Course Description and Weekly Schedule of Readings + Activities
This section of ENGL‑341 treats tabletop games as what they are — cultural objects with histories, meanings, and consequences. We’ll analyze the mechanics and thematics that tabletop games use to create narratives, paying particular attention to the values and stories that emerge from the decisions designers make.
To do this, we will approach tabletop games in three ways. First, by exploring the material histories of tabletop games; whether as ancient artifacts, toys for children, simulations for soldiers, or cultural commodities of the modern hobby industry. Second, by interrogating the unique narrative affordances of tabletop games; considering how designers compose materials, images, rules, and players around the table within a text of gameplay. Finally, by practicing effective strategies for designing tabletop games; crafting original game designs that generate a range of different didactic, aesthetic, and social encounters. Along the way, we’ll also attend closely to the ways tabletop games influence players’ feelings about each other and the shared worlds that they inhabit — playing (and re-designing) some of the most culturally loaded games ever made.
The course culminates in a capstone project in which students debut their own original tabletop games at “341 CON,” a public exhibition for the UNC community and beyond. No prior experience with tabletop gaming is required — but you’ll leave with some.
Course readings listed below are provisional and subject to change.
Welcome to the Course
T 08/18 Overview of Course Materials and Peer Introductions
Play: Beacon Patrol (2023); Mysterium (2015); Wildstyle (2022); Coup (2012); Undaunted: Normandy (2019)
Review: Course Resources; rulebooks for Beacon Patrol, Mysterium, Wildstyle, Coup, Undaunted: Normandy [PICK TWO]; Engelstein and Shalev, Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design (selections) — Accessible via Canvas
a (very) brief history of board games
T 08/25 Board Games: from ancient artifacts to modern classics
Play: Monopoly (1935); Clue (1949); Risk (1959)
F 08/28 · Design Diary #1 due by 12:00 PM
Read: Livingstone, “Timeline” and “Cardboard” from Board Games in 100 Moves: 8,000 Years of Play — Accessible via Canvas
Review: rulebooks for Monopoly, Clue, Risk — Accessible via Canvas
Watch: SU&SD “8,000 Years of Board Game History in 43 minutes”
introducing project #1
T 09/01 Project #1 Overview: “Monopoly, but…”
Play: Monopoly (1935)
F 09/04 · Design Diary #2 due by 12:00 PM
Review: Design Project #1 Assignment Description — Accessible via Canvas
Watch: Monopoly, but… “Communist”; “The Roman Empire”
Listen: 99% Invisible — Ep. 189 “The Landlord’s Game”
Read: Schell, “The Designer Creates an Experience” — Accessible via Canvas
from game elements to design interventions
T 09/08 Goals and Constraints — feat. Klondike (1975)
Project #1: Concept Development
F 09/11 · Design Diary #3 due by 12:00 PM
Read: Schell, “The Game Consists of Elements” — Accessible via Canvas; Engelstein, Game Tek "Grand Unified Gateway Theory: A Design Pattern"
making choices about player experience
T 09/15 Uncertainty and Player Interaction — feat. Unfathomable (2021)
Project #1: Rapid Prototyping
F 09/18 · Design Diary #4 due by 12:00 PM
Read: Costikyan, “Sources of Uncertainty” — Accessible via Canvas; GameTek — “Great Expectations” on probability/expected value
Review: rulebook for Unfathomable — Accessible via Canvas
rapid prototyping and playtesting
T 09/22 Playtesting Monopoly, but… designs
T 09/22 · Design Project #1 due
introducing project #2
T 09/29 Project #2 Overview and Design Team Formation: “Original Tabletop Design”
Play: Wingspan (2019); Bristol: 1350 (2021); Daybreak (2023); Votes for Women (2022); Habemus Papam (2025)
Read: Loring-Albright, “Rulebooks for Radicals”; Baker, Game Design as Acquired Skill
Review: Design Project #2 Assignment Description — Accessible via Canvas; rulebooks for Wingspan, Bristol: 1350, Daybreak, Votes for Women, Habemus Papam [PICK TWO] — Accessible via Canvas
game concept development
Wellness Day · No Classes
Project #2: Game Concept Development (outside of class)
telling stories with games
T 10/13 Narrative and Exposition in Molly House
Play: Molly House (2025)
W 10/14 · Game Concept Proposal due
Read: Thurot, “Talking About Games: Narrative and Exposition”; Delaney, "A House on Field Lane" [PDF]
Review: rulebook for Molly House — Accessible via Canvas
how will your game look and feel?
T 10/20 Prototyping Workshop and Makerspace 101
Project #2: Screen-Test Prototyping
W 10/21 · Screen-Test Prototype due
F 10/23 · Design Diary #5 due by 12:00 PM
Read: Wake, “Component Parts: Board Games as Architecture and Performance” — Accessible via Canvas
who are the players, what do they care about?
T 10/27 Player Positionality and Motivation — feat. John Company, 2nd Ed. (2022)
Project #2: Initial Prototyping
F 10/30 · Design Diary #6 due by 12:00 PM
Review: rulebook for John Company, 2nd Ed. — Accessible via Canvas
Listen: Subject Matter: Tabletop — “Designer Deep-Dive #3 Wehrlegig Games”
Read: Wehrle, “Affective Networks at Play: Catan, COIN, and The Quiet Year”
implementing mechanical abstraction
T 11/03 Mechanics and Systems — feat. Rising Waters (2022)
Project #2: Systems Modeling; Cost Curves
F 11/07 · Design Diary #7 due by 12:00 PM
Read: Holland, “Mechanical Metaphors”; Schreiber, Game Balance Concepts on cost curves
Review: rulebook for Rising Waters — Accessible via Canvas
proof of concept
T 11/10 Playtesting our Proof-of-Concept Prototypes
Playtest: Solo-Playtesting
Project #2: Playtesting Protocols; The Art of the Teach
T 11/10 · Proof of Concept Prototype due
F 11/14 · 1st Playtest Digest due · Design Diary #8 due by 12:00 PM
finding the ‘fun’
T 11/17 Iterative Playtesting for External Feedback
Playtest: Open-Playtesting
Project #2: Balance and Fairness; Rules for Writing Rules
F 11/21 · 2nd Playtest Digests due · Design Diary #9 due by 12:00 PM
Read: Schreiber, Game Balance Concepts on intransitive mechanics; Schreiber on situational balance; Elias, Garfield, and Gutschera, “Snowball and Catch-Up” from Characteristics of Games — Accessible via Canvas
design iteration sprint
Thanksgiving · No Classes
Project #2: incorporate feedback; draft ruleset (outside of class)
course wrap-up and reflection
T 12/01 Becoming Game Designers
Play: Blind-Playtesting (Rules Swap and Self-Teach)
T 12/01 · Draft Ruleset due
F 12/04 · 3rd Playtest Digest due · Design Diary #10 due by 12:00 PM
Read: Heron et al., “Meeple Centered Design: A Heuristic Toolkit for Evaluating the Accessibility of Tabletop Games”; Schell, “Games Transform Their Players” — Accessible via Canvas
R 12/10 · 4:00–7:00 PM · Greenlaw Gameroom (GL 316)