This is a stupid question, but it's bugged me long enough.
Does one design or invent a board game?
My personal experience is that people within the board game community tend to use the word design, and first-timers/necomers tend to use the word invent.
I'd say that design feels better to me. Invent conjures up images of test tubes, supercolliders, and Thomas Edison napping on a bench. To me, that all has nothing to do with creating a new game.
Also, many of us wind up using at least a few familiar principles from other games, so it feels more like designing than inventing.
I must admit that when someone appears on the boards talking about the game s/he just invented, I usually think, "Another newbie," and don't pay attention. Thinking about this now, it seems quite stupid, as I normally don't believe that judging something that harshly based purely on a choice of words is very smart.
Is anyone else guilty of this?
(Edited to fix double-negative; man, have my writing skills eroded...)
Sometimes I wish I had a vat of bubbling acid to toss my lousy ideas into...