Aspiring Game Designers Showcase Ideas At Minnesota Protospiel

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) — Aspiring board game designers can get invaluable feedback at an annual Minnesota convention in January. Minnesota Protospiel takes place from January 23rd through the 25th and lets board game designers demonstrate their games to fans. Fans can check out games from over a hundred designers and provide feedback.

Convention Organizer Nicole Fende says they get games in all stages of development:

“When you sign up after you got a ticket, designers will list their games, there’s a section on there where they list their games and they’ll say in the listing is it new, is it middling, is it near end, so if you see the game on there you can also get a sense of oh these are some games that will be there.”

Fende says designers are working on games up until the last minute, so the list on the website is constantly being updated. She says you never know when you might be playtesting the next big board game hit:

“Luthier, which is the follow-up game from Distilled, that’s, I’ve seen that play-tested multiple times at Minnesota and Madison, Madison has a protospiel also, Madison, Wisconsin, so that would be an example of something that’s a pretty well-known name if you’re a game enthusiast.”

Fende says sometimes designers will get an idea at the convention and design a new game right there as well. Minnesota Protopiel costs $70 for designers and $20 for playtesters and is held at the Doubletree Minneapolis Airport Hotel.

Fende joined William Pankratz and me on Table Talk this week, WJON’s bi-weekly show about boardgaming, to talk about Minnesota Protospiel and her new game Cupcake Craving that she playtested at the convention.

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