Back in the summer of 2022, our in-house YouTube content creator Eleni set out on a mission. In the gorgeous Czech mountains during one of our company-wise “summer camp” retreats, she began filming interviews about the history of CGE and our games. Her goal? To document some of the unique highlights from CGE’s 15 year history in the board game industry.

After many countless hours of filming, editing, and hard work, Making Board Games: The CGE Documentary is finally finished! This eight episode series offers a fun behind-the-scenes look into the world of board game design and publishing. This short documentary trailer will give you a good sense of what to expect:

https://youtu.be/wXHBGwfPxvY?si=TQ5XVDJ-dr35-jec

We’ve embedded all eight episodes below, accompanied by an easy to digest bullet point description of what you can expect to find in each episode. If you’ve got a little over three hours to spare and want to learn a lot about CGE and how the board game industry works, it’s well worth binge watching the whole thing. Either way, enjoy!

Also, if you'd like to learn more about Eleni's creative process you can read some of her filmmaker's diary articles here and here.

Episode 1: The Story of Through the Ages and CGE’s Founding

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLlQYsSAbyU

This episode explores:

• What the board game scene was like in the 90s vs today
• Vlaada Chvátil’s older games
• The story of how CGE first came to be
• Through the Ages’ early development and surprising rise to success

Episode 2: Galaxy Trucker and Space Alert

https://youtu.be/4suxPtMYN7s?si=xfhBp7TNBvMHShL3

This episode explores:

• The story of Galaxy Trucker from its earliest prototypes to the new edition
• The story of Space Alert
• Space Alert in the Big Bang Theory
• Stories around Space Alert

Episode 3: From Dungeon Lords to Pictomania

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FaFtGTYl3U

This episode explores:

• How CGE began experimenting more with its releases
• The evolution of Dungeon Lords
• A quick stop with Travel Blog
• How Dungeon Petz and its unique rotating monsters came to fruition
• Rahdo runs through Dungeon Petz memories
• Last Will
• Pictomania

Episode 4: From Tzolk’in to Alchemists

https://youtu.be/LxOmLuCBKUE?si=BSl7xaXUETafeG0I

This episode explores:

• CGE branching out to publish games from non-Czech designers
• The unique production challenges of Tzolk’in’s wheels
• Vladaa’s first plunge into designing abstract board games with Tash-Kalar
• Alchemists, one of the first board games to use a companion app

Episode 5: The Story of Codenames

https://youtu.be/9Jz7LchqRWA?si=AZ-rqh0X56iPCBGu

This episode explores:

• The Codenames phenomenon
• From the early days of Codenames to its massive growth
• Expanding the brand with Codenames Duet and Codenames Pictures
• The myriad third-party licensed versions of Codenames
• Codenames Ukraine

Episode 6: Apps and Board Games

https://youtu.be/afFH1zfZgiw?si=MmdNSv-pK--KypYT

This episode explores:

• The creation of CGE Digital
• Galaxy Trucker app
• Through the Ages app
• The upcoming Codenames app

Episode 7: The New Era of Game Design

https://youtu.be/UzMysxtLCxo?si=x4QcIkovSzurrpCH

This episode explores:

• Adrenaline and it’s first-person shooter roots
• What our company-wide Czech Gaming event is all about
• Letter Jam, Sanctum, and Under Falling Skies
• The new CGE office and life at CGE

Episode 8: The Story of Arnak

https://youtu.be/lBVSL202OhI?si=cOYCCCPsZ8Edow81

This episode explores:

• The origin story of Arnak
• How the art and lore developed
• A look behind what each the two expansions bring to the table
• Galaxy Trucker re-launched
• The secret sauce of CGE

Thanks so much for reading and watching! If you like what you see, don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more unique behind the scenes video content.