Q&A met Bruce Allen, de auteur van Tobago

[fatum]

Thanks for the answers !
And now with correct numbering:

12. Will the game be played/sold at Spiel ?
13. If so, what hall/booth will it be ?
14. Your nickname: Arzach, does it mean something ?

[P.T.]

15) What are your favourite games, besides Tobago?
16) Do you have any useful tips for people who would like to start developing a boardgame?

[Bartjes!]

17) You showed the publisher your design of Tobago in 2005 and it took about 3 years until they got back to you. Have you never been afraid somebody else would come up with this game mechanism in the meantime?

[Arzach]

12. Will the game be played/sold at Spiel ?

Yes, I think so. Zoch usually has not only their newest release available for playing but their older titles, too. Last year they were quite surprised as normally the new release is played on about half their tables but Tobago took over almost all of the roughly 30 tables. So I'm sure they will bring some. Zoch doesn't sell their games at their booth but there are lots of vendors in Essen both internet-based and from gamestores and they will probably stock it.

13. If so, what hall/booth will it be ?

Normally, Zoch is at the same place every year: Hall 11-15 just opposite of the huge Amigo area.

14. Your nickname: Arzach, does it mean something ?

Arzach is a comic-character by French author Jean 'Moebius' Giraud. The comic greatly impressed me when it came to Germany in the mid 70s. The stories were a bit surreal, no dialog, more like short stories, one doesn't know what happened before and all is quite puzzling.
Arzach isn't as likeable as Snarf (from Snarfquest by Larry Elmore -the best humorous comic for fantasy roleplayers ever ) but not as wellknown. So, instead of being "Snarf4711" I rather am Arzach.

[Arzach]

15) What are your favourite games, besides Tobago?

Someone has proposed the term "Gametaster" for those like me who have lots of games not because of collecting games but because of wanting to play them. But there are so many new interesting games and not enough time in the world to play them often, so the gametaster is happy when he manages to play a game once or twice. If you define a favorite game as game you really want to play again the gametaster can have lots of favorites some of which he actually has played only once. Keep that in mind when you read my list.

Played often:
Tichu, Nexus Ops, Taluva, Citadels, Race for the Galaxy, Fauna, Endeavor
Played a few times:
Betrayal on House of the Hill, Kamisado, Giants, Dungeon Lords, Ghost Stories, Claim It, Galaxy Trucker, Zertz, Hossa, Mission Red Planet, Mordred, Antler Island, Rattus, Pony Express, Metropolys, Yspahan
Played once but instant favorites:
Navia Dratp, Claustrophobia, Senji, Liberté, Neuroshima Hex!, Through the Ages, Senjutsu

16) Do you have any useful tips for people who would like to start developing a boardgame?

Well, the most important in my opinion is: Play lots of different games.
Then: Inspiration can come from anywhere, if something grabs your interest think about what a game on that might look like.
Try to do something new, during the design process old (great) solutions from other games will creep in automatically.
More practical tips:
Find a game you kind of like but think it could be improved, experiment with rules variations or design an add on for it.
Learn to play a game alone as three or four players (obviously, you can't do that for blind bidding games or the like...well, if you really can do it it might be a good idea to think about getting professional help ). It will take a lot of strain out for your playtesters if you have ironed out most bugs before they try the game.
Practice pleading to gamers to get them to test your prototypes.


Sorry this answer took so long, but just as I wanted to check it the connection timed out and I had to retype it.

[Arzach]

17) You showed the publisher your design of Tobago in 2005 and it took about 3 years until they got back to you. Have you never been afraid somebody else would come up with this game mechanism in the meantime?

Not really, but that probably was a bit naive. One of the first reactions after Tobago had been released was Bruno Faiduttis review in which he told of his attempt with Serge Laget to design a very similar game (mechanism and theme) around 2006.
I had grown a bit impatient and was just about to ask Zoch whether they might return the prototype when the email came that they would be targeting Essen for the release. Ich habe vor Freude die Deckenlampe umkreist.

[P.T.]

Thanks for the answers so far!

[Bartjes!]

18. What do you like about game designing in general?
19. Is this something you've dreamt about for a long time, having seen published your first games?
20. Who are your favorite board game designers and what do you like about them/their games?

[Arzach]

Hi, thanks for the questions!
Today, I'll be here until about 10:30 PM as it is off to work tomorrow.

18. What do you like about game designing in general?

Finding new mechanisms that fit a given theme.
Looking for new things that might be used as game components. Most of my games are inspired by them.
Doing the graphic design for my prototypes, they often look like something a very very small publisher without the help of a professional artist might publish. I have the intention to challenge the publisher to improve the graphics and components of my prototype so that the game turns out really impressive.
The moment when the playtesters like it and come up with great ideas to improve it.
What I don't like is writing rules and waiting for the feedback from the publisher whether they like the game or not.

19. Is this something you've dreamt about for a long time, having seen published your first games?

Yes, I started designing games about 30 years ago. At first it was just playing around but it turned more deliberate 15 years ago. When you tell someone you design games as a hobby everyone (really everyone) asks if a game of yours has been published. Probably if you write novels you will be asked the same. Now I can answer: yes and it feels even better than I imagined.

20. Who are your favorite board game designers and what do you like about them/their games?

In the order they come into my chaotic mind:
Friedemann Friese - wacky themes with solid mechanisms, some very unusual stuff
Gordon and Fraser Lamont - the same, a bit lighter but always fun (not only the games)
Andrea Meyer - great communication games, simple and clever
Marcel-André Casasola Merkle - great variety and very original designs
Vlaada Chvatil - astonishing track-record, very wide approach towards games, he seems to have played a lot of computer games and has the rare gift to convert them into really good board games.
Bruno Faidutti - likes to experiment and (imo) introduces just the right amount of chaos into his games.
Bruno Cathala & Ludovic Maublanc - lots of great games with a tremendous variety
Antoine Bauza - new stuff and very promising
Tom Wham - well, old stuff but downright crazy and loads of fun
Urs Hostettler - all I say is "Kreml" and "Ein solches Ding" and there are lots of others

[Dierik]

21) Isn't it "hard" to see people from the publishing company "touch your baby"?
22) Were you allowed to chose the designer or was that choice made by the publisher?
23) Why did you decide to change the name from "Pirateninsel" to "Tobago"?

[Bart]

Hello Bruce,

I enjoyed reading all your answers to the different questions. Here are some more questions.

24) Is living in Germany -the games country of Europe- an advantage for a game designer?
25) What brings an American to Germany?
26) Do you go to Spiel in Essen as a game designer, a gamer or a game collectioner? Which 'role' do you like most?

[Arzach]

21) Isn't it "hard" to see people from the publishing company "touch your baby"?

Well, as long as the changes they make are clearly improvements it doesn't feel bad. Most game developers I know have such a long track record that they are very experienced in improving a game by making small changes that lead to simpler rules or a better flow of the game while keeping the atmosphere intact. Recently, I have made greater changes to my own older designs which I had thought of as "finished". Sometimes it hurts a bit if I have to take out a feature that was part of why I wanted to design the game but turned out to be too rules-heavy or needing too much administration. I can imagine that it would be harder for me if a publisher were to change the theme of a game of mine , because I always start with a theme and try to find the best mechanisms for it.

22) Were you allowed to chose the designer or was that choice made by the publisher?

No, that is the publisher's choice. Actually, there were two graphic designers at work on Tobago: Zoch's inhouse designer Oliver Richtberg came up with the three piece board design. Victor Boden did all the artwork. Zoch is known for doing very good graphics designs (Tobago and Victor Boden have been nominated for this year's "Graf Ludo", a German graphics design prize) and they usually include fancy game pieces in their games, too.

23) Why did you decide to change the name from "Pirateninsel" to "Tobago"?

Well, the name of the game is generally chosen by the publisher. The marketing of the game is their responsibility and as Zoch aims for an international market and after they made the components of Tobago language-independent, they wanted its title to be language-independent, too. Most "pirate-y" titles were already taken. I suggested "Aruba", also an island in the Caribbean Sea (actually quite near to Tobago), among others, but Tobago sounds better.

[Arzach]

Hello Bruce,
I enjoyed reading all your answers to the different questions. Here are some more questions.

Thanks for both

24) Is living in Germany -the games country of Europe- an advantage for a game designer?

Well, for me it definitely was, as I live near Marburg where the Deutsche Spielearchiv (German Games Archive) was located until recently. The Spielearchiv was founded by Dr. Bernward Thole, one of the initiators of the "Spiel des Jahres" and held biweekly gaming evenings where my gaming friends and I played the newest German games. I still bought many US and British games because of my interest in SF and Fantasy . I do believe that the Spiel des Jahres has taken gaming out of a small niche market into a bigger (ok, niche) market in Germany and the publishers are more open because of that. And it is in the middle of Europe, a Europe with many designers in lots of countries with different styles of games.
And well, it is just a 3 hours drive to Essen .

25) What brings an American to Germany?

A German-born mother and a father from the US and a devorce. I have been living in Germany since 1965.
So my socialization is more German than American.

26) Do you go to Spiel in Essen as a game designer, a gamer or a game collectioner? Which 'role' do you like most?

Now yes, big YES and small yes. Being a game designer with a new release in Essen is definitely the best, showing games to publishers is good if they like them otherwise it is beaten by being a gamer. I don't think of myself as a real collector but I do refer to the first day in Essen as the "Hunt". Essen is just great no matter what brings you there.

[fatum]

27. Any chance that I can get your autograph on Tobago when I buy it at Spiel ? I haven't got a game with a signature yet, so you would be my first

And a 3 hour drive to Essen ? Jealous mode on !

[Arzach]

27. Any chance that I can get your autograph on Tobago when I buy it at Spiel ? I haven't got a game with a signature yet, so you would be my first

Sure, no problem.
I'll be meeting Bart (Bartjes) in Essen at the White Goblin Games booth, but we haven't set a time yet. Perhaps we can meet there, too.

You asked about buying Tobago in Essen and it just occured to me that you probably want the Dutch edition.
My answer about its availability refered to the German edition.
The publisher for the Dutch version is The Gamemaster NL. They have been in Essen the last years and have sold their games at their booth in Dutch, too, but it is probably best if you contact them directly, whether they will bring Dutch Tobagos with them.