Read below for a different rating for game hobbyists.

Jesses Terrance Daniels has put together visually appealing book in Make Your Own Board Game, available February 2022. Don’t let the cover dissuade you. The inside has cute illustrations and a layout which adds to the book, throwing in decipherable pictures of well-known Euro games in the process.

And here is the but…..I actually have two different ratings for this book, depending on the audience. If the audience is a group of school kids or a community group without hobbyist game experience to work together on a group project, this is a good book for the purpose, and I would give it 4 stars. The content is similar to The White Box Essays but with more visual appeal.

However, if the audience is game hobbyists who love gaming so much they want to try their hand at making their own game, the value drops down to a 1 or 2. There just isn’t any novel information in the book, and anyone who is familiar with Euro style games will already know all of the information.

Loved the book.. A really quick read and it goes in depth of the creation of board games and how they work. There are also board games at the end that you're able to play yourself.

Thanks for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for honest feedback. I remember being assigned a project like this in middle school. Definitely way before access to internet was a big thing like it is now. If I would’ve had this book, it would’ve helped a lot! It has so many suggestions and ideas for making various types of board games — there are, of course, many different methodologies and courses of play for BGs so this is apt. It is visually appealing and straightforward for a young person to get a foundation for their craft. Really cool!

Also, I have friends who absolutely adore BGs even into our late 20s. They’re definitely “back in” after the resurgence of bored people in their houses during the pandemic. This would’ve been a cool idea for kids last year, but hey, now’s a great time still!

An enjoyable read.

This was an enjoyable read, it is well written and goes into just about the right amount of depth without being too confusing.

Many thanks to the author and NetGalley for gifting me this arc in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

I received a free e-ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was drawn to this book because board games are one of the things my sister, cousins and I have bonded over as we got a bit older. I thought it would be cool to learn a bit more about the mechanics of how board games work, so perhaps I'll be a bit quicker on the uptake when we play a new game (especially with my sis and eldest cousin who are practically geniuses.)

Make Your Own Board Game is a fantastic guide to board games, and is visually appealing too. The colours are vibrant, and the layout is stylistically simple and easy to follow.

The book takes you step by step through the different elements of board games - tools, tokens, rules etc. It talks about mechanics; like turn order, and currency and resources; and the various alternatives you can use. What I particularly liked was how it explored different options, and then gave you the pros and cons of each option. It also has a sort of 'philosophy' of sorts - you want your game to be fair, easy enough to understand, complex enough that it isn't boring, and have enough choices for the players so that it doesn't just feel like chance. I also liked how they discussed classic games, such as chess and snakes and ladders, to illustrate different types of games.

The last quarter of the book is dedicated to helping you create your own game with the knowledge from the previous sections, with plenty of options and examples.

I think this book has the potential to appeal to a lot of readers/gamers. I remember attempting to make my own board game as a kid (the results were pretty dismal, because I had no idea what I was doing, lol), so I think there is definitely an audience there. And as I said in the intro, I was drawn to it so I could understand how board games work, so there's absolutely an older audience for this book too.

What a cool little book! I loved the graphics and artwork and think that those elements will really make this a collector’s item for game enthusiasts. I love games but had never given much thought to their construction - this book showed me how much in common most games actually have while all still being so vastly different. If you’re a game lover, this is definitely worth the quick read and having as a reference guide if you ever get the itch to create your own!

I love games (mostly board and card). I love sharing them with people, especially my students. This is a great book that breaks down the mechanics of games and gets the creator thinking about the different process to develop one. I was telling my schools’ design teacher about this book; his family and I get together to play board games often. He was excited to hear about a book that breaks down board games because he is having our grade 10 students create a board game next year, going through the design process when developing a board game, then building it. This book would be perfect for that project.

This book explains so many options when developing games. You forget how many there are, until you see a whole book breaking it down to games like rock-scissors-paper or paper football. It offers pros and cons to different rules of play. How a strong theme or story, can create a strong game. I love the classic game examples, these are the games I grew up on. The images also add a nice touch to explain concepts and just make the book more aesthetically pleasing.

Thank you Netgalley and Storey Publishing for this ARC. I look forward to purchasing a copy for our school… maybe a few for our design class.

Text and art are not final in the ARC version I received.

I cannot wait to see the final product of this book!

It's a thorough explanation of how to create a board game, without being mystifying. I think this book would be perfect for Teens or YA that are interested in creating their own game. It would also be great for adults as well! It's stocked full of vital and helpful information, and it does a great job of guiding readers along their journey of making a board game -- from concept, to mechanics, to finalizing the game.

Thank you to NetGalley and Storey Publishing for the ARC

Jesse Terrance Daniels, Make Your Own Board Game, A Complete Guide to Designing, Building, and Playing Your Own Tabletop Game, Storey Publishing, LLC, 15 February 2022.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with this Advance Reader Copy (Text and art are not final) in exchange for an honest review.

Playing board games, and making our own, has been part of my family activity, with my siblings, children, and grandchildren. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to read this book, particularly as the family has just been reaching into a box of directions, statements, penalties, and rewards written on different sizes of paper in a box game devised by my youngest grandchild. The rewards and penalties fluctuate in their impact rather wildly; the strategy of putting the worst of the penalties on the larger pieces of paper has resulted in their being the most accessible, leading to more opportunities for a devastating result; there is a system of points and tickets, the best of which seem to accrue to family members on an ad hoc basis.

And here we have some of the examples of how to and how not to devise a game that will keep all the players relatively happy. What will suit a family of adults and one inventive child might be very unpopular with a group of peers. Jesse Terrance Daniels’ advice will help the game designer avoid the pitfalls but maintain the exciting features of my grandchild’s inventive game.

Daniels begins by describing the strategic features, nature of skills required, rewards and penalties embodied in familiar games, past, enduring, and current. In short, what makes games work to keep people engaged. The chapters are illustrated, with some fascinating examples of many-sided dice, past games boards intermingled with graphics of new games, and players. It is difficult to assess the attractiveness of the illustrations, as they appear on my kindle in permutations of grey. However, they are effective in that they are linked to the text and illustrate the longevity, popularity and inventiveness of the games described by Daniels.

The first chapters lead the reader through a variety of games, discussing the features that make them work. This makes for intriguing, as well as educative, reading. Pitting competitiveness against the need to involve people of a variety of talents and ages; contrasting creativity with the need for clarity; ensuring that players are not left watching two compete during a lengthy process of elimination; and maintaining rules that encourage fairness, but also allowing for chance, are amongst the concepts discussed in these early chapters. I found the discussion compelling, and the theories applicable to topics beyond devising games.
Making your own board games is covered in the second part of the book. The completed book will include an index, and a glossary. If the available text is any indication, these will be detailed, accessible and informative. At the start of the book there is a section on navigating the text.

Daniel’s concern with the educational opportunities, including ‘math, logic and deduction’ of board games suggests that his interests are with providing game players and those who want to devise their own games tools that will enhance the educational value of playing as well as designing. This book will be an asset to the individual who wants to design games. Teachers who want to expand educational opportunities and fun in the classroom can look at the skills needed for the design of different types of games and combine these to include in creative classroom teaching. The discussion of board and playing pieces suggests that such teaching could be relevant to art classes as well.

Certainly, the ideas Jesse Terrance Daniels presents in Make Your Own Board Game A Complete Guide to Designing, Building, and Playing Your Own Tabletop Game can be used in a variety of learning processes, as well as in creating games as a joyful experience.

This book was amazing!

Make Your Own Board Game

I have always loved playing board games and feel that one isn't ever old enough to enjoy them. I have often wished I could turn our children's interests and skills into a fun game. Now I can (or at least in February 2022, I will).

I loved how Make Your Own Board Game allows us to understand the rules and principles of game making, thus being able to create games with materials at hand that will entice children to play. Daniels made this process easy to understand and adapt.

As both an educator and a mom, I highly recommend this book for your classroom (and game-loving family!). I know I will add this book to both my work and personal library.



Disclaimer: I first read it as an ARC. In exchange for an honest review, I am thankful to Storey Publishing, NetGalley, and Jesse Terrance Daniels for providing me with a copy of Make Your Own Board Game.

How many people, I wonder, like me, have picked up a token or a die, and played a board game without giving any thought as to its creation. Never again will I play a game without thinking about all of the thought, work, and creativity that has gone into its creation. Without this book, that never would have occurred to me. Make your Own Board Game, A Complete Guide to Designing, Building, and Playing Your Own Tabletop Games is a fascinating book. While the colorful and engaging cover and interior drawings, may give you the idea that this book is written for children, you’d be wrong. In fact, it would take quite the mature child to fully appreciate all that is contained inside.

This book will guide you step-by-step through what it takes to create a game of your own. It takes you from the basics, i.e. the types of tokens and game pieces and their purposes, provides in-depth information on the various types of games, and even goes as far as to explaining how to write your own clear and concise rules. Additionally, it discusses common games, their creation and gameplay, and contains a detailed glossary to explain terms the reader may find more complex.

Using well know board games and their components to explain the creative process aids the future game board artist in a clear, familiar, and understandable way. If you ever had an interest in creating your own board game, this is the guide that you need.

Many thanks to the author, Storey Publishing, and NetGalley, for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Great book if you want to make your own board game.
I used this with me EAL class I’m school to make English vocabulary games. They really enjoyed making their games.
Recommended for anyone who likes playing board games but find them either expensive or have played them numerous times and want something different and unique.

I love how this title goes into the board game creation process. As an adult, I found it helpful in evaluating the games that I like to play, that I don't like to play, and that I have thought should exist! I think I will send this title to our children's and teen selectors. Our YA department has DnD books and this would fit in with those. There are many possibilities for library programs using this book or even camps!

This is a lovely book about board game mechanics and rules.
Both a how-to on how to create your own board game and a behind-the-scenes on how board games work.
Suitable for creating simplistic or children's board games rather than the next Scythe for example, but a way to start and later build upon to create more complex games. I would have loved this even more when I was a kid, and would recommend to anyone who has a child in their life who likes board games.

Thoughtful and detailed handbook for fans of board games. Accessible for older teens, readers will get all the basics and mechanics of how a board game works that will inspire them and give them a behind-the-scenes look of what makes a board game successful.

A fun, interesting and very helpful resource in these troubled times. Hours and hours of family fun while working on these together.
Something fun other than gaming and watching mindless TV.
Go for it you won't regret a minute spent in this.

There is a real gap in the market for board game enthusiasts wanting to do more with their game experiences and I think this book fits it perfectly. With a few books about board game theory now starting to become popular, 'Make Your Own Board Game' really goes back to the very basic components on what makes a successful board game.
With a detailed glossary of complex and often misunderstood terms, you're in very safe hands to guide you on your creation journey. Explore the different components and familiar comforts that can make the base of gameplay, there are no limits on what you can combine to create something new. The mechanics of game can be make or break, but there's a whole chapter to sort through what does and doesn't work together with really handy (and cute) illustrations to help understand each point.

What I loved most about the guide is that it uses real and commonly played games to help you understand what each set of terms mean and how they differ in actual game play.

I honestly think it's a 'must have' book for any store who stocks board games or any RPG enthusiast.

Board games have become huge in the last 10 years. I've played hundreds of them and with my husband own a nice library of almost 300 games. We both have thought about creating something and this book immediately called my attention. The first 3/4 of the book list all the elements of gaming, first listing components such as tiles/cards/dice then mechanics in function of the type of gaming (such as grid coverage, role playing, bluffing, drafting, location control...) it's very complete, clear and well summarised. The illustrations are well chosen and serve the text perfectly, making the book a nice object to look at, and not too dry to read.
The last section holds 4 simple games the author has created as an example of what you can do.
It's cute, and probably more appropriate to creating children's games, but the main element are there, and truthfully I hadn't seen a game creating book before so this feels like it is paving the way for a whole field.
I enjoyed the read and it's nice to see most of what exists in one clear work.
I really hope this helps to create lots of wonderful things!

This is a great example of a book I didn't know I needed for my classroom library until I found it on NetGalley! I was expecting something I could peruse before giving my annual assignment for students to create a board game based on something we read in class - Make Your Own Board Game was so much more. It just upped the ante!
The graphics are great, make sense, are visually pleasing, and add to the overall pleasing aesthetic of the book. I loved that the book started out with the very basics - super simple introduction to the terms used in gaming - then moved carefully and thoughtfully through all the information one would need to create his/her own game, ending with all the components necessary to play some new games.
I especially like the section that explains about making rules and then gives pros and cons for each type of rule. I also appreciated the classic examples of games that might be familiar to readers and from which one might draw inspiration and ideas.
Although I was a bit intimidated when I first opened the book and realized it wasn't quite was I was looking/hoping for, I ultimately came to the conclusion that this is going to be a must-have for my future classroom libraries!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I am an avid board game player, and have toyed with the idea of creating a board game. I could not have asked for a better guide, than this book. I was surprised at how thorough and comprehensive it was, breaking down the components of boardgames and giving step by step information on what it takes to build a prototype boardgames of your own. I think anyone who is considering creating their own boardgames with benefit greatly from reading this book.