Riot Games first made a tabletop game three years ago. It was a sprawling miniatures game called Mechs vs. Minions. It’s packed with quality components and content, and the narrative campaign will keep players busy for hours. It’s a lot.

But it also proved that Riot Games knows how to design a successful board game. They are game developers, after all. And the deep appreciation of tabletop gaming, as well as a detail-oriented professional aesthetic, has resulted in Riot Tabletop, a team focused on creating more tabletop games.

The next of which is called Tellstones: King’s Gambit. This second game is smaller in scope than Mechs vs. Minions. It’s a competitive bluffing game that’s designed to play quickly. Two to four players will play against each other in this Demacian variant of a Runeterran game.

Riot Tabletop wants to focus their design on player experience. These are the questions the game developers are asking:

• Design: Is this game fun? Does it deliver a top-tier experience in its genre?

• Accessibility: How can we make the game easier to get to the table? What can we do to ensure that a player can play this game?

• Components: Are players proud to have this game on the table? Is their anticipation rewarded when they open it?

• Innovate When Needed: What pain points exist in these areas, and can we solve them? What conventions should we reexamine?

With all of the success that Riot Games has had over the years, with video games and Mechs vs. Minions, the future continues to look bright. It will be exciting to see what else Riot Tabletop announces.

What do you think? Excited about Tellstones: King’s Gambit?