz Llamaland is a multi-layer tile-laying game where you build a 3D landscape to make a home for your llamas! Each turn you will place a pentomino tile and then gain actions from all the icons that you cover up. Cover corn, cacao, and potato fields to collect crop tokens to feed your lamas. Cover huts to gain special abilities from the characters who live there. You'll also need to carefully choose which of the special objectives to go after to score extra points. I see Llamaland as the third game in the Bärenpark / Gingerbread House trilogy. It uses the polyomino-puzzling from Bärenpark and the 3D tile-laying from Gingerbread House - something I really wanted to explore more. The result is a slightly more complex game with some extra resource management and engine building to think about. It also has a really cool table presence. Lookout did a wonderful job on the pieces, especially the adorable wooden llamas! Links ➚ Llamaland at Lookout Games ➚ Llamaland at BoardGameGeek https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626824400389-Y7OAIY05L66X194QSNWN/SummerCampCover.jpeg My Games - Summer Camp 2-4 players | Ages 10+ | 30-45 minutes Publisher: Buffalo Games, 2021 Art: Adam Grason Find your cabin assignment, wring out your swimsuit, and relive the days of canoeing, friendship bracelets, and s'mores with Summer Camp, a competitive deck-building game in which players race to earn merit badges and collect the most experience points to win. Each player has their own deck of cards to play, and as the game progresses you add new cards to your deck to make it even stronger. To win, players must earn the most camp experience points by claiming merit badges, advancing pawns along the merit paths, and buying cards. I am a big fan of deck-building, especially the first game in that genre, Donald X. Vaccarino’s Dominion. Summer Camp is my attempt to bring that mechanism to a really wide audience. I tried to make each card ability feel simple and immediate so players can quickly learn how to build a good deck. While I never attended an American summer camp growing up, I feel it is almost like a shared experience for everyone who consumed American pop culture in the 70s, 80s, and 90s! It was lots of fun to work in a setting that has so much nostalgia for the outdoors, for friendship, and for learning new things. Links ➚ Summer Camp at Buffalo Games ➚ Summer Camp at BoardGameGeek https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626825022052-3PMFHR6HT9PF5HQBBUB5/SnakesssCover.png My Games - Snakesss 4-8 players | Ages 12+ | 20 minutes Publisher: Big Potato, 2021 Art: Ben Drummond The group has a multiple-choice question and only two minutes to work it out. The snakes amongst you already know the right answer - and they'll stop at nothing to keep you away from it. In Snakesss, you deal out the cards and try to answer a multiple-choice question with the rest of the players. The more people who get it right, the more points you cash in — unless, of course, you get one of the snake cards. All the snakes already know the answer, so their job is a bit simpler. To score points, they have to sabotage the discussion and mislead the other players. I have been fascinated by the social deduction genre of games that has emerged over the last decade or so. In these games so much of the gameplay lies in the player’s social interactions themselves. A favourite of mine is Jun Sasaki’s A Fake Artist Goes to New York, which mashes up Werewolf and Pictionary. Bringing social deduction into an activity everyone knows was a masterstroke, so I thought I would try something similar. Another inspiration was pub trivia - and especially what I find the most fun about it - trying to convince everyone else in your team that you know the right answer! Links ➚ Snakesss at Big Potato ➚ Snakesss at BoardGameGeek https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626825400630-29BOW5OJIEZPEEG74HN8/SMLBCover.png My Games - Super Mega Lucky Box 1-6 players | Ages 8+ | 20 minutes Publisher: Gamewright, 2021 Art: Serge Seidlitz It's a spectacular game of colossal fun! Reveal numbers one-by- one, and cross off the corresponding boxes on your cards. Get three-in-a-row to unlock bonuses, which help you cross off more boxes, trigger even bigger bonuses, and boost your score! Everyone plays at once so there's never a dull moment in store! Winning will take a bit of strategy and some Super Mega Luck! I have always been fascinated by the popularity of Bingo. For a game with literally no decision making, you can’t deny the anticipation and excitement it manages to create. The design brief I gave myself for Super Mega Lucky Box was simple: Bingo with decisions. I really enjoyed exploring the ‘flip and write’ genre when I designed Silver & Gold, so I applied some of the lessons I learnt to this game. I am really thrilled with Gamewright’s production and the super fun artwork of Serge Seidlitz! Links ➚ Super Mega Lucky Box at Gamewright ➚ Super Mega Lucky Box at BoardGameGeek https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626825742208-OWVZR8BI5PWSFELYRYZ8/CloudCityCover.jpeg My Games - Cloud City 2-4 players | Ages 10+ | 30 minutes Publisher: Blue Orange, 2020 Art: Fabrice ROS In Cloud City, you compete against other architects to create the best city planning project to be chosen by the city council. Have your project chosen and built for the people of Cloud City to enjoy! Develop your city with buildings and build walkways to connect buildings to one another. The architect with the city plan that features the most and the longest walkways will win the game! Cloud City sprung from a time when I was trying to design games using 3D components. Since Imhotep was released I had been experimenting with game ideas that used 3D space in meaningful ways. At the same time I was playing around with a tile-laying game about making horizontal and vertical connections. It struck me that I could really open up the design space if these connections could be made at multiple heights above the board. So I glued a bunch of wooden cubes together to make towers, cut out some cardboard bridges, and was really happy to find the game came together quite quickly! Links ➚ Cloud City at Blue Orange ➚ Cloud City at BoardGameGeek https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626826169202-HMHFOLCO8QSKG4ZON6RL/AdventureGamesCover.jpeg My Games - Adventure Games Series 1-4 players | Various ages | Various playing times Publisher: Kosmos, 2019- Co-designer: Matthew Dunstan Explore places, combine items, and experience stories in Adventure Games, a series of co-operative games from German publisher KOSMOS. In each of these titles, players are presented with a mysterious story that they must unravel over the course of play. Working together, players explore common areas, talk to people, look for clues, and combine various items to reveal the secret of the story. Depending on what decisions the players make, the course of history changes and there is no going back! Friend and designer Matthew Dunstan was visiting Sydney and we decided to brainstorm some design collaboration ideas. We were reminiscing about the great point-and-click PC adventure games of the 90s, and wondered if we could capture their feeling of exploration and narrative in a board game. We tried out a few different systems and were speaking to different publishers about the idea, but soon things really clicked with Kosmos. It has been fascinating and fulfilling to partner with a publisher on such an ambitious series, with so many people contributing to multiple products. It has also been an exciting challenge to dive into narrative game design - making an Adventure Games title sometimes feels like designing a game and writing a book at the same time! In this series ● The Dungeon ● Monochrome Inc. ● The Volcanic Island ● The Grand Hotel Abaddon Links ➚ Adventure Games at Kosmos ➚ Adventure Games at BoardGameGeek https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626826808959-FTZ5Y32XWWU3F13SQD19/SilverAndGoldCover.png My Games - Silver & Gold 2-4 players | Ages 8+ | 20 minutes Publisher: NSV / Pandasuarus, 2019 Art: Oliver Freudenreich Distant islands with golden treasures — who hasn't dreamed of that?! Silver & Gold combines simple rules, fast action, luck, and planning as players try to complete treasure map after treasure map, with the maps being printed on wipeable cards to allow for endless adventures. Silver & Gold is my foray into the ‘flip and write’ genre which I had been really enjoying. It was also another chance to explore polyomino shapes, and all the different satisfying ways they can fit together. The idea to use dry-erase cards in the game was almost accidental. I was working on another design where you built 3D buildings out of cubes on foundation cards. I transplanted a few elements of this game into the very 2D Silver & Gold, and when I did this, the decision to have players write on different map cards seemed very natural. Awards ★ 2019 Spiel der Spiele Hit für Familien Recommended Links ➚ Silver & Gold at Pandasaurus Games ➚ Silver & Gold at BoardGameGeek https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626827121369-T448CE5OKBG6P8LOBA8C/SushiRollCover.jpeg My Games - Sushi Roll 2-5 players | Ages 8+ | 20 minutes Publisher: Gamewright, 2019 Art: Nan Rangsima Rice and dice! Roll with your favourite Sushi Go! characters in Sushi Roll, a dice-based version of the best-selling card game! Load up the conveyor belts with savoury sushi dice -­­­­ then pick one and pass the rest! Earn points for winning combos like two tempura or a set of sashimi. Grab a menu to re-roll your dice or use chopsticks to swap with an opponent. And be sure to save room for pudding at the end! Gamewright let me know they’d be interested in a dice version of Sushi Go! not long after they released the original game. I set to work, but having never designed a game with dice before, it took a long while to land on a concept I thought was worthwhile. After throwing away a couple of versions, an obvious thought hit me - in a Sushi Go! dice game the players have to be passing a whole bunch of dice around the table! This became the starting point for the design, and it was a fun challenge to work with dice rolling and pass-drafting at the same time. Awards ★ 2019 Mensa Recommended ★ 2019 Parents' Choice Recommended Links ➚ Sushi Roll at Gamewright ➚ Sushi Roll at BoardGameGeek https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626828834234-PQEXQIVSK2DSSZJW888R/ImhotepDuelCover.jpeg My Games - Imhotep: The Duel 2 players | Ages 10+ | 30 minutes Publisher: Kosmos, 2018 Art: Miguel Coimbra, Michaela Kienle, Claus Stephan The competition of the builders continues in Imhotep: The Duel! In this game, players take on the roles of Nefertiti and Akhenaten, one of Egypt's most famous royal couples. Game pieces must be cleverly placed so that players can unload the most valuable tiles from the six boats. While this is happening, each player builds their own four monuments in order to gain as many fame points as possible. I have always been a huge fan of the Kosmos 2-player line of games, with Lost Cities being on of the designs that got me into modern board games. So I was super excited when Kosmos asked for a 2-player-only version of Imhotep. I knew the game had to have the same tense choice as the original: Do I place a piece or sail a ship? But it also needed something new to stand it apart. In the end, I discovered that having a 3x3 grid for placing your pieces meant that each piece could be sent to 2 different ships. This was the extra dimension the game needed to bring 2 players into more interesting interactions. Awards ★ 2019 Spiel des Jahres Recommended ★ 2019 DuAli Best 2 Player Game Award Also released ● Tomb C and D Mini Expansion Links ➚ Imhotep: The Duel at Kosmos ➚ Imhotep: The Duel at BoardGameGeek ➚ Play Imhotep: The Duel online at Yucata https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626829424045-XB8MX2LOZ4DTFOFN5RB9/GingerBreadHouseCover.jpeg My Games - Gingerbread House 2-4 players | Ages 8+ | 30 minutes Publisher: Lookout Games, 2018 Art: Andy Elkerton, Klemens Franz In Gingerbread House, you place domino-like tiles in a 3 by 3 grid, covering symbols that provide you with four different types of gingerbread and special actions. Tiles may also be placed on existing types of tiles, forming a 3D structure in front of you. Covering two of the same symbol is extremely valuable as it provides a bonus gingerbread or action. Victory points are awarded for building the tallest structure, completing orders by discarding sets of gingerbread, as well as being the quickest to achieve certain conditions. In the end, the player with the most victory points wins. One of my really early designs was about building a city by stacking domino pieces together. Multiple publishers looked at the game for some time, but it didn’t quite have that special something and so it never came out. Years later, I revisited the design, but this time giving each player their own structure to build. This opened up some new possibilities and really shifted the focus of the design. Lookout did a great job on the production and Andy Elkerton’s fairytale character illustrations are superb! Awards ★ 2019 Spiel der Spiele Hit mit Freunden Recommended Also released ● Gingerbread House: Spiel 2018 Promo Cards Links ➚ Gingerbread House at Lookout Games ➚ Gingerbread House at BoardGameGeek https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626834968963-LBGHDZL8Q78JFR5K22NM/DungeonRaidersCover.jpeg My Games - Dungeon Raiders 3-5 players | Ages 8+ | 20-30 minutes Publisher: Devir, 2018 Art: Albert Monteys In Dungeon Raiders each player takes the role of a different adventurer. You will have to join forces to survive the dungeon, but only one of you will get out with the most treasure and win the game. The dungeon is different each time you play, so its dangers like deadly traps and terrible monsters will always surprise you on your path to swag and riches. After pushing your luck to gain the most treasure, the adventurers will face the strongest and most horrendous boss monster! I originally self-published Dungeon Raiders way back in 2011, with art by my wife Meredith! The design was in part inspired by one of my favourite games, Stefan Dorra’s For Sale - because at heart Dungeon Raiders is a simple bidding game. Still, it was lots of fun to work in a classic dungeon setting to bring out a few more thematic elements to the gameplay. Devir later published the game, this time with wonderfully quirky art by Albert Monteys. This release was a great opportunity to clean up a few of the rougher edges of the original edition, and I am really happy with the result. Awards ★ 2013 Boardgames Australia Best Australian Game Links ➚ Dungeon Raiders at Devir ➚ Dungeon Raiders at BoardGameGeek https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626835526653-VPFX60U0Y80SSHYU83BU/BarenparkCover.jpeg My Games - Bärenpark 2-4 players | Ages 8+ | 30-45 minutes Publisher: Lookout Games, 2017 Art: Klemens Franz In Bärenpark each player builds their own bear park, attempting to make it as beautiful as they can, while also using every square meter possible. The park is created by combining polyomino tiles onto a grid, with players scoring for animal houses, outdoor areas, completed construction, and more. The sooner you build it, the better! Cover icons to get new tiles and park sections. The game ends as soon as one player has finished expanding their park, then players tally their points to see who has won. When I began designing what became Bärenpark, I wanted to make a game that was all about polyomino tiles. One of my favourite games is Bernard Tavitian’s Blokus, and since first playing it I have been fascinated about the different sizes of polyomino shapes and the different ways they fit together. Originally about building theme parks, I wanted my game to be quick and flowing, so I borrowed an idea from an older flailing design of mine: When you place a tile, the icons you cover determine what new tiles you get to take. I am really glad this game has found an audience, and that I got to revisit it with the Bad News Bears expansion too! Awards ★ 2017 Spiel der Spiele Game of the Year Winner ★ 2018 Gra Roku Family Game of the Year Winner ★ 2018 Boardgames Australia Awards Best Australian Game Winner ★ 2018 Kanga Game of the Year Winner ★ 2017 Golden Geek Best Family Board Game Nominee Also released ● Bärenpark: The Bad News Bears Expansion Links ➚ Bärenpark at Lookout Games ➚ Bärenpark at BoardGameGeek https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626835971718-N7X48O7JHLNZPLM43O70/YummyWorldCover.png My Games - Yummy World: Party at Picnic Palace 2-4 players | Ages 8+ | 20 minutes Publisher: WizKids, 2017 Yummy World is a deliciously fun world made up of a unique cast of food characters. Yummy World is set in the magical town of Sprinkle Tree, a magically yummy place where food is fun and fresh-baked friendships and adventures meet. Yummy World: Party at Picnic Palace is a fun game in which you flip over cards to reveal all the different and delicious characters of Yummy World. When you see a set you like, grab it! But don't wait too long, or someone else will nab them first! Collect sets of the same character to score big points. The rarer the card, the more you will score as you collect! I was asked to design a game for the Yummy World line of toys, and I decided to revisit some of the set collection ideas I had explored in Sushi Go! and Archaeology. I was also inspired by the excellent Coloretto by Michael Schacht. I love the central dilemma of that game: Do I take a group of cards now, or do I make the group bigger for everyone else? The result is a really simple and cute little card game that I still enjoy playing. Links ➚ Yummy World at WizKids ➚ Yummy World at BoardGameGeek https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626836447552-2GUOF54UGULL1YPTF8FM/SushiGoPartyCover.jpeg My Games - Sushi Go Party! 2-8 players | Ages 8+ | 20 minutes Publisher: Gamewright, 2016 Art: Nan Rangsima Sushi Go Party! expands Sushi Go! with a party platter of mega maki, super sashimi, and endless edamame. You still earn points by picking winning sushi combos, but now you can customise each game by choosing à la carte from a menu of more than twenty delectable dishes. What's more, up to eight players can join in on the sushi-feast. Let the good times roll! After the success of Sushi Go!, Gamewright were interested in something new in the line. I considered an expansion with a few new cards, but when I realised how many different cards there could be, I decided to go big! I set myself a goal for the number of new dishes I wanted in the game, and it was quite the design task to come up with them all. I learnt a lot of different lessons in the design process, because there were so many different combinations to consider. In the end it somehow came together well, and I am really happy that the game feels quite customisable and allows players to tailor their experience to the type of game they want to play. Awards ★ 2020 Gra Roku Best Party Game Winner ★ 2017 UK Games Expo Best Family Game Winner ★ 2016 Golden Geek Best Card Game Nominee ★ Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award Also released ● Inari Promo Cards ● Pickled Ginger Promo Cards ● Sake Promo Cards ● Sukeroku Promo Cards Links ➚ Sushi Go Party! at Gamewright ➚ Sushi Go Party! at BoardGameGeek ➚ Play Sushi Go Party! online at Sovranti https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626837032339-XWWG43ONX5BXEWEMX15B/ArchaeologyNewExpeditionCover.png My Games - Archaeology: The New Expedition 2-5 players | Ages 10+ | 20 minutes Publisher: Z-Man Games, 2016 Art: Atha Kanaani In Archaeology: The New Expedition, you are an archaeologist leading expeditions in search of lost relics. These artifacts lie hidden in the desert, but they belong in a museum! Luckily, the museum will pay you handsomely for whatever you deliver. Uncover shards of ancient pottery, valuable coins, masks of the Pharaohs, and more during your excavations. You can sell each right away, but you can earn even more by delivering complete sets. Don't wait too long to sell, though, or you might lose your discoveries to rival explorers or vicious sandstorms. The player with the most money when the Treasure deck runs out wins! Back in 2009, Archaeology: The Card Game was the first of my self-published designs to be picked up by a publisher, Z-Man Games. It was such an exciting moment, and really spurred me on to keep designing. Like so many designers’ first titles, I always thought Archaeology had a striking and creative central idea, but also a few rough edges. So when Z-Man decided to do a new edition, I was really excited to be able to revisit the game and also add some new content. While I had much more design experience to bring to this version, I found that the simple flow of the game still worked well! This is one of my favourite productions of any of my games, especially because of the fantastic atmospheric art of Atha Kanaani. Awards ★ 2016 Golden Geek Best Card Game Nominee Links ➚ Archaeology at Z-Man Games ➚ Archaeology at BoardGameGeek https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626837590526-T5VNCD2NF757PJAAG44V/CacaoCover.jpeg My Games - Cacao 2-4 players | Ages 8+ | 45 minutes Publisher: Abacusspiele / Z-Man Games, 2015 Art: Claus Stephan Cacao is a tile-placement game that immerses players in the exotic world of the ‘fruit of the Gods’. As the chief of your tribe, you must lead your people to prosperity through the cultivation and trade of cacao - and to do that, you'll need to put them to work in the best way possible. On a player's turn, they place one of their worker tiles on the board adjacent to one or more jungle tiles already in play, then (if two worker tiles are next to an empty space) adds one of the jungle tiles to the playing area in this space. Their workers then get busy and deliver the results of their effort. Cacao is tile-placement game of course inspired by Klaus-Jürgen Wrede’s classic Carcassonne, but also the area control and worker placement genres. Cacao developed from a card game I was designing where you wanted to have the majority of your cards surrounding certain other cards (similar to the temples in the final game). One day I realised that the icons on your cards could be more than just markers for majority, they could also trigger actions. This is when the design really began to emerge. I am particularly fond of Cacao because it was my first ‘big box’ published game. I remember very fondly receiving my first copies! Awards ★ 2015 Spiel des Jahres Recommended ★ 2015 Spiel der Spiele Hit für Familien Recommended ★ 2015 Juego del Año Recommended ★ 2015 Golden Geek Best Family Board Game Nominee Also released ● Cacao: Chocolatl Expansion ● Cacao: Diamante Expansion ● Cacao: Diamante - New Huts Promo ● Cacao: Chocolatl - New Huts Promo ● Cacao: Chocolatl - New Storage Spaces Promo ● Cacao: Big Market & Golden Temple Promo ● Cacao: Volcanoes Promo Links ➚ Cacao at Z-Man Games ➚ Cacao at BoardGameGeek ➚ Play Cacao online at BoardGameArena https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1627024434837-H5Y67JX0CY86DYP7H9LX/PackOfHeroesCover.jpeg My Games - Older Designs PACK OF HEROES Publisher: Adventureland Games, 2014 Art: John D-C A 2-player super hero team-building and battling game with really fun artwork by John D-C. This was crowdfunded and self-published. PIRATES OF THE SPANISH MAIN: SHUFFLING THE DECK Publisher: WizKids, 2012 Co-designer: Bryan Kinsellsa A hidden identity tactical game of positioning your pirates cleverly. This was also tweaked and re-released as Catching Fire, Pacific Rim, and The Lone Ranger: Shuffling the Deck. FLICOCHET Publisher: Adventureland Games, 2010 A dexterity flicking game inspired by lawn bowls! I self-published a small hand-made print run. ARCHAEOLOGY: THE CARD GAME Publisher: Z-Man Games, 2009 The first version of what is now Archaeology: The New Expedition. Before Z-Man's picked this up, I self-published a small hand-made print run in 2007. CAPTION IF YOU CAN! Publisher: Adventureland Games, 2009 A party game about writing funny captions to weird pictures. I self-published a small hand-made print run. CANNONBALL COLONY Publisher: Adventureland Games, 2008 A tile-placement game about building paths around an island to then build your settlements and cannons on. I self-published a small hand-made print run. ARCHAEOLOGY Publisher: Adventureland Games, 2007 My first self-published game that I released in a small hand-made print run. This was similar to the card game, but with a board and some extra components. I learnt lots of lessons from making this and was able to refine the concept when I decided to turn it into a card game. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1630048873202-MFEKMMWKNEM7ZCPD0OY6/bluey.jpeg My Games - Bluey Scavenger Hunt Game 2-4 players | Ages 3+ Publisher: Moose , 2021 Meet Bluey! A loveable, six-year-old Blue Heeler dog, whose everyday family life becomes a playful adventure. It's almost time for bed, but Bluey and her friends want to play a game of Scavenger Hunt. The Bluey Scavenger Hunt Game is all about finding, playing and collecting. Players must work together as a team to find 12 toy tokens. The first one to collect enough tokens and get to the finish line wins! This fun game is full of fun activities to perform, fun things to find and fun questions about Bluey to answer. I was a design consultant for Ludo Studio who worked with Moose to produce this game. It was great fun getting to work with some of Australia's most popular characters, and an interesting challenge to make a co-operative game for very young children. Links ➚ Bluey Scavenger Hunt Game at Moose https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1633407127121-T2M2KI12IDFKXQLPIH9U/ExplorersCover.jpeg My Games - Explorers 1-4 players | Ages 8+ | 20-30 minutes Publisher: Ravensburger, 2021 Art: Sabrina Miramon At the beginning of Explorers, you place four landscape tiles and three different scoring tiles in your game frame. Then from your starting village, you go on an exploratory tour. Over four rounds, you expand your territory, receiving a special action for each checked box with an object in it. You receive points for provisions and gems, with a map you can place crosses on any type of terrain, and lost temples can be explored with keys - but whoever reaches the temple first receives the most points for it. Explorers contains a solo version as well as additional task tiles for experienced players, with more than a million possible game combinations. Explorers develops some of the “flip and write” ideas from Silver & Gold and Super Mega Lucky Box, but turns them into a more involved board game. Here, you are exploring a modular map by writing on it with dry erase markers. I wanted the game to have lots of replayability, so there are countless combinations of map setups and scoring objectives. This is my first game published by Ravensburger, one of my favourite game companies. Playing their games as a child was certainly part of what kindled my love of board games! Links ➚ Download the Explorers app at the App Store ➚ Download the Explorers app at Google Play ➚ Explorers at Ravensburger.de ➚ Explorers at BoardGameGeek https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1648441013670-PESKORMFDB3ARZNUZNOV/platypus.png My Games - Platypus 3-8 players | Ages 8+ | 30 minutes Publisher: Matagot, 2021 Art: Monsieur Dupont In Platypus, players co-operate to gradually eliminate incorrect words in order to find and identify the secret "platypus" word. Eight common nouns are placed face up in front of all the players. The “guide” players know which card is the platypus and must help the “explorer” players guess it. They do this by playing adjective cards that best define the platypus. Every card played will create unexpected and surprising decisions for the explorers to make! Platypus is my take on modern word games like Codenames and Just One, which I really enjoy. My goal was to give players the tools to make all sorts of wild and funny word associations without having to think on their feet and come up with clues from scratch. Lots of testing went into Platypus, as it was really important to find noun and adjective cards that would create funny moments! Links ➚ Platypus at Matagot ➚ Platypus at BoardGameGeek https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/24534d35-5d22-4ab9-a5dc-be09ad9715ef/museum.jpg My Games - Museum Suspects 2-4 players | Ages 8+ | 20 minutes Publisher: Blue Orange, 2022 Art: Maxime Sarthou Hurry, close the doors, a museum piece has been stolen! The director calls in a number of highly skilled investigators to find the thief or thieves amongst the 16 suspects held inside the building. Some clues are more valuable than others. Find the best ones to solve the case while obstructing your competitors’ investigations! Will you find the culprit(s), unless they have escaped before the closing of the doors? Like many kids, I played Clue/Cluedo growing up and loved the feeling of getting to solve a murder mystery with a mysterious solution that only the game “knew”. I also love many mystery and suspense films, so a crime deduction game was always on my list of designs to tackle. Museum Suspects started out as quite a complex game about gathering evidence and bribing witnesses, but as development went on, it seemed natural to hone the game to just a few elements: finding clues, placing a cost on those clues for other players, and then having to place suspicion on a suspect every turn. As always, Blue Orange did a great job with the production - I especially love the thematic notepads and pencils that come with the game! Links ➚ Museum Suspects at Blue Orange ➚ Museum Suspects at BoardGameGeek https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/b459d695-ff05-414a-ba09-88b6a6a3f246/TetrisCover.jpg My Games - Tetris 2-4 players | Ages 8+ | 20-30 minutes Publisher: Buffalo Games, 2021 Play Tetris head-to-head against your friends in an all-new tabletop strategy game! Each player drops tetrimino pieces into their own Matrix tower each turn. You know what to do. Another piece is up. Rotate. Rotate again. Move it and drop it… Score points by completing horizontal rows and racing to fulfil special challenges on achievement cards for bonus points! Place specific pieces to match the icons on your Matrix towers to earn even more. Who will come out on top?! When Buffalo Games approached me to design a Tetris game I absolutely jumped at the chance! I grew up playing Tetris for countless hours on the Gameboy, NES, and Mac. So it was really exciting to try and turn those fond experiences into a tabletop game. Unlike most previous Tetris board games, I knew I wanted each player to have their own matrix to place pieces in. This way each player would really feel like they were playing the video game. However, this decision meant I had to find new ways to introduce competition between the players, so I added in the achievement cards and bonus icons. I learnt a lot about polyominoes from designing Bärenpark, Silver & Gold, and Llamaland - and it was a fun challenge to find a new way to make a game out of these fascinating shapes. Links ➚ Tetris at BoardGameGeek https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/c8af7b42-f5b3-4329-8498-d98946084fe2/MyShelfieCover.jpg My Games - My Shelfie 2-4 players | Ages 8+ | 30 minutes Publisher: Cranio Creations, 2022 Co-designer: Matthew Dunstan Art: Shannon Grosenbacher, Sara Valentino You’ve just taken home your new bookshelf and now it’s time to put your favourite items in the display: books, boardgames, portraits... Who will show the best organised shelfie? During your turn, you must take 1, 2, or 3 item tiles from the living room board (shared by all the players). Then, you must place all the tiles you’ve picked into 1 column of your bookshelf (a 3D display) to meet the personal goal cards, which grant points if you match the highlighted spaces with the corresponding item tiles, or the common goal cards, which grant points if you achieve the illustrated pattern. A game of strategy and glance, different every time thanks to the variety of common and personal goals. The beautiful images of the item tiles will really give you the feeling of tidying up your precious shelf. My Shelfie came out of the same brainstorm session with Matthew Dunstan that led to the Adventure Games series. Originally, what became My Shelfie was just the scoring mechanism for another more complex design idea. But we really liked the challenge of trying to make patterns by dropping coloured pieces down columns, so that became our focus. The first prototype involved dropping marbles into test tubes to make chemical reactions, and the theme actually changed quite a few times over the development process. Finally, Simone Luciani from Cranio (who did amazing work on the game) found a great fit - filling up shelves with your favourite things! This cozy theme is a wonderful fit for the low-conflict and puzzly experience that the game provides. Links ➚ My Shelfie at Cranio Creations ➚ My Shelfie at BoardGameGeek ➚ Play My Shelfie online at BoardGameArena https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/d65525db-62d5-4efe-ac85-3dffced1cb50/PlantedCover.jpg My Games - Planted 2-5 players | Ages 8+ | 20-30 minutes Publisher: Buffalo Games, 2022 Art: Hannah Bailey In this game of nature and nurture, make your house beautiful by caring for your very own collection of houseplants! In this easy-to-learn board game, collect your favourite plants and they try to feed them every round with the right combination of light, water, and plant food. Planted features 42 varieties of popular and exotic houseplants, each with their own requirements to grow. Discover various planting tools and decorations to help you raise beautiful, thriving plants, and score bonus points. The player, or plant parent, that ends up scoring the most points from growing their plants is declared the game’s biggest green thumb - and winner! Buffalo Games is a fun publisher to work with because they often suggest game themes that I wouldn’t have normally considered… like houseplants! While I am certainly no green thumb myself, Meredith looks after a lovely collection of plants in our home, and watching her do it often reminds me of a game. Each plant needs its own light, water, and positioning - and a collection needs to suit your house as well as your tastes. I decided to centre the game around managing the resources you need to make your plants grow each round. I combined this with a card drafting mechanism similar to Sushi Go! and found it was a nice fit. The lovely production from Buffalo and wonderful art from Hannah Bailey really elevate the experience! Links ➚ Planted at BoardGameGeek https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/887e4bca-08ed-4451-80c9-916baa886243/MonolythCover.jpg My Games - Monolyth 1-4 players | Ages 8+ | 30 minutes Publisher: CMON, 2022 Art: Davide Tosello Towering structures made of perfectly-fitted, multi-coloured stones, the monolyths have stood since the dawn of time. Elders, soothsayers, and diviners have tried to pry secrets from the stone, but only the gods know their true purpose. Are they a history of past events? A prophecy of what’s to come? Or perhaps a bit of both? In Monolyth, players must arrange different coloured blocks in order to create their structure. Players can score points in multiple ways, from finishing their structure quickly, to building the structure shown on their card, to fulfilling prophecies of having certain coloured stones in certain places in their structure. In the end, one god will score the most points and be declared the greatest builder of them all. After designing a game all about polyominoes in Bärenpark, I felt inspired to try my hand at a 3D polyomino game like Pueblo or Blokus 3D. I thought it would be fun to ask players to construct a very simple shape like a cube, but to have the colours of the pieces they use be very important. As I was playing around with an early prototype, I realised it would be fun to let the players decide (or at least predict) how many squares of a colour would end up in each wall of their cube. I called these predictions “prophecies”, which immediately suggested an ancient setting where mystical structures are being built. CMON managed to produce beautiful chunky pieces for the stones in the game, so it really satisfying to fit each one together as you wrestle with the central puzzle of the gameplay. Links ➚ Monolyth at CMON ➚ Monolyth at BoardGameGeek https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/5ff91038-ffb3-4228-9ed8-b7b519fe9e45/NeovilleCover.jpeg My Games - Neoville 2-4 players | Ages 10+ | 30-45 minutes Publisher: Blue Orange, 2021 Art: Ingenious Studios Neoville is looking for architects to build a city that is a combination of human habitation and the natural world. Are you up to the challenge? Position tiles strategically to build skyscrapers and utilities in your 4x4 city. Skyscrapers will be worth harmony points at the end of the game based on their value and district size. Utilities will be worth harmony points when their position in the city fits their own requirements. However, skyscrapers or utilities that do not meet their requirements will count as negative points! Who will design the most harmonious city with nature? I had just finished designing Monolyth, and really enjoyed the prophecy mechanism in that game, where the players had to predict how the structure they were building would turn out. I wondered if this idea could be used to spice up a simple tile-laying game that I was working on. As the players build a city with 16 tiles, they need to commit to how big different regions in their city will end up being. Do you commit early to having a huge region and scoring lots of points for it, or do you make lower calls and play it safe with smaller regions? This became the central point of tension in the game as you plan and lay out your city grid. Blue Orange came up with the fantastic theme of building a city that is in harmony with its environment, and they also gave the game a really cool ‘solarpunk’ aesthetic. Links ➚ Neoville at Blue Orange ➚ Neoville at BoardGameGeek https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/a5e4548d-2600-471f-a3e6-c1143bd53f25/BusyBeaksCoverFlat.png My Games - Busy Beaks 2-4 players | Ages 8+ | 30 minutes Publisher: Joey Games, 2023 Art: Sarah Allen Get to know Australia’s most fascinating birds in this colourful card game. Each player collects bird cards and gathers them into flocks to score points. Whoever makes the most valuable flocks wins! Each bird also has a special ability - like the Powerful Owl who lets you search the deck for the card you really need, or the mimicking Magpie who lets you copy another card. Choose which birds you want to use each game to make every play feel different. Busy Beaks was so much fun to design because it took me back to one of my favourite game mechanisms - rummy-style set collection. The hook I came up with here is that every card can be used to build a set to score points (a flock of birds) or can be played for a special power (the bird’s ability). It was a real challenge coming up with unique powers for all 14 birds in the game, but it allowed me to explore many different ways that cards can be collected, swapped, and searched for. Busy Beaks is one of the launch games for my publishing company, Joey Games and we were very happy to work with the fantastic local illustrator Sarah Allen. Her bird pictures bring so much character and colour to the game, and show a real fondness for Australia’s amazing birdlife. Links ➚ Busy Beaks at Joey Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/62a689be-cb04-4d2e-bf27-2b8f4068b767/PassThePartyFoodCoverFlat.png My Games - Pass the Party Food 2-4 players | Ages 7+ | 30 minutes Publisher: Joey Games, 2023 Art: Meredith Walker-Harding Throwback to 1989 and dig in to your all-time favourite party food! There’s fairy bread, lamingtons, green snakes and more. Working together, the players need to collect their favourite treats and share them with their friends at the right time. But watch out, Ziggy the mischievous puppy is trying to grab food off the table! If you can outscore him as a team you will all win the game together. For many years I had been trying to make a game about sharing with your neighbours at the table. The idea was that each turn you would draw 3 cards, keep for yourself, and give 1 to each of your neighbours. I tried to fit this concept into a few different designs, but nothing every fully clicked. As we were launching Joey Games, we knew we wanted one of our launch titles to be a co-operative game. And that’s when it hit me - why not put the sharing mechanism into a game where you actually need to share with the other players to win! So the game became about sharing food with your friends at a birthday party to score points together. It was lots of fun to take a nostalgic look at Australian party food in the game’s theming, and also to work with Meredith’s bright and cheery illustrations! Links ➚ Pass the Party Food at Joey Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/7070fd2a-4309-46cb-9919-8579d81539ec/ScribblyGumCoverFlat.png My Games - Scribbly Gum 1+ players | Ages 6+ | 20 minutes Publisher: Joey Games, 2023 Art: Meredith Walker-Harding Did you know Australia’s scribbly gum trees get their beautiful scribbles from baby moths burrowing through the bark? In this game, each player has their own tree diagram and every turn gets to draw a line that leads to food for your baby moth to eat. Collect sets of food to score points. Whoever scribbles their way to the most valuable food wins the game! Scribbly Gum can be played with any number of players at once and includes directions for classroom play. I remember learning about scribbly gum trees as a child and being so fascinated by the squiggly markings all over their trunks. So when we were brainstorming Australian theme ideas for the launch titles for Joey Games, it was one of the first things to pop into my head. A game about scribbly gums seemed like a perfect fit for a ‘flip and write’ game, where every turn the players get to actually draw scribbles on their own tree diagram. We developed the game with an eye to classroom play, so it can be played with any number of players at once. It was really rewarding to test the game with different groups of kids, and even see some players first learn about this little wonder of Australia’s plant life. Awards ★ Major Fun Award Links ➚ Scribbly Gum at Joey Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/9b9d7f56-223f-4c13-904b-47be90348dc1/OhNoVolcanoCover.jpg My Games - Oh No, Volcano! 2-4 players | Ages 8+ | 15-25 minutes Publisher: Buffalo Games, 2023 Art: Adam Grason In Oh No, Volcano!, you race to climb and collect ancient treasure while dodging lava! Peril lies ahead on every turn. Play climber cards to move your team of explorers up the face of the volcano, then drop a lava ball from the spot listed on each card. Watch the lava balls rattle and roll down, knocking off any explorers in its path... including your own if you're not careful! Choose your moves carefully, and be the first to collect all of your treasure! It’s probably no surprise that the idea for this game came from Plinko/Pachinko, which I’ve always found to be one of the more fascinating games of chance. When considering how to turn that physical idea into a turn-based game, the image of pawns climbing up the pegs came to me - which of course also immediately suggested fireballs falling down a volcano! The design was originally co-operative, but as things developed with Buffalo Games, we opted for something a bit more cut-throat - and even found a way to have your pieces fly off the board when hit. This is certainly one of my sillier games! Links ➚ Oh No, Volcano! at BoardGameGeek https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/ee7ce74b-8547-4d65-8a66-ab9ef4f6e8e0/SpellbookCover.jpg My Games - SpellBook 2-4 players | Ages 12+ | 45 minutes Publisher: Space Cowboys, 2023 Art: Cyrille Bertin In SpellBook, each player, accompanied by a familiar, possesses a grimoire and collects materia to master spells and feed their familiar. The game provides pre-drawn spell sets for use in the early rounds, but soon players start drawing spells randomly or create their own spell combinations that are common to all players. Each spell combination gives an effect that lasts the rest of the game, and the more ingenious the combination, the more powerful the effect. As the rounds progress, the game becomes a different experience every time, with more than 2,100 spell combinations being possible. SpellBook began as a simple card game. My design goal was to create “rummy with special powers”. Each time you played a set of cards down, it would grant you some special ability for the rest of the game. So as time went on you got more and more powerful at drawing, finding, and playing cards. I came up with enough powers to make the game modular - you can choose which 7 card types you’d like to play with. During development with Space Cowboys, the cards became more tactile acrylic ‘materia’ tokens, and Cyrille Bertin’s artwork is astonishing! Links ➚ SpellBook at BoardGameGeek https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/256c7a8f-1f09-426a-8c79-46ef1d5ebe20/SilverAndGoldPyramidsCover.jpg My Games - Silver & Gold Pyramids 2-4 players | Ages 8+ | 20 minutes Publisher: NSV, 2023 Art: Oliver Freudenreich, Sandra Freudenreich In Silver & Gold Pyramids, you want to explore as many pyramids as possible and locate the tomb within each one! On a turn, reveal the topmost exploration card. Each player then marks off spaces in the shape of this polyomino on one of their pyramid map cards. After four rounds, players count their scores, earning points for each tomb reached, each pair of coloured gems found, each round in which they covered at least one torch, and bonuses for being the first to complete two pyramids of a colour. You also lose points based on the number of skulls that you touched. Whoever has the highest score wins! I really enjoyed designing Silver & Gold, so I got to work on a sequel right away. I wanted to find a new puzzle for the players to complete, but with the same polyomino shapes. I tested a few ideas, but making paths to traverse a grid proved the most interesting. It was lots of fun designing dozens of mini maps for the players to explore! I was also able to smooth over a few things from the original game - especially relieving the players of having to track turn order. I feel there are more exciting choices in this version of the system, and there’s more theme too! Links ➚ Silver & Gold Pyramids at BoardGameGeek https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/e7d09249-a2c7-434d-bfc0-7b65a2830eda/TanisCover.png My Games - Tanis 2 players | Ages 14+ | 20-30 minutes Publisher: Eagle-Gryphon Games, 2024 Art: Mila Harbar Tanis, named after the ancient city in Lower Egypt, is a unique tile-digging game for 2 players. The game begins with 40 beautiful wooden domino-sized tiles randomly placed in the custom-made box. These tiles represent pieces of scrolls that the players are trying to reassemble in this fast-playing competitive game. The players also have cards that provide special powers that may be used to enhance their actions. A single game takes under 20 minutes to complete. For a very long time I wanted to design an archaeology-themed game where the players would actually dig down through layers of components… somehow. I tried making this idea work with cards but let’s just say that got very messy! I wanted every dig action to reveal something about what was below, but not everything. I realised that thick domino tiles layered in a lattice pattern would do the trick. When a player takes one tile, they will reveal two halves of two different tiles below. This shaped the way the whole game developed. It became quite a thinky 2 player only set collection game. It was so important to get the physicality right for the tiles (and the box that holds them during play) and Eagle-Gryphon came through with a great production. One of my more unique games, and a favourite of mine to play. Links ➚ Tanis at BoardGameGeek https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/dbdeaabe-8262-4d22-a806-70d3f29f92c0/WrathOfFireMountainCover.jpg My Games - Wrath of Fire Mountain 2-4 players | Ages 10+ | 30-45 minutes Publisher: Gamewright, 2024 Co-designer: Eric M. Lang Art: Christopher Lee Welcome to Fire Mountain, a primordial land of ever shifting terrain where tribes vie for control using the power of their dinosaurs and the blessing of the volcano. Each turn in Wrath of Fire Mountain, you roll dice Yahtzee-style, then take actions with the die results. Place and move your cave people, hatch a dinosaur, or try and win the favour of the volcano. Score points by gaining control of regions, and use the volcano to change those regions by shifting a row of map tiles. Use your dinosaur friends to take special actions and go for the win! One of my earliest game design ideas was to make an area control game on a “slide puzzle” board. So not only are you trying to win majorities in regions, you can also change the regions themselves. I pitched the first version of this way back in 2011 on my first ever trip to Essen. Another version placed third in the 2014 Hippodice design competition. However, there was always something incomplete about the design, and multiple publishers passed on it. I put the idea aside until Eric M. Lang and I decided to collaborate on a design years later. As Eric has made some amazing area control games, it felt only natural to suggest it to him. We quickly became absorbed in trying to make the idea work. Eric’s intuition that we needed to tap into the way it felt to play Risk as a 10 year old proved right. The game was never meant to be a family euro, but a dice chucker! Links ➚ Wrath of Fire Mountain at BoardGameGeek https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/2e25e02f-cddb-4e2d-8b79-b0d245e8171b/CitiesCover.jpg My Games - Cities 2-4 players | Ages 10+ | 30-40 minutes Publisher: Devir Games, 2024 Co-designer: Steve Finn Art: Jorge Tabanera Redondo You've been tasked by the city council to put together a plan to transform a whole neighborhood. You have the opportunity to build new housing, office buildings, parks, and leisure areas near the waterfront. It is in your hands to make the city a better place. Cities is a city-building game in which you draft the best projects and arrange them in your own playing area. With action and resource draft mechanisms, it will give you the opportunity to visit the cities of Sydney, Venice, New York, Barcelona, Rio de Janeiro, Lisbon, Mexico City, and Buenos Aires. Can you design the most magnificent neighbourhood?. I have always been a huge fan of Steve Finn’s classic card game Biblios. So when he contacted me about working on a game together I said yes right away! We worked together entirely remotely, passing the design back and forth for months. In the end, we came up with a really intuitive city building game that presents a lot of small but engaging puzzles. I also think the drafting system creates some real moments of dramatic interaction. When we decided to make each set of achievements represent a different city of the world, the whole product clicked. Devir did a great job realising the game, and Jorge’s wonderful paintings bring a lot of rich and fun detail. Links ➚ Cities at BoardGameGeek https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626668866731-0WU555EPMOHI6RDBXF2G/ImhotepSmall.jpg My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626753494614-CR9AI58JF3BQXK7XDUAT/GizmosCover.png My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626758775008-ZZ788PG49J3591CR4ORN/LlamalandCover.jpeg My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626824437663-3QM5YUMAOTH9KLM2C6V1/SummerCampCover.jpeg My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626825776987-PQ257X4FNL4CVUHPEK4A/CloudCityCover.jpeg My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626826233028-OTK9H78SINFSNH1X439R/AdventureGamesCover.jpeg My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626826857223-7VT999ZP3XKRMA95MNBR/SilverAndGoldCover.png My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626827160447-D8V5X39PJFSQ5AWKYD0E/SushiRollCover.jpeg My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626828870911-P6KODR1LLI15LKZ9BVFD/ImhotepDuelCover.jpeg My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626829461083-CQX023LUUXTISH9RT4WS/GingerBreadHouseCover.jpeg My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626835005505-PBV0WEDMB55XVPR130WR/DungeonRaidersCover.jpeg My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626835739402-B1KOD2K1I5M0UW3R4BFY/BarenparkCover.jpeg My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626836012157-LBYCI8EY10432F9QVNLR/YummyWorldCover.png My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626836577745-XWNIV9Y9O38TAWBRVEBJ/SushiGoPartyCover.jpeg My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626837063521-JVXCG7XZ9ENPDTN445DQ/ArchaeologyNewExpeditionCover.png My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626837625944-QDN3K9GQRQ84A72OTT8L/CacaoCover.jpeg My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626853158747-63MD8Y7E5LB1CSKXG9CH/Snakesssicon.png My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1626853282821-TDVBEIICXCTP18FZS36K/SMLBicon.png My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1627026750522-779Q3VR4KHEZPNM0XHG7/OlderIcon.png My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1628494861469-9IOPI0AHF583WLZJ4UN5/bluey.jpeg My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1629171130242-QIT9OBC9ZNJTLH6DYYF5/SushiGo.jpg My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1633407921488-E6KEK4LRF9T62R66X7YC/ExplorersCover.jpeg My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1648441946730-QCCTD5N08T7CWO2ISGO7/PlatypusCover.png My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1679282457351-NMZQMZ7CPR6YBYGNR0CY/museum.jpg My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1679284211014-CGRTG763KIYEOLWKDG5C/TetrisCover.jpg My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1679303458417-N051J3HDR4UT5J38UHO5/MyShelfieCover.jpg My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1679366697568-5LKPK4JX8SKWF8CQMLU2/MonolythCover.jpg My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1679367616034-Q9Z690BVA692WIG96UDY/NeovilleCover.jpeg My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1679371463176-Z1XZUUW23R3C2BBJYOQT/BusyBeaksCoverFlat.png My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1679372086639-M1KQBH1L8THZNGK5X7UX/PassThePartyFoodCoverFlat.png My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1679373059993-9AP1DRS6UUU5ZA4DLSOB/ScribblyGumCoverFlat.png My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1741757354304-CP7EPOZQ9ZKXWAE1QS48/OhNoVolcanoCover.jpg My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1741757740037-AU7D2O2LGN65C25SQ1YD/PlantedCover.jpg My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1741758453601-0YG6LK07TQM36ZCMORVW/SilverAndGoldPyramidsCover.jpg My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1741758513036-QZBWY9ABZHVK0WDVAA9O/TanisCover.png My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1741773820119-3JGUA7B94CBFVO6EUPEM/WrathOfFireMountainCover.jpg My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1741774088656-C35F6S8RUMRLFN20CCRW/SpellbookCover.jpg My Games https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1741775495617-CI4P26VB7BL2EOI0VQJP/CitiesCover.jpg My Games https://www.philwalkerharding.com/blog-montauk daily 0.75 2025-05-12 https://www.philwalkerharding.com/blog-montauk/2016/3/2/on-the-water-y7sbt monthly 0.5 2016-03-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56d73dbac2ea51af9150258f/1456951320242-JJ3BUYF8IVJAHQ019JZ0/image-asset.jpeg Blog - On The Water https://www.philwalkerharding.com/blog-montauk/2016/3/2/aliquam-ac-turpis-sollicitudin-zjdry monthly 0.5 2016-03-02 https://www.philwalkerharding.com/blog-montauk/2016/3/2/maecenas-67szg monthly 0.5 2016-03-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56d73dbac2ea51af9150258f/1456951832176-4PCVHIBWFA8T4Z1S8AP9/image-asset.jpeg Blog - Maecenas https://www.philwalkerharding.com/about-montauk daily 1.0 2025-03-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1679303679629-5J4S73D3HOBD7U89PLS1/Phil_SMLB.jpg About https://www.philwalkerharding.com/contact-montauk daily 0.75 2021-07-20 https://www.philwalkerharding.com/sushi-go-1 daily 0.75 2021-08-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1629168243190-DELQXQIZC4SUB17QRCT8/SushiGoCover.jpeg Sushi Go! - Sushi Go! 2-5 players | Ages 8+ | 20 minutes Publisher: Gamewright, 2014 Art: Nan Rangsima In the super-fast sushi card game Sushi Go!, you are eating at a sushi restaurant and trying to grab the best combination of sushi dishes as they whiz by. Score points for collecting the most sushi rolls or making a full set of sashimi. Dip your favourite nigiri in wasabi to triple its value! And once you've eaten it all, finish your meal with all the pudding you've got! But be careful which sushi you allow your friends to take; it might be just what they need to beat you! I designed Sushi Go! to explore the pass-drafting mechanism I loved so much from Satoshi Nakamura’s Fairy Tale and Antoine Bauza’s 7 Wonders. The sushi train theme came quickly as I was thinking - what’s something you collect as it moves around the table? I self-published the first edition in 2013 with a small crowdfunding campaign, but I was so excited when Gamewright came across a copy and decided to pick it up. They did an amazing job on marketing the game and Nan Rangsima’s art is adorable. Sushi Go! is now avilable around the world in over 20 languages and is the game I am best known for. It is still really gratifying to see photos of people playing it all across the globe! Awards ★ 2015 Boardgames Australia Awards Best Australian Game Winner ★ 2015 UK Games Expo Awards Best General Card Game Winner ★ Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award Also released ● Soy Sauce Promo Cards Links ➚ Sushi Go! at Gamewright ➚ Sushi Go! at BoardGameGeek ➚ Play Sushi Go! online at BoardGameArena https://www.philwalkerharding.com/wombats-in-winter daily 0.75 2021-12-20 https://www.philwalkerharding.com/planted-copy daily 0.75 2025-03-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/d65525db-62d5-4efe-ac85-3dffced1cb50/PlantedCover.jpg Planted (Copy) - Planted 2-5 players | Ages 8+ | 20-30 minutes Publisher: Buffalo Games, 2022 Art: Hannah Bailey In this game of nature and nurture, make your house beautiful by caring for your very own collection of houseplants! In this easy-to-learn board game, collect your favourite plants and they try to feed them every round with the right combination of light, water, and plant food. Planted features 42 varieties of popular and exotic houseplants, each with their own requirements to grow. Discover various planting tools and decorations to help you raise beautiful, thriving plants, and score bonus points. The player, or plant parent, that ends up scoring the most points from growing their plants is declared the game’s biggest green thumb - and winner! Buffalo Games is a fun publisher to work with because they often suggest game themes that I wouldn’t have normally considered… like houseplants! While I am certainly no green thumb myself, Meredith looks after a lovely collection of plants in our home, and watching her do it often reminds me of a game. Each plant needs its own light, water, and positioning - and a collection needs to suit your house as well as your tastes. I decided to centre the game around managing the resources you need to make your plants grow each round. I combined this with a card drafting mechanism similar to Sushi Go! and found it was a nice fit. The lovely production from Buffalo and wonderful art from Hannah Bailey really elevate the experience! Links ➚ Planted at BoardGameGeek https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60f40f1e156fb7294dd38a09/1741757740037-AU7D2O2LGN65C25SQ1YD/PlantedCover.jpg Planted (Copy) https://www.philwalkerharding.com/shop-montauk daily 0.75 2025-05-12 https://www.philwalkerharding.com/shop-montauk/monograph-vol-9-2wyan monthly 0.5 2016-03-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56d73dbac2ea51af9150258f/1457025216017-T0QUQERR1NVNLW8RH9OP/2016-03-02-book-9.jpg Shop - Monograph vol. 9 https://www.philwalkerharding.com/shop-montauk/monograph-vol-8-kxy8s monthly 0.5 2016-03-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56d73dbac2ea51af9150258f/1457024329950-PKAP8NHOUCYJDIBDPKIB/2016-03-02-book-8.jpg Shop - Monograph vol. 8 https://www.philwalkerharding.com/shop-montauk/monograph-vol-7-tf7c7 monthly 0.5 2016-03-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56d73dbac2ea51af9150258f/1457023037783-J12HQBT30CGF4FK4QD37/2016-03-02-book-7.jpg Shop - Monograph vol. 7 https://www.philwalkerharding.com/shop-montauk/monograph-vol-6-asxrn monthly 0.5 2016-03-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56d73dbac2ea51af9150258f/1457021923759-3WXHN428KA4GZ57D9RR3/2016-03-02-book-6.jpg Shop - Monograph vol. 6 https://www.philwalkerharding.com/shop-montauk/monograph-vol-5-pyt8h monthly 0.5 2016-03-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56d73dbac2ea51af9150258f/1457021350838-Q4Z87FUJ89YI8GT7H5ZY/2016-03-02-book-5.jpg Shop - Monograph vol. 5 https://www.philwalkerharding.com/shop-montauk/monograph-vol-4-dntkn monthly 0.5 2016-03-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56d73dbac2ea51af9150258f/1457020642889-XYQSLVMF01OUV4AIZ8CL/2016-03-02-book-4.jpg Shop - Monograph vol. 4 https://www.philwalkerharding.com/shop-montauk/monograph-vol-3-ed6tn monthly 0.5 2016-03-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56d73dbac2ea51af9150258f/1456962879945-XPQ03RZVKU4KETVUF1RX/2016-03-02-book-3.jpg Shop - Monograph vol. 3 https://www.philwalkerharding.com/shop-montauk/monograph-v-2-d32l4 monthly 0.5 2016-03-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56d73dbac2ea51af9150258f/1456962395963-CUCAA5K25VAEI9GX7WCX/2016-03-02-book-2.jpg Shop - Monograph vol. 2 https://www.philwalkerharding.com/shop-montauk/monograph-v-1-gnntx monthly 0.5 2016-03-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56d73dbac2ea51af9150258f/1456961480758-BXP3I5WRZR0ZD8YFEUUA/2016-03-02-book-1.jpg Shop - Monograph vol. 1