Board game design subreddits

The main design subreddit is r/tabletopgamedesign, a community of well over a hundred thousand members covering board games, card games, and RPGs. It is one of the easiest places for a new designer to start, because the format rewards short, concrete posts: a card layout, a rules question, a photo of a prototype on the table.

The subreddit is especially good for visual feedback. Posts showing card designs, board layouts, and iconography draw fast, honest reactions, and graphic design mistakes that friends are too polite to mention get flagged quickly. It is also a good place to learn by reading, since the same design problems (runaway leaders, player elimination, first-player advantage) come up constantly with thoughtful answers.

Neighboring subreddits fill in the edges. r/boardgames is the giant general hobby community, useful for understanding what players care about but not a place to workshop designs. r/BoardgameDesign is a smaller sibling of the main design subreddit. Crowdfunding-focused subreddits help when you reach that stage.

Reddit's culture prizes bluntness, which is a feature for designers. Expect direct criticism, read the subreddit rules before posting (most require flair and forbid pure self-promotion), and remember that upvotes measure how interesting a post is, not how good your game is.