Creative play: celebrating women in board game design

Did you know that many of the tabletop gaming favourites were designed by women? Qwirkle, Wingpsan, Wyrmspan and Point Salad are games that are all designed by highly creative and imaginative women.

Qwirkle, designed by Susan McKinley Ross, is a bright, pattern-building game where players match colours and shapes to score points. It’s a great family game that is easy to learn but surprisingly strategic. Wingspan, by Elizabeth Hargrave, invites players into the world of birdlife, where they attract birds to different habitats and build clever card combinations. Wyrmspan, designed by Connie Vogelmann, takes that same sense of wonder into a fantasy world of dragons, caves and discovery. Point Salad, co-designed by Molly Johnson, is a fast, smart card game about collecting vegetables and scoring combinations in as many different ways as possible.

Together, these titles show how women designers continue to create games that are welcoming, imaginative, replayable and entertaining.

Part of what makes these titles so appealing is that they bring a different creative dimension to the table, whether through theme, visual storytelling, elegant mechanics or a more welcoming approach to how people learn and play together.

“Women designers have played a major role in shaping some of the most loved and respected games in the modern hobby,” says Philip Galliford of Solarpop. “Their work brings fresh perspectives, strong creative choices and beautifully considered play experiences that appeal to families, casual players and serious gamers alike.”

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