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Hi! We're your Protospiel Online Content Team

We love helping our community of game designers and playtesters find encouragement and connection through our virtual conventions and the supporting content like our Twitch streams, YouTube channel, and Community Newsletter. It lights us up to see all the amazing milestones Protospiel community members are reaching with their game designs.

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Featured Post

Biome funded in 9 minutes! -- Community Newsletter Issue 26

Hey Reader! David Kessler here. Congratulations to Leonie Grundler and the team at Lioness games who launched their new game Biome on Kickstarter, and it funded in just nine minutes! Biome combines strategic card placements and engine building in a nature themed tableau builder. You’ll raise baby animals, feed and protect them, achieve biodiversity, and activate unique flora and fauna abilities to create the best Biome and win the game! Biome comes with real straw nests. And yes, you get to...

about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Ironwood: A Protospiel Success Story

Hey Reader! Emily Vincent here. Our Protospiel Community is incredibly inspiring and we love to celebrate each others' wins! Today is one of those stories, of playtesting that led to dreams coming true. Ironwood In 2022, at the summer Protospiel Online, Maël Brunet and Julien Chaput playtested their game "Black Flag." A few months later, after pitching it all around, they received 3 offers to sign the game! Mindclash Games was more than they could dream of and after one year of very dedicated...

2 months ago • 1 min read

Hey Reader! Some links in the below message are affiliate links. If you choose to make a purchase after clicking one of these links, Protospiel Online will earn a commission at no additional cost to you David Kessler here. The 2024 Board Game Design Virtual Summit is coming soon! The Summit is a week-long game design event, featuring interviews with industry experts, live Q&A panels, and more! HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL GET A week-long free event for board game designers In-depth interviews with...

3 months ago • 3 min read
Protospiel Online January 12-14

Hey Reader! Emily Vincent here. If it's January, it's time for Protospiel Online! I love kicking off the new year with our community, playing exciting new games and hanging out with amazing people. Hopefully everyone has recovered from the holidays and is starting to think about playtesting. Today I'm sharing a few quick reminders to help people get themselves ready for the weekend. Get Your Badges If you haven't gotten a badge yet, you can do that today! Your badge unlocks the door to...

4 months ago • 2 min read
Online Gift Exchange Parties Now Open for Booking -- Issue 22

Hey Reader! Heather Newton here. People often ask me what games I'm bringing to test at Protospiel Online. My guess is they assume I would never want to put effort into running the event unless I wanted the benefit of playtesters for my own tabletop games. My answer is always that I am not a tabletop game designer but rather an experience designer with a strong bent towards play and gamification, so the Protospiel Online experience itself is what I'm playtesting. As the holiday season...

5 months ago • 3 min read
Inside Job. Published by Thames and Kosmos

Hey Reader! David Kessler here. Tanner Simmons, a regular attendee of Protospiel Online, is so excited to share his game, Inside Job, with you! He greatly appreciates all the feedback and support from the community when designing the game. I, for one, have spent numerous Protospiel nights playing games with Tanner, whose games are always a blast. Inside Job available now! Are YOU The Insider? Inside Job is now available to buy online and at your FLGS! This social deduction trick-taking game...

5 months ago • 2 min read
InFUNity Tiles & Riverbed Hunt on Kickstarter Now!

Hey Reader! Emily Vincent here. 'Tis the season to launch on Kickstarter. As the games we bring to Protospiel Online evolve and grow, we inevitably start seeing them in game stores, at online retailers, and on crowd-funding platforms. It's always exciting to see something you played an early version of become fully realized. As part of the Protospiel Community, we know that folks are interested in knowing what's going on with our community members and learning how we might support each other....

6 months ago • 2 min read
Mayan Curse and Events from BMG

Hey Reader! David Kessler here. Coming in hot, from one of our illustrious Protospiel Online moderators, Joe Slack, is a new game that he and his team just launched on Kickstarter. Slide into adventure with Mayan Curse! Mayan Curse is a 1-6 player adventure game where you slide stone slabs and match up your sacred stones (with Mayan symbols) to make your path to the temple, collecting as much knowledge as you can along the way. But not only do you have to contend with other explorers for that...

6 months ago • 2 min read
VelociRapture available via Hollandspiele

Hey Reader! Emily Vincent here. As part of the Protospiel Online community, we get to see a HUGE range of games from our fellow designers. From long and crunchy Euro games to quiet thinky puzzles to fast and hilarious party games, the variety is amazing. And the games I've played at Protospiel Online are always memorable, no matter what type of game they are. For me, VelociRapture is one of those hilariously memorable games. It was 10 minutes of absolute chaos, in which we "drew" cards and...

7 months ago • 2 min read
Let's get stupid. plus, a new design challenge

Hey Reader! David Kessler here. SMART goals are a standard framework for setting and achieving goals. Many people use the the acronym to create Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic, Time-bound goals–but it might not be the best for creative projects. Our very own newsletter writer Emily Vincent was discussing this very topic on the Building the Game Podcast, when show-host Jason Slingerland joked that game designers need to have STUPID goals. And, you know what, I think I agree. Leave...

7 months ago • 2 min read
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