Emotional Response To The Visual Impact of Modern Board Game Components

The board games industry has been growing at an unprecedented rate, with thousands of new games released annually. Among this extensive variety, certain games manage to captivate potential players more effectively, prompting the question: What visual and aesthetic characteristics make a board game stand out and evoke a stronger emotional response? In this study, we use galvanic skin response (GSR) as a reliable biometric indicator of emotional arousal to measure participants’ reactions to an array of board games varying in visual complexity, as aesthetic appeal is known to significantly influence user attention, preference, and ultimately, purchasing decisions. We examine whether more detailed and visually rich game components lead to heightened emotional engagement during the unboxing phase—a critical moment when prospective players form their initial judgments. Results show that games featuring intricate artwork, three-dimensional miniatures, and bold thematic designs generally elicited more robust emotional peaks than minimalist games. The study results indicate that this approach to evaluate emotional response based on biometric signals can provide valuable insights for both board game designers and broader product-design industries.