This is by no means an exhaustive list of board gaming links. There are too many to me to list. These are just some of the ones that I have collected over time as I have found these useful and entertaining. If you have any suggestions for useful links then please contact me in the comments below, or via the Contact Form.
Basic Boardgame Links
BGG – Board Game Geek, the best website on boardgaming. Here are some of my views on the site. BGG includes a massive amount of useful information for both new, and experienced gamers. For example here is the Christmas 2016 gift guide.
BoardGamePrices – A great tool for viewing price and availability of games. Board Game Prices is an invaluable tool for checking the prices, and the availability, of games.
Reddit – Game Pricing and Availability
Reddit – The /r/boardgames sub reddit.
Board Game Geek
Often referred to as ‘BGG’ – Board Game Geek is a brilliant resource for all things related to the boardgame hobby. There you can find reviews, videos, files, question and answers related to tens of thousands of board and card games.
The BGG database is made available to other websites. Here are some of the sites that utilize the BGG database and add value to that resource.
SheltonsOnline : Download a list of your logged game plays. You will need to know your BGG login name to use this service.
FriendlessStats : Has a wonderfully detailed website that analyses your logged game plays. Note the server uses a Dynamic DNS. If you want to look at my stats on this site use this link to my friendlesstats user page.
Boardgame Playaids
It has long been my opinion that, once you know a game, you should be able to play it solely from a playaid. The playaid should have enough of the rule reminders, and the game flow, to play the game without having to analyze the rules again.
Esoteric Order of Gamers – The Order Of Gamers.com website has lots of visually appealing and useful playaids for popular games.
Miscellaneous Game Related Articles
A smörgåsbord of game related articles. These are ones that do not fit in my other categories.
Buzzfeed – 19 Pictures That Are Too Real For People Who Play Settlers Of Catan
Geek and Sundry – Don’t Be A Snob: 3 Easy Tips To Get Others Into Hobby Games
CNN – Why the CIA uses board games to train its officers
Boardgame Photography – A great article on how light affects photography of board games from ISlayTheDragon website.
Entertaining After Action / Session Reports
People write Session reports for a variety of reasons. They are a good way to illustrate the game mechanics to help people to understand the game. Reading a Session report can help you decide about purchasing the game. Sometime a Session Report can also be very entertaining.
American Megafauna – A very long, yet entertaining, session report from BGG.
Fate deck was not stacked – Combat Commander: Europe has one of the best rule books of any game I have ever played. It is easy to read, well organized, and very comprehensive. Even so, it was not thorough enough for one gamer. BGG link.
Local Game Stores
My map of local gaming resources can be found here. A list of local stores can also be found in my article here.
Game Stores in California – Here is a cool Google map to show the game stores in California. It is far from complete, and the contents are always subject to change. It’s a good idea to double check the stores still exist.
Game Play Logging
In association with a few articles that I have written on the subject of an individual’s, and game group play logging.
BG Stats – An iOS app that l used to log plays of board game. I have used the paid version, on the iPad, to log my game plays. I find it useful and relatively intuitive.
Splendiferous Play-Logging Utility – The SPLU is a useful add-on to the game logging functionality of BGG.
ScoreGeek – An online, and app tool (not free) for logging your game plays. I have not used this yet, so I cannot vouch for it.
Local personalities with a passion for board games.
In no particular order, here are a bunch of local gamers who have other geeky/nerdy/design/artistic related talents. This is by no means an exhaustive list, let me know if there are any ones I have missed.
Andres Salazar – Artist and gamer Andres Salazar.
Ars Victor game page, BGG Designer – The one hour wargame by local game designer Steveo DeBaun.
About, BGG Designer, and Facebook – Artist, designer and gamer Bobby Doran.
Gaming is the New Black – A blog by local gamer April-Lyn Caouette.
Chris Renshall – Gamer, and game designer for TGIK Games. Chris may have beaten me by one point at Qwixx, but I am not holding that against him.
Mark and Christina Major are a multiple threat couple of gamer/game designer/artist. You can find out more about them at their Whirling Derby site.
A little further afield, but not by much, Goleta based gamer and designer Jerry White is interviewed on Grogheads about his game on the 1942 Doolittle Raid.
Game Collecting and Storage
Two posts from NSKN Games on Protecting Your Treasures – Part 1 and Part 2 – I am a staunch supporter of sleeving of (some) cards. I do especially like the flowchart in Part 2.
As counter argument against the sleeving of cards from BGG. Heresy !
Counter Clipping – Die cut cardboard counters can have unsightly excess cardboard at the edges. These are often called chads, or nibs. As a solution, Oregon Laminations have developed hand held tools to easily clip these corners. My favorite is the 2mm Radius Deluxe model. There is a massive thread on BGG on this subject.
With a variety of game repair, game pimping, and game manufacture ideas and resources. This BGG thread has a bunch of useful information.
Adequate lighting is critical for board gaming venues. The home improvement store Lowes has an article on different lighting types, and their pros and cons. It goes without saying that good bright, yet diffused lighting is critical for enjoyment of board games.
Game Design and Development
Here is a rather eclectic mix of resources related to game design. There are many resources for the budding game designer. A good place to start are the BGG Game Design Forums and sub forums. Reddit also has a game design area.
Some notes on contacts for designers.
Color Blindness Simulator – A useful tool for testing artwork for compatibility with color blindness.This allows artwork to be viewed by those people with a form of colorblindness.
Want to create a virtual version of a board game ? – Many designers and developers use an online version of the game for test purposes. This allows people to test the game without the need to produce a physical copy, or even be in the same county. There are several tools that can be used. I have used, and developed game modules for the free tool Vassal. There is also ZunTsu, and commercial products Tabletopia, and Tabletop Simulator.
Here is a useful online tool to create hexagonal maps
Some useful links about dice and probabilities. AnyDice.com has an online dice rolling console. If probabilities for six-sided dice are your thing – D6 Probability Tables.
With a variety of game repair, game pimping, and game manufacture ideas and resources. This BGG thread has a bunch of useful information.
How to make your own game cards thread on BGG.
Crowdfunding
Crowd Funding is now a popular method of gaining both funding, and publicity, for the all types of games. The two best known Crowd funding sites are Kickstarter and Indiegogo.
Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising monetary contributions from a large number of people.
Crowd funding has become very popular for tabletop game publishers. A successful campaign will gain both funding, and publicity, for their project. Many established publishers are now using crowd funding to launch products instead of taking the risk of launching a product in the conventional way.
Stonemaier Games has a list of Kickstarter related lessons.
Quora.com –How to launch a board game on Kickstarter.
Kick The Table – A weekly BGG blog that tracks board games on Kickstarter.
Kickstarter Campaign Tips – from BoardGameQuest,com
Crowdfunding has acquired a bad reputation for failed projects. Some of this is deserved as people have lost money through failed products, myself included. Even so, people forget that board game products are notoriously late. As always, be aware of the risks and the rewards before backing a crowdfunded project.
Game Reviews
A BGG thread on how to write a great review.
The Dice Tower – A fun website with lots of reviews, videos, and podcasts.
Bonding with Boardgames – YouTube channel.
Grogheads Podcast, focuses on Historical games, aka Wargames.
Tim
Last updated 28th February 2018
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