WELCOME

Welcome to BoardGameBuilders.com, a website dedicated to Protospiel San Jose and the San Francisco Bay Area board game development and prototype community.

PROTOSPIEL SAN JOSE 2019

Dates/Times: 
Friday October 11, 10:00am-10:00pm
Saturday October 12, 10:00am-10:00pm
Sunday October 13, 10:00am-8:00pm

Click for the EVENT SCHEDULE.

Location:
Game Kastle, 550 Showers Dr, Mountain View, CA 94040

Protospiel San Jose is three days of family friendly board game play testing. Game designers are coming from all over with their in-development board games to hear YOUR feedback. Your opinion is greatly valued and desired, and even just playing the games in front of the designers is incredibly useful. While you are here also enjoy the free snacks, win raffle prizes, check out the Game Kastle store, and more!

This is a not for profit event that is FREE for players. The game designers and sponsors pay for the venue, raffle prizes, and related costs.

PLAY a wide variety of board games from every genre and style you can think of.

PLAY a wide variety of board games from every genre and style you can think of.

LEARN from industry luminaries and gain insight into the design process. Discover new ideas and mechanics.

LEARN from industry luminaries and gain insight into the design process. Discover new ideas and mechanics.

CONNECT with fellow game designers and players. Share your feedback to shape the development of games.

CONNECT with fellow game designers and players. Share your feedback to shape the development of games.


INDUSTRY GUESTS & SPonsors - PROTOSPIEL SAN JOSE 2019

PtP Final Logo_Black.png

Pull the Pin Games - pull-the-pin-games.com

Overworld Games, who has been making games like Good Cop Bad Cop, Barker’s Row, Leaders of Euphoria, and New Salem since 2014, is re-branding itself as Pull the Pin Games. The new branding signals the beginning of a focus on quick, large group, small box, social games that are very easy to learn for new players, but are packed with strategic choices for veterans -- all at a very affordable price.

Brian Henk, President of Pull the Pin Games will be joining us for Protospiel San Jose. Brian is the co-designer of games like Good Cop Bad Cop, Exposed, New Salem, and Leaders of Euphoria. He is also one of the co-hosts on the Board Game Business Podcast where he discusses the business side of the tabletop game industry.

Read the full press release about Pull the Pin Games here.


Sarah Headshot.jpg

Sarah Graybill of Panda Game Manufacturing - pandagm.com

Panda Game Manufacturing is a tabletop game manufacturer with a focus on industry-leading component quality and service. Panda produces thousands of tabletop game titles for clients around the world. From award winning publishers to independent game designers and from simple card games to elaborate miniature-based board games, Panda turns concepts into reality. Making high quality games is our passion!

Sarah Graybill is a Project Manager focused on guiding small and first-time publishers through the board game manufacturing process from start to finish. She prides herself on providing component and production guidance to maximize quality and enhance gameplay while managing costs.

Learn more about Panda and get a quote for your game at pandagm.com


Brendan_Bernie (Dead Alive Games).jpg

Dead Alive Games - deadalivegames.com

Dead Alive Games consists of Brendan Kendrick and Bernie Lin. The pair formed the company in 2018 to self-publish Omicron Protocol, an intra-apocalyptic squad-based miniatures skirmish game, designed to be accessible to board gamers and miniatures gamers alike. Besides designing and publishing Omicron Protocol, Brendan is also a very accomplished miniatures painter, winning the "People's Choice Award" and a gold medal at the KublaCon painting competition in 2017. Bernie enjoys building communities from ground up and getting people to play games with each other. He grew the local Bay Area X-Wing community on Facebook to 800+ members, and the Guild Ball community to over 100 members.

If you like asymmetric competitive tactical board/miniatures games where both sides get to control a 3rd party enemy to mess with each other, or want to try the free-for-all battle royale or solo/co-op mode of the game, set in the near future when cybernetics just started blossoming, come check out a demo of the game. You can also read more about the story, characters, and mechanics online at: https://www.deadalivegames.com/omicronprotocol/join-us


Flyod Lu of B&B games.

Flyod Lu of B&B games.

B&B Games - bnbbizcorp.com

B&B games studio was founded in 2016 with a simple task in mind, to publish books and boardgames. Though the company is registered in Nevada, the heart remains in the bay area, where Floyd designs and develops games. B&B is known for publishing easy to play, cinematic style games, with a focus on miniature quality.


Jason Reynolds.jpg

Jason Reynolds of Jinxbot - Jinxbot.com

Jinxbot 3D Printing is a popular 3D Printing as a Services business in the Bay Area. Jinxbot prints for the general public, Small to Medium sized Business (SMBs) and large companies as well. Part of their success is their quick turn around times (usually about 24hrs), local pickups, friendly service, and the quality of the parts. If you want to get some cool custom bits or minis printed for your game, catch Jason at Protospiel.


BlueprintMeople.png

David Sanhueza of Game-O-Gami - game-o-gami.com

David Sanhueza is a veteran of the video games industry, having worked on AAA and indie titles in a variety of roles - animator, art director, game designer, and game director - since the late 90’s. David's love for art and games extends to tabletop as well, where he spends his time making games with character, as the owner of the development and publishing studio Game-O-Gami. He is the creative mind (and hands) behind Goblins Drool Fairies Rule, Immortal Battlegrounds, Goblins & Gloams, Royal Dump, Blood of Rome, and the MMO board game Megopoly. He resides in Las Vegas, where he organizes the local game design meetup.

http://www.game-o-gami.com/


AndrewTullsen.jpg

Andrew Tullsen of Print & Play (an AdMagic Company) - printplaygames.com

Starting the company Print and Play Productions at age 16 from his bedroom, Andrew Tullsen is now the regional manager of the Print and Play Division owned by AdMagic. 

Print & Play is know for their custom work in board game prototyping. They offer boards, boxes, bits and more. Cards come in standard and custom sizes. Their support team works closely with customers to ensure satisfactory products. Print and Play strives for quality, consistency, and fast delivery with every order. 


Brandon Raasch and Eric Kearney of BARD GAMES - https://www.bardgames.fun

BARD Games makes licensed, casual board games for 3-5 players. We focus on licenses to delight fans, casual games for easy appeal and 3-5 players to ensure a table friendly game size. We bring many years of retail, gaming and product knowledge together to publish quality games that are unique, fun and ready for business. 

 


IndieBoards&Cards.png

Sydney Engelstein of Indie Game Studios - indieboardsandcards.com

Indie Game Studios will be at Protospiel, looking for games to publish! While there is no such thing as a typical game from Indie, they have had the most success with games that play quick, have varying levels of direct player interaction, and lots of hidden depth in their simple rule sets. They are always looking for genre defining games (Resistance put social deduction games back on the map), but have also published cooperative and euro games. Sydney will be looking for games that are a good fit for any of the indie game studios lines Stronghold Games, Indie Boards & Cards and Action Phase Games.

indieboardsandcards.com


blue_panther_logo.jpg

Steve Jones of Blue Panther - bluepantherllc.com

Blue Panther LLC is a publisher and manufacturer of board and card games, game accessories such as dice towers and dice trays, and custom components in a variety of materials, including dice. Steve Jones from Blue Panther will be joining us as an industry guest.


RichardBliss2.jpg

Richard Bliss - http://fundingthedream.buzzsprout.com/

Richard is the host of the Funding the Dream podcast for Kickstarters.  He is nationally recognized marketing expert.  


If you have not caught the Funding the Dream podcast before, you are missing a fantastic resource full of great information from a variety of designers and publishers.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/funding-dream-on-kickstarter/id478958956?mt=2

OR

http://fundingthedream.buzzsprout.com/


SPONSORS

Pull the Pin Games

Pull the Pin Games

Game Kastle

Game Kastle

Game-O-Gami

Game-O-Gami

B & B Games Studio

B & B Games Studio

Dead Alive Games

Dead Alive Games

Jinxbot 3D Printing

Jinxbot 3D Printing

Print & Play Games

Print & Play Games

BARD Games

BARD Games