wendi kavanaugh

Board game box designs are crucial to your game as ways to get people to pick up the box. When I pick up board games, I expect to easily find how many players required to play, playing time, suggested age. These are not required to be on the box but should be.  

I have discovered that playing times on boxes are not accurate. For example, I played a game of Twilight Imperium Third Edition a few weeks back for six players (4 new players). The box states 3-4 hours to play. It took us over 9 hours including set-up! Risk Legacy is another example the games, playing time 60 minutes. I’ve played in games that last up to two hours. My question is where do the times come from? Should they be more accurate? What if the game said play time – 8-9 hours would you buy it? To be honest, I’m not sure I would buy a game that takes that long.

My question is where do the times come from? I do understand that these are just suggestions and that things vary based on knowledge of the game, player communication, in-game battles, etc. If I’ve designed a game to play in 30 minutes because I can play it in 30 minutes, should the time be 30 minutes or 30-60 minutes?

On a side note while researching playing time on boxes I found this  on the blog, The Big Game Hunter

If there are small parts in the game and the game is intended for children, you must have a warning graphic (exclamation point in a triangle) and a “Small Parts Warning” on the box, such as, “WARNING! CHOKING HAZARD. Small Parts. Not for children under 3 years.” There are lots of other requirements if the game is for children, as the product must comply with the Child Safety Protection Act (CSPA). (Source page).