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Nicolas

I’m a science communicator who love to play board games with family & friends

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Loren S. Miller

NeoTron Design

I try to be helpful.

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Fiona Dickinson

The Game Shelf

Fiona is one half of The Game Shelf. A long-running board game blog, reviewing games from a couple’s perspective.

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Maximillian d’Erembourg

Designerpreneur,.Guild of Blue Wizards Press

First game designed in 1985 at age 15, self published in my company Blue Wizard’s Guild 1986. Restarter on 2015 as the Guild of Blue Wizards Press. One game currently for sale on TGC,.6 others in play testing.

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Cristóbal Massis

Jazz musician

I love love, music, and cats

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Rod

I’m a happy, socially active guy who’s very passionate about gaming. I’ve competed semi-professionally on Magic the Gathering many times, including Pro-Tour and Worlds tournaments (which were the highest level of competition at the time). I’ve been playing video games on consoles/PC for almost 35 years now (started very young with an Atari). As a designer, I have some experience creating a card game (that was never published) and a small ship combat video game with my brother when I was 10-15 years old. I’ve also participated in some feedback rounds for board games privately. I work fulll-time as an economist on a financial technology firm, mostly in charge of designing and building (with a team) all of our digital products.

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Nicolás Lira Turpaud

I’m a science journalist currently working in astronomy outreach. I’m also doing a master degree in innovation.

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El Tiburón Grande

Illustrator | Educator

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Mitchell Brannan

Fundo Games

My name is Mitchell Brannan, and I am 24 years old. I recently got married a little over a year ago and we are expecting our first little girl, Courtney Joy, this upcoming November! I am relatively new to the board game industry, but I am a life long gamer. From sports, to video games, to made up games in the house with my siblings, I have always enjoyed playing, competing, and creating new games. I have begun to develop a passion to see a new wave of board games emerge on the market, as I believe that they provide a healthy alternative to video games and create opportunities to build relationships and lasting memories. Not to say video games cannot, but board games are far more effective at doing so. So I am excited to see where this journey into the board game industry takes me, and am looking forward to meeting people and being a a part of it!

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JV

Subsurface Games

I am a Québécois game designer and self-publisher. I also run a game design blog over at subsurfacegames.ca, where I try to give more concrete examples and advice.

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Eric J. Francis

Nerd. Journalist. Board gamer.

I’m a freelance writer and editor who is designing board games on the side. My game Calligraphy won the inaugural Board Game Workshop Contest in 2018.

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Richard Stangle

Husband, father, life-long gamer. The rest is just trivial boasting.

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Alwyn Wong

KS addict, Hobbyist game designer that enjoys all types of games… Except for the hunger games… ok I dont know what else to write that hasn’t been written by other judges here.

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Nathan Woll

I’m a board game designer based in the Midwest (USA). I consider myself a variety gamer – I enjoy good games from all categories of board games.

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Ferne Hebig

Administrator by day, graphic designer by trade, and writer/game designer/mini painter by night.

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Michael Pittre

Owner of PenTree Games/ Game Designer

PenTree Games is a family owned independent board game company. We have successfully funded our first Kickstarter and in the development of two more games.

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Talita Rhein

Dogo Dash

Brazilian living in Germany. Feminist game designer, game developer and gamer.

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Paul Klatzman

(Very New) Board Game Designer

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Marshall Miller

Game Designer

I’m a North Carolina-based gamer, game designer, and games educator. My games include The Warren and Nanoworld: A Game of Clones. I’m one of the organizers for the 200 Word RPG Challenge.

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Dirk Knemeyer

The Game Design Round Table

Social futurist and creative director by day, game designer and family man by night.

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Tracy Black

Little j Games

Hi – I’m Tracy Black. I have been working mostly behind the scenes with Little j Games since it was founded back in 2017. Recently I’ve been excited to take on a more public role at conventions and during the design process.

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Travis Lewis

Planner

Math minded, father and husband. I love all kinds of games. Some of my favorites are Dominant Species, Ethnos, and D-Day Dice, Evolution, and Welcome To.

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Kelly Parker

Graphic Designer

I am a graphic designer and marketing professional. I have always been an avid gamer, who enjoys a wide variety of board games. I have recently taken my love for gaming to the next level, by venturing into board game design. Being new to the industry, I look forward to the possibility of one day having my first game published.

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Sarah Trice

Hi, there. I’m still thinking about what to say or what would be good to say here.

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Jacob Stick

Mental Health Counseling Professional

I am a long time lover of board games and love them more than I would any other gaming media. I have played tons of games over my lifetime with a lot of emphasis on Roleplaying Games.

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Ana Maria

Entrepreneur

I am an artist and a creator consultant, I help other creators grow their passions through crowdfunding, while I find my own way through art. I love boardgames as an expression of the best artistic minds.

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Andrei SIMIONESCU-PANAIT

Andrei SIMIONESCU-PANAIT Ph.D. is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the Polytechnic University in Bucharest and a critical thinking trainer from the Institute de pratiques philosophiques in Paris. Apart from academia, he works with small teams and does individual training sessions and social games for teams, teachers, managers, psychologists and HR experts. He is passionate about board games and spends his free time playing, playtesting and working on his own designs.

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Justin Bari

elementary school music teacher

I am a married man with seven kids. I have been teaching music for sixteen years, mostly as a public school teacher. I love to write poetry and fiction, compose music, and create mini videos. Board gaming has been a lifelong joy that was rekindled when my wife and I started finding high-ranking games secondhand at Goodwill. We eventually acquired some six large bins of board games and have been a family of gamers at different levels of involvement. My son Asa and I are particularly interested in the creative side of board games. As a child, I, like him, would spend more time making up games than playing existing ones. I used to play chess and Yellowstone against myself. In my humble opinion, Mechs vs. Minions and Acquire are perfect games, and I wish I’d known Sid Sackson in person.

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Ștefan Calin

Author

Enthusiast of creative freedom and lover of all things beautiful

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Paul Starr

Professional Engineer

Avid gamer since I was a kid, which is quite a few years now. My passion is RPGs but I play a lot of board games, own a lot of board games, and have backed a lot of board games on Kickstarter. I am participating in this competition with my first game design, Zodiac War.

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Kellen Freeman

librarian, game designer, maker

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Tyler

amateur game designer. Initially did a lot of warhammer inspired miniature battle games but now since I mostly play card/board/eurogames I have been focused on those.Still highly interested in conflict centric games, but I like engine building and anything that has an area control component. Big advocate in trying to bake decisions into every part of the game down to turn order and a member of the simultaneous action cult.

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Leighton Joskey

Board game player and aspiring board game designer

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Brandon Lane

Avid gamer of all types, mostly board, have been playtesting games and playing print and plays and backing kickstarters since 2010 and have play tested for Stonemeier games, Aviary Games, dozens of smaller companies and independent board game makers, and several card games.

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Scott Payne

I have been a gamer since I was a little kid, moving from Candy Land to Monopoly to Life, Clue and Risk and more. Getting a new game on my birthday and at Christmas was hard to beat. In the last ten years I have gotten into playing strategy games and have steadily grown a collection that’s meant to be played. I love many types of games, from light to heavy. My top three games are Troyes, Madeira and Orleans.

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Phil Amylon

Phil is a board game designer from Rhode Island. He is active in Boston Game Makers Guild where he enjoys playtesting, playtesting, and not sleeping. Outside of the design world he is an avid tennis player and running enthusiast.

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Ryan LaFlamme

Editor in Chief – The Cardboard Republic

Ryan is the founding editor of The Cardboard Republic, a site with an analytical approach to game reviews and a soft spot for indie games.

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Adam Singer

Shelf Clutter Games

Hobby Game Designer, Content Creator, and Engineer

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Brennan A Smith

I am a game designer that is also taking part in this event. Willing to give positive feedback 🙂

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Charles Lena, Ph.D.

Angel Investor

Doctorate in engineering, Investor, and Manager of Investors! I enjoy board games such as Red November, Twilight Imperium, or Ergo.

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Michelle Skevington-Carter

Game player and Print’n’Play builder

I rediscovered board games two and a half years ago when I took some time off work as a teacher and had some time to play. I play mostly solo at home and set up a board game club to meet other people for multiplayer games almost two years ago. I’m willing to play almost anything, although I prefer strategy to randomness and am not a fan of zombies or direct conflict. I follow many of the contests on Board Game Geek, playtesting and offering feedback to the designers – I like considering the probabilities within games and checking rules for clarity! I have two children at home, aged 15 and 11, and a fantastic partner who will sometimes join me for a game at the lighter end of the spectrum.

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Ashwin Kamath

POC. Aspiring Board game designer. Board game enthusiast. I’m a design professional so I know how to give critical / effective feedback. I’ve played hundreds of titles over the last few months and have a great eye for uniquely designed parts of a whole, and can recognize/recommend games to people who like a genre or design a style of game.

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Celeborn Stringham

Cardboard Underworld

My dad and I design board games together under the name Cardboard Underworld. We have submitted Die Versteckten – the Hidden Ones to the contest, and are in the process of designing a few other board games as well. Based in Utah, we have been designing games together since 2013, but have only recently dedicated serious time to it. You may have seen us at SaltCon 2020 in Davis County, Utah.

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Candy Weber

Board game designer with 1 game published and several others signed by publishers.

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John Caravella

Back in the Box Games

I am an avid game player and want to encourage everyone to create games that they can be proud of.

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Alexandre Larrain

Amalgama

amateur board game designer!

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Sean Fenemore

Game designer for State of Mind Games & also a game design teacher at a tertiary institution.

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Jamie

Wizard-in-Chief of Triple Rainbow Games

Hi, I’m Jamie! I’m the lead designer and head of Triple Rainbow Games, a young design studio with the goal of increasing diversity and inclusion in the gaming industry while also making some sweet games 🙂 Our tagline is “making strategy games for diverse audiences,” and our first is slated to launch on Kickstarter in September!

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bill lasek

Owner: Wandering Hearth Games

Owner of Wandering Hearth games; a game design company in Woodbridge NJ. Additionally Bill is the designer of Koi Released in 2019 by Smirk and Laughter which one game of the year from the Unlucky Frog Podcast.

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Colleen

Voracious learner, lover of games, reader of books and polymath. Former teacher, marketing maven, mom, wife and business owner. Just looking to have a few laughs and enjoy some down time with friends.

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Kendall Woffinden

Accounting is my day job. I enjoy most types of games, but prefer mid to lighter weight stuff and I’m a sucker for a fun theme.

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Ian Reid

Entrepreneur

Entrepreneur and user experience designer with a passion for how humans experience life. Board games are such a great way to explore this dynamic. Of course, their so much too! See you out there!

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Kevin Kotowski

Board Game Design Hobbyist

I’ve been playing board games my whole life, but I wasn’t in the hobby community until just a few years ago. In the 80’s, I played what was available to the mainstream market, including some of my favorites of the time: Axis & Allies, Stratego, Stop Thief, Mystery Mansion, and Rummikub. I lost my way in college, but was able to pick back up with Dominion, Mage Knight, and Pandemic before my son was born in 2015, which triggered another break. It wasn’t until 2018 I fully joined the community: listening to podcasts, tracking plays on BGG, and starting my first full design in 2019. I have been able to rate over 70 games, so I am not totally green, but by no means a connoisseur.

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Ammon Anderson

Game designer and artist

I am a creator to my bones. I’m a 20 year graphic designer and a 10 year fine artist. I’ve worked for national brands such as the NFL, NASCAR, Ohio State University, The PGA Tour and more. I’ve released one game called T.A.C.O. and have a second game that will be ready for release soon. I love that tabletop gaming gets people off phones and encourages authentic interaction. We need more of that.

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Piotrek Chojnowski

I love board games, especially giving myself enough time to play it to understand all the effort that the designer had put into it. I also have been designing games for over 5 years and loved every moment of it. Maybe except for the lost sleep 😉 I’m also a husband and a dad of 3 kiddos who luckily also enjoy games very much.

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Jason Costa

A designer who appreciates elegance and simplicity, and hopes to someday achieve it. Creator of https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/115422/race-condition. Member of the NYC Playtest group and the Remote Playtesting group that it spawned.

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Matt Williams

Chief Cat Herder

Matt Williams always wanted to be a Renaissance Person. Maybe one day he will be. In the meantime, he designs tabletop games, reads, cooks, weaves, hacks, and spends time with Kidzilla and the Feline Overlords in Columbus, OH.

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Jonathan Busby

A new designer looking forward to judging some new and exciting games. Looking to be fair but constructive in feedback

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Simon Jutras

Baladoludique

Board game passionate, looking for unique stuff!

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Elena Marimon

I’m a physicist during the day and, for the past two years, also a board game designer by night!

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Riley Stock

Amateur Board Game Designer. Love making and playing games.

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Pierson Guthrey

Mathemagician

I’m a computational scientist by day, and a heavy strategy board gamer by night!

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Gentry Harding

14 years old, Game Designer, Computer Programmer.

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Caleb Segura

Dallas Design Group

As a head of the Dallas Design Group I have been very active in the world of board game design and development for many years now. At this point I have played over 300 unique board game prototypes and strive to improve my craft. I have a paid consulting service for developing your Tabletop Simulator prototype to the next level. Before the shutdown, we also ran a playtesting livestream service followed by an hour of feedback. Many of these videos have examples of our feedback and suggestions. They can be found on the Dallas Design Group Facebook page. I am a relatively harsh critic but I will ensure that it is all incredibly constructive and plentiful.

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Jose Llavina

Game Designer

Web developer by day, game designer by night, and father of two younglins. I develop family-friendly games for kids with an eye toward simple but fun play. The last three games we’ve played: Mole Rats in Space, Castle Panic and Clue. It was the rat, in the tower with the candlestick?!

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Dave Beck

Paverson Games

Dave Beck is a practicing 3D digital, game, and new media artist, designer, and educator, living in Wisconsin. Beck released an art video game titled Tombeaux in 2018, which was an interactive experience that investigates the convergence between cultures and the environment across a few hundred years of midwestern American history. His latest project is Distilled, a euro-style card game about crafting spirits in a distillery.

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John Jewell

Game Designer

Game Designer

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RENEE BOISVERT

I love board and card games. Currently, I mostly play solo games. I also dabble in learning about game design. So far, I mostly: – play games to learn about how mechanic work – create variations on games to learn how small changes effect the game experience. – read and watch podcasts to build my knowledge base.

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Matt Harding

Author of the Peleg Chronicles, Game Designer, Teacher of the Visually Impaired, Orientation & Mobility Specialist, House Designer and Builder, Husband, Father of Four, and son of the King 🙂

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Morrel James Muller

Indie board game designer for bgigames.com

Morrel James Muller is currently the Lead Game Designer for Board Games International (BGI). The oldest of 9 children, he has been designing, collecting, and playing games all of his life. Back in the 1970s he programmed his very first game on a Commodore VIC20. In the early 1980s he was a Paid Dungeon Master and held weekly gaming sessions. In 1988, he joined Nintendo of America as a Game Counselor and was highlighted in the January 1990 Nintendo Power magazine. He also traveled with the Nintendo of America World Championship tour and worked as an educator. In 1998, he left Nintendo and started working as an independent Game Designer and founded BGI. This led to the creation of “Goldbars” in 2003 and the Tournament of Might card game brand. Other published titles include The Rain Forest Game and (digital) AliensAttack3.

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Clarence Simpson

Game Designer

Clarence is a veteran video game developer who recently made the jump to the analog world. He is a member of the Game Designers of North Carolina and he is right now probably trying to do too many things at once.

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Joost de K

Amateur board game designer from the Netherlands. Enjoys design contests. Usually designs small games. Interests vary from card games and family games to wargames and (heavy) euros. Likes historical themes. Aims for elegant games with interesting decisions.

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Thom Clark

Minister of Recreation

I’ve been playing and making up games since I was a kid but in the past year I began designing and collecting games in earnest. With 47 years of life experience under my belt I’m still open to new gaming experiences and am intrigued by the entire process.

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Bert Hardeman

A dutch aspiring game designer

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Manny Dominguez

Designer of quirky games. Dad to silly twin boys. Living in Savannah, restoring old houses. Wishing there were more hours in the day.

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Kazimar Guenther

Interwoven

I am a Junior at the University of Utah going for the Games degree. I am starting a company with some of my friends called Interwoven.

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Brandt Brinkerhoff

Creative Director

By day I design user experiences, by night I play board games. It didn’t take long for those two worlds to merge. Last year, my latest game design project, Pangaea—now named Oros—was a finalist in this very workshop. Can’t wait to pay it forward.

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Miguel Conceição

Wandering unplugged in the land of games, is my motto. Playing. Reading. Proof reading. Writing. Photographing. Translating. Testing. Designing. Sharing stories. With boardgames as a lifelong passion, for over five decades, and a former chess player, always keen to try out new abstract games. Fluent in Portuguese, English, French and Spanish. Judge in the 2019 contest. A Research Support Officer by day at the local university, in Aveiro, Portugal.

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Andrew Tullsen

Print & Play Manager

Manager of Print & Play, Board Game Designer, Married, Father of 1, Board Gamer player of all kinds, Christian, Swing Dancer, Ultimate Frisbee player, Playtester, Efficiency Manager. In no order of importance.

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Scout Blum

Mockingbird Games

Scout Blum is a professor of history at Troy University in Alabama. In addition to teaching American history, she loves any opportunity to bring tabletop games into the classroom. She also teaches game design and development classes. Dr. Blum owns Mockingbird Games, a small game development and publishing company, which focuses on bringing designs of young people (about 8-18) to life. She is very committed to the concept of “games for good” – especially the idea of using games for social justice and empowerment.

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Jason Suresh Rajamogan

Wannabe board game designer

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Glenn Cotter

Glenn Cotter has a life-long passion for games and movies and has been working in the entertainment industry for over 20 years. He began his career as an artist on video games, then transitioned to work in the film industry. By day Glenn is a visual effects artist working on feature films while designing board games at night. Glenn lives in Berkeley, CA with his loving wife and 2 wonderful kids. Fickle is his first published game.

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Joe Slack

Crazy Like a Box

I’m a board game designer, author, and course instructor. I’ve written 3 books on game design, taught game design and development at Laurier University, and run my own online game design courses.

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Harb

The Human

I’m Harb, a board game designer. I make games and prefer to do it in collaboration with other people.

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Drew Buddie

Founder of Dice Rolled In Alex

Educator, social entrepreneur, gamer. On temporary exile in Egypt.

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Anthony Broussard

Quantum Productions, LC

Freelance programmer & hobby game developer. I worked 2 years as a professional game designer, have published a few videogames and am an active part of https://www.meetup.com/Chattanooga-Game-Development-Meetup/ including participating in playtesting sessions. I have attended a couple ProtoATLs, FEPH at Gencon. I am familiar with giving constructive feedback encouraging designers to find the core and make the best out of their game. I’m an active listener of BGDL and Game designers of NC podcast.

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Dustin Dowdle

Odd Fox Games

Dustin is the Clinical Director for a residential treatment facility but doubles as an indie game designer in his spare time with his design studio Odd Fox Games. Dustin is also a member of the Board Game Designer’s Guild of Utah, and a collaborator for ProtoCON Utah, a board game prototyping convention in Salt Lake City. Dustin is also a co-host on The Board Game Workshop podcast.

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Justin Antezana

I love learning, playing, teaching & designing tabletop games. I am excited to join these awesome judges again during this year’s contest. Have a blast everyone!

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Leon d’Audretsch

Avid boardgame consumer and player. Currently in the process of self-publishing a casual word based boardgame (coming soon).

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Jeff Johnston

Pair of Jacks Games

A part-time game designer focusing on family-friendly games.

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Brenna Noonan

Game Developer

I was previously a full-time game developer with Starling Games where I worked on titles like Everdell, A War of Whispers, Anomaly, Archmage, and others. I am now a freelance game developer working on titles like Roll Player Adventures.

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Rebecca Strang

To Play is Human

Children’s Librarian who uses games for programming and education. Writes about games, play, and books. Co-hosts Playability, an interview-based podcast at the crossroads of gameplay and accessibility.

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Ethan Leong

Chief Pairing Officer of Randomskill Games

I was brought into the fascinating world of board gaming through trading wood, fish and grains in the ports of Le Harve. To continue spreading the love of board gaming, I hope to introduce more traders to the ports of Le Harve and, hopefully, one day terraform Mars into a habitable planet.

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Adrienne Ezell

Creative Director, Dreadful Games

Adrienne is passionate about bringing games to life with graphics. She’s known for details that make each card and board special, little nuanced touches that immerse the player in the game. She focuses on the gaming experience – how you want players to feel when they play your game.

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Adam Zwain

Game Designer

Adam Zwain currently lives and works in the Philippines. He has spent a lot his life living in East Asia, a setting which is often the backdrop of his game designs. A lifelong gamer, Adam decided to take the plunge into designing games in early 2018. Now he spends most of his free time creating prototypes, playtesting, and, of course, squeezing in as many other board games as he can.

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Mike Kerrey

Dastardly Designs

Co Designer at Dastardly Designs along with Chris Apple. Love playing and teaching games of all types. In diverse gaming groups from geeks to older neighbors to family and grandkids.

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Christopher David Miller

Just an ordinary gamer. I enjoy many types weights of games but I do tend to enjoy a mean Euro games the most.

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Mark Drejza

First State Games

Amateur board game designer from northern Delaware. Proud of his Polish heritage, he runs an annual KielbasaCon which is full day of Polish food and board games. Favorite games include Founding Fathers, Stockpile, Fool’s Gold, Campaign Trail, and Tattoo Stories.

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Benjamin Kocher

Rule book editor, reviewer, copyeditor, and writer.

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Eric Alvarado

Co-Owner, Talon Strikes Studios

Eric is currently the project manager/developer for Talon Strikes Studios. He is the designer of Talon Strikes Studios’ Vinyl and the producer of Cardboard Edison’s Cobras. He lives in Oyster Bay, NY with his wife, Meredith, and two sons, Ari and Eli.

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Greg Louder

Lifetime gamer. When I was young, I would take components from games and make my own. Found modern board games about 10 years ago and continue to grow my playing an collection – mostly with family. I have tried my hand recently at modern game design and became a member of BGDG of Utah.

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Jeremy Lounds

Arqteq

Jeremy is an IT professional by day and a designer by night, as time permits. He enjoys creating tabletop games, web apps, and flavor-of-the-month art. His desire is to live “coram Deo” and be a reflection of God’s love and mercy, no matter where his career and hobbies take him. Jeremy’s favorite tabletop games are chess, Hive and Carcassonne. He is looking for a publisher for his award-winning card game, Fruit-for-All (know anyone??). His very first game, DECO, is available for purchase on The Game Crafter.

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Samantha Petrie

Illustrator/ Designer of Poisonfish Games

I am an illustrator and co-designer of Poisonfish Games (maker of “No Regerts: The Game of Art and Poor Life Choices”). I am a game enthusiast that loves a wide range of games as well as play testing games. I’m a member of the Game Makers Guild of Boston. My favorite games are worker placement games but am really happy to play anything!!!

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Shari Spiro

CEO Breaking Games

Hi I’m Shari CEO and Founder of Ad Magic / Breaking Games. We have been printing games for over 15 years and playing cards since about 2000. Not only do we print games – but our publishing division can distribute games into retailers worldwide. We handle all aspects of game design, from prototyping to retail quality manufacturing. We offer services for game design, game development, play testing, and publishing. We can provide worldwide logistics, distribution, fulfillment, and warehousing services for our clients – as much or as little as they need of these available services. We have been supporting indie game designers since 2010 and now, with our new 100 thousand square foot warehouse – we can offer you storage for your games, labeling services for retail, kickstarter fulfillment and any other warehouse services you may need, such as direct to consumer shopping cart setup and fulfillment to your clients, Amazon pre storage services, and shipments as you need them into Amazon.

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Chris D Whitpan

Game All Nite/Ink n Film/Wheel Tapping

I am a fun loving content creator who tries to be funny each week.

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AnnaMaria Jackson-Phelps

Editor in Chief Girls Game Shelf

AnnaMaria Jackson-Phelps is the Editor in Chief of Girls Game Shelf, a board game industry marketing consultant, and an accessibility advocate with a penchant for tacos.

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Nick Shipley

90 Second Nerd

Nick is a board game reviewer for 90 Second Nerd. When he is not bringing a game to the table, he is running or watching the New York Yankees. Nick lives in Oklahoma.

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Louise Massol Dillon

The Board Game Goat

Board gamer with a growing collection and a preference for euro games, stop-motion video creator, indie video gamer, and TTRPG player with a passion for goats.

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Brian Hefele

Bluewaves Games

An avid follower of the board game community beginning the process of becoming a designer.

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Josh Black

Little j Games

Hi, I’m Josh Black, and for as long as I can remember I’ve been playing games. All sorts of games – deck building games, board games, card games, and so on. I had the idea to start my game company – Little j Games – on a drive home from Cambridge with my parents in 2017. Ever since then my dad and I have been making games. We’ve shown our games in various different places around New England including Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts and very soon we’ll be showing one in Vermont! One of our favorite ways to make games is in a ‘75 Minute Challenge’. One fun and popular game that came out of a 75 Minute Challenge is called Rushmore – Let’s Get Rocked! I can’t wait to see the awesome games in this contest!

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Charlie Jackson

Still fairly new to tabletop games but love listening to Dice Tower, watching Rahdo Runs Through and Wil Wheaton’s Tabletop, and still miss the Flip the Table podcast. Former indie video game dev, breaking into hobby tabletop game creation, but LOVE encouraging others even more than creating things myself.

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Corey Keller

Board Game Designer & Coffee Shop Owner

Hi! I am an independent board game designer living in Oklahoma. I have 2 games signed with one coming out this summer from Analog Game Studios. I love games and helping people design games!

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Jeff Black

Little j Games

Hi – I’m Jeff Black. I have been designing games since I was in the 6th grade – my first was a dungeon crawler where players had to defeat the entire D&D Monster Manual. Fast forward to a bit later when my son (and codesigner) Josh was in Kindergarten and we began making games together! We made racing games, cops and robbers games, and even a game about raising chickens and bringing their eggs to market. Not long after that we decided it would be fun to share our games with others and our company Little j Games was born. Since then we have continued to design and play lots and lots of games. Our specialty is light to medium weight games that kids and families can all play together in an hour or less, but our range is pretty diverse. We have at least as much fun making games as we do playing them, and we’re psyched to share that fun with the rest of the world! Let’s all discover some fun!

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Josue A Rodriguez

I am graphics and 3D designer specialized on the bridge between practical and artistic. I have 15 years on the board game industry as a retailer, marketer, and playtester. Games are not only my job, it’s my passion. You can find me everywhere as @judgekonnan.

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Jeff Warrender

Designer of many unpublished games and one published one. Author of a forthcoming book on game design, “You Said This Would Be Fun: What makes a game good and how to make a good game”, a compilation of idiosyncratic opinions on game design.

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Jay Cormier

Owner, Off the Page Games

Over 10 years of being a published game designer of many great games like Belfort, Akrotiri, Junk Art and In the Hall of the Mountain King. Now a publisher with Fail Faster Playtesting Journal and Off the Page Games.

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Brad Bachelor

Board Game Designer

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Stephen Benjamin

I am an avid board gamer and a much less avid designer. I have tinkered with concepts but nothing too serious. I have a broad array of played and owned titles and enjoy analyzing them and playing

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The Marinated Meeple

Critic & Aspiring Game Designer (just like you)

I love to play all sorts of games and sports, oh, and I like classy and tasty beverages too.

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Mike Erickson

An older guy who was very interested in games when I was young and am now getting back into it

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Emy

Boston-based educator, activist, escape room addict and boardgame enthusiast. 🙂

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Brian Compter

Aspiring game designer

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Chris Backe

Game designer at Entro Games

Chris Backe (rhymes with hockey) is a game designer, author, blogger, photographer, web designer, digital nomad, world traveler, and husband. He typically makes games that can be learned or taught in about 5 minutes and played in less than 30 minutes.

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Oliver Kinne

Tabletop Games Blog

I aim the editor of Tabletop Games Blog where I release two new articles every week: a thought piece about a tabletop games related topic and a tabletop game review. My articles are also published on the UK Gaming Media Network and There Will Be Games. I also co-host of the Tabletop Inquisition podcast, which releases a new episode every three to four weeks and tackles different issues facing board games, the people who play them and maybe their industry. I have play tested a number of commercially released games and was a judge on last year’s Board Game Workshop Design Contest.

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Odin of Inkwell

Father of 3, Husband, co-owner and Head of Publishing at Inkwell Games. 3 time judge of the Board Game Workshop Design Contest.

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Lucas Gentry

@LGentryDesign

Lucas is Game Designer with a passion for helping people build community, develop empathy and understanding, and be stretched out of their comfort zones. He’s intrigued by new game mechanisms and creative solutions to interesting problems.

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Tauheed Coleman

Assistant Manager at Boda Borg Boston

My love for board games started with Betrayal at House on the Hill about 4 years ago. Now this is not my favorite game right now by any means, but there was something about not sitting in front of a TV screen for hours, and actually having that interaction with players sitting beside and across from me. I now have board game sessions 3-5 times a week. I’m always down to try a new game. I watch ‘how to play’ videos back to back on games I don’t own nightly. Playtesting games last year was the most fun experience I’ve had in a long time. Judging these games will be nothing different from my day to day!

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Christopher Kaspar

Founder, Techless

Founder of Techless, creator of Wisephone; a minimalist mobile OS with no apps, no addictions and no distractions. Passionate board gamer and closet designer.

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Marcus Lehner

A proud member of the Game Makers Guild in Boston and a hobbyist designer. I tend to design games on the family/party side of the spectrum, and typically play those, deck-builders, and euro games. You’ll find me most often excitedly talking about some off-the-wall game idea based on a bad pun.

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Darrek Olson

Neanderthal Games

Hobby game designer.

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Lauren Woolsey

@cgsunit

Assistant professor of physics and astronomy by day, co-host of Playability Podcast and game designer by night.

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Matt Shoemaker

Owner, Hit ’em With a Shoe, LLC

Librarian and head of Loretta C. Duckworth Scholars Studio at Temple University. Board game publisher. Designer of “Bee Lives: We Will Only Know Summer” and several unpublished educational game/play works. Contributing author to “Feminist War Games? mechanisms of war, feminist values, and interventional games”

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Chris Anderson

Host of The Board Game Workshop

Host of The Board Game Workshop. Designer of In Vino Morte and Tempus Quest, both published by Button Shy Games. Member of the Boston Game Makers Guild and Southern Mass Game Designers. I live in Massachusetts with my wife, Mary, our dog, Buddy, and our three cats, Koshka, Krypton, and Argon.