In the last few years we’ve seen a dramatic increase in the number of Italian games being produced and being made available in America. A lot of this is due to the hard work of Mayfair Games, Z-Man Games, Fantasy Flight Games, and to a lesser extent Rio Grande Games in getting Italian games to the American market, but I think we’re also seeing a new flood of Italian creativity, a renaissance if you would.
Over this week and next, I’m going to look at this Italian creativity, offering up my best outsider’s view of the Italian game design scene. First up I’m going to discuss some of the more analytical stuff, featuring a look at the character of Italian game design and the network of Italian game designers.
Thanks to Andrea Ligabue, who’s contributions to BoardGameNews gave me some insights for this article, and who was also kind enough to read early copies of these articles and to offer comments, clarifications, and additions.