I was somewhat lucky to grow up in a household where Acquire was played. Little did I know that I was to be indoctrined into the 'German-style' (or I prefer Import) style of game some 15 years before they became widely-known in the U.S. And then, after a couple trips to German to support the Phantom Haus project I was co-leading, I picked up a copy of Settlers of Catan in the mid 90's. The influx of import games was in full swing.

Anyway, a lot of the various game design work I come up with doesn't quite work in the current medium that I'm employed, so I spend my 'hobby time' making mockups. Hopefully, I learn some new feature and mechanic from this that I can eventually use in my paying job. If not, well, then I've got just another game floating around in my ever-expanding game closet. Most of my designs lean very heavily towards the import style of gaming; use of a theme, mostly light strategy with a little luck thrown in, fairly short game times, etc. I have no reservations about putting these up for free; the board game market is extremely difficult to get into, and unless you are applying a city to Monopoly, it is for all practical purposes a niche market. But hey, if there's any company out there that is interested in publishing, I know all about signing non-disclosures and such...