Designer board games are one type of entertainment which is gaining a lot of notoriety in the gaming world. By taking the much beloved format of board games and approaching the project from a new angle, designers of these board games have almost entirely reinvented the enterprise in a new and exciting way. Specialty designer board games generally offer their players simple rules, themed play, and a good deal of thought and planning, which is required to do well in the game. Because of these components, which are not usually all to be found in traditional board games, these designer board games have become quite the trend in the gaming world.

Additionally, many of the people responsible for designing these board games have become quite popular for their creations. Many of them have had multiple games produced, each one a success. Any game which prominently features a designer's name on the box can usually be considered to be of the calibur of a specialty designer board game. Many different designers exist, however, and their games are usually vastly different.

One of these board game designers, Reiner Knizia, has experienced so much success in the world of designer board games, that over 200 of his games have been published by various manufacturers. Knizia, who hold a PhD in Mathematics, has been designing board games since the age of 6. Since 1997, Dr. Knizia has worked as a full-time board game designer, and his resume clearly shows the success that he has experienced. 7 of his games can be found on the Games 100 list, while 14 of his games are to be discovered on Board Game Geek's Top 100 games list. On top of this, several different of the top gaming conventions all host "Kniziathons," which are tournaments in which solely Reiner Knizia games are played. Many of his games have won different prestige awards, such as Taj Mahal, which won both the 2000 Essen Feather Award and the Deutscher Spiele Preis Award in the same year. His game based on the popular Lord of the Rings books was granted a Spiel des Jahres 2001 special prize and can be considered the most popular of his board games, with publication in 17 different languages and over 1 million copies sold.

Andreas Seyfarth is another immensely popular designer of board games, with Puerto Rico being considered to be his crowning achievement. The game places players in the role of governors on the island of Puerto Rico during the era of the Caribbean ascendancy. Their goal is to earn the most victory points through various means, such as constructing new buildings or the shipment of goods from the ports. Seyfarth's games all have been ranked very highly by various board game enthusiast companies, with Puerto Rico often placed at the number one spot on many top board game lists. A number of his other games have all been granted very prestigious awards over the years that they were produced and any game with his name on it can be considered a high-quality game worth any player's time.