The programming paradigms available in Mathematica together with the level of generality that can be obtained through its symbolic capabilities can be applied to a wide range of programming situations, particularly the rapid prototyping of applications. This article shows our use of this outstanding computational environment to develop playable prototypes of board games and explore game strategies. Mathematica features allow some general ad hoc design patterns for such games to be expressed, applied, and further refined. We show the benefits of such an approach--lots of code reuse, clearer design and programming, and ease of experimentation--by exhibiting our work on three different board games. We further show how the statistical and mathematical techniques available with Mathematica can be used to generate reports on the playability of a particular game as well as to develop winning strategies. We also show how J/Link and GUIKit can help refine and improve the interface of a game.