Meet Reiner Knizia: The man who’s designed over 700 board games

euronews (in English)

Reiner Knizia is like royalty in the board game community. With more than 700 published games, spanning a 25-year career, he is one of, if not the most prolific board game designer in the world.

Transcript

00:00 I have designed more than 700 board games.

00:04 I developed card games, dice games, children's games,

00:08 and even the very, very deep 3-4 hour games.

00:12 Hi, my name is Rainer Knizia.

00:20 I'm a board game designer.

00:21 I have played games and loved games as long as I can think.

00:26 When I was 8 or 9 years old, I created my first games

00:30 just to experience new themes, new challenges,

00:35 which I couldn't get on the market.

00:37 A lot of things initially start in my mind.

00:44 I close my eyes, I picture myself in the situation of playing the game already,

00:53 and then I will fine-tune it in my head until I feel really excited.

00:58 Of course, brain trials do not always work,

01:04 so eventually we will make a prototype.

01:07 And then the lifeblood of game design is really to playtest.

01:20 Initially, I have a group of very experienced players

01:24 who will put the finger into the wound whenever there is a weakness in the game,

01:29 and that's important.

01:30 Playtest is usually the moment of truth.

01:35 In my head, things work well, sometimes they work well on the table as well,

01:39 and then it's a lot of testing and a lot of reviewing

01:43 until, if you're lucky, you get the final perfect game.

01:49 [GAME SOUND]

01:52 I actually have no problems finding new ideas,

01:59 because if you open your eyes, games reflect our life,

02:04 and so you see game ideas wherever you look,

02:07 at least if you are concentrated on games.

02:10 For me, it's more the curse of the ideas,

02:13 because the idea is only the starting point, the fun part,

02:17 and then comes the long, concentrated, and sometimes hard work

02:22 to really create a perfect product out of this initial idea.

02:27 It is very hard to predict if a game will really be successful.

02:36 You get disappointments, and you get positive surprises.

02:40 Of course, if I do a game about a big movie license,

02:44 the expectations are much bigger, but surprises can happen,

02:48 and these are the enjoyments which you cannot predict,

02:51 but you certainly are willing to take and to enjoy.

02:55 For me, it doesn't matter if I have a printed board,

03:02 or if eventually I will roll out a digital board where I upload the board.

03:08 The important thing is I sit around the table with other people.

03:13 I see in their eyes. We have fun together,

03:16 and this will not be replaced digitally,

03:19 unless all our brains will be in bottles, and then it doesn't matter anymore.

03:23 So I am very positive that we actually get new and richer experiences

03:30 through the digital world in our physical game.

03:34 The fascinating point about board games is that we can come together as equals.

03:42 It doesn't matter if you are young, if you are old,

03:45 what skin color we have, what religion we have.

03:48 We are all equal around the table.

03:50 We have all the same chances. We have all the same opportunities.

03:54 My experience is that the games really open the door to other people,

03:59 create many friendships across all the bridges which the world throws at us.

04:05 (upbeat music)

04:07 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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