Meet the Designer: Ammon Anderson Brings Space Potato to Goose Games
Most Mondays, Sean or Jake teach the featured game. This Monday we’re handing that job to the person who made it. Ammon Anderson, designer of Space Potato, is joining us at 2 Row Brewing on Monday, November 16 to teach his new game and play it with you. If you’ve ever wondered how a game goes from an idea to a box on the table, this is your chance to ask.We’re also doing a play to win drawing for your own copy of Space Potato for people who play the featured game!
Space Potato is a worker placement game that starts with a small disaster. Your spaceship has been hit by an asteroid, and it’s shaped like a giant potato. You’re stuck out there, and the only way home is to get your crew working.Each turn you send a worker to an action space, and once a space is taken, other players are shut out of it. You’ll be:
- Mining chunks off the potato asteroid
- Refining those raw materials into something useful
- Repairing parts of your battered ship
Points come from all three. The game ends when the ship is finally repaired, and whoever has the most points wins. So you’re always balancing digging, processing, and fixing, while watching which spots your opponents are about to grab.
All of this fits in a small box from Envy Born Games, part of their line of tiny games that play big. Expect 60–90 minutes for 2–4 players. Learning a game from its designer is a different experience. You hear why a rule exists, which version got cut in playtesting, and what the designer hopes you’ll feel on your last turn. Arrive early if you want a seat at Ammon’s table. Once players learn the game they’ll start more tables, so there will be plenty of potato to go around. As always, the rest of the game library will be out too.
About Ammon
Ammon is the owner of Levity Games, a design studio that also makes sticker upgrades for board games. You might know his earlier designs: Gnome Hollow, a backyard-garden game he also illustrated; Twinkle Twinkle, known for its translucent star tiles; and T.A.C.O. He also did the art for Space Potato. Ammon has been a lecturer and guest talking about game design, publishing, and the fun of making games on podcasts like Tabletop Throwdown and Board Game Binge.