April Meetup 2013 Debrief

Treating the 26.2 miles of the London Marathon as a morning warm-up, 24 uber-fit playtesters cast aside their silver foil sheets and got down to some serious playtesting. We welcomed 5 new attendees this month: Chris, John-Paul, Kim, Nik and Shaun.

After some games chat and food/ drink orders at the bar, everyone was ready for the first playtesting round. Unfortunately, due to some technical difficulties the video countdown was not ready for this month, so each 90 minute round was tracked old-school with a stopwatch and a loud voice.

During the four playtesting rounds, there was an eclectic mix of 23 prototypes: an epic romp around the Solar System, a newsroom simulation, a computer hacking dice game, a game about goblin in-fighting and many more.

Details of the games played can be found here on a BGG geeklist: 
www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/156283/playtest-london-meetup-sunday-21st-april-2013

Here are some photos of the event:

London Meetup Sunday 21st April

The April Meetup will be on Sunday 21st April from 1pm to 8pm at the Jugged Hare pub, Victoria.


If you've designed a game, bring it along and give it a play or just enjoy playing other people's prototypes in a friendly and constructive atmosphere. Everyone is welcome.

If you would like to bring along a new design, contact Rob Harris (Organiser) and we will add your game to the list. 

We have pre-registration to make the sessions run more smoothly. Designers are encouraged to pre-register their games to be playtested before the meetup by leaving a message on the meetup page below or contacting Rob Harris (Organiser).

You are still welcome to bring along other designs on the day, but time slots will first of all be allocated to pre-registered games.

More details: www.meetup.com/Playtest/events/98351612/

We also have a guild at Boardgamegeek.com: www.boardgamegeek.com/guild/1398

Some of the games to be playtested (TBC):

Brute Fours - computer hacking dice game, 90 mins, 4-5 players (Lee Thomas)

The Last Council - new game prototype, 60 mins, 4-6 players (John-Paul Treen)

Solar Racer / Solar Trader - space prototype, 45 mins, 3-4 players (Chris Martin)

Civ - cooperative civilisation card game, 120 mins, 4 players (Ben Neumann)

City of Guilds - light worker placement, 45 mins, 2-5 players (Matt Green)

Gargoyles - pipes & tiles game, 10 mins, 2-4 players (Matt Green)

Squabbling Goblins - dungeon crawl, 60 mins, 2-4 players (David Brain)

Crystal Palace - drafting game, 60 mins, 2-4 players (David Brain)

Starship Commander - space-themed miniatures game, 60 mins, 3-5 players (Lawrence Davies)

Dragon Slayer - push-your-luck dice game, 60 mins, 2-4? players (David Mortimer)

Dexikon - deck-building word game, 60 mins, 3-4 players (Andrew Rowse)

Robots of Ill Repute - a light game about running a war robot escort agency, 30 mins, 3-5 players (Andrew Rowse)

Pareto - Details to be confirmed (Johan H. W. Basberg)

Shape Up! - tile placement microgame, 10 mins, 2 players (Mo Holkar)

Hold the Front Page - newspaper game, 60-120 mins, 4 players (Andrew Bond)

Great Painters - fine art game, 60-90 mins, 3-4 players (Andrew Bond)

Brent Crude - oil industry game, 90-150 mins, 2-5 players (Andrew Bond)

Trinity - dice and card-drafting game, 60 mins, 2-5 players (Matt Dunstan & Brett Gilbert)

Sim City - tile-laying city-building game, 60 mins, 2-4 players (Matt Dunstan)

Pickpocket - bluffing card game, 30 mins, 3-5 players (Matt Dunstan)

Angkor Thom - city-building strategy game, 60 mins, 3-4 players (Brett Gilbert)

Aegea - light family strategy, 45 mins, 2-4 players (Brett Gilbert)

Soul Binder - trading card game, 45 mins, 2 players (Daniel Forster)

HCG - minions and magic game, 40 mins, 2 players (Behrooz Shahriari)

Untitled - Kickstarter-themed party game, 30 mins, 4-10 players (Behrooz Shahriari)

March Meetup 2013 Debrief

Despite St. Patrick's Day hangovers, 22 hardy playtesters made it to the Jugged Hare for the Playtest March meetup. We welcomed 6 new members this month: Ben, Chris, Dan, Dave, Gokce and Gwen. 

This was our one-year anniversary of being on Meetup.com, in which time we have grown to over 160 members.

After some drinks and a chat we settled down to some playtesting. There were 4 rounds altogether, with over 20 game prototypes played. These ranged from beautifully-made wooden horse racing games, quick wrestling dice games to cooperative horror games. 

Details of the games played can be found here on a BGG geeklist: 
www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/155150/playtest-london-meetup-sunday-17th-march-2013

There are also some videos of the event, taken with the Vine app.:

London Meetup Sunday 17th March

The March Meetup will be on Sunday 17th March from 1pm to 8pm at the Jugged Hare pub, Victoria.

It is almost a year since Playtest joined the meetup website and our membership has now grown to over 150 designers, publishers and playtesters. 


If you've designed a game, bring it along and give it a play or just enjoy playing other people's prototypes in a friendly and constructive atmosphere. Everyone is welcome.

If you would like to bring along a new design, contact Rob Harris (Organiser) and we will add your game to the list. 

As over twenty prototypes are presented at each meetup, we are now have pre-registration to make the sessions run more smoothly. Designers are encouraged to pre-register their games to be playtested before the meetup by leaving a message at the meetup page below or contacting Rob Harris (Organiser).

You are still welcome to bring along other designs on the day, but time slots will first of all be allocated to pre-registered games.

More details: www.meetup.com/Playtest/events/93883772/

We also have a guild at Boardgamegeek.com: www.boardgamegeek.com/guild/1398

Some of the games to be playtested (TBC):

Terror at Graveport - cooperative game, 90 mins, 5 players (Andy Oakey)

Steeplechase - Horse racing game, 60 mins, 4-6 players (Gavin Birnbaum)

Subsistence - Farming game, 60 mins, 4 players (Gavin Birnbaum)

Shape Up! - micro game, 10 mins, 2 players (Mo Holkar)

Hex Chit Game - Fantasy wargaming/ spellcasting, 35 mins, 2-3 players (Behrooz Shahriari)

Shield Wall - Dice wargame, 30 mins, 2 players (David Mortimer)

Bejewelled meets Spongebob! - tile placement, dice, underwater themed game, 20-40 mins, 2-4 players (Dave Cousins)

Footie - strategic drafting card & dice game, 45 mins, 2 players (Richard Southern)

Luchador! - mexican wrestling dice game, 30 mins, 2 players (Mark Rivera)

Fishy Business - tile laying fish game, 45 mins, 2-4 players (Mo Holkar)

Chocolate Factory - sweet-themed eurogame, 60 mins, 3-4 players (Lawrence Davies)

London Meetup Sunday 17th February

The February Meetup will be on Sunday 17th February from 1pm to 8pm at the Jugged Hare pub, Victoria.

After a romantic week with your loved ones, it is time to feed your passion for playtesting. With Lawrence's 'Chocolate Factory' game, all we need is a card game about a florist shop and Cupid's dexterity archery game.

If you've designed a game, bring it along and give it a play or just enjoy playing other people's prototypes in a friendly and constructive atmosphere. Everyone is welcome.

If you would like to bring along a new design, contact Rob Harris (Organiser) and we will add your game to the list.

More details: www.meetup.com/Playtest/events/86203292/

We also have a guild at Boardgamegeek.com: www.boardgamegeek.com/guild/1398

Some of the games to be playtested (TBC):

Superhero game - special-powered crime-fighting (Chris Leigh)

Hex Chit game - game prototype (Behrooz Shahriari)

Princes of Amber - board game (Karel Smutný)

Rock Paper Scissors BANG! - 2-player family abstract strategy game (Dave Cousins)

Subsistence - a game of debt (Gavin Birnbaum)

Aegea - light eurogame (Brett Gilbert)

Starship Commander - miniatures game (Lawrence Davies)

The Dreamatorium Adventure - imagination game (Robert McAllister)

Dexikon - deckbuilding spelling game (Andrew Rowse)

Terror at Graveport - cooperative game (Andy Oakey)

Pareto - game prototype (Johan H.W. Basberg)

New Cambridge Playtest venue

The Cambridge Playtest weekly meetup has got a new venue: The Maypole pub, Portugal Place, Cambridge CB5 8AF.

Here is a link to their website:
www.maypolefreehouse.co.uk

The Cambridge Playtest meetups are organised by Playtest members, Brett Gilbert and Matt Dunstan.


If you would like to join the Cambridge Playtest meetup group follow this link: www.meetup.com/Playtest/events/84585372/

London Meetup Sunday 20th January

The January Meetup will be on Sunday 20th January from 1pm to 7pm at the Jugged Hare pub, Victoria.

With New Year's resolutions to spend more time game-designing and the now distant Xmas holidays to tinker with prototypes, January's meetup should be a bumper session. Let's kick off 2013 in style.

If you've designed a game, bring it along and give it a play or just enjoy playing other people's prototypes in a friendly and constructive atmosphere. Everyone is welcome.

If you would like to bring along a new design, contact Rob Harris (Organiser) and we will add your game to the list.

More details: www.meetup.com/Playtest/events/86203192/

We also have a guild at Boardgamegeek.com: www.boardgamegeek.com/guild/1398

Some of the games to be playtested (TBC):

Hex-chit game - new game prototype (Behrooz Shahriari)

City of Guilds: The Dice Game (Andy Oakey)

Chocolate Factory (Lawrence Davies)

3 x Prototypes (Johan H.W. Basberg)

Amalgimal Zoo

Superhero game 2.0 (Chris Leigh)

Hollow Words - auction card game (Matt Green)

Dicelantis - very fast dice game (Matt Green)

Scattered Fleets - space exploration game (Andrew Rowse)

Aegea - light eurogame (Brett Gilbert)

Clockwise - a race game with a twist (Gavin Birnbaum)

Fog of War - light wargame (Gavin Birnbaum)