Welcome to How to Build a Board Game, a new series from Some Untitled Collective. We’ll be sharing behind-the-scenes designer diaries discussing our debut game, Rescue, regular updates on our own upcoming Kickstarter, as well as a curated list of indie games live on Kickstarter that we’re excited to see come to life. As this project grows, we’ll be featuring other game designers, artists, and friends of the hobby.

Every game has an origin story, and this one begins back in November of 2024. I first had an idea to create a tabletop game after looking through The A to Z Book of Computer Games by Thomas McIntire published way back in 1979. One of the projects had players taking a random string of numbers and re-ordering them with specific movement limitations. As of today, Rescue bears almost no resemblance to the project that set the wheels in motion. This demonstrates just one lesson I’ve learned while designing, understanding why changes may need to occur and the value of looking ahead.

I hail from the generation that was targeted with the "Family Game Night" campaign from Milton Bradley. It idealized a night around the dinner table with pizza in one  hand and a pair of dice in the other. I played all the classics and fell in love with oddball games like Ea$y Money, which I would play for hours alone in my room. It wasn't until years later when I first laid my eyes on Scythe that I really jumped into the hobby board game space. I immediately fell in love with the joys of working together in Gloomhaven and feeling clever after ramping up your corvid kingdom just right in Root.

Fast forward 7 years, hundreds of games learned, and a spark of an idea emerged. When I first sat down to conceptualize this project, I knew I didn't want to reinvent the wheel entirely. Some of the best games succeed not by creating completely new mechanics, but by pulling inspiration from some favorites to create new experiences.

Around the time that Rescue was first taking shape, my partner and I were taking care of our sweet elderly chihuahua, Noodle. Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Noodle only a few weeks after the very first prototypes of Rescue were made. From that point forward, the project took on additional meaning— it wasn't just a game about rescue dogs, but a means to express my love and appreciation for Noodle and all that she brought into our life.

During the earliest stages of designing Rescue, I knew I would need to call on friends and loved ones to help realize the project. Over the course of a year working together, our incredibly talented group decided to formalize our collaboration and create Some Untitled Collective. This designer diary is documenting the ramp-up to our first crowdfunding campaign. We hope that sharing our experience of taking a game from idea to table will be both interesting and informative.

Throughout this series, we'll dig deeper into the process, inspiration, trials, and errors of our journey to bring Rescue to life. This newsletter will also share upcoming Kickstarter projects from indie designers that I'm excited to play.

If you've ever wanted to know how to build a board game, I hope you'll enjoy the ride.