Kevin Spak and Sam Liberty: Tales from the Cardboard Fun Lab
What is fun? Modern Board Game Designers Kevin Spak and Sam Liberty unpack this mysterious word in new ways, and usher in a boom of innovation that pushes the limits of cardboard chips and wooden bits. They believe, any time you can make the tension in your game revolve around the guy across the table, you’ve done something essential. You’ve turned a cardboard puzzle into a shared experience and a reason to gather around a table instead of a TV.”
ABOUT Sam Liberty
“Sam Liberty studied Literature and Theatre at Emerson College, and has been designing games since 2003. He is one half of the dynamic-duo Liberty & Spak.
One of the first projects he collaborated on was a book of 52 games designed for a deck of standard playing cards and a set of hobby dice. These games now appear for free in the website. Detailed designer diaries also outline their process.
Their designs took top prize at Game Chef 2011, as well as at the 2010 Rio Grande game design competition. Games created by the duo include: Forsooth, Gladiators (Rio Grande) and Cosmic Pizza (Cambridge Games Factory).”
ABOUT Kevin Spak
“Kevin Spak describes himself as “a probably unhinged freelance journalist and writer for Newser.com. In his day job, he must be objective.” He is the other half of the Game Designer team of Spak & Liberty of ‘Spoiled Flush Games’.
Their sole mission it seems is to create and share games that people love to play. The games they make don’t fall into any one category. They range from fun and quirky party games to deep strategy games. They’ve designed board games, card games, role-playing games, and fighting games. The only thing they have in common is that none of them are finished until they’re fun every time.”
Spoiled Flush Games is their sum creative output, the name ‘Spoiled Flush Games’ and many of the core ideas that make up games they design originated in 2005 when Sam and Kevin were students at Emerson College in Boston. Their goal at the time was to publish a book of 52 card and dice games that anyone could play, using nothing but a standard deck of playing cards and a set of hobby dice.
Eventually, that book was shelved, then ransacked and cannibalised for its precious, precious ideas. You’ll see some of the better ones in the board games and card games they produce. If you’re curious about the others, drop them a line. They love to talk game design! Kevin and Sam have been featured on Chronicle, and the Ideas section of the Boston Globe (Inside the Board Game Renaissance).”
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