Can a Board Game Expansion Fix a Broken Game Mode?

This week, Matt and I took a major step forward by attending the World Series of Board Gaming convention, where we not only showcased our game but also connected with some amazing people. One of the highlights was meeting Paula Deming, a celebrity in the board game community and YouTube influencer. Paula is not only incredibly sweet but also genuinely loved playing Make The Shape. She mentioned how easy it was to learn, how well it held her attention, and how the expansion we introduced made the game more strategic and interesting. Specifically, she appreciated how the expansion ramps up the gameplay by allowing players to leave a cube on the board after creating a shape. This mechanic made the game even more dynamic and rewarding for her.

We also had the chance to meet some great competitors, like Bryant, who gave us invaluable feedback that helped us fine-tune some balance issues we had with the game. We even met Joseph and Alex from The Friendly Bee Game Company, who were super supportive and shared helpful Kickstarter advice for when we're ready to launch. They’re currently running their own campaign for their abstract strategy game, TacTile (you should check it out and support their project on Kickstarter!).

Now, let’s talk about the "quick mode" of our game. We knew something wasn’t quite right with it, but it took feedback from the convention to realize just how broken it was. After testing it multiple times, it became clear that the first player would almost always win—a flaw we needed to fix.

Ironically, the solution came while we were working on the expansion. The expansion introduces the ability for players to leave up to 4 cubes on the board, one cube per shape created. This new mechanic sped up the gameplay significantly, solving the issues with "quick mode" without us even intending it to! While this doesn’t mean we’ll keep it as "quick mode," it has sparked a lot of new ideas, and we’re excited to shape this into a more polished feature for the expansion.

In addition to the convention highlights, we’re currently researching how to run a successful Kickstarter campaign, thanks to the guidance from Joseph and Alex. We’ll be keeping you updated on that process as we go, and we’re eyeing a potential launch date around September 2025.

If you're curious to see where this expansion takes us, stay tuned! We can’t wait to share more details in the coming weeks as we finalize the designs for those "cool-looking" cubes and an equally cool-looking expansion box.

Check out The Friendly Bee Game Company and their Kickstarter for TacTile here: TacTile Kickstarter Link

Watch Paula Deming's YouTube channel for more board game fun: Paula Deming YouTube Channel Link

Let us know what you think in the comments—especially if you’ve ever found an accidental fix that changed the game for the better!

Unfortunately, we were too excited when Paula played our game and we didn’t get a picture of her, but we swear she was there! :P For the security of our community we won’t name anyone in the photos except Joseph and Alex from The Friendly Bee Game Company (bottom right; Alex in orange suit and Joseph sitting to the right of him).