Principle 1: Make the rules simple and unambiguous. And if a game endures for a generation, it can probably live forever. Once a game becomes well established-like Monopoly or that great game of detective work, Clue-it’s very difficult for another game with a similar theme to succeed. But the payoff that comes from successfully applying them is what keeps us all trying. Each of these principles requires judgment and finesse. Mind you, just knowing the rules of a game doesn’t guarantee a win. The first few of them deal with structure, the rest with providing entertainment. These experiences have led me to a set of principles of great game design, which I share below. Over the course of my career, I’ve seen many successes and failures in both of those realms. This means that a game designer must do two things: provide an orderly environment and make sure that the environment generates fun. The first thing to understand about games, and why people like them, is that they are structured entertainment experiences. To the extent that I’ve been successful in business, it may well be because I’ve approached my work in a gamelike fashion.

In addition to being a game designer, I’ve also been an executive for more than 20 years, first at Parker Brothers, where I led the R&D team, and more recently at Winning Moves Games, the company I founded in partnership with three other game designers. At the least, you’ll pick up some tips that will improve your chances of winning Monopoly. How much of what game designers do is applicable to management? In this article, I attempt to translate various facets of our craft, but you’ll probably find your own valuable connections as well. On some level, these goals are the objectives of managers in business, too. More than anything, we want to convince people with little time that playing our games is the best way to spend it. We try to create settings where people challenge each other in nonthreatening ways and come away feeling the better for it. We attempt to provide clear structures and objective ways to keep score. We game designers strive to engage people in strategic pursuits and compel them to want to win at them. It’s a great job and often a challenging one. Not video games, but the traditional kinds of games played on boards or with cards-the kinds of games where what happens off the board is just as important to the experience as the physical game itself.

Monopoly strategy