“This girl is on fire…….” Okay so I sound nothing like Alicia Keys (and I would probably offend the entire world if I tried to emulate her amazing voice), but she’s right! Every woman is a symbol of empowerment and strength. Following our dreams and nurturing our inner light should be our mantra for 2025. And for many of us, gaming is a passion that burns brightly inside. But some have reached an even higher level – designing and illustrating the games we love!
So, for International Women’s Day we are of course going to celebrate some super talented, creative, and inspirational women in the industry through the fun medium of gaming. Acknowledging their achievements and hard work by shining a spotlight on their titles is just one way we can champion and encourage more brilliant innovation and representation in our beloved community.
Wingspan
Wingspan is a veritable celebration of female success – both the designer, Elizabeth Hargrave, and the illustrators, Beth Sobel, Ana Maria Martinez Jamarillo and Natalie Rojas, are phenomenal. Their visions come together to produce a beautiful and brilliant game based on birds for us all to enjoy. Hand and resource management, drafting, and tableau building meld seamlessly together in a wonderful game that is both relaxing and thinky. Multiple expansions have also extended the variety of species, powers, and resources over time. But not only that, they have inspired other talented women to develop wonderful gameplay based on the original – Connie Vogelmann and Clementine Campardou bringing us Wyrmspan and Apiary, and Ana Maria working on Finspan, the latest in the series. I feel proud to be a woman every day, but I always sit a little bit higher when reflecting on the skills of the team that brought me one of my top games!
Lost Ruins of Arnak
Michaela, aka Min aka one half of the design duo of the Lost Ruins of Arnak is jointly responsible for bringing us this banger of a worker placement game. Deck building, hand management, and a whole host of resource juggling are combined to produce a super tight gaming experience set on an unknown (and quite frankly pretty scary!) Island.
With only two workers and a few bits and bobs to start your explorations, each turn feels tighter than Indy’s grip on the Grail. Comboing bonuses is the way to gain traction in Lost Ruins of Arnak as you race against the round timer counting down. And don’t forget that research track – it promises rewards but the cost can be high!
Qwirkle
Many folks know Qwirkle, but I bet fewer realise it was designed by Susan MckInley Ross. An abstract tile game, the objective is simple – you want to match rows of shapes (or colours). It sounds simple, because it is. Simple to learn and simple to play. A Spiel des Jahres award winner back in 2011, it shows no sign of being cast into cardboard obscurity. Why? Well, probably because there is a stroke of strategic play amidst the rows of circles and stars. If you focus on shape, the tiles can’t be the same colour. Likewise, if you are prioritising colour, no two shapes in the row can be the same!
Completing rows of 6 tiles is key. If you start and/or finish a row, you get a point. But you’ll have to get in there before an opponent lays the final piece of that row puzzle.
And it’s a hardy game – chunky, low tech, and resilient to repeat plays. CVD players may struggle to differentiate the colours, and there are no expansions or add-ons. But there are a whole host of variations that should tickle your light, abstract strategy spot: Qwirkle Cubes, Qwirkle Rummy, Qwirkle Travel, and Qwirkle Collectors’ Edition etc).
Point Salad
Molly Johnson is part of a trio of designers who are on fire! Through Flatout Games, her designs prove to be hit after hit after hit. And Point Salad, which has inspired a number of games since, not least the current Kickstarter, Point Galaxy and Propolis, is one such example. It’s cute, bright, and fast playing. Specifically, it’s an open drafting, set collection card game that creates a decision dilemma every turn. The multi-use cards can either be veggie or scoring criterion based on combinations of the same five per day. And the cards you take will also affect what remains available from the market for the next player! It’s a great one that gets everyone around the table hungry for more vitamin G!
Creature Comforts
Roberta Taylor is a stable designer for KTBG, and her cosy designs feel like a hug in a box. Assisted by mega cute illustrations by Shawna J.C. Tenney, Creature Comforts is a great example of her talent. With the seasons passing, it’s all about gathering food in readiness for the long, cold, winter. Because nothing is more inviting than a cosy meal in the comfort of your own warm den whilst the world freezes outside. With family members gathering what they can, even coming away empty handed is a learning opportunity for their next exploration. This is a sweet and engaging game with lots of fun dice rolling, drafting, and managing what you forage!
So there we go! Some brilliant female designers in our industry absolutely slaying it! But of course we also couldn’t finish this feature without a special shout out to all the female board game creators, bloggers, designers, publishers, illustrators, retailers, reviewers, players, and marketeers! Behind the brands of some of our most well-known game related organisations are women working hard every single day to get the games we love onto the tables at which we sit. Not only that, but the army of incredible women who are gaming and raising the next generation of players coming onto the scene! To all of these women we say thank you and we celebrate you for everything you are and everything you inspire!
What one is your favourite? Let us know by tagging us on Instagram!
