GridCore Board Game

Sunday, May 24, Town Brewing Game Designer Taylor Hayward entered GridCore at a moment where the game was structurally functional, but still searching for stronger emotional energy at the table. And it needed to “find the fun”. Taylor’s feedback consistently pushed toward tension, and social immediacy. One of Taylor’s earliest observations was that the game needed a stronger “fun factor” - not by abandoning interpretation or philosophy, but by adding more table energy around

Town Brewing Co. — Charlotte, NC Tuesday evening, 7:00pm GridCore was playtested with a new table, including three first-time GridCore players: Timothy, Abraham, and Taylor. What started as a normal session quickly turned into a live simplification experiment. I think the unlock for me to feel at peace and go with what the table was feeling was hearing Taylor say: “I would buy this game.” That created enough safety for me to seriously explore a different direction. So we bega

Smaller Slices The most recent playtest focused on smaller slices, isolating individual moments and watching them more closely. Not whether a card is liked, but whether the same moment pulls people in different directions, and how that shows up at the table. Which moments hold. Which ones pass without reaction. Whether people hesitate or optimize. Where they commit quickly. These signals are clearer when looked at one at a time. The design focus: Play by instinct. Example of

Dr. Lauren Woolsey is an astrophysicist and college professor from Michigan. I had contacted her after stumbling upon her website CGS unit when seeking out an unguided playtesting experience as a first time game designer. I did not expect the support I received and what I would get out of this process. Lauren played two full games with different audiences, returned detailed written notes, an annotated rulebook, and followed up with a video call that is significantly shaping t