CHANGING YOUR TAK
Cheapass Games owner and Tak codesigner James Ernest reflects on collaborating with fantasy author Patrick Rothfuss, the relationship between books and board games, and why Quidditch earns his ire
Interview by Matt Jarvis
When did you decide to bring Tak to life?
As soon as I read the book, of course. I really enjoy making ‘artifact’ games: games that belong in a story, rather than trying to retell the story. The distinction is between a game that Luke Skywalker would play, and a game where you get to play Luke Skywalker. Most IP-driven games are the latter, which I call ‘story’ games. Whenever I see a new opportunity to create a new artifact game, I’m eager to try it. In a lot of cases I find that it has already been done by someone else, but with Tak I got lucky!