Game designer Elizabeth Hargrave on the origins of her latest title, Sanibel

Elizabeth, it’s great to catch up. Your latest exciting launch is Sanibel, published by Hasbro’s Avalon Hill label. Before we dive into your new game Sanibel, for anyone not familiar with Sanibel the place, where is it?
Sanibel is an island off the Gulf Coast of Florida, near Ft. Myers. Something about the way it’s placed in the ocean currents causes more shells to wash up there than on other beaches in Florida. A lot more. It’s a really special place.

Lovely – and what made you design a game themed around it?
The inspiration for Sanibel actually came while my family was gathered at my aunt’s place in Venice, Florida. We always have a friendly competition over who can find the most shark’s teeth there. At some point my dad suggested that collecting shells and shark teeth would make a good game. I realized I couldn’t think of a game with this theme – and that seemed like a real gap, because it’s such a feel-good memory for so many people.

Is that process typical for how you find you have ideas for new games?
It’s probably fair to say the theme comes first, but for me to start working on something it’s usually because I have a really clear idea for a mechanic that’s perfect for the theme. For this game, I knew I wanted there to be a part of it that was literally moving pawns down a beach, Tokaido-style. I’ve always loved the push-and-pull that moving farther forward can get you exactly what you want, but costs you in turn order.

What dictates the complexity of your games? What helps you gauge when to add something, and when to streamline?
Most of it is just my sense of what’s working in playtesting. In my first draft of Sanibel, there were just cards that you were picking up and putting into sets. It needed a little more to make it interesting. Putting the shells onto tiles and adding a spatial puzzle to the set collection really made it sing.

And what were the team at Avalon Hill like to collaborate with?
They’ve been great to work with. I’ve loved seeing how different companies do things. The main thing we worked on in development was the way that different shells score – making sure they’re understandable, different from each other, and reasonably balanced so that your choices are interesting.

We last spoke back in 2019 for Wingspan. Has the success of that game shaped your approach to game design in any way? Does being a well-known name in the industry change anything?
Well for pitching, it’s definitely easier to get a meeting. Not just because of the success of Wingspan but also just because I’ve met so many people in the industry since 2019. Going to conventions is a totally different experience now.

For design, I don’t think my approach has been shaped by the success of Wingspan in particular but I’ve certainly learned a lot as a designer since starting to work on Wingspan – it was my first game! I think I have a better intuitive sense of what will and won’t work that saves me a lot of time. I’m more thoughtful at the beginning of a design about articulating what I’m trying to do before I start.

Last question! In our previous interview you mentioned Wingspan came partly out of being bored with common board game tropes. Do you think Wingspan helped ‘move the needle’ in the industry when it comes to themes?
I know there were other designers working on nature-themed games while I was working on Wingspan, and I think crowdfunding had already started to open up the possibility of trying different themes. But I do think Wingspan may have proven to some publishers that there was a hunger for this kind of game.

Always great to chat! Thanks again Elizabeth and congrats on Sanibel!

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