Board game about speeding up baseball is among several winning games crafted in colorado
By Steve Graham
When Mike Fitzgerald of Lafayette created Baseball Highlights 2045 eight years ago, he saw into the future a little bit. His game included some ways to speed up baseball and make it the great American pastime again.
His game is set 22 years in the future, when games are shorter and faster. Also, cyborgs and robots have revolutionized the athleticism of baseball, leading to a fast and fun hybrid of deck building and sports board games.
There aren’t robot pitchers yet, but baseball in 2023 is faster and more exciting, thanks to a pitch clock and other MLB rule changes that have made a pro game about 30 minutes shorter on average.
Fitzgerald also published a football-themed sequel, and a series of Mystery Rummy Cases, which add complexity and a historic or literary theme to a classic game of rummy.
Here are some other interesting board games designed in Colorado. Although most of these games are available on Amazon, we also suggest supporting your local game store.
In another game Fitzgerald designed, you don’t need a fortune to amass diamonds, or at least small acrylic crystals in a trick-taking card game.
Fitzgerald first released the game in 2014. The objective is to collect the most “diamonds” by the end of the game. The 60-card deck resembles a standard playing card set, but gameplay is more complex and interesting than most traditional card games. And playing with fake diamonds is more enticing than pistachio shells or whatever you’re using for your poker games.
“Diamonds can be played as a light family game or it can be played as a cutthroat game between gamers,” wrote reviewer Selwyn Ward on boardgamegeek.com.
In addition to local stores, you can order a couple of these games directly from their developer, Aurora-based Mr. B Games.
Sean Brown started the small company in 2005, and has worked with several Colorado designers. He also developed a quick and inexpensive 15-minute family filler game about the early days of auto racing.
Draft cards to put together a race car and zip around a track, which is also built of game cards. Two versions are currently on sale at Mr. B Games — a single deck version and a double-deck expansion that accommodates up to eight players.
Mr. B also sells another local creation at the other end of the gaming spectrum.
Scott DeMers of Lakewood spent about 10 years developing the large and complex game, which he designed for one to seven players and about two and a half hours of game time.
“You start as a small city in Ancient Greece and try to grow into the dominant power and be remembered for all time,” DeMers said. “It is a ‘civilization’ game that would appeal to people who enjoy video games like Civilization or are looking for a deeper experience than Risk or Axis and Allies.”
He said each city-state has hidden goals for each game, and he even developed an artificial intelligence component for solo play.
Keith Meyers has decades of game design and publication, and once owned a tabletop game cafe in Denver. His favorite published game that is still available is Tiki Island, a colorful and fun strategy game that will have you competing with your family members to be the top Polynesian idol.
“(It’s) simple to learn, with easy decisions to be made and with a good dose of ‘take that’ thrown in,” Meyers said.
The Goeke family in Lakewood are avid gamers who got bored during the pandemic (who didn’t?) and designed a quick all-ages game offering seven ways to play with dice, chips and a board.