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.
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.
Guy is a legend
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.
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-style euro designer group (T-series, Grand Austria Hotel etc). I’ve liked pretty much everything I’ve tried from them so far.
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.
Carl Chudyk.
Each game of Innovation is a richly woven tapestry.
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.
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.
Bruno cathala. I don’t remember any game that totally puts me off. Most of them can be played with kids.
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.
Milton Bradley
Friedemann Friese. They’re not all great, but they’re all at least interesting.
It’s always good to see where his head is at and what rabbit hole he’s going down.
That’s a great pick! Yeah, it will be definitely interesting and green :)
First to mind is Tim Fowers. I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve played by him. New game with his name on it? Gimme…
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.
@donio I think my best hit rate is with Cole Wehrle, but I’ve sat and thought about this for a bit and I think I run into the issue that I generally only bat about 50% on any designer that does more than a couple games. There always seems to be something that they do that makes me go “no, you sort of missed on this one…”
For example:
- I enjoy Roads & Boats, Indonesia, and The Great Zimbabwe, but Antiquity/FCM/Bus all fell flat to me after a play or two.
- I adore Root/Pamir/JC1 but An Infamous Traffic was not good, and Oath was not worth keeping (and I skipped JC2 after playtesting).
- Glass Road/Ora & Labora/Bohnanza/Patchwork I like a lot, but I got rid of Caverna, Agricola, and I’m still deciding on the new Canal game.
- Twilight Struggle/1989/1960 I adore, and a bunch of other Matthews games I got rid of.
-- Glory to Rome, Innovation, and Mottainai are respectable, but The Bird and some others just sort of miss the mark I’m after.
- John Bohrer is on a 30% hit rate and I think I still have like 3 or 4 of his Winsome games.There are some designers who I don’t bother with at all anymore, because their style just doesn’t mesh with me at all, and that’s great cause there are other people who like those, but if we’re talking about “who is your go-to” then that’s tougher to say.
My list looks similar. Splotter is at the top. I did preorder Horseless Carriage back before we had much info about it and don’t regret it. John Bohrer would be up there as well, but though various connections I’ve played enough Winsomes to know they aren’t an instant buy. (Iberian Railways, Italian Railroads, and 1836)
Tangent, but I’m very split on 1836. The opening is incredible, but once you get past the first stock round all the interesting decisions have been made.
I would not say no to a Uwe Rosenberg game.
