Board Game VIP – Uwe Rosenberg Interview

On this edition of Board Game VIP Uwe Rosenberg, the creator of Agricola, Le Havre and many more great titles, answered some of our questions for us, and we hope you enjoy the answers! There was a little bit of a language barrier but I chose not to do any editing, leaving the conversation exactly as received. 

Matt, Flaming Dice Reviews – How long have you been interested in, or working with, board games?

Uwe Rosenberg – I learned chess with 4 years and developed my first game with 13 years (a football game).

Matt, FDR – Agricola is arguably your most famous game. How did you come up with the idea for it?

Photo from wikipedia.org. Click the photo to visit Uwe’s entry on Wikipedia.

Uwe Rosenberg – I played Caylus and wondered, why you have 5 worker. In the beginning of the game, 3 worker would be enough. Is 5 right? Might be 6?

Matt, FDR –  You’re right, it’s 6 for each player.

Matt, FDR –  Is farming a theme that is close to your heart personally? Between Agricola and Ore et Labora one would imagine that you might like to garden in your spare time.

Uwe Rosenberg – Yes, it is. And garden would be fine. Fruits are nice, because you can eat (or) sell them. Many other you can only sell.

Matt, FDR – Is there any type of board or game game on the market that you enjoy as much as worker placement? Anything you really dislike?

Uwe Rosenberg – For sure, there are mechanism, that make me no fun. But in respect for their inventors I don’t want to mention them. Every boardgame is a reason for people to sit together on a table. And that is wonderful. And I’m sure. There are mechanisms, that I like more than worker placement, but they were not invented yet.    🙂

Matt, FDR –  Is there any mechanic or theme that you feel there is not enough of on the board game market?

Uwe Rosenberg – The Bali-Puerto Rico-mechanism: One player takes an action and the other player can take the same action clockwise. (I invented it for “Bali” and took it in a variant for “Telebohn”).

Matt, FDR – Is there any project that you’re working on now that you can share with us?

Photo from boardgamegeek.com. Click the image to visit the Agricola entry on BGG.

Uwe Rosenberg – There are some project. Surprising is perhaps, that I write a book about the wording on gamecards.

Matt, FDR – Do you have any advice for aspiring board game designers? 

Uwe Rosenberg –  Develope games for fun, not to find a publisher and not to earn money. The game only will be good, when you enjoy the game 100 times or more.

Matt, FDR – Thank you so much, Uwe, for taking the time to talk to us! Keep up the great work!