Seeking "Blind" Playtesters

FL!

You went past 1024 posts! And the site's still here! WHOOPEE!!!
(We weren't *seriously* worried that the site would crash if someone did that many posts were we? I remember people joking about it when you went past a 1000. You are the one who went past a decimal thousand posts recently, aren’t you?)

Anyway, congrats!

Regards,

Leland

I would love to playtest, but I dont know if i would currently have time within the next month to guarantee what you need.

But I have another posible idea for you, maybe the Albany playtest group(that is currently scheduling another get together) might be willing to give your game a go as part of what they do that day.

By all means ask for playesters!

Let me see ... my eldest son turns 8 in June 2008 (currenlty 4), my wife is compiling a list of things that need to be done before our 3rd child is born in November and Oz is probably more than you were planning on paying for shipping ...

Looks like I might have to wait and buy it in the stores like everyone else ...

Bets of luck!

This sounds incredible, and though I'll be in that area the weekend before, and I've got a really big exam the weekend after, I may really consider going to it.

Thanks for the heads up. Does anyone on these boards want to plan something around this?

- Seth

Guys,

I don’t know what the protocols are for this sort of thing, but I hope Seth Jaffe and Dave Arnott won’t mind if I share the last few posts from the SoCalGamesDay message board concerning my idea to testplay some of our design ideas at their events.

Anyway, here they are...

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Seth Jaffee wrote:

Hi, I'm thinking about going to this SoCal Games Day because I heard it was pretty cool and I'd like to get a chance to play some games I never get a chance to around here.

In addition, I spend some of my free time working on developing board games of my own. Is the SoCal Games Day an appropriate venue for testing out one or more of these games? Would any of you be interested in playing a routeplanning pickup/deliver board game about the Three Musketeers running around Paris doing missions for the King? This game has been through several versions and has gotten better and better each time, just need to keep playtesting.

Thanks, and maybe I'll see you in 2 weeks,

- Seth

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Dave Arnott wrote:

Hey, Seth,

We've never really had any official policy about prototypes. Sorta...

Just understand... SoCal Games Day is not a con and it only lasts one day, so time – and more importantly - table space can be very precious. A prototype is a game, and games are what our event is about, so as long as you treat your prototype like the game that it is (or wants to be :-))... and NOT like, say, an obligation, or an entitlement, etc... I say bring 'em!

If you have a prototype you wanna try out, just ask people if they wanna play, like you would any other game, that's all. Don't "own" a table for several sessions or take a businesslike tack in semi-forcing people to play. And if you want to solicit comments, etc. from them afterwards, make sure you tell them that in advance, so they know what they're getting into.

This is pretty basic stuff, actually.

And please understand that many people are not gonna wanna play prototypes.

And along those lines...

*** TO EVERYONE ELSE: ***

Many people enjoy playing prototypes, but for those who don't (or are slightly wary), Games Day is about having FUN! If you don't want to play someone's prototype, JUST SAY NO... but politely, please... budding game designers may be fragile :)

Does that answer your question? :-)

-Dave, who never in a million years thought we might get TWO people coming from Arizona

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Dave,

Absolutamente to everything you’ve said. In fact it all should go without having to be mentioned. (But it was a good idea for you to state it officially just in case.)

What I would do if I had a game to testplay at GamesDay (and what I urge other would be designers who want to playtest their games there to do) is label the box as a prototype, put a few copies of a survey to be filled out after playing the game in the box along with an envelope for completed forms, and then just put the game along the wall with all the other games and let people decide for themselves if they want to play it while you go about enjoying GamesDay as usual (by playing *successful* designer’s games).

Being on hand (in the room somewhere) to answer questions if the testplayers really get stuck is alright, but if you sit at the table to teach/demo the game to everyone then you’re not finding out if you’ve written the rules clearly enough to be understood by whoever might pick up your game. (And understandable instructions are *somewhat* important as a game design consideration, after all.) Also, if you’ve done any work on the box cover design, you’ll want to refrain from pitching your game to much in order to see if you’ve succeeded in coming up with something that appeals to anyone who sees or picks up the box. (And you’ll also avoid annoying folks who just don’t like being solicited while their trying to have a good time.)

Anyway, I thought I should throw in my two cents worth since I’m the one who presumed to recommend to my friends at Board Game Designer’s Forum that they look into the possibility of testplaying their game designs at SoCalGamesDay, if they’re in the area or in range that is. (Check them out at www.bgdf.com, by the way. I know, what a shameless plug...) As far as I’m concerned, if we’re ever going to reach the general public with These Games Of Ours, it will only be with quality designs. And I just figured that you guys are the exact group that would know what a good game is (or isn’t).

Thanks for being open to the idea, with reasonable provisions of course.

And good gaming as always,

Leland