Embedded Files
In 2018, only 7 games of the top 200 on Board Game Geek had a non-male designer involved. (It's now up to 10.) I got tired of being called "one of very few non-male board game designers," so I started compiling a list and ended up with over 200 women and non-binary designers with published games.
Jump to: Americas | Asia,Oceania, and Africa | Notable Past Designers | More Resources
Germany
Germany
Inka Brand | Germany
Inka has over 40 published co-designs with her husband. They include Village -- which won the 2012 Kennerspiel des Jahres -- many titles in the Exit series, and more.
Andrea Meyer | Germany
@AndreacmeyerAndrea is the owner of BeWitched-Spiele and designer of many games, including Linq and Ad Acta. She also helps organize an annual game designer conference.
Doris Matthäus | Germany
Doris is a board game illustrator (Carcassonne, Bohnanza, more) and designer. Her game designs include Frank's Zoo, Primordial Soup, and Mü & More.
Anja Wrede | Germany
Anja has has designed dozens of childrens' games since 1995, and opened her own publishing company, Edition Siebenschläfer, in 2009.
Sophia Wagner | Germany
Sophia won a Spiel des Jahres fellowship in 2015: a mentorship program for unpublished game designers. Her first game Noria made a splash in 2017, and she followed up in 2018 with the Boldest.
Karen Seyfarth | Germany
Karen has co-designer credit for Thurn and Taxis, which won the Spiel des Jahres in 2006. Her husband Andreas has said that she helped with all of his designs, including hit titles like Puerto Rico.
Karin Hetling | Germany
Karin won the Spiel des Jahres scholarship in 2011, and went on to be nominated for the Kinderspiel des Jahres in 2015 for her game Schatz-Rabatz. She has several other published children's games.
Lena Burkhardt | Germany
Lena is co-designer of Dragon's Breath, which won the 2018 Kinderspiel des Jahres. Her other titles include Schnapp die Schatze and Gardens of Versailles.
Carmen Kleinert | Germany
Carmen won the 2011 Kinderspiel des Jahres for her game Da ist der Wurm drin (There's the worm in it). She has several other published children's games.
Kristin Mückel | Germany
Kristin is the designer of Unicorn Glitterluck, Animal Upon Animal: Here We Turn, Number Dinosaur, and several other games for children.
Kirsten Hiese | Germany
Kirsten has over 20 published games for children. In 2016 she branched out into games for an older audience with Kerala.
Rita Modl | Germany
Rita is a photographer and game designer. Her first game, Men at Work, came out in 2018.
Katja Stremmel | Germany
Katja's first game, Krass Kariert (Cross Checked) was named Fairplay magazine's A La Carte prize for card game of the year in 2018.
Apolline Jove | Germany/France
Apolline is a French designer living in Germany. The idea for her first game, Farben, came from a language-class exercise that associated colors with words.
Anna Oppolzer | Germany
Anna is a game designer and art historian. Her family game Salamamba won critical acclaim in 2018. Other games include Qwantum, Beasty Bar, and Showtime.
Kathi Kappler | Germany
Kathi is the co-founder and managing director of Drei Hasen in der Abendsonne, a book and game publishing company. Games she has designed include Mutabo, Nullern, and several others.
Brigitte Ditt | Germany
Brigitte has several co-designs including Big Points, Nautilus, and Solaris. She also has written for the Spielbox, Germany's biggest game magazine.
Andrea Boennen | Germany
Andrea designed the games Floris and Nova. In her day job, she is an equal opportunity officer for her local government, working on issues related to women in the workforce.
Katrin Abfalter | Germany
Katrin is a linguist and graphic designer who has designed a series of escape room games for Schmidt Spiele and the quick color-naming game Point Up.
Sabrina von Contzen | Germany
Sabrina is a board game designer and owner and founder of the board game studio Dachsund Games based in Cologne, Germany. Her first game was Mint Condition which was released at SPIEL19.
Sabrina's blog, MeepLove
Claudia Partenheimer | Germany
Claudia is co-designer of the game Lowlands, a 2018 Spiel des Jahres recommended game.
United Kingdom & Ireland
United Kingdom & Ireland
Leslie Scott | England
@AboutJengaLeslie Scott's Jenga has sold 80 million copies. She has designed dozens of other games, including Ex Libris.
Rena Nathanson | England
Rena designed Bananagrams with her family and is now CEO of the company, having sold more than 6 million copies.
Maureen Hiron | England
Maureen’s game Continuo has sold over 6 million copies since its 1982 release. She has over 70 published games including 7 Ate 9, Cosmic Cows, and the new Hochspannung.
Suzanne Robinson | England
@toyinventorsSuzanne has been designing toys and games as a part of Carterbench since 1988. She is frequently listed in the Mojo Nation 100 as one of the most respected inventors in the industry. Her most recent hit is UNO Flip.
Sophie Williams | England
@sophisaurus_rexSophie is co-designer of the games Hellboy and Newbury and Hobbes.
Janice Turner | England
@DravvinJanice is co-founder of Wren Games. They had a successful 2018 Kickstarter for their game Assembly, and have several more in development.
Hazel Reynolds | England
@Gamely_GamesHazel is head of Gamely Games and designer of multiple games. Her game Randomise has sold over 50,000 copies and was featured on the venture capital show Dragon's Den in December 2018.
Emma May | England
@EmmerseStudios, @Emmay89Emma is founder of Emmerse Studios and designer of the party game Quirk!
Sarah Kennington | Scotland
@Sarah_1feSarah is co-designer of ORE-SOME and Microbrew, which she published through her company One Free Elephant.
Bez Shahriari | England
@stuffByBezBez's first game was picked up by Gigamic and is now published in 11+ languages as Yogi. Others include the game system Wibbell++ and Kitty Cataclysm. She also has worked as a board game developer.
Ruth Veevers | England
@cryptesqueRuth saw her first co-design come out in 2018: Cryptid, a deduction game about hunting for bizarre and elusive creatures.
Rose Atkinson | England
@the_brackleyRose is a developer at Inside the Box Games and has co-design credits on Aquanauts, Mars Rover, Crypt X, and NewSpeak.
Jen Carey | Ireland
@JenuinePanic , @Fickle_gamesJen worked in computer games before starting Fickle Games in 2015. She successfully Kickstarted the party game Rampunctious in 2017.
Angela Dickens | England
@SpanjjAngela designed Gobblin' Gobblins and the forthcoming Arkosa, published through her company Toon Hammer Games.
Katalin Nimmerfroh | England
@AinoTenshikoKate is a Hungarian artist and game designer living in England. Her co-designs include [redacted] and Days of Ire: Budapest 1956.
Karen Rubins | England
@KazmantraKaren is a comics artist who designed Comic Turns, a storytelling game in which players arrange cards with comic panels on them.
Caitlin Russell | England
@piratesofpenrynCait is designer of Pirates of Penryn - which started as a small personal post parenthood project and ended with a successfully fulfilled Kickstarter.
Amanda Birkinshaw | England
Amanda is an independent game designer with a history of working at Hasbro and Mattel. Her game design credits range from Dungeons and Dragons: The Fantasy Adventure Board Game to award-winning children's game Jungle Runners.
Amanda's Angelpie website
Ellie Dix | England
Ellie is a teacher and educationalist who now designs family-oriented boardgames as director of The Dark Imp.
Holly Gramazio | England
@hollygramazioHolly is a game designer whose work is not just for tabletops but also for physical spaces from museums to public squares. She founded Now Play This, a festival of experimental game design. Her designs include Art Deck, a collaborative drawing game.
Robyn Davies | Scotland
@TeamDigiSpriteRobyn is founder and Managing Director at the game development studio DigiSprite. Their first two games are Doomsday Bots and Adventure Mart.
Elaine Lithgow | Scotland
@TeamDigiSpriteElaine is a member of the game development studio DigiSprite. Their first two games are Doomsday Bots and Adventure Mart.
Wai Yee | England
Wai Yee is the co-designer of Excavation Earth and Pocket Dragons.
Kate Jenkins | England
@GutterheadGameKate is co-designer of Gutterhead, billed as "Pictionary meets Cards Against Humanity."
Nikita Sullivan | United Kingdom
@atikingamesNikita is the founder of Atikin Games and has self-published two successful board games on Kickstarter (Tri To Win and Mini Memory Mischief) with other games currently in development.
Gemma Newton | England
Gemma Newton is a freelance copywriter, gamer, and Director of Moonstone Games. Her first game, Plotalot, was launched in 2020 on Kickstarter.
France
France
Marie Cardouat | France
@MarieCardouatMarie is best known for having illustrated the award-winning game Dixit. But she is also a designer: her game Hop! was published in 2016.
Sylvie Barc | France
@EditionsLHRIn 1982, Sylvie's first game was published under the design team “Los Rodriguez”. She has more than 40 published games and her own publishing company, La Haute Roche.
Peggy Chassenet | France
Peggy is the co-designer of the award-winning game T.I.M.E. Stories.
Charlotte Filloneau | France
Charlotte is a board game illustrator and designer. Her game El Capitan has been translated into over 30 languages. Her most recent title is Check List.
Marie Fort | France
Marie has co-designed many games for children, including Splash, Oh My Gold, and Snail Sprint. Her game Valley of the Vikings won the 2019 Kinderspiel des Jahres.
Agnès Largeaud | France
Agnès says she started designing games because she was so dissatisfied with the choices for her own children. Her games include The Pied Piper and Abracademo.
Nathalie Saunier | France
Natalie's co-design Twin It! was nominated for the As d'Or for best game of 2018 in France. Her other titles include Flooping and Fishing Day.
Annick Lobet | France
Annick has several published games including Stratopolis and Traffic. Her legacy version of the game Zombie Kidz won the French As d'Or for best children's game in 2018.
Mathilde Spriet | France
Mathilde worked at Gigamic for years before publishing her first game, In Your Head (aka Focus).
Catherine Dumas | France
Catherine is co-designer of Vikings on Board, Gentleman Thieves, and Masques.
Nathalie Grandperrin | France
Nathalie co-designed two games with Bruno Faidutti: Animal Suspect and Speed Dating.
Laurence Gamelin | France
Laurence co-designed Hellapagos (Galèrapagos), recently released by Gigamic,
Christine Larquetout | France
Christine is the designer of Toutilix, a set of several different games that can be played with a deck of letters,
Ivy Colin | France
Ivy Colin co-designed Magic Cooking, released in 2013 by Robin Red Games.
Steffanie Yeakle| France
@steffanieSteffanie is an American filmmaker, photographer and boardgame designer who lives in Paris. She worked for Mattell and Creata before becoming an independent designer. Her codesigns with Marie Chaplet include Paul and the Moon, Le Jour Qui Rend Super Happy, and several others.
Marie Chaplet | France
Marie designs with Steffanie Yeakle under the name Les Fées Hilares. Their codesigns include Paul and the Moon, Le Jour Qui Rend Super Happy, and several others.
Camille Boissel | France
@astrono_motsCamille is an astronomer and science communicator. Her game Nebula is forthcoming from Exod Games.
Emmanuelle Piard and Barbara Turquier | France
Emmanuelle and Barbara are sisters and codesigners of the board game Et Toque!, in which players use erasable boards and magnetic tiles to make menus for crazy scenarios.
Sara Zarian | France/Austria
Sara designed the cooperative children's game Monsieur Carrousel. She also has a history of designing serious games.
Italy
Italy
Flaminia Brasini | Italy
Flaminia co-designed hot 2018 title Coimbra. She was also part of the Acchittocca team that designed Lorenzo il Magnifico, Egizia, and Leonardo Da Vinci.
Stefania Niccolini | Italy
Stefania has been designing board games for over a decade. Her co-designs include ZhanGuo, Railroad Revolution, the Long Road, Rhein: River Trade, and more.
Elisa Lenardi | Italy
Elisa is part of Spaceballoon Games and co-designer of Brides and Bribes.
Marta Ciaccasassi | Italy
@MoonxrainMarta is a game designer, developer and Kickstarter consultant. Her co-designs include Mysthea and Barbarians: The Invasion.
Chiara Zanchetta | Italy
Chiara is the co-designer of the games Monkey Temple and So Typisch!.
Spain
Spain
Sheila Santos | Spain
@io_sheiSheila co-designed Aloha Pioha, Mondrian: The Dice Game, and Ramen, with several more forthcoming.
Sandra Santiago | Spain
@CircusBGSandra's first game, Circus, won a Spanish "best unpublished game" award, the Concurso de Protos, and will be released in 2019.
Judit Hurtado | Spain
Judit is co-designer of Bedouin, Haftlings, and 10 Negritos.
Nuria Casellas | Spain
@nucaicaNuria is designer of Endless Pass: A Viking Saga, released in 2018. With her company Cucafera Games she also designed a "passport" that helps people find all of the dragons in Barcelona!
Paz Navarro Moreno | Spain
@PaznmPPaz designed the game MONSTArgh! She is also part of the podcast Ya Nos Toca?!.
Valle Pacheco | Spain
Valle designed and illustrated No Game Over, a card game inspired by the world of video games.
Beatriz Grifol | Spain
@tamuzgamesBeatriz is a singer-songwriter and game designer, and founder of Tamuz Games. Her games include Dry Bones and Mi Saquito de Huesos.
Netherlands
Netherlands
Chislaine van den Bulk | Netherlands
Dutch designer Chislaine van den Bulk has eight published games, including Lino, Hands, and Bonje in de stal.
Liesbeth Bos | Netherlands
@LiesbethnlLiesbeth has dozens of published games for children, but says her design interest is starting to shift toward heavier games. She also works as a localization agent for board game publishers.
Natalia Wojtowicz | Netherlands
@Wojtowicz_NNatalia is a wargamer who designs simulations for the Civil-Military Cooperation Center of Excellence in the Hague. She has also designed a wargame intended for the hobby market.
Vicky Swers | Netherlands
Vicky is a Belgian designer living in the Netherlands. Her first game, Adventures in Neverland, is a narrative board game set in the world of Peter Pan.
Other Europe
Other Europe
Åse Berg | Norway
Åse is co-designer of Rattus, Packet Row, Oregon, and Galapagos. She’s also an organist and choir leader.
Frederica Scott Vollrath | Denmark
@FSVdesignFreddie runs Oxford Games Ltd with her mother Leslie Scott and has recently founded FSV Design ApS. She has published 2 games (Jungoeira with Matinex and Slappy Camper with Mindware) and has 3 more games coming out 2021.
Tina Christensen | Denmark
@giddygirafTina is the co-designer of the games Among Nobles and Colonies. She also works as a scientific adviser on climate change at the Danish Meteorological Institute.
Emelie Van Rodin | Sweden
@SoWGameDevEmelie's first game, State of Wonder, is a 4x card game that started as a school project.
Mín Štachová | Czech Republic
Min is the co-author of Lost Ruins of Arnak and an employee of Czech Games Edition.
Agnieszka Kopera | Romania
@BashfulThe6thAgnieszka started NSKN, now merged with Board and Dice Games. She co-designed Exodus: Proxima Centauri and Progress: Evolution of Technology.
Ledha Guerova | Bulgaria
Ledha is co-designer of the heavy deckbuilder-and-miniatures game BATTALIA.
Joanna Kijanka | Poland
Joanna is a designer at Portal Games. She has co-designed several expansions for games including Imperial Settlers, 51st State, and Alien Artifacts.
Anna Sobich-Kamińska | Poland
@AnnaSobichAnna is a game designer and writer with over a dozen published games in Polish.
Janet Kneisel | Switzerland
Janet's games include Spooky Castle and DREIst. She won the 2011 scholarship for new designers from the Spiel des Jahres organization.
Google Sites
Report abuse