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Aaron Beedle

He/him

Gameplay Analyst

For all the love I might have for creative pursuits, I find even more in helping other people along their own paths. I began developing tabletop games formally in 2018 and have since advised hundreds of game designers and developers by providing playtesting and game analysis. After many suggestions that I charge for my service, I’m now very thankful that I can afford to provide this service professionally and continue to improve it. In between comissions I like to keep my head in the industry in what ways I can, and this contest seems like a great opportunity to do so!

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Garth Avery

he/him

Lead Gameplay Designer, GLHF Games

Game designer and video producer from upstate New York, currently holed up in Seattle, WA. Game stats: Most hours logged: Magic: the Gathering Favorite game to play with morning coffee: Darkest Dungeon Favorite 7-player game: Shadowhunters Biggest gaming influences: Dominion, Dungeons & Dragons

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Shanti

he/him

I’m a game designer. I have programmed for video games and designed board games. I haven’t published any board games yet. I am making Witches’ Quarrel, which is in the medium category.

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Dave Wetherall

He/Him

Games Designer; Founder of GGG Games

Hi, ​I’m Dave, the founder of GGG Games – an independent games design and publishing micro-business based in the UK that focuses on intuitive board and card games. I’m passionate about playing all sorts of games, loving the fun you can have with family and friends. I love designing and playtesting games too. I started getting serious about game design in 2012 when I came up with a game system (now known as KaleidoCards) for which I’ve designed many mini-games. Since then I’ve designed and developed a wide range of different games. My award-winning ‘Rockpool’, published by Gibsons Games, is a family game of kids collecting shells and clearing up rubbish from a beach before the tide comes in. I’m also a live roleplayer, and play a character in the LARP world of Empire who runs the Guild of Good Games. I originally started hand-crafting games to play and sell in-character at Empire events. Some of these I have published in the real world following successful Kickstarter campaigns.

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Shannon Pendergrast

he/him

Experienced Game Play-tester, Fledgling Game Designer, DND player, Member Boston Game Makers Guild

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Rob Mann

he/him

Hobbyist game designer and long-time game player.

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Emīls

He/Him

I have loved board games since 12, when I first played Catan. I have made a scientific research work at school as well. I am a huge fan of classical games as well – all sorts of chess, dame and its varieties, go and mahjong as well. Have you seen a guy who brings in a party almost no snacks, but one huge bag with board games? That’s me! 🙂

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T Jones

he

Retired teacher, board game enthusiast, nature loving creative old guy

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Steve Dee

he/him

President

Steve Dee is a multi-award winning game designer and president of Tin Star Games.

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Ian

He/him

Nurse dispatch

I’m an aspiring game developer. Learnt about this contest late but would love to submit something next year. Love learning about cool new games 🙂

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Nghia

He/him

Enjoy word games and social deduction games

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Ben Pulver

he/him

Game Designer

I’m an avid board gamer, hiker, and game designer from Colorado. I’ve been playing games for over a decade and have recently begun designing games with my wife. I have a keen interest in STEM, the outdoors, and history so am always interesting in games that explore these themes in novel ways.

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Ian Walton

he/him

Designer & Director, Walnut Games

Long-time amateur designer of card and board games with two successful Kickstarters so far for Ukiyo and Take The Kingdom.

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Mark Kolb

he/him/his

Game Designer

I lasercut all sorts of family and educational games, board games, card game, puzzles and brainteasers to sell on Etsy and local markets. Also designed SideLinks word association game and licensed to Outset Media for worldwide sales.

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Jeff Johnston

He/Him

Fellow Game Designer (Pair of Jacks Games)

A part-time game designer focusing on family-friendly games. Fortunate to have had four different titles published!

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Don Sheridan

he/him

Owner, Black Harbor Games

Boardgame developer known for his boardgame design workshops. Don has a background in construction as a carpenter and builder. He is also a trained machinist. His strong suits are math (especially geometry and, in the field of games, combinatorics) and logic. He has worked as a secretary, a janitor, a teacher, a painter, a cabinet builder, and as a night shift factory worker (which he hated but did anyway, the working at night bit, that is) among other things. He grew up on a small farm and has lived in or near (at least briefly) a number of large metropolitan areas including Nashville, Savannah, Charlotte, and a number of Latin American capital cities. He is married with no children. Has no pets. And walks nearly everywhere he goes. His hobbies (past and present) include building model cars, collecting action figures, and reading at least 3 or 4 books at a time (mostly non-fiction, and largely about writing or game development, but also a few novels – especially action adventure).

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John Glynn

He him

Designer

Programmer for 20 years, recently turned analog game designer.

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Daan Rousseau

He/him

Board game enthousiast, aspiring designer. Mainly interested in hybrid and euro games.

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Joshua Carter

He

ELA Teacher

Married, father of three, just started teaching a year ago while still running my photography business. Love to hike, bike, read, and hunt and fish.

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Josh Costello

he/him

designing games after my kids go to bed

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Sifat

She/her

Obsessed with miniatures and dice rolling games..big fan of scythe , love Candles , Coffeeholic – Sweater weather girl. Lamps -Book collector -Vintage Hunter

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Lyndon Patrick Cullen

He/him

Mauii Makes Games

Independent designer based in Adelaide. Working on a number of projects but no published work as yet, so would be a good mentor or support for early/entry designs/designers. Studied film, game design, and have 10 years in education, predominantly in the early years. Happy to look at any designs but would be the most useful to those working on family friendly boardgames or competitive card games (tournament organiser for 10+ years).

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Evan Cheah

he/him

A Full Time Doctor , and a Part Time Boardgamer, Played 400+ Boardgames and helping to playtest game design in my local design group.

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MORREL JAMES MULLER

He/Him

Lead Game Designer at Board Games International

I am from a family of 5 boys and 4 girls. There were no TVs in the house when we were growing up so we spent evenings at home playing games. Being the oldest of 9, it was my job to come up with activities for everyone. As we all got older, I became the “Go-to” family game creator. Now, everyone with their families all meet on New Year’s Eves to get together and play board games all night. After playing video games for Nintendo and being a project manager for Board Games International, I am now selling board games. I have designed and self-published light games include Tournament of Might, Gold Bars, and the solo roll & write; Cave-in. To learn more about me, visit morreljamesmuller.info and BGIgames.com

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Kellen Freeman

he/him

I’m a librarian that runs a makerspace and oversees a board game collection in a public library. I also design games in my free time.

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Grant Johnson WaywardTravler777 WaywardTProductions

He/Him Yo Hey Bro

KeyConceptDesign Creator of #MakinGamesLIVE#9090 #RadiateLOVE2YalGames

Gooday… im GrantJohnson Online as WaywardTravler777&#MakinGamesLIVE#9090 #RadiateLOVE2YalGames. In Lifetime o’Creating Card&BoardGames ive Accomplished&Why i think ill be an Asset as Judge for ya CONTEST. Our Show Online Teach’s Makin FamilyFun Games jus Paper,Cardboard&3FREE GameMakerSystems#FANCADE(70+games) #HypeHype(60+games)#DRAWYourGAME(20+)On GooglePlay. True Mission:Share Exp thru Family Games Night WorldWide Known. Time spent Bonding Richly Rewarded Years into Future.Creator&Redesigner80+ Card&BoardGames,Since 80s kid-2012 Finally Took Efforts Creating Innovative Gameplays. Brand Manger S+()RM§trike Entertainment 2014 -2017HelpRedesign 5🌠GooglePlay Success COMMAND_LINE_INCURSION https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.StormStrike.CLI_KSdemo ,18 Ways To Play 4TimeKICKSTARTERSuccess PirateCardGameRaidingParties.#MakinGamesLIVE has 82+ Episodes18pgs worth most Search Engines spell exact #MakinGamesLIVE GodBless YalYaCREW#MakinGamesLIVE#9090#RadiateLOVE2YalGames

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Chris Turner

Bring me Ameritrash!!!

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Jonny

President of Punk This Studios

A one-of-a-kind Misfit. An endangered species, doomed to extinction. Uncopyable. Non-Replicative

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Nathaniel Ogborne

Vice principal

I am a vice principal of a Christian school just outside of Toronto. I have been dabbling in creating board games for 2 years and have been an avid player for around 5.

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Scout Blum

she/her

Mockingbird Games

Scout Blum is a professor of history at Troy University in Alabama. She incorporates games and game design into a variety of classes. In addition, she owns a small publishing company, Mockingbird Games, which focuses on developing and publishing games by young people. She is also a game designer and is currently working on Rising Waters, a game about the 1927 Mississippi flood, and Adopt Me! a game about adopting animals at a shelter.

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Llaima Games

they/them

Creators of Scission and Sendero

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André Rodrigues

he/him

Researcher

By day I am a human-computer interaction researcher with a particular interest in accessibility, health and gaming. During my spare time I am an avid board game hobbyist, I not only enjoy playing but take imense satisfaction learning about all sorts of mechanics from both new and older games. I’ve been thinkering with different board games for a long time and this competion finally made me commit to see one to at least one “finish line”.

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Sven Obermaier

he/him

Cheap Sheep Games

Designer of Crimopolis (NZ Game of the Year 2020) and publisher of Castleshire (2022). Owner of Cheap Sheep Games.

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G. Wesley Cone

Anthem Creations

Indy designer who wants to bring fun to the table.

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Ian Brocklebank

he/him

Virtual Playtesting / The Games People

Unpublished designer – but have been designing somewhat seriously for 5 or 6 years. Set up Virtual Playtesting just over 12 months ago, which is the largest online playtesting group working primarily to European time zones. Have also been involved in demoing for Renegade at UKGE and Essen. Will be running Playtest Zone at UKGE 2021

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KYNG

Male

Kyle Jarratt is a professional product designer/developer from Melbourne, Australia with over 10 years’ experience. A self-proclaimed ‘man of all interests’, Kyle likes to occupy his spare time with everything from surfing to board-gaming, and according to him “The most fun you can have is to play a game, and the most worthwhile thing to do is to make something.” Kyle and fellow designer Jack Allwood run the ‘onepointsix’ design studio in Melbourne and between them they have designed hundreds of different products and successfully managed the production of tens of thousands of individual parts.

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Dave Conklin

he/him

Game Designer

Designer of Blazon from 25th Century Games

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José

He

Fellow Game Designer

Father, husband, cook, designer, life enthusiast 🙂 I like playing board games with the kids and a few years back they inspired me to create my own card game. And so I did. After many a moon, I self published a super hero themed card game called Cardtropolis. When I’m not with the young’ins, or playing board games I work as a web developer, been trying my hand at cycling and also DMing old friends in Dungeons & Dragons, woot-woot!

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Samantha Petrie

She/they

Illustrator and co-designer at Poisonfishgames

I’m a variety artist, streamer, and boardgame enthusiast. I am the artist and co-designer for the game “No Regerts: The Game of Art and Poor Life Choices”. I have judged for boardgames workshop for a few years… and I generally like to look at all aspects of gaming from design, game play, visuals, and potential marketing.

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JudgeKonnan

He

JudgeKonnan

I have been in the Table Top gaming industry for over a decade from retail to advertising.

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Christopher Wiley

He/him

Owner Ringstrue studio

I am an artist and woodworker, and have been independently designing board and card games for the last 12 years.

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Daryl Durston

He/Him

Teacher

I have been playing games regularly for about 8 years or so. I have been designing my own for about 5 years. I teach and try to incorporate board games as much as possible into my own lessons.

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Suzzan Smith

(she/her)

CEO Nerdz Garage

D&D Newbie/ Cool Gift Giver/ Writer/ Board Games Reviewer/ Nerd!

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Galen McCown

he/him

Galen’s Games

Psychotherapist, musician, dad, and aspiring game designer from Syracuse, NY.

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Ellie Dix

she/her

Owner of The Dark Imp

Board game designer & publisher specialising in games for families and schools

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JK Cook

he/him

CEO, Thinking Machine, Inc.

Current: • Inventor of Pathem® word puzzles. • Contributing creative to TMIBoom.com and Patreon.com/tmiboom. Education: • studied game design at Otis College of Art and Design • BFA from Rhode Island School of Design Real Life: I have triplet tweens and we play games. Board, dice, card, word play, sporting, whatever catches our attention. We are also developing games with “Fanatic” patrons at our Patreon.com/tmiboom (launching soon).

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Mini Munch

She/Her

Artisit

I am a life long board game enthusiast! My favorite games are Donnor Dinner Party, One Night Werewolf, and Clue! I love fun mystery ideas! I can’t wait to see all the games!

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David Houck

he/him

I’m a full-time music teacher and aspiring board game designer from Pennsylvania! I’m looking forward to checking out a whole bunch of great game ideas and hopefully providing helpful feedback to other prospective designers!

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Benjamin

they/them

Motion Graphics Designer

Hit me up if you are trying to make a kickstarter video!

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El Tiburón

he/him

Illustrator, Art Educator

I teach basic, art-focused game design for Meridian International College (mintcollege.com) under the Multimedia Arts program. I have not entered any boardgame design contest myself but I wish to help students who would want to.

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Joe Slack

he/him

Owner of Crazy Like a Box Games and The Board Game Design Course

Joe Slack is a board game designer, publisher, instructor, and the author of the #1 international best-selling book, The Board Game Designer’s Guide, along with 3 other books on game design. He has taught Game Design and Development at Wilfrid Laurier University and runs the Board Game Design Course, an online course for new game designers. Joe has 4 games published with other publishers (Zoo Year’s Eve, Kingdom’s Candy: Monsters, Four Word Thinking, and King of Indecision) and one self-published game (Relics of Rajavihara).

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lawrence Davies

he/him

Mr (daviesdesign)

I am a game designer with at least 20 publicly play-tested prototypes, member of PlaytestUK since 2004, and Discord’s Virtual PlayTest since 2020. I have run school and community boardgame events, I enjoy playing lots of games, from light Euros to heavy strategy games, I do some of my own game artwork, and I love helping other designers reach their goals.

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Michael L

he/him

Engineer turned game designer.

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Scott

He/him

I have loved playing games all my life and enjoy games of many types and difficulty levels.

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Larry Neal Jr

Co-Host of The Spoken Token Podcast

Lifelong board Gamer, currently sharing the magic of board game worlds one box at a time with our listeners.

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Antoine Lefebvre

he/him

Game designer

Designer of Olde Tyme Candy Shoppe (projected 2023 – Talon strikes studios) and Arturus Rex (projected 2021 – Locomuse studios)

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Elsa de LudiPsy

She/Her

LudiPsy, créatrice de contenus

Je suis psychologue et passionnée de jeux; jeux de société, jeux vidéo, jeux de rôles et Grandeurs natures. Avec la plateforme LudiPsy, je souhaite décortiquer et analyser divers styles de jeux; des jeux sérieux, à portée sociale, éducatifs, ludiques et offrant des outils de développement cognitif, personnels, sociaux et relationnels. Le projet LudiPsy est blog interactif présentant des articles, des podcasts, des vidéos et des partages d’expérience de jeu. Sa mission est d’offrir une plateforme de références en santé mentale et en ludification pour: 1) Les professionnels en santé mentale utilisant la ludification dans leurs interventions; 2) Les utilisateurs/créateurs de jeux intégrant des concepts en santé mentale dans leurs designs/mécaniques de jeux; 3) Les joueurs souhaitant partager leurs expériences de jeux. I am a Psychologist who is also passionate about games; board games, video games, and role-playing games. With the LudiPsy platform, I want to deconstruct and analyze the differents games; serious games, social, educational, playful games, offering cognitive, personal, social and relational development tools. The LudiPsy project is an interactive blog featuring articles, podcasts, videos and game experience sharing. Its mission is to provide a platform of resources in mental health and gamification for: 1) Mental health professionals using gamification in their interventions; 2) Game users/game creators integrating mental health concepts in their games designs/game mechanics; 3) Gamers interested in sharing their game experiences.

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Amy Price

she/her

newbie game designer, longtime fellow human

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Mill Goble

she/her

Co-designer – Library Labyrinth

An avid board gamer since childhood, I recently started working as Assistant Manager for RanSacked Board Game Lounge in Sussex, UK. I’ve also designed several pop-up escape rooms and live/VR puzzle games, and worked as an escape room host and a performer in immersive museum-based and outdoor game events. Whilst furloughed in 2020, I began designing Library Labyrinth with Jessica Metheringham of Dissent Games (having been friends for over 25 years!).

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Jeremy Lounds

he/him

Creator of Duwen (still working on it!)

I’ve been creating tabletop / card games for fun the last few years, and really enjoy it as a hobby I can engage in with my kids. My abstract game, Duwen, was the winner of this contest last year – check it out sometime! (I still have plans to finish it) I am actively looking to pitch Duwen, and a few other prototypes, to game publishers. It would be great to meet you sometime, virtually or otherwise!

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Alice Susi

she/her

Game designer with a tendency to mash together the wrong genres on purpose.

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John Ricker

Just an IT guy that wants to have fun learning more about board games so I can share my experiences

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Tracy

Little j Games

I love to play and design board and card games!

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Josh

Little j Games

I’ve loved board and card games for about 5 years now – playing them and designing, too!

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Lonnie Morgan Jr.

he / him

Founder, Skyloft Games, LLC

Life long boardgame player launching a new tabletop game design company (my second wind in life!) Still working the day job as an IT pro, but spending a lot of my free time putting concepts to paper. Hope to launch my first game design with Kickstarter in Q1 2022. I’m excited to make connects (dare I say friends!) in the industry and learn more about how I can help be a better member to the overall tabletop gaming community. Looking forward to providing feedback and helpful critiques.

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Justin Antezana

He/Him

I love helping others bring their designs to life. I’m back for my 3rd consecutive year as a contest judge & ready to have a blast!

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Shari Spiro

She her

CEO Ad Magic Games, Breaking Games, Blackbox Systems, Print Play Games

Hi I’m Shari ,Founder /CEO of Ad Magic, printer of card/board games, Breaking Games, publisher /worldwide distributor of card/board games, Blackbox Systems, kickstarter/web store fulfillment warehouse,Print Play Games/Your playing cards a game prototype facility for game designers and a provider of custom casino quality playing cards for individuals and corporations. I have been in the playing card and game business since 2003, printing and shipping playing cards and games worldwide for everyone from Cards Against Humanity and Exploding Kittens, to Dwellings of Eldervale, Secret Hitler, Garth Brooks, Applebees, HBO, and even the CIA. I love games and love helping game designers make their dreams come true and sometimes we even get their games on the shelves of retailers like Target, Barnes and Noble and Walmart. We love making prototypes for testing and warehousing and shipping games. As long as we can help a game designer at some point in the development of a game – we are happy.

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Ricardo Miguens

Board game enthusiast, wannabe designer.

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Kevin Kotowski

he/him

I am an aspiring designer from Chicago that is participating in the Board Game Workshop for the 2nd time after a semi-final finish last year. I’ve been a lifelong board gamer, and I appreciate all styles of games, and I enjoy just about kinds of board games.

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Raven McKenzie

she/her

Raven McKenzie is a game designer and content creator based in Michigan. She was a recipient of the 2020 IGDN Diversity Sponsorship and serves on the Advisory Committee for Unpub, The Unpublished Games Network. Raven draws on her love of food and enthusiasm for intercultural communication in most realms of her life, from her game designs to her career in international education and her ever-growing reading list.

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Tom Vielott

he/him

Just your friendly neighborhood tabletop gamer, working on games you can play to learn some cool things

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Bez

she/her

Freelance designer, freelance developer, streamer, artist, self-publisher.

Trying to have a laugh where possible. We may be just dust, but the dust we touch is really what makes life worth living. Designer, developer, consultant, artist, self-publisher, streamer, reviewer. Previous work includes: Yogi (the best partygame of physical constraints); Kitty Cataclysm (chaotic cardplay and a whole lot of cat puns); the ELL deck (a lovingly-curated game system); and several other things. Bez currently streams daily at 10am UK-time – interviews, discussions, chats, and play-alongs. Bez is open to having guests. Bez also enjoys chatting, tasting new things, hula-hooping, music, and reading comics. Trying to get back into reading, walking, exercise, playing the keyboard, and making pictures.

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Velgus

he/him

Board Game Designer, Developer, and Editor

Hello, I’m Velgus! I’m constantly working on or playing games of all kinds, especially board games. My freelance work usually focuses on board game design, board game development, and rulebook editing. I also do some puzzle design. It’s not all fun and games – sometimes it’s just games.

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Peter Yang

He/Him

Pitch Professional

Peter Yang is a budding designer who is more passionate about hyping other peoples games more than their own. Taking the experienced they gained as a Health Educator doing two hour presentations a hundred times a year for students, they’ve dove head first into the video and board game industries – looking for the next greatest thing to lift up above the crowd.

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Anthony Tessitore

He/him

Co-founder of Guildhouse Games LLC

Dad, husband, and game enthusiast. Started in the industry as a names and flavortext writer for Magic: The Gathering. Now I am the co-founder of Guildhouse Games LLC – creators of the breakout XCG Varia.

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Brad Bachelor

he/him

Designer, Librarian, Hiker

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Jake Waller

he/him

Game Content Writer & Editor

I’m a writer and editor and have worked on a host of games, covering everything from core game mechanics to entire lore novels to the grammar of the rulebook. I love heavier games, TCGs, and RPGs, but I appreciate that lighter party games have their place so that people will play with me! That said, favourite game is probably Isle of Skye, which puts me firmly in the middle…

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Ethan Leong

him

Chief Pairing Officer

Ethan was brought into the fascinating world of board gaming through trading wood, fish and grains in the ports of Le Harve. Through the love of this hobby, he has created games such as Lawless Empire and Overbooked. From the experiences he has gained through publishing, he has embarked on a journey to give back to the wonderful board gaming community by building the right bridges between designers, publishers and distributors. With his passion and newfound mission, he hopes to introduce more traders to the ports of Le Have and, hopefully, one day terraform Mars into a habitable planet.

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Jeff Black

I am a game designer from the Boston area. My team and I work together as Little j Games. Our main focus is on making fun games that kids, adults, and families can all enjoy together.

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Mark Drejza

he/him

Lead (Only Designer) Designer

In restrospect, I have been a board gamer since I was a little kid. I came into “modern boardgames” being introduced to Settlers of Catan and Carcassonne by friends. Since then I have a decent collection of games and have been designing games seriously since 2011. This is the third year judging in this competition.

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Clarence Simpson

he/him

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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Perry Kleinhenz

he/him

Perry Kleinhenz is a mathematician and board game designer. His game “Drawing Conclusions” was a finalist in the BGW contest in 2020. He enjoys games of all kinds, right now his two favorites are Wavelength and Wingspan.

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Eric Alvarado

he/him

Co-Owner/Lead Developer

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, N.Y., with his wife, Meredith, and two sons, Ari and Eli.

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Andy D

An aspiring board game designer. Won 2 board game design contests in 2020. Organizer of Board Game Design Contests on India Board Games

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Neil Roberts

he/him

Enthusiastic playtester, developer, rules editor, and sometimes designer.

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Benjamin Kocher

he/him

Rule Book Editor

In the industry, I’m a board game reviewer and rule book editor. Outside of board games, I am an avid reader and writer (especially fantasy and sci-fi), birder, massive rugby fan, and I love ultimate Frisbee.

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Eric J. Francis

he/him

An aspiring designer and member of the Boston Game Makers Guild, Eric won the first Board Game Workshop Design Contest with his tile-laying game Calligraphy.

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Simon

He

Project Manager at Locomuse Studio

One of my goal is to stimulation the board game designer community! I’m president of the none profit organization Ludo Québec, producer and animator of the podcast Baladoludique, project manager at Studio Locomuse and organizer of the Proto de l’année – a board game contest held one per year. I’m also an avid player and a wanna be designer!

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Matt Shoemaker

he/him

Librarian, game designer, and owner of game publisher Hit ’em With a Shoe.

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Christopher Kaspar

Man

Techless Founder

Creator of beautiful minimal tech & board game enthusiast.

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Chris Anderson

He/Him

Host of The Board Game Workshop

Host of The Board Game Workshop. Founder of Venntik Games 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, and our three cats, Koshka, Krypton, and Argon.