Daniel Solis

When producing a retail board game commercially, you need to keep your unit costs very, very low. That often forces you to go to an overseas printer, where the economy of scale is friendliest. This can be very problematic if you're trying to be environmentally conscious or keep shipping logistics simple. Producing a game with chipboard , bamboo or vegetable inks can be more expensive, and ultimately make a product that doesn't look as polished as the glossy four-color boxes you see on shelves. Unless a buyer is willing to pay a premium out of the goodness of her heart, it seems the market for such a product is pretty meager. But, hey, I'm a marketing guy. Here's my wild eyed, ivory tower proposal. Branding First, we can't market these games just on the appeal of environmentally responsible production. That is too distant, abstract, inside-baseball for the casual family game-shopper to consider. Instead, let's just use environmental themes in the game itse...

The winner of the Thousand-Year Game Design Challenge is Take-Back-Toe by James Ernest. It was a close, close decision. All the finalists had unique attributes that made them stand out from the rest. Whether it be sustainability, accessibility, strong community, and just straight elegance, each entry had strong showings in one category or another. Still, we found the strongest overlapping approval for Take-Back-Toe, a well-rounded abstract with a touch of randomness. We found it intriguing that the game can be played with any forty objects and no board. That mix of specificity and generality is a clever avenue for the game to survive generations as either a commoners' game (with seeds in pits) or an elite past-time (with specially crafted components). It makes the game very portable, too. While waiting in line at an author signing, a friend wanted to learn how to play. A minute later, we ripped up a sheet of paper and played on the floor. I've played with stones (as seen ...

Almost a year ago, I announced this challenge in the hopes that new classic games would be created and promoted by designers young and old. You all exceeded expectations. We've spent the past four months reviewing, playing and judging over fifty entrants to the challenge. In the process, we've discovered a few paradoxes in our judging criteria. The Elegance Paradox Elegance is a nebulous concept to judge, but we generally kept a mental ratio in mind. [How long it took to learn and understand the basic rules] : [How much we'd want to replay and explore the game further]. For example, you can use "flipping a coin" as a game with a 1:1 ratio. One bit of complexity : One bit of replay value. Hypothetically, if you had a game with 1:100 ratio, that is a game a easy to learn as flipping a coin with a hundred-times the replay value. If a game had a 100:1 ratio, it would be a hundred times more difficult to learn than flipping a coin but have very little replay val...

My wife and I are halfway done reviewing, playing and judging the entries to the Thousand-Year Game Design Challenge . (Asterisks note games we've judged so far.) It's been an interesting experience to say the least. I'm glad we've had a few months' time for this phase, because we needed every minute with our busy schedules. Here's an explanation of our judging process so far. 1. Read Naturally, the first step of the process is reading the rules of the game. If we can understand how to play the game from a direct reading of the rules as written by the designer, then we'll proceed to the next step. We really do give it our best effort to read and comprehend the rules text. Sadly, in a very few cases, some entries do get taken out of contention in this first step simply because we can't figure out how to play from the text. 2. Setup We gather whatever game components are called for by the text. In some cases, this is as simple as a piece of paper a...

Last January, I announced the Thousand-Year Game Design Challenge unsure of whether anyone would enter. Boy, did that doubt fade fast. The submission period closes with just under 50 entries. Now, we'll review them, play as many as physically possible and try to pick a winner. Here's what we're looking for: Elegance : The winning entry should be easy to learn, teach and play, ideally playing in under an hour. Accessibility: The winning entry can be played by most people, most of the time, in most places. Any special props may come from sustainable resources. Fun/Community : If we like a game, that's great! But even a game isn't our cup of tea, if we see a thriving community of eager players, that's strong evidence that the game can last a while. And on that note, if you're an entrant to the challenge, your job isn't over yet! Send us pics or videos showing your games being played by real people around the world. Seeing that community will weigh...

Well, we're settled into our new home, so I can finally round up the few entries to the Thousand-Year Game Design Challenge that came in on the very last day. Kodrek by Joshua A.C. Newman Indie game designer Joshua says: "Kodrek came out of a game of Human Contact, a science fiction roleplaying game about anthropology. When we needed a game that space pirates were playing in a bar, we started to describe this. After the game, we fleshed it out a little more. A dozen or so playtests later, I'm entering it in the contest and sending out prototypes to my Kickstarter backers who are getting a board." Close Doesn't Count by Andrew Juell Andrew offers this interesting abstract puzzler with several thoughts on its longevity. "I would be deeply hesitant to speculate as to how humanity and its circumstances will evolve over the next 100 years, much less the next 1000.  Nonetheless. I am far enough below my word limit that I should probably at least explore a ...

Phew! It's a busy time over here. We're moving across the country tomorrow, so I have to do a one-day-early round up of entries so far. Here's everything we've received in August as of the 30th! If you enter your game on the 31st, expect to see it in one last round up after we arrive in Durham and have internet access again. But heck, there are plenty of games to check out in this post alone, so let's get to it! Nomad by Kirk Mitchell Kirk describes Nomad as "a game of topographical manipulation, balance and nonviolence, inspired by geological strata, Go and other difficult games." I certainly like the materials used in his prototype! Quite lovely. ZoxSo by David Weinstock David enters this two-player abstract he bills as a "new ancient" game. David home-produced a run of prototypes for this game, but I let it slide past the "not-previously-published" restriction since it was such a limited run. Tricala by Myles...

PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Only a Few Days Left to Enter Thousand-Year Game Design Challenge Ambitious Contest Challenges Designers to Create Games to Last Lifetimes On New Year's Eve 2010, game designer Daniel Solis issued a challenge to the entire game community: Design a game that people will still play in the year 3011. And he offered $1,000 of his own money, just to make it interesting. Since then, the Thousand-Year Game Design Challenge attracted new game designers from all over the world, as well as industry stalwarts Greg Stolze and James Ernest . "I entered the contest because I liked the idea of designing games that aren't intended for sale." Ernest said. "We tend to identify game design as product design, but they are really two disciplines. Unfortunately, if it can't be sold, it typically never gets made. So this was a great chance to do that." The Challenge has also drawn praise from games scholar and Gameful co-fou...

Push by Dan Hope Dan Hope submits the first video entry with an elegant little push-and-corner abstract. You can plainly hear how well-practiced and well-rehearsed he is during the demo. If you're pitching a game, it's crucial that you are confident, calm and comfortable. Take a lesson from Dan, folks. WarMaze by Mackenzie Cameron Mackenzie's entry bears some similarities to Oshii, in that play is about pushing other piece around. But that's where the similarity ends. In fact, this is closer to a Zelda puzzle, where you and your opponent's are trying to hit certain targets while keeping your princess safe from the other monsters. Push by David Gordon Buresh You're not mistaken! This is another game called Push. (I had to double-check that myself.) This game is much more similar to Tsuro, though. Play focuses on shifting rows and columns of pawns around a grid and getting individual pieces isolated for capture. Beloved by Ben Lehman Longtime indie...

The FAQ section of the main challenge page was getting a little long, so I'm splitting it off to its own post. If you have any questions about the challenge, I'm happy to answer in the comments. :) What inspired the challenge? This challenge is inspired by The Long Now Foundation, whose support of long-term thinking influenced the scope of this challenge and its duration. It is also inspired by The X Prize Foundation, using contests to encourage private citizens to do public good. And the biggest inspiration is the DivNull Lark, in which one generous guy helps get unreleased games published. What's your goal for the challenge? Greg Stolze once said that Chess wouldn't be sold today because there isn't enough commercial potential. That lingered in my mind for years. I want to offer some incentive to would-be game designers who like making those games. Perhaps one of them will make the next classic that will stand the test of centuries. Why such a generous ti...

It was another fruitful month for the challenge, with a very special guest now in the running. But first, some news: The deadline for entry is extended to August 31st. Hope to see you at GenCon and I look forward to showing off some of the entries so far. Take-Back-Toe by James Ernest Veteran game designer James Ernest submits this entry that actually doesn't have much in common with tic tac toe. It's more like a dice-driven mancala, with an elegant tension of constrained choices. The game suggests using poker chips on a mouse board, but you can play this with rocks or via forum post . Antipode by Shane Hendrickson Much like the classic game Hex , your goal is to connect two sides of the board. The twist is that the tiles are double-sided, as in Reversi/Othello. If your pawn passes over an opponent's tile, it flips to your color. Interesting mix of two well-loved abstract games. Usually those mashups don't fare well, but I think this one has strong potential. ...

Recent buzz from the Long Now Blog , MetaFilter , and Jane McGonigal spurred a huge spike in traffic. We had several new entries last month and many more rumored to be coming soon. Here's what we have for May. Cartography by Benjamin Alan Mohr Here's an example of a classic genre with a clever visual motif. Each tile has land and water. One player is trying to create self-contained areas of land (islands) while the other is trying to create self-contained areas of water (lakes). I look forward to giving this one a play or two. The Movie Game by Tonio Loewald (or the World-Playing Game) This game is sort of a freeform narrative exercise in which each player takes on the role of a character from a movie, using the beginning, middle or end as a breakpoint from the established story. Together, the players take turns being the protagonist and supporting cast. Rush Run Riot by Kelvin Beriguete This kinda-sorta chess variant strips down your pieces to kings, pawns and ...