Send your game idea to Hasbro. Improv a new game on Sunday

Greetings,

I'm proud to announce our major sponsor for Protospiel San Jose, Hasbro Gaming Lab! Hasbro is sponsoring Protospiel in an effort to reach out to the indie board game design community and to encourage game designers to enter their Next Great Game Challenge.

Hasbro wants to see your game idea and is offering $25,000 to the game submission they judge to be the best. Five additional finalists will be awarded $2,000 to help them launch their game via Indiegogo.

Key details:

- All submissions must be made via the Hasbro Game Lab website by May 15th. The submission process is on Hasbro's website, NOT at Protospiel.

- Hasbro is looking for games that are "enjoyable for families and casual gamers as well as exciting for long-time enthusiasts."

- Hasbro will pick 15 submissions as finalists on May 27th. The 15 finalists will then be asked to send Hasbro a physical prototype by June 24th.

Find the full details and the terms and conditions for the contest here:
https://hasbrogaminglab.com

This contest is a great opportunity for game designers. Hasbro Gaming Lab is funding Protospiel San Jose and sending a representative to Protospiel to engage our community.  Lets thank Hasbro by sending them lots of great game ideas.

Game Design Improv Contest

If you don't yet have a game idea to send into the Hasbro Game Lab contest next month, or if you have never designed a game before, or if you want to have lots of fun playing with lots of cool board game bits, the annual Protospiel San Jose Improv Game Design contest is for you!

When:

Sunday, April 16th at 11 AM.

What:

Designing games is difficult.  Too many mechanics here, too few options there...  Designing games is almost a game.  Here, it definitely is!  The third annual game design contest at Protospiel San Jose will pit you and 1-3 of your friends against 9 other teams, as you struggle to make the best game possible in 60 fleeting minutes.  Each player will get a bag of components, and put together a prototype to pitch to a panel of judges.  Players will be judged on adherence to the theme, originality, and mechanics.

Anyone is welcome to participate, but you must sign up in advance (at the welcome table), as kits are limited.  The best game will be awarded a certificate of success and eternal glory!

Thanks to Kellen Snook to organizing the improv contest this year. I asked Kellen to send me a teaser image for the game design kits given to each team. He sent me the following image. It looks like a hilarious combination of crazy board game bits.

These are the bits for the game design contest kits. 

Industry Guests Peter Vaughan and Andrew Tullsen

Greetings,

I have two more industry guests to introduce. Technically Peter Vaughan is a sponsor and not an industry guest, but because he is such a nice guy I'm counting him as both. :-)

Peter Vaughan has been messing with game rules ever since family game nights included moveable bombs in Stratego and one allowable lie in Clue. He is the designer of What the Food?!, and developer of SJ protospiel tested Letter Tycoon and Boomtown Bandits. He is founder of Squirmy Beast Games, editor of the League of Gamemakers blog, and recently appointed director of development for Breaking Games.

Breaking Games, founded by Shari Spiro, is a publisher of strategy, family and party games that believes in putting designers first, and is at the core about getting indie games made and played! Breaking Games is associated with Print & Play Productions, both part of parent company Ad Magic.

Next up, is another industry veteran who is beloved by game designers across the USA, Andrew Tullsen.

tarting the company Print and Play Productions at age 16 from his bedroom, Andrew Tullsen is now the regional manager of the Print and Play Division owned by AdMagic. 

Print & Play is know for their custom work in board game prototyping. They offer boards, boxes, bits and more. Cards come in standard and custom sizes. Their support team works closely with customers to ensure satisfactory products. Print and Play strives for quality, consistency, and fast delivery with every order. 

Currently, Andrew is working to publish his first game Flick Wars.

I (Jeremy Commandeur) have personally ordered prototype materials from Print and Play (http://printandplaygames.com) several times. It is a great service that I value greatly.

Get games signed, Saturday Designer Diner, Tag Table Team Up

Greetings, 

1. Games you can get signed.
2. Saturday Designer Diner.
3. Tag Table Team Ups.

Game Kastle will have a special section of games by designers in attendance. You can buy a game and get it signed on the spot. Or bring your copy to get signed. 

Games and RPG you can get signed by Seth Johnson:
* Double Double Dominoes (Calliope Games)
* HeroClix (WizKids) -- From Seth: I didn't work on any of the recently-released
expansions, but I'm always happy to sign or talk about anything
players bring, whether it be new or old.
* Golem Arcana (HareBrained Schemes)
* DC Adventures RPG, Books 2-4 (Green Ronin Publishing)
* Mutants & Masterminds: 10th Anniversary Edition (Green Ronin Publishing)
* Mutants & Masterminds: Deluxe Heroes' Handbook (Green Ronin Publishing)
* Mutants & Masterminds: Emerald City Sourcebook (Green Ronin Publishing)
* Dragon Age Set 3 (Green Ronin Publishing)

Saturday Designer Diner (Optional)

Saturday night hang out with designers over diner and talk some shop.

Steins Beer House
895 Villa St
Mountain View, CA 94041

2.1 miles from Game Kastle

Saturday April 16, 9pm-12am (feel free to come at 10pm)

Seating is limited to the first 25 people to RSVP. You will need to pay your own check.
If you need a ride, you can ask for a ride share as part of your RSVP.

Please RSVP via this link:
http://goo.gl/forms/6eC2HfE5HR

 

 

Tag Table Requests

Please understand that we can not coordinate tag table schedules for 70+ designers. Its up to each individual to work out a schedule to share your table with your tag table partner. We suggest alternating the table between designers every three hours. However, you are free to share the table any way you wish.

Tag table assignments will post early next week. If you would like to request to share your table with a particular designer, that can be arranged. 

To request to be paired with a particular designer, please do the following:
I. Send an email to boardgamebuilders@gmail.com
II. Use the subject: Tag Table Partners
III. CC the designer you wish to share with.
IV. Include both of your names in the body of the email.

Example.
Subject: Tag Table Partners
CC: GabeCohn@TheExodusFleet.com
Request from myself and Gabe Cohn, please put us on the same table.
Thanks! Candy Weber
 

Looking Forward

We have two more sponsors and two more industry guests to introduce. 
The improv game design contest is back this year. Details coming soon.
Designer badges are almost sold out.

Epic Raffle, Please spread the word, Do you have a published game?

Greetings,

#ProtospielSJ is now only 16 days away.

1. Raffle Prizes
2. I need your help.
3. Do you have a published game?

First some exciting news. Game Kastle received three pallets of games we will be using for prizes. The raffle this year will be triple the size of previous years. Its going to be insane.

Thanks to the game companies who are sponsoring the raffle:
Studio 9 Games
EOS Press
Smirk & Dagger Games
Level 99 Games
Overworld Games

Special thanks to Impressions Distribution for coordinating the raffle shipment.

I need your help.

Please help spread the word about #ProtospielSJ. The more players we can get, the better for everyone involved. Attached is a printable flyer. Please take one to your local game night, or post one up at work, or forward this email to a friend.

Do you have a published game?

Game Kastle is planning a display of games for any designers who are attending Protospeil San Jose and who have games in print. Please email Ray at sales (at) gamekastle (dot) com with the name(s) of your published games. If Game Kastle is able to get your game from their distributors, they will be more than happy to put it in the display. 

At the same time, I would like to compile a public list of all the available games from designers who are attending. That will allow players to bring or buy games to get signed by the designers in attendance. When you email Ray, please CC Boardgamebuilders@gmail.com and I will get your games on the public list.

Games you can get signed:

Teale Fristoe        -=-Birds of a Feather, Shadow Throne
Candy Weber        -=-BoardGameGeek: The Card Game
Brandon Raasch    -=-Dubious Alliance
Grant Rodiek        -=-Farmageddon, Hocus
Eduardo Baraf        -=-GemPacked, Lift Off!, The Siblings Trouble.
Seth Johnson        -=-Golem Arcana, DC HeroClix: Batman
Peter Vaughan        -=-What the Food?!

Industry Guest Zachary Strebeck, Thanks to Scry Games

We wanted to introduce one of the industry guests attending Protospiel San Jose 2016, Zachary Strebeck. Also, thanks to Scry Games for sponsoring the event.

Zachary Strebeck is a California lawyer who represents small and medium-sized video game, board game and mobile app companies. He assists game dev clients with corporate formation, fundraising, intellectual property registration and enforcement, and contract drafting. He also serves as of counsel to The McArthur Law Firm, a boutique video game law firm.

Zachary runs The Game Lawyer Blog and the weekly Legal Moves podcast. He has been featured on Gamasutra, TechRaptor, the Kickstarter Lessons blog, The Dice Tower podcast and consulted on NY Times reporter Mary Pilon’s book on the legal history of Monopoly.

A gamer and full-time digital nomad, Zachary also enjoys a good game of Bohnanza or a long campaign of Risk: Legacy.

Event Sponsor Scry Games
Scry Games is a fantasy game publisher led by Alex Westreich, a packaging engineer with a background in print production. After a little over a year in development, their game Black Sands is nearing completion. Protospiel SJ will be the last formal event they will be testing at before the game goes to production. Scry will be running two copies to get as much vital feedback as possible. Players can look forward to 30-40 minute rounds of high skill, low luck fantasy combat. For more information, please visit their website: www.ScryGames.com

As of today we have 67 designers and over 100 players registered. 

Please help spread the word for the event by inviting your friends and fellow gamers. More players on hand is better for everyone involved to start more games more often.

The official hashtag for the event is #ProtospielSJ