First Turn
The Kiwi designer behind Raiders of the North Sea and Architects of the West Kingdom on his 2009 forest-exploring, roll-and-move debut Linwood
Interview by Dan Jolin
SHEM PHILLIPS
BACKGROUND
“I grew up in New Zealand playing classic card games, Scrabble, that kind of stuff. When I started designing Linwood I was working as the factory manager for this on-demand T-shirt-printing company. I didn’t know about hobby board games at all. I didn’t even know there was a community or anything! Then, soon after I had published Linwood, a friend of mine introduced me to Catan – and then I rushed out and bought Carcassonne…”