Manual Override

Grant Rodiek | August 12, 2018
There were a few threads on Twitter this weekend, and really somewhat often, about pay and compensation in the tabletop industry. My knee jerk reaction to this topic is that the industry should do a much better job in its compensation and treatment of its largely contract labor.
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The Inspiration of Root

Grant Rodiek | August 05, 2018
I received my long-awaited copy of Root this week. I was eager to play it, so I finagled a Sunday game day with my friends to play it and Brass: Lancashire. The latter is incredibly excellent, but today I wish to write about Root, which was excellent, but deeply inspirational as well.
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Co-Op Concerns

Grant Rodiek | August 01, 2018
I Tweeted a bit about cooperative games last week and it stirred up a bit of a storm. Some agreement, some strong disagreement, some strange stories and anecdotes. It really clarified just how polarizing cooperative games are.
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SPQF Post Mortem

Grant Rodiek | July 29, 2018
The SPQF campaign is now over, so I want to dive into why it was successful, but also identify opportunities for improvement. While this post focuses on SPQF as a case study, I’ll also be using historical data from my previous campaigns to outline changes I made to reach this point in the first place.
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Themes vs. Mechanisms

Grant Rodiek | July 08, 2018
I've been interviewed by numerous people about design, and my least favorite recurring question is "How do you design: theme versus mechanism?" Frankly, I think it's a silly question, one that completely sidesteps the nuance of design, but is also misleading that those are the choices for designers to pursue.
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The $1000 Test

Grant Rodiek | June 07, 2018
I have to be honest - I think more people should self-publish their games. Not because you have the skills, or the time, or because it's profitable. None of that. But, because it's thrilling, satisfying, a constant learning experience, and hard.
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Mo uses, mo problems

Grant Rodiek | May 13, 2018
I love multi-use cards, and as a result, they're a part of almost every design I've crafted. The exceptions being Druids, Rail Contango, and currently Dungeon Time, Fun! I love them. I am by no means an authority on multi-use cards, or anything really, but I've experimented so much with multi-use cards that I feel confident writing about them.
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KPIs

Grant Rodiek | May 06, 2018
I just returned from two weeks in Stockholm and Copenhagen. Most of the first week was spent at a leadership conference for my company. As you might expect, I cannot really discuss the specifics of the conference as it went deeply into secret projects, corporate strategy, and so forth.
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Mindful Design

Grant Rodiek | April 19, 2018
The Mind is a short cooperative card game for 2-4 players that is getting a lot of buzz lately. Eric Martin of BGG is mentioning it quite a bit as he boasts over 100 plays already. It's not yet available in America, though some specialty sites have it, and you can go on the German Amazon to buy it.
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The SPQF Rules Demo

Grant Rodiek | March 06, 2018
This weekend, March 9-11, I'll be at Game Kastle Mountain View for my favorite event: Protospiel San Jose. It's an event where local Bay Area designers test their new designs with hundreds of volunteer testers.
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