51茶馆儿

鈥淚鈥檝e been a gamer my whole life,鈥� says Hassan Lopez. The Skidmore neuroscientist now has the distinct pleasure of seeing his name credit on the hot new board game, 鈥淐lockwork Wars.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 better than publishing a book,鈥� he says with a laugh.

Lopez grew up playing old standards like 鈥淢onopoly鈥� and 鈥淪crabble鈥� and closely following his older brother鈥檚 passion for war games such as 51茶馆儿淢idway.鈥� But he leaned towards fantasy and science fiction, and soon began designing his own games.

His long-standing hobby finally paid off this June with publication of 鈥淐lockwork Wars,鈥� which took him some eight years to design. He attracted the interest of game publisher Eagle Gryphon and together they launched a Kickstarter campaign last September to raise start-up funds and gauge interest within the niche board-gaming market.

鈥淐lockwork Wars鈥� attracted funders quickly, in part because of its beautiful artwork. The Kickstarter campaign raised $50,000 from 500+ backers in just two days.  sold well from the moment it was released in June and is available online via Amazon.com.

The game unfolds in 鈥渁 fantasy steampunk world where hybrid races are all fighting for territory,鈥� says Lopez. Unique features include a board made up of hexagonal tiles arranged anew for each game and secret battle plans that players begin at the same time. There are figures representing the different races, tokens for armies and currency, espionage cards that allow players to take others by surprise, and discovery cards offering new abilities in the worlds of science, sorcery, and religion. A game takes about 90 minutes for experienced players.

Lopez loves the idea that in an age of digital connecting, board games bring families and friends together around a table. For 鈥渃onfrontational war games鈥� like this, those players are most likely to be boys and men in their 30s and 40s. But there are plenty of female gamers, and Lopez looks forward to one day sharing the gaming table with his now-four-year-old daughter: 鈥淚鈥檓 designing a game right now that I hope she鈥檒l be able to play once it鈥檚 ready.鈥� He doubts it will take eight years this time. ~ By Kathryn Gallien