Sue Cook

Make Your Own Board Game is a well-written, concise reference book on how to construct, proof, and play your own tabletop game. Although intended for younger readers, this book is an excellent reference for anyone considering creating a board game. Please note that the word “tabletop” does not mean that the game needs to be played on a table, or on a board. Tabletop games may be played on the floor, grass, table, or any surface.

Make Your Own Board Game references many different types of games, as well as fascinating trivia regarding games and gameplay. Never in my wildest dreams did I realize there was so much to making what appears to be a simplistic game, such as Uno. That one particular game involves color recognition, logic, cooperation, rule recognition, tactical skills, reasoning, memory, and the list goes on.

This book would be an excellent resource to have in every classroom, whether the reader is in a traditional classroom setting or virtual. It applies to grade school children as well as college age students. According to the author, gameplay fosters social interactions, tactical cooperation, healthy competition, logic/reasoning, imagination, creativity, world building, and the personal achievement of goals. Wow, that is definitely not what I expected from playing a game of Go. Speaking of Go, did you know that it is considered to be the world’s oldest game? (Free Jeopardy answer for you.)

I was enthralled by the knowledge that is in this book. I love board games, but most specifically RPGs (role playing games), and would love to be a DM (dungeon master) one day. It wouldn’t make a difference if it was a Dr. Who RPG or Classic D&D, the power of holding that D20… but I digress. The power of the DM or GM is mentioned in the book, and goes without question. It makes for a more interesting game, and one that can be played repeatedly with varying outcomes. There is a chapter devoted to RPGs, so if you are considering constructing a world, check it out.

Make Your Own Board Game goes above just talking about the various structures, mechanisms, and rules of the game. It gives you actual games/worlds to play, greatly encouraging creativity and making the game your own. This book will become a much used guide.

This wasn't what I was expecting at all - I thought, from the description, that this would be an in depth study on how to make board games but in fact it's pretty high level and aimed at complete beginners. Not for me - but that's more my mistaken assumptions rather than a problem with the book...

"Make Your Own Board Game" would be a great addition to any library for patrons and staff! Colorfully illustrated, well organized, and detailed, "Make Your Own Board Game" breaks down the elements and mechanics of board games, provides examples using classic games, and print and play examples.

The concept of the book is awesome. Really well thought out. The copy I got however was riddled with formatting errors. It's not a book that should be an ebook, just a physical copy where you can really appreciate the details.

This book looks at the many components it takes to create your board game. It's aimed at youth so it is easy to read but adults can learn as well. The colorful drawings break up text for easy reading. I like how the author takes classic games and uses them as examples to help understand the concepts..

[Review of uncorrected proof]
I never fully-appreciated the educational aspects of game design until I read this book. Game design utilizes all of the elements that we learn first as children: patterns, colors, shapes, numbers, and letters. While adults could certainly use this book, it seems especially geared towards tweens and their teachers. Board game design encourages creative thinking, critical thinking and abstract thinking. Strategy, negotiation, cooperation, collaboration, and concentration are all necessary for play and design, There are any number of lesson plans teachers could pull from this title. It also lends itself to library and makerspace programming. The author uses classic games such as Charades and Backgammon as examples for specific types of game elements. I did wonder at times if many of these games were still part of our pop culture lexicon. Bonus: one of the best diagrams of rock-paper-scissors I've ever seen!
[The uncorrected proof did not contain the template, glossary, or index.]

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Storey Publishing for an advanced copy of this new games reference book.

Jesse Terrance Daniels's Make Your Own Board Game: Designing, Building, and Playing an Original Tabletop Game is a guide not ony to making a board game for yourself, friends and family, but a really good primer to the history of board and card games, and the importance that both strategy and play have had on people. The book is extremely well written, very interesting and even if you don't make a game, as an avid role player and one who has been known to dabble in games I found it really fun to know the mechanics of game design, and the different ways you can do things.

The author has clearly forgotten more than I will ever know about board games. And he does a ery good job in sharing this knowledge, with a very nice style that is informative and interesting, never boring. You can tell he loves games, and wants to share that knowledge so the reader and his gaming companions can have fun also. The book covers all the ways characters can be generated, moved, fight, fly, live die, and make decisions. What he does not cover, and I appreciated was a marketing aspect. No how to sell your ideas here, this is more for fun. If you want to make a few dollars, well there are other books for that.

I really liked this book, and plan to make something for my nephews when I see them again. It might not be the best game, but we will have fun playing it. And that is all you can ask. A great book for gamers, and those who want to create games.

Helpful and easy to read. a fun introduction to a topic of interest to many. I look forward to reading more by this author.

Thank you so much to Storey Publishing for the eARC of "Make Your Own Board Game" by Jesse Terrance Daniels. Although I was given this ARC for free, I will be judging this fairly and will be based upon my own opinion.

This is such a helpful guide to board games. Each point the author makes always includes a Pros and Cons section which is so helpful for anyone like me who is very indecisive. Also, at the back there are multiple games to try and even examples of already made games (such as Chess)

I recommend buying this for a Teenager or an Adult who loves board games for the Christmas holidays once it comes out on the 30th August.

Although I really liked this one as an adult, and will be buying it, it won't be for the kids to read. I am always gamifying in the classroom, and perhaps this one would have worked better in collaboration with a teacher to create a system for gamifying lessons. For reference in the classroom, if a kid is looking to create a game, I would recommend, but not in general.

4.5/5
Riddle me this, in over 20 years of my life I never thought about how board games work. I really liked that it went over the pros and cons of each mechanic, and considered how many liberties you might want to give the players. Also enjoyed the traditional game examples.
Didn't put it into practice (yet) but I totally see myself gamebuilding with my way younger siblings as well with this.
Half a point substracted because some parts were akwardly lengthy compared to the rest.

Wow! The how to’s of this book was very detailed. Everything was systematically presented, never leaving any detail behind.

I am not really a board game aficionado but I got curious when I saw this one. Yes, I remember, enjoying board games as a child but those were simple ones. It’s nice to know that you can do more with it. It was an eyeopener!

Overall, this is pretty cool ! I’m sure board game designers will devour this book!

As a teacher I like books such as these which provide the tools for learning a new skill. This is clearly laid out and gives lots of ideas and tips regarding board game design. As a board game hobbyist I find it appealing and as a teacher in charge of games groups, it seems a good resource to point them to if they want to get creative. There are some interesting chapters that build upon a variety of modern and traditional board game mechanics. If you're already into board game design, it may not be helpful, but if you're keen and starting out, it covers the basics.

This title provides an excellent and accessible overview to board game design. Will be a good addition to both public and school library collections, and a useful resource for teen and school librarians to create programming. Thank you to the publisher for providing a review copy.

A very indepth view of how to go about creating your own board game. Good for those who like a challenge and explanations how to set this up. However, if you were thinking of a basic game then it may be a bit too detailed.

I was very interested in reviewing Make Your Own Board Game by Jesse Terrance Daniels because my 12-year-old daughter loves to invent her own games. I read it for her and gave her some tips to creating a complete board game.
This book has excellent ideas for designing your own game. It walks you through the brainstorming phase, helps you choose chance or choice, props or tokens and the rules for your game.
The graphics in the book are fun and thanks to this book, we are excited to create our own board games!

This book is fantastic! The layout is really nice, simple and easy to follow. There are lots of fun graphics to help explain and break up the text so it doesn’t feel too heavy. I really enjoyed the fact they have examples from games that everyone knows like Chess, to help explain a concept. Also, at the end they have some easy fill in the blanks and build your own game templates to help you get the swing of things.

I cannot wait to try making a game when my kids get a bit older.

Special thank you to NetGalley and Storey Publishing for sharing this digital copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I especially enjoyed the graphics in this book. The content was thorough and well thought out.

I had hoped this would inspire a summer-long project for the kids. However, they are more interested in created apps for online gaming.

This is a thoroughly fun book that walks the reader through the principles of designing and board game. It makes it possible for an older child or adult to think through the things a game needs to be a great play, how to avoid possible problems to gameplay and rules, and does it all well. My family is enjoying crafting their own games with favorite themes and topics personalized just for them.

Wow, what a fun and creative book! This definitely woke up the board game lover in me and now I want to build my own board game more than ever! I enjoy playing board games and have done so since I was a child, even as an adult I enjoy going to board game nights at my local comic book store! So I just knew I needed to peek into this lovely book!

The layout is beautiful and creative and perfect for this book. The author manages to capture the essence of creating an own board game in a simple and understandable way so that the reader knows exactly what to focus on and which are the important steps that need to be thought of. With some classic examples the author illustrates ideas and strategies behind games.

I think this will be a fun summer project for me and I am definitely looking forward to using this as a guide book once I have enough time to start creating my own board game that I can play with my family.