3 Dogs Games all started with 3 dogs: Angel, Truffles, and Chloe. That was 2013. Three dogs? Yes, three. Keeping 3 manic dachshunds from under foot during a walk around our neighborhood inspired the first game–Bark in the Park.

Our game designer, Barb Hirschfelder, gets her design inspirations from the natural world and historical events or points of interest. Most are family-friendly games, often featuring cards, tiles, or both. A few have large boards featuring interesting sites around the world. She tries to spend as much time as possible designing and playtesting and would love to get established publishers interested in her games. Barb is also an English Professor at a local college.

Our #1 playtester, Carl Hirschfelder, brings game-breaking strategies to playtest sessions and sometimes gives Barb design assignments. His favorite “assignment” game so far is Serengeti, which features “+” shaped tiles populated by lions, hyenas, zebras, gazelles, giraffes, and elephants. During the day, Carl is a programmer/IT director.

About Our Blogs: In the Design Diary pages, we will detail the development of some of Barb’s game designs, the good and the bad. Proto Pics will share photos and short descriptions of some of the prototypes we are working on. House Rules for 2 will offer rules changes we have used to make games more enjoyable when there are only 2 players at the table.

Photo at top: Barb Hirschfelder playtests Godiva at Dice Tower Convention 2015