There is now a board game about making board games, and it is stuffed with 300 real ones. The Game Makers, designed by Between Two Cities co-creator Ben Rosset and published by Bezier Games, casts one to six players as rival factory bosses churning out actual tabletop hits like Wingspan, Brass: Birmingham and Terraforming Mars. Best of all, you can try the whole thing free right now on Board Game Arena.
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See how it worksEach turn plays out simultaneously, with forklifts zipping around a shared warehouse rondel as you grab components, manufacture games, unlock factory abilities and market your line with a roll of the dice. The pull is the sheer catalogue: more than 300 real-world games from over 100 publishers, all officially licensed, so you are genuinely racing to stock the greatest board game collection ever assembled. A full game runs around an hour.
Ben Rosset is best known for co-designing Between Two Cities for Stonemaier Games, and he has a knack for turning real-world systems into games, from brewing beer to hunting for planets. The Game Makers clearly struck a nerve with the hobby: its Kickstarter pulled in $1,034,934 from 5,980 backers, more than 20 times its modest $50,000 goal.
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Start organising for freeThe deluxe retail box is a proper premium production at $199.95, which is a big ask, but the free Board Game Arena version means you can find out whether a game about board games is your kind of thing before committing. Once you have built your fantasy collection, it might be time to find a real game night and play some of them for real.
Sources: Bezier Games | Board Game Arena | Kicktraq
