What is Protospiel South?

Protospiel South is a convention for game designers and play testers. Protospiel South is:

• open to everyone with an interest in game design
• designer-focused,
• not for profit,
• cooperative, collaborative, and constructive.

If you're a designer, bring prototypes of games you're working on to play test them with other designers. It's not a free ride, though. Be ready to play test other designers' games and provide helpful suggestions.

If you're a play tester, you'll be the most popular person in the room. Be ready to learn and play games of all types and offer honest insights into what works for you and what doesn't.

Protospiel South is sanctioned to use the Protospiel name by the organizers of the original Protospiel, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2010. Protospiel South 2012 will be the third consecutive Protospiel South event; that's pretty nifty!

When will Protospiel South 2012 occur?

May 26 and 27, 2012
(That's Saturday and Sunday, just before Memorial Day)

Friday, May 25: Casual meet 'n greet at a restaurant/bar to be determined.
Saturday, May 26: 9 AM to 10 PM
Sunday: May 27: 9 AM to 10 PM

How much will it cost to attend Protospiel South?

Please refer to our Registration page for the most up-to-date registration price information.

Where will Protospiel South take place?

Protospiel South will be held at HubAustin (map). HubAustin is a nifty co-working space in South Austin. It's a short drive to many nice local hotels, the Airport, the South Congress eating/shopping district, and downtown Austin.

What will happen at Protospiel South?

Protospiel South has one primary purpose:

Play testing of board game prototypes.

We're providing a clean space with tables, convenient rest rooms, coffee, water, good lighting, and food.

Designers of different levels of experience, as well as representatives from various game companies will be present. Odds are very good that we'll have one or two informal Q&A events – one with game designers and publishers with different publication approaches, and one with advice from a game retailer. If there's an event that you'd really like to see on the Protospiel South schedule, talk it up in the Protospiel South forum. If it gets enough traction, we'll do what we can to make it happen.

Why Protospiel South? Isn't Protospiel enough?

Several Reasons:

• Cross-pollenation: Austin, Dallas, and Houston have several board game publishers, robust artist communities, and many computer game companies of all different sizes. I'd like to see these communities share ideas more often.
• Community: There are lots of game designers in Texas and surrounding areas, and I'd bet that lots of them think they're all alone. Protospiel South should help them network.
• Convenience: Some people won't travel all the way to Ann Arbor, MI, with their prototypes and luggage, but are willing to travel to Austin, TX.

Who's putting Protospiel South together?

Hi! I'm Jonathan Leistiko. I posted one free print-and-play game every month for 10 years at Invisible City Productions. I've successfully licensed two games, both published by AEG: The Isle of Doctor Necreaux and Pressure Matrix. I've also co-self-published Inevitable – a boardgame that we funded (to the tune of ~$9,500) through Kickstarter. I moved to Austin from State College, PA in August of 1999 and I'm very happy here. I'm working on Inevitable, a humorous board game set in a post-apocalyptic dystopia, with Jeremy Bushnell. I was also a game developer for Steve Jackson Games.