Imagine that your friendly local game store has a sale and you see a great deal on a game by one of your favorite designers. You know nothing about the game besides the designer’s name and that it’s a decent price. You are in a hurry, no time to research, buy it now or miss out.
Which designer’s game would you most likely purchase blindly based only on their name?
Reiner Knizia.
Guy is a legend
Despite the huge respect I have for Reiner, I found many of his games have one single tiny mechanic that is often boring after the first play.
I mean it’s gotta be Vlaada Chvatil. God only knows what kind of game I’d end up walking out with, but I can guarantee it would be something interesting.
I would not say no to a Uwe Rosenberg game.
I don’t know about a lot of designers, but Jason C. Hill, I guess. Last Night on Earth is my favourite board game series, so I’ll try whatever he puts out there.
Has Flying Frog put out a new game since they released Shadows of Brimstone? I used to love their games but they seem to only focus on that games now.
Sadly, no. It seems like SoB has become their money maker. LNoE isn’t going anywhere, though, and I’m kinda happy with where it is. That being said, a new IP would’ve been nice.
I don’t think I have the gene which lets me blindly trust someone with a transaction, heh. I research every game I buy. My money is guaranteed to be worth something. I want to know my game will be worth something in exchange.
That said, Volko Ruhnke, Eric M. Lang, Corey Konieczka, Rob Daviau, and Vital Lacerda are some of my favorites who are still active.
My picks: On the lighter side Phil Walker-Harding. The game might be end up being light but it will be very likely enjoyable. On the mid-weight side it’s probably Simone Luciani or Daniele Tascini or possibly someone else from the Italian euro designers. I’ve liked pretty much everything I’ve tried from them so far.
First to mind is Tim Fowers. I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve played by him. New game with his name on it? Gimme…
Christian Martinez because Inis is a lovely super replay-able game
Excellent choice. Last week at our game group, I was informed that he has a new design on the way, Galactic Renaissance.
Agreed about Inis and Cairn is decent too but it’s still a small sample size. Will have to see how Galactic Renaissance turns out.
Carl Chudyk.
Each game of Innovation is a richly woven tapestry.
Uwe Rosenberg. His worker placement games are just so well designed and scratch an itch not many other games scratch.
Milton Bradley
Perhaps Paul Dennen? Clank! And Dune: Imperium are both Top 10 games for me.
But for someone with a wider catalog I’ll go with Knizia.
The question a few weeks ago was fave designer and then I went with Sackson. But Sackson does have his fair share of duds, and now that this time it’s more of a question of highest floor, I have to go with Richard Garfield, probably better known as Pheldagriff. Each of his games bring something new and interesting to the table.
For anyone with younger children, Marbushka makes stunningly cute and gorgeous games ❤️
Mac Gerdts, I own almost all of his games and it’s fascinating how elegant they are… most of the rules fit in an A4 paper, you can explain them in less than 15 minutes without ambiguities and the gameplay is really interesting, leaving you with a lot of decisions to take…