The role of randomness in board game design is worth thinking about carefully. Randomness is not inherently bad — it creates uncertainty, which creates tension, which makes games interesting. The question is whether the randomness is meaningful or arbitrary.

Meaningful randomness: die results that can be mitigated through planning, card draws that create interesting decisions even when they are not optimal, event decks that create varied scenarios. Arbitrary randomness: outcomes that cannot be prepared for or responded to, luck that determines winners regardless of decisions.

The best games use randomness to generate situations that require decisions rather than to determine outcomes. Wingspan's bird card draft creates random situations requiring strategic response. Catan's dice create random resource generation that skill can mitigate. Both are good randomness designs. A game where a single bad card draw eliminates a player is bad randomness design.