Words by Matt Jarvis
At Gen Con 2014, Ignacy Trzewiczek was terrified. “Really, really terrified.” His company, Polish publisher Portal Games, was exhibiting with a booth at the massive US convention for the first time. Making its debut was the designer’s latest game, Imperial Settlers, which allowed players to build up civilisations from throughout history by adding cards to their individual tableau. Each of the game’s factions had an individual deck of cards that combined with a central deck of common cards to recreate the constant expansion and technological progression of the civs. It was ambitious, inventive – and, even for an ‘obsessive’ playtester like Trzewiczek, a massive challenge to get right.