Emily Parker

I have been asked the same question at almost every locals night I have attended: why does my playmat feel so different from the one my opponent is using, even when we both play the same game. After spending three months comparing dozens of mats, talking to manufacturers, and yes, running a few sweaty gaming … Read more

I’ve been collecting board games for almost a decade, and one thing has always frustrated me: pulling a brand-new $70 game off the shelf only to feel the box give under my fingers like an empty cereal box. Some games arrive with boxes you could stand on. Others start splitting at the corners the moment … Read more

If you’ve ever punched out board game tokens, you’ve probably experienced the frustration of a torn piece. Maybe the paper layer ripped halfway, dragging bits of cardboard with it. Maybe the token bent instead of popping clean. Or worse, you tore into an adjacent token while removing its neighbor. I spent the last few weeks … Read more

If you have ever held a beautifully painted miniature in your hand or dropped a stack of custom wooden meeples onto a table, you have wondered how those tiny works of art actually got made. After spending the last few months talking to manufacturers, indie designers, and Kickstarter creators, I can tell you that custom … Read more

I’ve unboxed more than 200 board games over the past decade, and I can tell you within ten seconds whether a game’s components will hold up after a hundred plays. The trick isn’t luck or experience; it’s knowing what physical signals to look for before you ever sit down to play. In this guide, I’ll … Read more

Dice balance refers to how evenly weight and geometry are distributed throughout a die, so every face has an equal chance of landing face-up when rolled. I started digging into this topic after a friend swore his d20 was cursed, and after watching 200 of his rolls I noticed something odd too. In this guide … Read more

Linen finish on cards is a finely embossed crosshatch texture pressed into the cardstock during manufacturing. I have spent years handling casino decks, custom magic playing cards, and board game prototypes, and I can tell you within seconds whether a deck uses linen finish just by riffling it. The texture looks subtle, almost like woven … Read more

I used to think all board game cards were basically the same. Then I picked up a deck from a mass-market game, shuffled it next to a deck from a recent Kickstarter, and the difference slapped me across the face. One deck felt thin, slippery, and floppy. The other had weight, snap, and a subtle … Read more

Deciding whether to back a crowdfunding campaign now or wait for the retail release is one of the most common dilemmas shoppers face on platforms like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and Gamefound. I have backed more than 40 projects over the last six years, watched some arrive in three months, and watched others vanish into two-year silences. … Read more

I have backed over 30 board game campaigns in the last two years, and I have learned the hard way that the funding announcement is just the beginning of the journey. If you want to track a board game pledge after funding and actually receive what you paid for, you need a simple system and … Read more