Game Market West – Spring 2025: Indie Games Spotlight | BoardGameGeek News

by Johnny Chin

On a beautiful Sunday morning on March 23, 2025, the second ever Game Market West opened with thirty indie designers ready to showcase and sell their newest tabletop games. Folks started to trickle in at 10:00 a.m. to eventually form a steady peak that was maintained for the rest of the event. Over 380 attendees came to support indie games and designers, attendees who I cannot thank enough as both the organizer and a participating designer.

For context, I was inspired to create Game Market West during my first visit to Tokyo Game Market, wondering why it didn’t exist elsewhere. Some of the perceived challenges were the standard for high production value and lack of indie culture, but I still held the inaugural Game Market West event in October 2024 to get the ball rolling. I’m extremely grateful for everyone who continues to support this indie movement and hope it will inspire others to realize their game ideas and bring them to life.

There was an incredibly diverse group of games this time around: push your luck, solo only, and novel art to name a few. I’ve highlighted the following games that I was able to purchase:

▪️ Juven Isle is a push-your-luck map-building game by Gary Kacmarcik, the designer of Shinjuku (one of my favorite games). You create a map together with other players and score points for connecting ports. The twist comes into play as you track points in the form of map cards from a central deck. You cannot score more points if no cards are left, and the game ends when all players have empty hands.

▪️ Dungeon Post is the newest push-your-luck dice-allocation solo game by Shenbot Makes, creator of Quests Over Coffee and other silly games.

In Dungeon Post, you take on the role of a postal worker for the Dungeon Post and must deliver the most important mail to an important customer because, as we say, all customers are important! Each delivery takes you through perilous locations — fiery volcanoes, rogue wastelands, or ancient ruins — where you’ll roll and assign dice to overcome challenges, manage fatigue, and outwit obstacles.

▪️ I have a weak spot for novel art games, which is odd since I’m absolutely terrible for anything even slightly resembling art. I started my fascination with a Japanese game called #FINDART in which you paint on a paper using paint tubes, then press another paper on top to create a lasting impression. Everybody comes up with a name for their artwork, and whoever receives the most votes wins.

Wabi Blobi (link) has similar vibes with an easier entry point. Players use pens to draw on cards with paint blob patterns while sharing silly, imaginative stories. Using fun prompts, players create unique artworks and unexpected stories, sparking creativity and connection.

▪️ Last but not least, Takeover made its debut at the event with a fresh take on ladder climbing games from Phillip Du, Ron Sierra, and FinalFinal Games. Their explanation of how flexible the game system is peaked my interest. I also aim to make my games flexible with minimal rules overhead to provide the player more control and widen the decision space. You can read more about it in their BGG designer diary.

•••

Thanks again, and I’ll see you at the next Game Market West, which will take place September 21, 2025 at the same venue: Guildhouse in San Jose, California.

Johnny Chin