The board game designer: An approach

Games as a structured activity need authors who create them. Throughout history, the figure of the author has been unknown for different reasons. In ancient times, games were owned by the society as a whole; the birth of the printing press saw printers becoming publishers, illustrators and authors at the same time, while in the Industrial Age games were owned by manufacturers. This has changed recently. We started to realize about games’ authorship through hobby games and eurogames, and finally modern games brought the author to the forefront of game creation in the twenty-first century. This article aims to shed some light on the role of board game authors, starting with a short historical approach on their role, and will hopefully serve as a basis for further research.