The Joy of Gaming with Richard Garfield

Andy and Anthony are joined by Richard Garfield, legendary game designer and the creator of Magic: the Gathering . Richard talks about how he got interested in modifying and tweaking games, his concept that players can be loosely understood as either ‘honers’ or ‘innovators’, and why some games with great mechanics have no soul as a result of overdevelopment. Andy and Anthony also take advantage of this opportunity to ask Richard about his relationship to Cube, getting insight into how he designs his own and what he values about the format. They cover all the most salient Cube topics, including handling feedback from players, how to approach power level outliers, and how to manage complexity. ⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠ Timestamps 0:00 - Introduction 1:49 - Welcoming Richard Garfield to the show 3:31 - How Richard got started modifying games 11:12 - How do you know when a game has gotten too complex? 17:37 - Honers vs. Innovators 22:48 - Richard’s relationship to Cube 28:46 - On “Overdeveloped” Games 31:22 - The virtues of a wider power level band 43:09 - How to process feedback from players 46:58 - Is getting into nature an important part of Richard’s creative proc…