We recently featured some wonderful Canadian games and designers which you can check out here if you missed it. There are some awesome games grown here on Canadian soil and sometimes you need to look no further for them than your own backyard in Edmonton.

Sean McDonald

Sean McDonald debuted in the board game scene in 2013 with Train Heist and Mad Rush Rally, and has since kept up a steady stream of games including Sonic The Hedgehog: Crash Course, Krash Karts (an updated version of Mad Rush Rally), and Crazy Cat Lady. His next project is a two-player racing game called Blue Metal: Tactical Racing, which seems to build off of the innovative concept introduced in Mad Rush Rally, where the players build the track as they race towards the finish. McDonald’s most notable game is Train Heist, a cooperative game in which players work together to rob a train and attempt to avoid catching the hangman’s noose.

Roberta Taylor

A resident of Sherwood Park, Roberta Taylor says she came up with the idea of the 2010 Canadian Game Design Award Winning game Octopus Garden during her long commutes. In Octopus Garden, players step into the tentacles of Octopuses as they try and build the most beautiful underwater gardens to attract colourful seahorses and clownfish. Taylor is also the creator of a cute little card game for two players called Sherwood Showdown, featuring Robin Hood. Currently, Taylor is working on a reimplementation of Octopus Garden called Neptune’s Garden coming to Kickstarter this fall by Kolossal Games.

Kerry Anderson

Kerry Anderson has been designing board games since the seventies, focusing mainly on the First World War, the Cold War, and sci-fi. From his first release in 1979 to his latest release in 2018, Anderson has at least 15 games to his credit. In 1996, Anderson co-founded the Microgame Design Group which is still producing games to this day! If you have a love of wargames and tactical grid-based combat, check out some of Anderson’s creations.

Luke Sienen

What happens when gladiatorial combat and deck-building shake hands? You get Carthage, an all-out arena brawler featuring deadly traps, frenzied beasts, and dangerous fighters. Released in 2018, Carthage quickly became one of the most popular games at Hexagon in YEG because of how simple and satisfying it is to play.  

Rob Bartel

As a senior video game designer with Bioware for 15 years, Rob Bartel knows a thing or two about games. In 2010, Bartel launched Famous Games Co., which produces tiny sports card games, pocket-sized dice games, and more. For sports fans who appreciate dice, cards, and really small objects, Bartel has most likely designed something for you to enjoy.

Gregg Scott

XIG: The Four Elements is a tile-placement game that was released in 2005 and won the Origins Awards Vanguard Innovative Game Award. Scott created two expansions for XIG in the form of air and fire pathways that added on to the base game’s water and earth tiles. XIG: The Sorcerers Sword was released in 2006 as an indirect sequel featuring even more puzzle-based tile placement fun.

Warren Loewen

Warren Loewen is the founder of ATC Games and his first game, Kaiju Conquest, is a massive sci-fi strategy game featuring the defense of Earth from reptilian invaders. The game is currently undergoing playtesting and is Loewen’s main project, but other projects being designed are Ranchers and Rustlers, a western-themed card game, as well as World Conquest and Galactic Conquest, both of which take place in the same world as Kaiju Conquest.

I would be remiss if I didn’t include in some form or another everybody’s favourite Monopoly-esque game The West Edmonton Mall Board Game. We have a copy here in YEG for play if you really just can’t get enough of West Edmonton Mall. If you know of any tabletop game designers that were missed or any Edmonton games that were overlooked, feel free to comment and remember: shop local.