Part 3 · Multiple choice

Narrator: You will hear an interview with a board game designer called Owen Marsh. For questions 15 to 20, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which fits best according to what you hear.

Interviewer: My guest today is Owen Marsh, whose board games have sold more than a million copies worldwide. Owen, board games seem to be enjoying a remarkable comeback. Why do you think that is?

Owen: Well, I think it's partly a reaction against screens, although I'm always wary of putting it that simply. People haven't stopped playing video games – plenty of my players are keen gamers, and some of them will be online until two in the morning. What they're looking for, I think, is a reason to be in the same room as other people. Most of us spend our working day communicating through some kind of device, and a board game gives you permission to sit round a table for three hours without anyone feeling it has to be a special occasion.

Interviewer: You didn't start out as a designer, did you?

Owen: No, I was an accountant for twelve years. I used to make up games for my kids on rainy weekends, and one of them was so popular with their friends that a neighbour suggested I send it to a publisher. I ignored her for about a year. When I finally did send it off, I more or less assumed that would be the last I heard of it – publishers get thousands of these things, and mine had been drawn on the back of a cereal box. So the letter offering me a contract came as something of a shock – especially as it came with a condition: that I rewrite the rules, which were apparently incomprehensible.

Interviewer: What makes a good game, in your view?

Owen: People often assume it's the theme – pirates, dragons, space exploration. And a strong theme certainly helps to sell a game; it's what makes someone pick the box up in a shop. But it's not what makes people play it a second time. What brings them back is the sense that every decision matters – that there's never an obvious best move. If players can switch their brains off and go through the motions, you've failed, however beautiful the board looks.

Interviewer: How do you test your games?

Owen: Endlessly. I have a group of about thirty volunteers who play every prototype, some of them for months. The most useful ones aren't the experienced gamers, interestingly. They're full of clever suggestions, and some of those are worth having, but they're very good at working around problems without even noticing them. I learn most from the people who get confused, because their confusion shows me exactly where the design is weak. I used to find their criticism quite hard to hear, I'll admit. Now I actively look for it.

Interviewer: Some people argue that games have become too complicated – that you need a law degree to understand the rulebook.

Owen: There's some truth in that. There's been a kind of arms race among designers to add more and more components and special rules, and I've been guilty of it myself – one of my early games came with over four hundred pieces. But I think the tide's turning. Some of the most successful games of the last few years can be explained in five minutes. The trick is to make something that's simple to learn but takes a long time to master – and, contrary to what most people assume, that's far harder to design than something complicated.

Interviewer: And what's next for you?

Owen: I'm working on a game for just two players, which is new territory for me. I've always designed for groups, and I'm finding it surprisingly difficult. My publisher, I should say, was rather less keen – two-player games don't usually sell in the same numbers. But with two players there's nowhere to hide – every flaw in the design is exposed. And that's exactly why I wanted to try it.