Protospiel, an event that provides tabletop game designers the opportunity to receive professional-level feedback, will be held at the Hamilton County Fairgrounds, 2003 Pleasant St., Noblesville, from May 24 to May 26.
Event organizer Carl Klutzke said its purpose is for people who design tabletop board and card games to playtest each other’s games and give each other critiques to help creators improve their games.
“We usually have anywhere from 60 to 90 people attend throughout the three-day weekend,” Klutzke said.
Klutzke originally began holding the event in Indianapolis after attending a similar event in Michigan.
“There was originally just one of these events, and I started going to them in 2006,” Klutzke said. “I talked to one of the people there and said a year is too long to go between these events. So, he started one in Milwaukee, somebody else started one in Chicago and then we started one here in the Indianapolis area in 2018.”
Creators can bring their board or card game prototype to be playtested by amateur and established game designers, play testers and publishers.
Klutzke said the “best-known” game that has been playtested at Protospiel Indy was ‘Return to Dark Tower’ in 2018, which raised $4 million on Kickstarter, a website where creators share project visions.
“Sometimes, people get to talk with publishers and see if they’re interested in taking up their game,” Klutzke said. “It is an opportunity for that to happen as well. If nothing else, it is nice for the designers to talk to people who are professionals in the tabletop game industry as small as that industry is and learn from them and get feedback from them.”
The registration fee is $65 for creators for all three days and $15 for people to playtest for all three days. The event is from 8 a.m. to 11:45 p.m. May 24 and May 25 and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 26.
“Funds raised from the event mostly go toward renting the space, and some of it goes to refreshments,” Klutzke said. “Last year, we had a pizza dinner on Saturday night that went over really well, so we will see if we have enough funds to do that this year as well.”
For more or to register, visit tabletop.events/conventions/protospiel-indy-2024.
