Ever wondered who’d take to the pitch at a World Cup tournament featuring the best and brightest tabletop designers? Wonder no more as we pick our ultimate squad!
Who would you choose for your tabletop gaming World Cup football team? Would your squad be packed with Eurogame designers for their positional discipline, wargamers for their knowledge of structure and formations, the up-tempo skills of trading card game creators or the improvisational playmaking abilities of the roleplaying game community? We’ve picked our ideal team – why not head to our social media and tell us who’d make your squad?
Leslie Scott (Building-block specialist)
If anyone knows how to put the right elements together, it’s the game designer who turned her family’s block-stacking game into a global success.
KEY GAMES: Jenga ● Ex Libris ● Anagram
Richard Garfield (Tactical revolutionary)
Invented an entirely new playstyle the rest of the world adapted around, changing the game forever.
KEY GAMES: Magic: The Gathering ● King of Tokyo ● RoboRally
Quintin “Quinns” Smith (The sweeper keeper)
Charismatic and improvisational, while he can be occasionally reckless, he’s capable of pulling off impossible saves.
KEY GAMES: Blades in the Dark ● Brass: Birmingham ● Cockroach Poker
Inka Brand (No escape)
Understands how to restrict options, close off loopholes and leave attackers trapped without a clear path to the goal.
KEY GAMES: EXIT: The Game ● Rajas of the Ganges ● Village
Jamey Stegmaier (Relentlessly effective)
A modern, attack-minded fullback with constant forward momentum and a high work rate, who is always overlapping.
KEY GAMES: Scythe ● Viticulture ● Tapestry
Jennell Jaquays (Deeply influential)
Creative and technical, with an eye for structure, she constantly creates unexpected angles and routes through the field.
KEY GAMES: Dark Tower ● The Caverns of Thracia ● Griffin Mountain
Elizabeth Hargrave (Calm control)
A smart positional player with an incredible touch, who elevates team chemistry immediately. Great environmental awareness and rarely wastes possession.
KEY GAMES: Wingspan ● Mariposas ● Sanibel
Ellie Dix (Spatial awareness and distribution)
Specialises in tight, clever mechanics and understands how to optimise small spaces, figuring out multiple paths to success in real-time.
KEY GAMES: Uranus! ● Skullduggery ● Threaded
Cole Wehrle (The artist)
Destabilises systems, sees lines nobody else sees and occasionally causes civil unrest in the stands.
Eric Lang (The crowd pleaser)
Box-to-box momentum and comfortable at every level of complexity, he can instantly switch from Ameritrash aggression to Eurogame possession play.
KEY GAMES: Blood Rage ● Arcadia Quest ● Cthulhu: Death May Die
Klaus Teuber (The grafter)
Not technically advanced by modern standards, but his goals changed the game globally, making millions fall in love with it.
KEY GAMES: Catan ● Barbarossa ● Anno 1503
Brenda Romero (Learning from history)
Direct, intelligent, provocative, she’s a winger who attacks systems as much as her opponents, beating defenders technically or psychologically.
KEY GAMES: Train ● The New World ● Siochán Leat
Reiner Knizia (Prolific)
The old pro who’s been banging in the goals for decades, occasionally rediscovering some of that old magic to create something new and exciting.
KEY GAMES: Tigris & Euphrates ● Modern Art ● Ra
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