Board game Bridge Troll presents old story from new perspective

It's a game that is more fun with more players, says Laukat. "That's rare. Many games play better with fewer people, because they kind of get bogged down, waiting for turns. This one plays very fast, so there's hardly any waiting time. More players just give you more options."

Seegert has been working on the game for about seven years. "I remember playing a prototype while we were waiting in line for the 'Two Towers' movie. He and Laukat are both members of the Board Game Designers Guild of Utah, and that has been invaluable in his design, he says.

Bridge Troll was a finalist at the 2005 Hippodice, and it was looked at by some publishers but not picked up. "It got reworked after interaction with the members of the guild, who offered really good suggestions," he says. For example, "Mike was the one who suggested the weather dice. I just had one with colors. Another friend suggested the boulders. This really is a guild-group endeavor."

Bridge Troll is the first game to be published by a guild member, but a couple more are now in the works. The guild, which meets twice a month, is helping create a solid reputation for Salt Lake City as a game center, Seegert says.

"A friend of mine says that Salt Lake is to games what Seattle is to music. There are not a lot of these groups around. This is pretty unprecedented."

Seegert grew up playing games. "I played a lot of board games, a lot of Dungeons & Dragons, a lot of role-play. But I didn't realize there was a different kind of game until I played Settlers of Catan. For me, like so many others, that opened up a new world of games. I still play that once a week with a group of friends. We done that for nine years now. And that was when I started thinking about designing games."

It's not a fast process, he says; "you have to have a lot of patience." But, it is a fun one. When he's not designing games, Seegert is a doctoral student and instructor of English at the University of Utah.

For Laukat, the life-changing game was one called Puerto Rico. "That one got me into games. But since I was more interested in art and illustration, I would come up with games so I could draw them." He started that at age 10 and has been at it for 13 years. "But I've only been a professional game designer for about a year-and-a-half."

He loved working on Bridge Troll. "This game is funny, comedic, really fun to draw. It's meant to be light-hearted."

Plus, he says, he drew inspiration for the border work from a intricately carved European dresser his mother owned. "I wanted some of that flavor."

"It gives it a great fairy-tale effect," says Seegert, who loves the way the art turned out. "They are just great illustrations."