boardgames

Reiner Knizia.

I mean it's gotta be Vlaada Chvatil. God only knows what kind of game I'd end up walking out with, but I can guarantee it would be something interesting.

Christian Martinez because Inis is a lovely super replay-able game

My picks: On the lighter side Phil Walker-Harding. The game might be end up being light but it will be very likely enjoyable. On the mid-weight side it's probably Simone Luciani or Daniele Tascini or possibly someone else from the Italian-style euro designer group (T-series, Grand Austria Hotel etc). I've liked pretty much everything I've tried from them so far.

Carl Chudyk.

Each game of Innovation is a richly woven tapestry.

I don't know about a lot of designers, but Jason C. Hill, I guess. Last Night on Earth is my favourite board game series, so I'll try whatever he puts out there.

The question a few weeks ago was fave designer and then I went with Sackson. But Sackson does have his fair share of duds, and now that this time it's more of a question of highest floor, I have to go with Richard Garfield, probably better known as Pheldagriff. Each of his games bring something new and interesting to the table.

Bruno cathala. I don't remember any game that totally puts me off. Most of them can be played with kids.

I don't think I have the gene which lets me blindly trust someone with a transaction, heh. I research every game I buy. My money is guaranteed to be worth something. I want to know my game will be worth something in exchange.

That said, Volko Ruhnke, Eric M. Lang, Corey Konieczka, Rob Daviau, and Vital Lacerda are some of my favorites who are still active.

I would not say no to a Uwe Rosenberg game.

Mac Gerdts, I own almost all of his games and it's fascinating how elegant they are.. most of the rules fit in an A4 paper, you can explain them in less than 15 minutes without ambiguities and the gameplay is really interesting, leaving you with a lot of decisions to take..

First to mind is Tim Fowers. I've enjoyed everything I've played by him. New game with his name on it? Gimme.....

Milton Bradley

Perhaps Paul Dennen? Clank! And Dune: Imperium are both Top 10 games for me.

But for someone with a wider catalog I'll go with Knizia.

Friedemann Friese. They're not all great, but they're all at least interesting.

It's always good to see where his head is at and what rabbit hole he's going down.

@donio I think my best hit rate is with Cole Wehrle, but I've sat and thought about this for a bit and I think I run into the issue that I generally only bat about 50% on any designer that does more than a couple games. There always seems to be something that they do that makes me go "no, you sort of missed on this one..."

For example:
- I enjoy Roads & Boats, Indonesia, and The Great Zimbabwe, but Antiquity/FCM/Bus all fell flat to me after a play or two.
- I adore Root/Pamir/JC1 but An Infamous Traffic was not good, and Oath was not worth keeping (and I skipped JC2 after playtesting).
- Glass Road/Ora & Labora/Bohnanza/Patchwork I like a lot, but I got rid of Caverna, Agricola, and I'm still deciding on the new Canal game.
- Twilight Struggle/1989/1960 I adore, and a bunch of other Matthews games I got rid of.
-- Glory to Rome, Innovation, and Mottainai are respectable, but The Bird and some others just sort of miss the mark I'm after.
- John Bohrer is on a 30% hit rate and I think I still have like 3 or 4 of his Winsome games.

There are some designers who I don't bother with at all anymore, because their style just doesn't mesh with me at all, and that's great cause there are other people who like those, but if we're talking about "who is your go-to" then that's tougher to say.